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SPECIAL MEETING DECEMBER 11, 2008
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<br />home. He thanked the Council for being proactive when it comes to making such
<br />difficult decisions knowing that what ever happens the bottom line is making South Bend
<br />a better place to live. He stated that no one wants to pay more taxes, sometimes; however
<br />we all have to reach into out pockets in order to make the things that need to happen for a
<br />viable community to exist to actually be able to move forward. This is the time to start
<br />doing that.
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<br />Mr. Todd Skwarcan, 2401 S. Gertrude Street, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he
<br />commends the Council for taking the first step and initiating this very difficult issue. He
<br />stated that he is a life-long resident of the City of South Bend and is here tonight to rise in
<br />support of this bill. Leadership is not always doing the easy thing, and it is certainly not
<br />about doing the popular thing. He stated that the Council knows the financial shape the
<br />City is in, and what needs to be done. He stated that South Bend has been trying to live
<br />within its means. He stated that there are people who are going to speak tonight and say
<br />that the City needs to tighten it belt, live within your means, those are all things that he
<br />has to do as a homeowner and as a citizen. He urged the Council to support this bill.
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<br />Mr. Jerry Niezgodski, 2930 Bonds Avenue, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he is
<br />speaking in favor of this bill with some caveats. He stated that he doesn’t believe that
<br />this issue is just a yes or no vote. He stated that he has been before this Council and
<br />talked about the many things that could be done to lessen the impact. He stated that this
<br />is not a popular decision, but it is one tool that could be used and hopefully, through the
<br />State Legislator’s help and the City Administration lobbying with the Governor, get some
<br />other sources of revenue. He stated that if this bill passes tonight, the Council must take
<br />a serious look at the staffing in the City. He stated that you cannot compare South Bend
<br />to Evansville, Indianapolis, Gary, and Ft. Wayne and draw an accurate comparison
<br />because every City is unique. He stated that if you look at the City of South Bend’s
<br />Legal Department, the City of Evansville, population 114,000 has a Corporate Counsel,
<br />City Attorney, and Assistance City Attorney a total budget of $583,000. The City of Ft.
<br />Wayne with a population of 250,000 has four (4) people on staff, but they also allocate an
<br />extra $100,000.00 for additional legal services. But there total budget is $505,000. In
<br />South Bend, the smallest of the three cities, four (4) Assistant Full-Time City Attorney,
<br />two (2) Paralegals, two (2) Secretaries, Collection Specialists, then there are part-time
<br />positions with benefits. Two (2) Deputy City Attorneys, a Deputy City Attorney IV,
<br />Chief Assistant City Attorney, Assistant Part-Time City Attorney with a total budget of
<br />$874,000. He stated that he receive a report recently from the Department of Economic
<br />Development Department, and one of the greatest problems they had was getting
<br />response from the legal department to move project through, so what do they have to do?
<br />Redevelopment went and hired a law firm at the cost of $60,000. The City of South
<br />Bend’s Legal Department Fees are reaching 1 million dollars. He advised the Council
<br />that he believes this is a management issue and the Council needs to take a look at how
<br />are the various departments allocating their resources. The Mayor’s Office budget has a
<br />Mayor, two (2) Assistant Mayors, Director of Secretarial Services, etc. If you look at the
<br />City of Evansville, their staff is approximately half. Ft. Wayne has a very large staff, but
<br />if you compare positions, South Bend comes out either equal or more in staffing. The
<br />Department of Water Works Customer Service Department has a Manager and two (2)
<br />Supervisors who oversee a total of twelve (12) people. Three people to oversee 12 is not
<br />very efficient. Equipment Services between the Director and the Manager, Maintenance
<br />Supervisors, Maintenance Supervisor Foreman, there are seven (7) people in leadership
<br />positions and they oversee twenty-six (26) other people. So the point is that the City of
<br />South Bend is heavy in staffing. Mr. Niezgodski clarified that he is in favor of this bill,
<br />but the Council needs to look very aggressively at this budget line by line and work very
<br />aggressively with the State Legislators to get the other revenue streams, to get the food
<br />and beverage tax. He stated that we don’t have a casino here, but we have home Notre
<br />Dame Football Games. Those are tools that are out there that need to be maximized and
<br />used.
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<br />The following individuals spoke in opposition to these bills.
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