08-12-19 Health and Public Safety

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14)13T1-176 • 4'4,6 w a �`� PEACE 186 OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK DAWN M.JONES, CITY CLERK HEALTH AND PUBLIC SAFETY AUGUST 12, 2019 4:20 P.M. Committee Members Present: Jo M. Broden, Karen White, John Voorde Committee Members Absent: Dr. Oliver Davis Other Council Present: Tim Scott,Jake Teshka, Gavin Ferlic, Regina Williams- Preston, Sharon McBride Other Council Absent: None Others Present: Graham Sparks, Lisa Horton, Bob Palmer Presenters: Gavin Ferlic, Chief Scott Ruszkowski Agenda: Bill No. 24-19—Handheld Device Ordinance Committee Chair Jo M. Broden called the Health and Public Safety Committee meeting to order at 4:20 p.m. She introduced members of the Committee and stated, We have one item on our agenda and that is Bill No. 24-19 regarding the handheld device ordinance. Councilmember Gavin Ferlic, 1109 Dewey Avenue, South Bend, IN stated, Just wanted to introduce this ordinance. As I mentioned, I call you over the phone, if for some reason the timing isn't right tonight or we want to delay no rush on this, but it's really just a very simple thing. Distracted driving,there's a lot of data out there that shows distracted driving increases crash rates anywhere from two (2) to six (6) times and distracted driving obviously includes holding a phone to make a call, holding a phone to text. It is illegal currently, I think it is illegal in the State of Indiana to text. However, it's difficult to enforce that. I think a lot of folks can do text because it's difficult to tell the difference between the text and somebody dialing or placing a call. And I think we can just improve overall safety if we had less people on their phones while they're operating a motor vehicle. With that,Chief Ruszkowski has been kind enough to join,to answer any questions regarding this as well. But really that's the extent of my presentation. I'd be happy answer any questions. And like I said,if for some reason you know you'd like to get a little more data or would like to take a little more time with this, I'm certainly comfortable with delaying and certainly doing that. Committeemember Karen White stated, I do have a couple questions Gavin. I understand the importance of safety, but I do have some concerns. As we began to look at the number of quality of life ordinances that we passed, I'm concerned about transparency and the level of enforcement and what does that look like. But also, in terms of the impact that it might have in terms of the INTEGRITY' SERVICES ACCESSIBILITY JENNIFER M.COFFMAN BIANCA L.TIRAoO GRAHAM D.SPARKS - CHIEF DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS DEPUTY/DIRECTOR OF POLICY ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERK EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227 W.Jefferson Blvd.I South Bend,Indiana 46601 I p 574.235.9221 1 f 574.235.9173 I www.southbendin.gov