Special Committee formed by Common Council President to discuss Reparations Resolution

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. --- The South Bend Common Council’s Special Meeting concerning the Reparations Resolution resulted in a Special Committee formed by President Sharon McBride to further discuss the resolution. Now that it’s being taken up by a committee, the council bypassed discussing it further during Monday’s meeting, leaving the public confused.

“I was hoping to have something on Resolution Bill 2261, I got here hoping to hear something, they quickly said we are going to, I don’t know, special committee, can you tell us about that?’” asks a South Bend resident in attendance.

Some confusion from South Bend neighbors hoping to hear more on the delayed Reparations Resolution, finally discussed by the Common Council on Monday.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Council voted to table the resolution until a Special Committee is formed.

President Sharon McBride’s decision to form the Special Committee was announced Monday morning in a press release. Council members Sheila Niezgodski and Canneth Lee are backing the move. Others, namely Henry Davis Junior who sponsored the resolution, says he was caught off guard, and that it’s unfair to call for the committee without his prior knowledge.

The resolution includes a number of different avenues to improve minority neighborhoods in South Bend. Council President McBride says part of the reason it’s best to table the resolution is that there is no money left in the ARP fund to put toward the proposed preparations.

“When you’re talking about $60 million that was asked of ARP funds and there are no $60 million ARP funds, there’s a broader discussion that needs to be had,” says McBride. “There’s more than just how do you calculate, and there’s also different harms and other issues we have to address as well."

During the Special Meeting Monday afternoon, the public spoke up and showed their support for the resolution, which is why they were consumed as to why the council didn’t discuss it further later on.

“At the mini meeting this morning, or this afternoon, at 3:30 it was tabled until that committee is drafted and that’s what happened tonight,” McBride explained. “Typically, when the meeting happens at 7, well I have to apologize, because I didn’t realize, well I should have realized, there were people here for that bill alone, so that’s what happened.”

Stick with ABC57 News as we continue to follow the Reparations Resolution and how that will play out with the chosen Special Committee.