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REGULAR MEETING September 28, 2015 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Councilmember Oliver Davis- Good evening Mayor. I appreciate the concept of having an <br />Affirmative Action person in the HR and in the Police Department but I have a great concern <br />about that. It kind of in my mind where we are in 2015 when you have a person who is <br />dedicated just for that purpose it frees the human resource person to not do their job. <br /> <br />A good human resource person looks at everybody. They look at African-Americans, Polish, and <br />Hungarian, everybody and they deal with that. I think our local school got into some issues. <br />When you have that one (1) single person out it can create backlash. It can be perceived as <br />reverse discrimination. A good thing can turn out to be a legally bad thing in 2015 legal law. I <br />agreed with having more people. I think we have to be careful in saying this is the affirmative <br />action person, they are responsible for getting Hispanics, African-Americans and then the human <br />resource is no longer responsible for doing that. University of Michigan had problems with that. <br />A lot of universities are getting sued and losing because of that same concept. So we don’t get <br />into more lawsuits, like when one of our schools had a field trip for all African-American <br />students. We really have to be careful when using public dollars just to target. What legal <br />counsel have you consulted before you implement this? To handle those on the far left or far <br />right. Partly, I thought the position Ms. Peate has was going to do that similar thing too. It really <br />didn’t stir the pot as I hoped it would because now we are here again. Nothing against her or her <br />colleague it just didn’t turn out the way I thought it would. What legal counsel have we had <br />before we put this into a budget? Then it’s off your hands and you can say that’s what the <br />Council voted. What is something we can have a legal recommendation from Cristal Brisco to <br />say she has worked with Lonnie Douglas our Human Rights Coordinator that you looked at other <br />cities, that you have the case law that will help us to present this to a very conservative public? <br /> <br />Mayor Buttigieg (Presenter) - I would not bring any recommendation to this council that our <br />administration and legal team, led by Cristal Brisco did not view as legally appropriate. <br /> <br />Councilmember Oliver Davis- Can she give us a document to give our counsel i.e. a brief or <br />summary? Politically it’s great, I live on the Southwest, to say I am for municipal IDs I got my <br />Hispanic and African-American it sounds great but then I have to deal with the reality of the law. <br />The reality of the law and public dollars is not always a pretty thing. I haven’t seen enough <br />information for affirmative action positions or the municipal IDs from the legal department. I <br />want that before we vote on the budget. I don’t think $18,000 is enough and I don’t want to <br />pander to people and if we vote against this budget then it’s a vote against Hispanics. I don’t’ <br />want to throw a carrot at people. I want to know the legal ramification of traffic stops, going to <br />the library, the water company, to get an apartment, if they go anywhere with a city ID I need to <br />know the legal ramifications based on state, federal law, and other city practices How does this <br />budget effect the Sample St. and Olive St. over pass monies? I know that is old money that came <br />from Ewing St. Gary Gilot came to Rum Village and told this money has been moved. Can you <br />give us a summary of how much of the old money is being used for that or if it is new money? <br /> <br />Mayor Buttigieg (Presenter)- When it comes to which dollars are in there and when they were <br />encumbered I don’t want to get out of my depth and ask John and Eric to speak to that. What I <br />will say is that have heard from you and others about urgency of getting something done there. <br />We are fortunate to be able to take advantage of some federal dollars but not without a sizeable <br />City match. I will flag that and hopefully it will be spoken to a little bit later. <br /> <br />Councilmember Oliver Davis- I have some other questions I will send to you. <br /> <br />Committee of the While Chairperson White – It is important to note we will be in committee <br />throughout the process. We will have ample opportunity for questions to be addressed to make <br />sure we have a clear understanding as we move forward. <br /> <br />John Murphy Controller (Presenter) - I want to thank our department heads and other fiscal <br />managers. (Presenter began a slideshow presentation) The budget consists of one-hundred and <br />three (103) funds. General Fund, Special Revenue Fund, Debt Service Capital Fund, Enterprise <br />Funds, Internal Service Funds ( i.e., health insurance, central services), Trust and Agency Funds, <br />Police and Fire Pension Funds, and Redevelopment Funds which are approved through a <br />th <br />different budget process. May 28 was the budget kick off meeting. We are in our fourth (4) <br />st <br />month, one (1) more month to go. July 31 Mayor Pete held in-depth meetings with each <br />22 <br /> <br /> <br />