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REGULAR MEETING JUNE 11, 2012
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<br />serving on the board she did not know this, so for the benefit of all that are here, the Solid
<br />Waste Department that is doing the illegal dumping pick-up is actually part of the city.
<br />The Solid Waste District is a completely separate entity and they are not doing the illegal
<br />dumping pick-up. So, when it was mentioned that they were expanding their territory,
<br />what the St. Joseph Solid Waste District is doing has nothing to do with the illegal
<br />dumping pick-up. She stated that is the Solid Waste Department within the City. She
<br />just wanted to make that clear, because she thinks that was confusing.
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<br />Mike Schmuhl, Chief of Staff to the Mayor, 14 Floor County-City Building, 227 W.
<br />Jefferson Blvd., South Bend, Indiana, advised that he wanted to update the Council on
<br />three (3) things that Vice-President Councilmember Oliver Davis mentioned earlier. He
<br />stated that this morning he sent over material relating to the “broken-window” theory in
<br />law enforcement as it relates to traffic stops, also the latest press release on the 933 road
<br />work, the bridge on 31 crossing towards Angela. He stated that work will be done from
<br />June 13, 2012 until the middle of September. He advised Vice-President Councilmember
<br />Oliver Davis that he will get him a summary of the tickets. He stated that he doesn’t
<br />have that information this evening. The Kroc bridge update has been given by Vice-
<br />President Oliver Davis this evening. Mr. Schmuhl state that completion should be mid-
<br />July. He advised on some things that the Mayor’s Office has worked on: a successful
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<br />Mayor’s Night Out on May 30, 2012 in the 4 District with Councilmember Dr. Fred
<br />Ferlic. Mr. Schmuhl advised that the next Mayor’s Night In is June 28, 2012 here in the
<br />County-City Building. He stated that they had a successful budget kick-off meeting; it
<br />was nice to see Councilmember White and Council Attorney Kathy Cekanski-Farrand
<br />there. He stated that the meeting was held on May 31, 2012 at the O’Brien Center. The
<br />Vacant and Abandoned Housing Task Force had its first public hearing at Muessel
<br />School on May 31, 2012, there will be another meeting this summer as well. He stated
<br />that they will keep Council advise to that. He stated looking ahead they have a Budget &
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<br />Finance Workshop, the 4 in a series with Controller Mark Neal, which have been very
<br />informative sessions for the administration and for Council on June 27, 2012 from 4:30 –
<br />6:30 p.m. here in the Council Chambers. He stated that they have an Economic Summit
<br />coming up a week from Thursday on June 21, 2012 at the Century Center. He stated that
<br />the agenda and material was sent to Councilmember’s previously and again this morning.
<br />He urged the Council to RSVP, by sending him an e-mail or call if planning on attending.
<br />He stated that he will get a list of Redevelopment properties to Council so they can
<br />review them. He stated that he believes that he had gathered that information when they
<br />were talking about the downtown police sub-station a few weeks. He stated that should
<br />be easy to pull and he will also get in touch with Phil Custard to make sure that they have
<br />the list from the Engineering Department that was looked at. He stated a few things from
<br />tonight’s meeting: The illegal dumping crew, there are some options on the table, Mayor
<br />Pete has talked with Catherine Toppel, Director of Code Enforcement, and he will make
<br />sure that there is sufficient communication between his office and Council before they
<br />submit any legislation continuing that service. He stated that it seems to be making a
<br />huge impact in our community over three million pounds of debris has been collected up
<br />to this point, and he looks forward to working with Council on that. Finally, the tapes
<br />issue, exactly one week ago, last week on Monday, the City’s Legal Department went to
<br />the Federal Building in downtown South Bend received the tapes, immediately took the
<br />tapes to the U.S. Postal Service and sent the tapes certified mail to Thomas E. Perez,
<br />Assistant Attorney General, Department of Justice, attached to that package was a letter
<br />that they shared with Council, basically saying that we thought that the Civil Rights
<br />Division of the Department of Justice was the best entity, the best group, to review the
<br />materials, on the tapes. He stated that they look forward to receiving a response from that
<br />group, and sharing it with Council as soon as they can.
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<br />Councilmember Henry Davis Jr., asked if they could get copies of their certified letter,
<br />when it was sent out. He stated that its not that he doesn’t trust them, it’s because this
<br />situation has gotten a lot larger than we all had feared that it would get this large. As a
<br />result the integrity of the South Bend Police Department has been compromised; people
<br />are telling him that they aren’t feeling safe in the City of South Bend and so on. As a
<br />representative, not a judge, not a lawyer, none of those things, just a representative, it is
<br />necessary that he speaks the concerns of the people that elected him into office, his
<br />constituency base. So when they have information that is concrete, hard core, then he can
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