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REGULAR MEETING February 11, 2019
<br /> Mayor Pete replied,Thank you. We will be sure to get you more information both on the Medicaid
<br /> picture and the road funding.
<br /> Councilmember Jake Teshka stated, I echo a little bit what Councilmember Broden said on the
<br /> road funding piece. I would also like to help advocate for that as much as possible. Any additional
<br /> information your office could provide would be great. Thank you for, what I think was, a very
<br /> comprehensive and great presentation. I would like to have a copy of it. I think a lot of time there
<br /> is some misunderstanding of the City's financial position and I think there were some very clear
<br /> and concise charts in this presentation that would help us as we go out and talk to folks about
<br /> exactly where we are sitting. So, thank you.
<br /> Mayor Pete replied, Great, we will circulate it with the Council and maybe we can also put it on
<br /> the Open Data Portal in case residents are interested too.
<br /> City Clerk Kareemah Fowler clarified, We have already sent it to all Council Members and it is in
<br /> your email inbox.
<br /> Councilmember Oliver Davis stated,Thank you Mayor for your presentation tonight. A couple of
<br /> things. Number one (1), you had talked about how the State is changing our road and highway
<br /> funding and you said that we probably need to get ahold of State Legislators since we are in the
<br /> middle of that time now. What's the plan for our Council to assist you in doing that? What are the
<br /> efforts we need to have? Testimony from us individually? Do we need letters? What is your
<br /> strategy to help deal with that? That is a critical issue you brought up because we all did think it
<br /> was going to be a lot more money when we were jumping up and down on that and then to get this
<br /> curb with the other curb coming up, it makes you a little queasy on stuff like that. Then the second
<br /> (2"d) thing is it was interesting that Mishawaka wasn't rated with any of the ratings. Mishawaka,
<br /> Gary and those others,do you know why they choose not to be rated?You may get to that question
<br /> first (1St) and then we'll come back with the strategy in how we can engage our Legislature, both
<br /> the Democratic side and Republican side. And really with all the cities like us who are depending
<br /> on that across the State.
<br /> Mayor Pete replied, I will have to have Dan's help for the question of other cities and their bond
<br /> ratings.
<br /> Dan Parker, City Controller for the City of South Bend with offices located on the 12th floor of the
<br /> County-City Building, South Bend, IN, stated, Mishawaka, Gary, Muncie, and I think there are a
<br /> few others, they are not rated by S&P. They may be rated by other agencies, but the rating
<br /> displayed in the presentation were S&P. Those are generally the ones we share. Or, it could be
<br /> possible they don't have General Obligation Debt and those are General Obligation Debt ratings.
<br /> Councilmember Oliver Davis interjected, So, we're not aware of what rates they might get when
<br /> they go and do their loans? Like, when they have to do the bonds that we have, we got a discount
<br /> on ours because of our great rating. What do they use as their assessment? Are you aware of
<br /> anything?
<br /> Mr. Parker replied, So, as bonds are issued, they are rated by the bond rating agency. So, if
<br /> Mishawaka were to issue General Obligation Debt,that debt they want to issue would get rated by
<br /> the bond agency on that basis of their fiscal position. This is just the same as South Bend. But,
<br /> currently, they don't have public rating available. As of 2016, which is the latest data we had up
<br /> until we refreshed it for this presentation, Mishawaka was rated a double A minus (AA-) but,
<br /> currently today, they don't have a rating available.
<br /> Councilmember Oliver Davis interjected, That's interesting. Thank you for the tidbit of
<br /> information. Sometimes you hear our sister City is ahead of us. As a person who has sisters, you
<br /> know, I have sibling rivalry.
<br /> Mayor Pete replied, We don't want to be too competitive there, but we love the idea that South
<br /> Bend is the best in the region.To the other question of the road funding,we will continue to engage
<br /> with AIM, formally known as IACT, on anything that may come up legislatively. But, if I
<br /> understand it correctly, the adjustment that happened in terms of where those funds went was
<br /> actually administrative and not legislative. So, the legislature acted to increase and adjust the gas
<br /> tax so that there was more funding available total but then it went through the State Department of
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