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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK Councilmember White asked, Is the City of Indianapolis the only City that was able to renegotiate their consent decree? Mr. Horvath answered, No, there has actually been a number of them. Councilmember White asked, Do you know how many in the State of Indiana? Mr. Horvath replied, I don't, but I know Mishawaka is trying to right now. Indianapolis did, Fort Wayne did some, and Evansville is, so a number of them are, and the new attorney that we have working on this has done a number of renegotiations with the EPA, but also with Region Five(5) specifically. Committee Chair Teshka asked, At what level are we engaging our Congressional delegation? Congresswoman Walorski, Senator Young, Senator Braun? How were we engaging Senator Donnelly? How can we, as a Council, help move this along with those folks as well? Is there any pressure they can put on the EPA to help us out? Mayor Buttigieg replied,As I recall, I think the attorney who has been working on this thinks there might be a real opportunity with Senator Braun. I know the Administration was really excited about that election. Representative Walorski's office is aware and has been tracking it, and we engaged Senator Donnelly's office a lot. I haven't had an opportunity to engage Senator Braun or educate him on this issue. I think if and when we do,that might be a moment when either informal or formal expression of support from the Council will help. I would think that they would be pretty responsive if an Indiana Senator sent a letter to the EPA saying that they heard there was a negotiation and asking what is going on. It just elevates the awareness of it. I would defer to the attorney on the political tactics because sometimes we have been counseled against pushing the wrong button or embarrassing the wrong person at the wrong time, but it is a great point and we could use the Council's help, too. Mr. Horvath stated, We've been very cautious with that, because we don't want to go in and tick anyone off. The DOJ has also had a large say in this, and we don't want to apply political pressure until we need to, but they'll have to come all guns bearing from Council, local advocacy groups, but also from Senators and Congresspeople. It may not get there,but our hope is that they will see the value of this program. If we were going in with the program that the only way we could get the costs down to some affordable rate was through lowering the environmental benefit, then we would probably need to start with that right up front. But because we're not, and we have a good program, we're going to see what kind of reception we get first (1St), then bring that in when we have to. There very well may be that time, and it may be sooner rather than later. Committee Chair Teshka stated, Please keep us in the loop and let us know if there is anything we can do to leverage any existing relationships that any of us have. Certainly if you want assistance if you hit a brick wall in negotiations, we want to be able to help in that way. Councilmember Tim Scott asked, How many Cities in the nation are going through exactly this? Because so many times, it has felt like it is just South Bend, and over Christmas I was reading about St. Louis going through theirs,being a river town that they are. EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 3