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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-12-18 Personnel and Finance (#8) r.:456TH.t �, xNa 1865 �: OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK KAREEMAH FOWLER, CITY CLERK PERSONNEL &FINANCE SEPTEMBER 12, 2018 5:00 P.M. Committee Members Present: Karen White, Regina Williams-Preston Committee Members Absent: Gavin Ferlic, John Voorde Other Council Present: Jake Teshka, Tim Scott, Oliver Davis, Jo M. Broden Other Council Absent: Sharon L. McBride Others Present: Jennifer Coffman, Bob Palmer Presenters: Amy Hill, James Mueller, Aaron Perri Agenda: Transpo Redevelopment and TIF VPA Wrap Up Committee Chair Karen White called to order the Personal and Finance Committee meeting at 5:01 p.m. and outlined the agenda. Councilmember Oliver Davis arrived at 5:02 p.m. Councilmembers Jake Teshka and Jo M. Broden arrived at 5:03p.m. Transpo Amy Hill, Interim General Manager at TRANSPO, 1519 Sunnymede Avenue, stated, I am currently serving as the Interim General Manager and CEO for Transpo. I also have Chris Kubaszak, our Controller, with me today. We currently have one-hundred seventeen (117) employees. Like many organizations in the community, we've been challenged with finding 1 employees. We are finally in a good position, although we do have several part-time and full-time positions currently open. We do rely on local, state and federal funding. Locally it is through the County Option Income Tax and property taxes. Through the State it comes through the Public Mass Transportation Fund, and then various federal funding sources as well. We currently operate forty-nine(49)fixed-route vehicles and seventeen(17)paratransit vans,and we serve the Cities of South Bend and Mishawaka. We've had several accomplishments in 2018. Chris Kubaszak, Controller at Transpo, 1401 S. Lafayette Blvd., (referring to the presentation which is available in the City Clerk's Office) stated, This is a breakout of our revenue, and you'll see that thirty-six percent (36%) of our revenue comes from property tax and County Option Income Tax. The State funding for preventative maintenance comes to us through INDOT. If you look at our pass-through revenue,it only makes up thirteen percent(13%)of our budget.The other INTEGRITY' SERVICE'ACCESSIBILITY JENNIFER M.COFFMAN BIANCA L.TIRADO JOSEPH R.MOLNAR CHIEF DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Blvd.I South Bend,Indiana 46601 I p 574.235.92211f 574.235.9173 I www.southbendin.gov CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK portions are made up through Federal Operating and Federal Maintenance Funds. We budgeted $10,617,606 for wages, and as you can see, our entire budget is mostly set by expenses that we don't have a lot of control over in the form of wages, benefits, fuel and utilities. Our budget is pretty much consistent with what has been reported in prior years. He continued, You'll see our operating expenses from 2012 to the present, and that it dipped but then it went up in 2016.Now we are flatlining to go down about$45,000 from the prior year. We made some changes in expenses this year, decreasing some of our services that we were paying for.Labor is the biggest portion of our budget,making up over fifty percent(50%),and it is mostly flatlined from the prior year's presentations. Health insurance is the most uncontrollable expense that we have. In 2017 it was at $1.5 million, and it dropped to $1.2 million in 2018. We were originally with Anthem and then we switched to the County plan. It went up because we had a bad year in 2017 since it is a self-funded program. Right now, we are paying this year's expense and we have built-in expenses from the prior year that we are making up so we are at a zero (0)balance with the County. Ms. Hill stated, Passenger revenue and ridership continue to trend down slightly. That is typical for transportation agencies that have a large transit dependent ridership. About eighty to eight-five percent (80%-85%) of our riders depend on public transportation as their only means of transportation to get around our community. We had strong ridership this summer, thanks in part to our summer travel program for our K-12 students, and we're really focusing on building that. Year-to-date,we are down about two percent(2%) in ridership,which, looking at our peers across the country,we really are doing well.To boost that passenger revenue,we continue to explore new ridership initiatives and additional partnerships as well. Mr. Kubaszak stated, We decided to show you property taxes from 2016-2022. This is where we are going to see our biggest hit happen when the 2020 circuit breaker goes into effect. We hired Umbaugh and Associates to do a review and determine the impact of that property tax hit. We'll see that in 2019, and we are estimating from their report that we should get about $3.1 million in property taxes.After the circuit breaker hits,we're going to lose about$300,000 in property taxes, so we are going to go down about $2.7 million, then see a slight increase each year to 2020. The overwhelming thing to see is that if you look at our property tax estimate revenue, in 2020, we're estimating that we'll get$2,945,000. That will be almost the same exact amount of property taxes we received in 2018. Over the four (4) years, our property tax revenues will be stagnant, considering there will more than likely be increases in health insurance, labor, and other miscellaneous utilities and especially vehicle insurance. Ms. Hill stated, As far as our operating assistance, the Public Mass Transportation Fund for the State of Indiana has remained relatively flat. We are projected to see a little bit of a decrease for 2019. On the opposite side, the federal operating assistance saw a slight decrease in 2018, and we're expecting that to go up a little bit for 2019 as well. Those increases and decreases are pretty insignificant. She continued, Some of our accomplishments for 2018 include launching new partnerships with Holy Cross College and IU South Bend similar to our partnerships with St. Mary's, Notre Dame and Ivy Tech. The colleges and universities pay to provide that free transportation to students, faculty and staff. We also launched our free summer travel program. Our goal was 12,000 rides for this summer, and we finished with 27,571. Our prior record was 7,000. We decided to make EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011p 574.235.92211f 574.235.9173[TTD 574.235.5567 Iwww.southbendin.gov 2 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK 140 that program free to introduce kids to riding public transportation early. We hope to see that ridership continue throughout the rest of the school year,and we continue to work with Mishawaka and South Bend Community Schools as well. We also partner with MACOG and the interurban trolley to launch the yellow line connector route. This is significant for transportation in our region to have two (2)transportation systems partner together. The yellow line connector route goes from Mishawaka Transfer Center to downtown Elkhart, and we're able to provide that connection every thirty (30) minutes instead of what it was previously, sixty (60) minutes. From a regional standpoint, being able to improve those connections is significant. She went on, We are also looking to introduce new technologies, the first (0) being with our paratransit service. That is a very challenging service for transit agencies to operate. We continue to see that ridership go up, right now we're trending around a ten to eleven percent (10%-11%) increase for this year.That will continue as the population continues to age,so we will be launching new scheduling software to make it more efficient and make it easier for passengers to schedule their trips. Bus shelters have been a huge project for us over the last several years. The City of South Bend has done a great job of installing shelters in several downtown areas and along the Western Avenue and Lincolnway Corridor. We received a grant several years ago for additional shelters, so those shelter locations were already predetermined as part of the grant application process. We will be seeing the first(1St)round of those bus shelters installed yet this year, and the second (2nd) round will continue next year. We're excited to continue bringing those passenger amenities to the community. Some of the challenges that we look toward in 2019: We started converting our fleet to CNG in 2014, and we are up to twenty-two (22) CNG vehicles, which has helped reduce a lot of our maintenance and fueling costs. However, we still have twenty-seven (27) vehicles that are currently eligible for replacement. The useful life of a bus is twelve (12) years, and those twenty-seven (27) vehicles are fourteen (14) and fifteen (15) years old. The uncertainty in the Federal and State funding, and also the 2020 circuit breaker are challenges, so we are preparing ahead with what we can do to offset that decrease in funding and the continuing increase in the cost of health insurance. She continued,Collective bargaining is probably more of an opportunity than a challenge. We just finalized our current two (2) year contract in January. As part of that, we formed a labor- management committee to improve the relationships between labor and management. So as we go into contract negotiations next fall, we're excited to continue that process and we think that will be very productive. To touch on some additional priorities heading into 2019,we'll be introducing new technologies that I mentioned.The first(1St)thing is the paratransit scheduling software. That really helps with scheduling the rides, dispatching, and it is able to adjust the operators' schedule seamlessly if there are cancellations throughout the day. It also provides online opportunities and applications for our riders to schedule their trips. She went on, One (1) of our next priorities is having real-time information for our fixed-route vehicles. That's been a passenger request for a long time. It makes it a lot easier for passengers to look on their phones and see where the busses are at,and it helps us internally to make sure we are managing where busses are at and operate more efficiently.We are continuing to work on ridership initiatives and workforce development. We just met with Great Lakes Capital today to look at the Blackthorn area and all the development going on there. We've already identified that as a route where we can make minor adjustments to better serve that area. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011p 574.235.92211f 574.235.9173]TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 3 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK She continued, Our fleet replacement program continues to be a priority. Some of them still have their original engines,which come with significant maintenance and operational costs. We did just apply for the federal bus and bus facilities grant last month to replace up to twelve (12) busses, which we should hear back about later this year. We are also applying for the Indiana VW Mitigation Trust Program. We'll be able to leverage some of those VW dollars as a local match for those Federal funds. Committee Chair White opened the floor to Committee and Council Members for comment or questions. Councilmember Jo M. Broden asked,Who does your grant writing? Those are two (2) substantial opportunities there. Ms. Hill stated, We did the last grant internally, but we do work with several partners including South Shore Clean Cities. We will be partnering with them on the VW Mitigation Grant as well. Committeemember Oliver Davis asked, Can you send everybody the update of where all of the bus shelters will be for our new members? Tell us again when all of them will be put up. Ms. Hill stated, There are a total of twenty (20) to twenty-five (25) bus shelters that will be installed. We're starting out with ten (10) in the first (1st) round, and we worked with the City to help acquire some of that local match for the federal dollars. We'll be prioritizing the next round heading into next year. We haven't finalized that timeline yet, but we would expect to have all of those bus shelters installed in the next year or year and a half. Committeemember Davis asked, And do you see within the next few months the need for us to start considering dollars from South Bend to help out in transit in any way? Ms. Hill stated, We're always open to considering dollars. Committeemember Davis clarified, In terms of helping you meet your budget, what's the plan there? Ms. Hill answered, That's what we're looking at right now, especially with that 2020 circuit breaker where we're looking at a loss of the$300,000 of property tax revenue.We've been looking at several different scenarios. We're able to leverage some of our Federal and State funding toward operating costs if we need it, however by doing so we're moving those from capital projects towards operating, so there are several different options that we are looking at. A lot of it will depend on where our health insurance renewal comes in at. We are conservatively budgeting and did include about a ten percent(10%) increase in health insurance. If our premiums come in lower than that,we'll have more flexibility there, too. Committeemember Davis stated, I'll be working with you on that because I would like for us to stay up to date regarding the potential issue of the upcoming requests for what they want to see from the City of South Bend. More cities are being asked to contribute more dollars to these, and I just wanted to make sure that we have our Financial Administration team included in that conversation. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 466011p 574.235.92211f574.235.9173!TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 4 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Committee Chair White asked, At one (1) time, I think this last year, there were routes that were eliminated and there were some discussions that Transpo would go back and review those routes. I don't know if you've had the opportunity to do that yet. Ms. Hill stated, Our last service adjustment was back in 2012, where some routes were eliminated and some adjustments were made.That was the result of a comprehensive operational analysis that was done in 2011. Best practice is to do that every five(5)years,and it is something we are looking at doing going forward. We want to be able to look at the system as a whole,and we've also talked about partnering with MACOG in order to do that to have the regional perspective of public transportation. We see that happening within the next year to eighteen(18)months.We are always evaluating existing routes as public comment comes up,and it can be very challenging.We operate an inter-line system, so we don't have just one (1) bus operating on one (1) route. It could be coming in to the South Street station as the Route 10 line from Western Avenue and going out as the Route 7 to University Park Mall, so even making a one (1) to two (2) minute adjustment on one(1)route has a ripple effect throughout the entire system,so it needs to be looked at as a whole. We do track all of the requests that we receive for service. Committee Chair White stated, Looking at the shortfall that you will have in 2020, are you proposing any rate increases this budget? Ms. Hill stated, We are not at this time. There were some preliminary discussions to look at that for the second (2nd) half of last year, but based on feedback that we received from Mr. Davis and other Board members, that is not something we included in the 2019 budget. Even if we were to have something in next year's budget, that would have gone through the public process. At this point we don't have any plans to do that for 2019. However, looking at this shortfall, that may be something we have to look at, but again, that would involve a lot of public comment and public engagement. Councilmember Broden asked, What are your paratransit ridership levels? Ms. Hill stated, On an annual basis we do about 65,000 rides. Again, year to date, that is already up about ten percent(10%). Councilmember Broden stated, Your yellow line connector route, I know that is long and it has taken a lot of hard work, and a real exciting development for workforce. Wow on the K-12 ridership, I think that's great, getting people used to that at a young age. Ms. Hill stated,Thank you. And we're watching how that impacts our student ridership the rest of the year pretty closely. Councilmember Broden asked, What kind of numbers are you seeing? Ms. Hill answered,The free program ran through the end of August, so we don't have a lot of data yet to compare it to,but our August ridership alone was over 12,000 with kids going back to school. We've been working closely with the South Bend Community School Corporation on how we can assist with their K-12 students getting to and from school. We were overwhelmed by the success of that program. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W Jefferson Bvld I South Bend.Indiana 46601 p574.235.922111574.235.91731110574.235.5567Iwww.southbendin.gov I 5 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Committee Chair White thanked Ms. Hill for her presentation and explained that there will be an opportunity for public input right after the Redevelopment presentation. Redevelopment and TIF James Mueller, Executive Director for the Department of Community Investment with offices on the 14th floor of the County-City Building, stated, We're following up on last night's presentation on Civil City Funds and some of the plans we have to look forward to next year.There is substantial economic empowerment programing in the Redevelopment Funds,and we'll get to the reason why in a moment, which is a change we made this year. Also, we'll look at the macro 2019 goals and then each team will present their three (3) goals. He referred to the review of the different funds that encompass the overall Community Investment budget in the presentation (which is available in the City Clerk's Office). He stated, Tonight, we're looking at the Redevelopment and Development areas, as well as the Redevelopment Admin Fund #433. In revenues, we expect relatively flat property tax revenues going into the TIF areas. The one (1) exception you'll note is the$7 million this year. That included the$4 million payment from INDOT for the relinquishment of what is now Martin Luther King,Jr. Boulevard.That was a one(1)time payment from the State. If you took out that payment, you'd be looking at a little under $18 million, and looking at the River West TIF area, it's projected to be $17.6 million. He continued, In 2020, the property tax caps go into effect and that impacts the TIF areas by a larger percentage than the General and Parks property taxes. The other thing you'll notice is the one (1) area that is increasing from seven point one four(7.14)to seven point nine six (7.96), and that is the River East TIF. That includes two (2) parts, but most notable is the Eddy Street Phase II Development, and because we expect those revenues to come online, we're actually projecting a net increase there in 2020. There would be the property tax cap plus the additional assessed value from that development as planned. That will largely go to pay off the debt service.Across all those funds, we're expecting about$28.4 million, so that's new revenue coming in. There are of course projects that are ongoing or revenues that are ongoing, so the actual appropriation is likely to be higher than that, but it will be funds that are carrying over from previous years. There is about $13.3 million that we're covering in debt service that ranges from Police and Fire Stations to previous fire stations,parks and trails,the bond that we issued earlier this year, and a host of other legacy debt service payments. We also included$4.4 million across the TIF areas for public works projects including a lot of the water capital that was included in the water rate increase a year or two (2)ago. There's $1.5 million in Parks projects which is in addition to the debt service with the bond. This is new money,it was part of the original financing plan for the Parks and Trails project that was just scheduled for 2019. There is $2 million for the Western Streetscape between Falcon and Dundee,which is something we promised the LaSalle Park Alliance. It is really that last stretch from the two(2)previous phases from Western Avenue, so now the streetscape will go from Olive to Falcon. There is $800,000 for the local match for the Coal Line Trail project,which is expected to be completed in 2021,but this is starting the planning and property acquisition and the different components of that project. There is $450,000 budgeted for the Technology Resource Center Operations programming. We are hoping to open the Center at Ignition Park at the Catalyst Two (2) building first (1st) quarter or early second (2nd) quarter in 2019, and then the Redevelopment Commission has already committed funding for four(4)years of operations. It comes out to about $450,000 per year starting next year. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.92211f 574.235.9173I TTD 574.235.5567 Iwww.southbendin.gov 6 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK He went on, Coming out of the Portage/Elwood Visioning Session earlier this year, there were a lot of different recommendations,one(1)of them was the area on the Portage/Elwood node where we're hoping to do some tree scape work next year. There's $800,000 for the Sherman/Harrison infrastructure public place envisioned in the West Side Main Streets Plan. This is also envisioned to be the new housing construction pilot that we're looking to do. We can point you to the West Side Main Streets Plan, some of the ideas for public space to build out this neighborhood. There is $500,000 for the City Cemetery entrance out of the West Washington TIF. There is also a half million dollars for the engineering design of the 2020 streetscapes and other projects of the West Side Main Streets plan implementation. The Western streetscapes have substantial design and engineering costs the year before the construction is actually completed.The costs of construction are higher than what we'd like, it is usually about ten percent (10%) of the project. If you see roughly $500,000 of engineering and design, you could anticipate between $4 to $5 million in construction investment the following year. There are also funds used for professional services that keep the Redevelopment Commission going such as legal, engineering and TIF financial management. There is $500,000 that is half of the million-dollar commitment of the West Washington TIF area for the Washington Colfax apartments that South Bend Heritage has rebranded as Gemini Apartments, and work will start shortly. Then there is $400,000 in West Washington area improvements which haven't all been defined yet, but we've been in active conversations with neighborhood associations and other residents in the area. He continued, The economic empowerment funding, Fund #433, are new funds that we're receiving TIF to spend, and this comes out of the Pokagon agreement. If you recall, there was a revenue sharing agreement with the Pokagon Band for one percent (1%) of net win going to the General Fund, and one percent(1%) of net win going to the Redevelopment Fund, or a minimum of $1 million, whichever is greater for each of those. It was broadly envisioned to go toward education, alleviating poverty and promoting small business. These are programs that we think fit within that broad scope and things that are underway. First (1St), we're looking to work with Goodwill on a youth and community development program out of the U.S. Department of Labor called Youth Build, so that would be a $250,000 match to roughly a million-dollar external fund. That would be a four to one (4:1) leverage on that grant. The Lifelong Learning Initiative in partnership with Google and Walmart that was announced earlier was $500,000 earlier this year, and potentially more longer term. We're looking to put in some monies for that. The $135,000 match is part of the Mayor's Challenge grant application. This was the $100,000 pilot that we worked on with Innovation to try to figure out transportation on that last mile with the Rideshare program, and we've submitted the final application and hope to hear back later this year. The awards could be anywhere from$1 to$4 million, so that would be a high leverage ratio if we were to receive that grant. He went on, One (1) of the things that we're looking to pilot next year is a microloan for small businesses for lower income households. There is a program in Louisville that we've been talking to that's been successful. There is also $100,000 to continue the past few building measures for early childhood education, and this is trying to move daycare centers up a level of quality. There's also $80,000 to help with housing financing gaps where there are financing issues on low value homes or mortgages where the transaction costs are too high relative to the banks, so it makes it harder to finance those. There is $75,000 to try to attract more CDFI investment. This is based off a model in Bloomington, and so this would be part matched with other local partners, one to one (1:1). We would start the attraction program and then we hope to leverage a lot more investment from that. Finally, $75,000 for the resident legal assistance program and eviction legal support EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.92211f574.235.9173 jTTD574.235.5567Iwww.southbendin.gov 7 el CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK pilot. As you may have seen some of the data and reporting on evictions in South Bend, and the turnover that happens in our neighborhoods, we're trying to figure out when there is rightful and wrongful evictions and try to minimize that to the maximum extent possible. He continued, We talked about the organizational structure yesterday, and we think we'd be able to make progress toward the one (1)-stop shop for development land use (if you think of our proposed Planning Commission, the Building Department and Historic Preservation for business development). If you are looking for land use or a development decision, you would now have a one (1)-stop shop. We also talked about moving toward a centralized licensing and registration to make it more user friendly and resident friendly to figure out where they need to go to navigate how to get properly licensed and registered. We're also looking to advance the neighborhood and housing development program,which would be a pilot in the Sherman Harrison area as part of the West Side Main Streets Plan as well as the increased connectivity of neighborhoods to and around downtown. In the resident survey that we saw earlier this year, there's a lot of positive reinforcement for what's been going on downtown, but now we're starting to see how we connect this to the neighborhoods and how do we move out from downtown. We can't say mission accomplished in the downtown by any means,there is still a lot of infill left to do,but we'reettin g g to a point where we're able to shift our focus more toward those neighborhoods. He went on, We are continuing our West Side Main Streets Plan, South East Master Plan, and the City Cemetery Plan, and we're looking to update the Redevelopment Area plans sometime after budget this year or early next year depending on schedules, complete the zoning reform that we discussed mid next year, and figure out how to enable that missing middle housing that we found in the housing market study earlier this year, where there is anything between Single-Family residential to larger apartments. There is a lot in between and we're trying to figure out how to get those back in the new development projects. We're looking to improve resident engagement on City services and direct neighborhood association support. We mentioned an example yesterday with the home repair pilot where we had folks going door to door to let people know that this program existed in their area, and we want you to apply to try to take advantage of the program. We want to increase meaningful information available on City services. There is a host of things going on so it can be hard for Council and residents, and even the Administration to keep track of everything, so we're trying to figure out how we distill things so the information is getting to people in a meaningful way. Part of that is making sure that we continue to hone and refine our online presence. We'll continue to pilot our economic empowerment programs, and there are a number of potential new initiatives. This is really where the Engagement and Economic Empowerment Team is focused, and I think when we started this team as part of the 2018 budget, we thought that this was branded as the people focused, rather than just place focused that is looking at land use and property taxes. This is our people-centered investment, but we didn't anticipate the level of opportunity in the Economic Empowerment space.If we happen to get those grants that we talked about,that's going to be an enormous undertaking for a team of two (2), and so that's why we proposed an Engagement Specialist for the 2019 budget. This team in its initial year has already leveraged the funding that supports their salaries roughly one to one (1:1), and if we were to realize some of these grants it would be closer to nine (9) to one (1). We're always looking for opportunities to leverage our resources and make a bigger impact for the community. We also want to continue honing our workforce development through the Pathways program. We have a pilot with Purdue MVP that is going to be underway shortly. We are also looking to increase financing for small businesses. How do we grow and extend economic opportunities,and continue to promote greater density within the urban corridors surrounding neighborhoods? We've had EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W Jefferson Bvld lSouth Bend,Indiana 466011p 574.235.92211f574.235.91731TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 8 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK some external economic development folks note that we aren't there on downtown development, we have momentum and we're doing well,but in some ways,the outside perspectives were a little sobering. We're about a third (1/3) or a fourth (1/4) of the way there in terms of the density we need for long term sustainability. Finally, marketing our Innovation District and opportunities for investment,which is part of the federal tax reform bill passed in December. It instructed states that they can designate about a fourth of their LMI census tracts, and so Governor Holcomb designated five (5) within South Bend, and they extend what you might call our Innovation District, from Ignition Park to Innovation Park. They also did the South East tract with Ivy Tech. These used to be where the Regional Cities Projects are,the certified tech park bonds. With that, I'll call up our team members to give their top three (3) goals for 2019. Dan Buckenmeyer, Director of Business Development for the Department of Community Investment with offices on the 14th floor of the County-City Building, stated, I appreciate this opportunity to give a couple of our goals for both this year and next year. This year, we've accomplished the disposition of some of the key properties that were under City ownership such as the VA,the Michigan Street Shops, and the former Hall of Fame building. We're proud of what we did there, all of those deals were smart and meaningfully crafted to be the best for the City and put those properties in the hands of experienced developers who will create great outcomes for our residents. The second (2"d) one (1) is the expansion and enhancement of the workforce development Pathways program that my team manages. Already this year, one hundred twenty- four(124)individuals have benefited from City grants allowing them to advance their own careers and earnings through training and certification in a number of career areas. This year we expanded the program scope, the number of consultants we have on the street reaching out to a broader demographic and a broader geography of residents, and the budget were all expanded, and I think we're seeing the results of that as James mentioned. We just started a partnership with Purdue Manufacturing Extension, we have forty-eight (48) individuals from a consortium of companies right now that are going through a LEAN training. Their capstone will be an "on the shop floor" experience which you'll all get invitations to. We'd like to present some of the outcomes and success stories at a future Council meeting. It also backs right into our goal of increasing median incomes across the City and region by raising these folks.A third(3rd) is continuous improvement on the tax abatement process and tracking in DCI. As you know, we've identified some of these legacy issues with assessments,waivers and of course some of the extensions we did just recently. We're looking at the overall process to prevent these from being continuous burdens. He continued, Key items for next year include the Technology Resource Center at Ignition Park. This has a goal of providing one(1)of the coolest high-tech showrooms on this side of the Country, but also churning out a lot of high-tech,high-wage workers and fostering a tech hub in South Bend, halting the brain-drain. We're also focusing on the continued enhancement of Ignition Park in general through portfolio expansion, retention and attraction activities with companies, and the development of the Franklin Street technology park adjacent to it, and the marketing of Ignition Park as part of the opportunity zone here in the City. A second(2"d)would be ongoing, continued enhancement and expansion of the Pathways workforce development program. Looking for new ways to integrate it with the Bloomberg grant activities on transportation issues which are paramount for a lot of our workers in the City. Also, we're working with folks at the Drucker Institute, integrating this with the City's Lifelong Learning Program, and also continuing to enhance wrap around services for the folks going through these programs in South Bend. The third (3rd)is the ongoing expansion of support for our small businesses,through inclusive programs that reach across the community providing critical support to small businesses and minority businesses EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Bvld 1 South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.92211 f574.235.9173]TTD 574.235.5567 Iwww.southbendin.gov 9 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK in South Bend. James mentioned the microloan program we are working on. We are also making headway with the impending launch of the West Side Businesses Resource Center, which you should be getting an invite to the Grand Opening next Wednesday. We created this in collaboration with SOAR and other partners. Behind this is the constant hum of continuous improvement on our desire to provide exceptional customer service to the buildings and developers that we interact with.I get to come in and show you gorgeous renderings of new office buildings or spec buildings, but behind that are hundreds of hours and weeks and months of hard work and working externally with companies and internally with Engineering and Public Works to make sure this comes together and creates great outcomes for the City. We are always willing to help our customers navigate City services, provide constant and consistent support of business and economic development resources that attract, retain and expand local businesses, with the goal of adding jobs, raising wages and increasing investment here in the City. Alkeyna Aldridge, Director of Engagement and Economic Empowerment for the Department of Community Investment with offices on the 14th floor of the County-City Building,stated,As James mentioned, we're a new team that is only eight (8) months old. Sonia has only been here since March, so we're really proud of the fact that we've been able to leverage our salaries by over a ratio of one(1)to one (1). For 2019,we're looking forward to utilizing the additional capacity that the AmeriCorps members will bring to us for the Love Your Block program, as well as United Way AmeriCorps members that we'll be welcoming to our team as well. We want to leverage the capacity there to get out into neighborhoods directly. There is no silver bullet, the only way to build relationships and really understand what the folks need is to get out and talk to them. Specifically, we're talking about populations that are most in need and are the hardest to reach. They're not coming to City Hall,we have to go to them. With the position proposal,we're hoping they can also help to leverage the capacity of those additional staff members that are coming in to us through external resources. Secondly, we want to identify more City programs that are good candidates for rigorous evaluations. We're quantifying the benefits and collecting data that can be leveraged for additional external funds. Some examples of that is what we've done with our City VG reform this year and the partnership we have with MIT and their Poverty Action Lab, so we want to continue that. We're also excited about the relationships we're building with the regional banks around the work they're doing with the low to moderate income population and figuring out how we can unlock additional capital and resources. Specifically,how it relates to homeownership and business ownership. As we know, those are really the only two (2) ways to move that needle with relation to economic mobility and the race gap. Pam Meyer, Director of Neighborhood Development for the Department of Community Investment with offices on the le floor of the County-City Building stated, I have a team of five (5) people and their time is spent doing direct service to residents in our community in a variety of programs. In a broader sense, neighborhood development in 2019 has a large role in advancing the neighborhood and housing development program that James had spoken about. In fact, we were an advance team by having a lot of work that we'd done previously on the 1000 homes in 1000 days and demolishing and readying vacant properties for this opportunity. We're looking to help partner with Planning and our other team members to address issues related to strategies in terms of the use of vacant land, development opportunities, and financing. Secondly, I am going to say that we will be celebrating the opening of the Gateway Center for coordinated entry and weather amnesty services. That is a big piece of our role in terms of working with agencies locally and providing the resources for that service. The third (3rd) is assuming a successful federal EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.92211f574.235.9173 I TTD 574.235.5567 I www.southbendin.gov 10 vaii CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK application which has already been submitted and a state application to implement a lead grant program to assist lead remediation and control activities within our neighborhoods. Tim Corcoran,Director of Planning for the Department of Community Investment with offices on the 14th Floor of the County-City Building, stated, The goals that we have for 2019 include finishing the completion of the complete Zoning Ordinance reform that we've been incrementally doing this year, but really tackling the rest of the issues that are part of zoning reform, including the complete restructuring of the document for ease of use. Included in this is the process of how one(1)goes about development in the City of South Bend,focusing on unlocking the development potential of a lot of the areas of the City that may not have seen that potential unlocked yet. This includes a good urban design as part of that ordinance that delivers high quality and value back to the City. The second (2nd) goal that is combined with the first(1st) in a sense is the introduction of the Area Plan functionality into Community Investment. We want to make sure that that transition is smooth and seamless, and that it integrates well with other departments including the Building Department and Public Works. Thirdly, the completion of our first (1st) neighborhood strategy plan, and the infrastructure projects from previous plans that have been called out in making sure that we continue to implement the promises that were part of those plans. Also, we are in the process of digitizing all HPC records. They are already public, but we want to make them more accessible because it is a really interesting resource that we have, and there's a wealth of information there that the residents should be able to look at whenever they would like. Committee Chair White opened the floor to Committee and Council Members for questions and comments. Councilmember Davis stated, In terms of the planning of the Area Plan relocation into this Department, will there be any time where we will have a complete discussion to look at the layout issues, prior to us voting on any kind of funding? I haven't been made aware of that. I just know what the papers talked about,but I haven't been included in any of those discussions. Mr. Mueller stated, I think on the organizational piece, I think the meeting next week with the Building Department would be a great time to talk about that,we could also have a broader meeting on that,too. It's a question of how much time we have. Councilmember Davis asked, Could you share with us the breakdown of the finances for the Building Department? Mr. Mueller stated, Sure. It was embedded in yesterday's presentation, but if we need to pull that out for you, we can. Councilmember Davis stated,Yes I'd like to just focus on that part of it. When is the grand opening for the Gateway Center? Mr. Mueller stated, That was a 2019 aspirational goal. We don't have a location yet. Councilmember Davis stated, Ok. I was just seeing if I missed it. I would like to have more information about those zoning issues, so I'll live right now. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.91731 TTD 574.235.55671 www.southbendin.gov 11 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK Councilmember Jake Teshka stated, Regarding the realignment, my understanding is, we're talking about moving funds from the South Side TIF into River West, correct? Mr. Mueller stated, When you do the realignment, you wouldn't be moving funds, but you could contemplate that funds might be used in that area. We have the map of where the proposed boundaries might be, and we're still taking feedback from Council Members. Councilmember Teshka requested that information to be forwarded to him. Councilmember Broden stated, The update of Redevelopment Area Plans,who is guiding that, are we contracting that out, and what is the timeline? I assume that will vary across those plans. I'm asking specifically for some timelines on that because it has been a long-standing issue, and some people think that can be done in a one (1) month timeframe, and some people understand that it can be done in six (6)months. Mr. Mueller stated, We have that process laid out, I don't have it with me right now, but we can send it to you. We're aiming to settle on what we are looking to do, and then get legal descriptions from outside services, and then bring it before that process. Generally, I think it.goes from the Redevelopment Commission,to the Council,back to the Redevelopment Commission. The timing of the process is probably a couple of months. Councilmember Broden asked, And who handles public information for your department as a whole, or is it just within each team? You have some goals here of spreading information and engagement of difficult populations, connecting City services. Who handles it and have you contemplated a public information position? Mr. Mueller stated, We have not contemplated a public information position. I think one(1) of the ideas was that the new Engagement and Economic Empowerment Team would take care of a lot of that. The responsibility would lie with every team, and myself too. The Economic Empowerment portfolio has been bigger than we anticipated, which is one (1) of the reasons we are looking for that Engagement Specialist.We'd still lean on that team to help us craft messaging. Sometimes the Planning Team uses some jargon that not everyone would understand,so we would lean on this team to help keep this on the radar and drive the initiative, but it is a shared responsibility because each team knows their piece the best. Councilmember Broden stated, With regard to workforce development initiatives, we heard quite a bit about our neighborhood centers and interfacing with parks, and I didn't see that in the top goals, but to me that seemed to be very promising, going where people are already going and convening. I loved the presentation at LaSalle Park that was part of our Residential Committee Meetings. I think that was the number one (1)ask of us as Council,what can we do that raises the level of the programming within our Parks Department facilities that is specific to workforce development? I just wanted to make sure it is on your radars. Mr. Mueller responded, Yes, we are a little stretched on goals to work on, and Aaron and I have a biweekly meeting.He went to a parks conference,and he was asked how many of them are meeting with their economic development departments, and it was not a high fraction that was in the room. We are sure to coordinate. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Bvld'South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.92211f 574.235.9173 I I u 574.235.55671www.southbendin.gov 12 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Councilmember Broden stated, I see parallel goals in interfacing with Regional Cities, but with regards to diversity and inclusion, I think we have a lot of assets and a lot of things that we can bring to that discussion and those groups, and I see an entity that is not very representative. How can we move that ball big time? Mr. Mueller stated, Sure. They are in the process of hiring a Diversity Officer at the South Bend Elkhart Partnership. I don't know the exact status of that, but I expect them to make that hire in the next few weeks. I think we share some of the frustrations with what the plan came up with. You can also look at who was on the committee to develop that plan.Regionalism is a tough thing, because you have a lot of people, Elkhart County is very different from St. Joseph County, and Marshall County is different still. So, bridging those differences, we are a more diverse community,and we have to lead by example as a City and also push that in the regional partnership. We agree with that, and it is similar with workforce development. There are a lot of recommendations in the draft that we saw of the dichotomy report, and we are already doing a lot of those things, so I think there is an opportunity for us to lead. But, we can't underscore the idea that there are vast differences within the region. It is probably not going to make as much progress on certain things as we would like because of the give and take. Councilmember Broden asked, And we're funding them,right? At what level? Mr.Mueller stated,We have made a four(4)year commitment of$7,500 per year,so it is a$30,000 commitment over four(4)years. The final two (2) years is proposed in this budget. We were able to use previous economic development funds for the first two (2) years. Councilmember Broden stated, I see that as nominal, there really is no leverage there. It is really just time and leadership, and being at those tables at all those meetings and all of those small work groups. I want to make sure that there is dedicated staff time, so that we're not doing nine(9)other projects, and then this big regional thing doesn't have our stamp on it. Mr. Mueller stated, From the City, Dan and Austin are on the Business Development Committee. We try to have representation on the committees, we have a good relationship with the leadership of the South Bend Elkhart Partnership,and they're excited about the Technology Resource Center at Ignition Park. There may be some potential opportunities.The public support of this is nominal, like you said, the vast majority is coming from the private sector and the lead economic development organizations in each area. But there is also strong potential for philanthropic dollars coming together as a region and applying for those. It is a big partnership, a big tent, and every partner is probably upset with something with how it is going. Councilmember Broden stated, And there are areas in Elkhart County that have similar diversity that could actually bring that to the table as well. I just don't want to see another redo of regional plans that actually exclude large areas of our population. I have been asked if there is going to be a coordinator for homelessness. I don't think it's in your budget,but have you seen those requests, and what is your response to those? Mr. Mueller stated,We've seen those requests and we are looking for cost sharing in order to fund that position.Those discussions are active,so I can't tell you if or when we would see that position. But we are looking for buy-in from a broader set of stakeholders in terms of financial support. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011p 574.235.92211f 574.235.91731TTD 574.235.5567Iwww.southbendin.gov 13 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Councilmember Regina Williams-Preston stated, Wow. I am trying not to be so excited, I really love this. You and your department, you really need to be commended. I have some very specific questions. I am going to thank you, I see a lot of what I've heard residents saying that the Council has been saying over the last few years, reflected in this budget. Not just with words, but with specific dollars attached to it,and that shows the hard work that you've done in listening and really connecting with the residents in this community. Most specifically, I heard a lot of really great words, and I know that what you're doing is backing up those words. I hear things like people- centered, how can we increase our credit rating because we want a triple A (AAA) bond rating, and one (1) of the things they talked about was increasing AMI, raising wages, and high wage workers. The language means a lot. When you're saying these things effortlessly, and I'm hearing it from your whole staff,it really shows that this is something that the City Administration is really committed to, and it's really exciting to hear. With regards to workforce development, you talked about the Tech Resource Center and the high wage jobs. I'm wondering how can we connect our current residents. We talk about our brain drain, and I often talk about the brain drain that happens when kids don't make it through high school for example. There is a lot of potential, but for some reason that falls off.I hear that there is going to be a presentation later,and so I am looking forward to hearing how we can begin to connect existing residents to those opportunities as well, not just the young people who come to the many universities that we have and keeping them here, but connecting our existing residents to those opportunities. She continued, The Pathways Program, I heard one hundred twenty-four(124)people, then forty- eight(48)people in the Purdue pilot, I am looking forward to hearing more about those and what the plans are to upscale that,because those are really great. I also heard some dollars going toward early childhood,the pilot program with Purdue that is like a post-secondary, Youth Build, looking at those young people who maybe didn't finish,which is a real problem,and reengaging them and giving them real skills. Residents have been wanting that specifically. The question I have is, do you have any thoughts on what to do about that K-12? We have the early childhood, the post- secondary, but is there any conversation about what we can do to support the K-12 schools so that we are not having this gap?Also so we are not getting so many kids,somewhere around ten percent (10%) of people over eighteen (18) years old in St. Joseph County don't have a high school credential? So we're working hard to bring these high-wage jobs, but so many of our residents can't even qualify for those. Mr. Mueller stated, This is all workforce and education related. One (1) of the most important things we can do for K-12 is, a lot of the outcomes aren't driven by what is going on in the classroom, and trying to figure out what we can do as a City to have safe, vibrant, healthy neighborhoods. I think lead is a big issue. There is a lot of research on the impact that has on the rates of violence and learning outcomes, so healthy households is a good place to start. The crime rate is outside of our jurisdiction,per say,but we know it impacts development and schools across the board so we're not blind to that. I think some of the social services and the expansion there and the GVI, looking at more of the carrots rather than just the sticks is something we're focused on. We have other ideas that we haven't figured out financing for yet. There are thoughts of how you encourage different sectors or professionals to move into neighborhoods that they were from, or not, like teachers for example. So is there a way we can incentivize them and police and other public sector employees to live among the residents that they serve. We don't know how to pay for that,but it is something that we think about. Since I'm talking about things we don't know how to fund, when I worked for the Solar Institute at George Washington, schools have great flat roofs EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W Jefferson Bvld'South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.92211f 574.235.9173 I I U 574.235.55671 www.southbendin.gov 14 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK that are great for solar energy. That can reduce costs for energy in schools, so that's an idea we haven't figured out yet. Committee Chair White opened the floor to members of the public for questions or comments for Transpo and the Department of Community Investment. Sue Kesim, 4022 Kennedy Drive, stated, My questions and comments are on behalf of Michiana Disability and Advocacy. Transportation within that community is a big discussion. This will be the third (3rd)time I'm bringing it up. The last time I looked at the figures, one (1)paratransit trip was $34, I don't know if that has changed. That is why that section of the budget is always in the red by a lot. We have seventeen(17)paratransit vans, and LaPorte has taken those same vans and they changed them to propane which significantly reduced the costs and burned cleaner. There's a company in Elkhart that changes those paratransit vans to propane. They got their costs down to $14,which would save $20 per trip if my numbers are still accurate. That is a huge cost savings to consider. They said they would be glad to talk with you. I know there are federal constraints on what you can charge for a paratransit trip, I'm wondering if those federal guidelines are going to go up any. I believe that's part of the reason paratransit loses money is that they have a federal cap of what they can charge. There is a new program by Lyft for medical transport. I'm wondering if Lyft could possibly take off some of the burden of paratransit trips. It is a special pilot program with a special app. I gave the information to Ryan DeLine at MACOG, and his reaction is that it may be great for Goshen because they're more progressive. I'd like to think that we could be more progressive in South Bend and consider something like this. I think the new scheduling system is great because one(1)of the comments I heard in this group is that they would wait or they wouldn't get there in time for their appointment. I hope you'll consider some of those ideas to help improve the experience for people with disabilities and the budget. Richard Collins, 55478 Moss Road, stated, I live in Ardmore. This is an excellent one(1),the City of South Bend Department of Community Investment, I back this one hundred percent(100%). If they continue and keep communicating with you and the citizens that pay for all of this, we'll be alright. Regarding Transpo's insurance, this is the same that the County passed. I hope and pray that you have a good administrator. If you don't, you'll wind up like they are. Also, you have to be very careful. This plan is not controlled by Indiana at all, this is a federally backed plan. The U.S. House of Representatives already has controls passed for this kind of plan. This is an Obama killer plan. When Obama insurance is dead, they will come out and reintroduce legislation to control this plan if they ever get rid of Obamacare. Regarding fleet replacement, we need smaller busses that run economically. Can any of you remember when busses used to take kids to school? Central High School students lined up out front, why can't we do something with the schools and the busses to take some pressure of the school bus drivers to help them out with this? Also, the property taxes are just like the insurance plan. It's all theory, and it is all equations. Anybody can be wrong,just keep that in mind when the tax cuts come. Jim Bognar, 807 West Washington Street, Thank you Council, I would also like to thank you for the debt presentation, and also to you, Jennifer, I think it was very helpful. I direct this originally to the Chair, when I took a look at the presentation for this evening,it was much longer with more information in it, and I did not print it at home. The issue that I wanted to discuss is about one(1) specific area of TIF that affected the River East Residential. Is it possible to bring the slide up of the most current numbers?This was not in the package,but it was online. I wanted to bring up the bond for Eddy Street Commons Phase II. The primary source of this bond is property taxes, and EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 P 574.235.92211f 574.235.9173ITTD574.235.5567Iwww.southbendin.gov 15 4110 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK when I took a look at the most recent information, and this is directly related to Eddy Street, I thought we were very close in property tax revenues, to what it was to pay these bonds, within about $300. I was very shocked by that, that assumes that there's not going to be a lot of appeals and that the property taxes are not going to go down. One (1) of the things we talked about yesterday that they didn't mention, is that while the City is in good shape financially, there are areas that have some stresses to them, so if for some reason the area of Eddy Street Commons starts to go down in value, or there are a lot of appeals and it goes down, then we will go to the primary source of the funding, which is the General Fund, to be able to take money out of it. One (1)of the concerns we have as it relates to debt,is that what we want to accomplish here is amazing, but if we have stresses that are going to come to us financially in certain areas, we are going to have problems. That's what I think is so important when you talk about segregated taxation, there is money in TIF that is captured that has to go back into TIF districts, and how we've paid for that and how we set that up is very significant. We all know we have to borrow and we all know where we have to be on this. The newspaper labeled me as parsimonious,but one (1)of the things I want to make sure that Dr.Mueller's team and the Council works with is,that when we borrow and look to do things, how are we going to pay for them, and what stresses will it put on us in the future? I think the dialogue of that is very critical. I do believe if you look at the most recent 2019 budget for Fund#436, you will find its very close to break even, and the numbers are based on estimates because we haven't collected anything yet. We don't know what that is going to be, or what kind of people are over there having substantial appeals on property taxes. The most important thing is, I think we've had good dialogue. It's part of the budget process to talk about debt, and about what we're doing. Ultimately,to be able to do all of the things we want to do,we have to make sure we have the money to be able to do this, and we have to know where we are going to stand as we move forward in the future. I think the Council and Administration have done a good job in trying to move forward in this,but I encourage you to work much stronger together to understand where we have problems. If we're short in a district, there's nothing wrong with that, but we've got to have the transparency to say we're short and that we have to take a look at it. Jorden Giger,61455 Druid Lane,stated,I want to echo what Regina said regarding the Department of Community Investment's work that shows that they've really been listening. Regarding the Western Streetscape from Falcon to Dundee, I've talked to a lot of business owners there in particular, and there is a couple that owns a bakery that has a lot of concerns in terms of communication, and not knowing what is happening regarding the redevelopment projects there. When they were doing work initially on the first (1st) phase of the streetscape plan, they talked about how it affected their business because there wasn't as much traffic. Also, during winter, there was a lot of snow on the sidewalks and their customers had a hard time walking through the snow. It would be good if you could talk to the folks there, because he didn't even know that they were going to develop that part of Western,too, and I had to tell him that was actually in this plan. Also, regarding the matching funds for the Department of Labor Youth Build program, I wanted to know what are the wages, are they at$10.10, are they higher than the typical median income in the area? Also, have you all been working with employers in the census tracts? We look at the census tracts,and in particular in Regina's district,the people who are ages sixteen(16)to twenty- four(24),black and brown people, young people have unemployment rates of fifty percent(50%) and sixty percent (60%), and my employer is hiring people to do industrial sewing and they train people for free,they also pay one hundred percent(100%) of their employees' health insurance. I just want to know if you're working with employers around those areas to see if they can get involved with this effort. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W Jefferson BvId l South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.92211f 574.235.9173(TTD 574.235.55671 www.southbendin.gov 16 11 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OFTHE CLERK Committee Chair White thanked the public for their questions and informed them that all questions are being recorded and will be responded to. Councilmember Davis asked when they will get answers to the questions and concerns they have. Committee Chair White stated, We will record those and they will go straight to Jennifer and the Department Heads and they will address those. Councilmember Davis asked, And the questions for Transpo and Redevelopment, they will send us the answers? Committee Chair White stated, Yes, and all of those questions and answers will be posted on our website very soon. VPA Wrap Up • Aaron Perri, Executive Director of VPA with offices at 301 S. St. Louis Boulevard, stated, The way I framed this last slide (referencing a slide in the presentation available in the City Clerk's Office)was basically around the changes that are happening in 2019 and anything that is material to the budget. We're going to merge some funds that we have, primarily Funds #201 and #203. The budget will look significantly different this year, because of this, there will be approximately $1.2 million in revenues and expenses that you see in Fund 201 that have historically been in Fund 203. Mr. Perri passed out a sheet to the Council (available in the City Clerk's Office). Committee Chair White asked, Can you explain the rationale? Mr.Perri stated,There are three(3)reasons we want to do this. It brings Funds#203 and#405 into #201. This is a simplification of accounting and budgeting efforts, if you scroll through you'll see we probably have the most funds out of just about any City department. They were set up in the 1990's to track revenue in and out. These are non-reverting funds, designed to be used for a particular purpose. The thought was that those dollars are always there. We can do that operationally now by transferring those monies into Fund#201 every time we want to use them. This will help with the ease of understanding as we try to be more transparent. We'll also have to clean up some legislation that is more in line with how we operate organizationally. The reason the hand out is important is because while we can improve the budget,there is still some legislation in place, so this sheet lists the ordinance numbers we'll have to clean up after the budget is out of the way. It doesn't change our programming or revenue in or revenue out,it just puts it all into one account. On the personnel side, we have a total net effect of about $44,000 increase which is less than a one percent (1%) increase. It includes two percent (2%) raises for the staffs salary caps. We're migrating a couple of positions that we've bounced back and forth from the venues side to the facilities and grounds side back to the venues side. We are also doing some efficiencies, as we look at using our labor a little bit better, relying more on full-time labor. We're proposing to add a new Teamsters position. It's a front-line position that will help care for the newly expanded Charles Black Center. Perhaps in 2020 we want to look at the same type of thing as we bring Howard Park online and look at the trail systems downtown. We're also bringing ice skating back to Howard Park in 2019, which affects the personnel line slightly. Then there are a few Form 2 changes. The Center supervisors,Maurice Scott and Cynthia Taylor,who have been with the City for a significant amount of time,as we look at their scope of responsibility,the staff they supervise, EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend.Indiana 466011 p 574.235.92211f574.235.9173 I TTD574.235.55671www.southbendin.gov 17 410 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK their role in the neighborhoods and the budget dollars they directly oversee, and compare that to like-folks in the City, they are significantly underpaid. Those positions have proposed increases of ten percent (10%). Also, ten percent (10%) increases for both our Director of Facilities and Grounds and our Director of Experience. The director level title hasn't been consistent in terms of pay. We try to look at how much budget they oversee, how much risk is involved, so in terms of the experience director who oversees marketing and development, doesn't have as much responsibility as someone like John Martinez who oversees the entire physical plant of our property and parks. We're trying to look at that City-wide as well. At the end of the day, the net impact to the entire #201 budget is only a point seven percent (.7%) increase due to some of the work we're able to do. The idea is that we're going to have a continued focus on cost recovery. You've seen my pyramid that I preach that shows the bulk of the things we offer are free, but as we work our way up the pyramid, we try to recover some costs for smaller things like camps or athletic leagues, and even greater costs like golf or the fitness center, and even things like concessions where we try to make money to offset funds of other things. The target has been forty percent (40%) by the end of 2019, and we're still on track for that. That represents an effort over the three (3)-year period of about$500,000, so we're really pleased to get there. That puts us right around the industry standard. He continued, We're also seeing a projected increase in property taxes come in at about$600,000 more than last year. Donations have about a $100,000 increase over last year, and then we have some grants coming our way, around $1.6 million. In terms of the allocation side, we saw an increase in the IT allocation that is directly related to some unique software we will be getting for facilities management. It is our portion of the City-wide software that will help us track maintenance logs, warranty information, service logs and work orders, and house all of that electronically. We're increasing our data plan so folks in the field can catalogue those things in real time as well as increase communication efforts. We're also going to continue to add wireless. We just celebrated the opening of the Click SB Center at the Martin Luther King Center in partnership with IT and the St. Joseph County Library. We'll be running MetroNet out to the Charles Black Center to do the same thing, and continue to expand wireless capacities throughout our parks. Then we saw an increase on the admin insurance payroll side. Most of that is because we had a reprieve that was not phased in.Now that we're focusing on our cost recovery,we're off our reprieve, so we're paying our own way. We're suggesting that we hire a dedicated engineering individual to be on the Public Works team to help with all of these projects that are going on. We are looking at what it takes to hire a third (3`1)-party engineer to inspect all of these projects that are underway because there is a significant cost savings to have that person on staff. He went on, This will be the second (2nd) year of an increase in the amount of resources going to the Youth Scholarship Fund. That now totals $65,000 annually to ensure that money is no object to people that want to participate in our programs. We also said we would do five(5)years' worth of deferred maintenance projects out of our Capital Fund, so this is in bond money or otherwise. This is money that we built up, but not in a reverting fund. That will go to things like the City Cemetery and the neighborhood parks,pavilions,picnic tables and athletic equipment.Finally,My SB Parks and Trails. We are proposing the spend down our Capital Reserves to the tune of just over $2 million. You'll see on our budget sheets that we're going to be in a deficit of$2 million. Our Capital Reserve remains healthy, but we had over $2 million above and over where we expected to be on capital reserves from the past few years, so we're going to spend that on some of the projects we have going on right now, particularly on Howard Park. The transfers in will be about$400,000 more than what we had in the past,that's getting repaid from our partnership with EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W.Jefferson BvldISouth Bend,Indiana 466011p574.235.92211f574.235.9173ITTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 18 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians. They are contributing$425,000 per year over the course of five (5) years dedicated to Howard Park. Instead of spending that $425,000 over five (5)years, we're going to spend it all up front and get a whole new park so we get a better economy of scale out of our contractor rather than phase in the project over five (5) years. We'll see a decreased reliance on the General Fund to the tune of$487,000. Committee Chair White opened the floor to questions from Committee and Council Members. Councilmember Davis asked, Is there any more funding for Walker Field? Mr. Perri stated, Walker Field was on our neighborhood park plan. Walker Field is scheduled for athletic field upgrades and some pavilion playground amenities as well for 2019. These were all funded previously as part of the old park bond, and we committed $250,000 per year from the capital reserve fund, so these are all funded, including the restroom projects in the parks. Councilmember Davis asked, So that was funding from the previous park bond that we already passed? Mr. Perri responded, Yes. Councilmember Davis asked, Is there an opening date for the dog park yet? John Martinez stated, It will be opened in October. Councilmember Teshka stated, Sidewalks in park areas, I spoke to a neighbor of Marshall Park, and I was told that property belongs to VPA. Mr. Perri stated, Yes, a portion of it. Councilmember Teshka stated, I went by there and there are some spots that are kind of rough, so I just want to get that on your radar. Then, where is the Howard Park project currently at? Mr. Perri stated, Bids were due about two (2) weeks ago to the Board of Public Works, where we're currently working with the low bidder on some value exercises. They came in just about ten percent(10%) above what we had budgeted. We need to get a change order in place so as soon as it is awarded, we'll be able to afford that project. As soon as it is awarded, hopefully at the last BPW meeting in September,it will be a fifty-six(56)week construction project. We start working in October, it puts us in November of 2019. Councilmember Broden stated, Please refresh my memory regarding land acquisitions for park usage, and also any dollars that are forthcoming for mitigation efforts post-February's flooding? Mr. Perri referred to a chart on the presentation, stating,As far as I can tell, we're using this chart in a more sophisticated manor than anybody in the Country. We've put$2.2 million into the park bond to address these four (4) primary areas. The ones where you see stars are where we have property identified and we're actively pursuing land. Councilmember Teshka is helping pretty aggressively with the property on the south side of town. There is an area that is proving to be difficult in the near south east. It is densely populated with not many vacant and abandoned EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend.Indiana 466011 p 574.235.92211f 574.235.9173111D 574.235.55671 www.southbend in.gov 19 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK houses. We're going to have to get more creative there, but these will be 2019 projects, and some of them might spill over into 2020. These are also funded. He continued, In terms of the mitigation work, there was close to $2 million in damage in and around our parks and trails system. We're working closely with our Engineering Department and Public Works Department with FEMA on getting catalogued what's covered and what is not covered. We're pretty close to getting that back to us, and then it is an insurance conversation. Then we'll see what gets funded from insurance and what gets folded into our existing capital plans and otherwise. Committee Chair White opened the floor to the public for questions or comments. Richard Collins, 55478 Moss Road, stated, I live in Ardmore. Anything that we can contribute to this program is great. This is citizen oriented. If they need$5 million more, give it to them. Did he give you every answer when he came up here? Yes. With no further business,Committee Chair White adjourned the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting at 6:52 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Karen White, Committee Chair EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Bvld i South Bend,Indiana 46601 Ip 574.235.92211f574.235.9173ITTD574.235.55671www.southbendin.gov 20