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REGULAR MEETING I APRIL 11, 2015 Brian Pawlowski, Assistant Executive Director of Community Investment with Offices on the 14'h Floor of the County -City Building, served as the presenter for this bill. Mr. Pawlowski highlighted that this will be a new construction with about $6.8 million dollars in investment and a total square footage of 40,000 square feet. The estimated total taxes on the new building construction are $1.18 million, the estimated taxes to be abated are $464,000 and the estimated taxes to be paid during the six (6) year abatement are $715,00. This will add an additional thirteen (13) employees which excludes the current thirty (30) employees at their existing store and will add approximately 450,000.00 in payroll Rob Bartles, 760 Cotter St. South Bend 46613, served as the petitioner for this bill. They are very excited about this project and all the time and talent that has gone into it. This abatement would help them with the costs and will help bring a beautiful store to the Westside and a store they deserve out there. Mr. Bartles expressed his appreciation to the Council for considering to take this step and help them. There were no questions from Council and no one from the public spoke in favor or opposition of the bill. Councilmember Dr. David Varner made a motion to adopt Bill 16 -33. Councilmember Oliver Davis seconded the motion which carried by a roll call vote of eight (8) ayes. 16 -32 A RESOLUTION OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, APPROVING AN AGREEMENT WITH THE POKAGON BAND OF POTAWATOMI INDIANS Councilmember Karen White reported that the Personnel and Finance Committee met and send this bill forward with a favorable recommendation. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, offices on the 10 Floor of the County -City Building, served as the presenter of this bill. He stated Cristal Brisco, Corporation Counsel, will make the presentation but he wished to provide some context first. The goal of this resolution is to ask the Council to express support for the terms of a local agreement the City has negotiated with the Pokagon Band. Under this agreement the City, along with a number of local causes, will benefit financially from revenue at a proposed gaming facility on Tribal land within the City limits. The Mayor wished to clear up some inconsistencies about the authorities that do and do not exist in this case. A number of constituents have reached out to the Mayor's Office both in support and opposition to the proposed facility. The City has no authority to regulate gaming on Tribal Sovereign Land. This Administration and this Council are not in a position either to allow or to prevent this type of gaming on federally recognized Tribal Land. Even though the land would technically be within the City limits, once the land in trust is approved by the Department of the Interior it is effectively not governed like the rest of the City and the land for these purposes is considered sovereign. This is the way that American law treats Tribal Land as a matter of regard for the original citizens of the land that eventually became the United States. Gaming of Tribal Land can go forward with or without any involvement, approval or disapproval from the City. Even if this agreement is voted down, gaming could go forward on this site once it is federally recognized. The question then is whether the Council supports the Administration's efforts to obtain substantial benefits to the City from the planned facility. When the idea of tribal gaming first was discussed, the Mayor indicated the Administration could be supportive if and only if the benefits to the community outweighed the costs. This agreement is a framework to make sure that is the case. For many years the Pokagon Band has been a very active and constructive community partner in both visible and quiet ways. There have been high profile sponsorships like Four Winds Field and the Tribe's substantial sponsorship of the SB 150 celebrations. There have also been a number of unadvertised charitable contributions throughout the community. As this gaming facility became more of a possibility, the Tribe communicated to the Administration that they wanted to maintain a positive relationship with the community even while retaining their sovereign rights under American law. 12