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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> He went on, So,here is what we do in a nutshell. We touch every part of South Bend and provide
<br /> essential services that improve the quality of life. We are responsible for 1,262 driving lane miles.
<br /> That may be a little different from what you've seen before. Sometimes you see the 2,200 lane
<br /> miles but that includes parking lanes and other areas. But the actual driving lanes is 1,262 miles.
<br /> About 30,000 tons of trash annually from about 35,000 different households. We have about seven
<br /> hundred (700) miles of sewer, half of which is combined. We treat about a little over 13 billion
<br /> gallons of waste water every year. We treat and distribute about 5 billion gallons of safe and
<br /> reliable drinking water to our customers through, about, six hundred (600) miles of water main.
<br /> There are one hundred and sixty (160) signalized intersections that we maintain in the City and
<br /> around the City. There are over 3,000 street lights that are City street lights, not I&M's. We have
<br /> over 10,000 catch-basin inlets and drains that we have to keep operating and clean. There are four
<br /> hundred (400) miles of alleys and we collect about 13,000 tons of leaves, yard waste and brush.
<br /> Our participation in the yard waste program has gone up about ten percent(10%)this year. So, we
<br /> have about 3,000 more residents using that program than we did in 2018. And, we maintain about
<br /> 4,800 fire hydrants for fire protection.
<br /> He continued, I want to give it over to Doctor Boyles but before that, I would like to say two (2)
<br /> things. One (1), thank you to Dr. Boyles who cut her trip short in taking her daughter down to the
<br /> University of Florida. She zoomed back here so she could get here to present to you. And also,
<br /> thank you to Sue Kesim who is in the audience. It is her birthday today and she felt compelled to
<br /> come on her birthday to hear what Public Works is up to. So, thank you.
<br /> Dr. Kara Boyles, City Engineer for the City of South Bend with offices located on the 13th floor
<br /> of the County-City Building, stated, In Engineering and in taking a deeper dive, we manage the
<br /> development and expansion of the City's infrastructure. So, that means we oversee all Public
<br /> Works' projects,be it a project initiated by the Fire Department, Community Investment, Parks or
<br /> also Engineering itself. Then, of course, we administer contracts with the Board of Public Works
<br /> and perform construction inspection of those projects.This is our organizational chart(referencing
<br /> a slide in the presentation). I have four (4) Assistant City Engineers. Dr. Boyles then named all
<br /> four(4) and the areas of which they are primarily responsible.
<br /> She continued, This year, we have a lot of things going on in Engineering. There has been quite
<br /> an economic boom with a lot of projects happening. I felt that, as I laid out the goals for 2020,that
<br /> we be looking at a lot of improvements on efficiency and how we can do things better, focusing
<br /> on our communication. Because there are so many projects going on and we have a lot of internal
<br /> and external communication, which we all know, we can always do a better job at external
<br /> communication in keeping the public and all of our stakeholders involved in the process. So, an
<br /> improved focus there. We have a lot of emails and a lot of meetings, there is just a lot of
<br /> communication happening. So, we are going to look at ways that we can improve upon that
<br /> communication. We are initiating our 2020 project upon the budget approval. So, we are really
<br /> getting out ahead this year and once we know the budget is approved, we are going to line up
<br /> projects. It's going to happen throughout the year, projects will initiate that maybe we didn't plan
<br /> for. Things will happen and so we have to go through that process,but we do know we have these
<br /> projects we are talking to you about. They are coming and let's get them started. So, we typically
<br /> try to begin but then at the end of the year, push for the projects we are trying to complete in that
<br /> fiscal year. So, we are going to try and get those projects wrapped up and start focusing on 2020
<br /> before 2020 starts. And then just documenting and developing policies and procedures. We are
<br /> beginning to see an exodus and a loss of historical knowledge. The more we can document what
<br /> EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT
<br /> 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 vwdw.southbendin.gov
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