12-14-15 Common Council Meeting Minutes

Home Browse Search

REGULAR MEETING DECEMBER 14, 2015 Tom Nowack, 2212 Webster St, spoke in favor of the petition. He stated if the City put an alley there it will cost the City of South Bend a lot of money. No one from the public spoke in opposition. Councilmember Dieter made a motion for favorable recommendation to full Council concerning this bill. Councilmember Oliver Davis seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of nine (9) ayes. BILL NO. 73 -15 PUBLIC HEARING ON A BILL OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, AMENDING SECTION 13 -96 OF ARTICLE 10, CHAPTER 13 OFFENSES AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS AND AMENDING SECTION 2- 213 OF CHAPTER 2 ADDRESSING A SCHEDULE OF ORDINANCE AND CODE VIOLATIONS OF THE SOUTH BEND MUNICIPAL CODE Councilmember Dieter reported the Health and Public Safety Committee met and sends the bill to the Council with a favorable recommendation. Councilmember Scott, 711 Forest Ave., presented this bill. He stated this petition deals with irresponsible gunfire in the City because as most people know all shots fired up must come down. Mr. Scott stated the ordinance would tighten up the fine and demonstrate the City takes all gunfire seriously. Currently the fine is arbitrary and set by the officer writing the violation and the fine can vary widely. The bill would set the fine at $2,500 maximum. Councilmember Scott also stated that the petition would change the ordinance that any firearm fired would be seized and not returned until proof of payment and valid ownership of firearm. He stated this should be the purview of the police so the proposal strikes out that part of the ordinance. Councilmember Scott reported that the Chief of Police also favors this petition. Scott Ruszkowski, Chief of Police, was available for questions. He thanked the Council for helping with this matter. He reported he does not want to do police work based on monetary advantage but this is a safety issue and a measure which should be passed. Councilmember Dieter questioned what leeway does the City have to reduce the payment if the person cannot pay the fine? Also, he asked does the Police Department have a mechanism to enforce ShotSpotter which puts the teeth in this proposed ordinance. Chief Ruszkowski answered that officers are not told to stay out of harm's way. He stated the officers have to use their discretion in each individual case and ShotSpotter can pinpoint these locations and if further evidence is found it can be put forward. Councilmember Oliver Davis asked what are the average fines currently. He asked how many fines are given yearly on average and how many on New Year's and other celebration times. Councilmember Davis also asked since ShotSpotter is only available on the northwest side how will this bill be enforced on the whole City and what is the range of fines? Chief Ruszkowski responded that he believes the range is around twenty -five (25) one - hundred (100) dollars and did not know how many of these fines are currently being issued. Councilmember Scott stated during the research of this bill the average fine was around one- hundred dollars ($100). He also did not know how many there were in a year. He stated most of the gunfire happens during Fourth of July and New Year's but even in the past two (2) weekends we have had random shootings. Councilmember Oliver Davis asked how this will work since ShotSpotter is not available throughout the whole City. Chief Ruszkowski responded enforcement will come down to the individual officer to find the person regardless if ShotSpotter is or is not in place. He reported the public can call in or the 4