James Mueller (mayor)

James Mueller (born June 29, 1982) is an American politician and academic serving as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana since 2020. Prior to being elected in 2019, Mueller held positions within the administration of his predecessor Pete Buttigieg.

James Mueller
33rd Mayor of South Bend
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2020
Preceded by	Pete Buttigieg
Personal details
Born	June 29, 1982 South Bend, Indiana, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Kellye Mitros ​ (m. 2020)​
Education	University of Notre Dame (BA, BS) University of Delaware (PhD)
Signature
Website	Government website

His tenure as mayor has seen him deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the city, homelessness in the city, as well as overseeing efforts to reform the city's police department.

Early life and education

Mueller was born June 29, 1982[1] to Thomas and Sarah Mueller.[2] He was raised in the River Park–Sunnymede neighborhood of South Bend.[3] He lived on Hoover Avenue near Potawatomi Park.[4] He was one of five children.[4] His father, Thomas, was a professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at the University of Notre Dame, and his mother, Sarah, was a teacher, homemaker and social service coordinator at the YWCA.[2][4]

Mueller attended St. Anthony de Padua School and was classmates with Sean M. Haas, who later became his opponent in the 2019 mayoral general election.[5] He was also classmates with Pete Buttigieg[6] at St. Joseph High School, where Mueller graduated in 2000.[7]

In 2004, Mueller graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame,[7][8] triple majoring in mathematics, history, and philosophy.[2][4][9] Mueller went on to study ocean sciences and engineering at the University of Delaware, where he bypassed the graduate program and earned his PhD in oceanography.[2][3][4][7][9]

Career

Mueller worked at George Washington University’s Solar Institute in Washington, D.C.,[7][9][8] ultimately serving as its director.[2][4]

Mueller also worked in the office of Senator Maria Cantwell for four years, first as a John A. Knauss Legislative Fellow, and later as a policy advisor on energy and natural resources.[2][7][9]

Work in the Buttigieg administration

In July 2015, Mueller returned to South Bend and became the chief of staff to mayor Pete Buttigieg.[3][7][8] This opportunity came after the resignation of Buttigieg's previous chief of staff, Kathryn Roos.[8]

Among the projects he was involved in as chief of staff was the creation of South Bend's Department of Venues, Parks and Arts as well as its Department of Innovation and Technology.[7]

On April 24, 2017, Mueller stepped down as chief of staff to assume a new position, becoming the city's director of community investment.[7][9] Early into his tenure in this position, he established an Engagement & Economic Empowerment Division in the Department of Community Investment.[10]

Mueller left his position in city government during his mayoral campaign to avoid ethics conflicts.[11][12]

2019 mayoral campaign

Mueller’s 2019 campaign logo

On December 17, 2018, Buttigieg announced that he would not be seeking reelection to a third term.[13] On January 22, 2019, Mueller announced his candidacy for mayor.[14][15][16] This was Mueller's first bid for elected office.[17] At the time he launched his campaign, Mueller lacked name recognition.[18]

Mueller's campaign closely tied him with Buttigieg, and promised to build upon the progress made during Buttigieg's tenure.[17][19] He pledged to continue many of the policies and programs implemented by Buttigieg.[20] His slogan was, "Keep South Bend Moving Forward."[21] Buttigieg endorsed Mueller in February.[17][21][19]

Mueller's campaign manager in the primary was Malcolm Phelan, and was Kacey Gergely in the campaign for the general election.[22]

On May 7, Mueller won a crowded primary to capture the Democratic nomination.[17] In the November 5 general election, Mueller defeated Republican nominee Sean M. Haas.[23]

Mayoral transition

After being elected mayor, Mueller worked to fill positions on his staff.[24]

Mueller expressed a view as mayor-elect that, while South Bend had made tremendous progress under Buttigieg, it was not yet entirely "back" (i.e., revived), stating, “After decades of decline, we finally turned the corner, but we are not where we want to be as a community. There are a lot of people that haven’t experienced the growth yet.”[24] This was in contrast with Buttigieg's farewell speech as mayor before the Common Council, in which Buttigieg had declared that, "South Bend is back".[25]

As mayor-elect, Mueller expressed his view that public safety would be his top priority upon becoming mayor.[24] He declared that, in order to help the entirety of the South Bend community to experience growth, the city would need to address issues in its public safety system.[24] He expressed an eagerness to see the pending results of a study being conducted by the national police consulting group 21st Century Policing (21CP) on the matter.[24][26] He declared that he intended to discuss the results of the study, once it completed, with police leadership, as well as discussing the department policy regarding body cameras.[24] Mueller also expressed his desire to create a working group consisting of people that have an interest in the relationship between South Bend's community and its police force.[24] He expressed hope that such a working group could include community members and members of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), which is the city's police union.[24]

As mayor-elect, Mueller had supported Dawn Jones to remain as South Bend City Clerk. Jones had been temporarily serving as City Clerk since winning a Democratic party caucus vote in August to replace Kareemah Fowler, after Fowler had resigned as City Clerk in 2019 to become chief financial officer at South Bend Community School Corporation. However, Fowler had resigned as City Clerk too late to remove her name from the ballot for reelection in the 2019 general election, therefore creating a scenario in which Fowler was elected to another four-year term as City Clerk and a Democratic precinct caucus needed to be held to again appoint someone in her place. Jones, carrying Mueller's endorsement, along with the endorsement of South Bend Common Council president Tim Scott, defeated her challenger in the caucus, Jill LaFountain, the director of advancement for Girl Scouts of Northern Indiana Michigan.[27][28]

Mueller stated that Buttigieg had offered him much advice during the transition.[26]

Mayoralty

Mueller assumed office on January 1, 2020 at noon.[29][24][30][31] His ceremonial inauguration was held later that day at Century Center.[31][32] He is the 33rd mayor of South Bend.[31] Five new Common Council members were sworn-in along with Mueller.[33] As a result of the 2019 Common Council election, the Common Council that took office alongside Mueller is the city's first majority-female Common Council.[31][34] Additionally, Dawn Jones was sworn-in as City Clerk alongside Mueller.[31]

Mueller took office at a time when South Bend had been enjoying an increased national and international spotlight by virtue of Buttigieg's presidential candidacy.[35]

Appointments and staffing

Shortly after taking office, on January 6, 2020, Mueller announced several appointments. These included Kacey Gergely (his 2019 campaign manager) as his Chief of Staff, Jordan Gathers as Deputy Chief of Staff, and Shalon “Shay” Davis as Director of Community Outreach.[22] He also announced that he would retain a number of individuals from Buttigieg's administration in the same roles, including Aaron Perri as Executive Director of Venues, Parks and Arts, Chuck Bulot as Building Commissioner, Daniel Parker as City Controller, Denise Riedl as Chief of Innovation Office, Eric Horvath as Director of Public Works, Kyra Clark as Director of Human Resources, Scott Ruszkowski as Chief of Police, and Stephanie Steele as Corporation Counsel.[22] Mueller ultimately retained a vast majority of Buttigieg's appointed department heads.[36]

Mueller appointed Michael Patton the city's diversity compliance/inclusion officer.[36] On February 14, 2020, Mueller appointed Maurice "Moe" Scott as directory of community initiatives, a new position that Buttigieg had created months earlier for the 2020 budget year.[36]

Four out of five of Mueller's first five leadership position appointments were given to African Americans, however, three of these were to positions that had also been held by African American individuals under Buttigieg.[36]

On April 1, 2020, Mueller named Carl Buchanon as fire chief.[37][38]

In October 2020, Mueller named former South Bend innovation officer Santiago Garces to head the Department of Community Investment.[39]

In December 2020, after the city's Board of Public Safety president John Collins resigned after almost a decade on the board, Mueller appointed Darryl Heller, a local civil rights activist and the director of the Indiana University South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center, to fill his seat the board.[40][41]

Budgets

On October 13, 2020, Mueller signed the city's 2021 budget.[42][43] The budget had been approved unanimously by the Common Council the day before. [43] The $354.7 million budget saw a $4 million decrease in general operation spending compared to the previous year's budget, as part of a three-year plan to balance city budgets to compensate for revenue losses experienced in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[43][44]

Education

Mueller has collaborated closely with the South Bend school board.[45] Per Indiana state law, the school district in South Bend is run by a separate entity, entirely independent from the municipal government.[46]

Government restructuring

Mueller has considered either replacing the city's code enforcement department with a new "Department of Neighborhoods" or merging it into the Department of Community investment.[37]

Mueller has been involved in the proposed creation of a new review office to handle police misconduct complaints.[47]

Housing

Mueller has expressed concern for the maintenance of some buildings operated by the Housing Authority of South Bend.[48]

Homelessness

In May 2020, an tent city formed on a vacant lot located between two vacant structures the 500 block of Michigan Street.[49] Mueller initially did not act to dismantle the encampment, declaring in mid-May,

"It’s my understanding it has remained clean and sanitary, and as safe as other places that could be outside without permanent shelter. Being pragmatic, as long as this remains safe and sanitary and healthy, and doesn’t generate its own safety or health concerns, then, while not ideal, this may be the best option we have in the near term."[49]

However, the tent city continued to grow.[50] Safety concerns over the growing encampment, and demand from the property owner for the camp to vacate, led to the city breaking up the encampment, without incident, a week after Mueller's earlier remarks.[50][51] Mueller remarked, "We’re not looking to enforce where there’s not issues. The thing that we found is that these large encampments invite a lot of problems".[50] Mueller declared that he'd be less likely to break up encampments that are smaller in size and not causing issues.[50] Mueller remarked, "We can’t encourage large encampments".[51] After being broken up, the encampment merely shifted to vacant lot across the street after having been broken up.[50] Mueller remarked, "This is not an ideal solution and that’s why we’re looking at trying to get better solutions over the long term." Mueller explored options for possible shelters in which to move the homeless to.[50][51] He also stated that he would ultimately order the new camp to disperse with a 48-hour notice provided, but did not immediately decide when he would give such an order.[51] The new tent city location was ultimately shut down roughly a week later.[52] The encampment would arise again outside the Dulos Chapel on South St. Joseph Street.[53][54]

Soon after the first encampment arose, Mueller expressed interest in opening what would be the first homeless shelter owned by the city itself, and the third shelter located in the city.[51][55] While he had originally considered converting a former Salvation Army building into a shelter, Mueller withdrew consideration from this location after local business leaders drew objection to that area of the city housing another permanent homeless shelter.[51][53][55]

On July 16, 2020, Mueller vetoed a resolution passed by a 5–4 vote of the Common Council three days prior urging him to take several actions on homelessness, including declaring a "state of emergency".[53] This was the second time in his mayoralty in which he had issued a veto.[53] Afterwards, he sent out a letter declaring his full support for, "acting as swiftly as possible and working together as a community toward sustainable solutions for our homeless neighbors".[53] On July 26, Common Council would attempt, but fail, to override his veto.[56]

In October 2020, St. Joseph County worked with the city to use CARES Act funding, as well as funding by the county and city, to temporarily house homeless in motels, in what has dubbed the "Motels4Now" program, which will last for at least several months.[57][58][59]

In late-October, the Mueller administration announced it was finalizing its plans to address the city's homelessness.[58]

Infrastructure

In early February of 2021, Mueller unveiled a proposed three-year $25 million street repavement plan dubbed "Rebuilding Our Streets". He declared that, rather than only focusing on the most-used streets as the city had in the past, the project would focus on repaving lesser-used streets that are in the worst-rated condition. In announcing this project, Mueller declared that he would, the following month, be requesting from the Common Council approval of an approximately $9 million bond issue, to be repaid by existing income taxes over the next several years, in order to "jump start" the project.[60] The plan received immediate support from several Common Council members, including Common Council President Karen White.[60] At the same time this plan was announced, his administration's innovation chief, Linn Riedl, also unveiled a newly-launched online dashboard which South Bend residents could use to both check see condition rating of streets, and keep track of progress made towards improving them in both the new three-year "Rebuilding Our Streets" project, as well as the city's broader ten-year aims for street reparis.[60]

COVID-19 pandemic

Months into his tenure, the global COVID-19 pandemic began to impact the United States.

On March 16, 2020, Mueller ordered the closing of city parks buildings, the suspension of the ability for residents to pay their water bills in-person, and the suspension of water service shutoffs for nonpayments (the latter step taken in an effort to receive the burden on individuals losing income due to the pandemic).[61][62] On March 17, Mueller joined St. Joseph county commissioners in announcing non-essential travel advisory.[63] On March 19, Mueller declared an emergency, which automatically issued a level 2 travel advisory (out of 3 levels) against all nonessential travel.[64][65]

In early April, South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jeff Rea signed a memorandum of understanding with Mueller and all three St. Joseph County commissioners under which he would help lead the South Bend and St. Joseph County response to the coronavirus pandemic.[66] In mid-April, Mueller announced that the city had leased a Motel 6 location in order to allow the homeless to have a location in which they could self-quarantine.[67] In mid-April, Mueller also announced that the city had pledged $600,000 for CDFI groups loaning capital to small businesses not covered by federal grants.[68][69]

On May 1, Mueller and St. Joseph County's deputy health officer, Dr. Mark Fox, both criticized governor Eric Holcomb's decision to move the state towards stage two in its reopening plan.[63]

During their COVID-19 response, Mueller and St. Joseph County's leadership have often voiced disagreement over policy regarding the virus with Dave Wood, the mayor of South Bend's neighboring city of Mishawaka.[63]

Mueller has advised compliance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended practices such as wearing protective masks, social distancing, and limiting gathering sizes.[70]

South Bend received a $48,750 allocation from the CARES Act to distribute to small businesses and nonprofits within the city that have been impacted. The city distributed grants up to $1,000 to small businesses an nonprofits. In November 2020, Mueller participated in reviewing applications received for these grants.[71]

In late-January of 2021, South Bend launched a restaurant grant program to compensate restaurants for operational changes they have undergone during the pandemic. The city formed a partnership with the South Bend Regional Chamber of Commerce, which would help oversee this program.[72]

Fire department

On April 1, 2020, Mueller named Carl Buchanon as fire chief.[37][38] The position had been vacant since Steve Cox resigned in October 2019 to become Indiana State Fire Marshall.[36]

Police

On October 22, 2020, Mueller and other city leaders brokered tentative agreement in negotiations with the city's chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police that would see the city give a majority of its police officers a 9% pay raise as part of its new contract with the union. Ahead of this agreement, the FOP had been vocal about low morale among the city's police force, particularly after the city's Common Council tabled discussion of a proposed pay raise in June 2020. Mueller voiced his belief that, in order to have a successfully managed police force, the city needed to offer its officers "competitive salaries".[73] The following day, other aspects of the new negotiated contract with the police union were approved by the city's Board of Public Safety.[73] The pay raise was approved by the Common Council on October 26.[74]

Police reforms

Mueller's mayoral administration has undertaken work to reform the city's police department.[75] Mueller has declared it a priority of his administration.[76]

Mueller has said that he considers South Bend to, in many ways, be a leader in policing, but has also argued that it there are many areas where its policing has room for improvement.[77]

An audit of the city's police department conducted by the Chicago firm 21st Century Policing (21CP) was released in July 2020.[77] The study had been ordered by then-mayor Buttigieg in November 2019.[75] Mueller's spokesperson has said that he hopes to implement as many of the 56 recommendations that the audit gave the city, but gave no exact number of how many recommendations will see action taken upon.[75]

Mueller backed revisions to the city's discipline guidelines, which had been created after months of debate and changes. The final form of these changes received the backing of the city's Fraternal Order of Police. These changes included a matrix, a chart which categorized potential officer violations and listed a range of penalties for first, second, and third offenses. A matrix hauelled been one of the recommendations of the audit of the city's police department conducted by the firm 21st Century Policing.[75][77][78] On July 15, 2020, these new guidelines were approved by the city's Board of Public Safety.[79]

Mueller is working with the police department to update its use-of-force policy.[75][77] An earlier proposal for such an update was withdrawn by Mueller in September 2020 after receiving criticism from activists that it was too lenient on officers.[75] Since June 2020, Mueller has been publicly advocating, along with other city leaders, to ban the use of chokeholds by police, joining a national trend of municipalities banning the use of chokeholds by their police forces.[80][81][82] A revised draft of the use-of-force policy was released in early December 2020.[83] In mid-December 2020, Mueller stated that the use-of-force policy could be presented to the Board of Public Safety as early as January or February 2021.[84]

Mueller has been involved in the proposed creation of a new review office to handle police misconduct complaints.[47] The city has also been exploring creating a citizens review board.[85]

Political endorsements

On February 12, 2020, in an interview with the South Bend Tribune, Mueller was asked about whether he'd endorse the presidential campaign of his predecessor Pete Buttigieg. Mueller initially answered that he was unsure. However, three hours after the interview was published, Mueller backpedalled his answer, saying that he "enthusiastically" supported Buttigieg's candidacy.[86]

On March 30, 2020, Mueller, after months of avoiding taking a position, voiced his support for a referendum that, if approved, would see an increase in property taxes to fund $220 million for South Bend's schools over the next eight years. The referendum was up for a vote during the primary elections held on June 2, 2020[87] Roughly 60% of voters approved the referendum.[88]

In October 2020, ahead of the 2020 elections, Mueller took the unusual step as mayor of endorsing candidates in the city's school board elections.[89]

Political positions

Mueller is critical of Donald Trump, declaring in his 2019 victory speech that, "Trumpism has no place in South Bend".[90]

Mueller believes that systemic racism is a problem that needs to be dealt with.[91] He believes that it is present in South Bend, and that it is important to admit that.[24] He does not believe that the admittance of the presence of systemic racism is about vilifying anyone, but rather, is about recognizing institutions and how they have historically and currently been discriminatory towards certain groups of people.[24]

In early June 2020, amid the nationwide George Floyd protests, Mueller expressed his recognition of the sentiments behind peaceful protests in the South Bend and Michiana region, saying, "This is the culmination of things that have happened over a long period of time. And, you know, the anger and pain and frustration that we haven't addressed these things fully and it's 2020 is certainly real."[85] In a late-March statement responding to the George Floyd Protests, Mueller declared, "I hear the anger and empathize with those who face systemic injustice." He declared that he was committed to getting more answers to the 2019 South Bend police shooting of Eric Logan. He also declared, "Reforming our public safety systems remains a top priority of my administration. To be successful, this will have to be an inclusive process. Change won't happen overnight, but I'm confident we can overcome whatever challenges we face together.”[76]

Electoral history

2019

2019 South Bend, Indiana mayoral election (Democratic primary)[92][93]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	James Mueller	4,447	37.37%
	Democratic	Jason Critchlow	3,081	25.89%
	Democratic	Lynn Coleman	2,701	22.70%
	Democratic	Regina Williams-Preston	876	7.36%
	Democratic	Oliver Davis	723	6.08%
	Democratic	Salvador Rodriguez	23	0.19%
	Democratic	Will Smith	18	0.15%
	Democratic	Shane Inez	16	0.13%
	Democratic	Richard Wright	15	0.13%

2019 South Bend, Indiana mayoral election (General election)[4][94][95]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	James Mueller	9,437	63.41
	Republican	Sean M. Haas	5,445	36.58

Personal life

By the time of his mayoral run, Mueller was dating Kellye Mitros, an administrative assistant at Notre Dame Law School.[4] Mitros is currently the Program Manager for the Notre Dame Technology Ethics Center.[96] It was announced by a spokesperson for Mueller that, in September 2020, Mueller married Mitros before a small number of friends and family in a small wedding ceremony officiated by Pete Buttigieg, which was held outdoors, socially distanced, with protective masks worn due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[97] This made Mueller the second South Bend mayor to get married while in office, after only Buttigieg himself.[97]

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