South Bend Mayor James Mueller has announced a special meeting of the Common Council.
The meeting is set for Monday, Feb. 6.
During the meeting, the council will consider all items from the regularly scheduled meeting from Jan. 23, which was cancelled due to a recommendation from the Public Access Counselor regarding the state’s Open Door Law.
Among the items under consideration on Monday will be a resolution to approve financing for several projects, including additional funding for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dream Center, Linden Avenue Streetscape, Kennedy Park, Elwood sidewalks, Walker Field and new trail connections.
On January 20th, the Council Attorney spoke with the state PAC about the status of notices for the January 23rd Common Council meetings. The specific violations of the Open Door Law identified from that conversation were:
1) No physical posting of a notice of full Council meeting at Council Chambers more than 48 hours prior to the meeting.
2) No physical posting of the times for individual committee meetings on Chambers more than 48 hours prior to the meeting.
The PAC further advised the Council Attorney that the Common Council could not legally convene either Committee or full Council meetings on Monday, January 23 and suggested to have the Mayor call a special meeting of the Council as soon as all of the paperwork could be processed. That paperwork has now been processed, and the Mayor has called a special meeting for February 6, 2023 pursuant to Chapter 2, Article 1, Section 2-5 (a) of the South Bend, Indiana Municipal Code.
