|
CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK
<br /> kind of substantive agent on it. And so the problem is that they're very expensive. We only have
<br /> one (1) of those. And then we also do a lot of problem patching with the hot boxes and the walk
<br /> behind. And those don't last nearly as long as the one (1) that is very similar to the EcoPatch. I
<br /> believe we have one of those in budget for a second(2nd) unit.
<br /> Councilmember Dr. Davis followed up, Is it better in terms of having some of the services
<br /> contracted out with that? Because my understanding, and you probably may know this, but the
<br /> Indianapolis model hired on others to facilitate that other part of it. So it wasn't just buying the
<br /> individual equipment and having current people work it, but it was the current people who
<br /> continued to do what they did,but then having another supplier to finish that,which in some sense
<br /> could save in the cost of benefits and everything else. There was union and non-union kind of
<br /> issues we had to deal with from that standpoint. But I think they were able to work out something
<br /> to that understanding. Is that where you know about that or something similar?
<br /> Mr. Horvath replied, Sure, we could look at that. So we've got our staffing levels set to meet some
<br /> of our needs with snow plowing,leaf operations, and things like that. And so when we add one(1)
<br /> of these patchers, it will be more efficient than what we have with the hot boxes. And so I think
<br /> you're going to outsource that piece. We can definitely look at it,but it may be more expensive to
<br /> outsource it because you have the existing staff able to use that machine and do it that were already
<br /> using the hot boxes, if that makes sense.
<br /> Councilmember Dr. Davis followed up, Yeah, it makes sense. If your team could just look at the
<br /> numbers, because I see all the funding, as she mentioned. I mean we see on a lot of social media
<br /> this thing that our City is not saving the money that we could because of this, because of that. It
<br /> may be true, it may not be true. I don't know. So I rely on you to be able to say how it impacts
<br /> South Bend more than anybody else with all of that.And then the last thing I'll say,with the monies
<br /> that go for the City Council people,oftentimes the challenge that we face is when that money runs
<br /> out, for the streets, then people are told, well you can call another City and you can get half the
<br /> price and half of your block done and they say well,my neighbor down here,they got all this done
<br /> and now why are you offering me a half deal when my neighbor got that? You see some of the
<br /> conflicts that the new Council Members are going to have to face on those kinds of things, any
<br /> suggestions into any of those kind of things that can be dealt with?
<br /> Mr. Horvath replied,We continue to look at our sidewalk program and,honestly, I don't know that
<br /> we've gotten to the correct scenario yet. The reimbursement program, which I think is a good
<br /> program, is not highly utilized. And even this year we reduced, well, so we did a pilot program
<br /> this year. We added businesses to the mix and we also added target areas with low-income
<br /> populations and we increased this. We doubled the reimbursement rates in those areas. We had a
<br /> handful of people apply, but we only had two (2)people do the program. Actually,we didn't have
<br /> anyone, maybe two (2)businesses. I don't know that it was anybody in the target areas.
<br /> Councilmember Dr. Davis followed up, When you do those kinds of things, or maybe I just
<br /> completely missed it because I had an interestingly busy year, but if you could make sure that the
<br /> Council people know that, so if there's some businesses within our districts, that we see that, even
<br /> for homeowners,we could go back to the whole thing. Like I was saying a little earlier,let us know
<br /> what we can do in our own flyers to take care of the district so that business owners could call a
<br /> John Voorde and say, I got this. And he can say, Yeah, we just increased that. You can call.
<br /> EXCELLENCE i ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION j EMPOWERMENT
<br /> 455 County-City Building 227W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 vwaw.southbendin.gov
<br /> 31
<br />
|