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REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 24, 2016 right behind it. Councilmember Davis stated the Mayor said he didn't come to the meetings or do this or do that which is disrespectful. Councilmember Davis stated he had breakfast and meetings and everything else and he stated he warned the Mayor personally at breakfast not to do that. Because we need to this in stages. And then the final thing, the idea that we need to do this right after the election and then people will forget by the next election. We go before the ballot every single day and there is no way the people of the 6ffi District would want to vote this way. We will be voting now. Councilmember Voorde stated he does not believe this is a rushed process at all. The Personnel and Finance Committee started this process months and months ago. The Mayor proposes the budget. He starts by talking to his department heads and getting an idea of what they would like to have. The Council is then polled by the Personnel and Finance Committee and the Administration about what the Council wants and what the priorities are. He stated he doesn't believe the budget represents the priorities to the degree of what the Council asked. For example, at the very top of the list for Council priorities were quality of life issues. Those issues include curbs and sidewalks and lighting and street repairs. This Council has been more than compliant to give the Mayor a free hand to remanufacture this City and its services in his vision, while the Council priorities may not be there in the current budget. The $1.5 million for curbs and sidewalks was there last year and when the budget was originally proposed it was only $1 million so it is not an increase it is just a status quo. In terms of the salaries, which is really almost a separate issue, we have more talent and more hard working bright people working for the City than we have ever had. Sure there has been turnover in the Community Investment Department but that is because they are so good. That is because they can go other places and make more money. Obviously it's not only money that leads to job satisfaction but these are young and talented people who want to grow in their professions. People on the outside see the talent we have and they want it and hopefully they all do well. Councilmember Voorde stated at the last meeting he singled out several departments for the good work that they do and he was remiss to not mention the Administration and Finance Department under Mr. Murphy. That department has been more forthcoming and transparent than any he has ever seen in his thirty (30) plus years in government. There are more reports and more information in general online than any one (1) citizen could possibly want. Overall the budget is a reflection of the Administration's priorities. The Mayor was elected to run the City and the Council oversees that and hopefully influence some of the parts that go into the whole but the Mayor ought to have a change to makeover this City in the way he sees fit and the people he has brought in see fit. He stated he does wish he had a little more than internal and external equity. That information has not quite been portrayed as well as it could have been. It will be a leap of faith for him to support this and the budget but when we come to this fiscal curb nothing should come as a surprise. We were given a pass when the new funding system went into place. The cuts we make, if we make cuts, will not be from basic services or quality of life issues. If we get these reductions, it will come from these salaries. He stated he will support this because he generally supports the mayor and certainly supports the good people who are working for him in the City. Councilmember Scott stated he has been around the country quite a bit in his job and travels almost weekly. He stated he talks to a lot of other city governments and county governments in those travels and he certainly speaks with the other local governments around South Bend. He stated we certainly have a lot of good talented people. For the Police, we put together numbers that will help retain them. The Police set up different beats and education bonuses where the raises really range between four percent (4 %) and seven percent (7 %) and some of the officers will be even eight percent (8 %). That was a really good package for them. We are trying to keep people here and it is the same with the Administration. We are a public entity but we need to compete as much as we possibly can with the private entities because that is where the talent is. We are not always going to win, and we usually won't win, but we will see a return on our investment. Looking at IT, we are looking at the return on investment right now through the IT Committee. Councilmember Scott stated his company has four hundred (400) some employees and each one (1) is crucial or we wouldn't have them there. They all have differnet work experiences and 18