06-22-15 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING JUNE 22, 2015 Jesse Davis — P.O. Box 10205, South Bend— I want to confirm the date for the sewer insurance ordinance changes is that July 22 °d or 27th. Councilmembers responded that is on July 27th. In a committee meeting earlier today there was an issue about double - billing. I have included documentation that shows the double - billing. Rod Goodchild— 837 S. 24" St, South Bend —Just want to remind everyone, Resolution 4392 -14 is the third weekend at dedicated Spirit Animal Nation weekend at Potawatomi Park. We just got the announcement this week there is one tree hanging and very dangerous. As Valerie Schey pointed out I, as a homeowner would have thirty (30) days to take down a tree before getting fined. So the city needs to do the same; as of right now June 26" marks the thirtieth (30) day, per law you will have a $1,000 fine after that. We want and appreciate your cooperation. Jason Banicki- Critchlow — 3822 W. Ford St., South Bend — I am here to talk about the City Clerk's office, back in January we were told that the meeting minutes would be posted online within a month. Here it is June and none of the meeting minutes from 2014 have been posted online. I went to I.U., I'm a historian, last year we had a lot of events occur, particularly surrounding the police tape issues. Things were stated during the privilege of the floor. Without this information online, I had to go down there and spend 50 minutes out of my own time, spend $6 of my own money just to get copies of three meeting minutes. In order to be a true 21st century city we need to be providing 21' century services. It is not a lotto ask for to get those minutes online. This is what tax payers are paying for, this is a service that should be provided. We were told the problem was recording equipment last year but on March 23'd, 2014 there is only one page posted and the rest is cut off. I've been here a few times, and every time I go back to look at the meeting minutes they are very abrupt, cut -off, or just a synopsis. Leave the summarization to the historians, put down accurately what was stated when we were there. Lastly is posting these video's on YouTube, I know it saves our server space but then we are handing over ownership to YouTube. A year from now or 5 years from now the site can be hacked or go out of business then all of those videos can be lost for eternity. I know it is a cost saving measure, but as long as we have the server space this is something we should look to bringing back to maintain ownership. Samuel Brown — 222 E. Navarre St., South Bend — I represent the group Citizens United for a Better Government. The problem that I'm having is that they took a house down and left a tree hanging over the garage which is a dangerous situation. The parks department sent me to code enforcement and they couldn't help, but they did give me a copy of a 1933 law that stated it was the homeowner's problem. We have been working on this issue since November 17th, 2008. No -one owns the property, the deed is in limbo and we still have a dangerous situation. I talked to the Code board directly and will read this thoroughly. I will be back on this one. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Council, President Tim Scott adjourned the meeting at 11:11 p.m. ATTEST: ATTEST: John Voorde, City Clerk Tim Scott, President 43