HomeMy WebLinkAboutAnnual Report Public Works and Property Vacation Committeev
2007 Annual Report of the Public Works and Property
Vacation Committee of the South Bend Common Council
Date: December 7, 2007
To: The South Bend Common Council
The Office of the City Clerk
From: 5~' District Council Member David Varner, Chairperson
Public Works and Property Vacation Committee
This Annual Report is filed as a requirement of Section 2-10 (i) of the South Bend Municipal
Code which calls for a report from the Chairperson of each of the Council's Standing Committee
by the 2nd Monday in December.
Duties:
The Public Works and Property Vacation Committee is charged with the following duties
pursuant to Section 2-10 (i) (8) of the South Bend Municipal Code:
"Overseeing the various activities performed by the Building Department,
the Department of Public Works and related public works and property
vacation issues"
2007 Committee Members:
The member of the Committee .this year include Council Members Pfeifer, Dieter, Kelly and
myself. J. Edward Talley serves as our Citizen Member and has provided invaluable insights
and perspectives to our committee.
Meetings:
This year we have had twelve (12) meetings to date, compared to the fourteen (14) meetings held
last year.
Meeting Topics:
Petitions requesting the vacation of public property constituted the majority of the ordinances
which were referred to the Public Works and Property Vacation Committee for review and
recommendation.
2007 Annual Report of the Public Works and Property Vacation Committee
Page 2
By having the Board of Public Works send to the Public Works and Property Vacation
Committee their advisory recommendation on a proposed vacation of public property farther in
advance of the Committee meeting when the matter is heard, better notice of potential problems
and the Administration's recommendations has resulted. It has also helped that Public Works
Director Gary Gilot or City Engineer Carl Littrell also attended each of these meetings so that
they could provide additional information and respond to questions raised at the committee level.
Vacations of public property procedures have operated effectively and relatively smoothly
consistent with the governing state law set forth at Indianan Code § 36-7-3-13. I would
recommend however that a housekeeping ordinance needs to be worked on in 2008 to refine
some of our local procedures.
The Public Works and Property Vacation Committee was also instrumental in implementing
Light Emitting Diodes (LED) technology which is resulting in guaranteed energy savings and
costs savings in the operation and maintenance of our traffic signals. Being more energy
efficient in the various city operations and services will continue to be a priority.
Thank you.
Respectfully submitted,
V~ v~
Council Member David Varner, Chairperson
Public Works and Property Vacation Committee
South Bend Common Council
cc: Mayor Stephen J. Luecke
Gary Gilot, Department of Public Works Director