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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-10-30 Transcription October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page I October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session 6:50 P.M. Council: Bailey, Champion, Correia, Elliott, O'Donnell, Vanderhoef, Wilburn Staff: Atkins, Helling, Dikes, Karr, Franklin, Dulek, Tharp, Fosse, Ford, O'Malley Tapes: 06-77, SIDE 2 (blank); 06-81, SIDE I and SIDE 2 (2 minute gap at beginning of tape) AVIATION COMMERCE PARK: Airport Corom.: Horan, Hartwig, Rettig, Farris Franklin! .. .put a building on a lot. Most people are going to have difficulty getting financing to put a building on a leased lot, especially if it's a lease that's 20,25 years, but we know that, for instance, that shopping centers and retail uses, the land is owned, often commonly, and then there are structures on it. Now those are usually rented; however, although some of them have owned buildings on them. So it kind of depends on what the use is, but with industrial land and with the City owning it, there would be a much longer lease period than what we were talking about with the Airport too, at Aviation Commerce Park North. I think that was one of the things that we stumbled on, was how could we do those leases and have them be essentially a 99-year lease and still make the FAA happy and, as I recall. Elliott! Well, I certainly don't want to sound like Dick Cheney, but if you ask me should it be public or private, that's a no-brainer for me. The last thing we need is more public land. We need private land that will provide taxes and preferably, commercial property on the private land. That was.. .you asked the question. That would be my response. Wilburn! Well, I go back to...I go back to, it would be interesting, given the success that they've had at the Oakdale Campus in terms of businesses and variety of business and diversity, about the financial arrangement, what... which might be more beneficial to the City, whether it be private or if there's some type of public lease or whatever, I'm sure that this Councilor a future Council will be looking at, you know, bang-for-the-buck type of arrangement. So.. .you do kind oflook like Dick Cheney now that I think about it, Bob. (laughter) Do you have what you need from us, Karin? Franklin! Yeah, and I think the lease or sale, you know, that's another conversation that we'll have to have at some point, and then the Land Use options, we talked about a lot of these. What 1... what I'm hearing from the group as a whole is that there is a concern about having opportunities for the Airport for the future, but it may be that we don't want to devote this entire space to that, and so I think we need to look at a little bit more refined as to how we would provide hangar space, how This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. ._~~-----",--,-,--"'~-~---'-'-'---'--'-"-'----------~,---,---"---'-'---"--'-"---- October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 2 much of that ground would be necessary to do that, and if there's some way to divvy up the land, such that there's some more tax revenue generating opportunities there also. So it's a combination of all these things. Champion! How much land does a hangar take? How big is a hangar? Rettig! Well, there're are 10 together. So... Franklin! I mean, kind of look at it in relationship to where the ones are... Rettig! .. .long rectangles are the T -hangars. Hughes! It's about 60-foot wide by 300 foot. Franklin! So you could, you know, like put a row on either side of the runway, and then you'd still have a whole big area to the east that could be development potential with commercial frontage. Champion! I think a combination would be good. Bailey! And I'm really interested in exploring these aviation-related needs, and it's not only hangars, but I think that that's going to require some marketing plan and some sense of what kind of businesses are we talking. I mean, some of them are going to come, like this other business and we won't necessarily know about it, but others are a little bit more obvious. Franklin! Well, the direction I'm getting to is that we look at the Oakdale model and see how that works and maybe there's some way to morph it. Elliott! And I also think it would be very helpful, if at all possible, can we get any information from the Reserve Guard occupied property? Franklin! We'll leave that to the Airport Commission. (several talking at once) Horan! ... sorry to say for the record, not fair economic value. Elliott! We'll stay the course. Wilburn! Thank you, Karin. Franklin! You're welcome. Wilburn! Our next, and thanks to the Airport Commission for coming tonight. We have another presentation. Let's start that at 10 minutes until 8:00. (BREAK) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. ------~-~._-,-_._-_.._--~---"._._--.--_._--_.__.,-_..--...------"..-.------------....---...- October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 3 PUBLIC WORKS SITE - RIVERSIDE REDEVELOPMENT: Wilburn! Riverside redevelopment. Fosse/ Get started? Wilburn! Yes, sir. Fosse/ It's so far away. This is odd tonight. The Public Works Department, and many of its facilities, are... they're in the front end of a long-term transition from our Riverside Drive location to the Sand Road location, and what I want to do tonight is just share with you some background about our facilities, where we're at in that transition, what's motivating that transition, I'll give you a glimpse into our Master Plan, and even talk a little bit about phasing. Our goal really is to bring you up to date on where we're at, and also to get these facilities on your radar screen for the upcoming budget process. First thing I want to do is define what I mean by the Public Works facilities, and I put Halloween colors in here for you tonight for your pleasure. We've got the Streets, Traffic Engineering, and Refuse. They're all part ofthe Streets Division, but those are three different operations, and those are all encompassed in these facilities. Also, we want to incorporate the Water Distribution folks. They're part of the Water Division, but they use.. .they're the ones in charge of taking care of the water main system out there and they use a lot of the same equipment and materials that the other folks do and it just makes sense to have them in the same facility. We can have some efficiencies there. And then also there's the Equipment Division. That would be the division that's charged with acquiring our equipment and then taking care of it. So, when I talk about Public Works facilities, it's not the entire department, but it's these components of the department. I just wanted to begin with that. And let me begin by orienting you to the area that we're talking about. Here's the Airport. We were just talking about that and we've got Mormon Trek coming on around and then on the other end, we've got McCollister in this location, and let me connect those up for you on how that's going to be and how it plays in to all ofthis. Our new site is right down here on Sand Road and it is just north of where McCollister comes through and it's also just north of the site that you recently decided to purchase is Sand Lake Recreation Area. That's right down in here. And incidentally, we close on that property next Monday, so that will be in our possession at that time. And this property was acquired in the late 1990' s and shortly after that we built the Administration Building on that because of the impending collapse of the old building, which was as far as I know the last remaining urban renewal, temporary structure is what we were using and it was, it was a mess. So the Administration Building is built and it's ready to go on that site. Now one of the bonuses we got when we bought this site were some Quonset huts down there. That's some storage we didn't have before and that's been an asset for us. It also has its limitations, but we'll talk about that later, and then within the Sandy Lake site is a building that we used to rent from S&G for storing some of our vehicles in the winter time, so we'll now own that. We have, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 4 they have leased it to somebody else and we need to honor that lease until they're out of the building, but that will be an asset for us as part of the Sand Lake building, property...until it's gone for the development down there. Now, let's go up to our other site, the Riverside Drive location. That's the one that we've had for some time there, and at that site, we've got the solid waste operations. That's where refuse, recycling, yard waste, they all operate out of here. We've got the Traffic Engineering folks that operate out of this area. There...we've got our Equipment building, again, in that area. Our car wash, our vehicle wash, a kind of a supersize car wash, if you will. Got our sale storage. We talked about that a little while ago, we'll talk some more tonight, and then just as a point of reference, we... that site is shared with the Transit Department and there are no plans for that facility to go anywhere. So that will stay put and the other ones will transition to the Riverside, or excuse me, to the Sand Road location. Also, we've got our Water Distribution property, which is right in this area, between Highland . Court and Gilbert Court, and that's where they operate out of right now, a metal building at that location. It's all these things that we want to consolidate down here together. This is, now I'm going to talk a little bit about the facilities themselves. Our main assets are equipment, beyond our people that is, and we... storing of equipment right now is all outside and it has been for many years. I can't think of a time when we've been able to store things inside, but in the wintertime, we do find indoor locations for these things and I'll talk more about that in a moment. Same is true for our refuse fleet. These are recycling trucks and then in a row that's perpendicular to us so you can only see one truck is a row of garbage trucks that are. . . they are parked outside as well. One of the hazards to storing things outside, especially on the gravel parking lot that we have now, is you just don't get the life out of the body that you'd like to get. There, you know, we've got holes all the way through so we just screw more metal over that. It's.. . also, I'll show you this garbage truck. Maybe you've seen it around town and wondered about the funky paint job on it (laughter). We could not stay ahead of the rust back here with yellow paint, so we did the Starsky and Hutch black effect back there, and that hides the rust very well, and that's one of the reasons that we transitioned to the dark gray trucks is they hide the rust well. Another nice thing about these trucks is they provide good contrast to our and also the high visibility clothing that our people wear. We really want the motorists to see our people out there when they're working around vehicles and it provides a good backdrop for that. As I mentioned, in the summer time we park our vehicles outside. In the wintertime, we need to get them inside because, scraping windows aside, you've got the diesel motors that need to be kept warm with the oil in them. We've got the hydraulic systems, the air systems, and on the recycle trucks also have an electric system for the compactors in the back ofthat. They're a little bit unusual in that regard. But, we need to be able to respond when it does snow out there, we need to go out and do our job - not only just snow removal, but go out and pick up the garbage. So, we need to be prepared for that. As I mentioned, we're all housed out of this location now, our Streets folks, and then our Solid Waste people are up here yet. This is where our people are, but our equipment in the winter time is just kind of stashed in buildings all over This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session . Page 5 the south end of town, wherever we can get in and keep them warm, and that includes the building down at the Fairgrounds that we rent. We used to have space in the Transit facility, but their fleet has expanded to the point where this winter, we need to get four vehicles out of there, so that's being replaced with four outlets. We've got to keep four trucks outside this winter and see how that works. We'll just plug them in at night. That keeps the engine warm, but not the hydraulic or air systems. To give you an idea of how we shoehorn vehicles in, this is the Water Distribution building and in the fall, they moved some of their stuff outside and then we cram more vehicles in there. These are recycling trucks. They go in there during the winter time, and if you're going to maneuver a vehicle in there, you need somebody to guide you, just because of how tight everything is, but we're able to stuff some stuff in and keep it warm so it does start in the morning and operate well. When we're talking about wintertime, we'll talk a little bit about our sand and salt storage area. We visited about that a few months ago and that we're outgrowing that facility and this area here where we keep our mix materials, sand and salt. We can no longer leave that exposed to the weather because of the runofffrom that. That's part of the EPA's stormwater regs. So, we bought this giant tarp, it's like twice the size ofthe Perkin's flag, and it works, works pretty well for us, until you try and handle it in a blizzard, and then it's just unmanageable. So, we end up peeling that back ahead oftime and so we don't have the coverage that we'd like to get. We think we're good for this winter because if you look at the wooly caterpillars there's a fair amount of brown on them (laughter) so that tells us it's going to be a light winter. Ifthey're all black, look out! That's what the farmers will tell you and if you're wondering what we use for our budget projections (laughter). Enough about snow control. On to the other things. We have a lot of stuff that we use when we're repairing streets and that sort ofthing, and that's pretty well all stored outside now. Our Traffic control and everything like that, and on nice days that's good, but when it's covered in ice and snow, it's very difficult to get out and get at. We store all of our plows and that sort of thing outside, and one of the things I want to point out in this... O'Donnell! Rick, where is this located? Fosse! This is at the Sand Road location, so that's between the ball diamonds and the Sand Lake. In fact, I was just going to point out. This is Sandhill Estates, I think is the name ofthat subdivision. You can see the houses that are starting to develop around us, and that is going to influence how we design our facility, because we're going to need to be a good neighbor to residential activities. We've known that all along, but we thought we might beat the residential development. I think we're going to follow it. When we get new equipment, we want to take good care of it and our equipment is getting more sophisticated and more expensive. This is a concrete saw right here that we purchased last summer to help cutting out concrete so we can do repairs, and the debate becomes do we store it inside or outside, and we got the Quonset huts down there, and what we've discovered with these huts is it's impossible to keep the birds out of them. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. _"~___._'_'___'_'_____~_____ . _._"~....._.._________._______'____~_'_"'" ..____._,__._____~_,____"_. - _0- .____~__ ._,,' .__.____.___.___._____.___.____.~._____________._._ October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 6 So when we put stuff in there, you need to put tarps on it or they decorate it for us. Champion! Oh great! (laughter) Fossel Or the alternative is storing it outside in the yard there and really what governs what equipment needs to be kept dry, what's going to be best for its longevity, and we decide whether it goes in the Quonset huts or out into the yard. These Quonset huts do work nice for storing material like cold mix and dry dirt. Dry dirt is a wonderful asset in the dead of winter when you have a water main break and you have sloppy stuff that you've got to deal with, and we always keep some of that on hand. Going up, back to our Riverside Drive location. That's where our Traffic Engineering folks are staged out of. Their assembly areas are out in the parking lot. Set up the sawhorses and get a new pole ready, and you want to do your assembly ahead oftime, so when you go out to ajob site and close down a busy intersection, you just bolt things in place and get out of there. So pre- assembly is important. This is the pole that's going to replace "Old Yeller" and if all goes as planned, that's going to come out on Wednesday, so if you've grown attached to this, be sure and drive by and (laughter). Well, we also keep a lot of our materials for Traffic Engineering stored outside, and again, in the time of year when people are sliding off the roads and hitting signs, that's when this stuff is most difficult to get at because it's covered in snow and ice and it freezes in a glob out there, so we're looking forward to getting these types of operations inside. Here's our vehicle wash, and it's really just an overgrown car wash, like you used to go to when you were a kid, and you put the quarter in. We've got the one holster over here and the spray bar, and although it is big, it really isn't big enough for a number of our vehicles now, and that spray wand just isn't adequate for doing what we need to do, so in reality most of our vehicle washing occurs outside with using fire hoses - the washing down - because you need to clean up your equipment at the end of the day, every day, especially true with street sweepers. (unable to hear) Those fire hoses are really a workout. I don't know if you've ever worked with them or not. You probably are looking at this and thinking about water quality issues and we have been too and looking at ways to best control that. Starting a year ago, we stopped rinsing out our garbage trucks at the end of the day, outside here. What we used to have was a sand berm along the riverbank, it filtered out the goo that came out of the trucks and then we'd clean that up once a week. Now we rinse out these trucks at the wastewater plant and what comes out ofthe trucks goes in and is treated with our wastewater.. So we have made that adjustment, although the facility wasn't designed for it. It's kind of crammed in there, but it works. It's getting us through in the meantime. Where do we want to be, and when I prepared for this, suggested fuel trips because that worked really well for the Fire Station, but our comparison facilities in Dubuque and we didn't have time for that tonight (unable to hear) bringing along slides. Dubuque is a community of about 60,000. About the same size that we are, and then the facility that they recently built is one that's very similar to what is in our Master Plan, and that gives you an idea ofthe area that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 7 needs to be under roof for the vehicles of a conununity our size. Looking at it from another angle now, you can see on a lower level here they've got the shops for Traffic Engineering, Water Distribution and stuff so they can do a lot of their assembly and their work inside and they're not weather-dependent. Up above, or here's some of the assembly areas where they have room to do work and store materials and that sort of thing. Up above here is storage for things like traffic control boxes, traffic lights, all sorts of good storage like that, and outside, because ofthe neighborhood where this Dubuque facility is, they wanted to keep everything enclosed, not only for the durability of the equipment, but just to keep the site looking good. So, they've got a number of areas that we call "cold storage," these are unheated buildings but it keeps the stuff in out of the weather and out of the way, and then you can see their salt bin down there. Dubuque built this facility for about, just under $14 million. (several talking at once; laughter) Yeah, it's on the order of magnitude of about what we spent on the Library to do something like this, and we know we can't do that all at once, so we're going to talk about phasing in a couple minutes. Sorry, Connie. You okay? (laughter) One of the things, I'll show you a couple things from the Dubuque facility that are nice. One is the vehicle wash system and they've got what's called "wash and racks" where you can get up on top, get above the vehicle and clean out the beds of the dump trucks and that sort ofthing, and they've got a drain system that's designed to take the solids that come out ofthat stuff and then the water's recycled and used again, and it also separates out the oil before it goes to the sanitary sewer. They also have an automated vehicle wash so you can drive through and clean up the outside of your vehicles, and that helps alleviate some of that end of the day traffic jam where everybody's waiting for the same facility to get their trucks cleaned up before they get put away. That's it on the Dubuque facility. This is the Master Plan that we developed for our Sand Road site and let me orient you here. This is Sand Road, north is that direction. A little backwards here. This parking lot already exists, that's the parking lot for the softball field. There's a lift station. Here's the Administration Building that's already built, and the Quonset huts are kind of over in this area. I'll show you a picture that was taken from this location, looking kind of northwest, so that you can see the ball diamonds in the distance. There's the Administration Building. There's the lift station, and this is where that building would sit, right in this area here. What, as I mentioned, the cost estimate on this is significant, when you adjust for inflation on what Dubuque's been and look at what our preliminary estimate is. We're in the $15 million range and that's just a boatload of money, so different ways to phase it. One of the things we're looking at is beginning with the salt storage facility. That's about $350,000. That's something that we can get in place and service right away. Then moving on over here, and let me point out this layout here. We've got the vehicle wash system and then also the fueling islands over here, and the reason those are separated out is we provide fuel to the school busses, as well as most of Johnson County's fleet - the Sheriff's Office, SEATS, that sort of thing, so we're a regional fuel supplier and we want to be able to allow people to come in and get fuel and leave without needing to go into our Public Works complex, and our rationale for putting the vehicle wash system over there This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 8 is especially for an automated, large vehicle wash, that's something that other entities in the community can use and we could set that up so they can key in their pads and we can just bill them back. Champion! Could we raise the price of gasoline to pay for it? Fosse! We mark it up about 2-cents a gallon now, just to cover our expenses, but we really don't make any money off ofthat. But the vehicle wash system is about $330,000. The fuel system there, showing in the green, would be about $400,000, and then you're off into the big-ticket items. Here for the large building that I showed you in Dubuque, you're looking at about $5 and a half million for that component of it, and then to move the Equipment Division over there, as well, is about another $7.5 million. That's an expensive component because of all the equipment that's a part of that. So, as I mentioned, we're in the front end of a long-term process. I want to get these things on your radar screen. Some of our goals, just show you in contrast to moving from storage like this to more what Dubuque has, outdoor vehicle storage, indoor, as well as our cold storage, stop storing things in the grass and get them inside (unable to hear) to make it look a little nicer. Same is true for other things that we have out there. Want to get an indoor staging area for our Traffic Engineering folks that they can work in all weather and be more efficient at what they do. Same for their materials, and the vehicle wash. Also want to get that approved. That's just a quick overview there. Let me wind up by talking about our old sites, and the fact that those are assets to us. Usually, about.. .at least once a year, somebody will come to us and they'll want to purchase either our Water Distribution building or our Riverside Drive site, and of course we can't sell those things because we're not out of them yet. The Water Distribution site is, was appraised a few years ago at about $450,000. It's got some value in that regard, plus you could put that back on the tax rolls. The other site of more significance is this intersection of Old Highway 218 and Highway 6, from a commercial/retail standpoint, that's a very prime intersection. The downside is that it's the old City landfill, and as is much of the west bank of the river, but when they dumped south of Highway 6, they stopped burning the garbage as it went in there so it's less stable than what is experienced north of that, and the edge ofthe landfill area is just, just south of these buildings here. The Transit Building is built right over the landfill and it's got a foundation system that supports it and we've dealt with a number of issues that you may be familiar with because ofthat. What we're going to do for the Public Works site here on Riverside Drive is take another run at some Brownfield's money to see if we can acquire some funds that will help us create a better, or more marketable location here for when we ultimately get out of it. The tough thing is is to sell these sites generates monies to help build our new sites, but the trouble is we need to be out ofthem when we sell them. That's the... O'Donnell! What's the value of that one? Fosse! This one...we've seen...Karin, do you know off the top of your head? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 9 Franklin! I didn't hear what the question was. Fosse/ What the value of this site is on Riverside Drive? I'm thinking in the one and a half... Franklin! Two million. Fosse/ Two million? And... Champion! Fix it and sell it. Fosse/ Yeah, that's what we'd like to do. With that, I'll open it up to questions, and... Elliott! Rick, you talked about the building, do you do all levels of maintenance on the vehicles, and if so, where do you do that, and which of those buildings is it done now, and which of the buildings you highlighted will it be done? Fosse/ Yeah, let me show you. We do our vehicle maintenance...sorry...in...this building right here. That's our equipment building, and as far as our facilities go, that's probably our best one. It's operating the best. Elliott! Is that the one that's going to stay here, or will you move that maintenance capacity to the new site on Sand Road? Fosse/ That will eventually get moved to the new site, and phasing wise, probably will be the last one because our need is the least, but then it's got the competing aspect of that it's sitting on the most valuable piece of property. Elliott! Right. Bailey/ So you're talking about phasing, what's the time line? F osse/ Well, we'd like to get some of the smaller things done in the next few years. We need to get our new salt storage building up, vehicle wash, to address some of those environmental issues, and then beyond that, we need to look at some financing packages for how we take on those larger projects. Something that we'll be doing in the next year or two is entering the schematic design phase of this, and in the design continuum, we've got master planning to final sets of plans, and the next step after master planning is your schematic design, and that's when we can flush out some ofthese other phasing options. Maybe there's a way that we can get the solid waste component of it built for a smaller amount of money and do additional phasing. Any time you split a project up, you pay more in the long run, but if you can't afford it, you can't afford it. And those are the realities that we need to work with. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 10 Champion! How is...trash paid for? Just give me a rundown. I mean, it's not tax dollars. It's.. . Atkins! It's pact of your utility bill; you pay water, sewer, refuse collection, recycling. Those four fees are your monthly utility bill. And trash is, I believe, $12.50 or $13.00 a month now. Champion! You know, that's really cheap! Atkins! Considering all of the services we provide, yeah. Champion! And so, I mean, I...I mean, since it is... what do you call that? Bailey/ Enterprise fund? Champion! Thank you, an Enterprise Fund. That's it, isn't it, very good. So, how would, would we pay for this by raising those rates or are they high enough, or are we putting some money aside? Atkins/ I don't believe that through the rate structure we can generate sufficient money to do what we're talking about. I think we're going to have to enter into a program of actually just setting aside monies on an armual basis, accumulating the cash to pay for these things. We can use road use tax money. We can use some water. I mean, we can use a combination of monies. Champion! I think it's important to get this stuff indoors. Correia! We can use road use tax money? Atkins! Yes, for buildings. Fosse/ Dubuque compiled about $4.5 million of road use tax that they dedicated towards theirs, and the rest came out of their general fund, and because they're flush with gambling monies, they can do that. (laughter) And so... Wilburn! Major project. Correia! Is there. . . Wilburn! It's a major project. Fosse/ It is; it really is. VanderhoeV Is our site actually big enough to put all that in there? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. " ____~_.._~__.___,______._.,___'__~___.______._"_ ___.m____..__,_~._____________._..,____'__.__ October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 11 Fosse/ Yes, and that's one of the reasons that we're getting out of the Riverside Drive site is that because of the constraints of that site, it just wasn't worth reinvesting in new buildings there. We needed to go elsewhere, and that decision was set in motion back in the 90's. Atkins/ ...it' s about 20 acres. Fosse/ Yeah. Atkins/ Yeah, I mean, it's...we're comfortable with the site. Fosse/ We've got room to grow and room for some other buildings down there, as well. Champion! Wow. Well, I think it's important that that salt container get done, because that's ridiculous to have to pull a tarp off to get it out to use it. Vanderhoef! Well, the runoff is the real big thing, and stormwater, I presume, and DNR are going to get after us shortly if we don't have better control of runoff. Fosse/ Yes. Within our site, we have this area that's essentially left over. This piece, at the intersection of the two arterial roads, McCollister and Sand Road, is privately owned, and that's probably a good thing because that's a real sweet comer for development there. Elliott! That's the comer of Sand Road and? Fosse/ McCollister. Elliott! McCollister, okay. F osse/ Yes, it's the northwest comer. Elliott! How much property is that, in that that you just... Fosse/ This little piece that's carved out? I, two acres.. .thank you, Karin. I'm glad you stayed. Vanderhoef! So the rest of it, the undeveloped part of our Public Works site, is three, three and a half acres maybe? F osse/ Oh, it's bigger than that. Vanderhoef! I see where you're taking it. Fosse/ All ofthis, and what the consultant is showing in here is some cold storage buildings and then somewhat of a larger warehouse. One of the things that we've This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. ----- -_._-_..-_._--~--------_.,_.__._----_._--_.~_._--------------.'-..-.. --_._.._----_.__..._-----~-_.~------,."'._--_...--- October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 12 been doing is poking around and talking to the University and the School system about possibility of a joint facility down there. The thing that the School system is interested in is warehouse space. And whether or not that will dovetail with anything we do we don't know yet, but we are talking with them about those things. Vanderhoef! So those are proposed, future use kinds of things. Champion! And when the big building, that's the big building right there, the one that's going to store.. .is your plan to make the outside very attractive and enter through a back road into that? Fosse/ Yes. Let me...let me try to get to that. Well, here. You will come in off of the road that goes back by the lift station and enter in this area here, and then most of our doors will be on this back side, so the backup beepers and that sort of thing will be shielded by the building, and also the salt storage building will be on the back side of the larger L-shaped Public Works facility, again, to try and make those areas quieter and more concealed. Champion! More attractive. Fosse/ Now that the road has been reconstructed and the grading is done along the sidewalk, we'll probably get some trees growing along here in the next year or two, just to begin some screening. Vanderhoef! Does the DNR let you build, or put in trees in the flood plain, like if you were to go to the west side of this site, between our site and the river, to put in more trees, even if we had space in there for part of our nursery activities, which would also screen the back side of this from the river. Fosse/ Yes, there's no restriction to planting within the flood plain, but we don't own to the river here. Vanderhoef! I know we don't. That's what I want to buy. Fosse/ Okay. O'Donnell! What's that salt building made out of? Fosse/ Concrete. O'Donnell/ It's concrete? And how big is this? Approximately. Fosse/ You know, I don't have good figures off the top of my head. You're talking about the old one or the new one or. . . This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 13 O'Donnell/ I'm talking about the one in Dubuque. Fosse/ Oh, in Dubuque. That actually is a salt dome and that one may be built out of treated lumber, and rather than going with the dome shape, we were going to go with more of a conventional shaped building to fit into the neighborhood a little mcer. Vanderhoefi' So, when we extend the trail from Napoleon Park, which it's down to the lift station or real close to the lift station right now, we need to be looking at how we bring that trail along here and connect it with the south Sand Lake area. Bailey/ Have we thought about how we're going to get under or over McCollister with that trail? Vanderhoef/ Well, see that's something that's been in my mind all along, and how we can approach getting the rest ofthe land in there, and then we can design trail. Fosse/ That trail comes up and ends right here at this point, and I think what you were talking about, it also comes along the river. Vanderhoef/ Yeah, and it's the river one. Fosse/ Continuing on along the river, something like that. Vanderhoefi' Urn-huh, that's, and then it needs to go probably under McCollister Road when it comes across the river from the bridge. Fosse/ Yeah, we can get that underneath the river bridge. Right now, this ties in with the 8- foot sidewalk that was built along Sand Road now, it's part of the trail system. Vanderhoefi' But the other one is the more important one and that's primarily...how close is our property right now to the flood plain? Fosse/ Well, the flood plain extends somewhere right along in here. The riverbank is just right up at the top of the picture there. Vanderhoefi' So there's quite a grassy, green area there that can't be developed unless you raise up buildings above, but need to be using that to our advantage. Fosse/ Anything else? Champion! Sounds great. Fosse/ Okay, thank you. Wilburn! Thank you, Rick. Okay, the Council Goals 2006 Review. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 14 COUNCIL GOALS 2006 REVIEW: Wilburn! In our packet, we were provided a couple sheets from the January 4,2006, goal- setting session. The broad categories that they were grouped under were Capitol Improvement, Economic Development, Engagement, Housing, Environmental Beautification, Inner-governmental and Programs. We've got City staff here to give any further detail about what's listed there, but I was just kind of curious from Council as you look through those broad areas and the specific items underneath. Maybe just go ahead and take a minute and at your leisure, go ahead and comment, just reaction to the list overall and places where we have an "atta girl," "atta boy," areas of disappointment. Champion! (unable to hear; several talking at once) Wilburn! Reaction to the list and items that are there, or... Champion! We have done some of these things. We've done some (unable to hear). Wilburn! Any others that jump out that we did accomplish? Bailey/ I think we're tracking pretty well in the housing. I mean, I think we're about where we thought we would be. Don't you? I mean... Wilburn! If! remember right, we knew it would be a long discussion. Bailey/ Right, so I think we should really... Champion! And I think the Rec Center is really looking good. Atkins/ It's going to be a nice looking building, yeah. Yeah. Wilburn! Any other points that stand out where we... Champion! We certainly haven't done much on litter pickup. (laughter) Correia! Are we doing anything with the recycling at the Sports... Atkins/ That's sort of on the list ofthings to do. We've got a couple of new programs. I think you.. . got one for smail business that we just put into place. Their coordinator began this year. We hope to do kind of an update on that for you shortly...and the east side's recycling center is moving right along now, yeah. Bailey/ So maybe we should think specifically the Youth Sports Park, that might be something we could roll out next season. I don't know what all is entailed or the cost associated with... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 15 Atkins/ If! remember, our first go at it, we tried...it ended up people putting trash in it, and once you contaminate the bottles, yeah, it was unfortunate. Bailey! Easier to separate at home. Elliott! Didn't we put in the brake ordinance sign, Steve? Atkins! Yes. Elliott! That's what I thought. Correia! I think, you know, there're a lot of kids that are interested in recycling. I think there are probably ways to also do some interesting educational things at the Sports Park. Atkins! Oh, we'll figure it out. Oh yeah. It's only temporary, it was a temporary set back. Bailey! And there are a lot of water bottles I would imagine, right? Correia! It's not; it's Powerade, it's Gatorade, it's pop, it's water, yeah, all the plastic bottles. Wilburn! Well, there's also been some just even change in the type of container that we use because of the recycling containers that are in the Pedestrian Mall now for the pop cans and things are a lot smoother than I remember we used to have the little stands that blew over with the.. .so there's some (unable to hear). Any other reactions to the things that you think where we've made some strides... Vanderhoeti' We have increased the City revenue diversity in the new (unable to hear; several talking). Dermacia genecular is what I'm trying to say, and I said Genencore. Sorry. Wilburn! We knew what you meant. Vanderhoef! Thank you. Elliott! That means when you make a cross on your chest, right? Vanderhoeti' Something like that. (laughter) Wilburn! Steve, you were going to jump in with something. City staff too, feel free to jump in. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 16 Atkins! ...is the business friendly and tax base NOl, as well as Hieronymus, two big projects just recently came through. Elliott! When are we going to list our, say, top half dozen or so priorities? Champion! Are you talking about budget? Or are you talking about goals? Elliott! Budget. This is what's going to lead into the budget and when are we going to say, 'These are our top two, top five, top eight priorities.' Vanderhoeti' Until I get dollar amounts to figure out what we can accomplish in this next budget year, that's... Atkins! This is a non-revaluation year, folks, so our growth in tax base will be less. Every other year we have a bulk. This year it'll be a little down. Wilburn! Amy, you had pointed out... perhaps just a point with recycling. Any other areas we hadn't had an opportunity at, not necessarily through fault of our own, but just externally to us? Bailey! Well, I just think that we didn't to the degree that we thought we might pursue the engagement category. I mean, we have the (unable to hear) and put to Council, but you know, we talked about a board and commission fair and those kinds of things and this probably would have been the time to do it because we have all . those openings, and I just think that we were working on other things, but I don't think we should let some of those ideas go. Champion! I think we've done a lot, in looking at transit. Atkins! You added two new routes, yeah. Champion! I mean, I think that's a constant thing, but I do think we do a good job of looking at that every year. So, comprehensively, to get a joint transit system going in the county - that's not going to happen, but I think we have great cooperation (unable to hear) and Coralville. I think we're doing pretty well right there. Correia! We kind of missed partnership with the School District. I think we... Champion! We did partner with them on the... Atkins! We also had a...we did have a bump in the road, remember? Don't forget April. The tornado. How quickly, yeah.. . how quickly we forget! (several talking at once) We hope to put a tree out where it used to be at the comer ofthe building. It's called a Black Hills Pine. Terry can.. ..well, I'll refer to Terry Robinson. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. __~._._~_~_~_________."..~_.____._________"'__""______._____'_____..o_o._..'...______....._.____.___...____ October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 17 Something like that. What? Black Hills Spruce, there you go. Anyway, that's the one the employees are going to pay for. Yeah. Wilburn! One thing that I'd still, related to that engagement piece, I think it's also probably related to economic development and we did make some good strides with economic development, but under engagement we talked about some type of Iowa City promotional campaign design. I'd still like us to. . . I don't know if that's something. I don't know what staff member or members could go into that. I don't know ifthat would be something that Wendy would be interested in or... Bailey/ She is interested in it, I think. Wilburn! All right, great. There's some progress right there! O'Donnell! You know, Coralville really did a great thing with that Coralville Pride. (several talking) I mean, that is catchy. I'd like to see Iowa City come up with something. (TAPE ENDS) I mean, that's catchy (several talking). Wilburn! Isn't that what it's all about? Urn... Atkins/ But they also did something really interesting with their capitol projects. If you remember, they handed out biscuits to the folks who were on I st Avenue. Bailey/ Right, and Dairy Queen (several talking at once) Atkins/ In the morning, yeah, and Dairy Queen. They've done some real clever things. I would be.. . (several talking at once).. . the only difficulty is, I don't know how to say this other than say it, it's difficult for me to use the public's money to do those kind of promotional campaigns. We're here to provide public services, not biscuits. It's a fun idea. O'Donnelll As long as North Dodge has taken, we ought to go up there and (laughter) invite 'em all over to my house for homemade chili. (laughter) Elliott! The only thing, Steve, in response to your point, and I really respect that because obviously I'm concerned, I think we spend too much money far too often, but marketing, commercial enterprises have shown, marketing pays off. If it's marketing that's thoughtfully done well and pointed, and you can show, so I'm not saying we should never market ourselves, but I think we should.. .if we do, we should do it very carefully. Atkins/ And I understand, in principle, I think I have a basic agreement with you, but remember, we're marketing ourselves, which implies that we're going to be able to provide all the public services.. . for that marketing initiative. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. -_.~.-----_._"-_._._-----_._._---,-----~--_.__.~"'----._----_._--_.,._._------~----_.--- October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 18 Champion! We do market ourselves very well. I mean, look at all the things we've done to the Neighborhood Associations. That is marketing ourselves to our own citizens. Look what we do with the free stuff that's provided - the Friday Night Concert Series, the movies, the Arts Fest. I mean, we have a tremendous amount of self-marketing going on that we don't even realize we're doing. O'Donnell! To our own area. Champion! To our...well, I think that's important. O'Donnell/ It's very important, but the idea is... Champion! ... but it's things you can use when people come. Bailey/ But I think part of it is it's not packaged. I mean, it's here and here and here. It's not a necessarily consistent brand message that would maybe make it go farther and be the kind of marketing campaign that, I mean, a very carefully thought out one. We have great things going on, unquestionably, but I think pulling it all together. Wilburn! I think that's what we're talking about. Elliott! Weare what some people have called a very well kept, very good secret. Vanderhoef! I think lCAD is a collaborator with us on marketing these kinds of things that you're talking about, Connie, and maybe we do need to do a package kind of... Bailey/ ... but I think... Vanderhoef/ ...that goes out with the whole lCAD package. Correia! I think the Coralville project is more than marketing for outside consumption, I guess I'll just say, the Coralville project is, you know, how to get the community together, we're one community, there are great things about this community, we feel good about our government, you know, and I think that was some of the messages; in the last campaign was 'oh we don't really trust our government' and those types ofthings, and I think that's another goal of doing a promotional campaign, is to get people to feel good about the city and what's happening, and then feel good about providing input and, in terms of being engaged, and there are these ways to be engaged and it makes a difference and that sort of thing. Elliott! I think in this area, Coralville was unique and either purposefully, or by accident, stumbled onto something that their community really bought in to. It's not unique around the country. Place that are so called suburbs, sometimes have a bit of an inferiority complex and so it's, they were in a unique situation, whether by intent This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. -----_._,-_.._,~-_._---,...._--_._----_._--- October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 19 or by accident, they stumbled...I should say, they found something that the community really has bought in to. O'Donnell! Well, they found something that really works. It's on every vehicle. It's on shirts. The logo is, I just think it's... Elliott! They feel good about themselves! VanderhoeV And it was developed when they were a much smaller community, and comparing the size of their community and what they could offer, and what we're comparing Iowa City, Iowa City has some of those same things. Some of our neighborhoods were originally the size of all of Coralville. We've gotten them down to smaller units now, but certainly be section of the city, we had 10,000 folks here, there, and everywhere and that was the size that Coralville was when they took on the Pride, Coralville Pride, and it's more difficult to come together in the bigger picture and what works for a smaller community is not necessarily what works for the bigger community. O'Donnell/ But you know, if you come up with a slogan or a logo or something like that, you have to live up to it. And our economic development, under here it says, 'More business friendly city, continue to grow the tax base, change perception of doing business.' All these things have to fall into that logo. Champion! I don't think we are a difficult place to conduct business in. I mean, you always say that, but I don't think we are. (several talking) Elliott! Weare. Bailey/ How so? Elliott! Just this past year, a business that was putting money into an area where we really wanted money, took them six months to get the City to approve an electronic sign that is second nature to most places. I mean, it's like to get into the 21't century, it took us a half year. Bailey/ Dairy Queen? Wilburn! Well, everybody has different experiences, and another experience is a quote from either Harry Wolf or Jeff Disterhauf that Iowa City area is one ofthe best places in the nation to live, work, and play. Take a look at the data inside. This is from their, what came out in their annual report, so... O'Donnell! Live, work, and play has nothing to do with increasing, or changing the perception of doing business in Iowa City. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. .._.._._--_..._~-------,.~,-_._---------_."._,..__._-----.---"'" ..._--_._--.._.._---~~_..~_.~._.._.-.--_...._,. .. ._~~----_.__.._-----_....._-- October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 20 Wilburn! But it's a comment related to Iowa City Area Development Group, which is what they use to help market the area. Bailey! Well, and I think one of the things we did this fall, I think we had some very good discussions and negotiations and we have two TIF projects that some people might have been skeptical could ever happen in this community, but we worked very hard to get something that was authentic to our community, yet increase the possibilities of growing the tax base and kept local developers with the projects here. I mean, incredible projects. Champion! I think we're very business friendly, and frankly, I hate to see it when people, especially Council Members, and not just you, Mike, say we're not, because then people get the perception that we're not, but I think we really are, and I think the fact about the signs, I don't think that's a big deal. They didn't need that sign going right now, and so it took a while to get it changed, but now everybody, like the banks, can have those signs now. Isn't that correct? Elliott! We're sitting here saying they don't need the sign. They know what they need. Champion! I didn't say they don't need it. I said they didn't need it immediately. Elliott! But we're sitting here unilaterally...time is money in business. If there's one thing that Iowa City doesn't know it's that time is money for business, and it takes people months if not years... O'Donnell! ...I just read three things that's under Economic Development. Champion! I know I know. But I think we've done a lot to change that. Elliott! We have, we have. O'Donnell! We've done a lot, but we've got a long way to go. Champion! Well, I guess you can never have enough, but I'm not willing to.... O'Donnell! We could talk about do's and don'ts for long, long time. Bailey! It's critical as we grow our economic development and make a more business- friendly city that it's Iowa City, and not just "Anywhere USA" so we have to have standards that meet our City's standards, our community's expectations of the work that we do, and I think that that's something that we haven't fully embraced, that we're different than other communities and we have to reflect that authenticity, because if we don't, then we're just some anywhere. We could be in Indiana. O'Donnell! And there's really nothing wrong with that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 21 Elliott! Keep telling people what's best for them. Wilburn! Are there any other items (several talking at once).. . are there any other items, I'm sorry, we're not going to resolve this difference, and throughout that, there was agreement that we are making progress. So, are there any other items on these, on this goal-setting list that we do want to work harder. . . go ahead, Dee. Vanderhoetl The inner-governmental, we had a presentation on Metro Agenda, and we said really do one this year, well we're about to receive our report; however, it's going to come out on the Joint Cornmunication Center, but I think what has been shown to us in these discussions on road planning is what we really have to tackle is land use planning in a comprehensive way in the big picture for all of us, because we can't plan good roads unless we know what the expectation is in each community of what they're going to build in what areas. So, we've got to really make a push to go for land use planning in the county, county-wide. Bailey! .. . right now. There's a lot of contention going on. Vanderhoetl I know there is, but part of the contention is being created by trying to create a transportation system, without knowing the land use plan out in that area is one of the things that's driving the contention. Bailey! I actually thought, I was thinking about the contention between the cities, the confusion or the disagreements, and when you talk about inner-governmental cooperation and the metro agenda, there are some barriers at the State level, although they seem to think they're promoting it, there's some legislative barriers to being able to do some ofthe things we want.. . funding is a huge barrier. Vanderhoef! Well, funding, but, but that is. . . Bailey! No, I'm not saying provision of funding, but the way we can levy taxes to pay for certain things, and I think that will come out in the Communication Center study, as well as some of these other things. I mean, who does (unable to hear), who's in charge of that? Vanderhoef! This is where.. .JCCOG mayor may not, or it may be a separate entity as some of the big metropolitan areas have done for years, that what their COG looks like is multi-county, but it's all in one big metro area and they do all of the planning in that respect. Bailey! Is there an Iowa model like that? Vanderhoetl Not that I'm aware of. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 22 Bailey/ See, and are there legislative barriers to that, as well? Should look into it, because they say they want one thing at the state level, and I'm not sure we have the enabling legislation to do it. Vanderhoef/ I don't know of anything that precludes us from doing that. That, and there may be when you get down to the fine.. .I'm certainly not an expert on it. Elliott! Well, what's happening in JCCOG is kind of a microcosm, that no longer can you do something in one area and just ask the people along a narrow strip how they feel about it. It impacts the entire area. Bailey/ But clearly, I mean, people have different visions for development, I mean, that development that potentially prevent urban sprawl, yet some object to it because they call it urban sprawl, so our understandings of definitions and visions for development in the future are very different. Vanderhoef/ Well, certainly, if you're planning an industrial park in one area versus high- density housing in another area, there's differences in what your transportation system ought to look like and what capacities and loads would be carried on those areas. So.. .just sitting around the table right now with our various communities and talking about what we have on our own Comprehensive Plan... Bailey/ You weren't there. We did get the regional land use maps. Vanderhoef/ We got the maps, but we don't have what, what they're planning to put in certain areas, particularly in the undeveloped areas, whether they are planning industrial or commercial or. . . Bailey/ We got the zoning maps. In the packet, that showed residential, commercial, industrial, right? O'Donnell/ Right. Vanderhoeti' In this last packet? Bailey/ Uh-huh, it's like the last two pages are two - one current and one future. So the mapping system is in place now. Vanderhoeti' Good, okay. Bailey/ So that's a start... Vanderhoeti' I read about two-thirds of that this afternoon, and then I ran out oftime. Wilburn! Well, I think the whole message that we talked about, it's actually doing one, but it seems to me over the last year, different Council Members have put the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 23 question what are others doing, can we work, so at least from our point of view, my point of view, we are trying to extend a hand. Now whether or not it's being, one is being extended back to us to, that's a whole different ball of wax. Any other, any other things that folks want to... O'Donnelll Capitol Improvements.. .Police and firefighters, and that northside fire station, sooner or later it's going to have to... Champion! We did add a couple new policemen, right? O'Donnell/ And the firemen. Champion! We added one fire inspector or. . . Elliott! Yeah, that's why I'd like for us, at some point, set priorities for Steve when he goes into developing a budget. What is our first, second, third, fourth priorities. Atkins/ We're doing that right now. Elliott! Pardon me? Atkins/ I said I'm putting the budget together right now. Champion! I don't know, maybe we could put the students in charge of litter downtown. Bailey/ Not creating it. Vanderhoef! There's your chance for volunteerism, ten hours and... Champion! I don't understand the amount oflitter downtown, and I know I've been preaching about this since I've been on the Council, and I, I vary on it. I just came back from Chicago, which is...I mean there's not a cigarette butt anywhere! O'Donnell/ It's the Windy City - it all blows away! (laughter) Champion! The flowers are not picked. They're all beautiful and nobody picks them. Urn, and I'm not talking about just Michigan Avenue. I was walking on a lot of side streets, and it's all just spotless, and I don't understand how they can do it and we can't! And, you wouldn't think of throwing a piece oflitter down because it's so clean. You just wouldn't think of dropping anything on the sidewalk. It's so clean. I know they have more money, or obviously it's where the stress is, but I would like to see us somehow keep the litter picked up in this city. Elliott! I wonder what Maxwell Street looks like in Chicago these days. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. .~_.._-------_._-----.--_.__._._~--_._-_.._~-_.,._._---..--.-.--..--------------"---- -.--.-. October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 24 Champion! Oh, well, on a Saturday afternoon, you can't even walk down it, let alone look at the litter. Bailey/ But the alleys look better, I will say that. Champion! The alleys look better, they...yeah, we've done a big improvement with the alleys. Bailey/ We just need to move it out onto the streets. Champion! Yeah! Vanderhoeti' I would wonder if there was a real concerted effort, both in education and in ticketing for litter in the downtown areas, that retrain the people. Champion! Well, I don't know. Well, I've never seen much litter on Michigan Avenue. I'm not talking about just Michigan A venue. In fact, the new Millennium Park didn't have any litter in it either, because somebody walks around with a broom and sweeps cigarette butts out of the grass. O'Donnell/ There's the answer! Champion! I mean, so it's spotless because, again, it's so clean nobody wants to throw anything down, but of course some people do. You can't retrain everybody. But I think because we don't have a good litter removal program, we get more litter. I'm convinced that litter creates litter. And then I go the opposite direction. When I went to Sioux City, it was spotless, it was spotless! I didn't see any litter and I probably walked for three miles, and I didn't see one ounce oflitter. I also did not see one person! (laughter) So there I thought, maybe our litter isn't so bad! (laughter) O'Donnell/ Steve, how often do we sweep the sidewalks downtown? Was that... Atkins/ I believe it's three days a week. Warm weather, and power wash them. Elliott! I still find it surprising that merchants do not take that as their important responsibility. That is so disappointing to me. Champion! They don't do it! Elliott! That, not only you clean it, but you sweep things out ofthe cracks. (several talking at once) Champion! ...an hour later it's already blown, if there's any blowing, so it's got to be a city-wide effort, and maybe, I don't know, maybe a City planner could.. . (several talking at once) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. - ._"_._..._._.~-------_.."-,---~-_.~-~-~_.__._..__..._------,-~------------,--"--"-------'-~---'--'-----'~-~'.-.~_._-~-_.__._~_.,.- October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 25 Correia! Some cities require that businesses keep there are.. . clear, you know. When I was in Seattle, I would walk by in the morning and they're out there. Atkins! We require it for snow removal, and they still don't pay any attention to it. Champion! There's still businesses downtown that don't remove their snow. O'Donnell! I've been downtown on Saturday mornings and seen these cups and, particularly on Clinton Street, with the names on them. (several talking at once) Vanderhoef! And the alcoves of the stores along there, they just drop them and Clinton is just about as bad. O'Donnelll I don't think there's anything wrong with sending a letter to each of the storefronts down there. Elliott! The most disappointing, I think, is Sunday morning during football season, when some people have come to Iowa City and they go downtown for maybe a nice brunch some place, and the merchants have not...I don't know where their pride is in their business. Bailey! We need that slogan! (laughter) Elliott! Yes, there we go! Champion! And then on the other hand, the (several talking) Panchero' s, they put a trash can out and then they were told by the City they couldn't have it on City property. A policeman or somebody made them bring it in, because they were trying to get their people to throw trash in there. Vanderhoef! Isn't there a trash at that corner? Atkins! Panchero's, huh? Champion! I heard that, so maybe somebody can ask about that. But, I do think that the Downtown Association could really use some strengthening, and I don't know how we can help them do that, but I can tell you that it's almost (unable to understand) because Mark Ginsberg and I and several other business people got together once a month for a year trying to get... we were even going to buy everybody a broom and a dust pan. Atkins! I remember that! You were going to....(several talking at once). Bailey! Maybe we should all show up at 7:00 in the morning and sweep the streets. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. ---~--_._-_...-----~,-_._------~---,-~._--_.,_.. "~"--,,,-,---,,-,,,-~,---,---------'--'----'-'-- October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 26 Vanderhoef/ ... probably the opportunity to get collectively together and hire someone to do some of that cleanup in the morning. I mean, when you come to work, I know basically both sides of our building every morning, but it's.. . by the next morning, it's equally bad again. Elliott! It would be in the City's best interest if the Downtown Association could be a more viable enterprising group, and if the. . . the SMID thing that failed was certainly a disappointment. O'Donnell/ You know, I was bringing up specifically the cups on Clinton Street because you can go out of another store and you can have a bag with a store name on it, but those cups on that city street, somebody's been out there drinking illegally, because they're beer cups and people are on the street drinking the beer. So, I don't. .. Elliott! Unfortunately, we're just talking about, there's an alcohol problem, a lot of young people come to Iowa City.. . has problems waiting to happen. The trash problem on our little street, I find people have just thrown out a McDonald's bag with fries. People just.. .it's the people! The people seem to have no pride in their community. Champion! No, you're right, it is the people. Elliott! It's unfortunate. Champion! It happens on Summit Street too. But you know, there's got to be a way to do. For instance, when my grandchildren come, we have a scavenger hunt and I walk around the block and write down every piece of trash and then they have to walk around the block and pick it all up. (laughter) Wilburn! There's the solution right there! Bailey/ Okay, Connie's grandchildren are the answer! Vanderhoeii' There's one more piece of the downtown making us look trashy, and it's also expensive to the City in the long run, and that is the use of our light poles, both the metal ones and the wood poles downtown for putting up announcements, and it still is a huge problem in that there are about five establishments that continually hand out these brochures to someone, and either have them taped up to our poles, which tears the pain off ofthem, which makes them look as crappy as can be, or they staple them on to the wood poles, and just from our comer, there are three poles in a row and there are days when you can walk down there to the Neumann Center and take as many as 18 or 20 off of those two poles, those three poles. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. _________.____~._.~_..~_____,__,.~.______~___________w_ ____~~..__.__._.._._..___._.~..__..__.,.____..__ .., October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 27 O'Donnell! I bring that up every year, go down Dubuque Street and there's a million staples in each telephone pole. I don't know... you have to catch them doing it. Vanderhoef! Right, and why is it that we cannot put the responsibility on the people who are advertised? You can read what the bill is, and what they're advertising, so the establishment. Eleanor, we've got to find a way that we can charge the establishment (laughter and several talking at once). I mean, it is so crappy looking, and those are the things that blow around! Wilburn! I'm sorry, I think, again, everybody is agreeing this is the issue, but... Elliott! When did you lose control, Ross? Wilburn! I never lost control so... O'Donnell/ .,. bring up one more comment. Wilburn! Go ahead. O'Donnell/ ... 'cause Connie says I always say this. Champion! You do! O'Donnell! Well, then I do, and I mean it, but as an example, when we had a tornado go through town, how many people got a call about the sign on the Dairy Queen on Riverside Drive? Champion! I did. O'Donnell/ I did, in fact I got them allover. You know, are you guys nuts, you can't put up a sign? Well, we got a call from the owner too, but it was because he couldn't put up a sign. Bailey/ Well, then....(several talking at once) Champion! It got done! Wilburn! We're, again, not going to resolve this tonight. O'Donnell/ And you see, that's part of perception. Wilburn! Okay. Without opening this up for discussion, I will just ask, I was going to ask for questions but we spent a little bit more time, but as we receive the budget, I would ask the Council to pull this list out again and think of what you had listed, or felt, some of your priorities were, but this would be a good working list to think about implications for next year's budget, and so, when we get the budget, I This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. -_._--_._.__.._-_._._---,.__._.__.,.._.,------_._~'-~-.---------------_._-'"-----,-_.,-_.~_.._--~._.._-_.,-------..--.---.,-, -------_.---- .. -----...-.----------------- October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 28 would encourage Council to, you know, tear this sheet out and throw it right in there as part of that discussion. Elliott! Well, our next work session. Wilburn! I'm talking about when we get to our budget work sessions, to go ahead... Elliott! Is that going to be time enough for you, Steve? Atkins! Probably not. Elliott! You are so optimistic! Atkins! No, I... this last week you went through the list of budget issues and I, if you want to pick four or five things, you need to take some time to think about four or five priorities, and some ofthe priorities you may pick, you know, I can tell you right up front, we cannot afford the north fire station. Can't afford it, unless we're going to get rid of people. O'Donnell! We can't afford the staff. Atkins! Yeah, cannot afford to staff it. Elliott! And my thinking is, if public safety is not our number one priority, then we need to stand up and be counted and have someone say public safety is not our number one priority, because that's what we're saying if we don't do that. Period, and there's no other way to put it, because it's gone on far too long, but I've said that before, but that's, that will be what I. . ..I think we do whatever it takes by any way that it's measured, within Iowa, within the Midwest - we are short! Wilburn! Steve, what I was suggesting was not, regardless of whether you have input on any of these, when we sit down for the budget and we go through the list and we talk abut do we want to do this...I'mjust suggesting this is a good personal list for... Atkins! Oh, I.. . that's fine. In that respect, I use. . . well, we did at the last meeting and this for guidance, particularly when we recommend any kind of new initiative. Wilburn! Right. Atkins! And in answer to Bob's question, they were not put in any priority order. Wilburn! Right. Atkins! You all have to decide that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. -~,--,-,,--,--~----~-,'---"-'--'----~~-----~~-~-"'--_._....._------_._--~---~."._.-_..,---_..._--,._-"'--~----.-',-'-.----.----" October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 29 Vanderhoeti' Okay, two priorities for me then that I still want us to look at is completing the loop trail on Sand Lake and the plan that was put together a number of years ago for gazebo and so forth there. Second priority for me is to make sure that we are completing the eastside trail to the river. We're getting it as far as Creekside Park, and we're in the process ofthat one, but to get it all the way to the river so that there is an east-west trail system from Scott to the river. Wilburn! Before I open it up for prioritization tonight, 'cause I'm, I'm not going to own the will or dissatisfaction of the Council. We can do this tonight, but we do have another work session set that we could come for the purpose of prioritization. This was put out as just a review. Bailey! It would be helpful to have the list that we created a couple weeks ago, if we're going to talk about priorities. Atkins! First question is, do you plan to have the meeting... Wilburn! Next Monday night. Vanderhoef! Okay, I'm willing to come next Monday night and let's get down to that.. . (several talking at once). O'DonnelV But it was tentative? Atkins! So we're going to... Wilburn! We have a clear purpose for getting together. Champion! Steve, do you have any indication of what kind of money we're going to be talking about by then? Atkins! I doubt it, yeah. We just got the values from the County, and so...if! have it I'll certainly bring it along, yeah. Vanderhoeti' And our bonding capacity. . . Atkins! We're in great shape on that, and I can give you that. (several talking at once) Champion! I would probably be in to bonding less 'cause taxes are so high. Atkins! And I'll give you that list of the things you did... Champion! And I was totally amazed by tonight's presentation. I had no idea our storage facilities were so bad! Atkins! They are. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page 30 Champion! I think that's terrible. Atkins/ Yeah, well...(several talking at once) Well, but you have made some major improvements. You have a brand-new water plant, and you have a brand-new waste water plant. It's not like you haven't done anything. (several talking at once) Vanderhoef/ .. . and we're building a brand-new fire station. I mean, we gave the nod on... Atkins/ So, the meeting on the 6th are budget priorities, urn, I had planned if the meeting was a go to have Terry and Tammy here to give you kind of a rundown on what Farmer's Market is all about. Okay? Bailey/ And their plans for next year? Atkins/ I don't know what their planning. That I don't know yet, Regenia. I'll have to talk to Terry. I just wanted to make sure that everybody was on the same playing field with respect to the Farmer's Market, because I think there's some confusion. Okay, budget priorities and that. Between now and then there may be some other items. I think there's.. .HCDC has some recommendations on the percentage of interest rates for, what are they? Investment policy. We might want to put that on, as well. So there's three items right there. So, we'll go for the 6th? Yes? O'Donnell/ So we're done 'ti! the 6th? Wilburn! Unless anyone wants Council time tonight. Elliott! I did say something to Steve prior to the meeting that last time we talked about a consultant to get information for the housing situation, and I pointed out that the Association of Realtors, both locally and nationwide, has an immense amount of information about that, and I would like to think that that could form the basis of much of the information we need, and that we would need little more than a limited amount for a consultant, simply to verify. Atkins/ I told Bob we'd check that for him. Elliott! Thanks. Council Time Wilburn! Anyone" else, Council time? Bailey/ Okay, I have a goofy idea. In the spirit of Connie (laughter), Connie thought about doing something with that cute little building, but down the steps from the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006. ,-_..__._.,--------~.__._-----_.,._._._----~--------_.-_._-_.~_.,~--_._--_.~--~--- October 30, 2006 City Council Work Session Page3! cute little building, is the side of that bridge that's a white blank wall, that I assume has graffiti challenges quite frequently but it was clean on Saturday when I saw it, but that would be a really cool place for a mural of some sort that we. . . and murals tend to get vandalized or graffitied less, and I think that that would be a really interesting little surprise as you come around those steps. Maybe talk to some of the kids in the school district and see if they could use. . ..a plan. Atkins/ What about a (several talking at once) Bailey/ Well, you could do that, but I bet that would get graffitied. O'Donnell/ I don't think graffitied is a word. Bailey/ It is now! (several talking at once) Correia! What about a mural on that cute little bus building? Champion! I think it'd be cute. O'Donnell/ I don't think it would stand the paint. (laughter and several talking at once) Correia! The moving crew also had an idea about decorating the outside of the, using the outside, decorating it to look like a Tijuana bus station, sort of like a. . . Vanderhoef/ Why don't we just take it down? Come on, guys! That's... Bailey/ I think that would be a fun proj ect to engage youth. Maybe it could be a Youth Commission project. (several talking at once) But it would be just such a neat surprise, coming around that. Champion! It would be. Wilburn! Does anyone else want Council time? Champion! That is a great idea! O'Donnell! I would like to see what that mural looks like before we put it up. Wilburn! Okay. See you on November 6th. Champion! Great idea! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of October 30, 2006.