06-10-19 Community Investment - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK in attendance but also if they would like to offer input during the process, they have the opportunities to do that at the Redevelopment Commission meeting itself. She continued, So,it's pretty simple, I think,in scope. I don't think it is unfamiliar to anyone from Council in terms of the requests over the years and, again, I think it aligns with both the Administration's goal to be transparent and also to empower residents and that they have agency in effecting any business that, frankly, is the City's. Having said that, I'll turn it over to others. Councilmember Karen White stated, I will say, too, that part of the Council's mission statement includes that we always be responsive to the needs of our citizens. So, as you begin to look at this resolution, I see it from an educational perspective. There tends to be a lot of misunderstanding in regard to the role of the Council and also the role of the Redevelopment Commission.This clarifies that. Also, it gives some sense that we want to ensure the meetings are held at a time that our citizens can participate. It also talks about the reports we would like to have as it pertains to the TIF and other areas. I see this as very informative and in line not only with the Council's mission statement but also in line with the City's established priorities, as we move forward. Committee Chair Ferlic then opened the floor to questions from Committee and Council Members. Councilmember Tim Scott asked, Did anyof the cosponsors speak to Redevelopment in anyway p p P regarding this? What are their thoughts? Committee Chair Ferlic stated, I touched base with Marsha and connected with Dan late last week as well. Marsha's concern is that we had tried that previously and for the staff members, as well as the people presenting, a lot of times business hours are better for them. That is something we can continue to work through. Councilmember Scott followed up,Has there been any thought to expanding the public portion for that? Can a packet be out for a longer duration of time to allow for anybody to give feedback? Committee Chair Ferlic then opened the floor to members of the public wishing to speak in favor of or in opposition to this legislation. Dan Buckenmeyer, Director of Business Development for the City of South Bend with offices located on the 14th floor of the County-City Building, stated, As staff, and as I've said in the Commission and in my conversations with them, I'm sitting here in attendance to this meeting because I am direct staff to them. I am very much indirect staff to you all. I have my own opinions about it but I'm trying to keep this objective. We did just a bit of research on what other communities are doing. Daytime meetings happen in Elkhart, Fishers, Fort Wayne, Goshen, Hobart, Huntington, Indianapolis, Muncie,Noblesville, Valparaiso, and Warsaw. We found a few that do have meetings that edge up to 5:00 p.m. or 5:30 p.m. Of the nineteen(19) communities that our team researched,ninety percent(90%) of them have meetings that start before 5:30 p.m. Sixty percent(60%) of them happen during the day. If you look across the many Councils, Committees, Boards and Commissions across the City, there actually were three (3) that meet in the evening. Of course, yourselves, the Park Board, and one (1) notable fact are those are both paid positions. The only other one (1) is HPC and they are not paid. He continued, I believe it was 2011 and some of 2012 where it was attempted to have the meetings at 4:00 p.m., and the Commission saw zero (0) uptick in attendance from public, press or others. EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana46601 p 574.235.9221 1574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 2