05-29-12 Common Council Meeting Minutes

Home Browse Search

REGULAR MEETING MAY 29, 2012 tampered with or destroyed. He stated that he believes all of their constituents as well as any of the other Councilmember’s probably would like that to be done. He stated that his second question was he was kind of curious; they talked about the timeframe in getting a new chief of police. He stated that he is curious what the time frame was for hiring the Director of Public Works. He stated that he believes the Director of Public Works announced his retirement in December and we were told that his is working on a volunteer basis. He stated that he has seen a lot of bids that are going out that are kind of odd. Mr. Davis gave a letter to City Clerk John Voorde to give to Council President Dieter. He stated that with the Director of Public Work’s salary getting an increase it shouldn’t be too hard to get that position filled. Jake Teshka, St. Joseph County Republican Party, 4133 Main Street, South Bend, Indiana, stated that as a representative of the Republican Party of St. Joseph County, he wanted to applaud and commend the City Council for all their efforts in assisting in transparency in the matters regarding and surrounding the demotion of Former Chief Boykins and Ms. DePaepe. He stated that all the folks in the audience with blue shirts, the fact that Rev. Jesse Jackson, and his group have gotten involved, this isn’t an issue that is going away. He stated that he just wanted to reiterate their support for anything that the Council can do to dig deeper into this issue and uncover the truth. He stated as citizens of South Bend we deserve to know what is on those tapes. He stated that he thinks given what has come to light recently that was reported by the South Bend Tribune and other folks in the media about the conversation that took place between Tim Corbett and Officer Stilp, he thinks if points to the fact that there is something on those tapes, that there is something that is being hidden from us. He thanked Ms. White for her earlier statement about moving forward in the process of finding a new chief, asking for transparency, however, he thinks that transparency also needs to be retrospective and he thinks they need to know what has gone on within the police department, within the Mayor’s office. He stated that when the Mayor was up here stated that he would be asking for public input into the hiring of the next Police Chief, and with all due respect to the Mayor, he thinks that for the last couple of months the public has been giving you their input and it has been paid no mind. He just reiterated that the Republican Party support for your efforts and we come from all different end of the political spectrum but this is not a political issue, this is a community issue, and it is one that is tearing apart the community and so they stand here today in support of these fine folks here and the Council and anything that can be done to uncover the truth. Vera Peel, 2715 Bonds, South Bend, Indiana, thanked her Councilmember Henry Davis, Jr. and Councilmember and police officer Derek Dieter, for coming to the community and explaining what is going on as far as policing is concerned and to see what their concerns are in the neighborhood. She stated that she lives in the neighborhood where those yellow poles are in the street and lives on a street that has been blocked off with some construction that was done over in that area. She stated that the area looks like a war zone. She stated that there is no where in the City that looks like this and it is a disgrace. She stated that she is appalled that things like this are being done to the west- side. She stated that we constantly talk about what is going on the west-side and she stated that she spoke earlier because of the comment that was made is how the city feels about us on the west-side. Terrell Jackson, President, NAACP, 1725 Georgian Dr., South Bend, Indiana, stated that the mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, known as the NAACP, is to ensure that political, educational, social and economic equality of the rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination. The South Bend branch of the NAACP has been working toward this goal for the past 40 years. A large part of this has been due to us monitoring and building a successful relationship with the South Bend Police Department. In keeping with this tradition and in the spotlight that has come upon this department in the last few weeks, it is their decision to encourage the elected officials to have an open and transparent policy in the future decisions being made to the employment of all levels of this city’s police department. He also noted that if future investigations will discover that a miscalculation was made in the removal of the previous police chief to promote healing in the South Bend community they are requesting that the situation will be made whole for all who are affected by our city administration. He stated that it is their hope that they will see more diversity in this 32