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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-25-19 Council Minutes REPORT OF SUB-COMMITTEE ON MINUTES TO THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND: THE SUB-COMMITTEE HAS INSPECTED THE MINUTES OF THE March 25, 2019 MEETING OF THE COUNCIL AND FOUND THEM TO BE CORRECT. THEREFORE, WE RECOMMEND THE SAME BE APPROVED: 11111*14� TI CO% TESHKA APPROVED BY THE COMMON COUNCIL ON: April 8, 2019 ATTEST: ' / KA' EMAH F l WLER, CITY CLERK REGULAR MEETING March 25, 2019 Be it remembered that the Common Council of the City of South Bend, Indiana met in the Council Chambers of the County-City Building on Monday, March 25th, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. The meeting was called to order by Council President Tim Scott and the Invocation (Bishop Douglas Sparks, The Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana) and Pledge to the Flag were given. ROLL CALL COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Tim Scott 1st District, President Regina Williams-Preston 2nd District Sharon L. McBride 3rd District Jo M. Broden 4th District Jake Teshka 5th District John Voorde At-Large, Chairperson Committee of the Whole Gavin Ferlic At-Large Karen L. White At-Large, Vice President COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: Oliver J. Davis 6th District OTHERS PRESENT: Kareemah Fowler City Clerk Jennifer Coffman Chief Deputy Clerk Bianca Tirado Deputy Clerk Graham Sparks Clerk Executive Assistant Bob Palmer Council Attorney REPORT FROM THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON MINUTES Councilmember Gavin Ferlic made a motion that the minutes of the February 25th, 2019 meeting of the Council be accepted and placed on file. Councilmember Karen White seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of eight (8) ayes. SPECIAL BUSINESS MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND VICTIMS REPORTS OF CITY OFFICES Representing the City Administration: Laura O'Sullivan, Chief of Staff RESOLVE INTO THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE At 7:05 p.m. Councilmember Gavin Ferlic made a motion to resolve into the Committee of the Whole. Councilmember Karen White seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of eight (8) ayes. Councilmember John Voorde, Chairperson, presiding. 1 REGULAR MEETING March 25, 2019 Councilmember John Voorde explained the procedures to be followed for tonight's meeting in accordance with Article 1, Section 2-11 of the South Bend Municipal Code. PUBLIC HEARINGS Councilmember Karen White made a motion to hear together, for purposes of public hearing, Bill Nos. 07-19, 08-19, and 09-19. Councilmember Gavin Ferlic seconded this motion which carried by a voice vote of eight (8) ayes. BILL NO. 07-19 PUBLIC HEARING ON AN ORDINANCE OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, FOR BUDGET TRANSFERS FOR VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS WITHIN THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA FOR THE YEAR 2019 08-19 PUBLIC HEARING ON AN ORDINANCE OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, APPROPRIATING ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR CERTAIN DEPARTMENTAL AND CITY SERVICES OPERATIONS IN 2019 OF $25,000 FROM GENERAL FUND (#101), $3,469 FROM STUDEBAKER-OLIVER REVITALIZATION GRANT FUND (#209), $672,857 FROM ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STATE GRANT (#210), $2,300,000 FROM DCI FEDERAL GRANT FUND (#212), $200,000 FROM LIABILITY INSURANCE PREMIUM RESERVE FUND (#226), $160,000 FROM LOCAL ROAD & STREET (#251), $85,580 FROM IT/INNOVATION/311 CALL CENTER(#279), $24,945 FROM INDIANA RIVER RESCUE (#291), $2,518 FROM COVELESKI BOND DEBT SERVICE RESERVE (#317), $251,475 FROM COUNTY OPTION INCOME TAX (#404), $32,500 FROM ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INCOME TAX(#408), $670,001 FROM MAJOR MOVES CONSTRUCTION (#412), $5,117,411 FROM 2018 TIF PARKS BOND CAPITAL (#452), $500,000 FROM 2017 PARKS BOND CAPITAL (#471), AND $415,500 FROM 2015 PARKS BOND CAPITAL (#751). 09-19 PUBLIC HEARING ON AN ORDINANCE OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, APPROPRIATING ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR CERTAIN DEPARTMENTAL AND ENTERPRISE OPERATIONS IN 2019 OF $200,000 FROM CONSOLIDATED BUILDING FUND (#600), $1,715,669 FROM WATER WORKS DEBT SERVICE (#625), AND ($600,000) FROM STORM SEWER FUND (#667). 2 REGULAR MEETING March 25, 2019 Councilmember Karen White, chair of the Personnel and Finance Committee, reported that they met this afternoon and send these bills forward with favorable recommendations. Dan Parker, City Controller for the City of South Bend with offices located on the 12th floor of the County-City Building, South Bend, IN, served as the presenter for these bills. Mr. Parker stated, Starting with Bill No. 07-19, this is a budget transfer bill. If you turn to the detail tab (referencing a page in the Council Member Packet, available in the City Clerk's Office), these transfers do not increase or decrease appropriations. They are simply moving money around, so we can better track where these expenditures are coming from. The largest one (1) on there is for the donation we received from the Pokagon Band for the Howard Park renovation and construction that is going on currently. That is being moved so that we can segregate those monies and track how they are being spent for the purposes of reporting back to them. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. Moving onto Bill No. 08-19, this is the additional appropriations request for Civil City Funds. So,these are segregated out into four(4)buckets of additional appropriations requests. The first (Pt) bucket is unanticipated expenses. So, this is what you would expect additional appropriations requests to be which are items that have come up since the development of the 2019 budget, or, were not known since the development of the 2019 budget. The second (2nd) bucket are items supported by new revenue. These are primarily dollars that came in the form of grants that we did not get in time to put them into the 2019 budget. So, we are asking that the Council approve those expenditures so that we can spend those grant dollars. The third (3rd) bucket is Capital Projects. These are funds that are a part of a larger capital project that has already been approved by Council. When Council approves Capital Projects, it is difficult to know whether the funds will be spent in 2018 or 2019. So, we tend to approve the full amount of the project but, invariably, some of those funds aren't spent just in terms of timing and construction. So, we are coming back to you to ask the remainder of the amount that was already approved in 2018 be approved in 2019 for additional spending. Then the last bucket is what I've titled Administrative Items.Those are somewhat similar to Capital Projects in that these are items that were appropriated in 2018 but were not spent. So, we are asking these items be appropriated in 2019 so that we can complete the projects as appropriate. Councilmember Jo M. Broden stated, I have a question and some comments. I like the clarity with which you've added to this report with the subsections. I think that is very helpful not only for Council but for members of the public. I am really excited about the over $3 million in grant funding. I am wondering if Council,perhaps, could have some identification of the individuals on staff who actually did that work because I would specifically like to thank them. I think my Council peers would think the same way. It's extraordinary to have these types of grant dollars coming into our City for projects we've all spoken in favor of for a long time. So, I would like to have that list if at all possible. Mr. Parker replied, Absolutely. We will get you a full list. I do know these specific grants were spearheaded by Suzanna Fritzberg in the Mayor's Office as well as working with Pam Meyer in DCI. Councilmember Jo M. Broden followed up, Great, thank you. My last question, I'm sorry, you answered quite a few questions in Committee. Just a reminder to the public, that is a portion of the public record. So, thank you very much for your efforts earlier today. One (1) question though, outstanding, the school zone flashing beacons, and I would be surprised if you know this to this specificity, but could you follow up please on where those flashing beacons will be installed? Mr. Parker replied, Yes. And you are correct, I do not know that but, yes, we will follow up with you on that. Mr. Parker continued, Bill No. 09-19 is a similar bill to 08-19 in that this is an additional appropriation request, but this is for the enterprise funds as opposed to the civil city funds. Again, it is broken down into subsections.The only item in the unanticipated bucket is$200,000 for clean- up of the former Drewry's Brewery site. This will be augmented by $200,000 that will be going before the Redevelopment Commission on Thursday. This will be the City's portion of the clean- up. As we discussed in Committee earlier, all expenses the City incurs, related to this clean-up, will be added to the property tax bill for the property owner. The Administrative Items bucket is largely due to debt service payments due on January 1st, 2019. These debt service payments were 3 REGULAR MEETING March 25, 2019 budgeted in 2018 but were not made until January 2°d,2019. So,we do need the appropriation that was for 2018 to be moved into 2019 for those. Then the last part of the Administrative Items is actually a reduction of$600,000 in expenses for the Storm Sewer Fund because that program will not start until midway through the year, so we are reducing expenses appropriately. One (1) of the questions that came out of Committee was which projects are still going to be funded and I did see an email sent to Council regarding that from Director Horvath. This being the time heretofore set for the Public Hearing on the above bills, proponents and opponents were given an opportunity to be heard. There were none. Councilmember Gavin Ferlic made a motion to send Bill Nos. 07-19, 08-19, and 09-19 to the full Council with a favorable recommendation. Councilmember Tim Scott seconded this motion which carried by a voice vote of eight(8) ayes. RISE AND REPORT Councilmember Gavin Ferlic made a motion to rise and report to full Council. Councilmember Karen White seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of eight(8) ayes. REGULAR MEETING RECONVENED Be it remembered that the Common Council of the City of South Bend reconvened in the Council Chambers on the fourth floor of the County-City building at 7:17 p.m. Council President Tim Scott presided with eight(8)members present. BILLS —THIRD READING BILL NO. 07-19 THIRD READING ON AN ORDINANCE OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, FOR BUDGET TRANSFERS FOR VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS WITHIN THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA FOR THE YEAR 2019 Councilmember Gavin Ferlic made a motion to adopt Bill No. 07-19. Councilmember Karen White seconded this motion which carried by a roll call vote of eight (8) ayes. 08-19 THIRD READING ON AN ORDINANCE OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, APPROPRIATING ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR CERTAIN DEPARTMENTAL AND CITY SERVICES OPERATIONS IN 2019 OF $25,000 FROM GENERAL FUND (#101), $3,469 FROM STUDEBAKER-OLIVER REVITALIZATION GRANT FUND (#209), $672,857 FROM ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STATE GRANT (#210), $2,300,000 FROM DCI FEDERAL GRANT FUND (#212), $200,000 FROM LIABILITY INSURANCE PREMIUM RESERVE FUND (#226), $160,000 FROM LOCAL ROAD & STREET (#251), $85,580 FROM IT/INNOVATION/311 CALL CENTER(#279), $24,945 FROM INDIANA RIVER RESCUE (#291), $2,518 FROM COVELESKI BOND DEBT SERVICE RESERVE (#317), $251,475 FROM 4 REGULAR MEETING March 25, 2019 given. That was presented by Pam Meyer, and,thanks to the Mayor's Office in helping coordinate that. Those will be available as soon as the minutes are compiled for the public. Or,you can email me. PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR Sharon Banicki, 3822 Ford Street, South Bend, IN, stated, I brought some pictures for you (available in the City Clerk's Office). While I'm grateful I was chosen last year for my sidewalk and curbs to be fixed, the sidewalk is already cracking and so are the curbs and I don't know what can be done. They didn't do the whole sidewalk and I'm not sure why they didn't. There are also pictures to show that I'm in the middle of a very long block and mine is the only one(1) done and it sticks out like a sore thumb and it looks silly when you just pick and chose one (1) amongst the others. I'm hoping something can be done to fix what's already coming apart.If it's already coming apart in six (6) months, it's obviously not going to last long and I'm sure that's not what the City intends. My next thing is this million-dollar boombox. I know you guys are going to say it's not a million dollars, yet, but it will be. I was there in the 2017 budget when it was approved. It was supposed to be a $600,000 expenditure motorhome vehicle. Aaron was going to talk to people in Elkhart, a five(5) year lease. Granted, in 2018, I didn't attend every budget hearing. I was playing with my grandbaby. Shame on me for picking family before budget. But, now it is up to $660,000 coming out of North Carolina.That doesn't even include the trips for transportation back and forth, the time that's been spent on this boombox and everything else. I don't know how it blew up from where it was to what it is now, but somebody needs to be held accountable for it and questions need to be answered. Thank you. Jason Banicki, 3822 Ford Street, South Bend, IN, stated, Mine is going to be fairly short and simple. As I've been walked neighborhoods, I keep getting one(1) common complaint and that is that the vacant lots have turned into dumping grounds. Neighbors call code, it gets cleaned up, and then it's a dumping ground again. I don't know why this continues to happen, given that we have a really nice hazardous waste program in South Bend where you can take these things and dump them. It is actually kind of forward-thinking. So, I guess the challenge is how we get that message out to people in the neighborhoods. How do we use our power to ask, look, why dump in an empty lot, risk being fined and make the neighborhood look worse when you can go over there, dump free of charge and everybody's better off? Thank you. Bill Stranz, 1818 South Olive Street, South Bend, IN, stated, I'm from Bill's Auto Shop. I'm having a little problem with the City Engineers and the Lawson Fisher Engineers. There is going to be no parking when they get done redoing South Olive Street. That street is going to one (1) lane each way. I've got a business out there. I've been out there for fifty-five (55) years. When they get done, I won't have any parking in front of my business. I have very little parking other than a fenced lot that is fifty (50) feet wide on the side of my shop, and a ten (10) feet wide driveway on the south side of my shop. I'm trying to get some kind of parking, whether we move the gate back that's in the front of the building,move it back and make a parking lot on the side. I don't know what the City's recommendations are. If you need to have a paved parking lot or what. I've been talking to Welsh and Kelly and they're getting together with me to get a price on paving. They are talking about$19,000 to put a fence from the front to the back and side lot,roughly forty (40)or fifty(50) feet back. They are just moving the front fence with the gate in it back in the side lot. That is going to go back probably around forty(40)or fifty(50) feet but the price on the fence, I've called three(3)fence companies this last week. One(1)of them told me it would be the middle of April before they can even get out there and give me a quote on it. A guy came out today and was supposed to get back with me, but they are looking at probably about $5,000 to move that back. I also have an electric fence. I have a dog at the shop and I have an electric fence put in that's got a wire across the front so that the dog can't go out the front door when we're working there. The overhead door is in the front of the shop and we usually have that open to get air in there during the summer time. A guy quoted me a figure of roughly four to five hundred dollars ($400 - $500)but he hasn't sent me a written proposal yet. So, this is my problem. Also, in the meantime, the Rideaway Jones from Fort Wayne comes up, and, now,this all started in January. I tried to get together with them in January. The City Engineer couldn't make it out for the first (1S) appointment because he had leg surgery or something, hip surgery, and he was afraid he might 6 REGULAR MEETING March 25, 2019 COUNTY OPTION INCOME TAX(#404), $32,500 FROM ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INCOME TAX(#408), $670,001 FROM MAJOR MOVES CONSTRUCTION (#412), $5,117,411 FROM 2018 TIF PARKS BOND CAPITAL (#452), $500,000 FROM 2017 PARKS BOND CAPITAL (#471), AND $415,500 FROM 2015 PARKS BOND CAPITAL(#751). Councilmember Gavin Ferlic made a motion to adopt Bill No. 08-19. Councilmember Karen White seconded this motion which carried by a roll call vote of eight (8) ayes. 09-19 THIRD READING ON AN ORDINANCE OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, APPROPRIATING ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR CERTAIN DEPARTMENTAL AND ENTERPRISE OPERATIONS IN 2019 OF $200,000 FROM CONSOLIDATED BUILDING FUND (#600), $1,715,669 FROM WATER WORKS DEBT SERVICE (#625), AND ($600,000) FROM STORM SEWER FUND (#667). Councilmember Gavin Ferlic made a motion to adopt Bill No. 09-19. Councilmember Karen White seconded this motion which carried by a roll call vote of eight(8) ayes. RESOLUTIONS BILL NO. 19-04 A RESOLUTION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, APPROVING A PETITION OF THE AREA BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1119 LINCOLNWAY WEST Councilmember Gavin Ferlic made a motion, on behalf of and per the request of the petitioner, to table Bill No. 19-04 indefinitely. Councilmember Jake Teshka seconded this motion which carried by a voice vote of eight (8) ayes. BILLS ON FIRST READING There were no bills for first(1St) reading. UNFINISHED BUSINESS There was no unfinished business. NEW BUSINESS Councilmember Sharon L. McBride announced, Wednesday there will be a groundbreaking at Rum Village Park to start the renovations of all of the restrooms in all of the parks for ADA compliance. Councilmember Jo M. Broden announced, In our Health and Public Safety Committee meeting today,we had an excellent update and the invitation was just to speak about Weather Amnesty but additional information with regard to the polar vortex and the permanent supportive housing was 5 REGULAR MEETING March 25, 2019 slip. Well, I don't know, but he canceled that appointment. They cancelled another appointment, the guy from Fisher Lawson canceled the next appointment, too. Thank you. Maggie Mackowiak, 51616 Clubhouse Drive, South Bend, IN, stated, Thank you for giving me this opportunity. I am the Principal of Corpus Christi Catholic Elementary School located two (2) blocks from the proposed site of the Oxford House. Our school has been in this neighborhood for fifty-eight (58) years and has educated many City residents over those years. Our students range in age from four(4) to fourteen (14) years old. Our primary concerns with the location of Oxford House is one (1) of safety for our school children, some of whom walk to school through the neighborhood and all of which have outside recess on the school grounds adjacent to the neighborhood. While we are empathetic to the people who are battling various addictions and understand the overall goal of the program, we feel strongly that there are plenty of places in the City to locate a group home that are not in such close proximity to an elementary school. The location of the house presents significant personal risk to our school's students and, on behalf of the school community, I feel I must object to the consideration of the group home in our neighborhood. The nature of addition is that sometimes there are relapses and if, or when, there are, it can also lead to dangerous behavior which poses an unacceptable risk for our student community comprised of very young children. We strongly urge the City's leaders to find more appropriate locations for the rehabilitation of residents who have addiction issues. Not to mention the fact there is Boland Park,which has a lot of activity in the summer, and the narrow streets. The house,right now,has a one(1) car garage and if you're going to put eight(8)to twelve(12)people in there, there is no room to park on the streets. That is a safety issue with children darting in and out of cars. I'm just very concerned. Thank you. Tai Verbrugge,18370 Dunn Road, South Bend, IN, stated, Last month, there were two (2) Common Council meetings regarding the possibility of a Climate Recovery Resolution or Ordinance, and recognizing that not all Council Members were present, I simply wanted to stress, again,the importance of taking legislative action regarding climate change to prepare for,mitigate, and to adapt to the outcomes that will come if we don't prevent climate change. I work at the Robinson Learning Center and I've worked with a bunch of ten(10) and twelve(12)year old kids whose homes have flooded multiple times in the past couple of years due to historic flooding in South Bend. I'm concerned that if definitive action isn't taken soon, those kids are going to grow up in a South Bend where that flooding is very common, even though they really had nothing to do with the fact and they didn't really cause climate change, being ten (10) years old right now. So, I simply ask for the speedy consideration of a climate recovery resolution. Thank you. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Council, President Tim Scott adjourned the meeting at 7:32 p.m.