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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK <br /> for one (1) of the Notre Dame students is actually developing and marketing a volunteer foster <br /> program for us so we can increase the animals we have and hopefully lower our euthanasia <br /> numbers. <br /> Councilmember Scott followed up, My other question is about the non-reverting Fund #217. I <br /> know there are donations made to Animal Care and Control plus a couple other entities. How do <br /> you and what do you use that Fund for?Are you doing any promotion to increase that Fund? <br /> Ms. Goebel replied, We have not. Right now I'm working on trying to link a PayPal account into <br /> our Facebook page and things like that. One (1) of the things we struggle with is the fact that we <br /> are a municipality, so, even going on an Amazon wish list where people could donate items, we <br /> don't qualify that because we are a municipality and are not a 501(c)(3) organization. Maybe we <br /> could set up a recurring donation system. Those are some of the things we are looking at trying to <br /> do. Primarily we are using the cost for vet care. We have a Trust Fund that, over the next five (5) <br /> years we will be getting,and it is dedicated specifically for the care of the animals. I know we have <br /> moved some money over to cover spay and neuters and other vet costs. Every animal has to be <br /> spayed and neutered before they are adopted per the ordinance. Come 2022, it is mandated that <br /> any animal that leaves the shelter rescue has to be altered by State law. <br /> Councilmember Scott stated, For those who don't know, Fund #217 is almost like a non-profit <br /> Fund, right? People can donate and it is a tax break for that person. There's a Hesburgh statue, <br /> there's Animal Care and Control and I think there are two (2) other ones that they can go ahead <br /> and donate to. My last question is about market. I know Venues, Parks & Arts is kind of the <br /> marketing wing to South Bend, the City, are they doing anything to help market you guys? Have <br /> you even looked at that yet? <br /> Ms. Goebel replied,We've partnered with them on a few things. Obviously,their marketing budget <br /> is a lot larger than ours. The majority of our money goes toward the care of the animals. We have <br /> partnered with them once or twice throughout the year to try and work with the opening of the new <br /> dog park to help promote that. We've done Drool in the Pool for the second(2nd)year in a row for <br /> that. That is a thing they offer but we kind of run it because we are more of the experts in handling <br /> the animals. We are probably, in all honesty, not utilizing them as much as we could but we are <br /> such a smaller part of the City, I'm not sure where else we could partner with them. <br /> Councilmember Teshka stated, I was just looking at some of the supplemental documents. It said <br /> in preparation for the property tax caps, you are deferring $80,000 in capital improvements? And <br /> then I look further on, that is a couple of pickup trucks? Is that what that is? <br /> Ms. Skibins replied, That is correct. <br /> Councilmember Teshka followed up,The age of the vehicles we are currently using is an estimated <br /> maintenance, do we defer that cost and run into more costs and end up spending more money? <br /> Mr. O'Connor replied, We work pretty diligently with Jeff Hudak out of Central Services. As far <br /> as the maintenance of our equipment, we are projecting a five (5) year capital plan now. We are <br /> working with him and we have deferred enough to have what we need. We have been working <br /> hard over the years to upgrade our fleet. <br /> EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT <br /> 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011p 574.235.922111574.235.9173 I TTD 574.235.5567 I www.southbendin.gov <br /> 10 <br />