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REGULAR MEETING September 25, 2017
<br /> Councilmember Davis asked,Now, moving along to the other issue with paratransit in the
<br /> budget—any thoughts about that?
<br /> Mr. Cangany responded, You know, without specifics on dollars, I can just say that we transport
<br /> about 2,000,000 people a year using our fixed-route service.
<br /> Councilmember Davis asked, Is that up or down?
<br /> Mr. Cangany responded, It's down, unfortunately. It's been all throughout the country, so we're
<br /> following national trends, there. But our paratransit ridership is about 60,000 folks a year, and
<br /> that ridership is up. We would actually like to see the reverse—up on the fixed-route, down on
<br /> paratransit. So, I see that coming with some more reforms and things we will be doing to modify
<br /> the Access service in the future.
<br /> Councilmember Broden asked what the closest fixed-route stop to the Dunbar Homes was.
<br /> Mr. Cangany responded,Not sure of the exact location, but the Number 10 along Western
<br /> Avenue and the Number 4 that serves the Lincoln Way corridor but also comes down on Orange,
<br /> over there by the Amtrack station. So, I don't know the exact answer to that.
<br /> Councilmember Broden asked the Administration what could be done to help provide
<br /> demographics data for TRANSPO.
<br /> Suzanna Fritzberg, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Mayor, with offices on the 14t`Floor of the
<br /> County-City Building, South Bend, IN, stated, It's a public housing unit. That's information that
<br /> would be held by the public housing authority. Ms. Fritzberg stated that she would be happy to
<br /> work with Mr. Cangany to get a request to the housing authority, and that the Administration
<br /> would be glad to do anything to expedite the process if necessary.
<br /> Councilmember Tim Scott made a motion to send Bill No. 54-17 to the full Council with a
<br /> favorable recommendation. Councilmember Karen White seconded the motion which carried by
<br /> a voice vote of eight(8) ayes.
<br /> 56-17 PUBLIC HEARING ON AN ORDINANCE OF
<br /> THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
<br /> SOUTH BEND, INDIANA, ESTABLISHING A
<br /> PART-TIME POLICE OFFICER PROGRAM FOR
<br /> THE CITY OF SOUTH BEND AND POLICE
<br /> DEPARTMENT
<br /> Councilmember Jo M. Broden, Chair of the Health and Public Safety Committee, reported that
<br /> they met this afternoon and send this bill forward with a favorable recommendation.
<br /> Scott Ruszkowski and Jeff Rynearson, Division Chief and Operations Division Chief,
<br /> respectively, of the South Bend Police Department, with offices at 701 West Sample Street,
<br /> South Bend, IN, served as the presenters of this bill. Chief Ruszkowski stated, We would ask the
<br /> Council to pass this. A lot of components will be redundant, but I think you heard all the intent.
<br /> The intent—we won't really know how it pans out until it actually happens. I know the Council,
<br /> and rightfully so, was asking for updates. I think a six (6)month update, potentially, if this is
<br /> passed. We plan on doing even more than that, preferably monthly, if we can, to give you our
<br /> progress report. This is to supplement—not to replace. So, if we run short for special events—
<br /> Notre Dame football games, Best Week Ever, whatever the event may be when we just don't
<br /> have the personnel to man these things—this will be a good asset. Along with some reports that
<br /> maybe take an officer too long to do: vandalism reports with no suspect information; maybe
<br /> looking at cases like shoplifting—we have tons of shoplifting cases and we just don't have the
<br /> personnel or resources to do every single one (1) of those, so maybe this will help out. And last,
<br /> but not least, what I think is very important and a lot of people miss, is the simple fact that we
<br /> can bring back the knowledge and experience of twenty (20) plus years of officers we've had to
<br /> be mentors, coaches, teachers to some of our new officers, and I think that in-and-of-itself is `
<br /> worth every penny that we plan on putting into this.
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