SOUTH BEND COMMON COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE NOTES

March 26, 2018, 7pm, County-City Building 4th Floor
Council Present: All

Bill #18-11 to Honor the Riley Boys' Basketball Team for its success

Bill # 08-18 Rezoning for property at W. Wayne to the North; S. Taylor Street to the West; W. Western Ave to the South; S. William Street to the East
331 -333 W. Western Ave and 401 N. Lafayette Street - Alley vacation and established as MU - Mixed Use

Bill #09-18 Rezoning to vacate alley - Lots 247 through 258 of Highland Park 2nd Addition and between Lots 252 and 253, to be established as GI - General Industrial District

Bill #15-18 Budget Transfers for 2018 
$150K from SBPD to the Mayor's Office for the Goodwill Strategic Focus Outreach Unit - Community Oriented Policing and this is part of the EDIT Funding
$2M for the Crossings Grant for the intersection of Ironwood and Corby for repaving and repairs and this is part of the LOIT Fund

Bill #16-18 Civil City Funds (Substitute Bill)
* Studebaker/Oliver Revitalization Grant - EPA Brownsfield Grant $37,500
* Central Services Fund #222 for $10,000 Grant
* Liability Insurance Reserve #226 - EPA Related Issues $900,000 Brownfields in the Studebaker area
NOTE: Liability Reserves are where Settlements are paid from. There is a normally a $1M reserve to use across all departments and the normal level of this fund is $2M.
* Local Roads & Bridge Grant - Ironwood/Corby Community Crossings $2,000,000 
* Parks non-reverting Capital for mowing engines & Veterans Memorial Park $20,000
* 2015 Parks Bond Capital to increase it by $91,412

Bill #17-18 Appropriating Additional Funds under the Enterprise Funds (Substitute Bill)
* Parking Garage Fund #601 for $77,000
* Water Works O&M Fund #620 for $52,250
* Century Center Capital Fund #671 for $20,000

Bill #18-18 to Establish NEW FUNDS
* Fire Station #9 Fund #350 
* TIF Parks Bond Debt Service Fund #351
* TIF Parks Bond Capital Fund #452
(These create the Accounting numbers for these funds. No amounts given.)
NOTE: Coming up on the April 9th Meeting is money for the Cemetary out of the River West Fund, but there is an April 1st deadline.

RESOLUTIONS:
Bill #18-03 Zoning Appeal at 915 27th Street to allow a Child Caring Institution in the OB Office Buffer District
(Rite of Passage Program to be called the "Woodford Home")
This facility will create 70 jobs and there will be a 4 to 1 ratio of students to staff.
Under their license there will be a maximum of 12 young men.
All have nowhere to go live and some have timed out of Foster Care and need skills to transition. The concern is they would turn to bad things to survive on the streets.
They are expected to do community service, attend church and attend school.
The program works to get them scholarships.
There are currently 23K kids in need of a way to transition back into society and only 2% have a program to help them.
They are driving to and from school and supervised when out in the community.
The students are in the program for around 6 months on average.
Approximately 40 people spoke in favor, including the President of the River Park Neighborhood Association.
No one spoke against it.
Councilwoman Sharon McBride who works at the Ducomb Center voted against it. The rest of the Council voted in favor. It passed.

Bill #18-12 Interlocal Agreement between SB and St. Joseph County for:
MUTUAL OPERATION OF SPECIAL LAW ENFORCEMENT UNITS known as METRO UNITS addressing crimes of Special Gravity in St. Joseph County
3 Additional Investigators at $103,000 per officer annually = $308,500
Council wants to know if they are providing more money than others.
Councilman Tim Scott said the County needs to fund the programs they have initiated and he would like to see metrics.
He also said he was originally told there was a need for 260 officers to properly staff the SBPD and there are currently 230, 8 in training and 5 in line for next year.
The SBPD Chief is concerned about the large number of officers planning to retire in the near future.
The Metro Unit is slated to have 16 officers and there are only 13 because of long term vacancies.
South Bend Provides:  4 Special Victims Unit, 4 Metro Homicide, 5 Domestic Violence
Mishawaka Provides:   2 Special Victims Unit, 1 Metro Homicide, 1 Domestic Violence
St. Joseph County:      2 Special Victims Unit, 3 Metro Homicide, 1 Domestic Violence
The 3 additional Special Victim Unit Officers are decided by the Prosecutor and are covered in the 2018 budget.
The Metro Units cover Family Violence, Drugs and Homocides.

FIRST READINGS:
Bill #19-18 Alley Vacation for First North/South Alley east of Arthur Street running from Campau Street on the South to the first east-west alley on the North for 156'

Bill #20-18 Establishing Parking Restrictions - 17 rules

Bill #21-18 to Establish responsible bidding practives and submission requirements on Public Works Projects
Question - How will this apply to the Parks Department having it's own building permit?

NOTE: The new Cascades Project on the former Wharf Restaurant site across the river from the Century Center received $5M in TIF from taxpayers and will be requesting Abatements from property taxes. This is expected to be a $45M project with a $1.5M penthouse and $500K condos.
City expressed the need to give the $5M TIF and will likely give Tax Abatements. Lately Abatements have meant no taxes for a full 6 years.
Thursday at 6:30 pm the Mayor will be part of a panel at the WUBS Radio Station on LincolnWay to discuss the housing crisis on the Westside and Southeast sides of South Bend. This meeting is open to the public. Citizens want to discuss how regular citizens can be helped.

NOTE: There will also be a Budget Information Meeting at the Main Public Library in the Humphreys Room at 5:30 pm with Councilwoman Karen White (City) and Councilwoman Diana Hess (County)

Prior to Full Council Meeting at 5:00 pm, the Council held a closed Executive Session to discuss the Wiretapping case per Indiana Code 5-14-1.5-6.1(b)(2)(B)

Priviledge of the Floor: 
* 8 or so objected to the placement of trailers near Ivy Tech for the Homeless. They pointed out their property values continue to devalue as more and more social services are put in their area. They would like other areas of the City to share these services.
* "National Stop the Bleed Day" is THIS SATURDAY. Beacon will be offering 4 FREE sessions to teach Citizens how to stop bleeding due to gunshot wounds or accidents. In 2017 there were 102 shootings and 16 people died. For more info contact Stacie at 574-647-2853
* Sue Kesim encouraged the Council to Budget for and pass out medical health information tubes as part of their upcoming neighborhood walking tours. There is a sticker for the door, a magnet for the frig and then a tube with medical information is placed in the frig. Medics like these since it saves time and lives.

Coming up...Notes on the Minority Business Enterprise/Women's Business Enterprise Utilization Board, Flood Update Meeting and Housing Meeting at WUBS on Thursday

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