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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-07-10 Transcription July 10, 2006 City Couucil Work Session Page 1 July 10, 2006 City Council Work Session 9:05 A.M. Council: Bailey (arrived at 9:08), Champion, Correia, Elliott, O'Donnell, Vanderhoef (arrived at 9:07), Wilburn Staff: Dilkes, Karr, Atkins, Helling Tapes: 06-52, SIDE 2 SILO Discussion: Wilburn! I added... you got correspondence.. . mentioned that we were going to discuss the SILO, as a result ofthe letter that you should have received in your packet, in response to my letter to Lane Plugge. Basically, requesting a representative of the City ofIowa City to attend the July 19th public forum and present our government's intended plan use for SILO. Before we get into discussing that response, I just wanted to remind the Council of a few things. One, way back when the School Board started this and there was talk about possible shared penny, the School Board basically said if other governmental bodies are interested, then say so and go from there, and we did that through the letter, where we asked for a meeting to sit down together to discuss what a shared penny might look like, and my hope out of that discussion would be that we could craft something together that would be of mutual benefit to both the School and the City. In the meantime, the School District did have, I believe, a couple public hearings related to that. In the letter, they did not mention getting together. They just invited a representative from the City to come to that July 19th public forum. I spoke with a couple School Board Members and they did not discuss at all getting together for a joint meeting, as was requested in the letter. Um, and so, I guess today I'm looking for guidance from the Council, in terms of what should our formal response, if anything, be to this letter. Again, they did not in the letter discuss, nor did they as a group, discuss getting together to craft some type of usage that they felt would be appropriate and that would be of mutual benefit. So, other than that, I guess I'm just kind of laying it out on the table. Correia! It seems to me from the letter that they've been hearing from members of the community that sharing of the penny with other governmental bodies was that they weren't getting positive response from the community, around that idea. That's the sense that I got from the letter and also from talking to some School Board Members. It seems like they put it out there to see if we were interested, or other governmental bodies were interested, as long as that was something the community would support, because, you know, that's their goal- to get this passed and have a broad community support. Champion! On the other hand, because the money. . . Karr/ Connie, would you lower your mic, please? Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription or the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 10, 2006. July 10, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 2 Champion! ... State after 5 years. It might be possible that, if the thing's going to pass at all, to use that money county-wide for our emergency, our joint emergency. . . communication center. Elliott! Communication system. Champion! Because all areas would benefit from that, and it is going to cost a lot of money, and that might be a selling point to the community, and I think Coralville and the County could also go along with that. I'm not sure just quite.. .it's just an idea. Elliott! I do know that one of the Board of Supervisors had mentioned that, and I would, I would suggest that we have a representative at the meeting and that it would be a good idea if we could decide. I think that certainly one of the things that I would like the money used for, and parenthetically let me insert that I'm pretty sure what the tone of the meeting will be. That doesn't surprise me. There will be many people there who will be against the School sharing that with anyone, but I think... I would like to see the Council decide on either the joint, county-wide joint emergency communications center, or at least on public safety for the City. Wilburn! IfI could put out one additional piece of information that I forgot to mention; one, when I (can't understand) that the School Board said other governmental bodies if you're interested do so...some of them have; not all ofthem have. Coralville has not. Oxford has not. The County has and we have, and Hills, I believe Hills responded. The second thing, Connie, related to your comments about (can't understand) Amy, some of those School Board Members I've talked to did say they thought that there might be some resistance to sharing it with any other, the penny, with any other governmental body, but, I guess, Connie, what I think you were getting at is there may be some proj ect like the joint communication that seems to have some interest and momentum, but it was my hope that sitting down with them and discussing... why don't we sit down and talk together about something that might of mutual benefit, and so I guess that, we could sit here and if that's a route that we want to go and talk about, 'Yes, we would like a shared penny and here's what we'd do with it,' but I'm mainly looking at a response to this letter. You know? It didn't address, 'Yes, we'd like to,' whether they want to sit down or not. I guess clearly, well, perhaps not clearly. I read as they don't want to meet with us alone; they're just inviting us to speak at the public forum. O'Donnell/ That's the same way I interpret it. They're.. .it's clear that they don't want the City involved, and in my mind, this sales tax would be a lot easier to support if the cities were involved. We're talking $11 million a year, and there are needs of all the cities, and one is a Joint Communication Center, and if we use this as public safety, I think you could clearly count on a great deal of community support. But, like I said, it would be a lot easier to support, ifthe cities were involved. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of July 10, 2006. July 10, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 3 Vanderhoef/ The... I don't disagree with you, Mike. The whole idea of public safety, and we keep talking Communication Center, that is just one piece of our public safety. Certainly, we've had many discussions and much public interest in the #4 Fire Station, and that is public safety too, and we are at a position in this State that we are not getting new General Funds, and to use public safety money from a one- cent sales tax and have the flexibility of using it for Joint Communication, for replacement of equipment, and for new communication equipment that serves EMS. Weare trying desperately to get coordinated at the State, or at the County level, so that we can have better response. We can have the towers out there that we need. So, having it designated towards public safety, knowing all ofthese things that are on our platter, that gives us time to. . . to, shall we say, channel it by year and by need of what our citizens keep requesting from us. So, I think it's a positive. I think we have some real needs. I think they've been recognized by the community, and that we will defmitely assist our citizens in getting those needs, without taking it from General Fund monies. Bailey/ I apologize that this is redundant and I apologize for being late. I must have written down the wrong time, but I believe the School Board has taken this position because they have heard from other community members.. .has this already...(unable to hear). They've heard from other community members that there won't be the support if other entities are joined, that this is for the kids, and that's how they want to approach it. So, perhaps putting out what Mike and Dee said, they're clearly in the community and garnering that level of support, so our moving forward with joint projects, for example, I'm not sure the School Board is the entity we necessarily need to be talking to, I guess is what I'm saying. Because I think there is a community at-large who's indicated that perhaps they won't have the level of support for this, if it's with other entities. Wilburn! I guess I'll go back again. Yeah, so what is... Bailey/ So in response, I think that perhaps there is additional communication to happen, not only with the School Board, but with other entities who have indicated that they're supportive of this, finding out why they wouldn't be supportive ofthis for public safety, for example. Elliott! In answer to, I think, what was the question you put on the table, you want some guidance from us as to what you as the Mayor should do. I don't see that we have to respond to this letter, but I think that we should respond to the letter. I think we should have a person at the meeting, and I would be happy to be in attendance, but obviously the Council leaders, the Mayor and the Mayor Pro Tern, would be the key ones to. . . Wilburn! I guess it's more so what should the Council's response be, as opposed to what I do or do not do should the Council craft some type offormal position, response, fears (unable to understand) what we would do or... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 10, 2006. July 10, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 4 Bailey/ 1 think we just need to put our position out there. Correia! And I think that if... the Joint Communication Center is something that we are all in support of. The County has indicated that, you know, they had sent a letter, and if this is, it seems the strongest position for the, to the community, then if we approach Johnson County and ask them. 1 don't know what they...1 don't know ifthey indicated what they might want to do with their portion of that. If they're interested in going in with the City on the shared penny for the Joint Communication center to then be able to start communicating that to the community - this is what the City and the County plan to do if there's a shared penny, and this is why this is important. I think that is going to go much farther than the County saying they're going to do something, 1 mean...I think that if there's a unified face, this is what we would do, this is how it would benefit everybody. Vanderhoef/ I listen and maybe put words in your mouth, Mr. Mayor, but I think the forum that they have presented to us is not beneficial to good discussion and opening of ideas and sharing of ideas, and to make a general statement here without hearing and having that face-to-face time to discuss these things with the County and with the School District, I think is a mistake. I really, really think we need to have a sit-down with the entities that are interested in sharing the penny and have some dialogue, not just a formal written statement, shall we say, to the School Board, at this point in time, and I know you had indicated earlier some hesitancy with this. Would it be inappropriate to request even a work session kind of thing, prior to this meeting on the same day, something like that. Somehow to get some face time with all of us. And then getting, having it open to the public at this kind of meeting. O'Donnell/ You know, we can have all those meetings, we can bring people together, but there's one entity here that's got to respond to us, and I think we need to go back to them with a letter, expressing our interest in sharing in this penny, and working together as a partnership like we should. We can meet with the County and other cities, but ifthe School Board is not interested in participating in us, I think we're spinning our wheels. Vanderhoef/ Well, I was including the School District in that discussion, Mike. So, maybe I didn't make myself clear that this needs to be a roundtable with all of us at the table. Wilburn! I thought that...I thought really that's what we were asking. (several talking at once) This is what we got back, but go ahead, Amy. Correia! When.. .does anybody know what's the timeIine for the School District? They need to decide and have something on. . . to the Auditor by what date so it's, you know... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 10, 2006. July 10, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 5 Vanderhoef! On the ballot? Bailey! They're not looking at a November date. Correia! No, they're not looking at November, I know. It's December... Elliott! I believe, Amy, you're right. I think there is a deadline they're looking at. Correia! Yeah, so I'm just wondering if we know what that is, because it seems like what I'm hearing is that the School Board is being cautious because they're hearing that the community is not going to be supportive of a shared penny. And that's what's driving...that's what I hear from that letter. And so, if we are interested in continuing to explore sharing that penny, we have to go out to the community and generate community support for sharing the penny, for the purpose we want to share it for, so that the community can communicate to the School Board, 'We are interested in sharing the penny.' Because the School Board does not want to risk losing the shared penny, when in two years the State is going to require us to have this one-cent penny, without any opportunity for sharing or keeping the whole thing for five years, which is what we're trying to do now, which I think that they're trying to do now. So I think we don't want to get in the way of missing out on this opportunity that we have right now by continuing to talk to them when who we need to talk to is the community, if this is what, how we want to proceed. Wilburn! Urn, the only caveat that I would add to this that their timetable, or at least putting on the ballot, may be later in the fall, but it just came to my attention that tomorrow night at their meeting, they're going to be discussing the format for the 19th forum, a revenue-purpose statement, and the public information process. Is revenue-purpose statement... that seems more imminent than... Correia! Well, but it seems that.. . they have to have a revenue-purpose statement and if there is the shared aspect then we would have to, and they would allow that on the ballot, we would have to have a revenue-purpose statement. It wouldn't have to be.. . ours wouldn't be part oftheirs. It would be.. .my understanding of it, but I don't know. Dilkes! I think they will structure the purpose statement. It's their ballot. Obviously, if you communicate to them and there would be some meeting ofthe minds about what the purpose would be for that shared penny, and then they would craft their purpose language accordingly. Elliott! Ross, I would suggest that we respond with a written communication and tell them we will be there and that we would request either before or after the meeting, an opportunity to sit down directly and discuss with the School Board what our plans and needs and concerns are about it. If the letter mentions that there appears to be community support for the joint county emergency This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 10, 2006. ------_."---_.__....._--------_._--------'~'-_._----~.~---,.,,--_.,--~,,~---------_._-_.".,,-~"- .,--.'--------.,.--'-'--------..-- July 10, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 6 communication center, maybe something like that in the letter, but I think that we need to participate in the public hearing and we need to tell the School Board that we dO...we are very interested in a sit-down with the School Board to talk about needs, concerns. Wilburn! So, we will send a letter saying, 'We will be there,' with me or one of us speaking on behalf ofthe City, or just there to observe, and to be there on behalf of the City, what would myself or that person say? Bailey/ Ifwe have a purpose for this shared penny, I think we need to begin communicating that purpose as widely and as specifically as possible, because I think that's part of the challenge here. And so I think the letter, even if we can get with the County very quickly and get some consensus on this Communication Center, because we are as much communicating with the School Board as we are with the community, with this letter, and I think it would be good to have you there tomorrow night and speak in public comments, and at the forum on the 19th, to speak at public comments with our purpose. We need to put this out there and we need people to understand that there are very specific and we have considered the needs. This isn't just something that will go into General Fund. We have a very specific purpose for this. Champion! I agree with you, Regenia. I think we do have, and I disagree with Dee. I don't think you can use anything as generic as public safety. People want to know what the money's going to be used for. Vanderhoef/ Well, that you can certainly spell out of what public safety means. Champion! Well, I think we spell it out immediately. Bailey/ I think we need to spell it out immediately! VanderhoeV Yeah, and those were the things that I listed, the EMS, the Fire Station, the Communications Center with its equipment purchases and all of that. So, yes, I fully agree, Connie, that's what needs to be spelled out. Wilburn! Okay, and again, I'm just... .just looking at time constraints here. I don't know that our calendar, calendars allow a date between now and the 19th to try and meet up with some representatives from the County to come up with what we collectively would do. So, on the 19th, would I be saying, 'Here's what the City would do,' or? Champion! You and Regenia can meet with them. With the County with a few. . . Bailey/ We can also indicate, because we would certainly have some City level of responsibility of funding for a Joint Communication Center. And so we could indicate, at minimum in a way - I'm not saying that minimum of course - but we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 10, 2006. July 10, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 7 could indicate that that's our intent. Additionally Ijust want to point out, and I don't know how the Council feels about this, many counties, Linn County and Polk, Dallas, Warren, are getting a lot of mileage out oflocal option sales tax with some portion going for property tax relief, and they're certainly not putting all of the penny, per se, to property tax relief, but that is a portion. In fact, I saw something yesterday that Polk, Warren, Dallas counties are actually doing some quality of life initiatives, arts actually, as well as some property tax relief, and arts, trails, and property tax relief, so that might also be something to think about, if that's feasible, if that's palatable to us. People seem to get a lot of mileage out ofthat. Vanderhoef! That was sort of my understanding with some of the school districts also, that they were looking at property tax relief in that they were at, they were fully bonded at this point and they wanted to use this to payoff some bonding. So, that was one way to lower the property taxes. So that's certainly a discussion that I have not heard the Iowa City Community School District talk about. Correia! Well I have. I mean, I've heard...in conversation with some School Board Members, that they have considered a portion ofthat...going towards that. Bailey! Well, I was indicating actually, and I don't know how I feel about this, but it certainly seems to be a popular idea, that we might consider that as well, as part of our public focus ofthis penny. If we think that that's something...I don't know. Champion! Indirectly, it is property tax relief. If you use that money for anything, it would be bonding for, it is property tax... Bailey! Right, but I think for the public, given you know the complexities of budgeting and bonding, I think that we would have to be very specific about drawing, you know, connecting the dots. I think the more specific we can be, the better. I think you indicated that, as well. Elliott! Agreed. Wilburn! So, I'm hearing Joint Communication Center and property tax relief. Is that specific enough to. . . Dilkes! Let me...I need to check the Code on the property tax relief. I think it's, it may be specific to the county. But let me just check that. Wilburn! Okay. Vanderhoeti' So, what we could say is we would support the School District in offering property tax relief, if that is the wishes ofthe Council. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 10, 2006. July 10, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 8 Elliott! Ijust think those are things that need to be discussed at a sit-down, face-to-face with the people involved, and find out where the realistic need is and what is politically productive. O'DonnelV One thing that we've, I believe, done wrong in our past attempts for this local option sales tax is listed too many items on the ballot. It's got to be simple. I see Joint Communication Center. I like the idea of property tax relief, but I don't think we should go beyond that. Bailey/ Well, and honestly, Ijust tossed that out, and obviously Eleanor's going to have to check, but you know, as a Council, I would have to see what the implications are of doing that for property tax relief and the impact. I mean, I would want to better understand it so I could better explain it. Urn, but, like I said, those are two things that are pretty specific that people have seemed to be generally supportive of. Vanderhoe1l One of the things that you've just talked about is this property tax relief, and why wouldn't we put that in our request for the sit-down meeting, to discuss with them the property tax relief, that we recognize it as a selling point and we can discuss it as a group, if we can have a sit-down. Wilburn! And that group being Regenia and myself and the County, or... Correia! Are you talking about the School District now, Dee? Vanderhoe1l Yes! Correia! Okay, well 1...I mean, we're going to know tomorrow if they have on their agenda for tomorrow night that they're going to start discussing the language for their, for the referendum or whatever it's called, then we're going to know Wednesday what they've started to consider, or what, you know, I don't know if they're going to have a draft. If it's going to, you know.. . going to be out for review or what their process is. I think they have some time with their deadline, but we'll have a sense then. I don't see them requesting a sit-down meeting with us. Wilburn! And we requested a sit-down with them (several talking at once). Okay. I have a prior commitment tomorrow night, in terms ofthere...a meeting I just found out about, and if I'm to be the person to speak on the 19th... what time do they start? Does anyone know? (several talking) I would need to clear it with my employer to move or move until later in the evening, our board meeting. So, I'll have to get back to you on that. Bailey/ So who will be there tomorrow night? I'm out oftown. Elliott! Tomorrow night is what? No, no, no... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 10, 2006. July 10, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 9 Bailey/ A discussion ofthe language. Elliott! At the Board meeting tomorrow night? Wilburn! All I have is they are.. .it's a regular Board meeting. They're discussing the format for the public forum on the 19th. Correia! What time. . .is their Board meeting? Wilburn! 7:00 is what I have. Revenue purpose statement and public information process. Correia! Okay, well, I can go if... Atkins/ Ross? What was the purpose of your appearance tomorrow night? Just so I understand the... (several talking) O'Donnell/ See if they're interested in participating. That's what we need. Bailey/ I think Ross should make a public, or our representative should make a public comment during the public discussion about what, reiterating our request and be more specific about why we're interested in the sharing. I think we need to get that out there, and they have opportunity for public comment, so I think we should use that forum as others use ours - to communicate with the community. Elliott! Talking about tomorrow night.. . (several talking) Champion! Amy said she could go. She can handle it. Correia! Okay, good. So, is.. . somebody put together a statement? (laughter) Elliott! I'll be happy to work with you. Atkins/ I don't mind preparing something for you, but I don't know what I'm preparing. (several talking) VanderhoeV That's my question! Correia! I think, and I don't think we need to be in consensus on this, if we're interested- I think we need to know from today - what we're interested in communicating to the community what we would do with a shared penny, that would be funding our Joint Communication Center. Wilburn! What has been mentioned is Joint Communication Center and property tax relief. Those are the two...(several talking at once) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 10, 2006. July 10, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 10 Dilkes! I don't have the, I want to make sure this hasn't been amended because there's...I don't think it has been, but the way this reads is, as you know, cities can use it for any purpose. So it looks like we could structure it for whatever purpose we wanted, but it appears to me, which raises another issue, that the County is limited to property tax relief. So that raises the issue of whether we could share it- whether their part could be shared for the Joint Communication Center, but. ..(several talking at once) Vanderhoeti' Okay, but... if you limit this and just say Joint Communication Center and talks break down on this whole concept, then how do we use it? That's why public safety and at the top of the list of public safety can be Communication Center, but fire and EMS and those things can certainly be worked in there, ifthe Joint Communication Center doesn't go through. So, I think we're still limiting ourselves too much in just saying Joint Communication. . . Bailey! What if we said the Communication Center? We don't have to say "joint," but we know that we will have some communication needs and requirements next year. That's absolute - whether it's done in conjunction with the County - which I believe that it will go forward as a Joint Communication Center, but... well, I think that it's how you phrase it. Elliott! By putting things that among the things that are the key points that we're interested in at this time, if we state one or two things, that doesn't exclude that we aren't considering anything else, and if, Amy, if that's alright with you, ifit meets with the approval of the other Councilors, I'd be happy to work with you. We can get together with Steve and put together something. Ifwe need to run it past you folks some way. . . O'Donnell! That's fine with me. Bailey! I really do agree with the point that Mike made, I mean, the problem in the past and we've listed too many things and we haven't been specific enough and we've left room for hedging and 1.. . clearly the community does not want that. They want something, hopefully they want something very specific. Elliott! We have to remember, the last thing anybody wants is more taxes, obviously. And, there's.. .so I think we just need to be thoughtful and provide information as to what will happen. If that's alright with the rest of you, I'd be happy to work with Amy, and I've got time this afternoon. Champion! Okay, go for it. Wilburn! Well, Eleanor is looking something up. If I can't move my Board meeting on the 19th, would you be... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 10, 2006. July 10, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 11 Correia! I'm available on the 19th. Atkins/ I'm assuming you want me to draft something. Okay. Wilburn! Do you know what to draft? Atkins/ 1 want to make sure 1 know what points to cover. I think that's...I mean, I can rough something out and then you guys can make it anyway you want. Just something to get started - that we are here, it's the collective we, the purpose of indicating our interest in sharing. Correct? (several talking) Okay. So sharing is the number one issue. Two, it is our recommendation, it' s our interest, that the sharing program, for our purposes, would be public safety, such as a Joint Communication Center (several talking). Did you drop the 4th Fire in your conversation.. . Champion! It has to be specific. And, we can build that Fire Station at any time. We don't need this penny tax to do it. Atkins/ But you can't staff it. Champion! Well, you can't staff it with sales tax money because that's only good for five years. Atkins/ That's the point 1 was going to make, and you've already made it. Champion! Exactly! I'm sorry! Atkins/No, that's fine. Okay, so... Champion! I think we ought to say Communication Center. I like Regenia's idea - don't say "joint" in case it doesn't go through. Atkins/ Any other elaboration on communication, and any other elaboration of that? (several talking) All right. Do you wish to meet with them? (several talking) So, you're asking - in this statement, you're asking for a face-to-face? Wilburn! We would still, as indicated in the Mayor's letter of blah, blah, blah... Champion! When is our next joint meeting? Bailey/ August. Champion! August? Atkins/ Okay, so we have the sharing. We have an emergency communication center. We still would prefer, our preference is to meet with you so we can discuss what? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 10, 2006. __.______,_.______.m____~__.~,~_."._._~.___._______._.--.-..--"-----.~--~.-..,--.--.--..-.-.-..---------- "....-----.-,--.---.--- July 10, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 12 Correia! The possibility of having this item included on their ballot. Bailey! The possibility and the details of our needs, in the upcoming year, with this communication center. I mean, let's say communication center about five times. People really know what we want! (several talking) Correia! Is there at least one or two points about, because this is, this opportunity is also communicating with the public why we need this communication center. You know, so... Atkins! We have sharing, we have the communication center, we have the interest in the meeting, we are reaffirming our interest and our needs. . . Elliott! And not just, I think, talk about Iowa City's needs, but county-wide needs because we're interested in this being county-wide. Bailey! Well, and because we're talking about the communication center we can reiterate that, as you know, we are exploring this as a joint communication center, clearly there's no indication how this will move forward, but what Iowa City knows is that it will need an upgrade for this reason. And this is a concern of safety for all citizens. Dilkes! I mean, ultimately you could accomplish that sharing even if the County was limited to property tax relief, despite the way you divvy up the money. Atkins! What other points? (several talking) O'Donnell! Steve, you know we've always, or I have always looked on the School and the City as a partnership. You know, we have partnered in the Grand Wood gym. You know, when the new school was built... Atkins! How about a statement of our partnership history? (several talking) O'Donnell! We've done infrastructure needs like roads and so forth. Elliott! I don't think... because I would like the letter to be rather pointed, mention that we have a strong partnership history with the local School District and I think about countywide needs. Bailey! Well, and this is an opportunity to address the needs of the County, and we certainly understand the needs ofthe School Districts in the County, but as, you know, but we also have these needs as we have to upgrade communications. We've seen disasters, blah, blah, blah, and the needs for those. I think we can make a.. . This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 10,2006. ---_._-~------_.~_._---------~,_._----".._--'-~-"_.----,----- July 10, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 13 Atkins/ This is something that could come across very to the point. And that is, we will, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, whatever the number of points totals up and with a conclusion of we appreciate and thank you for your interest, and that's about it. Elliott! In other words you may find it helpful to use bullets and points. Vanderhoef/ I think too, certainly we have partnered for many, many years on recreation, but in recent years, a lot of the focus has been on these family resource centers and so that is another large need that is supporting the School District, in that it's an opportunity to get families into the schools for them to meet with them and work on best way to serve those school children. So, I think we need to hit it from... Atkins/ That's a second use. Correia! But, for our shared penny, because the School District can't use their money for family resource center operations. I mean, they can use it for technology and infrastructure, so I'm not sure. . . Elliott! Very limited. Correia! Yeah, very limited. So I don't know... Vanderhoef/ The reason that the resource centers started way back out at Penn and so forth was that we were getting a message from the School District that they could not get parents and guardians into the school to meet with the teachers. Correia! No, I understand why the family resource centers started, but I'm wondering why. . . are you saying that we want to use a portion of our share for. . . Vanderhoef/ No, what I was saying was that this was another large area of how we have worked with the School District. Correia! Oh! Vanderhoef/ We've done it for recreation for years. Correia! Right, sure. Vanderhoef/ And shared facilities and that kind of stuff. This is a newer and more poignant effort to assist in the education of the children of the community, whether we put resource centers in the schools or whether we have resource centers that are stand-alone centers. O'Donnell/ Obviously, Steve, we don't want this letter to be (unable to hear). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 10, 2006. July 10, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 14 Atkins/ No, no, I can do that for you. Champion! I do need to leave at noon. Atkins/ Okay, well, what I have is sharing; we have a communication center; we are asking for a meeting; a general statement of interest and needs; you want something mentioned about the County, county-wide; a reiteration of our current partnership history with the schools; and that, kicking this thing off, this is a statement on behalf of the Iowa City City Council. You all won't get a chance to see all ofthis, remember, because we're going to have to get this together in a short time frame. (several talking) Elliott! The only thing is I would like this to be more about countywide than something for Iowa City. O'Donnell/ But, Bob, this is, it's clearly just stating our.. ..we want to participate in this, we want to continue the partnership with the school system. Atkins/ I'll write it. Elliott! Are Amy and I going to... Atkins/ Oh, yeah, I won't go it alone. If you're both around this afternoon because... Correia! Or maybe tomorrow morning? Atkins/ Let's target this afternoon. Maybe even take it home tonight with you. Correia! That sounds good. Wilburn! All right. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Conucil meeting of July 10, 2006.