Residents raise blight and homelessness enforcement concerns; caller credits ambulance blood policy with saving life; schools resource fair announced

A range of neighborhood concerns, community announcements and criticisms were raised during public comment at the Elkhart Common Council meeting on Aug. 18.

Resident Ralph Spellbring, who said he has lived in the East Jackson area for more than five decades, spoke about historic road routes and then addressed state politics. Several residents and council members thanked city staff and partner organizations for recent downtown events featuring the Commodores and Kool & the Gang.

Councilman Curry and Councilman Mishler reported on neighborhood association activity and local cleanups. Curry thanked city crews and 3-1-1 coordinators for supporting a neighborhood cleanup and said volunteers helped ready a house damaged by a tornado. Mishler said his neighborhood association held its annual meeting and appointed a treasurer.

Several residents raised property-maintenance concerns: one speaker urged action on an abandoned former cleaners on West Jackson that has been boarded for decades, problems at a Middlebury Street site, litter blowing from the Kroger at Prairie, and overgrown vegetation along Johnson Street. The speaker asked the city to enforce property-maintenance responsibilities.

Members of the public also raised confusion about the city's enforcement of camping and homelessness rules. The speaker said Guidance Ministries and the Elkhart Police Department had differing interpretations of a camping ordinance; the speaker said Police Chief Melanie and a representative named Laurie were working on education and resolution.

During the meeting Melody (the clerk) read a phone call from a woman who asked her to share that a hit-and-run crash on County Road 6 and John Weaver Parkway left a motorcyclist dead and the passenger with a life-threatening arterial injury. Melody said the passenger "would have bled out at the scene" if not for a recently adopted ordinance that allowed ambulances to carry blood; the caller's grandmother credited the policy change with saving the passenger's life.

Regina Robertson, project director for the Full Service Community Schools program with Elkhart Community Schools, told the council the program — a joint effort with Concord schools serving eight schools — will hold an inaugural resource fair with about 63 vendors at Woodland Crossings (near the former Sears/Excel building) from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday; she thanked city departments for assistance and left flyers with the clerk.

Public commenter Michelle Corich criticized prior council financial decisions related to the Tolleson Center. She said the council had given $5 million and had been paying roughly $700,000 per year for 10 years to a nonprofit operating the Tolleson Center; she characterized those decisions as lacking council and citizen oversight. Her allegations were presented as her viewpoint to the council; no administrative response or vote occurred at the meeting.

Separately, Councilman Mishler said the Health and Public Safety Committee should consider a potential battery factory coming to Elkhart and planned to schedule that discussion with the city's economic development director.