10-14-13 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING OCTOBER 14, 2013 what was asked by Mr. Shabazz, I think he was asking for 2% to 3%, so therefore, you are asking more than what he was even asking and so I am glad to hear that and looking forward to th seeing that on the 28 of October in the Memorandum of Understanding. Karen Ainsley: Perfect. Yeah I think that there might have been some miscommunication because we were kind of caught off guard when that agreement came forward. And so, you know hopefully we can continue that conversation and of course we will commit to that 4%. Councilmember Varner: When people talk about the things that the Council has to consider, we need to consider, we should consider one of the things that we all say is particularly more the dollars or private dollars as opposed to grants or money in the form of economic development dollars perhaps from the city’s funds or things like that. The less the city puts into it I think the less restriction we should place on the development process itself. So, I think that it is great that there’s a voluntary effort which I am glad that the ICDA whatever it was has made it a category. I think that it will be appreciated by folks that are looking for that sort of support and to the extent it can be actually more if that is possible. I think that is great and I think if and when it happens, I would like to hear back that it did happen. I would hope that you are able to do that and I wish you well. Councilmember Dr. Fred Ferlic: This is basically a private venture with non-city funds. The government does a good job on what the government does with quality of life issues, water, and sewer. The government does not do a good job when they start putting criteria and quotas on things as far as private businesses. That’s one of the reasons why we don’t have the private business development in South Bend like other cities do. So I applaud you for what you are doing and thank you very much for creating jobs and a creating private investment in our city. Councilmember Schey: Sure, I have a couple of things. First of all, in terms of the commitment is it a good faith effort commitment or is it a written documented. Nick Surak: When we check that box on the application that is something that we have submit paperwork to the ICDA, to prove that we did what we did. When they come back to inspect and audit that to make sure that we did. And if we did not, then you don’t get it, you basically built something without any tax credits and then we are going to be writing a seven figure check to our equity partner which we don’t want to happen. Councilmember Schey: So, I ask this question because there are a number legal documents that the city has to abide by on different projects and what we refer to as the bidder’s affidavit in terms of inclusion in the project it’s simple a good faith effort which I’m always leery of because in certain situations if I were to tell the IRS, I am going to make a good faith effort to pay my taxes, that probably wouldn’t fly. So, this is more than a good faith effort, this is a concrete commitment to the 4%. Nick Surak: Yes, it is. The ICDA looks at anything you say you are going to do in your application and you are going to be held responsible for, and so that extends to a whole different variety of things. Say in terms of accessible features, we might say we going to include and have a roof top (inaudible) you can’t just change your mind down the road and say you know we meant to but. Councilmember Schey: So, in terms of is it your cooperation that is an Indiana Certified Owned Business? Nick Surak: Yes, the developer is and the property manager is as well. Councilmember Schey: So will the fact that you are a women owned business and your developer is a women owned business, will those numbers count towards this 4% goal. Nick Surak: No. Councilmember Schey: It will not. 25