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OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK
DAWN M.JONES, CITY CLERK
PERSONNEL &FINANCE SEPTEMBER 4, 2019 5:30 P.M.
Committee Members Present: Karen White, Jo M. Broden(late)
Committee Members Absent: John Voorde, Regina Williams-Preston
Other Council Present: Tim Scott, Dr. Oliver Davis, Sharon L. McBride(late),
Jake Teshka(late)
Other Council Absent: Gavin Ferlic
Others Present: Dawn M. Jones, Graham Sparks, Bob Palmer
Presenters: Dan Parker, Tracy Skibins, Ron O'Connor, Marlaina Johns,
Jenn Gobel, Christina Brooks, Diana Moya, Crystal
McCain
Agenda: Code Enforcement
Office of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA)
Committee Chair White called to order the Personnel and Finance Committee meeting at 5:30 p.m.
She introduced members of the Committee and proceeded to give the floor to the presenters.
Code Enforcement
Dan Parker, City Controller for the City of South Bend with offices located on 12th floor of the
County-City Building, stated, Thank you, Council Member White and thank you all Council
Members for being here. I'd also like to thank Code Enforcement,Tracy, your team for being here.
Christina,your team for being here as well. It should be a good evening. I appreciate it. Before we
get into Code Enforcement and the Animal Resource Center, I just want to update Council, there
is an accounting change specifically related to Code Enforcement for the 2020 budget and I just
wanted to briefly walk through that. There are really three(3) changes in total. The biggest one(1)
has to do with the majority of Code Enforcement operations. Currently the majority of the Code
Enforcement operations are accounted for in Fund #600 which is an enterprise fund, which also
contains the operations of the Building Department. For the 2020 budget we decided that, for a
number of reasons, it didn't really make a whole lot of sense. We want to move the Code
Enforcement operations with the majority of the Code Enforcement operations out of Fund #600
and into a newly created Fund#230 which will be the Code Enforcement operation fund.
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•CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
He continued, So the reasons why this makes a lot of sense is, for one(1), Code Enforcement and
the Building Department are two (2) different departments that do very different things. And it
makes sense to account for the operations separately. For two (2), Fund #600 is actually an
enterprise fund. Enterprise funds are meant to account for activities that are more business type in
nature, which Code Enforcement is very governmental in nature. So, we wanted to move it into a
governmental fund. So, Fund #230, the new fund will account for the Neighborhood Code
Enforcement Division,the Animal Resource Center, SBARC and as well as the NEAT Crew. The
NEAT crew was actually accounted for in Fund #219 and that will be moved into the new Fund
#230 as well. So that's the first(1St) change, the creation of a new Fund#230.
Councilmember Jake Teshka arrived at the meeting at 5:32 p.m.
Mr. Parker continued, The second (2nd) change has to do with Fund #221, which is the landlord
registration fund. We are going to use Fund #221 not only to account for landlord registration
activities, but also to account for the RSVP Program, the Rental Safety Verification Program.
Those activities will be accounted for in Fund #221 as well, moved from Fund #600. And then
finally Fund#219, the unsafe building division, we will move the NEAT Crew which is currently
accounted for in Fund#219 and into the new Fund#230. Again, all of these changes are just to try
and clean up the operations and make the accounting match the operations as much as possible
and account for Code Enforcement in the way that they operate. We will be introducing a proposed
ordinance to make all those fund changes as well.
Committee Chair White stated, That information is on page three (3) of our presentation
(referencing a presentation which is available in the City Clerk's Office). She then opened the floor
to questions from Council Members regarding the restructuring of the operating budget Funds
#219,#221,#230 and#600.There were none. She then turned the floor back over to the presenters.
Tracy Skibins, Director of Code Enforcement for the City of South Bend with offices located on
the 13th floor of the County-City Building, stated, Good evening Council. Ms. Skibins introduced
members of her staff present in the audience.
Councilmember Sharon L. McBride and Councilmember Jo M. Broden both arrived at the meeting
at 5:34 p.m.
Ms. Skibins continued, Code Enforcement encompasses Neighborhood Code Enforcement, the
Rental Safety Verification Program, better known as RSVP, the Neighborhood Enforcement
Action Team, better known as the NEAT Crew and Animal Resource Center, SBARC. In front of
you,you'll see that our organizational chart(referencing a slide in a presentation which is available
in the City Clerk's Office) with a slight change under NCE, Neighborhood Code Enforcement,
you'll see it is seven-point-five (7.5) inspectors. That actually should be six and a half(6.5) and
RSVP instead of two (2), that should be three (3). So, we moved an inspector from Code
Enforcement over to the RSVP program. My organizational chart does not reflect that, and I
apologize for that change.
She went on, 2020 departmental goals include improving the operational effectiveness with
successful implementation of CityWorks which will replace Accela. So, many of you probably
heard me this past year share with you our struggles that we are experiencing with the software
that we currently have. The struggles are real and can be overwhelming at times. I'm proud of our
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
Code Enforcement team because it has required us to have a lot of work arounds in order to just
continue day-to-day operations. And we definitely don't want it to trickle down to the residents
that we serve. So, I do commend the Code Enforcement staff, even though we've been having
trouble with our software, they've been doing a phenomenal job of trying to find a lot of work
arounds so that the public doesn't see that we are having software struggles. So again, in 2020, our
goal is to improve our operational effectiveness by using a new software,which is CityWorks.The
community will continue to see positive impact of the Rental Safety Verification Program. We are
so proud of this program and we hear nothing but great things coming from it. We are holding
landlords responsible. We are identifying those responsive landlords out there because there are
many of them, and we are getting tenants the assistance that they need.
She continued, We're going to continue to increase the numbers of our neighborhood cleanups. In
2018 we had a total of 42,860 pounds of debris that between our staff members and inspectors and
neighborhood groups cleaned up during 2018. In 2019, as of August 25th we've already exceeded
that amount by approximately 51,900 pounds, which I think is absolutely amazing. We also are
very involved with the Love Your Block pickups as well. So, even though we don't necessarily
have inspectors or staff working these events all the time, we reach out to those folks who are in
charge of the Love Your Block pickups and they know exactly where they should gather the trash
they collect. And then on Monday morning when our inspectors show up for work, our NEAT
Crew shows up and they will then go around to those different locations and pick up the trash. So,
it has worked out great and its helped add to our 2019 numbers as of August 25th. We also want to
work on increasing adoptions at the Animal Resource Center, SBARC, and continue to build a
robust volunteer program. I'd like to highlight some of the dogs here you see on the screen
(referencing a slide in the presentation), I don't know if you noticed, but that cute one(1) up there
in the left-hand corner's name is Gavin. He's not here today,but, there's that.
She went on, Operating budget highlights and changes, as Dan Parker highlighted, the operating
budget funds were restructured as follows (referencing a slide in the presentation). I don't think I
need to go through this necessarily, but you have the information in front of you and this is pretty
much word for word what Dan Parker just explained to us. This is the overview of the Department
of Code Enforcement, all divisions. If you look at the 2020 budget numbers, the expenditures at
$4.58 million, compared to 2019 that was at $4.022 million. You'll see the Code Enforcement
budget for expenditures has increased roughly$557,192.The next page,if you'll flip the page,will
explain a little bit more in detail allocations, up $103,704. We are requesting, which I'll go into a
little bit more a little later in my presentation, two (2) new positions for the RSVP program. An
increase,with the two percent(2%)personnel increase. I am requesting a salary adjustment for the
deputy director, director, and shelter manager. Health insurance has increased as well as other
fringe benefits and of course we have the MOU with St. Vincent DePaul for tenant services for the
RSVP program. And we're also asking for an increase for emergency demolitions. We anticipate
we will pay up front and then be reimbursed by CDBG funds.
She continued, I apologize as this slide is a little difficult to read (referencing the presentation).
The slide shows projected subsidized dollars on the left and actual subsidized dollars on the right.
Two(2)year projection of tax subsidized funding is approximately eighty percent(80%). Looking
at 2019, year to date actual is roughly eighty-two percent (82%). This slide shows the operating
revenues for 2018, the amended 2019 and proposed 2020. What I'd like to point out is the change
in revenue percentages with a decrease of thirty-one percent (31%). The reason for this, over the
last several years, projected revenues have been high, and we adjusted 2020 to be in line with the
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111 CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
actuals. We want to be transparent. We understand the importance of showing the actual numbers,
which is why we did it this way. RSVP revenue generation will be derived from follow up
inspections and fee assessments for non-compliance. First (1St) and second (2nd) inspections will
have no charge, however, if non-compliant after the second(2nd) inspection, there will be charges
requiring follow up inspections to validate compliance. This is a new initiative. Revenue could
vary greatly from current estimates. This again, is just more of a visual to the previous slide that I
just discussed. This is a breakout of the chargeable services offered by the Animal Resource
Center. On the left you'll see 2018 actuals and in the fourth (4t") column you'll see proposed
revenues for 2020. The slide on the right gives you a mid-year comparative. There is a very slight
change between 2018 and 2019. And this is for the Animal Resource Center. Overview of our
tickets,the South Bend Animal Resource Center,the ticket count increased one hundred and sixty-
six (166) from the same period in 2018. For Code Enforcement, environmental tickets increased
five hundred and sixty-nine (569) from the same period in 2018. And for the RSVP program, we
have three hundred and seventy-five(375) fees and fines since the start of the program. We'll have
a better idea next year and then we can compare the two (2) years.
She went on, This is a breakout from the earlier slide illustrated by division and category. The
overall increase for the department is one percent(1%) from the 2019 amended budget. Operating
budget personnel changes, we're requesting, due to the demands of the Rental Safety Verification
Program, Code Enforcement is in desperate need, I would say, of two (2) additional inspectors. In
the beginning months of RSVP, it became clear that the majority of the rental properties were not
going to pass the initial inspections, therefore requiring multiple inspections before certification.
In order to provide the same level of service to residents and continuing to improve our services,
we are requesting two (2) additional inspectors. The increase of personnel costs of both inspectors
is $126,888. That also includes benefits and both salaries for the two (2) inspectors. We are also
requesting to realign the salaries for director, deputy director and manager of SBARC. There was
a disparity with the salaries of the director,deputy director, and SBARC manager and that of many
other department heads in similar positions as ours. So that the salaries of these positions are fair
and comparable with that of other department heads and leaders, we are requesting an increase of
salaries for a total for all three(3)positions up $15,769. 2020 capital leases, all we have on our list
for this is the two (2) half ton extended cabs, four by four (4x4) pickup trucks financed through
the capital lease.
Jenn Gobel, Manager of the South Bend Animal Resource Center with offices located at 521
Eclipse Place, stated, Good evening, Council. As you can see (referencing the presentation), our
intakes have increased another two percent(2%) and that has continued since I took over in 2016.
Every year we're continually increasing the number of animals coming through the shelter. Despite
that,we are still lowering our euthanasia numbers,which is a true testament to the staff.Adoptions
have increased six percent (6%) compared to last year. Our length of stay for animals has
decreased, which is very, very important to their wellbeing, getting them in and out of the shelter
as quickly as possible. But the biggest thing is as our intakes increase year after year, our
euthanasia rate, a thirty-three percent (33%) decrease in that is a pretty big thing to be proud of.
And that's a true testament to the staff that worked very hard not only through adoptions but to get
animals out to rescue.
Ms. Skibins stated, I think those numbers are pretty amazing. Finally, I just want to like highlight
some of the amazing things that we do at Code Enforcement because I know Council Members,
you probably hear a lot of negative things pertaining to Code Enforcement and Animal Care and
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•CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
Control or better known as, I guess now, the South Bend Animal Resource Center. But I can tell
you that we have many, many events that we participate in, outreach events, things that we
organize,things that we're now invited to.And I hear nothing but great things from the community,
from community leaders, about Code Enforcement and the South Bend Animal Resource Center.
So, I'm extremely proud of our team and I'm happy with the relationship that we have with the
residents of South Bend.
Committee Chair White then opened the floor to questions from Committee and Council Members.
Committee Chair White stated, John Voorde, unfortunately, can't be with us but he asked me to
ask a couple questions on his behalf His first (1st) question is "What is being done about
demolishing or securing derelict, industrial buildings like the South Bend Range, Singers, Sibling
and others, that are not secure and propose a danger to the public and others?"
Ms. Skibins replied, So, that has been on our radar for a while and that is one (1) of the reasons
why we are looking to increase our funds for emergency demolitions when it comes to commercial
structures. Because they are so expensive, we just don't have it in our budget to handle all the
commercial structures in South Bend. So, we, like you and Councilmember Voorde, also would
like to see those dangerous situations addressed as quickly as possible.
Committee Chair White followed up,Do you have a plan to go about dealing with these buildings?
Ms. Skibins replied, We try our best to hold the owners of the property accountable.
Ron O'Connor, Fiscal Officer for the Department of Code Enforcement with offices located on the
13th floor of the County-City Building, stated, Earlier in the presentation, I think Tracy showed the
slide, was maybe the 5th or 6th slide,that showed the significant changes in the Code Enforcement
budget for 2020. As a part of that, there was a$70,000 increase in the demolitions. Originally,we
were going to use that as an offset to the money that we will be receiving as reimbursement back
from Community Development Block Grants, otherwise known as CDBGs. However,just since
we put the budget together, we've been notified CDBG will probably not be pursuing funds for
Code Enforcement demolitions. So, that money that we're requesting for reimbursement, we will
just continue to use that for emergency demolitions along with money that was coming out of Fund
#404,which is County Option Income Tax. Over the past several years we've had allocated around
$500,000 to deal with vacant abandoned residential homes as well as commercial. And in 2020
that number has been decreased to $250,000. Not for lack of need, just for lack of budgetary
purposes to be fiscally responsible in other areas. So,we're doing what we can with the money that
is available. Obviously we'll explore any options we have to continue to remedy some of these
problems that you're discussing with these commercial buildings.
Committee Chair White followed up, And again, you will keep us abreast of the progress and
which buildings we would be addressing as we move forward?
Ms. Skibins replied, Yes, we can definitely do that. We have you come up with a list of priorities
and prioritize those buildings, but yes, we can definitely keep you involved and maybe ask for
your help.
Committee Chair White stated, Okay. I think that's going to be important.
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
Mr. O'Connor stated, I would like to add along with the CDBG I was speaking of, prior to putting
this budget together, at the time we were presenting this budget,we had approximately$72,000 in
unused CDBG money that I think was out of fiscal year 2016, maybe 2017. One (1) of those two
(2)years. However, since putting that together,we thought that money would roll over to the 2020
budget year. However,we were told that,that would expire on December 31St. So that money now
is being diverted. $72,000 remaining balance in CDBG is to be diverted to do an emergency
demolition on the, I think it's 1824 South Franklin commercial building that just caught fire
recently. And we're going to take that one(1) down tomorrow.
Committee Chair White stated, Okay. Well hopefully you can keep in contact with us because I
know there are certain buildings the residents have major concerns with, and they have been
standing for quite some time. The other question is, looking over at your budget presentation, I'm
very pleased that the RSVP program is working and there's a need for additional support. But as
you look at Code Enforcement, what other things do you believe that your department could be
doing? Because as we look at Code from a positive perspective, that department is very critical to
the quality of life for our neighborhoods. Do you have any other areas that you think that you
would want to look towards in really addressing some of those other issues that we continuously
we hear about? You know, the lots and trash or other things of that nature.
Ms. Skibins replied, I think large commercial structures, as you pointed out, as well as if there is
a way to concentrate a little bit more on the illegal dumping that's taking place in South Bend,
that'd be fantastic, too. One (1) of the things I think that frustrates both Marlaina, and myself is
that because of the issues that we've suffered through this year with our software, we are having a
difficult time addressing things that are on our radar, like the commercial structures that are not
addressed, like the illegal dumping, like the tire issues dumping and things like that because our
time is taken away from that in trying to just basically make Code Enforcement continue running.
So, there are many things that are on our radar. We want to get better at what we do. We want to
continue to work with the community, which I think that we're doing a pretty good job with. But
we also have to work with the community and solicit their suggestions and how we can improve
the services that we already offer and how we can enhance them.
Committee Chair White stated, I know that the Council Members have questions, I'm going to
allow them to follow up as well. But in terms of the illegal dumping program, if I'm not mistaken,
I think was it $600,000 that was given towards that program, or maybe $200,000 plus. But, if we
could get an update on the status of the illegal dumping program and what some of the challenges
are and what areas have been addressed,that would be great. Because that program was developed,
I'd probably say maybe six (6) or seven (7) years ago, based on residents that had some concerns
about the illegal dumping that was happening in certain districts.
Ms. Skibins asked, Are you aware of any other departments that were involved besides Code
Enforcement?
Committee Chair White replied, We had meetings and I do believe that Parks was involved. Parks
really looked at the graffiti challenges, but the illegal dumping I think really came out of Code.
But, I need to double check that. And I think it was quite a bit of dollars. But if you could just,you
know, report that back to us so we can have that information. And also, to see what the status is.
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What is working and what is not working? What areas are we seeing a disproportionate number of
illegal dumping within our neighborhoods?
Councilmember Dr. Oliver Davis stated, Thank you. First (1St) of all, thanks for coming out last
week to the Western Manor meeting. A couple of things, regarding the cleaning cost. When we
consider the situation that we had last week over off the West Washington area in terms of them
wanting to build a homeless complex for permanent supportive housing within that area and we
were talking about issues regarding possible contamination in that area. Those kinds of sites, what
do you all do in terms of what is your involvement in helping initiate clean-up for those types of
sites?
Ms. Skibins clarified, Is it a private property that you're asking about?
Councilmember Dr. Davis replied, Yes.
Ms. Skibins replied, So we always try to hold the owner responsible for that. So, whoever owns
that specific piece of property,that's who we reach out to and they receive a letter. It's just a simple
letter saying that your property needs to be cleaned. It's not a ticket, it's not a citation or anything,
they'll get it as a warning.
Councilmember Dr. Davis followed up. But in terms of environmental issues, what is your role in
terms of that part of it?
Ms. Skibins replied, We handle the trash and we handle the overgrown grass and things like that
on the property.
Councilmember Dr. Davis followed up, But in terms of environmental pieces of it?
Ms. Skibins replied, That is environmental.
Councilmember Tim Scott stated, Soil.
Ms. Skibins replied, Oh soil. No, I'm sorry sir. No. Grass and trash in Code Enforcement, that's
considered environmental. Sorry.
Councilmember Dr. Davis stated, Gotcha. In terms of the issue regarding the$70,000 for cleanup
cost, is that going to be enough for that area since you looked at some of the changes that since
you just talked about?
Ms. Skibins replied, So that's the starting point but we have to prioritize which buildings. It's very
hard to know exactly what is going to be deemed an emergency demolition. For instance, that
property that we're talking about right now on Franklin Street, the reason why that is emergency
is because the Fire Department reached out to me and basically said, you know, I know you don't
have money for it in Code Enforcement,but we need you to address it. So, an emergency situation
like that,we really don't have a definite amount of money that we need to set aside. So,we're using
that as a base.
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411 CITY OF SOUTH BENI) OFFICE OF THE CLERK
Councilmember Dr. Davis stated, Oh wow. So, the owners are not responsible for that or
insurances?
Ms. Skibins replied, So,the ownership was dissolved.
Marlaina Johns,Deputy Director of Code Enforcement with offices located on the 13th floor of the
County-City Building, stated, Yeah, so for that particular property, it was an LLC and when we
checked the Indiana registered licenses,the admin had been dissolved. We've had a couple people
say that somebody local in the community owns the property. We checked tax records and it
showed that person did buy it, but then never actually took full ownership of the property. So, we
sent letters to everyone involved and haven't gotten any response from anyone. So,we'll be having
to take care of it ourselves. The problem is with the roof, the way that the roof style is built, the
rest of it is falling.
Councilmember Dr. Davis stated, I drove by there.
Ms. Johns stated, Yeah. I would like to circle back if I may to the commercial structures. So, our
budget right now, as Ron mentioned, is about$200,000 for 2020 for demolition funds. If you look
at the Drewry's cleanup,just to clean up the demo debris over there is about $1.5 million. A lot of
these commercial structures come back at about $1.5 million easily. So, it is something. Even if
we took every bit of money that we have for demolitions,it is really not going to touch commercial
structures. So, that will probably end up having to be an initiative through the City, through the
Mayor's office,through the County Council,or something like that,to be able to come up with the
money to address some of these commercial structures because they are a really large undertaking.
Ms. Skibins stated, It is something that we have talked about many times since you've taken this
role because it is a big deal.
Councilmember Dr. Davis asked, Can you send us something on that? What you just stated?
Ms. Johns replied, Sure.
Councilmember Dr. Davis continued,That we need to look at regarding that and how you want to
proceed on that? Because I believe not only with what you are dealing with up there, but several
sites like that come to mind.
Ms. Johns replied, Yeah, I can name a whole bunch right now just sitting here.
Councilmember Dr. Davis stated,People,just like the Fire Department, are looking for you to deal
with that and they are looking for us to address that, and what is going to be our plan for that? And
how do we do that? And so, if you could send us something that we can at least start something in
this budget as we look at massaging everything else and working toward it.
Ms. Skibins replied, Yes, I'd be happy to.
Councilmember Dr. Davis asked, Last question, what was the issue that led to the decrease of the
cats and dogs staying? That was good news.
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
Ms. Johns replied, They're very hard workers. I can tell you that.
Councilmember Dr. Davis replied, Yeah, that was good news, I want you to brag about that.
Councilmember Scott stated, They're just really cute, Doctor.
Jenn Gobel, Manager for the Animal Resources Center with offices located at 521 Eclipse Place,
replied, The increase in adoptions and the increase in the steady numbers of animals, which after
this month we had one hundred and sixty-three(163) animals go to rescue in one month.
Councilmember Dr. Davis stated, Wow.
Ms. Gobel continued, Last August or this just this past August. So, it's the hard work of the staff
utilizing social media, special adoption events, and things like that. Last month we had eighty(80)
adoptions, which is the highest we've had and then anytime we hit close to one hundred (100) or
over one hundred (100), which we smashed it by one hundred and sixty-three (163) animals to
rescue, that's less time cared for and monies that go into those animals. We transfer them out to
rescue partners. So, that's how the length of stay decreases because it's all averaged by the total
number of animals in and then averaging how long that they're there.
Councilmember Dr. Davis stated, When you hit those kinds of records, can you just send us a little
note so we can celebrate with you on that? Because that's cool.
Ms. Gobel replied, Absolutely. Thank you.
Councilmember Dr. Davis stated, I'm at peace.
Councilmember Scott asked, Regarding the numbers of animals that you have, is the shelter at
adequate space for all the animals you have?
Ms. Gobel replied, The shelter is a struggle. It's a challenge for the number of animals with the
• continual intakes that we have. Like I said, over the course of the last three (3) years since I've
taken on this role, the numbers continue to increase. Even with the strong efforts of like TNR and
the programs that we work out within the community, when you get over one hundred (100) plus
cats that come through your door and you have eighteen (18) cages for them, that's not a lot of
space to work with. We're at a max capacity of about sixty (60) dogs on average for the shelter.
That's not putting them in other rooms that aren't designated for them. Our intake of dogs last
month was one hundred and thirteen113). So, we are consistently hustling. The staff is always
(
under tremendous pressure to move animals, whether like I said to rescue, to push adoption, and
things like that. And they do a fabulous job with that, but it's, a challenge for sure.
Councilmember Scott followed up, Yeah. You can only do so much with that intake. You know,
looking at the numbers, that's why I brought up the question. So, I hope that the Administration is
looking at that too. And the next Administration, I hope that's a priority too. We need to make sure
we have adequate safe space for the animals that we're bringing back in. So, all right, thank you.
Ms. Skibins, of your$103,000 allocation, how much of that is going to IT? Do you know just off
the top of your head?
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
Ms. Skibins replied, I think Ron has those numbers, but I think it's approximately$80,000.
Councilmember Scott stated, $80,000 out of$103,000, okay. On the RSVP when you've moved a
person over to that,the two(2)additional,would that include that person there or would that person
go back to Code?
Ms. Skibins replied, Both that we are requesting will go to the RSVP program. And they'll stay in
that program.
Councilmember Scott replied, Okay. And the one(1) that you moved over is staying as well?
Ms. Skibins replied,Yes.That should have been there in the first(1St)place. I just didn't have them
there as part of the organizational chart. We would have five(5) dedicated if we were, you know,
we were able to acquire two (2) full time positions, we'll have a total of five (5) inspectors for the
RSVP Program.
Councilmember Scott followed up, Okay.Thank you. I didn't know if it was five(5)or the one(1)
would move back as interim right now.
Ms. Skibins replied, Five (5) was correct.
Ms. Johns stated, We'll have them cross training, obviously, just in case the environmental side
needs help for a little while. Then that person could flip back over there for a bit.
Ms. Skibins stated, Day-to-day operations the way they are,it's difficult for the housing inspectors
and then that's not even taking into account when we have vacation time or sick time, or we have
hearings on Tuesdays and Thursdays and things like that.
Councilmember Scott stated, Okay. Madam Chair, I'll have more later, but I just have one (1)
more. $54,000 going to RSVP for the tenant. I believe that number is right?
Ms. Skibins clarified, For St. Vincent de Paul.
Councilmember Scott stated,Yes. You guys are going to come back and do pretty much an update
to Council on RSVP, part of that, I would like to understand how much money has gone towards
that.
Ms. Skibins replied, Sure. That's no problem.
Councilmember Scott continued, Because that is a really important part of this, and I want to make
sure that's properly funded. I want to make sure that we're not displacing anybody and we're finding
people a better solution and having the funds to do it. Me being one(1)of the sponsors of this bill,
I want to make sure that's taken care of. So, I just want to understand where that number is in that
pace. I figured there's going to be a curve, you know, a lot of rejections up front, or a lot of
inspection failures, and then it should improve over time. So just want to be able to track that.
Ms. Skibins stated, I agree. And I can tell you that we've had ten (10) condemned units so far,
properties, and we had to reach out to St. Vincent de Paul, I want to say (4) four times, maybe.
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Because what we're trying to do, again, whoever owns that property, if your property is deemed
condemned then you are responsible for finding adequate housing for that person while you make
the improvements. So, we have had some landlords, like I said, we do have responsible landlords
out there, and they have moved the tenants into maybe an extended stay hotel, which is perfectly
fine, or maybe they have another rental unit that they can move them into. We don't strictly move
straight to St. Vincent de Paul because that's not necessarily the responsibility of the tenant. So,
we are working very hard with their instructors to make sure that they share that with the owner
of the property that you need to find alternative housing for these people.And if that's not the case,
or if we're not able to do that, that's when we move over to St Vincent de Paul. And you should
know that we also have monthly meetings with them as well. Which includes Judith Fox. So
together we've made a pretty fantastic team I think.
Councilmember Scott stated, Okay. Yes. And I officially sent a letter to Notre Dame commending
Judith Fox in the work that she's done there in making sure Notre Dame knows how valuable that
is as well.
Ms. Skibins replied, Thank you for doing that. She's amazing.
Councilmember Scott followed up, So thank you, director, and your whole entire team for the
tireless and you know just thankless work that you guys do sometimes.
Ms. Skibins replied, Thank you.
Councilmember Jake Teshka stated, I don't know if this is a question so much as a comment. I
know that when we were initially discussing the RSVP ordinance, there were some questions on
having enough man power to do this. And if memory serves me, I think we were going to try and
stretch it, right? And so, I guess just to head off any blow back, I would just take it, and I'm
applauding the Code Department and Director Skibins and Marlaina, for all of your hard work and
I think a key success story out of RSVP has been Miami Hills. And in the fifth (5`11) district and
what I've seen us be able to do there, I think adding two (2) inspectors is $126,000 well spent. If
we can replicate that throughout the City as this program grows, I just think it's been such a
fantastic thing. I thank you guys for doing all the hard work that you do.
Councilmember Scott stated, Hopefully they work themselves out of a job.
Councilmember Teshka replied, that's right.
Ms. Skibins replied, Thank you. And I'll share that with the inspectors as well.
Councilmember Jo M. Broden stated, Thanks for your presentation. With regard to departmental
goals, the revision of the current code, the chapter, that'll actually be passed in 2020, correct?
Ms. Skibins replied, Right.
Councilmember Broden continued, I'm going to tee you up here to announce your upcoming
meetings. In general, or where people could find information about those upcoming meetings for
public input.
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Ms. Skibins replied, I don't have the dates memorized, but we do have a commission meeting
tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. on the 13`h floor of the County-City Building.
Ms.Johns stated, It is on our website too. If they want to go on there,they can look at the PDF and
see the dates and locations.
Councilmember Broden followed up, The actual document, correct?
Ms. Skibins replied, Yes. And it's also shared through social media for SBARC as well. Mark
Bode, the Communications Director for the Mayor, sent out a press release, as well. And then our
legal,Tom Panowitz,will share upcoming information dates with Bob Palmer,who will then share
it with Council, as well. So, we'll try to make sure that everybody has the information in advance,
and we encourage anyone who has any say, like who wants to know more about the program or
about the ordinance, to come to our meetings.
Councilmember Broden stated, Great. And thank you for incorporating that into the process. I
think that's really important,both from an educational standpoint for Council but of course for the
community and you know, helping smooth the pathway at least for good dialogue on those
changes. I appreciate that.And hopefully we will support it like at the Council level,Clerk's Office
through very timely media posts so that people see the document that we're all going to be looking
at prior to the meeting. And then helping to drive informed input, I really appreciate you doing
that. I'm sorry I'm not going to be around for the end process but thank you. With regard to the
MOU and the $54,000, is that pure administration costs of that MOU or is that your actual client
relocation?
Ms. Skibins replied, Right. That's correct yes.
Councilmember Broden followed up, Okay. And did you say ten (10) condemned and only four
(4) of those needed relocation?
Ms. Skibins relied For sure it was ten 10 . I have to find the numbers for relocation, I want to
replied, ( )
sayit was four(4) or five (5).
( )
Councilmember Broden replied, Okay. So, we're running about fifty percent (50%) needing
assistance through St. Vincent de Paul because of inability or non-cooperation from the landlords,
really?
Ms. Skibins replied, I think it is mostly inability.
Councilmember Broden followed up, Okay, that's good to know. And then when you did provide
us with an update at Council previously, I think there was, I don't want to say a plea, but
acknowledgement of that area of that program and that it needs to be funded. Either through public
dollars or private generosity. So, I think I'd like to highlight that at this time. Especially if we're at
those percentages then we're already seeing that. I guess I do have some concern about the
demolitions and the decrease, and kind of the overall fifty percent (50%) decrease and that being
reduced. I'm just going to share that. And I'm wondering with regard to the large structures, did
MACOG actually put out a call for requests for those types of large structures that need
demolition? And I thought it was related to the Volkswagen settlement?
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Ms. Johns replied, I haven't heard anything from MACOG.
Councilmember Broden stated, Okay.
Ms. Johns continued, I'm not sure if they're in the process but we haven't heard from them
personally.
Councilmember Broden followed up, Okay. That might be an area to check for some resources
because I thought we were looking at that on a regional basis. Those kind of, I don't know if you'd
call them brown fields, but those structures that actually have hazardous materials or have had a
history. And then I was wondering with regard to the disparity in and the realignment on the
salaries. You had identified a disparity there. When were those last raised? And then why the
disparity? And you said, I think you said that dated back to 2015?
Ms. Skibins replied, I don't think I said that.
Councilmember Broden replied, Oh I'm sorry, I'm confusing that. But I guess when were the last
raises kicked in? Why the disparity? And is that actually putting people up at the caps or that's just
giving a cushion of?
Ms. Johns replied, It would still be below the other department heads and assistant department
heads. We're just trying to work up towards about what they are at. We don't know when it first
(1St) started,though, or when the last raise was aside from the typical two percent (2%).
Wedidwork with Kyra in Human Resources to come upwith those
Ms. Skibins stated, o numbers,
n
by the way. She helped us pull that information.
Councilmember Broden stated, Okay. And so, looking at parity in terms of job responsibilities, in
terms of supervision?
Ms. Skibins replied, Correct.
Councilmember Broden stated, Okay, good. Good to know. And I make that assumption sitting
' important to ask the questions.
here. But you know, I think it's
Ms. Skibins replied, Oh, sure.
Councilmember Broden continued, Because it points to the good work that generally happens on
these requests and before they come here. So, I do appreciate that. On your capital expenditures,
number of trucks that you're looking at?
Ms. Skibins replied, Two (2).
Councilmember Broden stated, Okay, thanks. And then the purpose of the half ton extended cab
and it looks like you're getting two (2) of those?
Ms. Skibins replied, Yes. .
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Ms. Johns replied, They are more beneficial over cars,just because we go down the alleyways so
much, and then in the winter, and you know muddy seasons, spring and everything like that. The
cars often get stuck. So, the trucks are definitely helpful.
Ms. Skibins stated, We had a couple of Priuses that did not go well.
Ms. Johns stated, If the inspectors have a truck, what they'll often do is if there's something
blocking an alleyway that they're easily able to pick up, they can just put it in there and then they
can take it and dispose of it.
Councilmember Broden followed up, And then just back to the demolition costs associated with
these large commercial structures. First(1 st) question, do we actually even have an inventory?
Ms. Johns replied, We do have quite a few. The unfortunate part is that we know that a lot of them
have asbestos, which means that cost is going to be very, very high to be able to address those
properties. So,there's like the Mary Crest building,that's one(1)that comes up. We've got Sibley,
which is currently working through the EPA trying to get funds through there to be able to take
care of it.
Ms. Skibins stated, The Wilson Shirt Factory.
Ms. Johns stated, Yep. And we've got quite a few more that we have identified as demo affirmed
already. What would be nice to see is if we could find the funds for it,to be able to go through and
just do an inventory of the abandoned commercial structures out there,and then be able to prioritize
them and try to see what the highest and lowest cost would be, too.
Councilmember Broden followed up, So that was my next question. So, we don't even have the
status of the hazards on those properties?
Ms. Johns replied, No, we don't test until we're actually getting ready to bid something out, or if
we have like an emergency demolition. Then we'll go in and we'll test if we're able to, if it is safe
to.
Councilmember Broden stated, Thank you very much.
Councilmember Sharon L. McBride stated, Thank you. Going along, you've talked about the
commercial demolition. Can you talk a little bit about the housing demolition process specifically?
I had a house on Indiana and there were complaints about it being that way, you know, since I
called it in some months ago. But there is a process for people to understand. Can you talk a little
bit briefly through that?
Ms.Johns replied, So,when we first(1st)identify a property that has a housing violation,they will
be sent a letter and the owner is given a chance to make the repairs. Typically, that letter asks for
thirty(30) days to be able to make the repairs. The goal is to get the person to contact us so we can
come up with a new repair agreement working together. If they are non-responsive and we have
to go out there month after month, typically it's about six (6) months or more before we actually
take it to a hearing. If we go to a hearing,if the owner shows up,we try to work with them to come
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
up with a deadline for when they should have the repairs made. If they don't show up and if they
are a demo worthy property, then they might affirm it for demolition that day.
She continued, What happens then is it kind of sits in a queue and we prioritize it. So, we go out
and we look at the properties and we rank them from what we call a one (1), which is demo
required, to like a three (3), having moderate repairs. It's on the fence. So, if somebody were to
show up and make repairs to that property, it wouldn't be too cost restrictive. You know, someone
could probably afford to do it. But the ones that are rated as a one (1) or two (2), they're going to
be like tens of thousands of dollars to make the repairs. If we have a nonresponsive owner, that
also adds to it. So,we look at the location, the amount of money that's needed to make the repairs,
and whether or not the owner is responsive. We kind of use that when we are coming up with
which properties we want to address next. We have seventeen (17) properties currently going up
for demolition bid opening at the end of this year, and I believe we have about another twenty(20)
to thirty(30)that are on the demolition list.
She went on,Going forward next year with the 2020 budget,typically we work off of the$500,000
that we had in previous years,but this year with$200,000,we average about$16,000 per property
for demolition. So, we're going to see demolition slow down for residential structures also. So,
once we have those properties that have asbestos transit siding, sometimes those will get pushed
down the queue. If we have two (2)properties that are smaller that don't have the asbestos in them,
we try to take every kind of consideration and try to get the most bang for our buck so to speak.
Councilmember McBride followed up, And about securing them and roping them off, that's not
your responsibility?
Ms. Skibins replied, Right. It's private property.
Councilmember Tim Scott left the meeting at 6:16 p.m.
Councilmember McBride followed up, Okay. Going along to the RSVP fee schedule. I know we
passed the ordinance as a Council, but there have been some concerns about the increase in fees.
Is that online or the website as far as how much a person is fined? Do you guys still have the rental
agreement online? The fee schedule? Like if someone is not in compliance, as far as the landlord,
how much they're fined and how often?
Ms. Johns clarified, For RSVP specifically?
Councilmember McBride replied, Yeah.
Ms. Johns replied,Those are set by the ordinance. So,you could go on there and see what the fines
are going to be. There's the RSVP website where it would actually list everything out. It has the
ordinance in there. If they have failure to make repairs, and the person is occupying a condemned
structure, it increases by week and it'll tell you which week is charged what dollar amount. So, it
does have the breakdown on there. And that hasn't been updated.
Councilmember McBride followed up, And we appreciate your work with Miami Village and the
Housing Authority and Western Manor. I know it's most recently, with knowing that they're not a
City owned property but your assistance with helping,you know, for the entire community to have
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the landlords or apartment owners come into compliance, I know that that's a great undertaking.
So, I appreciate you working with us and everyone involved to get those done.
She continued, There was some illegal dumping that was done, specifically tires, in my area and
you guys helped with that. There was an alternative site for that. Where is it that you could take
tires to locally?
Ms. Skibins replied, The recycling center. I would have to look up the address.
Committeemember Broden stated, The Solid Waste Management District on Kerr or Mishawaka.
Ms. Skibins stated, I think there is a limit to like five(5) per person, or something like that.
Councilmember McBride followed up,And also I just wanted, for clarity,with calling 311,there's
a process when someone has a complaint to have the specific address in order to have a response.
And then those,all those calls or complaints are documented.And I know sometimes the neighbors
or residents may get frustrated if they feel like nothing is being done. But there is a process and a
certain amount time for you to call or make contact before any penalties or legal action can take
place. So, I just wanted to, you know, make sure sometimes these are not things that civilians
would know.
Ms. Skibins replied,Yes. And the difficult part also is that I was talking about the software earlier.
It's very difficult. You used to be able to do the public facing side of like the citizens portal for
Accela. You could see if there was a recent complaint against a certain address.That's not working
properly now. So,what we are finding out is that people are assuming that there was nothing done,
or the call was not entered, or it never made it to Code Enforcement when that's not necessarily
the case. It just does not show up on the citizen's portal,unfortunately.
Councilmember McBride stated, My other questions I will yield for email.
Committee Chair White stated,Thank you for your presentation. I'm going to see if there's any one
in the public wishing to ask questions of Code. We only have until about 6:30 p.m., and then we're
going to go directly into the Office of Inclusion and Diversity. I'm going to ask the Council
Members to yield your questions until we've had opportunity for public input because I see a
number of individuals are here. I'm just assuming that you are here in terms of listening to the
presentation. I wanted to give you some time to ask questions in regard to the Office of Inclusion
and Diversity. So, we are going to ask you to make any statements or questions. We're going to
give you three(3)minutes and then we're going to go directly to the next presentation.
Committee Chair White then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak.
Sue Kesim, 4022 Kennedy Drive, stated, I wanted to compliment Code Enforcement for showing
up to neighborhoods. The neighborhood meetings and being responsive, I think that's been great.
I also wanted to commend the Animal Shelter for lowering euthanasia rates thirty-three (33%).
That's just really great. Where I had my question was, I see that under the microchips it's going
down seventeen percent (17%). This is a concern to me because I hoped that the chip and tag
program would come back. It was very successful, and we had a lot of people show up. People
could get their animals microchipped for a very small fee.A lot of people can't afford the microchip
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and that's very useful when a dog is lost or stolen or brought into the shelter. It can increase the
turnaround time if the dog has a microchip. So instead of reducing the microchip by seventeen
percent(17%), I'm hoping that that area could be raised because I think there's a good cost benefit.
And so, I just wanted to put that in there and see if perhaps we could go back to having chip and
tag programs. Thank you.
Jorden Giger, 602 South Edison Street, stated, I have a number of questions, about five (5)
questions. But my first (1St) question regards illegal dumping and demolitions. So, I believe the
director had mentioned that she needed more money than what might be projected for demolitions.
And she specifically cited the Drewry's site on Elwood and Portage.Now I do know that the owner
of the Drewry's Brewery complained many times about illegal dumping on his property. And so,
I was curious as to how much money will be allocated towards this program, which I think you
raised Ms. Karen White. And also, how are these allegations of illegal dumping reported and
investigated? So, you cited that case as one (1) where you said it would be $1.4 million dollars to
perhaps address the demolition issue. But to my understanding, that was for cleanup, and that was
according to the owner, due to the fact that there was illegal dumping on the property. So,the City,
the Council itself had allocated $400,000 to address that. But when they went out and did the
bidding,you got the lowest bid for$1.3 or$1.4 million. So,it's not so much that you need increased
money for demolitions, it's that there might be an illegal dumping issue. And so, we need to look
at how to address the issue of illegal dumping, which might then allow for the City to save money
in terms of spending for remediation or for demolitions. So, I just, I didn't quite understand that,
and I hope you could speak to that issue a little bit.
He went on,And also,hopefully I can ask these other questions, sorry.You talked a little bit about
the Love Your Block program. I think that's a very underfunded program and Code Enforcement's
been,obviously,touting how great and successful that program has been. But to my understanding,
they only allocated about maybe $50,000 going forward, and that was through a grant. So, if the
Department of Code Enforcement is going to use that program as something that it says is a
success,like how much money are they putting towards that? Because I don't think there's enough
money that actually goes towards doing those small home repairs which would prevent
homeowners, particularly on the west side, from having to pay out more money as conditions of
their housing worsens. And my main question is on the matter of civil penalties.There's been much
reporting in the national news about targeting of residents on the west side. Can the department
speak to the percentage of civil penalties issued on the west side of South Bend? Perhaps they
could display those figures by zip code or census tract. There have been many reports about
perhaps predatory targeting of residents who are poor or of low income or restricted by social
security. We've had issues of repairing homes. I'm hoping maybe the department can talk a little
bit about how it's worked to address those issues.
Marilyn Gachaw, 2514 West Kenwood Avenue, stated, I just have a quick question. If there's a
way that you could possibly speed up the problems that we have when we are addressing vacant
properties in my neighborhood. Every spring, of course, the vacant lot gets cut initially because
we make calls.And the grass is already twelve(12)inches high. And they'll tell us,well we'll write
to the people and we get no response. Well that's because the people are deceased. And we know
that. And we go through that every year. Is there a way that they could document properties based
on ownership if they know or could be told that someone is deceased that owns the property?
Because eventually they'll come out and cut it. Eventually the neighbors will step up and cut it.
But we shouldn't have to go through that every year when we know that someone has died. There
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was no one else that owns that property. It's still in the name of the deceased person and Code is
telling us they can't do anything about it until they send out X number of letters to the deceased
person.
Pam Weslowski, 1102 South 32nd Street, stated, Good evening, Council Members. Some of you
will know me from being up here through several years and talking about animal welfare in the
City. But I'm a resident of South Bend. I live in the 1100 block of South 32nd Street and River
Park. And I'm also serving as your Vice President of the Animal Welfare Commission currently.
I'm here basically not to get into the rest of the code stuff,but I really wanted to urge that the wage
increase for the Animal Shelter Manager is increased. I do want to ask that you go ahead and
increase the salary for South Bend Animal Resource Center Manager. I know the job that Jenn has
been doing but I think that no matter whether it is Jenn in the job or any other shelter manager,this
position has got to be higher so we can bring in better people. I would not want anyone less than
Jenn, especially with her commitment to fill that job. What I know is that managing an animal
shelter isn't a nine(9)to five(5)job.This is a twenty-four(24)hour a day job. She's on call whether
it's in the job description that the City gives out or not.
She went on, It is just a constant demand. So not only do you have that, but it's a very emotional
job. Because you're seeing cruelty cases and you're seeing neglect cases, and there are times when
you have to euthanize animals. And there is the all-time underfunding and understaffed positions
that the City has for their shelter. This staff, including Jenn, they are two (2) dogs away from an
emergency every single day. So that it's not the kind of job that you can just kind of go home and
shake off. It is a job that they have done studies that have shown that animal shelter employees
and vets oftentimes get burned out very much because of the very human toll that it takes on them.
I know that under Jenn's management, and her crew and the staff that they have right now, she has
done what no other manager has been able to accomplish in the history that I've known of it. In at.
least the last twenty(20) or twenty-five(25) years. We are coming closer to no kill right now than
we've ever come before and it's all because these people are hustling every single day. And you
know,like I said,it's going to start out with having a good manager. I think that that good manager
needs compensation for that. Overall, I hope that this Council will support anything that helps the
South Bend Animal Resource Center and that staff, and the facility. I think we just need to start
realizing that as a City, it's a very important service, that you know,has a lot to do with our public
health and welfare as well. Please, and please. Thank you.
Councilmember Jake Teshka left the meeting at 6:31 p.m.
Becky Kaiser, 913 Diamond Avenue, stated, First(1st), I'd just like to reiterate what Pam just said
about South Bend Animal Care and Control. I don't think the public understands sometimes the
hours that are put in. Not only that, but how many of the staff in emergency situations will take
home a pet that has been left at the shelter that may be ill or too young to survive on its own. And
they spend twenty-four seven (24/7) taking care of the pets. Absolutely, they deserve any support
we can give them. Code Enforcement, I think, is one (1) of the most undervalued and
underappreciated departments the City has. People don't understand that our public safety doesn't
just rely on the Police. It relies on a division that makes sure that we are all living in healthy and
safe housing. Grass going uncut, vermin, trash, and things of that nature. Mostly, I'm here about
Drewry's. I have been going to Drewry's meetings for eight(8) years. When a Drewry's site went
on the tax sale, I can tell you who bought it, and they paid about $13,000 for the property. For
those of you who don't know the history, they thought when they paid that $13,000 that the City
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
of South Bend was going to give them $200,000 to redevelop that area. Unfortunately, that was
almost twenty(20) years ago that that was put into an ordinance, and it expired five(5) years after
that. So, somebody didn't do their due diligence.
She continued, Drewry's has been through three (3) owners. Each one (1) of them has been, for
lack of a nice way to put it, money-grubbing and self-serving. We are now at a point where if we
didn't know,we have confirmation that for the last five(5) years approximately,my neighborhood
has been having asbestos blown all over. IDEM is now involved. Is the owner spraying water on
it twenty-four seven (24/7)? No. Because we're a poor neighborhood. He has sent me obnoxious
texts. We need to go forward. And as far as the sites that we know of, like the factories, not only
do we need a list, but if Code Enforcement is not responsible, we have a lot of brown sites. We
need to know where they are. We are putting our children, not just with lead that we made a big
deal about a year ago,we are putting our children and the very people that we should be protecting,
at risk by not addressing this. And if have to call IDEM so that we're not playing little patty-cake
games anymore, they all ignore us, as Mr. Durkee has done for years. Let's get IDEM in here, let's
get this fixed, so our people are safe. Thank you.
Jim Bognar, 807 West Washington Street, stated, Good evening, Council. I find myself in an
unusual position this evening in that I want to commend Code Enforcement for the work that
they've done and for their budget, but I also am veryfrustrated. Council has talked a lot about
Y g �
neighborhoods. They've had a lot of discussions. They are so often the first (1st) responders, in a
different way. Not Police and Fire, but the first (1St) responders. I think it's unacceptable to cut
budgets for demolitions. I think it's unacceptable to hear we may have to cut back on residential
properties. This is where Council can exert their influence and especially those that are not here,
you can pass that along. I think it's time to say, "They need more money." I think Councilmember
Broden was the one (1) that brought up, we need to know what these lists are and where they are.
Some of these brown fields are actually owned by the Redevelopment Commission, in the case of
to need weget Legal involved, and we need other help,
and 1520 West Washington Street. If
we need to be able to know what the problems are and where they are. And it's unacceptable to be
told that some of these larger structures, we just can't get to. But, I understand why they can't.
They're putting things together and holding it together and finding out here this evening, their
computer systems are failing. It's completely unacceptable.
He continued, They are the front line of everything we do. And I know every Council Member
hears, "We got a call. We've got to call Code. We've got to call Code." You always hear the
negative things. They need more money. Mr. Parker's here let's give them some more money, Mr.
Parker. That's the most important thing. But Council has the ability now to say, "We're going to
do something about this. We're going to move forward with this." A few Council Members,
perhaps future Council Members here, too, it is time to put the neighborhoods first(Pt), to look at
these large buildings, and to hold people accountable legally for matters of pollution or whatever
it is. Let's give the resources to Code so they can move forward.These are outstanding people, and
I think they need it more than anything else, and I think Council should simply say, "No, they
deserve more funding." Thank you very much.
Committee Chair White announced,This will be the last person to come forth and then we're going
to move directly into the Office of Inclusion and Diversity. I don't know how long that presentation
might be, but I do want to give individuals who are here an opportunity to ask questions in regard
to the second(2nd)presentation.
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•CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
Eli Cantu, 1813 South Douglas Street, stated, I don't have much to say. But I do want to say, I
support Code for what they're doing. I do think funds need to be allocated to Code so that they Y g can
do more work,but the work they need to do are things that actually apply to the neighborhood. I'm
actually part of the clean-up that's going down this Saturday, the Rum Village Neighborhood
Association, and Code is helping us with it. However,before we kind of fought almost to see what
kind of help we were going to get from Code,it's not exactly all we need. We need a little bit more.
As it falls right now, the plan is for us to kind of gather up all the trash, take it to a certain spot,
and then they'll pick it up. I think neighborhood clean-up revolves around a lot more. Tools need
to be involved and a little bit more equipment. I think more funds need to be allocated for that
reason. And another thing, I've never heard of a million-dollar clean-up. I guess that makes sense
to many people, but it doesn't make sense to me. I don't know who gets hired to clean this up. I
don't know who profits from this, but I do think that we need to look at that more. If Code or the
City needs more money to put pressure on these businesses that are not taking care of the property,
in of themgettingburneddown, now have toallocate
then so be it. But for them toget to the pointo we a e a e
p
a million dollars or plus for it to be cleaned up, something that should have been addressed,
something that should have been maintained, with a little bit of pressure. So, I think Code should
kind of get on that, if they need help to get on that, then maybe we could allocate funds to help
them with that. But I definitely don't want to see funds go to the wrong places. I would like to see
for the funds to go to extra clean-ups,actually the improvements of neighborhoods. That's it,thank
you.
Office of Inclusion, Diversity, Engagement and Access (IDEA)
Christina Brooks, Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the City of South Bend with offices located
on the 14th floor of the County-City Building and staff held at 319 North Niles Avenue, stated, Our
purpose of the Office of Inclusion Diversity, Equity and Access, we're rebranding as IDEA
provides support, education, direction and accountability for equitable law, policy, process, and
procedure development for City services like human capital functions, contracting and
procurement,human rights, and overall community well-being, strategic plans that include under-
represented population entrepreneurship, development, inclusive community arts, and racial
disparities across sectors(referencing a presentation which is available in the City Clerk's Office).
We ascribe to the values of the City- accountability, inclusion, innovation, empowerment, and
excellence. Nothing exhibits that more than the Office of Human Rights or the Human Rights
Commission of South Bend. Over the past year, they've undergone a re-organization, promoting
two (2) of its well-respected leaders to co-directorships and provided raises for all City staff, all
without requesting additional funds from the City. I will turn this over to the Human Rights
Commission's co-directors, Diana Moya and Crystal McCain.
Diana Moya, Co-Director for the South Bend Human Right's Commission with offices located at
319 North Niles Avenue, stated, Good evening, Council.
.
Crystal McCain, Co-Director for the South Bend Human Right's Commission with offices located
at 319 North Niles Avenue, stated, Good evening, audience in attendance.
Ms. McCain continued, I'm going to get right into it. Our 2020 Department Goals are very
straightforward. We want to have co-sponsored trainings offered to the community on a quarterly
basis, to partner with the EEOC and HUD. Not listed (referencing a slide in the presentation) is
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IDCITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
the Indiana Civil Rights Commission as well. We want to increase our attendance at community
events. We want the community to know who we are, where we're located, and what we do. We
want to increase our federal funding due to an increase in cases and our case production. We want
to continue to strive for completing cases in a timely manner. That is one hundred and eighty(180)
days. We want to seek out grants and other forms of revenue to supplement the General Fund. We
seek to maintain our contracts with the EEOC and HUD, which we've done for many years. We
want to maintain our Community Investment contracts of CDBG with the City of South Bend and
currently pending with the City of Mishawaka and re-establish that grant. And lastly, our
commissioners have asked for more opportunities to train, so we want to make available more
funds for them to train.
Ms. Moya stated, So, the next couple of slides (referencing the presentation) are the budget
overview for the Human Rights Commission and I think that in the interest of time, I want to skip
over to the Operating Budget Highlights and Changes,which actually address some of the changes
in the budget. In 2019, a part-time administrative assistant will be added to the General Fund, to
help with the intake,due to the increase in caseload. The Human Rights Commission budgeted for
a second(2°d) administrative assistant in 2019 and St. Joseph County agreed to reimburse the City
to fund one (1) of the part-time positions, specifically for housing. And on a good note, we have
received an extended contract indefinitely with St. Joseph County with regard to our inter-local
agreement. And so, what they have funded has been about $30,000 a year. That's a base number.
And I believe that we plan to revisit that in the coming years based on the number of cases that we
actually investigate in St. Joseph County. Not the City of South Bend, but St. Joe County. And
then moving on, the Employment Manager position was moved out of the General Fund and into
the grant funding.That is our#258 account which holds both EEOC and HUD. And that particular
position handles all of the EEOC issues, which is what Crystal handles. And then I handle all of
the housing issues and I come directly out of the #258 account as well. The decrease in fringe
benefits is due to a one (1)-time break in health insurance costs per employee in 2019. In 2020,
health insurance costs per employee is budgeted to increase back to the regular rates. We have an
inter-fund allocation decrease, and that's again due to usage. We've had some staffing changes,
decrease specifically. And we are hoping to be able to bring up our staffing needs in the coming
years, hopefully by this year.
She continued, There was also the decrease in other services and changes of fourteen percent
(14%),which is due to the new rental lease agreement which eliminated the cost of property taxes
for the portion of square footage for the facility we currently are housed in, which is 319 North
Niles Avenue. As far as printing and advertisement, we had a line item in there, under one (1) of
the accounts which was #258 and the expense account was switched over to #217, and that was
for clarity purposes. And the reasoning for that is, again, that's scholarship funds and we did not
want that in the #258 account. We have received again, funding from St. Joseph County to
investigate the discrimination complaints from county residents in accordance, again, with that
inter-local agreement. And then we have a part-time housing administrative assistant request that
we would like to promote to a full-time intake officer/investigator. The position again, is funded
in part by St. Joseph County and the General Fund. The position is needed to accommodate the
increase in case load due to county jurisdiction expansion. And then as far as the Employment
Manager and Housing Manager go, which we still currently hold those titles, we are requesting
the increase in title change to Director of Employment and Director of Housing, and then this
change was made as a result of the Executive Director of Human Rights, who retired in January of
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
2019, and then a portion of that salary would be shared by the two (2) positions and then would
also fund part of that full-time intake officer/investigative position that we're requesting.
Ms.McCain stated,We have our organizational chart there(referencing a slide in the presentation),
we're a small staff. We definitely want to try to rebuild in the coming years,but we're a small staff.
We have no 2020 capital projects and no special initiatives. That's our budget.
Ms. Brooks stated,This is our current organizational chart(referencing a slide in the presentation).
All of the rectangles that you see in green is actually the Human Rights Commission staff. Those
two (2) in the darker blue are the full-time staff for ODI. Light blue is a part-time DI fellow. So,
what we do with the office, within the office, I went over this a little bit, but we support inclusion
and equity in HR functions. We look at policy and process changes in HR procurement,
contracting, and also community well-being. We also provide annual reporting and research. We
support minority and women local small business resource organizations like the Westside Small
Business Resource Center and Project Impact. We also look at research concerning gender,
disabilities and racial disparities. And then in that area we provide policy recommendations,
workshops, and strategy implementation. We also look at or provide support for inclusive
community workshops and training, annual minority business fair, and partnerships with local
organizations like Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.There is also inclusive arts support with the August
Wilson Project and interaction conferences.
She continued, We also are handling the Inclusive Procurement Grant through Living Cities, and
the others we'll talk about a little bit later in the special initiatives. Our departmental goals for 2020
include increasing the MWBE utilization and procurement by four percent (4%) and increasing
the MWBE utilization in contracting by five percent (5%). We also would like to see growth in
the available MWBEs within our geographic marketplace and specifically within the City of South
Bend limits. In the areas of NAIC code,the North American Industry Code use in City procurement
and contracting, we want to increase that number by twenty(20). We also want to increase access
to IDEA educational workshops, procurement and contracting information, small local minority
and women business enterprise resources and funding support for public/private partnerships, and
programming that addresses the reduction of racial disparities in the City of South Bend. So,in the
interest of time, this is kind of an overview of the budget (referencing a slide in the presentation).
Originally when I first(1') came on as the Diversity and Inclusion Officer, I didn't have a separate
budget. It was kind of mixed into the Administration and Finance Department. So, you'll see that
2017 and 2018 are blank there, and you'll see that the 2019 budget was amended when we added
an additional full-time staff member.
She went on, So,quickly I'll just kind of go through kind of the most, I guess interesting increases.
I'll start with education and training. It's extremely important for us to continue to do that. Some
of our highlights and changes include new personnel requests. We are requesting at least one (1)
additional FTE to address the recommendations of the MWBE Disparity Study and that would be
a Contract Compliance Coordinator. We are also requesting to increase the salary cap of the
Manager of Inclusion Projects from $52,000 to $57,000 which would be more in line with other
positions within the City with similar activities. So, this will be the proposed organizational chart
(referencing a slide in the presentation). You'll see that the addition is underneath the Manager for
Inclusion Projects, Contract Compliance, and it's outlined in red. Some of the responsibilities of
the new staff member and just for the department as a whole, specific to procurement and
contracting,would include quarterly and annual reporting,implementing an electronic contracting
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•CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
data collection system, providing support and resources to contractors and vendors on labor
compliance as well as contract compliance,focusing on reducing the barriers for MWBEs in prime
contracts and awards, working with Public Works and other internal departments to un-bundle
awards, and reviewing experience requirements that may be currently in bid package language.
Also, reviewing surety bonding and insurance requirements. Additional responsibilities include
vendor communication and outreach which could include matchmaking sessions and contract
forecasting which we've been doing for the last couple of years but creating a more robust report.
Targeting emails for upcoming contracts, identifying firms that are currently not certified but
eligible for inclusion, offering debriefings after bid awards, and offering more trainings, possibly
online videos. Additional responsibilities include partnering with other agencies and local
organizations to provide bonding, financing, and technical systems programs. We currently have
some really great partnerships with Westside Small Business Resource Center and South Bend
Elkhart Regional Partnership that provide support, but we want to really increase that, especially
to stay true to what we're being asked to do, and then providing training for all City staff with
contracting or procurement responsibilities or vendor interface.
She continued,Additional responsibilities would also be goal-setting on a project-by-project basis
which, in an annual year, you're looking at somewhere between sixty to seventy(60-70) contracts
that you would have to go through and actually create project-specific goals by NAIC's code, and
that's an involved process. Also, compliance and monitoring policies and procedures throughout
the performance standards for each one(1) of the contracts. I won't read all of those in the interest
of time.Additional responsibilities would be to conduct a full and thorough review of the programs
that we implement every five (5) to seven (7) years and developing a more robust qualitative
performance measurement.
She went on, So some of the special initiatives that we have for 2020, of course, first (1St) on the
docket is making sure that we follow through on the recommendations out of the Disparity Study.
Funding for part of that will come from the City's Living City grant that we received, $50,000,
which is a start. The proposal would be to implement the recommendations. Some might ask,why
are we doing this now?Why do we need to do this this year?To be quite honest,it's because people
in this community have been asking for a fair chance to compete on contracting and procurement
for thirty-two (32) years, and it's about time that we deliver. The second (2nd) special initiative for
IDEA would be the completion of the Living Cities Inclusive Procurement Grant. Our proposal
was to create a sustainable economic ecosystem by leveraging about $1.8 billion in procurement
and contracting from the top ten(10)employers here within the City of South Bend and leveraging
that to help us support and create more minority businesses by identifying a way into the supply
chain of those top ten (10) employers. And why do we need to do that now? Because as our City
recovers and re-establishes itself economically, this initiative seeks to make sure that segments of
our population that have typically been left out,are included this time as we develop our economic
ecosystem.
She continued, Another initiative for IDEA is the Trauma-Informed Community. Funding for this
would be supported by resources from P3s,or public/private partnerships. And the proposal is that
we create a comprehensive community-wide plan to educate and support a compassionate and
restorative model of engagement that reimagines educational system policy, supports criminal and
juvenile justice policy, supports economic development policy, and supports housing policy with
the central tenet of community wellness and overall community well-being starting in our
neighborhoods. Why are we doing this now? Again, as we envision our future and we decide how
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
we want to grow and what we want to do and how we want to treat the residents that live here, we
should acknowledge the broad impact of community trauma and mental wellness across education,
criminal justice, juvenile justice, economic development, and housing and transportation, and
commit boldly to investing in that compassionate and equitable future with our resources today.
She went on, Another initiative is the Homegrown Project which is a diverse law enforcement
candidate recruitment and development program. Funding and resources would be from the City
of South Bend and the St. Joseph County Police Department. The purpose of this inter-agency
inclusive local law enforcement recruitment solution, the Homegrown Project, is to provide a
community-led diverse candidate identification and development structure for South Bend and St.
Joseph County. We understand that in today's climate this is necessary. It's not a unique issue with
the City of South Bend.This is something that law enforcement agencies all across the country are
looking at. But we would develop a unique structure here in the City of South Bend. And in the
wake of all the conversations that are happening across the United States, more importantly the
conversations that are happening right here in the City of South Bend,it's clear that our community
is mandating that we see more gender, ethnic and racial diversity in the representation of the law
enforcement community that we're asking to protect us.
She continued, The last special initiative that IDEA is working on for 2020 is creating a CDFI-
friendly community. Funding and resources for this project would come from public and private
partnerships, the City of South Bend, various CDFIs and local organizations. The proposal is to
expand and stabilize South Bend's work to create inclusive and equitable community economic
growth by providing financial resources to historically under-represented populations for
entrepreneurship, business capacity building, investments, home repair and short-term lending as
an alternative to predatory lenders.We also want to advance the fact that South Bend would be the
second (2nd) community in the nation to become a CDFI community. Why do we want to do this
now? Because we alreadyhave financial institutions that are here locallythat are committed to
doing this. And I think it's something that we need to move on now.
Committee Chair White stated, Mrs. Brooks, you went through that very fast, so I want to make
sure, more than likely, we'll ask you to come back. I want to give the public some opportunity for
questions. Again, the Council, we've got to hold our questions until we give the public the
opportunity. And then what will happen is that we'll make sure that the questions are being
addressed. We're recording those questions and they will be not only addressed,but they also will
be posted on our website.
Committee Chair White then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak.
Jason Banicki, 3822 West Ford Street, stated, It's kind of an ongoing theme with some of these
g g
budget hearings, but we see a lot of people being re-titled from Manager to Director, or from this
to Manager, and then two (2) years later, they come back and ask for pay increases. Yet, a lot of
times when you look at these managers or directors, they're managing literally nobody or almost
nobody. I understand that everybody sees everybody else getting these title changes so they want
them as well, but in the private sector, you would never see a manager or a director of literally
nobody or two (2) people. And again, when they come with subsequent salary increases, I think
we need to be careful when we consider these title changes because they may seem minute at the
time,but we saw,and I didn't bring it up in the first(1st)budget presentation,where we made some
of these title changes a few years ago,but now guess what?They're back two(2)years later, "Hey,
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we need to increase these salaries to match what other people are getting." I think we've got to start
deciding what the threshold is for somebody to be a manager and what somebody to be a director
is. I think some of that has to actually start with managing the people, not just public dollars.
Joseph Shabazz, 208 Rue Flambeau, stated, I've been watching the whole Diversity Inclusion
process for the past decade. I remember when I first(1st) sent in a public access request to ask the
City why they weren't following the then Affirmative Action Ordinance that was put together in
1987. Some other people called it the Minority Affairs Council. And I remember how Carlson v.
Virginia,through the whole thing and the turmoil and the City Legal Department decided, "Shush,
don't tell nobody, we just going to let it lay there." And I remember when Ms. Brooks first (1st)
took her job and she was literally overwhelmed with an ordinance that we put together that really
had no teeth at all and how she was forced to kind of work around all of that, and still try to do the
job. Diversity Inclusion is important in this City because we've got some communities that have
suffered through the worst progress of any communities in this City. I'm going to give you an
example. Census Tract Twenty-One (21). The overall poverty rate in this community is twenty-
three percent (23%). The black poverty rate is fifty-six percent (56%). It's a food desert. In other
words, there is no food or retail food market that is easily accessible in these communities. It's a
transportation desert.TRANSPO changed their routes so that now no bus runs through there.That's
cool in the summer but it ain't much fun in the winter. It's an economic desert. They literally have
no place where they can go work inside their community and that's not the only community that
we have like that. The City initiative that Ms. Brooks was talking about is a real chance for us to
try to do some stuff that would not only increase their procurement opportunities for second (2nd)
and third (3rd) tier procurers, it also might give us the chance to begin the process of revitalizing
some of these communities that have been left out while downtown got a whole lot of high-rises
and tax abatements and that kind of stuff. I was shocked when I found out that Dave Matthews got
$5,000 a month to rent that place for the overnight shelter, and he got how much money in tax
abatements? Whatever it was, it was too much. Anyway, I know I'm running out of time. I fully
support Ms. Brooks getting another person to help her do that job. When you look at all the things
that she was talking about there, plenty, she really needs more than one (1). The City needs to
become forthright in that, and I'm really confident that once this whole Disparity Study comes out,
that there will be a new breeze blowing in South Bend that'll begin the process to change for good.
That's all I got.
Jordan Giger,602 South Edison Street,stated,I just had a few concerns about the operating budget.
I think half a million dollars is, if I read that correctly, is like way too low. Just given the fact that
there's been so much discussion in the national news about diversity-related issues in South Bend,
I think we should be really looking to support the Diversity Inclusion Office in a more robust way.
As it relates to procurement, adding one(1) full time employee, I mean, we know the demand out
here is extremely great and so one (1) employee is not enough. I don't know how many we need
but we certainly need more than one (1). So, I would hope the Council pushes for that. Perhaps
Ms. Brooks could as well. And then I was confused about the organizational charts. So, is it now
like the Diversity Inclusion Officer is now over the Human Rights Commission?
Committee Chair White replied, That happened last year. Yes.
Mr. Giger followed up, So they'd been conflated?
Committee Chair White replied, They've been combined.
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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
Mr. Giger continued, They've been combined. Okay. And there's two (2) separate budgets, right?
Between the two (2)?
Committee Chair White confirmed,Yes
Mr. Giger followed up, Okay. So yeah, I just think there's more work to be done on both sides, to
be honest with you. But just given everything that Christina Brooks talked about, trauma, lack of
inclusion on the economic side, education issues, I mean $546,000 is not enough. So, I think we
need to really think about making their budget larger or increasing it more. And also, I think we
need better metrics, right? Like we said we want to increase our rates by four to five percent (4%
-5%),but by what industry? I know Joe Shabazz has been very vocal about the fact that when you
look at what contracts went to minorities,more often than not we've seen them for low level work.
Like there was some plumbing work years ago that was the only contract given out one (1) year
for$54,000. Can we find out if we are increasing it by type of work or area of work? For example,
Public Works projects in terms of like construction. What would a four to five percent (4% - 5%)
increase look like for minority contracting? And then, how do we expect to go about making sure
that we hit that number? For a long time, it's been either at one percent(1%) or under, so four or
five percent(4%- 5%), I don't think that's a really good metric,but I understand that we're starting
from basically nothing. So, I think in order for us to see that trend upward over time,we need way
more employees to be in her office to work.
Peter Stone, 1228 Quigley Place, stated, Good evening. I'm a member of the Northeast
Neighborhood Center Board and a business owner.And I'm here to speak a little bit about Christina
Brooks' challenges and hard work and I don't want to minimize any of the challenges that she has.
I'm familiar with the Prosperity Now study that was completed two (2) years ago in September.
I'm hoping studies continue and perhaps there'll be a more recent diversity study. I think Christina's
work needs to be encouraged and I think that additional funding should definitely-be made
available,too. I'm also a supporter of the Business Development Center at 809 Lincoln Way West.
As a business owner, I encourage small businesses and I definitely feel that sometimes we look at
exciting tech businesses and more glamorous businesses, but the community needs to recognize
that small businesses in neighborhoods create jobs and make those neighborhoods more viable,
more secure and certainly more livable. I would just conclude with what Ms. Brooks mentioned
when she said, "The goal of diversity and inclusion is truly community wellness."That's something
that you are responsible to help us with financially. I appreciate your evening. Thank you very
much.
Brian James, 143 South Falcon Street stated, Hello. The only thing I want to say is like a question.
I got a nonprofit business myself and I want to know if it's possible to make it visible for us to
have more resources for us to know what we can do with the nonprofit. Because technically they're
saying I've got to pay them six hundred dollars ($600) or some to become a 501c. That's all I got
to say.
Gladys Muhammad, 808 North Ironwood Drive, stated, Hello. You know, I was excited a couple
of years ago when the City started looking at the Wealth and Disparity study in South Bend. It's
something that we kind of already know but when you have the evidence and the data there, then
we really know. Although we haven't heard the results from it yet, I hope that we will be hearing
them soon and I hope that if there's something that we need to implement to reduce some of the
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barriers between us here in this City, that the funds are put there so that Ms. Brooks would have
the opportunity to make a change. Having the information without having the funds to make the
change was a waste of time paying $250,000 to bring a person in here to tell him something and
then she doesn't have the funds or the money to implement that. I see a lot and I get around in this
community, and I see that people are doing things without having the funds to do them and they're
doing a good job. The City is not trying to put any money towards helping them, especially the
Business Center. They need more money. People are there every day, all day, half of the night, so
they're doing stuff free. Volunteering their time to try to help reduce some of the barriers here in
South Bend, Indiana. The weakest link in our City of South Bend are the barriers between the
communities, the neighborhoods especially. And so, I support her, and I hope that the City will
consider trying to break down some of those barriers that divide us here in this City. That's our
weakest link and that's where we need to be able to stand up and take on that challenge and reduce
mof theespecially in economic development and in business. Igrew upin the 60s and
some barriers, p y p
I ain't trying to go back there and we're not trying to go back there. And that's what the City of
South Bend needs to understand that we're not going back to the 60s. It's 2019, almost 2020, and
we need to get aboard and do the right thing for the City of South Bend if we intend to be a model
city. Thank you.
Andrea Crawford, 920 West Washington Street, stated, I am here to show support for Christina
Brooks and her Office and to ask for her to be supported in a much more robust way. I am part of
a neighborhood organization that is in partnership with two (2) other neighborhoods on the west
side and for the last two(2)years we've been doing diversity and inclusion workshops. Apart from
a $1,000 grant from the NRC, we've been doing this completely as volunteers. We have been
delighted to have Christina participate in some of our workshops and offer us some guidance.What
we need now is much more financial support for community training in these initiatives. We need
professional facilitation and guidance, and we need an official partnership with the City in this
way.These workshops are critical for communities to learn how to work together. They are critical
for economic and social progress and they also go to the very heart of the democratic project. So,
I would ask you to give Christina your most robust support. Thank you.
Pastor Hardie Blake, 144 North Summit Drive, stated, I'm the pastor of Ardmore Church and am
also the founder of Project Impact South Bend. Also, I'm one (1) of the directors for the CUC,
which is Common Unity Community, West Side Small Business Resource and Development
Center.And I stood at a podium just like this thirty-two(32)years ago talking about the affirmative
action and the disparity and at this same spot, talked about how we needed to do something about
participation for minority businesses within the City of South Bend and St. Joseph County. And
now when I look at this, the disparity study, which we're still waiting on, I'm going to read
something that was written. Okay, I just want to read this right quick. The breakdown of South
Bend disparity, Diversity Purchasing Report. In total, $1,895,572. About one-point-eight percent
(1.8%) of the City's purchasing spending went to women and minority businesses last year. In
2018, 2017, and 2016 the percentage that went to minority and women owned business was less
than one percent (1%). I got the numbers here. But what I'm saying is that if the City can't do any
better than that, and if it's only doing less than two or one percent (2% - 1%) this year already in
2018, what was it doing thirty-two (32) years ago? Zero (0), probably or less. And now since
Christina has become the Diversity Inclusion Officer, James Summers and I are both directors of
the CUC and the Small Business West Side Development Center. I'm a director, I'm an instructor,
I'm a trainer and I'm a janitor because I don't get paid and neither does James Summers for that
center and we've been there for almost one (1) year. I'm going to say this. I support Christina
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because in every way, shape and fashion, she has supported and tried to bring this together and
expand it within the community but there are so many things that need to be done. Now I have
been in business in the City of South Bend for forty-two (42) years, so I know what business is. I
started out with IBM and I left there, and I was the one in the Redevelopment Commission for
almost ten(10)years. So, I understand the things that need to be done and we're trying to do them,
but it takes money to do it. And one (1) way to kill a program is cut the funds. And if Christina
puts together a budget, she knows what she needs. Now, I don't think people who don't know what
she needs should cut it. She probably needs to double what she asked for.
Pastor Michael Patton, 707 Sherman Avenue, stated, Good evening. I am the pastor at Kingdom
Life Christian Cathedral. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be able to come and share with each
of you the importance of supporting Christina Brooks and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. I
believe that we hired, first (iSt) off, the right person. I have been able to watch and sit down with
Christina over a course of time and as well to view some of the incentives and some of the
initiatives that she's been able to implement in our community based upon not having a budget for
one (1) to support really the initiatives that she's wanted to apply to our City to bring change. All
of us, certainly, as the Council is sitting here,have looked at the Prosperity Now report. You have
seen the challenges of that report, as well. And then I'm not sure in regard to the recent report that
has been created to give us some data about our City,but I'm looking forward to the results of that
so that I'm able to better understand how our City has been affected and as well what has been
happening over the course of time. But I believe in this Office and what it has the potential to do
for our City and bringing diversity and addressing economics, addressing entrepreneurship, and
addressing employment. We recognize that when we talk about disparities, generally that lies in
the African American or brown skinned communities and certainly that has to be a challenge to
each of you as it is to our community, as well. These are things that we have to make a priority.
And I believe that this Office has,as best that it could,made it a priority without the proper budget.
I would suggest and push that we certainly look at the budget that has been created. And I concur
with Pastor Blake that the budget probably needs to be doubled in order for her to efficiently and
effectively address what's in front of us. And so, I'm hopeful that our community can unify, and
we can work together, and we can support this effort in addressing diversity and inclusion in this
Office and in Christina's position. Thank you for your time.
Eli Cantu, 1813 Douglas Street, stated, Good evening. The thing I want to say is, like everybody's
been saying, I want to support the programs that Christina Brooks is bringing. However, I would
like to see a plan presented on how exactly it's going to cater to minorities, women and minorities.
So, like Blake said, for the past thirty (30) years, it has been a problem. So, every measure that
we've used so far, obviously hasn't worked. What are we going to do to be inclusive to businesses,
minority businesses especially? I remember taking a tour not too long ago with Aaron Perri. We
took a tour around the parks to see the work that's being done. One (1) of the parks that we toured
was Freemont Park and it's kind of funny because as soon as we were approaching, I was giving
them an example, I was telling them about how we should have hired more minorities for these
types of projects. He mentioned the concern about, well these are projects that are for the State,
for the City, everybody's benefiting from this and we've got to make sure we get reliable
contractors. As we turned the corner,there was a sewer with an angle, you know, when you make
sewers there has to be an angle for the water to go down to the sewer. So, as we hit the corner on
Fremont and Marquette, clearly it was just re-done, but the sewer was here and there was a big
puddle. It was built wrong is what I'm trying to get to. And these are businesses that we're, we are
trusting. So, we can take these risks with these well-established businesses, but can we not give
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these opportunities to minorities? This is true empowerment. When we think about violence and
all these other things that happen in our City and how to fix them this is, in my opinion, how we
address these issues. I just want to remind you, we live in South Bend. This is the home of Oliver,
Studebaker, and great companies. Before there were automobiles, they made wagons. So, this
should show us that small businesses could transform with the help of the City. So, I just want to
kind of say that, you know? What are we doing to make these small businesses thrive and become
the next Oliver? The next Studebaker? Thank you.
Emmanuel Cannady, 311 LaSalle Avenue, stated, Good evening, Council. I just wanted to say
about Christina's budget, I think she expressed a great deal of humility in what she presented here
today. Because of the budget hearings that I have seen it sounds like other folks are asking for
more money, so I'm going to be the third(3rd)person to say it tonight,but I think we should double
her budget. We should double her budget because diversity and inclusion are more than just
programs and workshops. It's about what Mr. Cantu was talking about,it's about structural change.
We have an opportunity with our Diversity Inclusion Office here to make structural changes, but
that can only be done if there is support behind it from the City. So again, I just want to finish by
saying we need to double her budget. Thank you.
Steve White, 1606 Johnson Street, stated, Hi. I want to support Christina in her office, but I think
we need to triple the budget. "Steve,why do you want to triple the budget?" Because if we look at
our history, there have been decades of excellence and there needs to be intentional action to
promote this inclusion, rapidly. If you go look at some of these studies, the poverty rate in the
black community, the minority community, is just ridiculous. I think we're, the black community
is twice as high as the poverty rate of the national level. That somewhat seems like that's
intentional. And when you look at spending, the government, you're your biggest spender. And
Hardie had these great statistics that he brought up. And one (1) of them, I believe, was less than
one percent(1%) of spending to minority contractors. I mean, how can that be? And what are we
going to do to change that?That's why I say triple the budget. If we're really serious about this,we
need to triple her budget. We're talking about inclusion and empowerment, let's put some action
into that. We have the Mayor who talked about, he has his Douglass Plan. He said he's interested
in studying reparations. Let's get some action here in the City of South Bend and let's prove to
people that we're really trying to make a change here. So, that's why I say let's triple her budget
and let her and her staff do the best job they can and make some changes for our community.
Thank you very much.
Marilyn Gachaw, 2514 West Linwood Avenue, stated, I'm here to say that I support Christina
wholeheartedly. And one (1) of the reasons that I support Christina is that I'm part of a Diversity
and Inclusion Committee. There's four(4) of us and we meet once a month and we hold a dinner
series. We break bread with our neighbors, and we tell stories and we try to build relationships and
we're also trying to build trust between the races so that we can strengthen our neighborhood. And
that was initiated by Christina. She was the one(1)that helped us actually focus and come up with
a direction of where we would like to go. She is a wealth of information. She knows people who
can make a difference in the community and I think as far as her budget, I don't know if it should
be two(2)or three(3)times larger,but I do know that she should receive what she asks for.Thank
you.
Solomon Anderson, 612 North Jacob Street, stated, Just briefly, I'm standing in support of
Christina Brooks and the work that she's trying to do. Pastor Blake had spoken about the
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collaboration between himself and James Summers and Christina with the CUC. I can tell you
firsthand that I've been over there as a consumer lender and as a business lender. I see the work
that they're doing, and I just implore you to properly fund her program so that she can continue the
work that she's doing over there.
Committee Chair White stated, Thank you. Again, I would like to thank the presenters who
presented their budgets. I do know that from the Council perspective that we have listened and that
we have taken notes and that we will be responding, as well. We'll be inviting Mrs. Brooks back
to give the Council an opportunity to ask questions, as well. We thank you, our audience, for
coming and for all the questions. And again, I want to assure you that we are very open. We
understand and we support inclusion and diversity. We understand how it impacts our
neighborhoods and that we ourselves, we've had a series of meetings to really go out into the
community and to listen to our residents so that information will be forthcoming as well. I would
like to thank the Council Members for being here.
Councilmember McBride stated, I do want to make a comment. I see Mr. Giger is gone but to
follow-up on one(1)of his statements,I am one(1)who is pleased to see the minority of businesses
and contractors and I want to make sure that we take action now and hold contractors accountable
because it does not make sense that we don't have minority contractors, even if they're not
subcontractors, they should be general contractors but you have all these multi-million dollar jobs
and we need to make sure that there is some accountability that minorities are getting, whether it's
a percentage of jobs or whatever, so that's one(1)of the things that I am wanting to make sure that
we do is have inclusion with the development projects, for one (1). And for two (2), increasing
that number for minority businesses because there is a lot of development that we can do and there
are a lot of barriers that you have to cross in order to flourish in this City and in the market. So, I
think you wanted me to say publicly that I support.
Councilmember Dr. Davis stated, I would also like to just say that, Mr. White, you brought it up
regarding the Douglass Plan. There's media all over the City on a regular basis talking to us
throughout the community and many of us have been interviewed, and it's a challenge to promote
the Douglass Plan when people, nationally, already know they have these numbers that we have
had less than one percent (1%) in many years here in the City of South Bend. And when people
attest to what you are doing, what you can do for the country they look back at what you have
already done in terms of your own home City. And to be able to advocate for a positive change
nationally when we're looking at less than two or one percent(2%- 1%)in the City of South Bend,
on a long-term basis, it's been a challenge and that needs to be corrected now. And I think for the
Administration, it will definitely send a positive message, not only because of our Mayor's life,
but it's really beyond the Mayor.We have to live here beyond the campaign and beyond everything
else. This is our home and it's embarrassing and I'm glad you're here to help us to wipe out this
embarrassment and that we can move forward because the Douglass Plan needs to start here in
South Bend more than any other place. Thank you.
Committeemember Broden stated, This is the best work plan that I have seen and that's not to say
anything about anybody else's budget. But this is comprehensive, it's multifaceted, it's smart, it's
sorely needed, it's woefully underfunded, woefully, woefully underfunded, and way overdue. It
has great potential and opportunities to expand our partnerships but more importantly to expedite
our economic impact and human impact, and I think it gets at the root of so many of our challenges
as a community. So, I've used the word pencil sharpening before. This is an awesome plan and if
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the capacity of this gets undercut because it is underfunded, shame on us as a community, once
again. So, the time is now. The plan is here. The information is here. This is well, well, well
researched and well presented,in my opinion. And this should be the lead departmental budget,in
my opinion with regard to the City of South Bend.
She continued, And I'd also like to add that the fact that this was carved out of the Mayor's Office,
sorry I missed that in terms of that early pathway. I'm sorry we missed it as a community because
I don't think we valued that when you, Christina, first (1S) came on board, as a community, as an
Administration, and as Council. I do think that so important to this pathway that you've presented,
again so comprehensively tonight, key partners from the Redevelopment Commission, the
Department of Community Investment, I want to know how they will interface with this plan and
help deliver on this plan more extensively than we've had the opportunity to discuss tonight. I
won't go into the because of that but I also think that there's a lot of stuff that parades around in
this community as investment. And it comes out of State projects, Redevelopment Authority and
we need to poke at that more and we need to get more of that delivering here and in real ways in
our community. And it can't parade around and masquerade around, it needs to deliver in the
communities and in the Administration. And I should actually say in a department that really has
the ability to deliver. So, this is awesome work and I'm frankly blown away by it. I hope I haven't
muddled my excitement,but it's excellent work.
Committee Chair White stated, Thank you. And again, we thank you, the audience, all the
questions that have been posed,we have taken note.They will be answered,and they will be placed
on our website. If you continue to have questions, please email those to the Clerk's Office. We
thank the Clerk Staff and our attorney.
With no further business,Committee Chair White adjourned the Personnel and Finance Committee
meeting at 7:39 p.m.
Respec 1 Submitted.
Karen ite, Committee Chair
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