HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-27-98 Health & Public Safety 4Committtu Z pot t:
Health and Public Safety Committee
tb* Common CountiU of he City of foutb /Stub:
The July 27, 1998 meeting of the Health and Public Safety Committee was called to order
at 3:30 p.m.by Council Member Charlotte Pfeifer, Chairperson of the Committee.
Persons in attendance included Council Members Aranowski, Pfeifer, Kelly, Broden,
Varner, Coleman, and Hosinski; Chief Luther Taylor, Assistant Chief Bert Prawat, Bob
Hunt,James Voll and Kathleen Cekanski-Farrand.
Council Member Pfeifer noted that the first item on the agenda was to review Bill No. 55-
98 which would amend the South Bend Municipal Code addressing Fire Prevention.
Fire Chief Taylor noted that Fire Chiefs throughout the State of Indiana have endorsed
changing over to the 1998 edition of the Indiana Fire Code as proposed in the Bill.
Assistant Chief Prawat noted that the proposed ordinance is basically a formality to comply
with the new regulations. He noted in his 18-19 years in his position that the Board of Fire
Appeals which the Bill would remove has never met.
The Council Attorney suggested that the Bill be amended in § 9-2 to delete"two(2)" in line
7 and replace it with "three(3)", delete "and" at the end of line 9, and add " ", and the City
Clerk's Office" right after the word "enforcement". She noted that as a member of the
Special Codification Committee that her recommendation that regulations and codes
incorporated by reference must be kept on file in the Office of the City Clerk. This
recommendation has been confirmed by the codification consultants hired by the City of
South Bend. Chief Taylor and Assistant Chief Prawat agreed to the proposed amendment.
Following discussion, Council Member Kelly made a motion, seconded by Council
Member Broden that Bill No. 55-98, as amended be recommended favorably to Council.
The motion passed.
Under Miscellaneous Business, Council Member Pfeifer asked Chief Taylor to comment
on the recent Nancy Sulok article on the"two-in-two-out" policy which recently appeared
in the *MO WO Zrthi.tn . Chief Taylor stated that the policy is going well in the
Fire Department. He also noted that he recently attended a state conference and noted that
the City of South Bend is far ahead of other communities regarding this policy. Training is
continuing on this new policy. Chief Taylor noted that he does have concerns with regard
to one area of the City which will be discussed during the upcoming budget hearings on the
proposed 1999 Fire Department budget. The Council Attorney also noted that she met with
Steve Weiger,President of the Firefighters Union last week and that he concurred that the
policy is being implemented smoothly.
In response to a question raised by Council Member Varner, Chief Taylor noted that the
proposed fire station on York Road in the Fifth District should have a ground breaking
ceremony the week of August 31st with the station opening in May of 1999.
Health and Public Safety Committee
July 27, 1998
Page 2
There being no further business to come before the Committee,the meeting was adjourned
at 3:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Council Member Charlotte Pfeifer
Chairperson,Health and Public Safety Committee
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