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REGULAR MEETING MARCH 23, 2015 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />communicating our interests. Opening day for the Cubs is happening soon. We are expecting <br />more business to occur since the Lafayette road two-way has completed. The Mayor highlighted <br />nd <br />the birthday weekend of May 22 with major headliners and the symphony playing. Recently, a <br />class of six (6) new recruits have been sworn in from the academy to contribute to the talent and <br />diversity of our Police force. Mayor Pete mentioned the long-term control plan, about the <br />ongoing cost to the federal mandated changes of our sewer system. We have engaged a top <br />engineering firm to look for cost reductions and set a high bar for what we want on cost savings. <br />I have addressed these issues with the state, as well as President Obama’s advisors. There are a <br />number of other cities with the same issues and we will be looking to legislation for adjustments. <br />We are putting together a sidewalk and curb program to split the cost with residents, along with a <br />supplemental program for low-income residents. Mayor’s night out will be Monday at Madison <br />school, I encourage Councilmembers to join. In the Parks Department, we have an ongoing <br />investment process with meetings coming up. I would like to welcome our two new board <br />members Amy and Mark Neal to our Park Board. He identified a number of appointments to the <br />city of South Bend, Dr. Virginia Calvin, Judge Roland, Nathan Boyd Principal, and Darrell <br />McKinney including a number of others. Mayor Pete announced Randy Wilkerson will be <br />heading the Department of Code Enforcement. He thanked him for his leadership and the <br />improvements he has made thus far. He thanked the Council for working on the process of the <br />leadership and spacing out updates more than just once a year. Mayor Pete gave an updates for <br />economic development, there are 370 jobs announced thus far in 2015. The ticker on investment <br />has been announced to $53 million to date. The Mayor extended an invite for the LaSalle Hotel <br />th <br />for their ground breaking ceremony on April 24. He acknowledged the increase in minorities <br />on elected officials. <br /> <br />Councilmember Oliver Davis – The beard is in honor of Colfax’s birthday today. At our next <br />meeting can you provide us with an update on our potholes? What are your thoughts on the city, <br />administration, and our council in officially welcoming the Pokagon Indians and sending a joint <br />letter stating we welcome them to our area, especially when there is talk of them going to <br />Elkhart? Mayor Pete responded they have contributed to our community in a number of ways in <br />the past. With regards to their development plans, I am very optimistic that this can be beneficial <br />to everyone and it can be a win-win with working with them for both parties. Councilmember <br />Oliver stated I would like to have signatures for a letter, with a welcoming tone; that we <br />welcome them and want them to be a part of South Bend and not Elkhart. Mayor Pete responded <br />I would be happy to get you more information about the potholes especially as the weather <br />changes. We have to use cold patches until the weather changes, then we will get to the hot <br />patches. Mayor Pete stated that I acknowledge that there is abundance of issues especially in <br />your District, particularly with State Rd 23, most citizens don’t know that those are State Roads. <br />We have been in close conversation with INDOT to address those issues. Hopefully it will be <br />addressed soon. <br /> <br />Councilmember Dr. Ferlic – Thank you for your report. I would like to emphasize the <br />importance of our long-term control project that the more we are involved with it the city can <br />turn out well. It will be a tough battle but we can get it done. <br /> <br />Councilmember Henry Davis, Jr. – The recruits for South Bend Police and Fire Department, I <br />have been a stickler about how diverse we are. You made some announcements about learning <br />how to hire more minorities to those departments by hiring in a consultant to help hire in those <br />minorities. Over the last two months, I have had the opportunity to talk to residents and <br />particular applicants that have made the grade on the test to become a fire fighter or police <br />officer, which many were of color, that were not hired. They stated that they do not know why <br />they were not hired. Obviously, there is a tier system, in which they were not in the top tier, and <br />all were applicants of color. How do we make sure that isn’t an issue later on? Clearly there, <br />maybe a testing issue. How do we address those issues or change the test itself to get different <br />results? Mayor Pete responded part one is expanding the range of the applicants itself, The <br />second area is what happens when someone has applied with all the steps from testing to being <br />sworn in and to see if there is anything there that has an impact that we haven’t recognized. My <br />primary issue is looking at our practices and weeding those out. Councilmember Davis stated <br />the issue is with the tier system that if you pass with 70 or 80 and not 90 or 100, than you are not <br />being picked. What can we do to address the tiers along with the testing? I am unhappy with <br />Code Enforcement for a number of reasons. Colfax is still the same and we need to get that <br />12 <br /> <br /> <br />