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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-01-29 Transcription January 29, 2007 City Council Work Session Page I January 29, 2007 City Council Work Session 6:00 PM Council: Bailey, Champion, Correia, Elliott (6:15), O'Donnell, Vanderhoef, Wilburn UISG: Baeth, Volland Staff: Atkins, Craig, Helling, Karr, Kopping, O'Malley, Tharp, Trueblood TAPE: 07:13 Sides I and 2: 07:12 Sides I and 2; 07:14 Side I 4th of Julv Fireworks Bailey: My name is Tom Lin. I'm the vice president of community this year for the Iowa City/Coralville Jaycees. Thank you all for letting us come up and speak to you. We haven't had a chance to come up and present before the City in several years now, and I've been involved with the board, on the board of the Jaycees for the last 3 years now. And in that time - I gave out a handout. I don't know if that got passed around to everybody. But as you can see, what I listed there is the City ofIowa City sponsorship for the 4th of July festivities that we put on at City Park, and along with that, I also listed the amount of money that we spent on fireworks, specifically just for the fireworks every year. I couldn't track down the 2001 number. So, as you can see, the funding has decreased every year, and since I've been involved the funding has been steady and we haven't had a chance to present. And we're hoping to get a little more this year as we've increased the amount that we spend on the fireworks alone, and we've also done more community involvement things. We've added kids games, we've added a concession stand, and we do some appreciation for some of our sponsors and things like that. So, unless you guys have any questions, I don't have a lot extra. I just wanted to let you know, we wanted to present the figures of what our sponsorship has been in the past. And what we were hoping to do is bring it back up to where it had been in the past, back to 2001 levels. I think in my formal application I had asked for $6,000.00, but obviously anything extra would be great. I just recently tracked down that $7,500.00 figure, so. Will the fireworks be on the 4th this year? Lin: Lin: Yes it will. Unfortunately, there's some scheduling conflicts- Bailey: I know. Lin: With Shakespeare Theater, and that's what happened last year. Bailey: Great. Lin: But we've actually got it locked in with them for the 4th for the next 5 years. Bailey: All right. Way to go. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. _>._____.~_._____."_~"....___.__.._m_~____'.m_~._~_'_____.."__._._____..__~._'"..~._.___.___ January 29, 2007 City Council Work Session Page 2 Lin: As long as the funding keeps up. That's the biggest thing, the funding, whatever deficit there is, we make up out of our fundraising the rest of the year, and it can cut into some of the activities that we like to do during the day of the fireworks as well, so. Bailey: How do you raise those additional funds? What are your fundraising activities? Lin: Our main fundraiser is a trash bag fundraiser. With that, it's directly linked to the fireworks and we use an outside vendor for that. Most of our members are volunteers, we work during the day, don't have time to do that kind of activity during the day. We get a reasonable percentage of that money and that's what we use to make up the deficit of the fireworks. Some of our other project throughout the year: we've given large sponsorship, large donations to other community involvement areas. This last year we gave $3500.00 to Uptown Bill's, we gave $5,000.00 to Lemme - not to Lemme, it was to Grant Wood and there's Good Shepherd, there's - both these had $5,000 for playground improvements. So, if we get a little extra in any given year or can manage to fundraise other money throughout the year, we do use that for other community projects as well. Bailey: Ok. Lin: But obviously, this is our biggest expenditure during the year, and also, this taxes our membership. Our membership had been around 50 - 60. We're down to just under 35 right now, so the fireworks is a huge, huge project for us and it's a challenge every year. So the more you can help us with the funding, the less we have to concentrate on that and we can concentrate on other things to help the community. Thank you very much for your time. Wilburn: What's the scale of your activities? Are you doing about the same thing as last year? Are fireworks more, how much more expensive are fireworks this year? Lin: Well if you look here, we're looking at doing $20,000.00 for fireworks this year, so we are increasing the amount on fireworks, and we will continue to do the kids games, and the concession stands. We haven't talked about other stuff in particular detail. A lot depends on what we can afford to do, as far as manpower and money goes. Vanderhoef: What kind of designated donations do you get from the community for this activity? Lin: Can you maybe clarify on the designated? We do phone calls, email- Vanderhoef: Well, if they give it to Jaycees, designating it specifically for fireworks? Lin: Yeah. We have a separate fireworks account-that goes directly- Vanderhoef: No, but I'm asking Bailey: How many? Vanderhoef: Are there persons in the communities or businesses in the community that donate to, specifically for, fireworks? This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29, 2007 City Council Work Session Page 3 Lin: Oh yeah, definitely. We spend a good chunk of our time in the months preceding the fireworks doing direct letters to local businesses and as well as, some of the people that do the trash bags also would, prefer not to buy trash bags but would want to donate to the fireworks, and that all goes into the fireworks as well. Vanderhoef: So do you have any idea how much you get in direct donations? Lin: Urn, in the past, so last year we didn't have a major sponsor, but before that we had always had one or two major sponsors in addition to the City. Last year I think our biggest sponsor was, I think it may have been a thousand dollars. I think it may have been a thousand dollars was our biggest corporate sponsor. Everything else was that amount or smaller. We had a lot more $250.00 donations last year. My guess is we were short on our fireworks by about five to six thousand dollars that we made up out of our owrl budget, out of our own income for the year, so. Vanderhoef: So if we put in last year - Lin: 4455. Vanderhoef: 4455. How much did you get from donations? Lin: Let me see if! have it in my notes here. I have - I think our direct contributions, including personal donations at the day of, we would have gotten about ten thousand then. Vanderhoef: Ok. Lin: Where we ended up short by. Vanderhoef: A major undertaking. Lin: Now the number you're seeing there is the fireworks alone. Now, we also have to pay for advertising, for concession stands, and also for the kids games stuff. We do charge a little bit for the kids' games, and we do charge for the food to make a little bit of that profit back. And that all goes towards the cost of the fireworks. Vanderhoef: Hmm. I didn't know you were doing food stand or? Lin: Yep - we've been doing it, well, at least since I've been involved, the three years I've been involved with it. I'm pretty sure we did it before that. In the past, if you look at that 200 I number, we had, I think back then, they were trying to do like bands and stuff like that as well. Obviously it's a difficult time ofthe year for us to compete as a smaller organization with the City of Coralville and their fireworks with the carnival and everything, as well as Iowa City has a jazz festival going on at the same time. So, we do our best to, you know, make it more of an activity type thing, but we do gear it more towards community and family, so that's why we did the kids games and the concession stand. That's more in line with what we wanted to do. We may consider doing other stuff if we can afford to pay for other stuff as well as get the manpower to run the other stuff as well. Between safety, parking, the concession stands, the kids games, a lot of times we This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29, 2007. _ _.. ~....,_.____~_"__._.__~__,____.._~"~_'___~'___W_____'_,__.____._ January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 4 need 40 -50 people that day volunteering. And everyone, you know, most of our members do help out. We have members who have aged out, they come out and help as well, but with the group this year we're at under 35. We're really pushing to get new members this year, so anything you can do to help would be great, we'd appreciate it. Vanderhoef: Well I like your mission of working for community and families. I think that's a real positive thing for our community and these added kid games and so forth are important. Because I don't watch 'em from City Park I don't see all those things. Lin: Well, you're welcome to come down anytime. There's plenty of space- Vanderhoef: I choose not to be in the Park when I watch them. Bailey: That's just unpatriotic. O'Donnell: I choose to be in the Park, and you guys have done a fantastic job. Bailey: I love it! Correia: I was in the Park. Bailey: I think you do a great job. Vanderhoef: I do too. Champion: It's a lot of work. Lin: And we do appreciate your support every year. We're just hoping for a little bit more this year, so thank you very much. All: Thank you. O'Donnell: Great job. Lin: Thank you. Bailey: You can see them from your house? Youth Advisorv Commission Wilburn: Youth Advisory Commission. Just please state your name before you get going. Keranen: All right. My name is Audrey Keranen, and I'm here, and I'm here with Jackie Swbbers, who's another member of the Youth Advisory Commission, which, as all of you know, was created just this past year. Do you want to provide an introduction for yourself, or? Stubbers: I'm kind of losing my voice. Correia: Oh! This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. _._~_.__..---~-_._-_.~-------"~""."~----'---'------ _..._..__.__.._____.M.__n......__..____._u_ __M.__..__~___.___..__ __..__ .,_._....._M_'_______.~_,_. ---.-.----'.'0'--- January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 5 Wilburn: Keranen: Wilburn: Champion: Correia: Keranen: Wilburn: You don't have to start. Jackie's losing her voice right now, so I guess I'll do most of the speaking tonight. She's got Connie syndrome. We've been passing it around. We have been. We have three main programs that we're planning on embarking on this year, the first of which is a proposed mini-grant program. And, with this program we'd like to foster youth involvement in the community, because we know that there are many teenagers between the ages of 15 and 21 who would be excited about being able to start a program that would benefit their community directly. Our plan was to give out one $1000.00 mini- grant and then four other $500.00 mini-grants to students who applied. The application process as we had planned would be, I guess, pretty intense. We would try and find students who would really be committed to starting a program that would benefit the community. And we would check up with them additionally, monthly or quarterly, in the year as they complete their projects. A second project that we chose to do, and we've already committed ourselves to, is the Global Village at the Summer of the Arts. And for this we have decided to represent the country of Ghana, and we're going to start sort of foods, and arts and crafts booth, and there are about 1000 children who are expected to attend this event, and we'd like to be able to purchase materials to do craft activities and to provide fun food and games for these children and their families. Lastly, we would like to enhance our current website, possibly with a feature whene we could have some sort of online forum between youth community members and a Youth Advisory Commission. And since we are currently unsure of how much this sort of internet service would cost, we decided to set aside some funds and we're asking that these funds be used so that we can ensure that we will be able to create our website to its fullest extent. The funding that we are asking for for our mini-grant program is $3,000.00, and again, that's for the four $500.00 grants and the one $1000.00 grant. That would be the perfect amount of money that would allow us to start some of these projects in the community. The second amount that we were asking for is a $500.00 fund for our Global Village project, again, to be used for the arts and crafts materials and for food and games. And then the last amount, the $200.00 amount is sort of our safeguard to ensure that our website can be published and can be accessible to youth members of the community. Are there any questions? Can you walk us through your thoughts on, I'm speaking about the mini-grant portion. And I, I wouldn't anticipate at this point that you would have worked out a request for proposals for the people to apply to, but have you given thought, are you thinking that you would require or have preference that a young person or group of young people This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29, 2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 6 would be affiliated somehow with an organized group. Like a youth center, or a school, or a classroom proj ect? Just to - Keranen: Right. We had agreed that that would definitely be a factor, because we don't wantto be, you know, handing out money to any student in the area. And obviously, a student who is organized with another group behind them is going to have more credibility in the application process. And we think will have more resources and be more likely to follow through with their ambitious project. Wilburn: And my final question, I'll move on to anyone else, have you given an idea on the scope of the projects that they should be - should it be neighborhood size, or classroom size or _ I understand the focus is getting young people involved in doing something productive for the community, but have you given any thought to the scope of the projects they should be doing? Keranen: Yes. Again, it would sort of depend on what ideas they have, and so many young people are creative that this could go a lot of ways. But we had determined that they would be some sort of political, social, or environmental project. And an example that would be applicable would be maybe like an Eagle Scout who's seeking to renovate a trail area in their neighborhood or around their school. And that would be a project where we could give them $500.00 in order to buy materials and negotiate what sort of features they were going to add to that area. So that would be one example. Wilburn: Anyone else, Council? Vanderhoef: Ah, you sort of moved over the top of ongoing. Have you had any thought about some, like, a one-time thing, like your Eagle Scout example? And then, some that would be real specific that you could see as an ongoing that would be carried on and perhaps be funded another year, but with a new leader for the group and so forth? Keranen: I guess that we hadn't thought of the projects taking longer than the yearlong period that we had. I guess - Vanderhoef: I guess I'm asking, repeat the same thing another year. In other words, for instance, we might have a fundraiser with a race or a walk or something, so the second year, would you have the same kind of thing and have a few dollars available for a grant if it were available? Bailey: Or would that just be a, eligible for re-application for a similar event. Keranen: I think that was what we had had in mind. If the mini-grant program is successful, and if there are students in the community who are willing to participate and who are active, then I would assume that in the future we would like to continue with the programs, so they could reapply as the year ends if they needed more funding to do, like, an annual project as you are referring to. Vanderhoef: Mmm hmm. And what if anything are you planning to do in your own fundraising? This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29, 2007 City Council Work Session Page 7 Keranen: As for our own fundraising funds, I guess we haven't thought about that as much. I can't think of a case where we decided to create our own funding for such a program. Vanderhoef: So would that be something that you might look at in a mini-grant? Someone who came in and said I'm gonna organize this process and hopefully we will have x number of dollars to give back to the committee? Keranen: I'm sort of unsure of where the question is going. Maybe it's just me who- Correia: Mmm, I guess - may I, Dee, can I add - can Ijust inter- Vanderhoef: Maybe a better way to say is to find some matching money. So if you have a grant that, that it must be matched by some other money from the community. Bailey: Oh. Correia: Dee, I think - Bailey: If there's a project, if I come in and apply for a project and it's gonna take $3,000.00, that I might want a $1,000.00 grant from you, but you would ask them where their additional$2,000.00 is going - is that what you're asking? Vanderhoef: That's one, one example of how you would be quote fundraising for you or for the community. The second piece is, would there be any fundraising - it may take all of the dollars that you grant them, whether it's a thousand dollars or not - but in the process of doing the project, would you also be having a component in there that would be raising some monies to corne back to the committee for future? Keranen: Ah, sorry- Correia: Go ahead if you - I think, can I answer as the Council liaison, and we've started to have conversations? I think that if the commission gets awarded funds for a mini-grant program, then we will and they will flesh out details of this program and bring it back to the Council. But in terms of the Youth Advisory Commission doing it's own outside fundraising? I mean I don't know that other boards and commissions do other community fundraising, but what I see is what you're talking about too is that wanting to see, in applications, and having priorities or points for they have other funding, this is leveraging that funding, I mean, I think those are all things that the Commission will flesh out and bring back, you know, if this project moves forward. Vanderhoef: And what I'm saying, when you talk about other boards and commissions, they don't have dollar funding. Correia: Well, the Housing Commission has dollar funding. Vanderhoef: It's still overseen by us. Correia: Well, and this money, I mean, I think this money would be overseen by the - they would make recommendations on the grants, I mean, I think that's how we were - This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. --- ------_._--_.~._,_._-_._-,._..,-------~-_...__.__..._~._---~-_.~...- ......_.,-_.--.~~._._._",-----~-_.~_. ....._~-_.._-_._-------_._----_..._.. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 8 Wilburn: My - excuse me - my anticipation of what your discussions probably have been would be the model where the governmental body allows the commission to make some decisions about a set of funding as opposed to a model that actually is not unfamiliar. For example, this isn't the way they started, the City's always had a Parks and Recreation Commission, but when the idea to try and fund for Scanlon Gymnasium, they set up a foundation separate from the Parks and Recreation Commission, but included members. I was on the Commission back then, and that foundation started doing some fundraising separate from, for that project, and then separate for some others. But my presumption is that, from some of the models that you worked at, the City or the County or whatever the governmental body, allowed, worked with their Youth Commission to make the allocation recommendation for that pot of money. Is that accurate? Keranen: Right, again, as any suggestions come up, we will certainly be referring back to the Council as to how we are going to give out this funding and how we are going to continue with this program. Right now we are sort of in a preliminary stage, where we have our wealth of ideas and we would like to do these projects, but I would say we need some guidance in the future from the Council, and that would certainly be appreciated. O'Donnell: Good. Wilburn: Dee, were you done? Vanderhoef: Go ahead. Bailey: I just wanted to ask a little bit about your website, which I really like, and I like tM video on the website. Since we're adding video to the City website, it's very good - we'~e getting into the 21 ,I century. How many links are out there back to the Youth Advisory Commission website? Do you know who's linking to it and how you're publicizing and getting people, young people to that? Keranen: Right. I'm not sure specifically. I don't know - do we have a web counter at this point? Some sort of? No, maybe that - Bailey: You could probably run stats, but I was just wondering if there were additional links out there from school websites or other places? Stubbers: That's in our next phase. Keranen: Yeah - since it was so recently established and just released, you know a month ago about - Bailey: Right. Keranen: Weare going to continue with that, and we would like to advertise, especially at the high school and the university level, which we hope would draw more community members into the Youth Advisory Commission and increase their interest in the programs that we would like to offer. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 9 Bailey: Keranen: Bailey: Champion: Keranen: O'Donnell: Wilburn: Keranen: Wilburn: Elliott: Keranen: And I think we certainly look to you for ways to use technology to have people more engaged in City government. And have you done further discussions, beyond the website and putting video up, and then you had a show running on government channel. What other ways could you see us - I mean, maybe that's a discussion that we could have, better using technology to engage, especially young people, in City government. Have you talked about that at all? I think when we were originally coming up with ideas for the website, of course we had all these sort of dreamy plans of interactive links and videos and music and stuff. I can't think of any specific features that the Council would like to use, and I don't know if they'd be willing to use the sort ofthings that teenagers love. Ifthere, if you guys need any suggestions, we could come up with some at a few meetings I'm sure. I think that would be really helpful, because I think that's one of the things that we need to start looking at, and then your thoughts on engaging more young people in the work of the City. Thanks. Well, I think for a new commission, you've come a long way. Thanks. Thank you. You really have. And this is a growing experience for all of us, and like Amy said, when, if you get the grant, then we'll talk about matching funds if, if necessary, but you're doing a great job. And just to throw this out there too, you might, as you put together, if awarded the funding, as you put together the request for proposals, you might consider some type of question about whether, how, the applicant might be using, what other types of fundraising have they done, some type of question about that, just to get an idea and see where it goes. Right. And again, that would be in some sort of interview process to determine that this student can act independently and has found other sources and ideas other than their own for the project. All right. Otherwise, nice job on the, the ah, government channel video that's been out there about the Commission. It looks - it's well done. Good job. I have a quick point; I need to apologize to you two ladies. I got here 15 minutes early for a 6:30 meeting and found out I was 15 minutes late for a 6:00 meeting. I had a quick question both for you and for the Council. Therefore, I didn't catch this. Were yo~ going to make reservations on the spending of funds, or were you going to direct the spending of those funds? And I said I probably missed that information early, and I apologize. Perhaps I can answer this question if you clarify that to me. What would be the difference between the? This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. --_._._----,.---~.._...._---~-_._-"-~----------'~"" ---,_._-_.~----_._---~._-'_._- .--,.--------....-.----.--..--- January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 10 Elliott: Keranen: Elliott: Keranen: Elliott: Bailey: Atkins: Bailey: Atkins: Bailey: Keranen: Bailey: Wilburn: In other words, were you asking for a lump of money and then you would determine and designate how it would be spent, or would you, would you come up with, with thoughts and make recommendations? Urn, I think we had been asking for sort of a lump sum to work with initially and, in the first year there might not be enough interest, we might not use all of it, but we would like to have the fund set aside in case there are members of the community who would - But you would make the decisions? That's the way you perceive it? We would make the decisions under the aegis of the Council, if that provides an idea of what's happening. Good. I really like your involvement. Thank you. Just a point of clarification about where this would be in the budget. It's not in community events and funding. It would be in the general government portion? I have a (can't hear) just on a side conversation. You'll note that Senior Center, Youth Advisory, Library Board, Airport Commission - those are all boards and commissions, which really shouldn't be competing for the special events funding. It should be something separate from. So and this would be in general government? Yeah this would be general government. Ok. That's what I thought. Thank you. Are there any other questions? Thank you for your interest and your questions. I appreciate it. Thanks for your time. Thank you. Senior Center Commission Wilburn: Senior Center Commission. Honohan: Elliott: Honohan: I'm Jay Honohan. I'm here for the Commission. I'm not showing off. I like the shirt, Jay. I've got my uniform on. We have a program at the Englert Theater in about a half.hour, and I've got to rush up to get to see. First of all, I'd like to start by, on behalf of the Commission, of thanking the Administration and the Council for their support in the past. Earlier you were talking about foundations, I heard that. I would like to give you some information about what the Iowa City Senior Fund, Inc. has done for the Senior Center in This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. ._~-~----_..~-_._-_._--------~---~---_.._~- ,. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page II budget year '07 and '08. We have authorized $2,000.00 towards a memory training program in partnership with the University of Iowa, which we're getting underway this spring. We have authorized $6,000.00 for fitness equipment for the Center. We have authorized $15,000.00 for upgrades in Senior Center TV, and we have authorized $50,000.00 for furniture, chairs, tables - we're gonna try to modernize the assembly room and hopefully we will get all of that done in '07 and '08. What I'm here for tonight is to ask for one position that was not recommended by the Administration, and that is a half-time receptionist at the Senior Center. Currently we have two half-time receptionists. One funded by the City, the other funded by HACAP. Now if we already have one by HACAP, why do we want one funded by the City? Well, the first thing is that the HACAP people come and go. This is a kind of a critical position for the Senior Center. For instance, what does our receptionist do? In addition to being the receptionist, answers the telephone, registers people for classes, sells permits and memberships, and is the first impression to people coming into the Senior Center, and acts as a reference for senior services in the community. And what kind of skills are needed? Well, obviously, they need to have computer skills to run our database. They have to have basic personality skills - good PR if you will. They have to have a knowledge and a content, of the content of the services offered in the community. I think one of the critical things, and I may be repeating myself, this is, when newcomers come in to the Senior Center, this is the first person they see. And so we think this is a very important position. We would like to have it on a half-time basis funded by the City so it is, has a continuum. And it isn't, so we, I ike this year, we've already had two and we could lose the individual that we have right now anytime. So we're not asking for a lot of money, based on your budget. I know it's a lot of money to some people, and it is to me too for that matter, but in terms of the budget, we're asking for $22.000.00 for this part-time person. That would be a salary of $13,676.00 and benefits of $8,409.00. We really would like this position filled. I, a little history: I've been up here, this is my eighth year asking for something from the Council. I've never gotten anything. (laughter) Vanderhoef: You're batting a thousand. Honohan: So I would like to make this the first year that I get something. Any questions? Elliott: Question on the TV, Jay. Is that TV set for viewing, or is that TV equipment for telecasting? Honohan: That's for making the programs and telecasting it out through the community. Elliott: Ok. So it's not for TV with DVD and that sort of thing? Honohan: Oh, it isn't for somebody sitting and - we do have TV in the Senior Center, Bob, but that's not what we're talking about here. This is the Senior Center TV operating studio. Elliot: I'm thinking, how much have you tried for volunteers? I was just at Mercy, where they held a reception for some people, and they have had long time volunteers running the gift shop and the information desks. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. _________"___..~_._.______~__~~._____.___~~_.____.____~.___~._.__,.._._._______...____ ____._______.__---1-_________".__ January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 12 Honohan: We have a tremendous number, this is the person with the details. Kopping: Ah, we have tried a lot of volunteer support at the reception desk in the past, and it has not been successful. And, because, you know, volunteers leave for the winter, and volunteers might get up and decide not to come in one day. And it is a position that we need to have a reliable person at. But even more important than that is the fact that in order for a person to function in this position now, they have to be acquainted with our database, and it probably, it requires, there's a pretty high learning curve on the database to get people entered as members, to get people registered for classes, and to process parking permits and stuff. And it's the kind of task that requires a great deal of staff time to train. And what we'd like to do is to train one person and then have them hopefully stay for awhile. Vanderhoef: Seems to me that perhaps your title of receptionist is not covering the duties that you're asking that person to perform, and that leaves me with the question, until you starred telling me that they're doing all of these, what I would call an associate secretary or full- time employee. There are duties there that I don't think any of us realized were more than answering the telephone. Kopping: There's a lot more to it than answering the telephone. Vanderhoef: Well, I'm glad to hear that. I don't know what I can do about it at this point, but it changes my, my thinking on this. Because I think everyone when they see that title receptionist think, well there's a volunteer that can do that. Kopping: Right. O'Donnell: Gosh, if it was just as simple as answering the phone, any of us could do that. Bailey: I can't answer phone very well. Honohan: Can you run the database? O'Donnell: Probably not. Correia: Is this, oh - Bailey: Can you transfer calls? Correia: Is this something though, you know, we have folks at the recreation division that staff that desk all day and that do class registrations. I mean, is that something like, that type of function that we already have, you know capabilities in another department that are similar in function. Is there a way to integrate those duties if somebody is registering for a senior center class, is it possible to register through - Bailey: Like centralize all of our registers. Correia: Yeah, centralize class registration. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29, 2007. January 29,2007 Kopping: Bailey: Kopping: Wilburn: Honohan: Elliott: Honohan: Elliott: O'Donnell: Honohan: O'Donnell: Honohan: O'Donnell: Honohan: Wilburn: Bailey: Elliott: Wilburn: Champion: Atkins: Champion: Wilburn: Champion: Honohan: City Council Work Session Page 13 It would be possible. As a matter of fact, we use the same database. However it is, it has been separated and we have different, we use the database in different ways. Sure. How so? Well, we use functions on it that the recreation department does not use. Other questions? If you all want to adjourn and run up to the Englert, you can (can't hear) in about IS minutes. You're on a drill team? Oh yeah. Ohmy. Is there going to be any demonstration of the chicken dance tonight? No, not tonight. Not tonight. But if you want, the dance marathon is on Saturday morning, 8 o'clock. Ok. Any other questions, any questions other than this? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Library Board. Ijust have one question. I had one as well. Jay- For Jay? Jay, do you, do you still want the $250.00 for the Horizons Band? I'm sorry, what? This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29, 2007. January 29, 2007 City Council Work Session Page 14 Champion: Atkins: Honohan: Atkins: Correia: Honohan: Bailey: (laughter) Honohan: Wilburn: Librarv Board Wilburn: McCray: You have a request for $250.00 for the Horizons Band. Yes, ok. Thank you. Who's Pedro? Pedro is the guy you're supposed to vote for in Napoleon Dynamite. Ok. Movie. We confused them because we were right behind two of the campaigns in the parade. They're targeted to your demographic. Come see us on the marathon. Thank you. Library Board. Hi. I'm Linzee McCray. I'm the President of the Board of Trustees of the Iowa City Public Library. I wanted to start by thanking you for your support last year. It's made a couple of - it made a lot of distance, but especially in a couple of areas I wanted to highlight. One is the extra hours that we were able to open in May. We were able to open until 8 o'clock rather than 6, and that's resulted in the statistics that we have up to now in a 15% increase in visits to the library on Fridays and about a 9% I think increase in circulation. In September we opened an extra hour on Sundays from 5 until 6, and we have fewer statistics on that, but what we do know is that's been about a 15% increase in attendance, in people visiting the building and also in circulation, so that's been great. People have really responded to those hours and appreciated them. The other thing that's made a lot of difference in terms of numbers, and I have to read the numbers here, but that's being able to extend intemet access, wireless internet access outside onto the pedestrian mall. And in the first 6 months of fiscal year '07, there were 22,269 wireless uses, both inside and outside the library, but that's a 36% increase from the same time the previous year. And in addition, there were 69,46llogins at the public internet access computers in the library, for a total of 91,730 in six months, so a lot of people are using that service and that's great - thank you. In the budget recommended by your City Manager, there were a couple of things that I wanted to mention that were great: the increase in the materials budget is really important. Obviously we have in increase in usage, and so it's wonderful to be able to keep our materials up to date. And the second thing is that we're in the first six months of a strategic plan. Things are going really well, and one of the important things that we're working on is a public relations campaign to make people aware of everything that's going on at the library. As a trustee, I'm constantly stunned every time I come to a meeting and we have these reports about all the This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. ---~_.---------_._---^'-_.._.__.~--_._----_._--"-_._~-.-..-..-----,.---- -_._--_._~.._.__.._---- January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 15 Bailey: Craig: Bailey: Elliott: Craig: Elliott: Craig: Bailey: Craig: programs and all the offerings that are going on at the library and so it's important that we make people aware of that. But there are a couple of things that aren't, that weren't approved that' wanted to mention in particular. One was a quarter-time maintenance person, and again, with the increase of usage, obviously, there are increased maintenance needs, and that's important. The other thing that's probably even more important is a quarter-time increase in the webmaster position. Right now it's a three-quarter time position, and we'd like to increase that to full-time. And one of the really interesting things I've learned since I've been on the library board, 'think it's easy to look at internet access at the library and think, people are checking their email, people are surfing the web. It's becoming more and more common on a national basis, for, often government agencies, to move a lot of their paperwork, applications, that kind of thing, online in order to save money. And if people don't have internet access at home, and a lot of people don't, they need a place like the library to be able to come and access the internet. And one example is more and more people are filing taxes online. The library is responding by increasing the number of classes that they're offering to help people learn how to do that. And there are also, for example, this year the librarians helped someone who had been in Hurricane Katrina apply for FEMA assistance online, that was something they had to do online at the public library. So more and more, library, internet access is really important at libraries, and that will, eventually the webmaster position will need to be increased in order to help meet that kind of thing. It's only something that's growing, so 'did want to point those two things out. 'think that is primarily what' had to say. Did you have any questions? So the webmaster position supports the computer access within the library as well as designing and maintaining access to the website? Can you speak more specifically to that? We have a systems department that has four people in it and the webmaster is included. And those people work nights and weekends, so that someone is always in the building and one of the big things that they do is make sure that that public internet access is available. , mean, they keep all of our systems running. They're there if there's a problem - they have to respond to it. Yeah. It's a help desk type situation, almost. It's not a help desk. The public don't go to those people. 'fthere's an issue the staff, if a computer goes down, something doesn't, a piece of software doesn't work, the staff will call this person who's there. For the staff. Yes. It's for the staff, not for the public. Or, if! want to look up a book at 2 in the morning, they're the people that make sure that your site is up at 2 in the morning. Well, at 2 in the morning if something happened, , can't promise someone was there. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29, 2007. ._.._----_.._.,,-~-_._--.-~----_...~.~.._---..,,---~~--...-_..,..,---_...._-"-_..._-~.._.,,--_._- January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 16 Bailey: Right, right, but there is great access to your site. I've never, I've never encountered any problems accessing it. Craig: Yes. Right. Elliott: You mentioned the percentage of increase in usage. Could you, off the top of your head, I don't remember exactly the percent in increase in additional hours. Can you give me comparative figures? Craig: Memory is the increase in hours is like 5 or 6% we increased hours, and the use during that time, use into the building went up considerably more than that. Elliott: Good. That's good cost effective data, I think. Wilburn: Any other questions? Bailey: So, what changes do you anticipate in the upcoming year? It's been a great year for positive changes. Any others on the horizon? Craig: Well, you know, it's always interesting to me to start a new strategic plan. We are an organization that's very plan-driven, and if we put something in our plan, we put it in our budget and we try to make it happen. Just like we put the hours were our number one concern because that's what the public asked us to do, number one, and we were very happy that we got that done this year. In the coming year one of the things that we are trying to address is serving disadvantaged youth, particularly in the summertime. And something that wasn't in the budget because we're out there looking for gift money to do it and we are sure we will find funding, in fact, we've secured most of it now, we're working with the transit department, and we're going to have some special bus routes during the middle part of the day this summer three days a week. Hitting some targeted areas in town where we know, particularly children who may not have transportation to the library. So this is going to be - we don't have a name yet, a Library Express, something like that, three days a week, you know, they're going to hit the neighborhood centers. One of the trailer courts. We're just getting, working with transit to get the routes established, and I think it's going to be a great program, so that's something to look forward to. Vanderhoef: And how is that being funded? Craig: Through gift dollars. The transit is sort of chipping in the maintenance part of the buses, and we have to raise money to pay for the bus drivers. And a little bit of money to pay for publicity, and then the library staff, you know, are doing the organizing, and will be there to take care of, hopefully, the hordes of children when they come. Elliott: I really appreciate the gift money. I think the people realize if they stop to think, that their tax, that their tax dollars are doing it, but I think that also the public feels a little more involved when they're asked to provide some gift money, so I really like that - I think it's beneficial. One other thing is, just from a very personal basis; I very much appreciate the This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. -~~._,------~--------_."- January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 17 Craig: Champion: Craig: Bailey: McCray: Bailey: Craig: Bailey: Craig: Bailey: Craig: Elliott: Wilburn: Craig: information desk. Whenever I go down to get information, those people are extremely helpful and knowledgeable. I'll pass that on. It's got to be the best chi Idren' s section in the world, isn't it? Well, I think so. I think it's the best library in the world. It is the best library in the world. If you've lived anywhere else, and I have, in a big university community, and there are no libraries like this. It's just an amazing place. I always take people coming to town, thinking about moving here, I take them to the library, and they're always just blown away by it. It's very - it's a wonderful place. I like your little reminders about books due. That was new this year - we call those courtesy notices. Yes. Very nice. You're not going to get as much money from me this year. Actually, the fine income stayed right on track for the first six months, so we're ok. Ok. Being nice and still making money. Terrific. Anyone else? Thank you. Thank you. Johnson County Food Alliance "Field to Familv" Wilburn: Wilson: Wilburn: Wilson: Is anyone from Johnson County Food Alliance "Field to Family" here? Ok. Hi there. My name is Leah Wilson. How are you? Good. I'm the coordinator for the Johnson County Local Food Alliance. We're a new organization formed just in the late winter of2004. We have numerous activities that we're undertaking. Last year we had our first Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaign. I don't know how many of you saw the directory, but this is something that we'll continue to do this year. Another one of our major programs is "Field to Family" which, as you know, is an event that has occurred for the last five years in the Iowa City area, and last year was our first year organizing the event, and I can pass around an insert that we had in the This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. _..__..~--"-------,----------_._--"'.._--_.,-------_...-.-.-"---...-----.- January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 18 newspaper last year. Some of you may have seen this as well. The primary goal of this event is to celebrate local food and culinary excellence in our area. We feel that it is very important to showcase the local food treasures that we have in our area and this is a great way to do that. Last year we had several events, including the culinary walk, which maybe some of you attended. It's one of our most popular events, where participating restaurants in the downtown area showcase local food one evening and people get to take a little map and walk around from restaurant to restaurant eating local hors douvres and generally just having a very good time. And we also had last year potlucks on family farms, which was very popular, including the ZJ Farm Harvest Potluck and Barn Dance. And then we also had a Scattergood Open House, and we had a farmers' market demonstration showcasing New Pioneer Co-op, or sponsored by New Pioneer Co-op. The budget is around $9,500.00 for this event, including coordination and other costs, and we are asking for $500.00 in support from the City so we can put on a good event this year. And I'll take any questions. Vanderhoef: The $9,500.00 was for just the one? Wilson $9,500.00 for the budget for this year for the entire event. Vanderhoef: For all of the events. Wilson: Right. Vanderhoef: Ok. Thank you. Wilson: Mmm hmm. Wilburn: Are you targeting your request from Iowa City for any particular event or is it for general operations. Wilson: It was for general operations. Wilburn: Are you a non-profit, are you? Wilson: Yes, we're incorporated as a non-profit. (cut off - end of tape) Wilson: Practical Farmers ofIowa. Elliott: Ah, from where else do you receive funding? Wilson: We receive funding from the Blooming Prairie Foundation. We also just received some money from the Leopold Center. We also have membership, a membership structure, so we receive support there as well. Elliott: From Johnson County? Wilson: From, yes, from members of the Johnson County local- This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29, 2007. ---"-_._--_.__.....~._--_.~....._..__..._~,~.,,-'"~-------_.__.~-~...~._."--_._-~--~~---_._..,- -- January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 19 Elliott: Wilson: Elliott: Correia: Wilson: Correia: Wilson: Bailey: Wilson: Correia: Wilson: Correia: Wilson: Elliott: No, I meant from the Board of Supervisors. Oh, from the Board of Supervisors. No I haven't, no. Ok. You have membership, is that what you're saying, you have a membership fee for the Food Alliance? Right. The Food Alliance has a membership structure for consumers and food buyers and farmers and so on. Do you do advertising outside of Johnson County? For some of these events, in terms of thinking about this as a destination event, or? We do. As a matter offact one event that I would like to call your attention to is we are holding the first annual Johnson County local food summit. It'll be February 7th. It's the first time we've done this. We're having a speaker come in. His name is Ken Meter, he's an economist from Minnesota, he's taught microeconomics at Harvard and he has also presented his Finding Food in Farm Country information to the US Agriculture Committee. He's a fantastic speaker and he's going to be speaking on how we can use local food to grow the economy in our area. What's the estimated attendance for some of these events for Food to Family - Field to Family, sorry. Field to Family - sure. Between 100 to 300 people. This is sort of off the topic but I think unrelated, and l'djust to see if you - have you had any involvement in the schools in terms of - I was visiting with a City High club last week and there's somebody in their group that's interested in local food in the schools instead of the processed food and all that, and I didn't know. That's a really interesting connection that's starting to be made, and our organization is now going to be participating in a larger regional food initiative that just received funding from the Leopold Center of Sustainable Agriculture, which is being done through the Iowa Valley RC and D, which has, I think, about a 5 to 6 county area, including Johnson County. And they are working with the Iowa City School District to help get local foods into the schools there, and we will be assisting them in setting up that process. So if! let a student know that there's, is there a way for a student to get involved? And who would - they just contact the Food Alliance? Oh, absolutely. Sure, yeah, that would be a great thing. Leah, some of my colleagues up here will be surprised, but I'm very much in favor of what you're doing. I grew up in a time when during the 2nd World War the governrnent was fostering people to have Victory Gardens, even in the major cities, and there were This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. - ,--,."-"-_._-_....~._._--,.~"----_."--- .--,.......-.--.--..- January 29, 2007 City Council Work Session Page 20 Bailey: Wilson: Bailey: Wilson: Wilburn: Wilson: Bailey: Victory Gardens sprung up everywhere in Chicago, and I think that promoting locally grown food is gonna be good for the people, good for the economy and I think the County government, the City government, and the people who make up will benefit from it. If we chose to fund this event and wanted to target our funding to an event that occurred in Iowa City, would that be problematic? I don't believe so. No. I think, for instance, if you wanted to focus on the culinary walk which is, you know, perhaps it gets the greatest attendance of a lot of the events and it does draw people from the larger area, that would certainly be one event that you could target. And your activity at the Farmers' Market, you also partner with, you partnered with New Pioneer. Do you typically partner with a business to also help sponsor that? We did. Yeah, we did have sponsors last year, and New Pioneer was our major sponsor last year, and we also had a lot of support through Iowa City Press Citizen and other sponsors. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks. Parks and Recreation Commission Wilburn: (laughter) Elliott: Bailey: Pacha: Wilburn: Pacha: Is anyone here from Parks and Recreation Commission? No. Can we skip them? Good evening. Good evening. For those of you that don't know me, I'm Matt Pacha, I'm the chairman of the Parks and Recreation Commission. It's been a couple of years since I've been up here. It's nice to have at least one or two new topics to talk about this time around, but I'd certainly like to thank you for the projects that you have graciously funded, not just this year but over, in the past years that I've been on the Commission. I'd like to basically touch on three topics tonight, first of all, first and foremost being the bridge that we're all familiar with, the pedestrian bridge from Crandick Park over to the Peninsula neighborhood. Obviously, the Commission, this is a real good group that we have this year. We've had some interesting groups over the last, I guess this is my 15th year on the Commission, and this This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 21 is a good group that takes it, that takes its task from the mission statement seriously, and this is our number one priority. And I'd like to just touch on a couple of the items from the letter that we sent you on January lOth Some of, just highlighting some of the reasons why we feel this is a high priority and is our number one priority. One of course being the traffic issues that, through the neighborhood down there. It's, this coming spring will be our first full season with the dog park completely completed. As well as our first full season with the disc golf course, and the traffic that we saw last fall is gonna pale in comparison to what we're gonna have this spring. So that's obviously a key reason. So parking has been a concern of course, and I think that, I think this will go a long ways towards alleviating some of that. It will also provide good access to that park by the City of, for Iowa City residents, particularly the ones that don't want to drive there, the ones that want to bike or walk over to that. And I also want to point out that this was, this is not a new idea. This was part of the original, this was a connection that was part of the original Iowa River Corridor Trail that was developed in 1998, so it's not like, it's not like we built the park and it's like now we have a need to get to it. This is not a shortsighted endeavor. And I'd like to, I'd also like to point out a quote from our local newspaper, which I'm real fond of. And I quote "it's time for the City to deprioritize nonessential quality-of-life projects." Well I would hope to heck that we don't do that. It's those very nonessential quality-of-life projects that draw people to this community and I think also that draw people away from it and into other communities. It also touches on the need for the fire station and staffing that fire station and we truly don't feel that we're in competition with the fire station. You have a, you have a plan in front of you to build a fire station, and I see the key difference between this bridge and the fire station is once the bridge is built, it's built. Not gonna be part of the operating budget, it doesn't need to be staffed, minimal maintenance, and I think that's a real key, a real key point. And so you know, I'm here tonight obviously to, I know there's not support at this point, enough support. There's some support. I would like to convince those of you that are to fund this, you know, ifnot FY '08, at least in FY '09. And I think, other than that, I'll move onto the other two, which are a little shorter. I just want to remind everyone about our need for, our request for a naturalist position for Parks Maintenance. I think the last time I was here I talked about this a long time ago, back when I had more hair and a better heart. It's still, I realize the problems that we have and the limitations hiring additional staff in light of budget limitations. But Ijust want to keep it, keep it out there as a thought. The need does not go away, and the green space continues to grow, which is a good thing. Champion: Then what do you use now for a naturalist? Pacha: I'm sorry? Champion: What do you do now for a naturalist? Pacha: Ah, it's basically just done with the staff that we have and managed as best we can, and I think we could do a better job of managing our green spaces. And lastly I just wanted to, just as a heads up with regard to the new minimum wage, we're estimating that the impact to the recreation division alone to be in the neighborhood of forty to fifty thousand dollars, and that is, and that doesn't account for any ripple effect that might have. We've always tried to maintain our self-imposed, the Commission has always tried This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. ..__.._,,_.._____________._.~__~.___.,~._..~.____...n._..__'_.',,___'___."" January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 22 Wilburn: Pacha: Wilburn: Atkins: Wilburn: Pacha: Wilburn: Correia: to maintain our self-imposed 40% guideline of funding the recreation division with non- property tax revenue. I see that as, that's going to be very difficult to attain. So we're definitely going to have to take a look at that next go-around. And I'd love to entertain any questions if you've got any. I've got a couple. I guess one is mainly a partial comment and query and all that good stuff. Just to make sure that you're aware, I believe the Parks and Rec priorities, we are, at least as presented, funding number 2, Mercer Pool roof repairs, number 3 Mercer Park ball diamond upgrades, and beginning some work on number 4, Sand Lake Recreation development. So there's another proposal out there stirring which may have some support for priority number 6, so I just want to make sure you're aware of that. You bet. Absolutely. Thank you. Number 8 in year 10, and about the pedestrian bridge, here's where you might add some comments if the Commission has thought about this too. This is one of those areas where, as a Council member, you make a temporary decision to kind of see what's out there, come up with some other ideas, and what ends up coming back are what's, we start hearing from the public is that you did something that, you start wondering, you hear it so often it's like "did we really do that?" I believe, if!'m not mistaken, what we said about the pedestrian bridge was for now move it into '09 pending information about the possibility of some private fundraising. Is that not what we did? Yes. Ok. So Ijust wanted to make sure you were aware of this. Because I started to hear back from people that we're not going to do it, and- Sure. And if! may, there are, I'm very well aware of opportunities for public, for public and private fundraising opportunities. We've got some great examples with the Scanlon Gymnasium and the, the Kicker Soccer Park; we've kicked in a lot of money over the years. There are certain projects that certainly lend themselves to that type of, that type of fundraising. We really don't feel that this is one that really lends itself to any type of fundraising activity. I think the feedback that I know I've gotten just personally when talking about this out there is "I'm already paying for it." I'm not going to, I don't think this is one that the local businesses are going to want their name on a brick going across the bridge. This is one that I think they consider a, part of their tax money and what have you. But, but, you know, I say that, there are a number of fundraising opportunities for other projects, but we just don't feel this one is one of them. Questions, Council? Is there, is there a design concept for this that warrants the 1.3 million? Because what I'm wondering is are we envisioning a Cadillac bridge, and that's why it costs 1.3 million? Can it be a more, would it cost less if we envisioned a more austere type of a bridge? Because we have, you know, just a little bit down the River a very impressive bridge from Coralville over to the Peninsula, and I'm just wondering about that. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. ___________.______..._____..___m__.___..___.._..__ January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 23 Pacha: It's actually, this one is, and correct me if I'm wrong, Terry, this one is actually as I recall, wasn't this originally estimated at $800,000.00? Back when we first started talking about it? Vanderhoef: And steel's gone up. Pacha: And it is, it's modeled pretty much after the Coralville, what would they call that? Champion: Bridge over the dam. Pacha: Bridge over the dam. Correia: Right. And what I'm wondering about is that's, you know, a very impressive bridge, and do we need something that, of that nature so close to where that already is, can it just be a simple bridge and would that cost less or not? Is it just a bridge over water? Trueblood: This is a basic pedestrian bicycling bridge. 10 feet wide. The only thing we have to date are preliminary cost estimates and a picture of a concept from a local engineering firm. And it's just the very basic pedestrian bridge with accessibility components added in which of course add to the cost. Elliott: Amy, be careful. You're beginning to sound like Bob Elliott. Correia: I know. (laughter) Correia: Aah! I don't even sit by you. Bailey: So I fully understand the need for the bridge to make this connector trail. I get that part. I'm not dramatically supportive of that, but I get it. Do you really believe that this is going to help alleviate some of the parking issue, however? I mean, we can't get people to walk a block in downtown Iowa City. I know that dog owners tend to walk a little bit farther in their lives, but is it really going to address the problem? Pacha: We really do, only because of the fact that there is accessible parking right at the other end of the proposed bridge. Now, ifit was just a connector to, or dumped out on a street and they had to park somewhere anyway and get to there, then maybe not so much. It's not going to alleviate the entire parking problem because you're right: some people are going to want to drive right up to the door of the dog park and get out. Bailey: Because they're in a rush and yeah, ok. Pacha: But yeah, we do believe that this is gonna, this will get people off that Foster Road and Peninsula neighborhood. Vanderhoef: Do we, how many parking places do we have at the dog park right now? Pacha: Not enough. Probably not what you're looking form This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. ^--------~-_._.._._._---_.__.__.,------~~_._----~------,-----_.----"~.~_.- January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 24 Vanderhoef: Well- Bailey: That's not a number. Pacha: About 60. Bailey: And that's often full, is what you're saying? Pacha: Yeah, they're actually parking on the grass and everything already and in, along the street going there. And what we're kind of afraid of is they're going to flow into the neighborhood and start parking, you know, kind of like the back entrance of City Park, where they park all along the streets there. I envision that happening. Bailey: And, and what is wrong with that? People park on my street all the time and I don't really have a problem with it. Champion: Mine too. Bailey: I mean, what is wrong with that? Pacha: Well, we're already hearing about it from the folks in the neighborhood, and I think we will continue to. Bailey: These aren't private suites, right? Pacha: Parking along which street? Which street are you talking about? Bailey: I said, why would that be a problem to park on a public street? Unless there, you know, is an inordinate amount of garbage being left behind, or some other problem, why is that a problem? I mean, people park on the streets. Pacha: Well, the public street you'd be talking about here is up in the Peninsula Sth neighborhood and those streets are narrower than most other streets around town. The other streets where we're having problems with the streets, if you will, are down in the park, beyond where cars are supposed to be. Bailey: Oh, ok. Vanderhoef: And you said it's about 20 over at Crandic? Pacha: Ah, that might be pushing it right now. What we'd have to do is do a little work in Crandic Park to where we could build up to, where we do have about 20 or so spaces - maybe 25. Actually, if you go there on a Football Saturday, there's parking for about 70 or SO cars. Correia: Do we charge for that? Champion: No. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. ~. .. ,__,____~_._~_..__.._.~__"_.~_.___"___.___"._.,..._._.._n_____.___.___..__. ., January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 25 Correia: We should. Bailey: So you anticipate that if we would do this bridge connecting to Crandic that that parking lot would need to be expanded? Pacha: Not a lot of room in Crandic to expand very much. Bailey: Ok. Well that's what I was worried about. You'd lose a park, you'd have a parking lot. Ok. Wilburn: Anything else? Well, I think I know what the answer would be, that I almost want to call the Corps of Engineers and see if - I used to be an engineer. Corps of Engineers building bridges to see ifthey need a training bridge they need to put up, but I suspect the answer will be know. Pacha: Like the Dental College - they put up a practice bridge. Elliott: You're talking about the dental people building bridges? Pacha: Well that's a pretty good plan. It works. Elliott: Yeah. Wilburn: Any other questions? Bailey: Will they build to that scale though? Wilburn: Thank you. Pacha: Thank you. Champion: Is there any money? Is there any money available for like the money we would get for that underpass or overpass on I" A venue, has a gasoline saving thing? Energy saving? Vanderhoef: The clean air. Bailey: Clean air. Atkins: I" Avenue is a clean air issue. That's where we're generating, trying to get a grant through the clean air program. Champion: Is it possible to get that with a pedestrian bridge? People would probably have to drive 5 miles less. Wilburn: Probably not as concentrated and as direct a relation. Champion: Oh, ok. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 26 Wilburn: But it's a good creative- Vanderhoef: Good thinking. Elliott: Connie, I don't know what the rest of you have heard, but I've heard from the people there who are very concerned that this would create a problem with motor vehicles, with animals, and with people along Rocky Shore Drive. They don't want it. Vanderhoef: The Rocky Shore? Elliott: Yes. Bailey: I haven't heard that. Vanderhoef: Rocky Shore is really busy at certain times of the day I'm sure. I've had exactly one phone call on this and they happened to live in the neighborhood. Bailey: Which? Rocky Shore or Peninsula? Vanderhoef: Peninsula. And their biggest concern is the lack of sidewalks to get down to the dog park right now, where it's undeveloped at this point. So it wasn't a matter of - they had some concern with the amount of traffic coming through their quiet neighborhood. Wilburn: I tried to allow, be somewhat flexible and allow a little Council discussion with this, but we do have some time tomorrow night and we do have other groups. So we are in a I suppose quasi-public hearing type presentation here, so. Airoort Commission Wilburn: Airport Commission. Hartwig: Good evening. Pleasure to meet with you as always. It occurred to me earlier that I'm finishing my fourth year on the Commission, third as Chairman and this last year is the first year where we've had full membership on the Commission and actually the same members all year. And so, from my perspective it's been a very satisfYing year, and also, I'm kind of a slow leamer, but I've learned now to delegate a few things and so Janelle is going to help with the seatings presentation too. But I wanted to touch on a few of the things we did last year, and then Janelle is going to go over some of the specific budget things. I was very happy last year in that some ofthe things we were able to accomplish with your help, we, I think, made the best use of State grants that were out there, which, as you know is not a lot of, not a lot of those or not enough of those, it seems like. But the upgrades we did to two of the hangars, which was putting concrete floors in there was part of a State grant, as was doing the taxiways in that area. And I think it makes an obviously better facility and thereby hopefully a better return on our money in the future. But it also I think greatly upgrades the appearance to anybody driving down there. The asphalt that's been replaced. And we did the taxiways, we also tied that in with a parking lot which was basically gravel before, now is asphalt. We also tied it in with putting new This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 27 Rettig: fencing around those areas, which we were able to get some help from the State on that also. So very happy to do some things that actually are visible to the public too. I think Mike spoke with you recently about the capital projects, specifically the runway extension, so I won't spend too much time on that. The other items obviously are related to Aviation Commerce Park. As you're well aware, we've consummated the first sale there and hope that that's indicative of increased activity and more sales in the future. The Aviation Commerce Park in the south I know has some money put in, or put aside for the future, I think in next year's budget, and I want to touch on that a little bit. As you might remember we have a study going on. EarthTek is conducting with our input to identify what the future needs of the airport might be and thereby address how much, you know, that is available for other uses. The FAA just recently signed off on, I guess, the methodology of coming up with those numbers and I think even this month we'll be meeting with David Hughes from EarthTek to start making some more exact recommendations and stuff. So we're encouraged about that process and look forward to meeting with you on that and discussing in more detail. Ijust, you know, I want to remind all of us that ultimately the FAA does have the say as far as what should happen. I think that that's one ofthe reasons, or that is one of the reasons that we're going through the steps that we are so that they're comfortable with how we come up with our vision of what should happen there. Without taking too much more time, I hope you all got a, or will get a copy of the year-end report which Mike has put together. With that I'm going to let Janelle talk about the budget itself and then be available for any questions. I'm going to focus on the general budget, not the CIP funding. Weare asking that our employees remain the same. We use an airport operations specialist and also some management with JET Air in order to keep the airport open longer hours and to manage things. Mike is 6/10, 6/1 Os employee. We've asked that the general levy remain the same, and the reason, although we'd like it to go down this year, we need to sell property. And it's not until about 40 to 45% of the property on the north side is sold that we'll actually see a reduction in our, on the loans that we're paying debt on right now. So we owe, at the end of this fiscal year, about 2.2 million dollars on the North Aviation Commerce Park, and that will need to be paid off first before we can pay down these loans on the T hangars. So we've requested that the general levy remain the same until we can sell some more property. Our capital outlay, one is conference chairs in the conference room, and to make that room more available for public meetings. It's currently available for public meetings, but it's not particularly easy to know that. So that's our intention. Then we want to start and multi-phase a plan of putting fencing around the airport. Some of the fencing is extremely dated and other places it's nonexistent. FAA will fund fencing but only 3-strand barbed wire, as opposed to chain link fence, which is not particularly appealing, nor is it very safe. And we continue to work on the outdoor viewing area, which was fenced in this past fiscal year. We're proposing raising money to help subsidize that, we (can't hear) from our constituents in the general public. We are working on a concept plan for that but it's going to be a great area. There is a picnic table if you want to stop by and watch plains for awhile, even though it's a little cold. Our, our asphalt all around the terminal, or cement, concrete I guess is the technical term, is very dated, and so we're proposing sort of a phased in plan of replacing some of the concrete there. And then also cracked ceiling. We're dealing with runway concrete that's about 60 years old and it's showing wear and tear and the cracked ceiling we proposed here will This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 28 only do 1/4'h of one runway, so again that would be a multi-phase project. So that walks you through what we're asking for and why, and we're all ready for questions. Bailey: When you say the general levy remaining the same, what's that dollar amount? I have an estimate. Rettig: A hundred and twelve thousand. Bailey: Ok. That's what I thought. The estimate from 2007 is sitting at 109 in front of me, so I wanted to make sure you weren't asking for 109. Elliott: One hundred and twelve you said, Janelle? Rettig: Yes. I'm not exactly sure. I think it had something to do with the economic development coordinator when it changed from 109 to 10 12. Atkins: That's right, that's right. Bailey: Yeah. Ok. Rettig: We partially fund the economic development coordinator through our budget. Vanderhoef: Could you ask the FAA or inform them that we don't have any cows that are gonna run on the runway? Rettig: Actually we do. They maintain cows at Dane's, so they're on that end and they could run through, and I doubt that that barbed wire could block 'em from doing that, so. Eventually we need more. Vanderhoef: Well, if they would fund up to the point of what it would cost for barbed wire fencing to put with your money to put the other kind of fencing in. I think partial funding from the FAA is a reasonable request. Rettig: I think that - Hartwig: 1 think we did and, for the area that Janelle is referring to from Dane's all the way over to (can't hear) I think. It was about fifty grand on our share. Vanderhoef: Your share, and what were they gonna come up with? Hartwig: Plus with, yeah, right. In other words, what they're putting into fencing as part of the project in order for us to upgrade is what- Champion: Well, you need to keep other animals out of there too. Deer, cows, humans. I mean, most airports are totally fenced in. Hartwig: Well, that's the intention, but I don't know of many that actually are. Champion: I don't know if it works. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 29 Elliott: Hartwig: Elliott: Hartwig: Elliott: Rettig: Tharp: Elliott: Hartwig: Rettig: Wilburn: O'Donnell: Rettig: Do you have problems with deer? Ah, while I, yeah, in general we do. Although, funny you should bring that up, because we are receiving or will be part of a State grant for wildlife mitigation if you will, or ways to prevent wildlife. Because it seem to me that when a plane is taking off, the deer becomes infinitely more dangerous than when I'm driving my vehicle down Sand Road. That's - we had one of them, I think it was the first year I was on the Commission, a pilot taxied into, or the deer ran into a taxiing airplane. But, yeah, I think obviously the creek and stuff is - Janelle, you mentioned the conference room. How many will that seat? About? It will currently seat about 20 I think. Right now it seats roughly about 18 extra chairs. Ifwe get the funding that we're proposing we'll put it up to about 35, 36. We can do a new round of conference chairs plus a couple, a couple dozen of stackable chairs. Are you thinking of making that available, say evenings? I know that when groups hold meetings in town, if it's not a group that regularly meets someplace, it's difficult to find a meeting place. If you had a nice place, maybe you could charge, you know twenty bucks or, at least ten or twenty bucks and give you a little running money for coffee and care replacements and things like that. All right. Good point and we're putting together an outline of rules, regulations and that sort ofthing on who can use it. We're, it's part of our strategic plan to make the airport more available for the general public, so part of that is the conference room. It, it's our current intention to run it more like the library meeting rooms, where non-profits and governmental agencies could use it for free. But it would be available at the times that someone is in the building, so we'd have no staff, so that's where JET Air comes in, when Mike leaves at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, JET Air is there four days a week, 24 hours. I'm not proposing that someone have a midnight meeting in our conference room, but I think they would accommodate evening meetings pretty easy, and they would actually manage that part of the meeting room. And we have the best view in town. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Telecommunications Commission This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. '^________..~___..,___..._u_~_..___..._____~_______~_.__________.._______..u January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 30 Wilburn: Someone from the Telecommunications Commission? Telecommunications? Correia: We're ahead of schedule. Wilburn: Are you waiting for someone, then, someone to join you? Mekies: Ah, no. Hopefully the equipment will work and it's fine. But we were looking, scheduled for quarter of eight. Bailey: We're ahead. Wilburn: We're a little bit ahead. We can take a break. If you're not ready, we can take a break here. Mekies: Oh that's fine, I could do that. Just give me a little time to get this going. The Power Point presentation. Elliott: While you're setting up, I will now apologize to my Councilpersons for being late. Wilburn: I'm still stunned that you like vegetables Bob. Elliott: I don't. Wilburn: Oh, you like the idea. Bailey: (can't hear) vegetable. Vanderhoef: If it isn't corn he doesn't eat it. Bailey: Thank goodness he's in Iowa. Mekies: Are you able to see this fairly well? Wilburn: Yeah. Mmm hmm. Mekies: Thank you. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to speak with you tonight, and especially your infinite patience, listening to one budget request after another. I really appreciate and I feel your pain. We understand the Council has been under pressure before because of State cutbacks. As a consequence has decided to take funds from a number of departments in the City, and as a result of this situation, Council decided over the last three years to take $100,000.00 from the cable TV division fund and transfer it to the general fund. We'd like to make a few points to the Council that you may not be aware of that are threatening the cable TV budget and why the current cable TV fund balance levels are necessary. So this presentation is aimed at showing the kind of financial pressure that the cable division is under. During the last year there have been four major developments that have threatened the cable division. In Congress, legislation has been proposed by the telecommunications industry principally the phone companies, that could be detrimental to cities and threaten services the cable division currently supplies to the community and Iowa City. In Iowa, legislation has been proposed that This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 31 could also threaten the cable division office. The FCC, Federal Communication Commission, is looking to become the entity that issues national franchises to all new entrants to the cable TV market, which could eliminate locate franchising requirement. It could certainly eliminate the City's ability to negotiate their own franchise. Finally, an Iowa court case exists that could also threaten City cable TV related revenue. Without getting into the myriad of details of how each of these developments could negatively impact the cable division funding, here are just a few highlights. Just a few of the potential effects on Iowa City proposed Congressional bills, House bill 5252, Senate bill S2686 and State legislative bills SF2361 and HF670. Included, cable TV franchise fees could be cut. Over the year, the cable TV office reported and helped to resolve almost 2500 subscriber and citizen complaints. City authority, to provide consumer protection, may be lost to an FCC complaint resolution process. That means you start off calling Drew Schaffer, you'd be calling the FCC in Washington, DC. The cable TV office has helped to return over $190,000.00 to subscribers in the form of rebates and reduced rates. The ability to regulate rates or mitigate these rates could be lost. Cities could no longer be able to determine their own local community needs and interests to the franchising process as they have in the past. The City has provided services to over 100 local non- profit organizations. This service has been in very high demand for several years and continues to have very strong demand. Funding for this service could be cut or lost altogether. Reduction or elimination of P A TV funding as well as funding of other local channels could result. Cherry picking or build-outs are one of the most contentious issues. New video providers, principally the phone companies, want to serve only portions of the community, not everyone. So companies could serve just more affluent neighborhood, which may provide them with more customers but deny service to those in less affluent neighborhoods. Currently the City can require that cable companies serve the entire community. And incidentally, it's not just affluent neighborhoods, it's just that if the cable or phone company deems the neighborhood not profitable enough, they say that the density of the population is not worth it, then they may not go ahead with serving the entire city. Imagine basically the post office or the electric company doing the same thing. The current local channels, the University ofIowa, schools, library, Kirkwood, public and the City, might have to be reduced to as little as three channels. Currently, cable companies have to provide reports, bonds, inspections and audits. These requirements could be eliminated or greatly reduced. This deregulatory legislation has been supported by members, members of both political parties. So it remains to be seen as to whether the current political climate will affect this legislation. It doesn't appear to. This is an anti-local climate legislation, a bipartisan anti-local legislation. What is especially disconcerting about this legislation is that if successful, in all likelihood the cable companies would demand the same treatment this legislation proposes for other video service providers, and understandably so. In all likelihood, cable companies would be granted such treatment and opt out of their existing requirements. Such language has been actually, been included in some of the proposed legislation. The result would be a ratcheting down of services; that is, the cable company would ratchet down their service to the phone companies, which do not have to meet the current stringent requirement. The FCC has put out the notice of proposed rulemaking, also called NPR, and which requests information from cities and others concerning the provision of competitive video services and how local authorities have been so-called barriers to the phone companies' ability to obtain franchises in a so-called timely and effective manner. The Chairman of the FCC, Kevin Martin has made it clear that he's interested in seeing the FCC become the nationwide franchiser. If the FCC is successful, cities could lose all franchiser-related This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29, 2007 City Council Work Session Page 32 Wilburn: Mekies: abilities and benefits. A local court case, Curtis vs. the City of Bettendorf, may also have consequences for City cable TV revenue. Mr. Curtis sued the City of Bettendorf claiming that the cable TV franchises fee required by the City of Bettendorf are illegal taxes. There was a case similar to that in Des Moines with the electric company, but this is really close to home, because this is related to cable TV. Seven other Iowa cities have been enjoined in this suit. If Mr. Curtis wins, cities could lose some or all of their franchise fees, putting the division at even more risk. It is anticipated that some form of action would be taken in Congress, or the State legislature or the court within the next year. Any result would most likely include some part of the previously mentioned scenarios, none of which will increase cities' authority; in fact, all of which will probably challenge city authority. The cable TV franchise fees have leveled off during the last few years. In fact franchise fees revenue has dropped since 2002, and so this sort of revenue is not something we can always count on at the cable division. Additional growth is unlikely, especially given the competition from phone companies and other entrants. The fund balance of the cable division sits at about $700,000.00; this is the result of years of conservative budgeting. This fund has been used for several important purposes over the years, including enabling the cable division to buy their space at Tower Space, and helping P A TV to purchase their own facility. This fund is also used for hiring consultants at necessary times such as re- franchising. Given anticipated changes in legislation or the court, it may also be used to help fund lobbying efforts or appeal court courses. It's a necessary caution. If legislation is passed or court decisions are made that would reduce or eliminate the cable TV division, this fund would be used in order to avoid abrupt cuts in service and to allow time to seek other funding sources without being a burden to the City. The equipment fund balance currently sits at about $50,0000.00. Given there is about $250,000.00 worth of equipment in the division, this fund assists the division in replacing equipment when needed and maintaining an up-to-date equipment inventory. Technology is expensive. Many of the cameras alone cost $18,000.00 each. It is worth noting that the cable division has extended the life of that equipment well beyond the original projected equipment replacement schedule. You have about one minute left on your presentation time to allow Council five minutes of questioning. Ok. Well, the fund transfer of the cable division to the general fund has been the highest percentage taken from any City department as you can see from the graph here. So the impact is, is quite severe. Cutting capital improvement (can't hear) as webstreaming, bandwidth, the community radio station, mobile media, a number of things would have to be cut and would have to be lived with by the cable division. As a result of these conditions, it is the Commission's desire that the Council consider circumstances on the cable division and the amount taken from it. It is our hope that the Council would consider restoring the division funding, even if it's on a gradual basis, say over the 3 year period, 3 year period oftime. And I believe the cable division should be commended for its effort to be frugal, to be prudent, to have planned to have bought these facilities, to have bought its building, and to be in fact (cut off - end of tape) Mekies: Well, restoring the $100,000.00, that may be over a period of time. Also, bearing in mind that the pressure may be upon all of us, given the Curtis case and the Bettendorf case. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 33 Bailey: Mekies: Bailey: Mekies: Bailey: Mekies: Bailey: Mekies: Bailey: Mekies: Bailey: Elliott: Bailey: Elliott: Bailey: Mekies: You mentioned that this fund balance that you maintain would be used as sort of as a bridge if something would change in the funding environment as the Telecommunications Commission would seek other funding for its work. Where would that other funding come from? Ah, well, the other funding could eventually come from the City, the City finds it necessary, but it could also come from grants and maybe the private sector. Right. And are you pursuing grants, do you regularly pursue grants at this time? No. There is no, there is not plan right now. We are solvent right now and there is no plan to do that. There is a one-year budget cushion. Right. I understand that. And I think it's probably the most that any division might have. But I guess I'm trying to get a sense of the grant and funding environment of the possibilities, because it just seems like if there are funds out there, seems like it would make sense as the environment changes to create relationships with foundations and other funders. To start thinking about that, and I will make note of that and 1- And, 1- I'm not aware of any plan going on. Well I'mjust not aware of- I agree with Regenia that I think it's, I would hate to see you wait until you're in dire straits. I think now that you do have some cushion, some financial cushion - I have no idea, Regenia, maybe you do? I, yeah - I have no idea what's out there, but I do think that Iowa City has, has excellent local telecasting, and people are interested, and I think that if there are grants out there, that I would suggest that we begin working on those. I'm sorry if I interrupted you. No, I wasn't aware that there could be that kind of opportunity, so that was an interesting piece of information to me. I, I'm not sure these opportunities are there, given the fact that we have the ability to fund ourselves, but one helpful act would be not to take money away from the cable division. It is solvent. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. _____~__._~__,_u_.____~__.____.,.,.__"_______.__.._._.,',--- . January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 34 Bailey: Sure. But funders fund success, and this is a very successful division, so there might be opportunity, yeah. Mekies: Yeah. There's no question, yeah. Vanderhoef: Help me out a little bit. I'm aware that some cities only have 2 or 3 stations on their cable, and we have 7. Ah, is there a cost, a fee that you pay for each of those cable spaces that go to the FCC, or someone for licensing. Mekies: Ah, not the FCC that I'm aware of. Vanderhoef: So it doesn't matter if, in other words, if you have 7 now and you went to 5, there wouldn't be any difference in the cost to cable provider? Mekies: The only, the loss would be that we would be permanently losing 2 channels. Vanderhoef: I understand. Mekies: And you know how expensive these channels are, given the current debate between Sinclair and Mediacom valuing one channel at at least one million dollars. These are very valuable channels and if we lose them they will probably be permanently. Vanderhoef: I understand. The comments that I hear from the public have to do with that. In other words, they say the stations are not filled up, so why do we need so many, and don't they pay more for the privilege of having 7 stations? And I honestly couldn't answer that question when it was asked to me. Correia: Are, are these 7 stations part of our franchise agreement? We don't, the City doesn't pay for the stations. It's part of- Vanderhoef: I thought there was a license that they had to buy to keep those stations. Helling: No, the City doesn't, doesn't pay anything for the stations, as Amy said. They're part of the franchise agreement. We reserve those for the various local interests, but as you said, the cost is the same - no cost, whether it's 5 or 7 or whatever it is. Vanderhoef: That's a piece of information we need to get out to the general public. Helling: Yeah, that's cost to the City - that's without, without attempting to measure the cost to the community in the loss of those channels, which is, that's different. Vanderhoef: Yeah. Mekies: Well, you might make a point that there may be a better use for one particular channel by importing some other more popular national channel into one of those local channels. Wilburn: ljust had a couple letters related to this legislation. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29, 2007. ._.._-_._.__."._..-.__._.._.,--,,_.,....~----'"-'----'~.......--,.-.-. - --_._,_.~.- ~-_.- January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 35 Vanderhoef: We have, both State and Federal. It's a big issue and it has repercussions for right of ways. Bailey: Mmm hmm. Wilburn: We've gone beyond the creative time for question and answer, so thank you very much. Mekies: Thank you for your patience. Wilburn: Let's take a lO-minute break, come back here at 5 minutes 'til. Bailey: Now we're on time again. Hancher's 35th Anniversarv Gift to Iowa Wilburn: Ready? Hancher's 35th Anniversary Gift to Iowa. Swanson: Thank you. Elliott: That's you? Swanson: That's me. That's me - right. V anderhoef: You are a gift. Swanson: My name is Chuck Swanson, and I just want to say to all of you thank you very much for your time tonight and also thanks a lot for what you do for the City of Iowa City. I really appreciate it. But believe it or not, next year, next season is going to be Hancher's 35th anniversary, and it was in November of '04 Judy Hurtig and I, Judy is the artistic director, I'm the executive director, we'd been to a meeting in Austin, TX. This was a meeting of major presenters around the country and we were corning back horne, we were sitting in the Austin airport and you know, like typical travelling, the plane was delayed. So Judy and I had time, we were sitting there thinking about, we always get pumped out when we go to these meetings. We were thinking about, for some reason, Hancher's 35th, and this was back in November of '04. So we had time to kill and we thought to ourselves we gotta think about an artist. And we, it didn't take us long to realize that the artists we have the most special relationship with, and a lot of you know that too, is the Joffrey Ballet. Hancher's history with the Joffrey goes back so long'. In 1987 we commissioned The Nutcracker, and this whole community was behind that. They were a real part of that project. And then in '93, Billboards, the first rock ballet ever, music by Prince, that was also done by Hancher and the Joffrey. And so Judy and I decided right away we wanted to do something with the Joffrey to celebrate this 35th. And we've been doing a lot of statewide activities in the last several years, and so we thought gosh, it would be so great to share this special relationship that Hancher has with the Joffrey here in Iowa City with the rest of the state. So we thought why don't we take the Joffrey on a statewide tour. We'll do free outdoor performances. This was November of '04, and so the Joffrey was coming in December of '04 for The Nutcracker. We thought this is something we gotta at least, first of all, talk to the J offrey about, because it really does sound like it's something pretty unusual. Wernet with the Joffrey and the Joffrey This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29, 2007. ----- ._--,--~,--~-,-,,--"--'-~-"'--""---""-'--'---'. . . - _.._._-,~~~._-----,,--~_.__..,.- January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 36 right away, they said let's do this in Illinois! Let's do it in Nebraska! They were so excited about this. So the journey began then in December of '04. February of '05, just soon after this, this woman called me. I had never met her before. Her name was Oliva Smith. She said Chuck, she goes, I want to sit down, I want to talk with you about something. So I met with her and she said to me, back in '82 and '83, she said her husband and her at that time they were boyfriend and girlfriend. They were dating. She said Joffrey Two, I came in '85, but the summers of '82 and '83, Joffrey Two had been doing somewhat similar. Hancher brought them and they did a tour of the state, they did outdoor performances, they did residency activities, and she had seen this up at Brucemore with her husband. Her husband was this jock of a guy, was not interested in the arts at all, and she took him up to Brucemoor kicking and screaming. He didn't want to go to this thing. She took him up there, and I'll tell you what - it changed his whole life. All of a sudden the arts became part of his life. Hancher became part of his life. And she said that, the story that she had to tell me was he had been a helicopter pilot in Iraq and in November of '04 the helicopter had been shot down. A lot of people probably know about her. She said that as she was driving up in December of '04, a month after her husband died, she had her two children with her, she was driving up to see The Nutcracker, because this had meant so much to her family. She said that she was going up that u-drive and all of a sudden she realized what she wanted to do with his memorial money. She said that this had changed his life so much that she wanted to use the memorial money to buy tickets from West Liberty for kids to come to Hancher in hopes that some of them might have that same outcome. So right away I said to Judy, I said, "this is a perfect project." That just cemented it, you know, what the arts can do. Especially the arts in this Iowa City community. The arts are so vibrant here, and Iowa City has supported the arts, and we're really a leader in the State. So, we ended up of course proceeding with the project. We decided that we wanted to have 5 cities in the tour. Definitely Iowa City, Iowa City definitely had to be part of this. So in a matter of probably about a year we put the tour together. June 29th is gonna be the kickoff in Des Moines. We're partnering with the Des Moines Arts Festival which is like, I think it's about the 3'd top arts festival in the country and they're rated by - this is a visual arts festival. They're rated by sales, they're rated by quality - I mean, they draw people from all over the world. So that's June 29th in the Western Gateway Park, for those of you who are familiar with downtown Des Moines. Just a beautiful urban setting - it's gorgeous. July I't we'll be over to Council Bluffs. This is a River to River tour. That's on Sunday, and then we'll come back over to the eastern part of the state. We'll be in Muscatine on July 3'd. July 4th is a day offfor the dancers, July 5th is a day off because they're union dancers. By contract, they need a day off. July 6th we'll be up at Brucemoor, and then we'll end this whole tour, of course, on the Hancher Green, right outside of Hancher on July 7"'. We have added so many components to this. One thing I want to tell you about that I'm real excited about is the educational component. In each one of the communities _ I'm just going to talk about Iowa City here - prior to, and this is, all of the magic is gonna happen out in the open. Everybody is going to see the stage being built. They're going to see the company class, the company rehearsal, all these things that are usually hidden in a theater, it's gonna be out there for you and for everybody else to be able to see. But the day of the performance in each community, we're gonna do an educational workshop. It's a movement workshop, and this is by the education director of The Joffrey, Pierre Lockett, and for those of you who saw The Nutcracker back in '87 you'll recognize Pierre, because he was, he was a part of it. He's graduated now to becoming, to being - he can't dance anymore, but he is a great education director. What he's gonna do This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. _ "___n_.._._.______._..___.___~____.___.._...._._ ...--...-..........-..,..- ----------...--.--..-----.--......-....- ..' - --------- January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 37 is lead this movement workshop that teaches kids a part of one of the ballets, and it's gonna be the last piece in the program, Sometimes It Snows in April. But the neat part of this is the opportunity for us to reach kids, and these are underprivileged kids that, you know, basically can't afford to come to arts events like this. So in Iowa City we are partnering with Four Oaks, with the Neighborhood Centers of Johnson County, and with the Boys and Girls Clubs in Johnson County. Because this is an opportunity for those kids who never really get a chance to take dance classes to really be a part of this huge, major project. And what we're doing in each community is we're choosing kids, because we're gonna print, I think it's about 35,000 playbills, which of course we've never produced that many playbills before, and we want them distributed by kids, and we're gonna have t-shirts for these kids to wear. And here in Iowa City we're gonna have them distributed by the kids from Four Oaks, from Johnson County Neighborhood Centers, and from the Boys and Girls Clubs, because those kids never get the opportunity to be centered out, to really have an incentive like this. So we're excited about that. I want to tell you quickly about the production element ofthis. As you can tell, this is a very ambitious project. The Joffrey has never done anything like this before; we have never done anything like this before. Nobody in the country - I don't think anybody in the world has ever done anything like this before. We've hired a production company out of Grand Rapids, MI. Their name is Levitation. They're not from Fairfield, they're from Grand Rapids, MI, and they are the best in the business. They have toured the country with a lot of political campaigns. I know the John Kerry campaign they were in charge of all the set-up, they went all over the country with him. In fact, they were just in Des Moines with the Culver inauguration. They helped with all the set-up, you know, outside and the big gala that they had, I think out at the fairgrounds. They were involved with President Ford's funeral at Grand Rapids, so they have never done this before with a major ballet company, but we feel very, very comfortable with them. But it's interesting, because building this stage 5 times in 5 different communities, striking it, I mean, this for them - it's a major, major thing too. It's gonna be a 40-foot by 40-foot stage. The Joffrey is bringing 41 dancers, so we are not cutting back anywhere on this. This is going to be a celebration, and I personally think that Iowa City, the University of Iowa, Hancher: we should be so proud. Because I already feel like at the end of this, we are gonna get people who are gonna become groupies on this tour. They're gonna come and the last final stop is gonna be Iowa City, and they're gonna definitely want to be a part of it. So I really think this is a great thing for the City ofIowa City to get behind. As I said, there's going to be a playbill. This playbill is going to have an honor roll in it, and people around the State have been very generous. We have raised a significant amount of money. We need to raise a significant amount of money, but I think to have Iowa City listed on that honor roll, I think would really be great. So, I want to open it up for questions if anybody has any questions. We obviously are very excited about it. Champion: It's a very ambitious project. Swanson: It is very ambitious - thank you Connie, it is. Champion: Ah, I didn't realize it was gonna be free. I think that's prettY incredible. Swanson: Yes - yeah, yeah, it is. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. - - - ----,---,_._"_.,.__._-~._-~-_. - -----_._..-_._._-_.,.._~._--_._---------,.- --. . January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 38 Champion: Swanson: Champion: Swanson: Bailey: Swanson: Bailey: Swanson: Correia: Bailey: Swanson: Champion: Swanson: Champion: When I first read it I guess Ijust passed over that. And the thing that's so exciting about that Connie is the fact, and what we want to do is give, as this story with Oliva Smith, give people who normally can't come to see a world class ballet company, come and see them perform. Because there are so many people who can't afford it and to be honest, there are so many people who don't go into a theater. They're really concerned about going into a theater. So we see this as an opportunity for families to come with their blankets, with their chairs; for people of all ages. I don't want to just say young people either. !think it's gonna be people from all walks of life. I mean, we estimate that maybe in Iowa City we could get 5 to 6, even 7000 people. Up at Brucemore, Peggy Whitworth, she said for events like this they get 7500 people to come. And I do think the Des Moines Register is one of our big sponsors, and by the time it gets to Iowa City, there's gonna be a lot of coverage and we're gonna get national press. I should have mentioned that too. We're talking to magazines, a couple of magazines that are nationally publicized. The New York Times has an interest in it. So we want that sort of stuff. We're not doing this just to be good people too. We do want to get some good press out of it, I hope. What did you, what are your plans in case there's a thunderstorm? Well, that's interesting, I'm glad you asked that. We have never had event insurance before. We're going to have event insurance. And to be honest, I've been talking to a climatologist, the State's climatologist. His name escapes me at this point. Harry Hilacker. Pardon? Isn't it Harry Hilacker? Yes! You're right. Thank you, thank you. How do you know that? Because you hear his name all the time. Yes. Thank you, Regenia. He told me that there's a 5% chance of rain when it starts. On any given day? Well he said, during this time of year, he said there's a 5% chance ofrain when it starts and it goes up to 8 or 9% by the time the performance is over. But he said to watch the patterns in the spring, because he said that's really typical as to how it will go over the rest of the summer. But the thing of it is, I've been telling people for the last 2 and 1/2 years that the rewards well outweigh the risk. Think of the festivals that happen all summer long. Ravinia, Tanglewood, all these festivals. Right. No, I was just wondering if you have any other plans? This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 39 Swanson: Champion: Swanson: Champion: Swanson: Elliott: Swanson: Atkins: Elliott: Elliott: Bailey: Swanson: Elliott: No, no, no, and the reason why is if we have 5 or 6 thousand people out there, we can't say, well, 2500 of you can come into Hancher. And the same thing in Des Moines, you know. And The Joffrey is really flexible with us too. They said if we can delay the start we'll delay the start. So, you know, we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed. I hope, I hope you just have good weather. Yeah. I do too. I have enough gray hair, but I'm sure we'll have more by the end of it. Well, you won't - there's nothing you can do about the weather. Nope. That's what a lot of people have said. Chuck, the thing that I like about this is you, we, several people are taking arts to the people as opposed to trying to attract people to the theater. When I was growing up, Gene Kelly was probably the closest to artistic dancing that the public ever saw, and I think there are more people, such as Olivia Smith's husband who, if they were introduced to it, it might be very meaningful to them. So taking arts to the people is important. Well, thank you. Who was that again? Who? What? Who were you talking about? I mean, obviously our amount of money that you're asking for us is relatively small to some of the other donors. Are there other things that the City, you expect help from the City? I mean, if you have 5,000 people in that space, what other kinds of things are you gonna call upon the City to do? Well, I'm sure - and that's such a good question. I'm sure that parking, we'll want some help with the parking. I know that we do have Riverside Theater coincides, their performance, and we're going to have to work out the logistics of that for sure. I'm concerned about port-o-potties. I'm concerned about trying to have facilities for people, 'cause I think some people will come earlier, especially if they have young people, because we can't open the lobby to Hancher at all for that. There will be a party in the lobby for donors and the dancers afterwards. So I think those are things we definitely are gonna - we are not, we're starting to start thinking about those sorts of things. Because we told ourselves for so long now we'd have so much time, you know, that there's so much time behind, but we're getting very close to this. So I think we need to have a meeting to sit down with people who you would suggest would be of good help to us. Because we definitely will want some support. You mentioned Ravinia. Will you be encouraging eating on the grounds? That's a big thing with Ravinia. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29, 2007. ........._.---_..,_._-_._,-_.,~---"---"-'_._._._~------~_.._._.,.-.._~-----~_.~_._-- January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 40 Swanson: Well, yeah it is a big thing with Ravinia. I think, I think you know, we want people to come and this is going to be an event. We talked about having musicians out there; we talked about a lot of different things. So I think we will encourage people to make this. Elliott: Good. If you did that then you could encourage perhaps local musicians to be performing during the time that they're refreshing themselves. Swanson: Yeah. Oh that's what we would have, local musicians. Yeah. I don't know if anybody was there for the Culver event, but they had musicians out in the front and really it was, they had some steel drums playing. It really helped to set the tone. Wilburn: Our question answer time is expired. Champion: Oh. Bailey: I have a- Vanderhoef: Yeah. Bailey: Well I mean, just keeping the City's interest in the forefront, you mentioned this honor roll and that would certainly be something I would be interested in, is how, how would our support be recognized if we would choose to support this? Swanson: There will be an honor roll that will be listed in the playbill and according to what the level is, Regenia, that's how it will be listed. Bailey: Ok. Sort of your standard approach. Swanson: Exactly. Bailey; All donors listed. Swanson: They're all going to be listed. All donors will. And the Governor is going to have a letter on the front of the playbill too, receiving this gift. I don't know if! mentioned it was a gift to the State of Iowa in celebration. I think I forgot. Vanderhoef: Ah, would you accept staff assistance as in-kind versus cash? Swanson: Cash is what we really need, Dee. Vanderhoef: But I'm hearing that you're going to be needing these other, and I'm thinking- Swanson: Well, cash in addition to the support, maybe - Bailey: Well that could up our donation level, if we counted the income. Swanson; Uh huh. That would be great, that would be terrific, and it would be listed accordingly. Elliott: We can park cars. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. --,_.,._---~---~_._-~,-_._--"---~---,._--~----~'----_..,..-.-----.---------------------. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 41 Vanderhoef: Because the traffic control is, is also gonna be, certainly the paramedic, EMS kind of thing, depending on how big the crowd is. Swanson: Ok. Sure. Vanderhoef: Whether there's a transit shuttle- Swanson: Right. Parking, yeah. Champion: That's a great idea. Bailey: I would love to see transit shuttle stuff. Swanson: Yeah, that is a good idea. That's a real good idea. Vanderhoef: You know, University buses or City buses, either one. The one University parking lot is close to the bridge, so there's definitely walkability there, but ifit were in another ramp downtown or clear out at say the Dental School and - Swanson: Right. No, I think that's a real good idea. Vanderhoef: The reverse of what we do with the football and basketball. Swanson: Sure, sure. No, that would be a real good idea. Wilburn: We're 3 minutes past our allocated time for this. Champion: We all want to talk about this. Wilburn: Thank you. Bailey: Thank you. Swanson: Did everybody get a handout? Champion: Yes. Elliott: Thank you. Swanson: Thanks again for your time. Wilburn: Thank you. Child Annreciation Dav Wilburn: Child Appreciation Day. Elliott: You don't know Gene Kelly? This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. ~---'"~. -----,_.__..._~.__..-.,,---"-_....__..._"_.."._-'-_.._-~-----~._,-_.+_._._"-,_._--------"._~---~_....-- January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 42 Atkins: I'm only kidding you. Yes I do. Wilburn: Hello. Auer-Sears: Good evening. Thanks for hearing me tonight. Um. Wilburn: I'm sorry - what is your name? Auer-Sears: I'm sorry. I'm Erin Auer-Sears. Wilburn: Ok, Erin. Just want to make sure. Auer-Sears: Civic responsibility starts the day we realize our actions affect our environment. From the food we ingest to the purchases we make to our mode of transportation, all of these have an impact on the health of our land, our body, and our community. Reaching out to our children to instill the importance of maintaining healthy communities is a step toward ensuring a stable future of knowledgeable adults and leaders. Child Appreciation Day was founded to honor the child's creative and wanderlust spirit while respecting them as future leaders and civic people who will mold and direct the world. Our goal is to develop consciousness for the young mind in matters of health, culture and ecology by modeling Old World knowledge and peaceful alternatives for New World minds. Last year we had nine organizations participate by lending crafts, games and talent and money geared toward broadening the child's worldview. There was African drumming, relays, hip-hop dancing, yoga, recycled play structures, graffiti art and more. Healthy snacks and tea were provided by the New Pioneer Co-op and Apothecary. The Red Avocado did taste testing where the child was introduced to different whole grains like quinoa and amaranth, and it was a joy to see so many children running and laughing and exploring new ideas, food, and activities. Our first year was very successful. We had approximately one hundred children and guardians present. And it is our hope to more than double that number this year with better advertising and outreach. If the City were to sponsor the event a greater part of funding would go towards advertising, and it would be local, such as the Press Citizen and Gazette. We would take advantage offree advertising in surrounding areas, but we would like to keep the funds localized in Iowa City. It is important to keep Child Appreciation Day free and open to the public, creating peaceful, safe cultural events provides opportunities for families to build supportive networks and new relationships. Iowa City has a wonderful legacy of being family friendly, and this event continues in that spirit. Our intention is to reach out to multi-cultural populations, such as the Sudanese and Latino populations. We want to bring families from all backgrounds to share in educating our children about peaceful, sustainable communities. To make that possible it must remain free and open to the public. The day is a great chance for the City's public departments to promote programs that benefit the population. The Recycling Program could promote their recent endeavors, and Parks and Recreations can promote their upcoming summer events for families. I know last year they had a wonderful Thursday evening family-friendly park series that they did, and if they're - if they wish to continue to do that, it would be a really good opportunity for them to promote that. Child Appreciation Day is different than other family-friendly events in that not only are we focused on enriching their lives, but we are motivated to empower the child. Through their participation in the event, we plant the beginnings of This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 43 consciousness and passion for worldly concerns. We do this by recognizing young people in our community for their contributions. Two cash prizes are awarded for the event for young artists and writers. The essay contest is titled lOW ays to Create Healthy Communities, which will be read at the celebration. And the art prize is awarded to a young artist using recycled and renewable mediums that reflect their vision of the future. By creating opportunities for our young to practice expression through performance and public speaking we are allowing them to explore themselves as people who take action in the world. Creating powerful memories and images by the day's events will be a resource for the child to draw from in order to shape their future. This day was created for multi- ages, K through 12. Our hope is that older children become proactive models for younger children. High school youth bands and performers show the middle school and grade school age child how to have a voice, and that there are many ways to be heard. We live in an agricultural state, and we can't ignore the importance of our role in environmental history. The health of our soil is a catalyst for our economic growth as well as our cellular body growth. The challenges that Iowa farmers face will be a growing concern for future generations. We want to introduce organic and biodynamic farmers that are exploring new markets and practices for the future farmer. Activities that focus on identifying different soil compositions and the techniques used to enrich soil will be explored in this event. A Native American storyteller from the Lakota tradition will also be performing stories that help create imagery and connection to the earth. Movement connects us to earth. By feeling the ground beneath our feet and using our breath to relax and release tension, we are taking part in our environment. They are around us as part of our environment. By incorporating yoga into the day, the mind connects to the earth. The child sees self at home outside on the soil, the soil that grows our food and nurtures our body. Today's child is experiencing more of a disconnect from their environment. With the advance of technology, the child is more at risk of aligning their sense of self with what they see in video games and television. We want to provide experiences that reconnect us with things that are necessary for our survival. Our food and our health rests on the ability to grow it from our land. If the child feels connected to the soil, they will be impassioned to care for it. Our children are our source of renewal representing potential. In this sense, Child Appreciation Day is not only for the child, but also for the adult who works to balance responsibility with values. If our messages can reach the children, they are not beyond the comprehension of the adult. And they are reminded of the passion and conviction of youth. By nurturing our relationships with our neighbors, our environments, and ourselves we are providing a future that is bright and hopeful. And I do have a budget for Child Appreciation Day here. 1 don't know ifthat's? Vanderhoef: It's the same on your application? Auer-Sears: What's that? It pretty much, it goes a little more in-depth, but it is- Bailey: Ok. Is this day affiliated with any group? Organized non-profit group or is this sort of a grassroots organization? Auer-Sears: It's pretty much grassroots. We did work with United Action for Youth last year and some, Pat's Learning Annex and Willowind were also active in the day, and they're all non-profits. But it's, last year, you know, it was very grassroots, and I would like to see it become bigger. And I think it's a really good opportunity for the City to become sole sponsor for the, for the event. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 44 Elliott: Now what age groups are you looking at mainly? Auer-Sears: Well, I want it to be open for all families with age groups of all, all age groups. I feel, we feel that having the older children interacting with younger children is a really great way to model responsibility, in that we are responsible for each other, that the 12"' graders are paving the way for the babies of the future, of the next 20 years. Elliott: So you're looking at, the earliest age, perhaps through high school. Auer-Sears: Yes. Elliott: And I would think, I would encourage you to network on that, because I'm sitting here thinking of all the groups that are in the grade schools and the high schools and the Campfire Girls and the Cub Scouts, and the 4-H, and any number of things that I would think would be quite interested in what you're attempting to accomplish. Auer-Sears: Yeah, and that, that was our hope with having youth bands perform. We, you know, I don't see the high school student really taking part in the activities being provided, those are probably more for a grade school age, but I do see them being role models and taking the opportunity to express themselves at an event like this where they will be very much idolized by the smaller children and have a greater chance of being heard. Bailey: Who else is on your planning team for this event? Auer-Sears: Ah, right now I'm pretty much the coordinator. I am, I do have input from Jason Bradley and Theresa Carberry at the New Pioneer Co-op, and they do help me kind of make a plan, but for the most part I'm the one that's making sole decisions. Bailey: And do you anticipate support from New Pioneer and from, it's Doctor- Auer-Sears: Yeah, mmm hmm. They were very supportive last year and they have been very supportive this year. They plan on taking part, and even if there is no funding from the City we're gonna try and do something again. It won't be on the same, it won't be at the level that we hope to be able to. I think our biggest blockage is really being able to advertise. We don't have the monetary means to get to the broader, to get to a broader population because of our lack of funding to really get in the newspapers and advertise at a higher level, so. Wilburn: Other questions? Thank you very much for your presentation. Auer-Sears: Thank you. Have a good evening. Wilburn: You too. Earth Expo 2007 Wilburn: Earth Expo 2007. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 45 Kullmer: Bailey: Kullmer: Bailey: Kullmer: Wilburn: Bailey: Kullmer: Bailey: Kullmer: Hello. [haven't been to one of these before, so bear with me - this is new. My name is Kim Kullmer and [ am the director of Earth Expo 2007. And I am here because, urn, this is actually kind of an interesting situation, but Earth Expo happened, as you know, the past 2 years and they applied for funding from the City and I amjust new to the project, so I'm not really sure how far their paperwork or anything went. But maybe you could tell me about that and then maybe [could tell you more about the project. We have your application. Some of us have it in front of us. Ok, sure. So we have that information. You just have the application. So ah, [guess, what questions do you have for me about the event? J missed her talk, so I'm not really sure what to do. Well you have 10 minutes if you would like to make a presentation, and then we, just say 5 minutes, but it's your discretion if you just wish to entertain questions or if you wish to say a little bit about the project. Can you just overview the event and the objectives of the event and how many people attend and who your target audience is? Sure. Definitely. Thanks. Well, the biggest thing about Earth Expo is it's a celebration designed to showcase alternative energy and environmental solutions. And we do this by highlighting local organizations that employ these solutions and provide participants with an array of environmentally related arts and cultural activities such as, the main thing is we would try to have speakers and demonstrations. We also want to have exhibits and live music and arts, contests and food. So some food would be maybe organic food, New Pi, some free-range eggs, just showing different things of the whole organic area. And I'm also trying to find some different cooks who might be interested in doing some samples of food, so people can be excited about that. I'm also, from the past two events I have a whole file of vendors and previous exhibitors that were there. There was someone with an electric, a hybrid car was there, a com stove, biodiesel, people talking about global warming. Just kind of the topics, what I want to see happening are talking about the topics that are sort of with what's going on right now as far as our environment goes. I'm also looking to have entertainment at the end of the day for the celebration. I've been talking to some bands that might be interested in doing that. [noticed the date was subject to change but you have July 28th on here. Is that still the date? Mmm hmm. It is subject to change - [have actually, [just spoke with someone with the Johnson County Fair about possibly having it close to that date just to draw that traffic over this way. I'm also having another meeting with a woman who is having a global warming conference and maybe having it pushed to September. So the date is subject to change, but if it needs to stay at that date, it could stay at that date too. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 46 Bailey: Well, I was just noting the page before your application, the ADA celebration is also slated for that date. It might not be an overlapping audience, but I know their, their date probably won't change. Kullmer: Ok. Our date, there's a good chance that our date actually will change. Are there any, I'll just entertain with questions then, since this is new. Correia: Since this application, in your list submitted, there's proposed revenue sources and just sponsors to be announced. I'm just wondering who, what other potential sponsors have you identified and have you contacted? Kullmer: Ah, I have actually not done that yet because I just got this project given to me pretty much a week ago, so I'm just kind of starting the process of that. But a lot oflocal places I'm going to contact possibly Sierra Club or just a lot of environmental organizations or places that are interested in that, some political parties as well. Vanderhoef: So is there, you were talking about conversations about what is happening in our world right now as far as energy and environment. Will there be any speakers or? Kullmer: Yes. That is the plan, to have speakers there. (room noise) Kullmer: Wilburn: Bailey: Kullmer: Elliott: Kullmer: Correia: Champion: Kullmer: Bailey: Ok, sorry. Oh it's not you. Oh I don't think it's you. All right. I was afraid, it's like "is me standing here causing this weird noise?" We have little beasts that run around and make noises. Sure. Yes, at the previous events there have been speakers and that's what I would like to have again. I would really love to see a keynote speaker come, with all the presidential things going on if I could possibly have a presidential candidate come through and speak and have them excited about the environment and things, I think that would be a good thing all around. Al Gore could come. He could come. If I could get Al Gore here, like that would be awesome. We have about a dozen candidates now, so I'm sure you can get - So this is information for the general public or people who are really interested in alternatives? Is it to educate and entice or is it to excite and continue to inform people who are already in that loop? Who do you see as your target market? This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29, 2007 City Council Work Session Page 47 Kullmer: I see both as the target, actually. I think that there are, I believe that Iowa City is an area that has a lot of people that are excited about the environment and want to do things and see different changes happen, but I also think there's a good number of people that do not know about things and this is a chance, an opportunity to get them aware, through an exciting event and positive energy event they can see that there are easy things that they can do in their daily lives to make a change for our environment. Elliott: You, I don't know how the rest of you feel, but I, I wish that the people who have made presentations, Kim, you and the others, had been here throughout this time. I see several common threads through several of the organization and events and what they're attempting to accomplish with their events, and I'm sitting here wondering do you all know what the other folks, do you even know of the organizations existence, do you know what they're planning? And could you not combine some of these things instead of having several little things, at least in another year. Get together and have an even larger, more attractive, more obvious day or week or event. Kullmer: Sure. Actually, that's where I'm at now. That's sort of why I said the date is subject to change, because I'm in a process of meeting with different organizations and trying to collaborate to have one large event. The idea for Earth Expo in the future is to have a big street festival where people can be excited to corne, sort of like a Summer of the Arts, like in that sort of venue of things, a nice summer event. But, this is the 3'd of the project and it's in new hands and it's kind of in a transition stage. But I'm definitely not opposed to speaking with other people of other groups about collaboration. Vanderhoef: That's a good observation, Bob. I think about the young woman who was here just before you. Elliott: Right. Vanderhoef: That has some similar goals that might be. Kullmer: Would there be a way of passing that contact information, or how would things like- Elliott: I was just going to ask Steve if there's a staff person who might be able to do that, because the woman was talking about conservation and understanding of the earth and it's interest for us and our need of it and any number of things like that. There are just so many overlapping interests and concerns and attempts. Kullmer: Definitely. Is that organization, has that event already been set, or is that sort of in the workings as well? Champion: I don't know, but we can certainly give you the information. Bailey: Well all of the applications are public information because they're in this information packet from December, so Marian - Elliott: Can she? This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 48 Karr: Mmm hmm. You can contact my office as well and we can provide that. Kullmer: Sure! I will probably contact you tomorrow morning, so very soon. Karr: Fine. Vanderhoef: Yes. Several of the sponsors- Karr: 356-5041. But you might, and we can go through this tomorrow, I can lead you to the website, you can take a look at all of them, but I know the ones that they were talking about earlier. Ok. Kullmer: Definitely. Wilburn: Any other questions? Thank you very much. Kullmer: I'm gonna finish writing this one work quick. Ok, thanks. Summer of the Arts Wilburn: Summer of the Arts. Roche: Wilburn: Roche: Wilburn: Roche: Bailey: Roche: Hello. Hi, Katie. Congratulations. The Ickys. Ijust came from the Ickys award and they told me I didn't have to prepare anything to say so I assumed that they knew that we weren't winning, and then we won. So it's like this sort of Emmy/Grammy moment where I was "oh my god!" - had to run up there, it was really very exciting. They like you, they really like you. It weighs a lot. You weren't like Halle Berry and just cry, did you? We won the award for innovation and excellence in festival programming for the corridor, for the entire corridor, up against the Freedom Festival, up against the Jazz Festival- up against ourselves - and a number of other festivals, so it was a very exciting thing. So than you for the opportunity to talk to you tonight about our 2007 funding request. You know what Summer of the Arts is at this point, obviously, from the donation from last year, and I just wanted to note that in 2007 it will be the 3'" year of the Saturday night free movie series. The 17th year of both the Iowa City Jazz Festival and Friday night concert series, and we will be celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Iowa Arts Festival, so this was especially meaningful for us tonight. And this will mark, 2007 will mark the second year that the festivals have come together under the umbrella of Summer of the Arts, so with a good year under our belt we're very excited. We were able to learn from our first year and make a lot of progress. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 49 Elliott: Roche: And this past summer I believe you had, in my estimation, the best movie ever made, Casablanca. Ah, yes. That was, it was good weather that night too, so. And we were blessed with good weather last year as well. So thank you again for your donation last year and of course I'm here to encourage you to fund this worthy project again. The City's donation entitled sponsorship of Summer of the Arts helped to challenge greater community support and to send the message that Summer of the Arts events are not only a source of pride to our community but an essential and important part of who we are. We attracted an estimated 95,000 people into the area last summer resulting in hotels filled to capacity, restaurants with long waiting lists, and countless people exposed to our grand city. Our National Endowment for the Arts statistic measures the economic impact of what we do as $18 for every $1 that we spend, so that number last year was 5.2 million dollars generated. (cut off - end of tape) Roche: And we feel really great about that. We knew it was, we were creating opportunities for local performers to be showcased with national talent, but that's a pretty, that's a pretty amazing thing, so you know that national talent is one of the things that draws people in from outside areas, but then it really benefits the artists, it benefits their resume, benefits their ability to say who they got to perform with. The funds that the City donates helps to pay local musicians, filmmakers, puppeteers, dancers, graphic designers; your support directly impacts and improves the lives of these artists. Our events are volunteer run, and this year we will mark the first year of our premiere volunteer program, Community serving Community. The Johnson County Community Foundation thought that our plan to attract and attain the nearly 700 volunteers needed to run our events was so impressive that they funded our grant request for $7,000.00, the most money they've ever given to a single organization. We've got a great volunteer committee put together: Patty Fields, Shayne Shummel, a whole group of ladies and men who have worked in past years to create really excellent volunteer movements and we, their expertise, we're putting together an incredible program. We want to make living in Iowa City a reason enough to serve in these events. You know, I think of the Rocky Flats Music Festival in Telluride, CO - those communities take great pride in their festival events and, to the point that, if you don't volunteer in those events, you know, it's kind of, it's kind of not a good thing. People even come from out of town to volunteer for those events and that's another really great area that we haven't looked at yet. Imagine people coming from surrounding communities and states to serve in our community, to become a part of our community for one day. I was told by one member of the Foundation when we accepted our check that they were particularly impressed with how we planned to create mentoring opportunities to train young volunteer leaders in our community so that they can be leaders tomorrow. With this plan in place, volunteering in Summer of the Arts events will be part of this community and everything we do. Outside of our own programming, Summer of the Arts is aware that we are an organization that has knowledge to share with the community. Plans are in the works to present a workshop class at the public library to teach community members interested in creating quality events in our community what steps they should take. I get, you know, a bunch of phone calls a day and I realized at one point in speaking with my Board President Josh Schamberger that we really needed to formalize those requests and create a clearinghouse of information to help people get This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. ------...----..-.,--...-,.-----,---.----..,.-..---------_._---,_._--_.~-~..__.._.._-,,------_.--_._--- January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 50 Wilburn: Elliott: Roche: Elliott: Roche: Elliot: organized, and I think as such a large organization with so much influence and such quality of what we do that we really should try to help others, other grassroots organizations get off their feet. So just starting to work on that - it's pretty exciting. So your donation helps us remain a central, substantial, and positive example in our community, but most importantly, your donation helps to keep these events free. But I'd like to note also that Erin Auer-Sears, with Child Appreciation Day, I've been consulting with her for over a year about that event and helping her to get that organized. It's been informal of course, because we don't have this process formalized yet, but, so we are informally one of the collaborators with that event. Everything from how do we share our booking list, how do we be true cultural advocates and relay information about artists in the community, so that's one of the ways I've been working with her. Anyone and everyone is invited in the spirit of togetherness, community building and appreciation of arts and culture at Summer of the Arts events. Our events take place in the streets and are handicap accessible. We make sure to include Spanish-speaking performers and present a diverse array of talent, perhaps even more diverse than what is reflected in the community. We celebrate diversity showcasing to our community arts and culture of our diverse world and in turn educate through enjoyment of arts and culture. Iowa Arts Festival was voted #1 by the readers of the Iowa City Press Citizen, the best festival last year. Our Friday night concert series was voted the best live music venue, even though we only have 16 events and we were up against venues that are open year-round; that one kind of blew our minds. And the Iowa City Jazz Festival, I'm sure you've heard this one before, was voted one of the top 10 Jazz Festivals in the country in Downbeat Magazine. And our Saturday night free movie series, and Ijust got this information just a few days ago, we were called the most innovative new format by a national filmmakers' group because of our showcasing of short film, Iowa filmmakers' shorts previewing before feature length films, so we were happy to get that recognition. So, we're really looking forward to the summer of 2007 and I urge you to again fund this request and keep this legacy of free, diverse, family-friendly fun events available to everyone. Thank you. Questions? Guess you kind of answered everyone's questions. No questions, except I'mjust awfully glad. I can remember years and years ago, friends and I were talking and we thought with the school of music here and with all the musicians we have, why can't we have a festival that has some big names and then we fill in with the local, area regional groups. And the people who preceded you did that, and we love it. Oh, yeah. Well you know, the grassroots origins ofthis organization, it's amazing to see how much it's inspired other groups to want to, to create events. They see the benefits to the community, and I can't remember Iowa City without these events. It's always been this way for me, to the best of my ability - I'll be 30 this summer, and so I was 5 years old before I could - probably I was about 5 before I came to Iowa City, so. Don't overlook the good food. Yes. I love the food. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 51 Vanderhoef: Ah,just clarification. When I'm looking at your expenses, you're talking about cost of merchandise, and is that for resale or is that? Roche: That is for resale, yes. We have t-shirts, hats sometimes, posters. This year we'll have a 20th anniversary commemorative poster for the Iowa Arts Festival, and we're looking at some pretty prominent artists to hopefully contribute their artwork far that - collectible, frameable. Vanderhoef: So does it actually become a fundraiser? Roche: Yeah, it does. We, last year we made close to $15,000.00 off of our merchandise and Old Capitol Screenprinters actually donates a large percentage of what they print for us, so we also have a commitment to using a local printer. We don't farm anything outside of the community - nothing. Vanderhoef: So most of that $15,000.00 was free and clear last year? Roche: I believe, I believe -I'll have to check that number, but I'm almost positive that was our profit. Vanderhoef: Ok. Bailey: And you haven't announced performers yet, right? Roche: No. I can tell you one. You want? Bailey: Yeah that's what I'd like. Roche: And this one's kind of ironic for me. The Roche Sisters. Same spelling, probably no relation. The Roche Sisters, Canadian, three sisters, do you guys, are you familiar with the Roche Sisters? Bailey: Yes. Absolutely. Correia: The Roches. Roche: The Roches. They're - they're amazing. And they actually have a new album coming out, I believe tomorrow or Wednesday, so we were the first people to book them for their new album and it was a great hope of the Arts Festival for many years to have them and we finally have a budget that's big enough that we can get some ofthese acts in. Elliott: Do you make an effort to attract national artists with Iowa backgrounds? I'm trying, I can't think of the bass player's name from Shenandoah, but one of the premiere stand-up bass players is from Shenandoah. Roche: Well, you know, it's funny, we have, for the Arts Festival this year we had looked at Greg Brown and Pieta Brown and oh, she's slipping my - Iris DeMent - they were actually out of our price range. We couldn't afford them. Because I thought oh, wouldn't it be cool- call it the first family of Iowa and have them all, but it was $42,000.00, and This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 52 that was almost the entire budget for the Arts Festival programming, so we couldn't do it. That's a good question - we always think Iowa-centrically as much as possible, so. Bailey: Well, nobody else here knows The Roches -I'm thrilled you're getting The Roches, and I hope you sort of angle your way in just by your last name and at least get to do one song with them. Roche: I'm the missing Roche sister. I'm a singer. Correia: Long lost. Bailey: Yeah, absolutely. Roche: Ifthere's anything else I can answer? Bailey: Thanks. Congratulations. Vanderhoef: Thank you. Wilburn: Thank you. Iowa City Community Strinl! Orchestra Wilburn: Bailey: Wilburn: Atkins: Champion: Bailey: Wilburn: Marshall: Wilburn: Marshall: Iowa City Community String Orchestra. There are people out there. Can they hear me out there? Historical Society. They can come. That's Historical-let's do them next then. Is there anyone from the Orchestra out there? Orchestra? Good evening. Anything in particular I should know before I begin this? Ah,just go ahead and state your name for the record. You'll have ten minutes to make a presentation if you choose and then we'll have five minutes of questions for you. Ok. My name is Ronda Marshall. I am a teacher in the Iowa City School District and have been for many years, but today I am here representing the Iowa City Community String Orchestra in which I play, and for whom I wrote a grant requesting some money from your, your grant sources. I thought I might, I don't know if you have a copy of the grant information that I gave, but I thought I might highlight some of the things that might not be there and that you might not know. The Iowa City Community String Orchestra has been on the Iowa City arts scene for more than 25 years now. We just This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 53 completed our 26th season and in fact are moving into our 27th. We are a community group of players but we draw players from Cedar Rapids, from Mount Vernon, as far away as Waterloo, amateur and professional musicians from all walks of life and of all ages are welcome to join our group. And it's quite a fine orchestra for, we are not auditioned, but it's an excellent addition to the Iowa City music community. Our operating situation is that we give 2 concerts a year, I in the fall and I in the spring, for which we do not charge admission. We support ourselves through membership dues and through patrons. Our expenses include modest fees for our conductor and our concertmaster. Modest in terms of what they might command other places, but significant for us. We also have music costs of various kinds and occasionally we will need a specific instrumentalist. Most of our members not only are volunteers but pay dues to participate in the orchestra. But occasionally we need, generally a wind player, because one concert a year we add winds to the string, to the string orchestra. You may wonder why we've been in existence for 25 years and have not requested money before from this, from this group. There are, times are changing, and there are some wonderful, wonderful changes for us but they also entail some difficulties for us in terms of finances. One of those things is that we have always been very generously treated by, by mostly by churches in town, in affording us rehearsal space, concert space, and at no charge. And we've been extremely grateful for that. But as church programs grow, which is a wonderful change, they can no longer afford to let us have their building once a week, their big rehearsal space once a week. And so we've had some difficulty finding rehearsal spaces, and we sometimes have to pay now for rehearsal space. Another wonderful change that has taken place is that we have the Englert Theater. It - that has just been the most remarkable, wonderful thing for us, as a performing group. A place to perform. But it also adds a cost of$I,OOO.OO, which we have not incurred previous to this time. And so, some really wonderful things that have happened in the community. In addition, we have an amazing conductor, Terry Bastien, who is connected in many ways throughout Iowa and has done a masterful job in leading us and pushing us to bring more to this community. And one of the ways that he is doing that is to feature, we have started featuring contemporary Iowa composers. In the fall we had a woman whose name is Linda Robbins Coleman from Des Moines and we played a piece that she composed and she was in the audience. For our spring concert we have a man whose name is Philip Wharton who actually grew up in Decorah. He now lives in New York. He's a composer and a fine violinist, and he wrote a piece which actually was premiered last summer by a group. But he actually wrote the piece with our orchestra in mind, and so we're doing that this spring and it's a piece for violin solo and he is coming as our soloist as well. These are such exciting and inspiring things for the orchestra and for the community. To have this kind of talent - for the musicians in our group, some of whom are professional, many of whom are amateur, to get to interact with a soloist, to get to be in rehearsal times with a soloist, it's inspiring, it's exciting, we learn a lot. The people in our audiences learn as well. Many times children in our audiences may be students of our soloists that we have. But we need to be able to pay our soloists something to come. It is not right for us to expect them to come for nothing and so, because of these expanding wonderful situations for the audiences, we are looking for other sources. Our soloist, because of the particular piece that we did in, in spring of 2006 I believe, our soloist was paid for by an individual, because he was promoting that particular work. But it has become difficult for us to raise enough money to, to cover these increased costs that the orchestra has. And so we are looking for some other sources of funding and that was the reason, what we have asked for is $300.00 to cover a soloist fee. It's a one time a year, we don't do it for both This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 54 concerts, but either in the spring or the fall of this coming year. We were requesting that amount. Wilburn: Questions? Vanderhoef: How many orchestra members do you have Ronda? Marshall: I should know that. Vanderhoef: Roughly. Marshall: Yeah. I'm trying to - we, we have grown tremendously and so where I used to, where I would have said maybe 26 to 28 regular people, in the last couple of years we've grown to I'd say between 35 and 40 regular members. Vanderhoef: When it comes to concerts that gets even larger, your performing group? Marshall: Ah, not really. Vanderhoef: Ok. Marshall: We expect people to, to be a part of the orchestra and be at all the rehearsals or you know, within reason; not just join us for concerts. Vanderhoef: Ok. Bailey: Could we give them a clarinetist? Want a clarinetist? We've got one. Marshall: Yeah - I know - I heard him a couple of weeks ago. He was marvelous. Wilburn: Thank you. Elliott: We're not trying to get rid of him. We're just proud of him. Marshall: That's understandable. And wonderful. Vanderhoef: Promoting what he doesn't have time to do. Wilburn: Well, thank you very much for your time tonight. Marshall: Absolutely. Thank you. Johnson Countv Historical Society Wilburn: Johnson County Historical Society. Stebral: City Manager Atkins, Mayor Wilburn, members of the City Council and other City officials, thank you for the opportunity to speak at the budget hearing tonight on behalf of the Johnson County Historical Society. My name is Judy Stebral and I am the current This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 55 President of the Board of Directors for the Historical Society. Margaret Wieting and I are going to share the ten minutes that are allotted to us tonight. I'm going to give you a bit of background about the Historical Society, who we are, where we are today and what is our vision for the future. I noticed in the Saturday Press Citizen an article on the front page that asked the question "ready to make history in Johnson County?" It certainly caught my attention, but not for the intended purpose of the article, which was, incidentally, the one-cent sales tax. I'm here to tell you that the Historical Society is making history in Johnson County in a number of ways. First of all, we are making our own history right now because, for the first time since the Society was established in 1967, we now have a local history museum. It's located on Quarry Road in Coralville, in which to display a collection of more than 10,000 artifacts that have been in storage for decades. Second and most important, we are now more than ever able to provide diverse programs, every-changing exhibits and the technical know-how to preserve these artifacts from the past and to tell the stories of Johnson County communities in a new and exciting way. It is the mission of the Johnson County Historical Society to serve the public by furthering an appreciation of the historical and cultural heritage of the Johnson County community, which includes Iowa City, through education, preservation, and interpretation. We especially look forward to our rotating community exhibits, which will tell the stories of all 23 communities in Johnson County, including Iowa City, of course. The new museum is quickly becoming a destination for community groups and visitors touring the area. New artifacts are being donated as citizens become aware of the museum as a place where their personal treasures can be preserved and shared. Our vision for the future is for the Society to be regarded as a valued community resource and be known as the information center for local history to enliven the understanding of Johnson County's past. The Society will strive to be a destination of choice as an active and integral part of the corridor's cultural community. We will seek out partnerships with governmental units, businesses and organizations that recognize the importance of preserving history, in the spirit of our growing, thriving community. With all that said, our success has been and will continue to be reflected in the support we receive from those we serve. We very much appreciate the past support from the City ofIowa City, and we thank you for your consideration for our request this year to increase that funding for fiscal year '08. In closing, I extend an invitation to all of you to come and visit the museum if you haven't had a chance to do so. And I'm going to turn the microphone over to Margaret and she will tell you more about the Society and some specific programs. Wieting: Thank you. I want to echo Judy's thank you to all of you for your support. I know sometimes it's hard to say well, what do you do. We can't say we do one big event that will attract 5,000 people to the community, but we do permeate the entire community of Johnson County and Iowa City obviously is a significant part of that. And a significant part of how we tell the story of how the County has become the community that it is and how we are connected. The new museum has transformed our organization dramatically. We've never had a home in which and through which we can live out that mission that Judy talked about. Although we use that facility to have our offices, do exhibits, house our artifacts, which have grown exponentially since the opening of our museum. We were excited last Saturday to be the recipients ofIrving Weber's wonderful hat, and it goes with our storytelling booth in honor of him. So the stories of the people of the community, events, businesses, changes can all be preserved. We had 25 people last Saturday wanting to know how do we save our story?, and spent two hours in a workshop. We're now going to be offering that again. Although we have the new This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. ----_.,---_._-~,,----_.._._._._.._-----,-------'----------.-.. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 56 museum and I've given out to you the little rack card, I always tell people you can find us when you see the car that looks like it took a wrong turn - it's coming out of the building. By providing diverse services, we want to help the public to recognize their connection to the past in a personal manner. People asked us, when we opened the museum, well, what are you going to do about all the other things you do? We will continue those. Our Be a Guest to the Past, our 5th grade program for children, when they study Iowa history in the Iowa City Community School District, continue to come to the 1876 schoolhouse for 4 hours is the type of child who would have gone to the school in that time, and they learn about the Iowa one-room school. We have welcomed over 1800 Iowa City Community School District 5th graders. We're now expanding to lower elementaries, as they have sought us out for when they talk about then and now - what was education like in the past, and how does that compare to their program today. And we have been running those programs all winter. Our summer camps will continue. We have our very popular summertime camp. One is the Little House on the Prairie, using the cabins at City Park. Our Little School on the Prairie, at the 1876 schoolhouse, and we're working on a new set of camps for this summer. Each summer we serve around 150 young children. We will continue our bus tours. Some of you have been - Dee will remember how she helped history come alive in our cemetery tour at Oakland Cemetery as Mayor Harvid. We will have that. We will continue our country school tours. We will also take our history on the road, where two years ago we started taking around 45 people on a bus into other parts of the State, so we can look at what our story is in the Johnson County community and then see what are others doing, what is their story, how do we connect. We went to Wine sheet County last year and the year before that to the area around Perry, Iowa. We will continue our workshops. Weare developing educational curriculum now that we have that space. We will be doing more of the oral history training, we will do a lot about how do you care for your artifacts. We do backstage tours now, where we have never been able to show people what are the types of things that we have that help tell the story of how we've become who we are as a community. And how we can use that to point us to the future, whether it's the vault, the 1880 vault from Hand's Jewelry that Bill Nusser called me one day and said drive by that comer of Burlington and you'll see something under a plastic bag. He said, would you like to have that? It belongs to his great-grandfather John Hand. And so we have that. We have Mike Lensing, an evolution of funeral care. We have our Irving Weber storybooth, for people to tell their stories and record them. We have the story of the Mesquaqies that were found down by Napoleon Park. John Gilbert's trading post in a kiosk that tells about him as the first European white settler in this area, and for whom Gilbert Street is named. So we invite you to come, see how we are helping make history come alive, and to see that Iowa City is one of the communities that has helped build this community into what it is, all the stories that are represented there. One of the big features is telling the stories of the communities of Johnson County, and so we will be, although Iowa City is represented in those many ways, each community is going to be spotlighted in the exhibit areas so that people can learn the different communities and how we're connected and how we, how are stories are interwoven. And we could not do what we do and not grow as we are growing without your support. And we truly appreciate it. You've supported us for many years now and we really appreciate it and we invite you to come. Questions? Wilburn: Questions. Wieting: You're all questioned out. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 57 Champion: I guess we are. O'Donnell: Good presentation. Champion: I think we're all questioned out. Bailey: We're pretty familiar with your organization. Wieting: Well I admire you for a long night. So, anyway, thank you for letting us corne. Bailey: Thanks. Champion: Thanks. Wilburn: Thank you. Conner Center - ADA Celebration Wilburn: Karen, did you want to make a presentation on the group? Kubby: I came at the right time. I - I'm Keith Ruff tonight. Keith actually had an injury, so if you see him, please wish him well, so he's a little immobilized in his upper body, his get- around hand is injured, so he's slowed down. So I'm substituting for Keith tonight, honored to do so, for the ADA Celebration. The fiscal sponsor is the Conner Center, and so this is, typically we don't start organizing for this until the spring for a July event, so we don't know exactly the particulars. But we typically, the last couple years we've been doing some storytelling, kind of thinking that we don't need to bring big people in. We can tell our own story in a powerful way, although there are times when the advocacy groups really need and want some education and sometimes there's this hundred-mile rule where you do have to bring someone in from outside a little bit to motivate us to get involved and look at things in a different way and get remotivated. And so, what we're asking for is no increase from last year, so $972.00. We bring in about 2200 to pull the event off and so we fundraise through getting sponsorships from financial institutions, asking businesses in the Iowa City area to do I % of their income from that day to go towards the ADA Celebration as well as the Conner Center, and sponsorships from all of the organizations that work with the Conner Center on this particular annual event, which include University, non-University, for-profit, non-profit, businesses, service providers and advocacy groups. So it's a really nice group of people that get together to put this on every year. So we hope we can count on your continued support and involvement and participation as well. Wilburn: Questions? Vanderhoef: We've all been there so many times. Kubby: No more parades. Vanderhoef: No more parades. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 58 Bailey: Good idea. Kubby: We have made a decision organizationally: no more parades. Because our constituency group involved in it, it's really hard. It's very slow moving and we need 12 water stations for 12 blocks, so they have decided no more parades. Vanderhoef: So you're doing it all at the park? Kubby: Mmm hmm. Yeah, and we typically have been doing, well, recently we've been doing downtown, either here, either some outside and some inside, either Emma Jane Harvat Hall or Iowa City Public Library. It'sjust that time of year, the weather can be so unpredictable. It's nice to have an indoor setting for people, with full facilities. But this year folks, in the, in the non-final determination of what the group wanted to do is to try to be back downtown and have some music and speakers outside while having some educational programming inside, most likely at the library. Champion: You know, it's a good idea and you've stuck with it a long time, and we appreciate that. Kubby: We have been together as a group for quite a long time. Elliott: Karen, just an observation: talk to some human resource people. I can remember going to meeting after meeting when the ADA was being proposed, and there were so many people who told so many what they thought would be horror stories that would emanate from this being enacted. And it never happened. It's all been good. It's all been so beneficial. Kubby: Well, there have been quite a few lawsuits now that some of them have reached the US Supreme Court, and some of the outcomes have not been that great for people with disabilities, in terms of the legal outcomes. But employment I think is still a really challenging area. The public accommodation, the public sector has done a really great job. Employment seems to be a hard place, and maybe that's what we focus on, too. Because we always want to celebrate, but we also want to challenge our community at this event to do both things at once. Elliott: But I think, no it is not perfect, and no, it can be a lot better. But so many good things have happened to it, both publicly and commercially that I think those people who conceived it and those people who worked for it deserve a lot of credit, because it's been extremely beneficial. Kubby: And a very helpful thing. Bailey: The one thing I've always appreciated about this event is that it brings people from outside Iowa City. It's more of a regional event, and I think that's a great thing, to get people into our community. I think we have a lot going for our community in some of our public accommodations, so 1 think it's a nice event to bring people together, and so I appreciate the work that the committee has done keeping this up year after year. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. --~--------~---~-~------ ~ ---~- -~- ---~-----~- January 29, 2007 City Council Work Session Page 59 Kubby: Bailey: Wilburn: Kubby: Bailey: Kubby: Budl!et Review Wilburn: Elliott: Atkins: Wilburn: Atkins: Elliott: Wilburn: Champion: Wilburn: Bailey: Wilburn: Yeah. We don't have citizens suing us because they can't get to their house on a sidewalk, as in some Iowa communities. Right. They got a videotape again for showing on public access? Ok. Good. So keep that date open, no matter how you fund us or don't fund us - keep the date open. Your date is solid. That's what I told another group tonight, so ok, good- Thank you. Thank you. That's all the presentations we have. We do have a meeting tomorrow night, as you're aware of. We probably should run through just the calendar of the budget here real quick. Ross, first, can I ask you a question? I noticed Riverside Theater has two asterisks by it, but there's nothing to indicate what that's supposed to draw your attention to. Does somebody know what that's about? Let's look it up. Waiting on Steve. Keep talking. l'1l100k. Go ahead, then. As a matter of fact, can catch that later. Ok. As it is now, we have tomorrow as discussion, both on tonight's items - you all will have that available for Aid to Agency and then other items related to capital improvement and budget. We have proposed to set the public hearing on February 6th and to set the public hearing for February 20th. When we post, when we set the public hearing on February 6th, that's the point where the dollar amount of the proposed budget can not go up. It can stay the same or go down. So I guess in terms of the possibility of it going up at all, we have tomorrow. And so if we don't get it done tomorrow I think it's gonna be a little tight on trying to set another, another meeting, so I guess I recommend bringing a calendar tomorrow but also, you know, maybe that should dictate how quickly we move through everything we need to discuss tomorrow. What time are we starting tomorrow? 6:00 - 30. 6:30. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. - -,-------,.._~..~,--,--_.,.~..._,.,~.._-_....~"-,.._~"~_._--_.,._'"----------_._.-_._....._. January 29, 2007 City Council Work Session Page 60 Elliott: Bailey: O'Donnell: Elliott: Wilburn: Correia: Elliott: Wilburn: Karr: Bailey: Karr: Atkins: Bailey: Atkins: Bailey: Atkins: Bailey: Atkins: Elliott: O'Donnell: Champion: I have 7. I have 7 on my calendar. 6:30 - write it on your hand. I'll call ya. 6:30. Ah, unless any - yes, Steve? I have - oh. That's fine. Ok. I do have some extra packet material regarding budget correspondence that I wanted you to have prior to decisions tomorrow, so before you leave I have that ready for you. Do we have any more information? Because there was information that we asked for from staff that we have not yet received. Pardon me? Like what? There were four of us who were interested in looking at a scenario that involved changing a department and rolling it into Parks and Rec - we have not seen those numbers. We haven't done that work yet. Well, how are we supposed to make a decision on this budget if we don't have all the information we're gonna chum through and tomorrow night's the last night we're gonna chum through information? When did - I mean, we asked for that I think in December, and if it wasn't going to be forthcoming I think we should have heard about it before our last budget meeting. When do we expect to see that? Sorry. I don't recall it that way. I mean, that was our process. Four of us asked for it. Sorry, I don't recall it that way, but I can do that. Well 1- I don't recall it that way. I, I think it's also a much more complicated question then that and I think it- This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 61 Bailey: Wilburn: Champion: Bailey: Champion: Bailey: Champion: Bailey: Champion: Bailey: Atkins: Bailey: Atkins: Bailey: Atkins: Bailey: Atkins: Bailey: Correia: Wilburn: Correia: Wait a minute- There were, December I don't remember, but at a work session in January I believe Regenia did make that suggestion then. Right. And there were four. I know, I know. And I remember - I wouldn't remember that I was waiting for it because I know our process, and four need to ask for any kind of, you know, large work. I just don't know how we're gonna make decisions if we haven't seen the scenarios that Council members have asked for. We can always reduce the budget. We can always reduce the budget. 1- I mean, I agree with you. This is information we are going to need. And when can we expect it? Do I have permission to talk with the bodies and commissions as well? Well, I mean, where are you with getting this information? I mean- I'm not very far along on it, no. Why? I didn't read it as four. I'm sorry. Well, I think we're gonna have to set another meeting. I mean, if we don't have the information that we asked for, this is our budget. Is there something else that I may have missed? That was - I understood there to be four wanting the information to make decision on this budget, and so that was my - Related to the Senior Center and Parks and Rec. Related to the Senior Center rolling in, what would be the scenario - This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29, 2007. ----~._.._-_._,_.__......_.__.~.--~._----"..~_..--_._.~-_.~..- January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 62 Bailey: Wilburn: Bailey: Atkins: Champion: Bailey: Atkins: Champion: Bailey: Champion: Wilburn: Bailey: Wilburn: Atkins: Wilburn: Atkins: Wilburn: Atkins: Bailey: I don't remember other additional information, but that's something I've been waiting for. The only other - And I think I mentioned it to you last week - I'm sorry Regenia, Ijust- I don't think that's the kind of information you can gather in a week Regenia. No, no, we asked for it awhile ago, and if it wasn't December I know that it was awhile ago. And I think, I mean, personally, if our staff, if we have four, that's our process, and if staff members can't get the information together, we should have been apprised of that. I understand it's a lot of information. I don't discount the amount of work to put it together, but we need it in a timely manner, and if that's not going to be forthcoming I think we need to hear about that. I know. Well I think you've heard about it. I think Steve is (can't hear) wanted it. Then I think we're gonna have to- But that doesn't mean there isn't time to get the infonnation. It can be done after the budget hearing meeting. Well, why don't we, why don't we do this. And again, I remember it being early in January at one of our meetings then. Ok, I mean, (can't hear) But that's here and done. I guess at this point Steve just check with your department heads to see how - (can't hear) I can bring Linda and Terry together. Ok. We can discuss it. Ok. But I don't think you want a report issued from me without you conferring with the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Senior Center. And that was our discussion when we talked about it, and that's exactly what you said then, and I assumed that that's what would- This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 Atkins: O'Donnell: Bailey: O'Donnell: Elliott: Correia: Bailey: Correia: Bailey: O'Donnell: Bailey: O'Donnell: Bailey: O'Donnell: City Council Work Session Page 63 Then I apologize. I made a mistake. I don't recall it that way. I didn't understand it that way either. I understood it like there were four willing to talk about it and that's, but not preparing- But we can't talk about it unless we see numbers. I mean, why talk about something related to a budget, which is predominately numbers and goals. And we were pretty specific. I mean, I - I don't tend to be vague when I want to see something. Well, but I, I have a very good understanding also and I did not understand it that way. Well, we had a communication problem. Is there time to look at it? I guess, I'd, I see the numbers I guess. We're not to the place where philosophically we'd discuss it so much as I'd just like to see are there numbers that would indicate there are possible financial savings and take maybe 15 minutes to think through does it seem realistic philosophically and conceptually to do what we had asked doing. And at this point, all I want to see is the financial numbers. I feel like, given the presentation that we had tonight around the registering for classes, I think that's a prime example of the Rec Center has staff all day long taking reservations. They're on the phone, they're at the Rec Center, it's not that far from the Senior Center. It's also just a phone call away. Yeah. Why can't all of the registrations for Senior Center classes, they have the same database, go through that department? Yeah. There are economies in our community that we aren't achieving because it seems like we don't, well, think in that way. And this could be one example of how those groups could connect. I, I've not been in favor of this from the very start because we have, we have a Parks and Rec department that's overburdened now and we're asking them to run a Senior Center, which is going to take more employees. I guess I don't see what we're gonna gain here. Senior Center does programming. Parks and Rec does programming. That's correct. We should coordinate the programming. We have a facility that's underutilized in the Senior Center. There are meeting room space, strains on the library, and yet the Senior Center has space that's not used because they have a different policy because they charge. I mean, some of these things should be brought together. I mean, whether it saves us -I mean, I may come to the same conclusion you do. But I can't make that conclusion unless I see numbers. I mean that's kind of how I work through things, particularly related to a budget. Well, I've worked on many budgets myself. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. ---~--_.."_._---~------'----_._--'"-"-""'.~'-~-'-----~...,-_._----- January 29,2007 Bailey: O'Donnell: Bailey: O'Donnell: Bailey: O'Donnell: Bailey: O'Donnell: Karr: Bailey: O'Donnell: Bailey: Champion: O'Donnell: Wilburn: City Council Work Session Page 64 I mean, in a challenging budget year where we have people approaching us for things that we aren't doing, I think we need to start thinking in an innovative fashion. That's our responsibility. That's why we're here. It is our responsibility. It's our responsibility to grow the tax base and - we're getting into places we shouldn't be right now. How so? What's that? How so? How so is it our responsibility to grow the tax base? How so are we getting into places we shouldn't be? Well, 1 don't know if that's particularly on the agenda. I don't know if Eleanor would. (can't hear) question? Well I was simply asking for information that I thought we would have to discuss tomorrow night. And [ told you I didn't understand it that way and I just- It wasn't, it didn't - Mike you weren't gonna provide it anyway. It doesn't matter. Is there any other information (can't hear) 1 don't, I don't appreciate the whole way that was brought out. Ok. Well. We have - today is the 29th I would anticipate it is not going to be feasible by February 6th to have that, that detail. Again, it is my recollection that it was early on 30 where there were four. I don't recall who those four were, but there were four, and so, urn, if some of the responsibility for having that not prepared prior to our say in the public (cut off - end of tape) Wilburn: Between now and February 6th. I guess the only way to proceed, again, since there were four, would be to, for me to sit down with the City Manager to try and come up with a timetable for both setting some type of meeting schedule with our Parks and Rec and Senior Center Commission to, at a minimum, hear at least so we're hearing from the Commissions, there philosophy or thoughts on that, and then again me sitting with the City Manager trying to come up with some timetable or set of discussions with the two department heads to try and get the detail that would be required to do that. Is that? This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 65 Elliott: Wilburn: Elliott: Wilburn: O'Donnell: Wilburn: Bailey: Wilburn: Bailey: Wilburn: Champion: Wilburn: Bailey: Correia: Champion: Correia: Champion: Bailey: I, I'd appreciate that Ross. Ijust don't see a lot to be gained from going over a whole lot of what didn't happen or why it might not have but I would, if you and Steve could sit down and say, conceptually, is there still time within our budget time constraints to take a look at this? Because I really would like to. And I'm interested in the financial figures, mainly. And that's what I'm trying to do is to look forward, to go ahead and move forward with that. Good. Again, I don't know that - When can we do this? Well, what I'm suggesting is that I'll sit down with Steve to try to pull together something to present to the Council. So you'll know a schedule tomorrow night, then? We should bring our calendars? Urn. I don't know that we're gonna have a final schedule timetable in less than one days time. But what needs to happen is some alternative for when we set the public hearing, correct? Idon't- I think we have to (can't hear) What I was suggesting to go forward, I don't know that it would be helpful for this budget cycle if it, if it didn't involve, if it involves leaving the budget presented or recommended on the 6th. As long as it doesn't go over that then I was offering to sit down and come up with that timetable. I don't know, it's gonna involve setting dates with boards and commissions, that type of thing, that that's gonna happen by tomorrow. I feel railroaded. I mean, is it - By setting the public hearing you're only setting the amount of money, the maximum amount of money you're going to spend. I understand. It doesn't make any difference. But you're also - well. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 Correia: Champion: Correia: Champion: Bailey: Champion: Bailey: Champion: Bailey: Champion: Bailey: Champion: Bailey: Champion: Bailey: Champion: Bailey: Champion: Wilburn: City Council Work Session Page 66 Well I'm wondering, for wanting to get numbers, is it necessary to sit down with the boards and commissions, or first to, talking to department heads and Steve on what could it look like, what would -1 mean, 1 don't know. It seems with 24 people in a short amount of time, or however many people are involved in two commissions and the staff, then just have it be staff at this point. But maybe, or the chairs of the commissions and staff and not the whole - 1 don't know. 1 don't know. 1 mean, 1 don't know. I think, when you're talking about a change like this, and this is one reason that I'm not upset that we don't have the information right now, is that this is not something you do overnight. You're going to rile a lot of peoples' feathers. You're going to have people who want to come talk to us. You're going to have commissioners and department heads and staff people who are gonna want to communicate their feelings about this. This is something you look at for the next budget year. And 1 mentioned this, although we did not have four, 1 mentioned this in September. Well you didn't have four people then. 1 mentioned this from -1 know. But - It was mentioned - it's been mentioned every year, Regenia. This happens - You're not the first one to mention it. Fine. Great. I'm glad it's not a mentionable idea. Dee has mentioned it years before that. I'd rather get a budget right than rush a budget. That's nothing to do with not getting a budget right. You're setting the amount of money. 1 understand what a budget is Connie. Then what's your problem with setting a public hearing? 1 think if people ask for information and respect the process that we should have all the information that we want before we make a budget decision. 1 have to say 1 disagree. I guess we'll just have to vote on that. Ok. And. The City Manger apologized for this - This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 67 Bailey: I, I'm not angry about that. I just think that people, if people need certain amounts of information to make a decision about a budget, I think we, as a group of people who have to work together, I think we need to respect that and try to do that. And so I'm with Bob. There's no point in figuring out what went wrong, just make sure it doesn't happen again, but how can we accommodate getting the information people need to be able to vote on this budget? And come March 6th? Vanderhoef: Ok. I would suggest that we always have the opportunity to amend a budget at anytime during the year, even after we have voted on it. So rather than rush the process, I would much rather go ahead, set the hearing, set the budget and then move into this in an organized way so we've got everybody involved. That's where we are right now and that's the way I would like to proceed. Bailey: But I think Connie's point is well taken. People pay attention to the budget this time of year. I mean, I mean, people will want - fine. Vanderhoef: I truly think that there will be lots of public input on this. Bailey: Well I've kind of wondered why we haven't heard about anything, and now I know that it hasn't even be investigated. So I agree, there will be a lot of discussion, but. Vanderhoef: And it won't be something that we will rush a decision one way or the other on, so let's don't get it mixed in with the budget. At this point in time we can't, so let's move on and say we're going to put this on our work session, we're, our meeting, as Ross suggested. O'Donnell: I think we ought to see ifthere's four people that don't agree with that right there, and I'm one of them. Elliott: My, my concern is this will be my last year on the Council and we set a budget for a 3 year plan and my thought was, I like Amy's thought. I think it's inappropriate to talk about getting the commissions together. I would say get the two key staff persons and perhaps the chair of the commission, sit down, and find out are there some financial savings to be made, what are the conceptual problems and benefits and then we work that into our 3 year plan and I'd like to be looking at that now before I'm done. Bailey: Yeah. There are four of us who may not be back here next year, so. Wilburn: Well again, I will, I will meet, find some time to meet with Steve tomorrow to see if we can put something together that will be acceptable. We're not going to be able to come up with a consolidation plan in less than 24 hours. Bailey: I don't expect numbers to the dollars and cents, but I think we should look at what we can get. Wilburn: Ok. We'll see what we can at least come up with to present to you as a plan for moving ahead. Otherwise, ah - Karr: I have packets of information to pick up before you leave. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007. January 29,2007 City Council Work Session Page 68 Wilburn: Ok. Make sure you get those packets. Elliott: Today. Correia: More. Wilburn: More stuff. Karr: Information you might want prior to your discussion tomorrow evening. Elliott: Ok. You have them with you now? Kopping: Oh, she's so organized. Wilburn: Yes she is. Elliott: Such a deal. Wilburn: All right. Have a good night. This represents only a reasonable accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of January 29,2007.