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REGULAR MEETING October 9, 2017
<br /> that our city has yet seen. Also, of course, another high profile project that we think could be
<br /> economically transformative: that is the South Shore Relocation Project. We are also going to, as
<br /> impatient as we are, make sure that we reap those gains. We are making sure that we stop and
<br /> take a look at how we're doing it, where we're doing it—responsive to the recent Council
<br /> resolution calling on us to initiate a second study to make sure that the best possible route is
<br /> selected when it comes to the City supporting measures to speed up the train between South
<br /> Bend and Chicago.
<br /> Mayor Buttigieg continued, You'll see again a greater emphasis on public health—health and
<br /> human services, more broadly—recognizing that the City has a role to play here, from measures
<br /> to address lead exposure in children,residential lead mitigation with a mix of federal funds
<br /> which have benefited coming from the outside but were also restricted, and City funds which are
<br /> more flexible. They can be used, for example, on measures short of the federally required full
<br /> abatement on a home, which can be north of$20,000, but which we could use in 2018 to develop
<br /> some of the most promising ways to help home owners and families make sure that their homes
<br /> are safe from lead. We are also proposing to initiate a rental safety pilot program for inspections,
<br /> and allocate more resources for substance abuse and overdose issues that are affecting so many
<br /> communities, including ours.
<br /> Mayor Buttigieg continued, When it comes to early childhood education, our intent is to build
<br /> the capacity that we have in our mixed delivery system. What we see is that there are a lot of
<br /> different levels of quality when it comes to the Pre-K education system in our community. We
<br /> believe that an injection of resources from the City can help enhance the quality of some of the
<br /> centers that exist,paving the way for future expansions of actual seats and getting more kids
<br /> access to the program, and we know that if you don't have quality, you're often not going to be
<br /> able to succeed, no matter how many kids have access to the program. When it comes to
<br /> community-oriented policing and keeping with the group violence intervention that remains the
<br /> cornerstone of our strategy, we have identified funds to support a strategic focus outreach unit.
<br /> This is working with community partners to make sure that we're doing everything we can to cut
<br /> off crimes,to break cycles of violence. This involves what are called street workers and
<br /> supervisors, in partnership with Goodwill. We think this is really going to be a powerful resource
<br /> in trying to make sure that the City is going to become the exception to the rule of the cities
<br /> across the region or across the country,where we saw an uptick of violent crime last year and in
<br /> particular this year.
<br /> Mayor Buttigieg continued, And permanent supportive housing: making sure that we're doing
<br /> what we can to allocate funds for sheltering but also for trying to move people out of the cycles
<br /> that lead to homelessness, through scattered site permanent housing units as well as identifying
<br /> capital for a gateway shelter. Public safety always occupies the majority of the General Fund
<br /> portion of the budget. We're funding two-hundred and fifty-one (25 1)police officers and, I
<br /> should mention, we're needing to proactively recruit, because there remains a gap between the
<br /> number of officers we've been able to hire and move through in the Academy and the number
<br /> that are actually allocated—as well as all of the court programs that police maintain as part of
<br /> their year-to-year operations. Similarly, fire prevention, fire suppression and, in the case of South
<br /> Bend, emergency medical services, all contemplated as part of the Fire Department budget.
<br /> There's a capital item included in there—it's called the Hot Classroom—which is another
<br /> training resource that can help our firefighters prepare. Fire Station 9—which we think we've
<br /> found a good solution, after a lot of dialogue in the neighboring community—as well as a vehicle
<br /> refurbishment for an ambulance and medic vehicle and a new aerial truck, which the Fire
<br /> Department needs. It's very important for our ability to meet their mission.
<br /> Mayor Buttigieg continued, And, we have proposed to introduce the position of a Director of
<br /> Public Safety,with the goal of making sure that all the different public safety activities in the
<br /> City—Police, Fire,Emergency Medical Response,PSAP or a 911 center,the work that we do in
<br /> the County framework for the EMA, and anything else that may arise from crime prevention to
<br /> emergency preparedness—benefit from having a high level, integrated civilian oversight. We
<br /> also think, from studying places where this position has been used well,that there are potential
<br /> budget savings in the long-run available here. I would note that the proposal calls for a position
<br /> that would account for—if you divide it by the overall spend on public safety, it's 0.0017% of
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