04-09-73 Council Meeting Minutes

Home Browse Search

REGULAR MEETING APRIL 9 1973 COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING (CONTINUED) of the members available. Mrs. Green indicated that many times, there is a so- called "blue ribbon committee" formed consisting of only a select few and most of these people are from the higher income tax bracket and not just the ordinary citizen. She asked about the number of blacks and Chicano people serving on the committee. She asked how this would reflect on the Civic Center. As far as the $500,000 was concerned, she felt private funds should be used for the project. She asked how many people the Civic Center would employ and she indicated that many citizens would not be able to afford to attend the various activities at the Civic Center. She felt it should be representative of all the people. She indicated that there were very few things in South Bend for minority people to participate in. Further, that $500,000 was being appropriated for a Civic Center and many of the Action Centers were being closed. She asked if any plans were being made for the President's program of taking away milk from the children. She felt the Civic Center would do no good for the community when there are people within the city who are so very poor. She indicated that these people are not being taken -care of and that is one of the reasons for the high crime rate. She mentioned that she could see disgust on the faces of the councilmen and felt they were thinking to themselves how they wished she would sit down. She concluded by mentioning that the beautiful Civic Center might get burned down. Mayor Miller felt that was unjust criticis He indicated that the first committee for the Civic Center was chosen and consisted of 20 people in the community. He mentioned that there are two members of the Council on the committee and that six hard months of work has been put into the project. He repeated Mr. Rosenthal's statement about anyone wishing to join the committee would be welcomed because the project is for the entire community. He mentioned that there was an obligation that was made before he was elected to improve the downtown area. He indicated that if this money was not spent on the project, a bond issue would have to be floated to take care of the cost. He mentioned that the unemployment has been decreased within the last few months and that many jobs can be provided by the construction of the Civic Center. There would be money allocated for the neighborhood centers, and he felt the Urban Renewal Program must be kept going. Council President Nemeth indicated that last June 28, the Common Council adopted a resolution approving the Civic Center project, and he quoted from that resolution: "The Civic Center Committee has made recommendations which the Council believes have merit and should be explored further; and the success of any such project requires total community participation and commit- ment." He indicated that the Council did not want to cater only to select groups of citizens and that the Council was working for the entire community and wanted all the citizens to partake of the facility. He indicated that the parks and recreation segment would be utilized and there would be educational programs for the students. He also indicated that he would not vote in favor of the ordinance if this were not the case. Mrs. Janet Allen indicated that she had joined one of the committees on the Civic Center because she had heard that anyone could do so if they desired to. She said she had taken advantage of that statement and that there were at least four ethnic groups on the one committee she was familiar with,: Mr. Richard Gaff, 58244 Ironwood Drive, indicated that Mayor Miller had stated that the money was appropriated for the rental of the museum, the Studebaker collection and the Art Center. He was certain that the Mayor did not mean that these would close and he felt they would complement the Civic Center. Mr. Roman Kowalski, 802 Birchwood, indicated that he supported the ordinance pro- viding the city could afford the Civic Center and could also afford to maintain it. He felt there should be a limit as to how far the city could go with the spending on the project. He also felt that, if federal programs and grants were available, the city should match those funds appropriate(, by the grants. He indicated that too many programs of this type would over - burden the taxpayers and would drive the citizens to the suburban areas, creating a bigger hardship on those people remaining in the city. In Philadelphia, there had been a situation where the city was unable to pay the salaries of the firemen and policemen and was forced to close its museum in order to meet these expenses. He hoped that this would not happen to the Civic Center project. Council President Nemeth made a motion to amend the ordinance further by deleting any reference to the Department of Public Works and inserting "Civic Center Authority ", seconded by Councilman Miller. The motion carried. (Councilman Horvath opposed..) Mr. James Roemer, City Attorney, questioned whether or not the funds would be administered according to the State Board of Accounts' if the Civic Center Authority was given control rather than the Department of Public Works. It was his feeling that the money should be administered by an organization that was set up to follow the law and administer accounts payable, receivable, etc. He felt the members of the Civic Center Authority would not have the financial expertise to take,care of administering the funds. Council President Nemeth indicated that for this reason Mr. Barcome was appointed as the ex officio treasurer. Mr. Roemer indicated that he did not want to violate any of the Indiana laws by giving this authority to the Civic Center Authority. Mr. Barcome felt that, even though he would be appointed ex officio treasurer, he would not have control over the funds according to the State Board of Accounts. Council President Nemeth indicated that Mr. Barcome could advise the Authority on expenditure of the funds. Mr. Barcome indicated that he could in that case; however, he did not know if the State Board of Accounts would approve it. He mentioned that, under federal programs, the city has had problems such as this. He felt that all the fiscal management should be put under the Controller's Office. Councilman Taylor asked how this situation was handled with the'Park Department and Park Board. Mr. Barcome indicated that there is an agreement whereby the fiscal management is run through his department and there is a fiscal officer from the Park Department. Councilman Taylor wondered why this same procedure couldn't be followed. Mr. Barcome expressed hope that something would be put into the ordinance to cover that. Councilman Miller indicated that an annual budget would be submitted like the other city departments. He suggested that per- haps a clause could be added that budgetary control and accounting principles should be followed through by the Controller's Office. Councilman Taylor indicated that the Civic Center project was to be a non - political entity and he could not see any advantage of having complete governmental political control. He felt that if some sort of agreement had been reached with the Park Board on fiscal management, something on the same order could be established for the Civic Center Authority Mr. Barcome indicated that complete control was being taken from the city administration as far as fiscal management if turned over to the Authority. Councilman Parent asked Mr. Barcome if it would be legal to include such a provision and Mr. Barcome indicated that it would be all right. Councilman Miller asked what further control was needed other than the line item expenditures, and Mr. Barcome indicated that the people to handle the job were not being provided. Councilman Miller asked if Mr. Barcome was talking about the expenses, and Mr. Barcome answered that he was referring only to the operation of the funds. Councilman Miller asked if the Controller and his staff could work on this. Mrs. Janet Allen asked if the $500,000 was the only amount being con- sidered. Council President Nemeth indicated that the Council was talking about the revenue