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•CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK <br /> And we look forward to pursuing our 2020 goals. We appreciate your support in our efforts. <br /> Starting out,this year in 2020,the Legal Department will continue doing what it does best and that <br /> is mitigating risk and reducing expenditures to the City. It is our job to identify potential pitfalls, <br /> liabilities, and legal issues. And we work to identify claims and trends in those claims and try to <br /> provide any associated trainings that we can to mitigate those risks ahead of time. We're also <br /> working to engage in proactive strategies to recover funds from insurance companies and other <br /> responsible parties who could aid in our efforts to make sure that the City is not the only <br /> responsible party and is not the only party bearing the burden of expenditures. And so, we found <br /> that it's not enough to just and to the issues as defendants, but we want to work ahead and <br /> J respond <br /> ensure fiscally sound and fair results for our community. <br /> She continued, The City continues to work with the EPA, and we are trying to obtain a record of <br /> decision in the Beck's Lake matter before the end of the year. That is our goal, but as always, it <br /> depends on another large party and that is the EPA. We've been happy to see that in all of the EPA <br /> reports that they've said that the park is safe, and they've continued to say that it's safe for use. So, <br /> we've been happy about that. And we will continue to work with them until we have a record of <br /> decision and are able to close this matter. Our final goal for 2020 that's on your slides is to <br /> implement a new legal support strategy to cover Diversity and Inclusion, the Board of Public <br /> Safety, the Human Rights Commission and the Area Plan Commission. One (1) of the things is <br /> we want to ensure that these entities are receivingthe same level of counsel and partnershipand <br /> strategic support as all the other Administration areas of the City. And so, we're going to be <br /> requesting an additional Assistant City Attorney. I'm going to be up front with you about that. <br /> She went on, If you bear with me, I'm going to skip this next slide (referencing the presentation) <br /> budgetbiggest <br /> but come back to it. In terms of highlighting some of our changes,the change you'll <br /> see is the request for an additional Assistant City Attorney. One(1) of the things we've heard over <br /> and over again in that last couple of months is our community and Administration would like an <br /> attorney to work more closely with the Board of Public Safety to address trainings and policies <br /> and procedures with them. And what we would like to do is assign this attorney to the Office of <br /> Diversity and Inclusion, as well, which may end up being a requirement of the upcoming disparity <br /> study. And so, to make sure that we're covering everything, we have also learned that the City is <br /> going to be undertaking a new Area Plan Commission. So, it makes sense to put these three (3) <br /> with one(1)person.We want to make sure that we're covering everybody's needs. Now to be clear, <br /> we are functioning well as it is but with these additional asks that are being asked of the City's <br /> Legal Department, that is something we are talking about. <br /> She continued, So, I know that you may have some questions about this slide. I do want to point <br /> opioid that one (1) of the training dues and subscriptions, $1,000, that is due to the p ioid liti gation <br /> which we'll talk about in a minute as well. So, back to the budget overview. The addition of the <br /> Assistant City Attorney is included on this slide. You'll see that the salary line-item will increase <br /> in addition to the supplies and other expenses which include the training and other resources <br /> required for jobs such as the WestLaw subscription, bar dues and the INLaw conference. Now, <br /> you'll also see that we have in the red there some of our other allocations and they have gone down. <br /> So, I wanted to make sure you knew about that as well. One (1) special initiative that we wanted <br /> to highlight is our lawsuit that we did file regarding opioid litigation. The City has joined that <br /> national opioid litigation and it's against the distributors and manufacturers of opioids. We feel <br /> that they have failed to report and monitor suspicious orders, and they've disseminated false and <br /> deceptive statements about opioids which has led to this nationwide cycle of addiction crisis and <br /> EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION j INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT <br /> 455 County-City Building227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 vvww.southbendin.gov <br /> Y Y <br /> 9 <br />