04-14-14 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING APRIL 14, 2014 for complaints about overloading. I provided some specific language for the collection box to Council Attorney Kathy Farrand. I would be happy answer any questions. Councilmember Dieter- are we going to come up with a tag for each? Petitioner- we fixed the languages that are in front of you, to include the license of the city for the collection box, and the date that it would expire. Councilmember Dieter- would those be number with location? Petitioner- we would identify the place. Councilmember Dieter- would they be number so we can coordinate a number with a location and for billing and code would they have a master list? Petitioner- an auditor would most likely have that. Councilmember Dieter that would best for them to have that for those who get the complaint. Councilmember Scott- Would the additional cost of coming up with a sticker? Petitioner responded audio was too low. Councilmember Henry Davis, Jr. was that per box, or was that per organization? Petitioner responded per box. Councilmember Davis was there a thought that the lock that holds the box, the person who owns the land for the box would be more accountable as they usually have more of an invested interest. I think it would be cleaner if the people who owns the land would keep it a lot cleaner? I don't know, but I don't agree in assigned new fees to different things. Petitioner responded that some were held accountable in the past. Councilmember Davis they use to have an illegal dumping team are they engaged in this process? Petitioner, if someone was found doing illegal dumping we were able to call the city against that person, unfortunately without the locks we can't find out who did the illegal dumping. Betty- President of the organization- I do have pictures, donations boxes are the life blood of our organization because what we get in those boxes is what we use for revenue. The agency that we work with none of us get local dollars. If you look to the west of community you had one that was tipped over and for weeks and part of the time you couldn't get to it because of all the snow. As we are looking to clean up our city we don't want that to be the first thing people see when entering our city. I ask for your consideration, we are happy to pay the fee for the boxes, we have to offer the landlords who are not in our community, we have to get permission from the landlord, they're not local it would be easier for the organization to maintain and license them. Councilmember Henry Davis- do you have to pay renters insurance for them? Petitioner, yes we have to pay a fee to put our box down. Councilmember Davis- so you think the fee should be higher? Petitioner- no I think the fee at $25 is affordable, but I think the organization should pay that fee, to make sure that it is clean. Councilmember Davis- I just don't see a huge investment in $25 to help change my behavior, I don't think that should be adopted, it makes you think twice about your responsibility if the fee is higher than $25, that box is on second district, local car lot dealer, sees it every day and walks right pass it. This being the time heretofore set for the Public Hearing on the above bill, proponents and opponents were given an opportunity to be heard. Those wishing to speak in favor: Lima Henderson- recently moved here from Michigan- we are one of the location organization who collect in this area, we have over 600 bins, and we have done this for 7 to 8 years. We got our permit for one of our cities, it's not a very complicated ordinance that we full support, and we train and send volunteers that work in Africa from the proceeds from these bins. Last year my organization diverted 2 million tons away from the mid -west landfill to families to reuse. 70% of the world's population cannot afford to go in to this stores and buy this clothing. These are very important for an equal opportunity for those less advantaged. The fee is with the organization, we are a non -profit we don't pay a fee, people do this out of the goodness of their hearts that burden should be with us. What we do is charitable, what we do is good and it is important to support our community. We are favor in such legislation. Thank you. Bryan- we support the boxes, we need to have something that South Bend has control to make sure they are clean and having a for -profit organization, we have some of the ordinances that we provide and have done this for larger and smaller cities, and have worked with city councils to