12-14-15 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING DECEMBER 14, 2015 Councilmember Henry Davis Jr. responded that this is not legally binding. Councilmember Dieter disagreed with him. Councilmember Davis Jr. said the money is there for down the line. Councilmember Dieter asked if there is going to be a relationship with WNIT for this. Councilmember Henry Davis Jr. stated a relationship has started with WNIT over this. Councilmember White asked if they would be willing to expand this to more members than the Council to increase transparency. Councilmember Henry Davis Jr. responded yes. Those from the public wishing to speak in favor: Jessie Davis, P.O. Box 10205, South Bend Indiana, spoke in favor of this resolution. He stated he has spoken in favor of this a few times. He stated he thinks this is a great tool to give the Councilmembers a better tool of knowing what the opinion of their constituency is. He said this is an opinion poll not necessarily a vote by the public. He stated whether it goes forward tonight or in a future Council he doesn't care what they say, there is no way councilmembers talk to the majority of their constituents. He said this is not something that is going to go away. He said this gives us a tool to hold you accountable because we are not seeing that transparency currently. James Pepple, 52205 Portage Rd., spoke in favor of the resolution. He stated he is a veteran and recipient of the Indiana Accommodation Medal. He stated that without communication you will not have success and we have the opportunity to increase communication in this community. He stated everything in the world has communication and if you do not have it you are going to have failure. He asked if there was communication with the people when they changed the roads to two (2) ways. He said if we do not have communication we are going to fail. Reverend Sylvester Williams, 702 Lincolnway West, spoke in favor of the resolution. He said four (4) years ago he talked to the Council about public access. He said you are right Councilman Davis WNIT is down. He said that is hindsight though and this is future sight. He said radio is here and is going to be here and the only reason we are partnering with David Frank is because we are getting people involved with getting decisions forward. He said don't drop the ball on this like you did four (4) years ago with public access. He said people who don't have TV can use radio as well. Reverend Williams said this is about getting citizens involved and hopefully the next Council will be interested in this. No one from the public spoke in opposition to the resolution. Councilmember White stated she believes going forward this has to include the other local government entities. Councilmember Ferlic stated he has seen presentations on technology that could be used for $100 or $300 a month for a City to collect feedback which would be very valuable. He said he understands this resolution is simply looking into the idea but that can be misinterpreted by the media and I don't support the way it is written right now. Councilmember Henry Davis Jr. stated he wouldn't expect Councilmember Ferlic to support this. Councilmember Dieter stated he encourages the next Council to look into this. Councilmember Oliver Davis stated there has been misunderstanding on this resolution. He stated he likes where this is going but wants to include the other entities. He said he appreciates that we are looking at this again and stated that other cities have other entities that are broadcasted as well and it should not just be the Council. He said he likes the concept but it needs to be expanded. Councilmember Dr. Varner stated this is going to be the same discussion as the adoption of the Public Access Channel which had been done away with. He stated the reach of "IT is far beyond the City of South Bend and those other entities such as Elkhart need to pay a price in 16