03-21-13 Personnel & Finance - Laserfiche WebLink

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PERSONNEL& FINANCE MARCH 21, 2013 5:30 P.M. Committee Members Present: Dr. David Varner, Valerie Schey, Karen White, Henry Davis Other Council Present: Derek Dieter, Gavin Ferlic Citizen Members: Jack Smith Others Present: Sean Carleton,Jack O'Connell,John Murphy, Don Inks, Aaron Perri, Dr. Case (Active Health &Wellness), Beth Leonard, Kathryn Roos, Scott Ford, Kathy Cekanski-Farrand,John Voorde Agenda: The 2014 Budget—Things to be thinking about now. Dr. David Varner, Committee Chair began the preliminary process of looking at 2014 City Budget hoping to initiate a collaborative effort between the Council and Administration. Council member Valerie Schey asked the early meeting be called to, in part, consider what she see as a more equitable distribution of the city resources. Her press release of March 11, 2013 (a copy is on file in the office of the City Clerk) called for more money to be directed to neighborhood business such as the River Park area in our district. After the brief intro Dr. Varner called upon Valerie, who with sides made her pitch for neighborhood business. Karen White said this same emphasis was needed for the "gateway corridors" like Western Avenue and Lincolnway West. Gavin Ferlic added support while cautioning the issue not be seen as neighborhood business development pitted against downtown development. Valerie suggests the EDIT fund #408 be tapped for$300,000 with $50,000 set aside for each Councilmanic district. Gavin indicated a need based criteria be used to determine financial support directed to each district. Derek Dieter asked for an accounting of how economic development money was spent in past years. Valerie said she was open to considering all proposals as long as they were fair city-wide. Dr. Case from River Park business group said properties for support should be set by neighborhood business themselves. Valerie said neighborhood business strategies could be modeled to reflect the successful approaches developed by Aaron Perri for Downtown South Bend (DTSB). Scott Ford Director of Community Investment spoke of a polycentric city with symbiotic connections.