09-28-15 Common Council Meeting Minutes

Home Browse Search

REGULAR MEETING September 28, 2015 new development in old parts of the City or parts of the City that’s not in the TIF district. Taxable land not our working or share interest with another non-profit that’s outside of the TIF district. I am looking at being about to expand taxable land outside of the TIF district. Mayor Buttigieg (Presenter)- The 300 million dollars in private investment that has come to the city in deals that we’ve have been involved with since taking office has largely gone into that tax base that we are concerned with. I haven’t seen a breakdown of how much that falls within the borders of land that marked off in a TIF district. Obviously, you can expect that many of the areas of greatest need are going to be in there that’s why they were in the TIF district in the first place. There may be times when it’s appropriate to revisit the boundaries of the TIF district as the Council has asked to do and did last year creating more opportunities. Particularly the TIF districts that cover the majority of the Westside where you see so much of the increase in the impact base associated with the investments of real personal and private and personal property through the business deals that have taken place so far. Councilmember Dr. Ferlic- From the public safety aspect Mayor, we’ve been long time invested in a minority recruitment officer and I know it always doesn’t correlate with the metrics that the Ferguson, Missouri, versus Baltimore but it is just common sense that we need a more diversified Police and Fire Department. What is the exact role you are going to have a minority recruitment officer, correct or just public safety? Mayor Buttigieg- The intention is to have a diversity and inclusion officer for the City of South Bend. I think that it’s the case that the bulk of that individual’s time in the early life of that position will go into Public Safety. I think as we’ve developed this concept it has become clear that there has become a need for strategic support. That this needs to be somebody who is able to report directly to the Mayor’s Office and to have purview over a strategy for the City. Recognizing again that the bulk of where that cash is at is going to be in the Public Safety departments. Then what you are going to see is that other position that HR position which is situated in such a way that it is going to focus on public safety. We’ll also be able to be a multiplier in our ability to do recruiting and retention and better process management. These roles are different, one is strategic and focused on HR and process management in a way you can see it adding up to a full-time equivalent or a little more than one (1) full-time person on public safety with a view toward the diversity of our force. Councilmember Dr. Ferlic- Most cities that I have seen about our size or a little larger have two or three people devoted to it. So do you think one full-time equivalent can handle the entire job description? Mayor Buttigieg- It’ll be one (1) more than we’ve had. We don’t think that that’s enough but we’ll have to revisit that in next year’s budget. I do think it’ll represent serious progress and this also is why we want to make sure there are funds available for professional services to augment the ability of the in-house personnel and staff. The HR person working on that side of the equation and then strategic leader working under my guidance to get the job done. Councilmember Dr. Ferlic- Secondly you asked for some philosophical questions about the future. Cities are made great by the economics, schools and crime. Those are the three triad. Have you thought of being involved in the schools at all as far as mayoral appointments? Is that in the future because I am not sure the present system is working. Mayor Buttigieg (Presenter) - I know that the debate comes up from time to time about the structure of our school corporation. That probably a broader philosophical debate than I can touch here at this point. What I should say is this will come up in the short term and medium term, I believe the most positive meaningful way that a municipality can intervene in support in education is in the pre-K gap. We have large number of students who are making it off the Headstart waiting list. We know that is an area where we can make a difference in the lives of so many children who are headed into that K-12 system. My view presently is that would be more bang for our buck than attempting to change the political structure of the school board. Again I think the City has a huge stake in success of the school corporation. It’s appropriate to revisit that question from time to time. 21