11-25-13 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 25,2013 REPORTS FROM AREA PLAN COMMISSION BILL NO. 61-13 REZONING—736 CALIFORNIA AND 906, 908,910 PORTAGE AVE. BILL NO. 62-13 REZONING—605, 613, 617, 621 NOTRE DAME AVE AND 823 SORIN ST. Councilmember Varner made a motion to refer these bills to the Zoning& Annexation Committee and set them for Public Hearing and Third Reading on January 13, 2014. Councilmember White seconded the motion which carried by a voice vote of seven (7) ayes. NEW BUSINESS Councilmember Henry Davis, Jr. asked the administration with the purchase of the smart trucks for removal of yard waste, will people be losing their jobs? Kathryn Roos, Chief of Staff to Mayor Pete Buttigieg advised that she will have to check with Public Works Director Eric Horvath and get back to Councilmember Davis. PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR Christopher Huff, 1831 College Street, South Bend, Indiana: Nice to see you again. This past summer this Council considered a special use permit change in order allow the establishment of gasoline pumps at an existing convenience store on West Western Avenue. I happened to be here not specifically here for that but I over sought that entire process. It appeared to me that it went on for at least a month and half here before the Council. Ok, that's fine, I'm not up here criticizing the decision that is between basically the neighbors and the Council and certainly the Mayor. What I am up here to talk about for a moment is the way it was presented. I have been a practicing planner since February 1, 1977, ladies and gentlemen, the 13 years that I spent in Mishawaka, if I had heard this once, I heard it ten thousand times, and it basically boils down to this: that until the idiots in the County-City Building are gone they would never develop, they would never invest, they would never do anything within the City of South Bend. For years I ignored that, I thought it was ridiculous, until I saw what happened this past summer. It's stuck in my throat here for several months now and it boils down to this: when you got professional staff that we pay for on the 11th floor coming and making a recommendation to this Council, which they are paid to do and it was in the affirmative. And at the last hour, essentially the 11th hour, a month and half later, you've got that same planning organization making recommendation to the Council affirmative. And then literally the last person to make comment on that issue at this very lectern right here, another one of our paid staff members from the 11th floor,but unfortunately or fortunately or whatever happened to be in a different organizational office which was counter or completely the opposite of what was recommended before. I have never seen a more or better example of bad public management in my entire life. This does nothing more than indicate to me that those people who made those statements to me for years were right, because nobody knows who's on first, second or third, I bring this to your attention, I think you know what the situation is, I mentioned it to the Mayor when I had his ear a few minutes ago,this has got to change. This has got to change, that was the most egregious example I have ever seen. Any staff member of mine before would have been booted for doing anything like that. Sam Brown, P. O. Box 1976, South Bend, Indiana, representing Citizen's United for a Better Government: Keep working Council, you are doing a good job looking out for the public. The 14th Floor has excuses and beats up on the Council for doing their job. When you are not doing your job it will come back to haunt you, the public will have the final say. 33