09-28-15 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING September 28, 2015 Presenter- Actually most transit agencies see more local involvement whether that’s on the city or county level. That’s something that Transpo’s going to have to start looking at is leveraging those relationships if you will into finding new ways to find funding to show that our community is truly invested in public transit. It is not just a federal or state responsibility. In Indianapolis that is a huge thing that we always have to defend is that there is local interest in funding public transit. Councilmember Oliver Davis- What do you mean that most places have local and community support versus what we have at Transpo? Presenter- It’s a direct disbursement from the City or County General Fund or whether it’s a sales tax. We are very limited in the State of Indiana unfortunately with how we can collect our taxes to fund transit agencies. Right now we couldn’t go to the ballot with an initiative to add a penny to the sales tax, that’s something that is very popular in other communities. The legislature just allows Indianapolis or the central Indiana region to do it. They are going to the ballot with it 2016. So that is one of the things that at the state level is how do we bring that throughout the entire state and getting folks to understand the real benefit of transit. It’s not just getting folks from point A to point B. It’s when you go and get that cup of coffee in the morning how did that person get there? Or when you look at the components on a vehicle where are they made? Most of the components on a transit bus come from our state. It’s helping folks to understand that and getting them to understand that by making that investment it pays off as well. Councilmember Oliver Davis- Can you send to this Council a list of all the cities who have transit, in the State of Indiana, that are getting funds from their city and/or county? Could you briefly explain where we are at with regards to our fees in terms of other cities, especially cities our size. In term of our rates, what is our current rate and where does that stand in terms of fees? Presenter- We’re one (1) dollar per ride. We are one of the lowest in the state. The only city that is lower than us is Muncie and they're at $0.75. Everybody else is at least a dollar or more. Indianapolis is at $1.75 cash fare, Lafayette is significantly higher, and Evansville is even much higher. We are still a great bargain for our passengers. By introducing a day pass you can ride the entire Transpo system by throughout the entire day for three dollars. That is something new we introduced this year. We are seeing our passengers are getting a really good value with that. The pass is actually being used around 4.6 times for each pass. It just shows that folks are actually saving money by buying that pass, that getting rid of the transfers was actually a good thing for our passengers. Councilmember Oliver Davis- Can you send us that list too to see what other municipalities are helping locally. Committee of the Whole Chairperson White- We will now move into the Public Hearing portion. This being the time heretofore set for the Public Hearing on the above bill, proponents and opponents were given an opportunity to be heard. There being no one present wishing to speak to the Council in favor of or opposition to this bill, Councilmember Oliver Davis made a motion to continue Bill 44-15 in the Council portion only thrd on October 12 and schedule a 3 reading that the same day. Councilmember Dr. Ferlic seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of seven (7) ayes. Councilmember White requested a motion for the purpose of public hearing of Bills 41-15, 42- 15, 43-15 to all be heard together. Councilmember Gavin Ferlic made the motion. Councilmember Tim Scott seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of seven (7) ayes. 41-15 PUBLIC HEARING ON A BILL OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, AMENDING CHAPTER 16, SECTIONS 16-6 AND 16-8 OF THE SOUTH BEND MUNICIPAL CODE TO ADJUST FEES FOR CITY COLLECTION AND DISPOSAL OF REFUSE (SOLID WASTE) MATERIALS 17