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OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK
KAREEMAH FOWLER, CITY CLERK
PERSONNEL & FINANCE AUGUST 7, 2019 5:30 P.M.
Committee Members Present: Karen White, John Voorde
Committee Members Absent: Regina Williams-Preston, Jo M. Broden
Other Council Present: Tim Scott,Jake Teshka, Sharon L. McBride (late)
Other Council Absent: Gavin Ferlic, Dr. Oliver Davis
Others Present: Graham Sparks, Bob Palmer
Presenters: Eric Horvath, Dr. Kara Boyles, Dan Parker
Agenda: Department of Public Works
Committee Chair Karen White called the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting to order at
5:30 p.m. She introduced members of the Committee and proceeded to give the floor to the
presenters.
Department of Public Works
Eric Horvath, Director of Public Works with offices located on the 13th floor of the County-City
Building, stated, Thank you, Councilmember White and Council Members here tonight. We are
here to present our 2020 Public Works Budget. First(1st) off, I'm going to give an overview of the
Public Works budget. Just so you know, it's a little different than what we've done before because
we have aggregated a number of funds on the slides (referencing a presentation which is available
in the City Clerk's Office). So, when you see the slides, that will be an aggregation of a number
of funds. But, to be clear, there is fund detail information in your packet, as well. That goes fund
by fund. At the very end, there is also line-level detail. So, you have all of those details there. Let
me know if you have any questions on them.
He continued, So, our City's mission is to deliver services to empower everyone to thrive. With
Public Works, we are building the foundation for a thriving City. We are providing essential
household services. We are developing sustainable assets in our infrastructure. Everything we do
ultimately leads to enhanced quality of life for the community. Director Horvath then introduced
members of his staff that were present and in the audience. He went on, I also want to say thank
you to the City Controller and their staff for their help in this process. You'll see as we go through
this,we have three(3)staff changes listed but no new staff.There are two hundred and sixty-seven
(267)but we do have two (2)that we are changing the positions and the titles as well, and then one
(1) we are upgrading. We will go over those when we get into the department-level detail.
INTEGRITY' SERVICE'ACCESSIBILITY
JENNIFER M.COFFMAN BIANCA L.TIRADO JOSEPH R.11/1ouvAR
CHIEF DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK
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He went on, So,here is what we do in a nutshell. We touch every part of South Bend and provide
essential services that improve the quality of life. We are responsible for 1,262 driving lane miles.
That may be a little different from what you've seen before. Sometimes you see the 2,200 lane
miles but that includes parking lanes and other areas. But the actual driving lanes is 1,262 miles.
About 30,000 tons of trash annually from about 35,000 different households. We have about seven
hundred (700) miles of sewer, half of which is combined. We treat about a little over 13 billion
gallons of waste water every year. We treat and distribute about 5 billion gallons of safe and
reliable drinking water to our customers through, about, six hundred (600) miles of water main.
There are one hundred and sixty (160) signalized intersections that we maintain in the City and
around the City. There are over 3,000 street lights that are City street lights, not I&M's. We have
over 10,000 catch-basin inlets and drains that we have to keep operating and clean. There are four
hundred (400) miles of alleys and we collect about 13,000 tons of leaves, yard waste and brush.
Our participation in the yard waste program has gone up about ten percent(10%)this year. So, we
have about 3,000 more residents using that program than we did in 2018. And, we maintain about
4,800 fire hydrants for fire protection.
He continued, I want to give it over to Doctor Boyles but before that, I would like to say two (2)
things. One (1), thank you to Dr. Boyles who cut her trip short in taking her daughter down to the
University of Florida. She zoomed back here so she could get here to present to you. And also,
thank you to Sue Kesim who is in the audience. It is her birthday today and she felt compelled to
come on her birthday to hear what Public Works is up to. So, thank you.
Dr. Kara Boyles, City Engineer for the City of South Bend with offices located on the 13th floor
of the County-City Building, stated, In Engineering and in taking a deeper dive, we manage the
development and expansion of the City's infrastructure. So, that means we oversee all Public
Works' projects,be it a project initiated by the Fire Department, Community Investment, Parks or
also Engineering itself. Then, of course, we administer contracts with the Board of Public Works
and perform construction inspection of those projects.This is our organizational chart(referencing
a slide in the presentation). I have four (4) Assistant City Engineers. Dr. Boyles then named all
four(4) and the areas of which they are primarily responsible.
She continued, This year, we have a lot of things going on in Engineering. There has been quite
an economic boom with a lot of projects happening. I felt that, as I laid out the goals for 2020,that
we be looking at a lot of improvements on efficiency and how we can do things better, focusing
on our communication. Because there are so many projects going on and we have a lot of internal
and external communication, which we all know, we can always do a better job at external
communication in keeping the public and all of our stakeholders involved in the process. So, an
improved focus there. We have a lot of emails and a lot of meetings, there is just a lot of
communication happening. So, we are going to look at ways that we can improve upon that
communication. We are initiating our 2020 project upon the budget approval. So, we are really
getting out ahead this year and once we know the budget is approved, we are going to line up
projects. It's going to happen throughout the year, projects will initiate that maybe we didn't plan
for. Things will happen and so we have to go through that process,but we do know we have these
projects we are talking to you about. They are coming and let's get them started. So, we typically
try to begin but then at the end of the year, push for the projects we are trying to complete in that
fiscal year. So, we are going to try and get those projects wrapped up and start focusing on 2020
before 2020 starts. And then just documenting and developing policies and procedures. We are
beginning to see an exodus and a loss of historical knowledge. The more we can document what
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
our procedures are and that we have methods in place, the better the City is for the next group that
comes along.
She went on, These slides (referencing the presentation) show you the Engineering budget
overview. Eric alluded to the fact that this looks a little different and it is presented differently this
year. It is a little confusing to look at. In years past we've presented summaries of the funds and
this shows you what it looks like and what Engineering is planning to spend. So, there are some
interesting numbers here that I will call your attention to.
Councilmember Sharon L. McBride arrived at the meeting at 5:40 p.m.
Dr. Boyles continued, One(1)being that Capital line on the bottom. What it shows is that in 2020,
we propose to have ninety one percent (91%) less in Capital. That is really one (1) of those
accounting practices. Things we might have called Capital last year, this year we are going to call
them Repairs and Maintenance. So, for instance, last year I had $1 million for paving. We had it
in the Capital line last year. This year it is in the Repairs and Maintenance line. So,it doesn't show
up on the capital line like in year's past. We also have a tremendous amount of Capital
Expenditures this year with the Bendix Road Project and the Corby/Ironwood/Rockne Project. So,
you will see that some of those projects are being spent from both LRSA and MVH. We won't be
spending that next year because there is a difference in those cash balances. There are two (2)
funds that we are using a lot of for spending on capital in the past and those funds do not any longer
have money to support Engineering Capital projects.
She went on, Traffic calming, this is one (1) of those elements that we spend a lot of time on. It
may not seem like it, but this is a serious topic that needs real solutions. We are talking about
speeding through neighborhoods, cut-through traffic, and we are swamped with requests for this.
We had an initiative this past year with Safe Streets Academy and Smart Growth America where
we really did get an opportunity to learn. We know that permanent traffic calming measures are
great, but we also learned that the implementation of maybe some temporary traffic calming
measures may help serve our community. It also helps us get a chance to really engage with the
community and demonstrate how projects can happen, get feedback, and make changes so that we
actually can go down the path for a permanent solution. As you will see in the coming slides
(referencing the presentation), we actually allotted all of our money for 2019, the $250,000 was
budgeted in a very effective manner. Again, we have a lot more requests coming up so that is why
we are requesting an increase in 2020 of$400,000.
She continued, In 2019, you can see, we have six (6) different areas that will see new traffic
calming devices. These include ten (10) permanent concrete speed humps, one (1) traffic circle,
and then three (3) temporary rubber speed humps. We've been addressing these in these different
neighborhoods. The Longfellow speedhumps have been installed. The nine hundred (900) block
of Riverside,those have just recently been installed. We are about to do temporary traffic calming
over by Madison School. We are still in design for the Hudson and Riverside traffic circle and we
just asked for quotes for Walnut Grove, three (3) speed humps there, and the permanent speed
humps on the seven hundred(700) eight hundred(800)blocks of North Riverside Drive. So, there
is a lot happening there. We are trying to get all of that accomplished.
She went on, So, as we look ahead to 2020, we plan to target six (6) more neighborhoods. We've
engaged with all of these neighborhoods to some extent and so we've had conversations. Monroe
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•CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
Park, we've met with them and we've had meetings with them. We are looking at a variety of
temporary and permanent installations including circles, speed humps, and possibly some
chicanes. In the Northeast Neighborhood,we've done some considerable community engagement.
We have a pretty comprehensive plan there and we will continue working with them. On the Near
West side, again, we've done outreach and we have received concerns from them and suggestions
that will ultimately help us define and determine what measures need to be implemented.
Similarly,on Lincolnway West,the Rum Village Neighborhood and Miami and Ridgedale. Miami
and Ridgedale are interesting ones. Those are collector streets. So, as opposed to the others that
are all local streets, they require a little bit more of an innovative solution to speeding issues
because they get different types of traffic. Again, we are committed to ensuring that safety and
efficiency happens in neighborhoods and all City streets. That is why we propose $400,000 to be
used this year.
She continued, Light Up South Bend, we all know this is the annual partnering program thanks to
Karen and Tim. It is an initiative that started a few years ago now. So, we partner with I&M to do
various projects.We can also use these funds in various ways from the procurement of LED lights,
we do conversions, and we've done some other interesting and existing projects. The ones we just
completed were part of 2018 and we did the Angela Street lighting on the bridge. We did the
Riverside historic lamp posts as well. So, for those types of projects, we generally sit down each
year with Tim and Karen and listen to their needs. What we know from neighbors this year, we
are doing the Taylor Street lights. We will define those lights for 2020 as we get closer to 2020
and how we want to utilize that funding. We also use it to do our lamp post program. This is our
second(2nd) year of our solar lamp post program. We saw great success last year with eighty-eight
(88)residents taking part and we are on target. I think we are moving and approaching one hundred
(100) for this year. That will be the same budget amount of$200,000 from COIT this year.
She went on, Curbs and sidewalks,there is the annual Curb and Sidewalk Program that you are all
familiar with, the allocation to Council Members. That work is comprised of work done by our
internal curb and sidewalk crews as well as a portion which gets contracted out. So, this slide
represents $500,000 of funds that will be used for the contractor bid (referencing a slide in the
presentation). Again, this is our City-wide program that looks to improve all poor and very poor
sidewalks. That is the same as last year, $500,000 from Motor Vehicle Highway. Community
Crossings, this is the Community Crossing Grant. We've seen this now,this will be our third(3`d)
year of participation and advocation for funding from the State.This is,again,a matching program.
It is a fifty-fifty(50/50) match up to $1 million in a fiscal year. The State recently went to a two
(2)-part program. So, twice a year you apply for funds. In the first (1st) two (2) years of this
program, it was an annual program and you would apply one (1) time. Each year we got about
$600,000 in funding. So, this year, we budgeted around $600,000 as we assumed that might be
about what we get this year. Then they changed the rules and they are now doing a two (2) times
per year allotment. So, we applied for $600,000 and we got it, but we just applied for application
number two (2), and we have money budgeted in LRSA this year for additional paving, so, we are
going to try and double that money and get $800,000 of additional paving which, again, if we get
awarded by the State, it wouldn't be constructed actually until 2020. We are asking for$1 million
from LRSA in order to, again,do the same thing. Hopefully we will get$2 million worth of paving
in 2020.We are trying to maximize those dollars as much as possible.The best use for this program
is the simple mill and fill, one and a half(1 ''/2) inches of surface and go.
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
She continued, Bendix Drive, we've been talking about this for a number of years now. I looked
before I came, it is on the website, the State will open bids for this on September 11th. We are
excited about that. You will see a new striping pattern on Bendix. There will be two (2) through
lanes with one(1) center lane. We will have some intersection redesign at Nimtz Parkway. You'll
see new concrete paving and curbing and new sidewalk that jumps from one(1) side to the other.
This will be built in two (2) phases, south and north of Bolen Drive. We'll do this in conjunction
with St. Joseph County because they will also be rehabilitating this year the south-bound bridge
over the Toll Road at the same time. Another project I will mention a little bit later is the Cleveland
Road project. So,that is going to be happening so there will be some significant coordination over
in that area next year.The Corby/Ironwood/Rockne intersection improvement,again,the hope was
that it would be this year but it's actually looking like March of 2020. This is an INDOT LPA
project, so, we have federal funding. This will be an eighty percent (80%) federal, twenty percent
(20%) local job. It's been budgeted and I mentioned these, these are not new budget items. They
have been budgeted before but are carrying over because they have not begun. There will be some
changes in this project. We will be constructing a storm sewer throughout this intersection and we
will also be doing new lining and we'll see the intersection improvements, of course which are
pedestrian crossing signals and the markings and some other upgrades for ADA accessibility.
She went on,Olive Street is really number three(3)of these projects that we've been talking about
for a couple of years now. This one(1) again is slated for the spring of 2020. It has to go in 2020.
All of these projects have to go because that is our fiscal year with MACOG. So, we have that
money available to us until their fiscal year closes,which is June of 2020. So, we will be spending
money on these three (3) projects. This project has a little bit of a complication with the railroad.
So, there may be a portion of this project that doesn't get let but it's a very small portion. It will
have new pavement, curbing, and storm sewer. Again, it is a three (3)-lane configuration going
each direction with a center left-turn lane. The Cleveland Road pavement replacement project is a
TIF-funded project. We've already asked for that funding from TIF and the estimated cost of that
project is a little under $1.7 million. So, that is a concrete pavement replacement near the
intersection of Cleveland and Ameritech Drive. It's the portion of the bridge deck from the
entrance to the exit of the Bypass. It's very deteriorated. Of course,that is a heavily-traveled truck
traffic area. This project is actually going to piggyback on INDOT's project to resurface US-31. It
really is a savings to the City, given that we've been able to be synergistic about this approach.
We had estimated, prior to this project, out of our pocket alone would have been more like $2.2
million. We are already seeing the savings. That again, will be let as an INDOT project. We've
done a Memorandum of Agreement with the State.
She continued, The Prairie Avenue water main extension, we talked about this in the past. This is
going to be one(1) of the first (1st) water main systems we've done in a few years. We've kind of
done this in two (2) phases. Water main was built down towards the Bypass on 23, but now we
will be doing the boring under US-31 and then continue along SR-23 in order to loop water main
in that area. We have a significant section of high-pressure water main that is not looped. So, that
will provide a lot of reliability and redundancy in the area. Some of you are aware, we had a water
main break not too long ago on Linden. In this zone and with this pressure, this will help with
reliability. This is estimated at $1.8 million. It is partially funded by South Side TIF. I believe
$800,000 comes from TIF. Water Capital, half a million dollars, and there will actually be a
donation from the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians for this. Moving on to some of the other
projects that are Utilities-based, the North Station, you'll see again, you have Riverwest
Development TIF for this and Water Capital. North Station is our main water treatment plant of
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•CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
the City. It serves the entire City and its nested right in the center of the central pressure zone
where the majority of our water is treated. There are a lot of deferred maintenance projects that are
going to come online with this funding. There is$950,000 this year from Riverwest TIF, and there
will be $670,000 next year in Water Capital. So, we'll package that together. Actually, we are
going to do various projects for this. You see we've got come chlorine gas system, some filter
median projects we need to do, we are going to look at dehumidification and HVAC in the
building, we've got some electronics and PLC's, high-service pumps and we even have some
issues with external masonry here at the station. So,there is a wide variety of projects we are going
to tackle in various ways. It is very exciting, and it is a critical plant to the City, and it needs some
TLC.
She went on, Next year we will be bidding a project at Pinhook filtration, all of these obviously
• have to happen in a very optimized way. We can only really have one (1) plant down at a time in
order to make sure we have adequate supply to our customers. So Pinhook,we will be doing some
balance amidst all the different water plant projects that are happening. A lot of the projects that I
just mentioned,there are only a few that can be done without shutting the plant down,but anything
that deals with the chlorine system, we will obviously have to shut the plant down. Pinhook has
been around since 1961. A lot of its equipment is operating beyond its expected service lifetime.
We are going to replace some electronic actuator values. We are looking at filter underdrains, and
again, more electrical stuff. We also are looking at the air handling system, so the HVAC system,
the dehumidification, and then some building repairs. So, there is a lot happening here. We are
actually doing the building roof this year.This is kind of split,2019 and 2020. So,this is$2 million.
$630,000 is for a portion of that. Wait, no, that is Edison. They look alike, right?
She continued, Booster pump station improvements, again, this was a smaller budget item but
really needed work. We've got different minor repairs happening here at three (3) of our booster
pumps, Locust, Topsfield and Winterberry. Most of these are looking at some of the structural
conditions, different motors and pumps. In some of these stations,most of the time we are looking
at motors and pumps. Edison filtration, the sister to Pinhook, we are doing roof replacement there
this year. This is a full replacement of the exterior roof and it actually is the full replacement,
including the trust support system. And then we are also going to be doing the installation of a
ventilation system. We will be doing some fixtures and some doors as well. But, this is an
interesting project. They will have to build these trustids and we'll actually have them specially
coated to resist corrosion. So, they will be coated in another facility and then they will be brought
to the station for erection.Water meter replacements,this year there is$800,000 budgeted in Water
Capital. We have around 43,000 water meters in our system for all of our customers, and many of
these are past their shop life. When you have aging meters, that can contribute to measurement
errors and recording errors and then that, in turn, turns into revenue loss. This annual cost,
$800,000, is based on a fifteen(15) year replacement schedule.
She went on, Storm water this year, I'm going to show you two (2) different slides (referencing
the presentation). This first (1st) slide has $500,000 showing different types of projects, and then
another slide that would be the rest. But this is our first(1St)year of the storm water fee. We started
collecting fees in June of this year. We've been spending some of that money this year already.
This year we budgeted for$600,000 which was for the six(6)months of anticipated revenue. Next
year we are budgeting for a little over$800,000 in anticipated revenue, even though the projection
would be around $1.2 million. Since this will be the first(1St) full year of fees, part of that will go
to the reserve. So,we won't be budgeting the full $1.2 million. There will be a portion in reserves.
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CITY OFSOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
So,you will see various projects similar to this year.We will spend some of this money on different
street drainage corrections. We have some projects slated for further study and we have some
neighborhood drainage issues that are a little more complex. Some retention basins haven't been
maintained over the years and the City has inherited that, so we need to do some further
investigation. We use this for looking at when we do the annual report for the South Bend Dam
and miscellaneous drainage repairs. So, we'll have $500,000 allocated towards this and this
(referencing a slide in the presentation)is our list of storm water drainage issues for neighborhoods.
And then a portion of that funding in 2020 will be set aside for the St. Joseph River Bank
stabilization project. We've been working on this project with the DNR. We received a feasibility
study grant last year. So, we started working on that in the spring and we did a local match, but
it's an eighty-twenty(80/20)match. We just found out we received the grant for the design phase
which will start this fall. So, that is very exciting. We will then go forward and apply in 2020 for
the construction phase. This is the Yukon and Riverside area where we have some deep and
complex matters. Then there are some associated currents that, the way the water travels in the
area,there is even a little bit of work that will need to be done on the opposite side on North Shore.
She continued, The Waste Water Treatment Plant upgrades, as we move into 2020, we will begin
to address some projects that are complementary to our Consent Decree and our Long-Term
Control Plan goals. This upgrade project could almost be called final polishing stuff in the Waste
Water Treatment Plant chain. As our water moves through the Plant, this final clarification step,
we are going to do some rehabilitation to clarifiers one (1) through five (5). We did some recent
improvements over the years if I remember,clarifiers six(6)and seven(7). So,we anticipate some
similar benefits by doing the repairs on these clarifiers as well. One(1)of those benefits is it really
helps to improve the reduction and the return equity of the sludge. Those return rates get better.
and then you're using less power and your pumping operations are more efficient. There will be
some structural repairs as well and also some safety improvements.This is estimated to be between
$4 and $5 million. This is budgeted out of Sewage Works Capital Fund#642. Preceding, the final
clarifiers are actually in the aeration basin. So, before the clarifiers are the aeration process. That
is where all the good action happens and where the oxygen and organics are in the system. In this
step, we will be doing a little bit of an improvement. $500,000 to $600,000 of work on Aeration
Basins one (1) through four (4). These are actually influent channel gate. Some of the repairs are
there. Some stop logs will be installed on the implement channel. There are some structural gate
repairs at this and are not necessarily process improvements.
She went on, Then the disinfection, over at the Disinfection Building, a little bit more spending
here, between $1.6 and $2.2 million. Currently our disinfection system into the Waste Water
Treatment Plant is rated to accommodate 77 million gallons a day. We anticipate that with all of
these improvements,we will be able to push around 100 million gallons per day through the Waste
Water Treatment Plant and during those extreme wet weather events. So, as the capacity goes up,
and now that we have the ability to treat and handle, hydraulically, 100 million gallons per day,
we also need the ability to disinfect. We have some challenges meeting contact time. There will
be various improvements, again, some electronics, safety improvements, building improvements
and data improvements. The Douglas Road Lift Station relocation project has come to us by way
of the County, which widens Douglas Road to a four(4) lane section. Those are improvements to
the intersections of Ironwood and Douglas, State Road 23 and Douglas, and so in that section, we
have an existing lift station. It was originally constructed in the 1980s and it's going to have to be
relocated due to this widening. So, our relocation is high-dollar because it includes right-of-way
acquisition. Maybe even easements along Douglas Road. We will then also be upgrading it, too,
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
to our new standards. It is also adjacent to Juday Creek and some wetlands. So, it could involve
the purchase of wetland credits from the State of Indiana,in coordination with the project. We also
have some other things there that would need to be relocated as well. This project is $22 million
for the County. Typically,utility coordination happens in advance,but I believe we will be able to
do this project with the County during their widening project. That station is an interesting one(1).
It was built again, like I said, in the 1980s and it serves many County residents as it is in the
County's right-of-way. But, in a State process like this,we don't have the right to be there without
some sort of other agreement to exist in the right-of-way.
She continued, Colfax Lift Station, so you've been seeing a lot of exciting work happening down
here at the Colfax Bridge. We are about to see the completion of the first(1S)phase of the Cascade
Development,but we anticipate the next phase will begin later this year or early next spring. And
then of course, we anticipate the Commerce Center Development, as well. With this rapid
expansion of the Cascade Development and the Commerce Center Development, we know our
existing infrastructure was not designed originally to handle all of that potential waste water flow.
So, this project will be funded by TIF and we'll be doing some upgrades to the existing lift station
there in order to handle all of that new flow coming online. There are a couple projects I put on
here that are in our vault.They are projects that may be potentially addressed this year,so,I thought
I would mention them. Sheridan and Sample intersection, we've talked about this in the past. This
project is an intersection improvement and,as a whole,is the result of a lot of development around
that area.We are upgrading the traffic signal,increasing the intersection capacity,you've got some
nearby industry with large truck traffic, so there are issues with some turning movements in that
region. So, this would really help that.
She went on, Sheridan Avenue is near the airport and is a future potential roadway project. It would
be a complete streets approach to Sheridan Avenue, from Lincolnway West to Progress Drive.
This project has been another one (1) that we know is an area of concern and it potentially could
happen this year with maybe some TIF funding. Downtown cross-streets is similar to the Colfax
Streetscape improvements which we completed last year. Of course, we are in Michigan Street
right now, doing a version of our downtown improvements. This would be a continuation to our
cross-streets efforts, aimed at Washington Street and Jefferson Boulevard. We are budgeting
around $1.5 million, and again,that comes out of our TIF budget. School zone, safety, this project
is something that we've been addressing in bits and pieces as the Engineering Department. Earlier
this year, we felt it would be important to open the lines of communication with the South Bend
Community School Corporation. We had a meeting and we discussed the concept of partnering
together to look at the South Bend Community Schools and review traffic patterns around the
schools,review their needs and try to understand what would work better around all of our schools.
So, we did this as a summer intern project and I asked our interns to do what a consultant would
do, and they assessed a few of our schools. We feel that this could be a project that we could really
create a data base of understanding what the needs are around our schools. So, working with our
schools, selecting a radius, and where are our issues with safe passage? Where do we need better
sidewalks?Where do we need to improve ADA at which intersections? Where is there incomplete
signage? What are those traffic patterns and where is there congestion? Is there confusing drop-
off or pick-up?We worked together to help solve these problems. We just put together a document
that we will be working with the School Corporation this year.
She continued,That leads into school zone flashing beacons, which we are currently in the design
of right now. The firm we have contracted is assessing thirty-nine (39) different locations in the
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City for the implementation and construction of flashing beacons. You'll see that we've moved a
couple flashing beacons that were not in operation down in the south side over to two (2) of our
charter schools, Career Academy and Success Academy. Pinhook Park improvements, there are a
couple of projects, really quickly, that we are assisting VPA on in 2020. Pinhook Park is one (1)
of the last remaining big projects we are putting out to bid. It goes out to bid this fall and it includes
trail access improvements, playground improvement, a boat/kayak launch, and also some
improvements to the building itself. We are excited about this project. We've had a lot of
i ' itbe a fun project here.
neighborhood and public engagement on this project. So, we anticipate to p ode t
Again, it will bid this fall,but it will be mostly a 2020 construction season project. Morris Theater
plaster ceiling work. So,this has been a very interesting project for our staff If you recall,back in
August of last year, a three (3) foot section piece of the decorative plaster was found broken in
many pieces on the mezzanine level. No one was injured and the theater was empty, so, we knew
this was a problem. Immediately we brought out a forensic engineer and they did some
investigation and the basis of that investigation told us that it didn't appear that there were any
other loose pieces of this plaster, but we still needed to take up a safety measure and protective
action. We installed a hanging net system. If you've been to the Morris,maybe you've seen it, and
maybe you haven't. It was there in time for Phantom of the Opera.
She went on, We will, and we are trying to, do more remedial repair. So, we want to take the net
down and we want to repair this plaster. We did a bid this year and we received no bids because
the construction timeline is very definitive. It can only be done when the theater is shut down, not
operating and there are no shows. Because we weren't able to get any bidders, it is challenging
work. They need to erect some scaffolding in order to get up to the ceiling of the Morris. We are
aiming to do this again and rebid this fall with a little more of a scheduled projection for our
contractor. We are bidding this fall with the anticipated 2020 timeframe. The Muessel Grove
public restroom, unfortunately, has been down for quite a few years now. We did a bid this year
for this project and did not get any bidders. So, we will be making some slight modifications and
will be rebidding this project in the fall. It could end up being mostly a 2020 project by the time
it's all said and done, but this tells you what's been our story lately, which is that there is a lot
work happening and are a lot of projects where we are simply not getting bids,or competitive bids,
because there is a lot of work out there for contactors to pick and choose from. There is a little
complication to the work, a tighter schedule and working near a dam can also change a contractor's
viewpoint and then increase the price, accordingly.
She continued, Finally, Fire Stations Three (3) and Six (6), we are helping the Fire Department
with these projects. One(1)of my engineers,Alishia,and I have been working with them this year
to really identify how they can make their budget go the furthest on two (2) station improvements
— Three (3) and Six (6). These are renovations looking at creating some more accommodating
spaces for our firefighters. They are spending so much time there and, of course, we also have a
focus on some of the HVAC upgrades in both stations. Of course, one (1) of the components at
Six (6) on Western Avenue, is really about accommodating our increasingly diverse department
now. There is a single restroom at Six (6), so, we are going to make that into various separate
restrooms so that there is some privacy.
Committee Chair White stated, There is a lot of information and I had emailed Mr. Horvath and I
anticipate a response, but I let him know some of my concerns and questions. As I look at the
budget,it is very comprehensive. I do have concerns regarding the increases in areas such as traffic
calming, but then I look at Light Up South Bend, or Curbs and Sidewalks, that remained flat. I
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know,just myself personally, that is not acceptable. I've shared this with Mr. Dan Parker as well.
What I am hearing, and I think other Council Members are hearing the same, that we have to see
improvements in our neighborhoods. I'm not saying these are not going to benefit the
neighborhoods, but I'm talking about from a more direct perspective. I would like to continue
having discussions in that regard. What was the decision-making process like to increase traffic
calming to $400,000, and then leaving the other programs flat? I will let the Administration think
about that and we will have a discussion about that later.
Committee Chair White then opened the floor to questions from Council Members.
Committeemember John Voorde stated, I have a couple of questions about street lights. We have
3,000 City-owned street lights. How many are there all together? Do you know off-hand? And
how did it come to be that we have a mixed system? Council Members usually get streetlight
outage phone calls. Other than referring them to 3-1-1, who is responsible for the maintenance of
street lights?Do we take care of our 3,000? Or,does I&M take care of all of them?And how much
does each additional street light cost? When we say we need more, how much would x amount
cost?
Dr. Boyles replied, One(1)of the easiest ways to explain the different between the AEP lights and
our lights,most of our lights are the decorative street lights.AEP is not in the business of installing
decorative street lights. So, whenever you see those, those are owned by the City. Trail lighting,
and historic lighting, that is maintained and installed by us. Any time we do improvements to
streetscapes and there is decorative lighting, those are new City lights.
Committeemember Voorde followed up, So, Traffic and Lighting would maintain those?
Dr. Boyles replied, That is correct.
Committeemember Voorde followed up, Ok. And a normal street light would be I&M?
Mr. Horvath replied,Yeah,we can look at those numbers to make sure we have them correct. But,
roughly eighty percent(80%)of the lights in South Bend are I&M lights and twenty percent(20%),
roughly, are City-owned.
Committeemember Voorde asked, Are you satisfied with their response time in terms of getting a
call? We get a call and we refer it but how do we know there is a timely change of bulbs?
Mr. Horvath replied, So, we have someone in the Streets Department that does monitor that list.
But, they typically take I&M's word for it that they have been repaired. But, they do repair orders
and track the status of those. So, as those are aging, we can get you some details,too,on what their
average service times are in terms of how quickly the lights come back on. We can pull some of
those numbers.
Committeemember Voorde stated, It seems like just, and I have a tendency to over-simplify things
sometimes and not use data for decision making for some things, but it seems like police officers
who patrol a certain beat, or even a Street Department Foreman who has a quadrant of the City as
their responsibility, on the night shift,it seems like it wouldn't be that hard to just have a legal pad
and write down the seven (7) that are out. You know what I mean?
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Mr. Horvath replied, Sure, yeah.
Committeemember Voorde followed up, I mean, I certainly don't drive around the City looking
for them but based on the number of calls we get and the Council's push for Light Up South Bend,
we would like to see more.
Dr. Boyles replied,That seems like a fun project for interns to do next time. Go around and collect
the data.
Committeemember Voorde replied, Well, I might be looking for part-time work!
Councilmember Tim Scott stated, I'll teach you a trick where you can get the lights on in about
three (3) days, John. But, two (2) things. The storm water, you know, we did that utility fee and
one(1)thing I've brought up before and it's still a concern, I don't know if you have anywhere in
your priorities for 2020, some of the curb and sidewalks we put together say on Roosevelt and
other places by Keller Park,we've created a drainage issue. People are parking in lakes. So, I hope
some of those come up to the top and reflect what Vice President Madam Chair White said about
working in the neighborhoods. I'm glad to see the expansion of the traffic calming. That has been
a major issue. I hope you can look at the far northwest neighborhood. Every north-south street,
and I know I've brought this up many times, but between Lathrop and Lincolnway, those are
nothing but highways. I like that fact that you guys are working with the School Corporation on
some of those issues.The issue of not only congestion and bottlenecking,but we have speed issues,
too. Those are part of the speed humps on College, but we have to look at Marquette and some
other streets. The rest of my points, I will put together and email to you all. Thank you.
Councilmember Jake Teshka stated, I have several questions. The big one (1) I wanted to clarify
is, the County is widening Douglas, and that displaces our lift station, which is in their right-of-
way?
Dr. Boyles replied, Yes.
Councilmember Teshka followed up, And you said the project itself, likely, won't take place until
2022?
Mr. Horvath confirmed,Yes.
Councilmember Teshka then asked, So,we aren't budgeting it?You are just giving us a heads up?
Dr. Boyles replied, Giving you a heads up, correct.
Councilmember Teshka replied, Ok,because I'm seeing that$2.2 million and I'm thinking, that is
twenty-two (22) lane miles of paving.
Dr. Boyles replied, I sent them a letter and asked them to give me an easement since we've been
there since 1960.
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
Mr. Horvath stated, It potentially could be eligible for outside funding if we have dedicated
easements. That's why Kara is trying that.
Dr. Boyles stated, It is one hundred percent (100%) our responsibility at present, even though it
was built thirty(30)plus years ago. With the intent of serving county residents and being a part of
our system, there is just no paper trail to document our right to be there.
Councilmember Teshka stated, Ok. I'll just email the rest of my questions. Thank you.
Councilmember Sharon L. McBride stated, Same thing about neighborhood improvements. There
are still a lot of alley potholes in some of the business alleys. Curbs, sidewalks,lighting and paving.
So, those are the typical things that, still, my neighborhood is asking for.
Committee Chair White stated, Based on the presentation, a number of the projects, the funding
sources, one(1)was Riverwest TIF or Rivereast TIF. Can you give us the total number of projects
that will be supported by TIF? We have it, but maybe in a chart, that would be easier to look at?
And based on those projects,but will be the remaining balances in those particular TIF Districts?
Also, for a lot of projects, Fund #642 was identified. If you could give me the same type of
information in chart form,I think that would be very helpful.For example,downtown cross streets,
$1.5 million. I'm just imagining if we had $1.5 million to actually do curbs, sidewalks, potholes,
and things of that nature. I'm just wondering at what point, when we look at the downtown, the
cross streets will be completed?
Dr. Boyles replied, Well, those last two (2) projects, beginning with the Sheridan intersection,
those have not been approved yet for TIF funding. At this point,these next few four(4)or five(5)
projects, including cross streets, haven't been approved. I include those because they have been
mentioned before, so, I just wanted to be transparent.
Committee Chair White stated, I have a couple more, but I'll email those. The last one(1) is with
the water meter replacement. We are looking at$800,000, is the cost is being incurred by the City
and not necessarily the residents?
Mr. Horvath replied, That is built into our rates for water. It is one hundred percent (100%) rate
paid for. We had to change the way we were addressing that, and you'll see it when we get to the
water budget. At one(1)point, we were doing lease purchases for water mains. We are essentially
replacing one fifteenth (1/15) of our meters every year. We are trying to get on a cycle of doing
that because they last about fifteen (15) years. If you don't do that, you start losing revenue and
you have issues where they break down and then we're not charging people for water or sewer.
So, what we've done is we've moved to doing an annual pay-go system where we are setting aside
about$800,000 each year to do water meter replacements. Then really quick, I think this might be
helpful, Kara just laid out a lot of capital projects. We will do a spreadsheet that has all the capital
projects and then we'll have the funding source whether its water,waste water,or TIF or whatever.
In terms of the balances of the TIF Districts, we will defer that to DCI because they have control
of those funds. We just know the cost of the Engineering Projects, but we will at least get you a
spreadsheet.
Committee Chair White stated, That would be good because it's really a close relationship when
we look at Public Works and Community Investment with the projects and funding sources. That
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
would be very beneficial. If any Council Members have any more questions, please email them
and carbon copy the Council Members as well.
Councilmember Scott stated, I want to thank the Engineering Department and Public Works as
well. You guys have done a great job with outreach to the community. I've been in several
meetings where a lot of information not known was bringing people to attention and you provided
a lot of information on projects moving forward.You did a lot of good listening. I like the fact that
traffic calming was experimental first (1st). I think I brought that up last year, but we try things
before we say,hey,we are going to just go do this on the concrete. So,kudos to you and your staff.
You've done a wonderful job with outreach to the community and I think it's gone a long way.
So, thankY ou.
Committeemember Voorde stated, I'm glad to see you are addressing the upgrades and the
maintenance of the Filtration Plant. It's been deferred maintenance and I'm glad they are now
being addressed. Thanks.
Mr. Horvath stated, We will now talk about Solid Waste and the Solid Waste Management
Services which includes picking up trash, yard waste and then also bulky item pick-ups. Here
(referencing a slide in the presentation) is our leadership staff. Mr. Horvath then named the
individuals in the organizational chart. He continued, Our goals for 2020 include trying to get our
truck maintenance costs down. We spend quite a bit on truck maintenance every year. We made a
big change to have a transfer station. So,we are no longer going to the landfill. That was a big part
of it because the landfill was pretty dirty and was a long haul to get down there. But, we are still
working on trying to find ways to reduce our truck maintenance costs for 2020 as well as
decreasing hourly and overtime costs. We are also trying to decrease cross-contamination between
solid waste and yard waste. We are going to implement new branding in 2020 and then I apologize
I didn't put it on here (referencing a slide in the presentation), but it goes in with the other three
(3), implementing a new routing software system. It's a GPS camera and routing system to make
us more efficient and helping to reduce the number of complaints of missed trash pickups. It will
also help us on the cross-contamination issue as well.
He continued, This (referencing a slide in the presentation) is the budget overview. So, you can
see here that revenue is fairly stable when you look at the charges for service. That hasn't changed
in the last number of years. You've got a tick down in the other revenue and that is primarily due
to rebates we are receiving. We are receiving energy rebates for CNG. So, we use the CNG gas
and for every gallon we use, we have a rebate with the State. Those are no longer available.
Otherwise, the revenue stayed about the same. What I'm about to show you here (referencing a
slide in the presentation) as we go down, when you look at the expenses and revenue, we've got
an operating net loss at about $600,000 a year. That means on an Enterprise Fund is that we need
to find a way that we make that either zero (0) or positive. Solid Waste is no different than water
or waste water, it is all based on cost of service studies. We are putting that together right now, so,
I've not included any numbers in this budget on the revenue side for increased revenue, but we
will be coming back to the Council before the end of this year to talk to you about a potential rate
increase on our solid waste area. There are a couple drivers here. You can see for the most part
that our salaries and wages have been pretty flat. We've done a good job of controlling that. There
are some areas that have increased and some of that is interfund allocations. That has gone up
about $370,000, almost $400,000 a year. And then in addition to that, our debt service for truck
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
replacement has gone up a couple hundred thousand dollars a year. So, between those, there is
your$600,000 shortfall, almost just between those two (2) areas.
He went on,The yard waste program nowhere near meets its cost of service. It was something that
was added in by the City a number of years ago without a fee attached. We attached a very small
fee of two dollars ($2) per month and so that is one (1) area we will look at, in particular, as part
of this because it ends up being subsidized by our solid waste program. Participation rates are
pretty good. We got about sixty-two percent (62%) participation rate. Again, that is up from last
year. We got well over 3,000 more people participating in that program this year than we did last
year. So, with that, it requires additional resources, and that is part of that as well. You'll see
disposal costs we are bringing in line with what our actual consumption is this year but adding
three percent (3%) to that for the rate increase at the landfill and some of the fees we are paying
on the transfer station as well. I think that is most of it. The only thing I didn't highlight in the
u
operating
increases but those are inhere as well.
budget is health insurance ceases t ost
g
He continued, Moving to Solid Waste Capital, included in this budget is part of the lease for these
capital improvements. As I mentioned, $300,000 will go to the new routing system and cameras
and I'll show you that under special initiatives and what that program will have for us. The GPS
tracking makes sure we can reduce our customer complaints and that we aren't missing any
pickups. A bobcat loader and then also replacing one(1)of our CNG trucks. Typically,we replace
at least a couple of trucks a year with the amount of trucks we have. We are on a regular rotation.
Trash truck lives are usually between seven(7) and ten(10) years. We get a lot more years out of
our trucks for streets but with the trash trucks going every single day with a lot of wear and tear,
and a lot of hydraulic stuff, they just don't have the same longevity. I'll stop there before I go to
Sustainability and ask if you have any questions up to this point.
Committee Chair White opened the floor to questions from Committee and Council Members.
Councilmember Teshka stated, I just have one (1) quick question. On yard waste participation,
you said sixty-two percent (62%), that is measured as sixty-two percent (62%) of Solid Waste
customers who opt into having it?
Mr. Horvath replied, Yes, that is correct. That would be the people that are in the tote program.
That would not include,necessarily,people who would put bags out.
Councilmember Teshka stated, It also doesn't include silly people like me who pay the two dollars
($2) a month and don't put the yard waste bin out.
Mr. Horvath clarified, No, that does include you. Yes.
Councilmember Teshka replied, So, it does include me? Participation is what I'm trying to gauge.
I'm just trying to get it right in my mind.
Mr. Horvath replied, Right, so that is just the number of people who have asked for a bin and are
eligible to participate in that particular program.
Committeemember Voorde asked, How long have we had a transfer station and where is it?
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Mr. Horvath replied, Well, it's not ours. It is GreenTech's. We negotiated a deal with them. We
had gotten out of that actually because the costs got too high and we ended up doing a cost-benefit
analysis and it's cheaper to go to the landfill. But,they were eager to get us back and they reduced
their price quite a bit. So, we did a contract with them. We've been doing that for two (2) years. It
started in 2018. It is located on Ewing Street. So, it saves quite a bit from driving to the landfill.
We have a location right in town to drop at. Then they take larger trucks to the landfill.
He continued, Moving onto Sustainability, you've had a lot of presentations already. A lot of that
is something that is huge on the local but also national level. It is climate change and I appreciate
the Council's efforts in working with the Administration in doing the resolution on climate change
and supporting a Climate Action Plan. We are trying to create a culture in our community and in
our workforce that treats sustainability as business as usual. We need to understand that this is just
a part of how we do business. We try to make sure our employees, our businesses and our
community members are aware of the current environmental issues and the impacts that those have
on our quality of life. We want to give them tools to make our sustainability group a catalyst to
help move projects forward that are important to those types of operations.
He went on,We've got three(3) full-time people in our Office of Sustainability. Mr. Horvath then
introduced those three (3) employees. He continued, In addition, we have about thirty (30)
AmeriCorps members right now that work mostly on providing energy efficiencies in low-income
homes. There are also a number of other activities and that program is called the South Bend
GreenCorps Program. Our goals for the year 2020 include, again, creating a sustainable culture
which is that all of our employees are aware, and they care, and it becomes business as usual. We
also want to incorporate sustainability into the overall City fabric and then, of course, preparing
for climate change and the impacts of climate change in the community, which is beyond just
finding ways to reduce our green house gas emissions but also looking at what risks that presents
to us long-term and finding out what type of vulnerabilities we have.
He continued, Here is our budget overview (referencing a slide in the presentation). You can see
on the revenue side, it looks a little odd. That is because this does not include the General Fund
allocation piece. So, what you'll see here is the charges for service, that went up about $30,000 to
$180,000. That is our AmeriCorps grant. We are receiving a larger grant this year than we did the
first (1St) year. The transfers in went down from $120,000 to $70,00 and that was from other
departments. So, that was their share. The utilities had a share of that program because we were
doing some water efficiency stuff in the homes. So, that component of the share has gone down
$50,000. The total revenue is pretty similar to what it was last year. The ask on the General Fund
is going to be about $120,000 more than it was last year. You can see that broken down in the
expenses (referencing a slide in the presentation). I want to point out that the salaries and wages
also look a little odd. Again,there are no new additional staff. This is one(1)area and we've asked
for three (3) changes in personnel in our two hundred and sixty-seven (267) positions. One (1) of
them are on our Operations Manager of Sustainability from $40,800 to $46,000. Quite honestly,
we had trouble finding somebody to fill that role as it is currently vacant. We are trying to get
somebody that has got a building background so they already understand how to do some energy
efficiency work and can train our AmeriCorps members. We've had a real difficult time with this
current economy with the building trades doing so well, finding somebody that can meet that need.
That went up about$5,000 and you can see this is a much larger increase than that. What happened
was the AmeriCorps member stipends that are paid was in professional services last year. We
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•CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
moved that to salaries and wages this year. So, it is the same stipend it was before but that is just
the movement from professional services to salaries and wages.
He went on, You'll see that professional services did not go down in a corresponding amount and
that is because we have increased that line-item. That primarily has to do with two (2)things. One
(1), we are currently doing this Climate Action Plan and it's going to have five (5) strategies we
are going to roll out to the Council for immediate implementation. You'll see that before the end
of this year. This fall you will see that. We are budgeting for $40,000 for two (2) strategies for
next year. So, that is $80,000 in that professional services line-item and that will be to implement
whatever comes out of that Climate Action Plan. In addition to that, part of our requirements as
being a part of the Global Covenant was not only doing the Green House Gas Emission inventory
to find ways to reduce it, but also to do the vulnerability assessment to look at those risks that
Climate Change will bring to the City. We have$70,000 in there to do a vulnerability assessment.
So, those two (2) add to $150,000 and they are a large reason that the professional services line-
item did not decrease more than you would have expected with the moves. Otherwise,we are fairly
flat. Inter-fund allocations did go down in this significantly by the amount of$20,000. I think I've
covered all the highlights. Again, one (1) personnel change is moving the Operations Manager
salary from $40,800 to $46,000. Any questions on Sustainability?
Committee Chair White stated, I am going to ask Council Members to hold your questions so that
we can get through the rest of the presentation. I also want to ensure that we do have some time
left to allow members of the public to ask questions. This is a lot of information and we thought
of having Public Works by themselves so that we would cover it all. Again, this is excellent
information, but I want to make sure we have some time where we may have to bring you back,
especially getting to the special initiatives. I ask the Council Members to put your questions in
writing and share them with the City Clerk's Office, each Council Member, and Director Horvath.
The Public Works budget is really comprehensive and really touches every part of our City. If you
could continue with Streets, that would be great.
Mr. Horvath replied, I will and if I'm going too fast, let me know and I will slow down. I'll now
cover streets and sewers which are of the MVH Fund,the MVH restricted Fund,the Sewer Repair
Insurance Fund and the Project ReLeaf Fund. Mr. Horvath then introduced in attendance the
Director and Manger for Streets and Sewers. He continued,We've got some new leadership in the
department. In addition, Traffic and Lighting, we are currently hiring for a new director there, as
well. That position is vacant right now. The goals for next year include paving twenty (20) lane
miles with our own forces and about forty-one(41)total lane miles. I will go through those in more
detail later. We look to maintain the current level of the Curb and Sidewalk Program of 2019. That
is enhanced from 2018 and I understand it is not as much as you were hoping to see but it is an
increased level from years past if you go back the last number of years. In addition, one(1) of our
goals is to continue doing a lot more pavement maintenance type activities to make sure we are
trying to get as long a life as possible out of our pavements. So, we're going to do about fifty(50)
lane miles of crack sealing next year. Then we also want to work to implement CityWorks in our
Streets division, so we have a more robust asset management program in Streets.
He continued,On the Streets side, you'll see that the charges for services have gone down slightly.
That revenue decrease is due to a decrease in gas tax. Those numbers from the State are estimates
of what we will receive. We have an increase on transfers in to help support the operations of the
MVH Fund. Last year, because we had a fund balance in there in excess of the reserve
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•CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
requirements, we used some of that fund balance last year and budgeted about $3.8 million of
expenses over the amount of revenue.This year to offset some of that,we've got about$3.4 million
of COIT going into the MVH Fund, and about$740,000 EDIT going into the MVH Fund. So, you
can see(referencing the presentation) salaries and wages, again, are pretty flat. No increases other
than the two percent (2%) or one percent (1%), depending on the employment status. The only
other thing I'll point out is in supplies, you'll see that went down significantly. In all fairness, you
asked to see more paving,we are going to do forty-one(41)lane miles which includes money that
we get for Community Crossings if we get the grant. If we don't get the grant, that means we will
do thirty-three(33)lane miles with the funds we have set for road paving. Compared to 2019, that
is about$550,000 less than the 2019 original budget. Then we also did an additional appropriation
in 2019,just recently,of an additional$500,000. So,it's about$1 million less in paving than you'll
see in 2019. Having said that, you'll also see that one (1) of the offsets we have is we have a
number of federal projects that Kara went over, such as Bendix and Olive, that are considerable
projects that will be done in 2020. I'll also point out that you'll see a significant decrease on
transfers out. That $2.5 million was in this year's budget for 2019 for Bendix. We've put that in
MVH and then transferred it out. So,you don't see that money in there any longer,so it went down
significantly.
He went on, So, Curbs and Sidewalks, again, the same Council levels as before. Our
reimbursement program will have the same amount of money in it. We did add two (2)tiers to the
reimbursement program as a pilot. We will be reviewing that program in 2020 to see how well that
went but we added the non-residential tier. So, there was a rate that was a lower rate of
reimbursement for commercial properties or non-residential properties. Then we also selected two
(2) target areas with low-income households and we doubled the reimbursement amount in those
two (2) target areas. So, we will be reviewing that to see if we are going to continue having that
program in 2020. We do not have any additional safe route to schools funding in 2020 which has
been a huge blessing for us. Not that we don't have it in 2020 but that we've gotten it so much in
previous years.We've been very successful at getting grants for safe routes to schools.That money
is much harder to come by. We do have one(1)more grant for the area around Muessel but that is
programmed in 2024. So, that is the next time we will see safe routes to school dollars in South
Bend, unless something changes. To be clear, Olive Street's local share is about $2 million and
that is not in this budget. That is something we are going to have to figure out. And then again, we
want to continue our investment in the road preservation program.
He continued, I'll move on to Utilities. Again, this is our combined water and waste water utility.
I'm going to break those down to show you the water division aggregated, and the waste water
division aggregated. So, those funds are all of our water works operations, capital, customer
service, deposits, bond reserve, debt service and the reserve for the operations and maintenance
funds.Those are pretty much the same on both the water and sewer side with the addition of having
the storm sewer fund, Fund #667 as well. I won't go through all this utility stuff and I'll skip
through these (referencing the presentation) quickly. Goals, again, we are working on our capital
asset plan and hopefully do better long-term planning for the utilities. Again, we are going to try
and get more full-scale implementation of CityWorks for asset management and planning. We will
be doing a risk and resiliency program as well in water works. That is a requirement of the 2018
Water Infrastructure Act. That is a federal requirement which is to be done in 2020. Then a key
performance indicator, we had one hundred percent(100%) compliance with our natural pollutant
discharge elimination system permit, one hundred percent (100%) compliance of safe drinking
water, zero (0) dry-weather overflows, and I'll get to the budget here.
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Councilmember Tim Scott left the meeting at 7:00 p.m.
Mr. Horvath went on, On the revenue side of Water Works, it went up about $500,000, $476,000.
That is because the water rate increase you implemented, because it was implemented after the
first (1st) quarter, 2019 had three (3) months of the old rate and then nine (9) months of the new
rate. 2020 will have twelve (12) months of the new rate and so that is why it is up slightly. So,
revenues overall,what transfers in on the water works side, about$900,000 for 2020. Our expense
side, you can see (referencing the presentation) that we have a lower debt service of about
$195,000. That is because of two (2) leases that rolled off on the water meters or will roll off in
2020. That is why that went down. Then other expenses, $460,000, that went down primarily
because we had our billing software and Quest SMS program built into that line-item. That is why
you see such a large decrease there. Overall, I think one(1)thing I'd like to point out here is if you
look at our operating income,you can see(referencing the presentation)that we have about roughly
$3 million of operating income since we did the rate increases. What we want to do is to be able
to generate some income to be able to do capital projects. That is exactly what you were talking
about, Councilmember Voorde. This has enabled us to do that. So, if you remember in the first
(1st) couple of years where we didn't have the rate increase,we used TIF to offset some of that and
to do some of the water projects. As we generated the cash, we are moving that into capital. So,
you can see, in 2019,there is $3.76 million of capital and in 2020 $3.1 million of capital, from the
water works revenue, that we are using. That is because we are able to get that operating income
up whereas before, if you look at 2017 and 2018, we were at right around $5,000 of capital. It's
gone up significantly and that is exactly what we are trying to do with the water rate increase is be
able to take care of some long-deferred maintenance on assets that were in really terrible shape.
He continued, We have two (2) personnel changes on the Water Works side. Our distribution
records drafter, we are asking the Council to consider changing that position to become $52,000.
Then the operations manager, changing that title and position to director of distribution, and
increasing that salary to $80,000. Both of those are open positions. In particular, the director of
distribution has been a very difficult position to try and fill. We've had that open for quite some
time and to get somebody with water certifications and that has some experience in managing
water works operations, every time we've made offers, people haven't taken it because of the
salary. We are asking to see that increased. I think I've gone over all of the budget highlights here.
Transfers out, I've listed here (referencing the presentation) what that is. Inter-fund transfers
include $800,00 for water meters, we talked about that as well. The big projects were outlined by
Kara.
He went on, I'll move on to Waste Water. The proposed budget based on what we are seeing on
the revenue side is slightly up on charges for services. That is not a result of any rate increases.
We haven't had a rate increase for a number of years there, so, that is just the matter of adding
additional customers or who are using more of the service. Interest earnings, actually, you'll see
that about all of these are down just because interest rates are so low, we can hardly get anything
and there is not much the City can invest in. Again, professional services are down $250,000
largely because we are winding down on the Long-Term Control Plan.That has been a huge effort
and I will go over that in special initiatives. I'll do that briefly because we are at a point where we
probably need to sit back down with Council in a longer session to give you an update on where
we are on the Long-Term Control Plan. We will set some time aside to do that because that will
take some time to go through where we are with that program. Overall, you will see we are going
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
to invest in a lot of capital this year, about$8.5 million. We are going to spend down some of our
cash balances we have,-and a lot of that capital is going to projects that are kicking off our Long-
Term Control Plan. They are projects we knew we had to do anywhere,so, we are not at risk if the
Long-Term Control Plan changes. They are all projects that Kara went over that are at the Waste
Water Treatment Plant. Again, on the Waste Water side, there weren't any salary increases above
the two percent(2%) or one percent(1%). Capital also includes sewer lining rehabilitation as well
as the Long-Term Control Plan expenditures. That is something that is important to us. If you
noticed, I talked about treating 13 billion gallons of waste water. We have a combined system, so,
a lot of that is rain water that we are treating, but in addition to that, a lot of it is ground water
because we have number of pipes that are over one hundred(100)years old. They are leaky pipes,
so, we are getting a lot of infiltration and inflow coming into those pipes. To give those sewers
additional life, as well as to reduce some of that INI, we line the pipes as part of our maintenance
program. We have money in there for that as well.
Councilmember Jake Teshka left the meeting at 7:07 p.m.
Mr. Horvath continued, I have a number of special initiatives to speak to, but I will hold on to
those and open to questions. If you want, I can leave it for a later date.
Committee Chair White replied, I would say, since we are losing some of our Council Members,
special initiatives are critical, and more Council Members need to be present to give you the full
opportunity for the presentation. We will stop at this time. Thank you, Eric, to you and your staff.
You've done a wonderful job and have provided excellent information, but we need to dig into
this a little further.
Committee Chair White then opened the floor to members of the public.
Jason Banicki, 3822 Ford Street, stated, I have three (3) questions. I was looking at the numbers
and the temporary speed humps actually cost more than the permanent ones. Why is that and if it
more expensive to do a temporary, why are we doing temporary ones? This one (1) may be more
of a Venues,Parks&Arts question but,since you brought up the bathroom at Mussel Grove.When
they talk to the Rum Village Association about Walker Field Park,they are talking about removing
the bathroom completely? Why does there seem to be a plan to renovate this one (1) but remove
this one (1)? Do we have a consistent plan for how we are going to handle these neighborhood
parks and their bathrooms? It doesn't seem that we do. And then, have we looked at the cost and
benefit to taking a lot of our side streets back to their brick road original forms? We had a pretty
big one (1) over the spring where a neighborhood wanted theirs restored. There are three (3) big
benefits to brick roads. One (1) is they last a lot longer than the asphalt we constantly have to
repave. Two (2), they are naturally porous, so they allow for that storm water through. And three
(3),they kind of act as a natural traffic calming device for these neighborhoods. If we are spending
money to repave the road, and spending money for traffic calming, and spending money to try and
divert the storm water, could we take a look and see if it is cheaper all together to go back to brick
roads? That is for side streets and not main roads, but those are some things I was interested in if
we had looked into yet.
Sue Kesim, 4022 Kennedy Drive stated, One (1) of my concerns is that I see a lot of red up on
those slides (referencing the presentation). Red numbers. As a taxpayer, I have four(4) priorities
on spending and those are roads, sewers, water and public safety. My priority is not lining the
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
pockets of private developers while we let these things deteriorate and not maintain them and grow
them. Again, I think our budget has poor priorities and I repeatedly want to see those priorities
change. One (1) of the things about the curbs, at least in my neighborhood, they paved right over
the curbs. There is now no curb and, hence, there is no water drainage. So, the City did a really
poor job of doing that and I want to know if that will be remediated. I'm glad to see the Olive area
being redone. I think there are a lot of trucks with steel coils on them and so I'm wondering if that
area where the steel warehouse is, if those roads need more reinforcement to withstand the wear.
I'm glad to hear we are doing something different with the filtration. When I turn on my tap water,
it is like pool water coming out with the chlorine. So, I'm hoping we can do something for that.
I'm wondering, last year, we reported only twenty percent (20%) of the sewers being done, what
is that percentage now? Has it gone up? Again, that is a priority for me over lining the private
pockets of other people. Last year, it was mentioned there was a pilot program to scan the roads to
see the condition of the road. I'm curious about what happened with those scanners because that
could help us monitor the condition of our roads and help them be better maintained. I'm
wondering if there has been an increase in minority contractors in these contracts since last year.
I'm wondering how many more bonds are on the horizon to cover what we need. I would like to
see another utility update session. I know I'm always into the infrastructure,but I would really like
to go more in depth. Like for example, some of our wells have three(3)feet of rust in them because
they hadn't been maintained over the years. I would like a special session on key things like that,
that are critical that have sort of gotten shoved back and now are costing us more money. So, I
would like to see a special session. The renovation of the bathrooms, I'll bring this up again, our
opioid crisis means we have a lot of people doing drugs in the parks. That is an unfortunate reality.
I'll bring it up again, it would be nice to have those needle drops in the wall for sharps. It could
also be for people who are diabetic and other reasons, too, but my concern is that there should be
an easy place to put sharps instead of in the trash or where kids could get them in the park. So, I
would like to see something done with that. On the public restrooms, I also wonder if there will be
some nice features like charging stations for phones, or something like that.
She continued, On the sustainability, I'll bring this up again, I think there are over fifty (50)
buildings in the City, I want to say. I don't know the exact number, but I think it would be great,
and maybe this is a good intern project, but study all the roofs of the City buildings to see if they
need more insulation, if they could have solar panels or be a green roof. Something like that. I
would like to see a break-out to see how much is being spent on professional services. Which
projects,and who are getting those contracts?Again,that is kind of a minority one(1)too,but I'm
curious as to who is getting the share on those.
Committee Chair White asked, Sue, I'm going to have to ask you to wrap it up, if you can. All
your additional questions,please submit them to us(which are available in the City Clerk's Office),
we will make sure they will get answered, as well.
Ms. Kesim continued, Ok, I also wanted to know where we are in the EPA lawsuit. And, the
backflows being installed that help with the flooding, not the personal ones in people's basements
but the City ones for the big sewer drains, I would like to know about the backflow things being
installed there because I'm sure we will get another flood. And, I would like to know which
projects have had cost overruns that we didn't fund well enough.
Committee Chair White stated, Thank you, and thank you for spending your birthday with us.
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Ms. Kesim interjected, That is how special Eric is.
Kim Bowman, 314 Marquette Avenue, stated, I have a question. In light of the decision to cut the
recommended increase on our utility bill by fifty percent(50%), i.e. the four dollars ($4) that Eric
requested for storm water, where is the rest of that funding going to come from? It is infuriating to
sit here and hear$450,000 for storm water when somebody within the City thought it was a good
idea to take out a park bond and buy a big truck named Boomer for $800,000 that they said they
are hoping will last ten (10) years. Oh, and by the way, we need to build a new garage for. What
was it, $150 million for the downtown streets, that was budgeted? In the Northshore Triangle, we
have a guardrail that has been down for four (4) years. How much could that possibly cost to be
fixed? How about money coming out of downtown and into the neighborhoods?
Gerry Gingras, 318 Marquette Avenue, stated, I have two (2) questions. Has any money been
allocated to address the impact of the Notre Dame/Holy Cross development activities up on the
hill? And,how much? When? Is there going to be a status report on the investigations? And what
is the status of the implementation? My second(2nd) question is simply,has money been allocated
to complete the LFA recommendations in the year 2020?
Committee Chair White turned the floor back to Committee and Council Members for closing
remarks.
Councilmember McBride stated, I would just like to thank all the presenters and departments that
showed up. All the hard work you put into this budget, I look forward to considering it and sitting
down and weeding through it to make sure we have the priorities of the Council and the
neighborhoods. I'm pleased we start early enough to get viable information from neighbors to
come back before we finalize things. So, I appreciate everyone who took the time to come. Thank
you.
Committeemember Voorde stated, Same thing. I appreciate the work that went into this and your
continued good work, given the resources you have.
Committee Chair White then turned the floor to the Administration presenters for closing remarks.
Mr. Horvath stated, There are a lot of great questions there. We are more than happy to address
those, I wrote down a number of them. We are more than happy to help answer those and publish
them. We will talk about all of these things in more depth at a later date, as well. I appreciate your
time.
Committee Chair White replied, We appreciate you, as well and your department and all your
individuals and employees that may never hear the words `Thank you.' We do thank you. The
budget process is always an interesting time because we are working collaboratively to get to the
best end result. I appreciate the Administration employees who adjusted their schedules to start at
5:30 p.m. as opposed to 5:00 p.m.
Dan Parker, City Controller with offices located on the 12th floor of the County-City Building,
stated,Thank you, everyone for being here and for all the work you do. We caught those questions
and will submit written answers to the Council before the next budget hearing.
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•CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
Committee Chair White announced, Our next budget hearing will be on August 14th and that will
be for Venues, Parks &Arts.
With no further business,Committee Chair White adjourned the Personnel and Finance Committee
meeting at 7:22 p.m.
Respec 1 Submitte 4rtz
Karen White, Committee Chair
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