03-26-12 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING MARCH 26, 2012 another.” Men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their heir which was meat. This is not man’s opinion it is Gods word and his authority. This is a most serious matter which is being discussed tonight and he trusts each member of the Common Council will seek the Lord God and search his word so that you can make the right decision and thereby honor the Lord Jesus Christ whereby brining blessings upon community. Bottom line is this you and I will stand before a holy and righteous God one day and we will give an account of what we have done, our thoughts, our actions, our words and in your case your votes. God is a loving God and he desires that all men, women and children turn that sin whatever that sin is and come to know him as personal savior and Lord. He is a just God and he will judge sin. For each of us to have a respectful and reverent reader the Lord Jesus Christ is a wonderful thing. God’s word says in Proverbs 1.7 the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” He stated that as Councilmember’s may you humbly acknowledge your dependence upon God for wisdom and as a result may we in the community experience the blessing of God based upon adherence to his word and not man’s opinions. Gary King, 730 N. Hill Street, South Bend, Indiana, stated that back in the fall when they were campaigning for office in the fall, something he wishes would have allowed him to be on that side of the table. The main issues that were discussed during the debates and forums were things like jobs and how to take care of the vacant houses and the dilapidated buildings and the Westside. There were a lot of things that were said that we were going to work together to make the City of South Bend better. He stated that he did not remember any serious discussions about this particular type of ordinance. He stated that here we are not even three months after you have been sworn in to represent the City and already have this on the table again. How did that happen? Is it so much more important than taking care of the vacant and abandoned homes and serious business facing the city? He stated that he did some research to figure out what exactly would bring a business to South Bend. He stated that he heard early in the presentations that we want to be a progressive looking city, we want to be inclusive, we want to be perceived st as being a 21 Century City with all kinds of opportunities for every kind of person and that is a good thing. Except for there is no correlation between the Forbes list and it is all printed out here and if you don’t remember how it goes were are like 117th on the list of the cities and they give you the criteria for how they figure out a place to do business, job growth, costs, business and living income growth, educational obtainment, projected economic growth and goes on for several more. He stated that he then looked at how many employers or businesses would want to locate in a City that was GLBT friendly ordinance. It was really hard to find, but he did find a ranking of the 15 highest ranked cities and there is no correlation none, zero, he tried to match them up whatever way he could and it just drove him nuts. He finally figure out that Atlanta is ranked #15 in the GLBT preferred, there were 33 or 37 or some number down there. He is going there next week to visit his son and stop at their City Council and find out what makes them so popular. Are they attracting businesses, there is no correlation, so why does the Council want to put this in. Mr. Gates advised what is going to happen to businesses when someone applies for the job and you turn them down because they don’t think that they are a good fit. What about the ones where you turn somebody down because they thought that someone was just better qualified, you really hit it off in the interview and that person comes back and says they must have though I was gay, in fact I am gay, but I am just as qualified as the other person. Now, that business has to go and defend itself in front of the Human Rights Commission. He stated that he would be afraid to locate a business in a City where he was wondering, now it this is a state wide thing, if Indianapolis’ law is really good and the whole state says that it’s the same for everybody, but now were are going to pick and choose and say maybe I don’t want to locate in South Bend or Mishawka because I am going to get them into trouble, maybe I better locate some place else. He stated that as a Committee of the Whole voting on this and the best thing that can be done is table this motion. Give it some more time to investigate the full impact, get the facts, tweak it, and make it so that it really works if you are going to do it at all. Or, let the State settle it, so that we are not forcing businesses to disregard South Bend as the great City as it is, because now there is one more hoop that they have to jump through in order to make sure that they satisfy all our requirements. 25