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40 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> simply, maybe even on the website,just how many families we've moved from unsafe conditions
<br /> to safety. I think that would be a nice simple number to show how this policy has improved the
<br /> lives of people in South Bend. So, thank you. I have other things, but I can wait.
<br /> Councilmember Scott stated,The other thing is insects. Colfax and West Washington apartments.
<br /> I mean, literally, on ABC57, they had roaches running around all over. We had the Health
<br /> Department here and they weren't going to do anything until the citizen came forward. The citizen
<br /> was too scared of getting booted out to complain about the roaches we had video of
<br /> Ms. Fritzberg replied, There is currently provisions in the law setting the responsibilities of
<br /> landlords and tenants for pests. It is the landlord's responsibility to deliver a unit that is free of
<br /> pests and defects that would contribute to pest problems. It is the tenant's responsibility to avoid
<br /> creating conditions that could lead to, say, roaches, that are independent from a structural issue or
<br /> any other issue that could cause that.
<br /> Committee Chair Broden stated, I'm going to start from the back and this is just from a closer
<br /> reading of the document, just trying to sew up and clean up some inconsistencies. If we start on
<br /> page eleven (11), the section that actually gets to the monitoring process, I would like to suggest
<br /> we add someone from the Department of Community Investment charged within our housing area
<br /> to that work group. I think a lot of resources are there we will offer parallel to this program. I want
<br /> to make sure those are ongoing and any opportunities for potential gaps in funding or grant writing,
<br /> we are all in that work group together and, you know, being on pace with that. So, that would be
<br /> a recommended addition. Because there is so much with this, looking at instead of the first (1st)
<br /> six (6) months, we change that to a three (3) month review. So, uptick that and then continue the
<br /> six(6)month review.Then,I think important to all of this,and this gets to, I think,Councilmember
<br /> Williams-Preston's point, if we are going to have a work group, we better quickly come to an
<br /> understanding of the program metrics. What do we want to measure? What outcomes are we
<br /> hoping to get?What are the things we want to look at and track before day one(1), someone enters
<br /> a home?Does that make sense?And maybe even before day one(1),entering the home,how much
<br /> time from the time we send out the letter do we actually get a reply? You know, there is probably
<br /> some instructive and informative information. We are really selling this to get at some really
<br /> significant issues in our community, and if we don't embed those early and are intentional about
<br /> them, we may just miss them and really not have the kind of information that other communities,
<br /> maybe down the road, would look for looking to us. So, that is an addition I would like to see in
<br /> that monitoring program.
<br /> She continued, Then there are things that get to, I think, definitions and I have proposed a kind of
<br /> clean-up list. If we go back to page one (1), my understanding looking at this pretty closely, the
<br /> property manager is not defined in our definitional laundry list there. So,if we could catch that up,
<br /> I think that's a more colloquial term. Then, I think there was something else that was referenced
<br /> here, I'll quickly find it. Well, that's ok. You get it. I don't think it's there and if I'm wrong, you
<br /> can not correct it and we'll know that's not an amendment. So, that's page one (1). Page two (2),
<br /> definitionally, if we look at e and f actually is what brought this up, condemn means to adjudge
<br /> the unfit for occupancy, my expectation is that there is No Entry also associated with that
<br /> designation. Is that correct?
<br /> Ms. Morgan replied, There is a longer definition under the International Property Maintenance
<br /> Code that could be substituted if that would be better?
<br /> EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT
<br /> 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 I I D574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov
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