HomeMy WebLinkAbout1977-05-31 CorrespondenceMay 27, 1977
City Council
Iowa City, Iowa 52240
RECaVECT i igr I i 1917
Please reconsider the resolution "to replace the airplane
at the airport".
The committee that met Tuesday have interpreted this as
a charge to replace the airplane with another suitable
memorial, and want to study alternate locations and
types of memorials. I have sent minutes of this
e meeting to you for your information.
If yourdesire is to replace the F-86 with another
airplane and only at the airport, the recently -formed
committee. will disband, and we trust that you and the
city staff will take steps to implement replacement
or_restoral.
The original site at the airport is available as far
as the Airport Commissei.on is concerned.
Your cooperation is appreciated.
Respectfully,
• C: •�Eetson, Co--bha3. man
/d ck Perkins, Co -Chairman
Committee to Replace the F-86 with a Suitable Memorial"
, •,
MaV 101, 1,1177
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RPEIVED MY 2 3 1977
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MOR TY SK1,A It: EM II ESS PRESS
;Volt Oliice Box 1585: Iowa City, Iuwa 522,10: 310-335-5569
The City Council
City of Iowa City
Dear People,
5/19/77
I'm happy to tell you (tho you probably already know) that
The Spirit That Moves Us has been awarded another grant by the
Iowa Arts Council, for putting poetry in the buses - this time
with drawings by Iowa Artists (tho the poems will come from
any place in the world - or out of it - and will be about
anything).
The Council, I would like to remind you, approved of
donning $225 matching funds toward the fulfillment of this
z grant. This letter is a formalrequestfor that money.
' Since thv amount awarded for this project, was only
half of my request ($580 vs $1160), and since this year I'll
be paying artists as well as poets, and will have other increased
expenses Wast year the grant was for $489), perhaps when the
Council mentions this ma announcement and request at a Council
meeting, it would also mention that the poetry -with -drawings -in -
the -buses project needs more cash match, and that we hope the
,;. citizens of Icwa City will respond to this need. If you mention that,
then perhaps the Press Citizen would be:kind enough to print it?
Thank you very much.
Yours in the Spirit,
•
P.S. I would also like to make everyone aware that altho the
Iowa Arts Council turned down a proposal by The Spirit That
Moves Us, for a "small press" magazine rack at the public
library here and in Sioux City, with non-commercial literary
periodicals from all over the US. A., I'm going ahead with
the project anyhow, since the library still wants to do it
and so do I (havenit heard yet from Sioux City, but will do it
there too if they pay my carfare.)
1120
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1
NOICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON PLANS
SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT
AND ESTIMATED COST FOR
SIX STORM WATER MANAGEMENT PROJECTS
IN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY, IO1VA
TO ALL TAXPAYERS OF THE CITY OF IO19A CITY,
I01VA, AND TO OTHER PERSONS INTL-RESTED:
Public notice is hereby given that the
City Council of the City of Iowa City, Iowa,
will conduct a public hearing on plans,
specifications, form of contract and es-
timated cost for the construction of Six
Storm Water Management Projects for the City
of Iowa Cit
in said qty at__o c oc P.M.
on the 31st a�d y of 'bta
19 77, sa—'meeting to be helff in the
Council Chambers in the Civic Center in
said City.
Said plans, specifications, form of
contract and estimated cost are now on
file. in the office of the Clerk in the
Civic Center in Iowa City, Iowa, and may
be inspected by any persons interested.
=k
Any persons interested may appear at
said meeting of the City 'Council for the
purpose of making objections to said plans,
specifications or contract or the cost of
making said improvement.
This notice :given by order of the City
Council of the City of Iowa City, Iowa'.
r
a
20 Section 1 Chicago Tribune, Sunday, May 22, 1977
May limit toilet tank capacity
Du Page flushes
out water wasters
By Casey Bukro Hookham, because "that's where the
most water is consumed or wasted."
I Environment editor
Studies show that an average family
ONE OF America's symbols of mod•
of four uses 255 gallons of water a day.
ern convenient flush toilets—Is under
of that, loo gallons isusedfor flushing
attack In Du Pape County.
toilets and s3 gallons for bathing -mean-
They're water hogs, and Just one
ing aver 70 per rent of a home's water
throwback to an era when water -was'
use is in -the bathroom.
cheap and considered limitless.
RUT HOMFS ire not the only placee
Now the twin effects of drought and
where water is wasted. Schools and olh-
waste have forced Du Page officials to
er public buildings are notorious water
draft one of the nation's toughest water
wasters, usually because people forget
conservation ordinances, one which
to turn off faucets.
could become a model for the rest of the
"We found a lot of schools where
state•
sfauers ran.for hours after the'elassm
Batllrnnms are the primary target of
were over; andYhat was hot wafer, the
the ordinance. Il limits how much water
, most expensive kind," said Andrew
can be used by plumbing fixtures In-_
. Wehrli, a phimbing industry' represenfa-
stalled In new public and private con-
live in Des Plaines. "We had an In-
etructinn.
stance at Lyons Townshlp High School
"WE'RE GOING to propose the marl-
in La Grange where the showers were
'
mum water that can be use in a res-•
running all weekend,"
Idential tooet will be 3.5 gallons per .'
That is one reason manly. officials
Rush," said Charles Hookham, director
want,lo install self -stopping faucets on
of the Du PageCounty Building Depart•
public sinks and showers, as well as
went. Most toilets use 5 to 9 gallons a
showerheads that spray 3 gallons a min -
flush. • .
ute Instead of the usual 6 gallons. Slmi-
The ordinance Is expected to bepre-
County Hoard
lar showerheads would he used- In
homes. It also would ban the use of
sented to the Du Page on
June 13. The measure also sets stand-
Plumbing fixtures in ouhlic places that
automatically flush even when not In
ards for wales-AviAg'ahawarheads,
self -stopping faucets, urinals, and wafer
softeners that. wauld be -acceptable In
use.
Other communities are watching Out
new construction in the county.
Page closely. '
The Building Department would be re-
HENNETH BREWSTER, manager of
s{wnsibie for making certain construe-
Lake Michigan water diversion for the
tion pains compiled with the ordinance.
H a building would be de-
.Illinois Department of Tranarportatkn
Is '
ant, permit
[DOTI, says Du Page one step
nied.
ahead of an order" to conserve water.
Bathrooms are a major target, said
In other words, he says, Du Page Cmm-
Jm5-'
I
0 •
ty is doing voluntarily what it and other ATF,AN%WLE, suburban populsilon
communities may eventually be ordered boomed and drew %•star from wells IRA.
to do. er than it could be replaced, Drought
"It's either do It yourself at. your lel- conditions earlier this year added to the
sure, or wait for the DOT order to mine water woes of many Chicago suburbs.
out and it becomes a matter of compli. In Arlington Heights, utilities superin-
ance," said Brewster. tedent Don Reimer said, "our Iwelll
DOT recently said 1A suburbs in a water levels today are 20 feet lower
water -starved band outside Chicago than they were this time last year."
could tap lake Michigan for the first Arirngtosr Heights was lucky. It was one.
time, addingto the existing 113 Lake of the communities DOT allowed to tap
g Lake Michigan.
Michigan water -users in mons [o apt Consumers began a
note. Among the DOT conditions for tap• B . paying serious -at -
Ping the lake were that water must be lention to wafer coaservalion wham they
used wisely and' ,its use accounted for bbeeoga feeling the pinch In their pocket.
throughmetering and other means. ' '
Brewster says Du Page Is closely fol. "Water's still a reasonable commodl-
lowing DOT guidelines in developing its IY, but the cost Is going up," observed
ordinance. Brewster. He cited %vter�rates.ranging
about 45 -cents per IN gavornt In Cities.
WATER CONSUMPTION could be cut .90 to $2.40 for the same amount in War.
as much as 150 million galioas a day In renville.
the six-c,Bre slanlY regionestima by similar meas- TFIE .DIFFERENCFS Teflect shrink.
ores, Brewder estimates.
"TM tnluer'yatlon methods that we � swaate the rising mast 8o water
g y
regWrest¢a t going to cost any more," treat�ard distribute water. -
says Bwwster. Watersaving plumbing Forty-sevett of the suburbs that buy
and s are on the market and are water from Chicago filed a srdt against
competitive in cast with other fixtures, the city Wedraday, asking for $26 mi!-
DOT believes w.Iifer conservation la arc lion in refunds and a rate reduction to -
Idea ubose lime%lfss come, even though tailing $to million.
the'Chlcago.'reglen has been blessed The suburbs charged Chicago with cls -
with abwa ail supplies of well and lake crimtuatory and Illegal water bills, be.
water. c6 : cause suburbarr water rate's are 01 per
AS flhack as 1961, a survey at Ch1• cent higher than charges to Chicago's
sr}aggtove�dind J6 public wafer systems
flat -rate customers.
lika lost througherleakstlnf the warm
Chicago's
from LakeMichigan for thwater system e tumps er
city and 74
mains. Chicago aline was estimated to other communities In northern Illinois,
be losing 162 million gagene a de'y Acting Mayor Bilsndic says the city pm -
through such leakage. vides water to the suburbs at cost.
O^T,!I IPwa1 YnN
1 THE PUBLIC INTER
WINTER 1977
A
Marshall Plan
for
cities?
NORTON E. LONG
6
ne nation's mayors, meeting in
Chicago, have scut their plea for nid to (lie President-elect. Un-
furlunulely, although they indicated what they would like file mo-
tion to do to help the cities, they appear to have remained silent
concerning what the cities are prepared to do to help themselves.
A review of our foreign -aid experience may help to clarify sonic
of the problems of mounting n progran of domestic municipal
aid on a comparable scale. For example, n \larshall Plan for cities
has frequently lien advocated, notably by the late Whitney Young.
Ilowever, the idea has been little more than a catchy slogan to synn-
bolize big federal dollars and contrast our willingness to aid in
the recovery of Europe with our grudging support of our own
cities, Consideration of the Marshall Plan and the rensons for its
success and the failures of our programs elsewhere than in Europe
has much to offer those seriously concerned with structuring n
federal aid program with any real promise of achieving for our
cities what the Marshall Plan diel for the nations of Europe.
Since a major proposal of the mayors was to establish an urban•
development hnnk similar to the %Vorld Bank, one might have
hoped that they had at lung last come to recognize the necessity
of restoring the viability of the local economics of the cities. If
11
I
' lm]
04
A MA IPI I A I.I. PLAY ILII I IIII:x7 tY
Ihm'c is ooclbinJ; mu ford ;n•aid cspc:.I(I C should • Ilav hot ;hl
1� it is 1711-1 sve eau on v, r t Insr sv ul arc r villin and
able In licit) (hcnuch• S. Failing (his, what rcalhs is a wr arc
program (bat merely postpones the day of rc•Ckuuing, and deepens
dependency. The first point about dw Marshall Hall. usually cool.
pletely disregarded by advocates of n similar plan for our cities, is
that it was designed to restore the war -ravaged economies of
European nations. 11 was n program of investment to wplace entire
Industries, not just a program of income redistribution and main-
tonance to restore mud sustain a standard of public and private Coll-
sumption, It was only concerned with maintaining consumption
until its major investments revived the cconomics of the European
nations and restored them to self-sufficiency. No compnrable plan
for restoring the local economics of our cities to self-sufficiency has
been envisaged, let alone funmdatcd. Indeed, there is little or no
understanding of cities as entities with local economics that must
produce as well as distribute, and redistribute ilia wealth that
permits public and private consumption. We must conceptualize
these local economics and ask why some have become fmndequate
to meet the demands and genuine needs of private and public
consumption.
A second point that is highly relevant to a federal program for
cities is that the individual countries under the MnishalLPlan
were resuonsible for making the integrated plans for the rccos'r, .
oLlefr rc� mPgifgs. These plans were not dreamed up in 1Yasli-'
ington, though the United States government had some voice as
the banker for the program. It is impossible for Washington to
mnke plans that meet the individual requirements of thousands
of more or less unique local economics. The narrow interests of
the Washington bureaucracies, their state and local counterparts,
and the forces that they represent could scarcely, if ever, cooperate
in the formulation of in economic plan for it city, or subordinate
their concerns fn the unlikely event that such a plan were adopted.
And given the realities of the other pressures at work, the in.
Wrests of suppliers, unions, and other producers would overshadow
those of the local inhabitants.
Our experience with plans and planning has been depressing,
for the most part. To n large clegrev, planning requirements -ill
federal legislation have produced expensive busy work, clearance
problems, and empty ritual. For example, some serious purposes
tvcre at least originally entertained fn the proposal requirements
of the Model Cities program, but the cities lacked the capability to
6% .. , .. .._.. .
TuE I'VoLIC INTEREST
so
fmnarlete appropriate proposals. The resultant widespread use of
cnnsulling linens thus n!;t(atr•d the volt' rt•sunable assungrtinn Matte
be the Deparhuvnt of Housing and Urb:ur Dcrcluplit'll t (IIUD)
that a e•ih• Whose stall' could not fnrnndale a proposal could not
Ile expected to early it out. Drspilc the seeming wisdom of I IUDs ;
position it proved practically impossible to maintain. But this les'
soilappears to have been lost on those wllo need most to profit
frool it.
The federal government cannot depend on the cities to mals
competent plans for the revival of local economics. 'Their failure f
7 to use revenue -sharia funds in a serious wn' to be in rrstorin
loci eco�i�indicntcs what might well be the Ente o[ larger )
fluids. Only recently has serious work in urban economics begun.
Conventional municipal finance has ren!ained innocently unaware
etaothe
of the relationship between fiscal soheucand t
local econoin Cines haven't even started to keep ledgers icknosv
edging Ural, like countries, they must pay for their imports with
exports, and ++'hat they cannot pay for they must either produce
themselves or do without. City expenditures arc treated as pure
"merit consumption," and not as investments of scarce resources
that, to some important degree, must generate a return if they are
to be sustained.
•r1,.. fnAeral novernment must 110Ip cil!ss dnvelon ndcouatc con -
aur 1, v. ......... ..... - - - -
tion, it must exert continuous pressure, without masterminding,
to insure that resources are not dissipated, but employed in ways
that hold genuine promise of aiding fiscal recovery. The cities
should be assisted and pressed to plan for their economic recov-
ery; al the same time, they should accept and demand the respon-
sibility of coordinating the appropriate federal programs—in health,
housing, education, manpower, Inv enforcement, and the rest—in a
concerted effort to improve the local economies.
only when federal policy descends to the concrete context of
the local community caul we measure both its intended and un-
intended effects. The local communities are the socioeconomic cells
of the larger body politic. only when these cells are healthy call the
nation be healthy; n nation of sick cities is a sick nation. We there-
fore have to regard lh0ul as funeli0nfl19 social organizations, a view
largely ignored by nlncroccononics and census data alike. Ilecallsc
.... .. .. i
A MARSI l A 1.1, I•LAN 1'Olt Cl I II::S' SI
cities and local comintmities do emelitial soviolugieal and Cennotnic
work, we must come to grips with them both ns twsling grounds for
policy nod as building blocks of a sound national political ccouoony.
Tile problems of resloraliml
The experience of the Marshall Hall should also indicate the
differences as well as the similarities of the economic problems
involved. The economics of many of our cities have been ravaged,
but riot by war; mrrl while our cities have experienced quite
palpable physical devastntion, for (lie most part it has not resulted
from shelling by an organized enemy. \lost important, as we
discovered when we extended forei m aid to the underdeveloped
countries, the economics of Ilse Euro )Call nations were n ren y go-
ing eoucernc ihnt only needed tiding over la restore t um to sa n
Unlra mnIWF e6,e�rocc with the underdeveloped rhteloped coun-
tries nor to an important del rce is it true of troubled cities.
Although crime, vandalism, and rials are far front u1—portant,
physical devastation accounts for only some of the problems beset-
ting city economics. The relatively straightforward task of physi.
cally rebuilding Europe under the Marshall Plan was quite dif-
ferent and far simpler than the task of restoring our cities. The
contemporary analogue of the wartime destruction of the European
economies is the disinvestment in industrial and residential areas
that manifests itself in empty, blighted, gutted, and abandoned
factories, office buildings, warehouses, lofts, houses, rind apart-
ments. The reasons for this disinvcshncnt have to be faced if the
process is to be halted and reversed. The single most important
explanation is profitability. For many reasons, the costs in many
cities have become far out of line with those prevailing c sew acre.
Hence the search for profit entails disinvestmentm cxts mg 7m
dustry, as well as the failure to attract new imrshnent. The mayors
will find that federal low-interest loans will not by themselves
produce any fundamental change, and will in feet simply mask
the problems they are designed to cure.
A variety of factors account for this adverse cost differential,
which affects whole regions. The Northeast in general and New
England in particular have suffered the loss of manufacturing
jobs; within the region, the decline has been particularly severe
In Connecticut, the Hartford arca, and cspccially the city of ITart-
ford itself. Wo know some of the environmental reasons fur high
regional costs—for example, energy shortages. But there are ad -
• �l
!r rue vuuue r.Nrraaesr
ditional and more important cost differentials that cannot be
charged to such adverse factors as geographical resources. Alice
Ilivliris study of ilia fiscal plight of New York City pointed out
that a large number of the welfare population could have been
employed if New York had the kind of jobs available in South
Caroliun. That tire. Ilivlin study did not discuss was why those
jobs had relocated to the South. The study accepts this condition
as a fact of nature rather than an avoidable and possibly reversible
self-inflicted injury.
It it odd that with the vast migration of low -skilled Southern
blacks and Puerto Ricans to Northern cities, there has been little
or no recognition that they would nee precise y c kinds of low -
pay jobs we have been driving out. a ave rud n ea ked of
dream world svilh respect to both housing and jobs. We have used
conveniently deceptive labels like "slum landlord" and "substan-
dard employer" to avoid facing the hard truth that, except for
token exceptions, poor people will get the quality of housing that
the market can provide, and low -productivity labor will also suf-
fer the constraints of the market. No one extent the real-estate
indu<tw asks how a landlord could make it profit renting standar
,.,.< r1 lnw.<L•Illyd en,nlnv Yet these questions must ue con-
fronted and answered if we are to solve the cities' economic prob-
lems, rather than avoid them with self-serving rhetoric.
As Bennett Ifarrison and others have maintained, our nolicics
have tended to subsidize the "dual labor market." There is reason
to believe that we hive been busily driving out the lower half
of the nrimnry Inbor mares jobs in textiles, the garment industry,
foundries, brick kilns, and the like. 1Velfarc has acted as a kind
of tax by making these iobs unattractive, even though the annual
wage they generate is rnnsidcrably higher than welfare payments.
What results are local economics with great gaps between the
well -paying jobs of the primary labor market and the other work
alternatives found ha the secondary labor market. The latter pro.
vide only dead-end, intermittent, high -turnover work with mar.
ginal employers in low -profit, low -capital enterprises.
The wages of social disinvestment
There are important social and psychological consequences for
the individuals and communities afflicted with these employment
. 0
A AlAnSHALL PLAN Foil C111ES: 13
problems. As Frcud pointed out, the .rob is the most important
factor integrating the human 1wisomility. Where it provides ittle
or nr n,177lf or others, the effect is debilitating,
especially where there are uo other institutions adequately pet`
forming the same function. The loss of meaningful participation
in the aain.str,vn ecouumv has resulted in neighborhood decay,
socia disorganizationrri o ear rh tum blis ht audi housing ab tn•
don c —nil the phenomena of crisis associated with the ghetto.
A• seemingly cancerous process leads to the rapid destruction of
sound housing and stores in neighborhoods populated by those
trapped on welfare or in fhc secondary labor market. Their
comas are inadentinte to maintain their properties. The: constant
I
moves to evaderavine the rent ny not oforce properties into
rapid obsolescencr., but also undermine neighborhood attachme t!
and social control, and result in a turnover of school populations
that signals educational failure.
crank Krislof has shown how the destruction of sound housing
in New York City has outpaced now building. Ile argues per-
suasively that the city and stale rent -control policies have had a
perverse and destructive effect on the housing stock and.the poor,
the intended beneficiaries. But despite all this, Kristof is forced
to admit that other cities unburdened by rent control are also
losing sound housing because of spreading social disorganization.
The destruction of our cities' housing capital ill�ough 'blight and
abandonment is only the most visible symptom of the crisis of the
ghetto. But despite the obvious concern for those who flee, if this
process is to be halted and reversed, the most serious concern
must be for those who remain—the victims and agents of social
decay.
Constitution Plaza in Hartford and Pruitt•Igoe in St. Louis
symbolize the failure of the brick -and -mortar approach to urban
problems. HUD and the cities have been far more interested in
physical rather than social structures, in physical rather than social
capital. But gleaming central business districts surrounded by
festering, crime -ridden, spreading slums, plagued by drug addic-
tion and unemployment, bear witness to the truth that cities do
not live by brick alone. A committee of the National Academics
of Science and Engineering was asked to recommend a program
of urban behavioral research to HUD. Even the engiucers were
emphatic that our knowledge of technology far exceeded our under-
standing of the social conditions necessary for its application.
Despite all this Operation Breakthrough wns the major IIUD effort.
y
MIEN
54 •rnE PUBLIC INTEREST
Cities srillrout citizens
To Understand this pcn:si.sted and seemingly perverse concentra-
tion on bricks and mortar, it must he realized that the unions,
construction industry, real-estate industry, banks, insurance com-
panics, architects, planners, federal buraucrats, politicians, and
media all have something to gain, even from building uneconomic
monuments. We have not yet learned to put together an equally
powerful coalition to strengthen social structures, whose building
materials rarely provide remotely comparable profits or other re-
wards. Bat once again, our foreign -aid experience is instructive.
Outside of Europe, foreign aid frequently led to elite enrichment,
black markets, military hardware, inflation, and misdirection of
resources. Many of our federal domestic -aid programs have had
similarly sorry results. bM effect, we have created systems of per-
verse incentives that stimulate investments as lax gimmic •s ra er
than o ucuug to s, that co-opt in i enous cccs an ester
groo neighbor sintega4i2n
We have bred mu inflation
and Undermined loco economics—in the name of UF
uevo enr men Mons toward cities, the poor, and the minorities.
The federal government has generated harmfully unrealistic ex-
pectations without recognizing its incapacity to fulfill them. In the
judgment of Anthony Downs, the Johnson housing goals, which were
never formally abandoned, would have required a national effort in
housing comparable to waging World War 11—an effort that, if
made, world have had disastrous effects on other social needs.
As another example of unrealistic expectations, the Department
of Labor was recently quoted as asserting that "the typical family
of four requires $15,500 a year to maintain a moderate standard
of living." The Department of Labor did not say how untypical
such an income was, or what level of CNP the nation would need
to permit the typical family to have that income, The impression
leaps to many an impressionable mind that wages under $15,500
should be regarded as untypical, and hence substandard. As an-
other example, labor leaders in St. Louis were aghast when they
learned that lop companies in the city were paying only $0,000
It year the city fathers and the media, they have been busily
putting the axc to three fourths of the city's jobs as substandard.
But neither they nor the federal government has ever bothered to
find out the actual distribution of wages. Nor aic they in the
least concerned with what [lie businesses they have been driving
out can afford to pay in wages yet remain competitive.
In a piece. entitled "Should Every Jit, Support a Family?" (The
A MAIIRIIALL PLAN 1'0n Cilms, . SS
Public Interest, No. 40, Summer 1075), Carolyn Sha%v Itt•II rogues
that nhlhough n fair nuutber of jobs will suppurl a single JUTS()))
above the poverly line, far fewer will offer simihu support to a
singhacarncr family of four. A recent study of incomes in New
York City found that nmlli-earner families had (lire best chance to
be above the pove)-ly line. Thus, strange as it may seem, it hurts
rather than helps the poor to drive 'front the city those jobs that
will not support a family of four. A realistic appreciation of the
actual array of wages and the wages diflezent employers ems a ore
to pay m icatesIlial a genuine concern for the Svc Me of tic poor
woo u tc� tr o 1 (fort to ex ruul the em slo •anent op-
portunities of all family nmmbers including the aged the zoung
and tient the h�ndicrosn It is a curious belle
volence that limits the
existing options of the poor while providing no superior alterna-
tives. Yet such has been the direction of union and liberal policy,
and of many business conservatives as well. Perhaps the practices
of the American fame family rather than the �ffl l ire n better
guide or tmprovtng the conrblion of the poor.
Unfortunately, the values that only the affluent can afford dom-
inate our thinking about what should be done by those whose
circumstances make such values an insupportable and even disas-
trous luxury. Tile- poor cannot afford to emulate the rich. Idleness
may be attractive for the jet set but it can become a nightmare
for the poor. The rich can afford individualism, privacy, and the
indulgence of an anarchical libertarianism in their personal lives,
since they are securely supported by a coti)orate order. The poor
Must help themselves; they cannot afford the luxury of either
purchased privacy or purchased security. Despite the claim that
the police and the legal order will provide security for the poor
and the working class, we know this to be a liberal myth. Neigh-
borhoods police themselves. The liberal who does not blink it the
use of union muscle to produce a closed shop decries as fascistic
any attempt to produce a closed and physically secure neigh-
borhood. Organizations are good for unions and corporations, but
a powerful territorial organization is anathema to police and
civil libertarian alike. Our dominant liberal ideology denies the
necessity of social control incl nets to denigrate and undermine
it where it exists. In practice this is to preach social disorganiza-
tion in the guise of defending liberty and individualism, and to
recommend flight as Ibe only rvalislic remedy—for those who can
afford to flee. But society dissolves without n nonnative structure
with motivated, committed citizens.
56 THE Pura LIC rNTERESC
For some lime we have supposed that we could operate cities
without citizens by treating legally franchised, casual voters as if
they were a functional equivalent. We are beginning to learn [hat
the normative order ml which our cities depended in the past was
not the product of their (ornml ,zovcmn cols rut o t re many
informal governments oftlitLellillic nci hborhoods. They provided
t c social control for the working class and the poor, not the Irish
cops, whose rclalion to the city resembled nothing so much as
that of the Manuclukes to medieval Cairo. These neighborhoods
—cooperative social organizations founded on a normative order,
social control, and trustworthy leaders—are the social capital truly
analogqus to Europe's war -ravaged industries. The halting and re-
versal of the processes leading to their destruction, and the provi-
sion where possible of viable substitutes, are what an effective
federal aid program for cities should be about: Such'a plan would
have as a major goal changing the`preseitt federally sponsored
system of perverse incentives that contributes so much to the
cities' woes. William Skinner, the eminent Stanford anthropologist,
has shown how the overseas Chinese maintained their informal
governments and their family structures under the most hostile
environments for thousands of years. It is only now, with the
corrosive influence of American cities, that the Chinese family is
breaking up.
The road to the "reservation"
After this bleak picture of decay and disintegration, people want
to ask for a solution. There ore no easy answers, but there are in-
dications of the form a solution will have to take, in neighborhoods
and institutions that ore resisting and even overcoming social
disorganization, and recreating local social structures. This is the
kind of capital a Marshall Plan for cities will have to help build
and, just as importantly, prevent front being subverted and do-
stroyed. In St. Louis, the famed Itnlinn Hill and the St. Ambrose
Church—recognized even in the Soviet Union—offer an excellent
exmnple of what Cer:dd Stinnes calls a "defended neighborhood."
The Hill is a working class neighborhood of 90,000 to 40,000 re-
sidents in tiny houses on small lots; almost anywhere else it would
have become n stunt. After visiting the other attractions of St.
Louis—the Arch, Busch Stadium, and Pruitt-Igoe—visiting foreign
officials were brought to the hill to see one heathy, hopeful part
Of the City. Here, in :ur old, low-income ocighborhond, the houses
A M1IA0.1. MAN I'lnr talln S, , 57
arc well kept up, the streets :ire clean, people•hclp each other,
the kids are well hruught up, the streets arc safe, on(I housing
values aro stable ;[fill rising. This is an exalnpla of the kind of
social capital an urban Marshall I'lau would seek to create, if
possible, and maintain. But when these foreign visitors asked at
a neighborhood party ivilat the city, stall, ;old federal govcru-
ments had clone for the Hill, the answer wns, "Not a god-damnd
thing." 'There was a short addrndum: "Yes, the federal govern-
mcnt, the city, and the state drove a super highway right through
the neighborhood and we had to fight like hell to gat [Transporta-
tion Secretary John) Volpe to build a bridge to keep the ncigh-
borhood together."
The Hill is often dismissed because it is both Italian and Catho-
lic, two factors that supposedly make it unique. The example of
the Italian !lilt docs not show that such ❑ neighborhood can be
created amid adverse conditions out of the unpromising material
of most city slums. But the experience of the Muslims and the
Puerto Rican evangelicals provides ground for hope that even
there trust and order can be brought into being. Perhaps this
seems surprising only because we have forgotten that the early
Christian church was a kind of guerrilla government ministering
to slaves, outcasts, and even criminals in (lie roiling structure of
the Roman Umpire. Clearly such a force provides stronger politi-
cal medicine than the laissez-faire, civil -libertarian individualism
our Republican and Democratic parties arc prepared to administer.
The question is whether the city can halt its present path to-
ward becoming an "Indian reservation"—a poor house, with a set
of suburbanized keepers (cops, school teachers, welfare workers,
and other municipal burenucrats), that surrounds a central busi-
ness district protected by barbed wire—with anything less than
a renewed social structure of committed citizens. Failing that, the
path toward the "reservation" is the line of least resistance and
greatest gain for those having a vested interest in what our brick -
and -mortar and welfare politics represent. Can n coalition of black,
Puerto Rican, and ethnic neighborhoods he built to support a city
leadership that can master the brick -and mortar coalition in the
interest of the city's inhabitants? Can such leadership program
both the local and the federal vested interests to restore a viable
community political economy? Those questions can only be an-
swered by those who must fashion concrete answers out of the
materials of their cities. What such leaders can do is -'to dcm-
castrate that they understand the nature of the job and the form
SI TIIE PUBLIC INTEREST
answers will have to take, and that they will make the lifelong
clnnmiUnent required to turn their cities around.
A Marshall Plan for cities will need much more than sunshine
patriots. We have learned that the new states of the world require
nation building. We have to learn this also applies to us: Our
cities and their citizenship require renewing, as well as brick and
morrar. This will require city builders whose job is as important
as the nation builders of the new countries. In fact, the rebuilding
of our cities is the rebuilding of our nation—though, incredibly,
we do not realize it. Until we do, a Marshall Plan for cities is
likely to come, however disguised, as an act of federal compassion
or guilt or worse, as an intervention through the mastemninding
of an urban Vietnam, rather than as a diagnosis of our collective
condition and a concerted, pluralistic effort to put the nations
economic and spiritual house in order. The mayors will find that
seriously addressing the problems of our cities requires a politics
of civic and moral reconstruction that far transcends central -busi-
ness -district renewal, mass transit, low-interest loans, or the shifting
of the burden of welfare to the shoulders of the federal government.
In the Matter of )
City of Iowa City, Iowa,
Public Employer,
0
Iowa City Association of
Professional Fire Fighters,
Local 610,
Certified Employee Organization.
BRIEF AND ARGIID'IENT
OF CITY OF ICM CITY,
IOWA
iNrEREsT ARBTMTICN
FOR FY 1978:
14AGES OF FIREFIGIUMS,
LIEITIENAWS, AND
CAPTAINS
I. THE PROBLEM OF THE HISTORICAL RELATIONSHIP BE754E6N POLICE E ANu
FIREFIGHIER.S CONCERNING SAIMES.
A. The jobs of Firefighter and Police Officer are not comparable.
At the arbitration hearing held on May 16, 1977, the City called two
expert witnesses to testify that, in their opinion, the jobs of firefighter
and police officer were not ca:parable. These witnesses were Dr. Russell
Ross, the director of the Municipal Administration program at the University
of Iowa, and Professor Richard Holcomb, Director of the Bureau of
Police Science. As we stated at the hearing, the purpose for calling these
witnesses was to confront head, -on the issue of the appropriateness of the
chief criterion used by the fact -finder in establishing his recomnendation
of an B% raise for the firefighters. At page 5 of his report, Professor
Gerhart stated:
"The comparison of uniformed public safety personnel
is traditionally the strongest comparison among n udcipal
employees and, in the opinion of the fact -finder, the
frost important comparison to consider."
It should be noted that no party to this matter, no' the fact -finder,
believes that police -fire Parity should be the appropriate standard for the
l/ys 1
X
• -2
determination of the salaries of firefighters. The use of the parity
standard would mean that if the police get X dollars, then the firefighters
should get X %ollars. However, it is the position of the fact -finder and
the Unica that some historical relationship between their salaries should
be preserved. The fact -finder relied upon the 1973 Griffenhagen and Kroeger
salary survey, and sought to maintain to sane extent the relationships
established in that survey (Ex. 2, p. 7).
It is the City's position that there should not be any necessary rela-
tionship between police and fire salaries. To be sure, salary surveys are
performed from time to time. Presumably these surveys establish salary
recomTendations.£or a particular job based upon an analysis of the skills
needed in the job, and upon a further analysis of what other persons doing
similar jobs are paid. Indeed, this type of analysis is a major criterion
that arbitrators under the Iowa PERS statute must consider. Chapter 20.22
(9.)(b), 1975 Code of Iowa, This would seem to make far more sense than main-
taining historical •relationships, when we know that in our rapidly changing
society, historical relationships can become shells, devoid of the truth
that they may once have contained.
The positions of police officer and firefighter are uniformed public
safety services. Both are traditionally employed by municipalities. Both
are hazardous. Both are necessary for the public safety and welfare. That
they have often been considered together for various purposes is beyond dis-
pute (e.g., chapter 411, 1975 Code of Io+oa, provides retirement regulations
for both police and fire in one chapter, although it does direct the estab-
lishment of separate police and fire pension boards). But whatever can be
said about the reasons for the historical salary relationships between police
and fire, we believe that they have become, in our day, substantially differ-
ent jobs.
0 -3- •
Both Dr. Ross and Professor Holcomb testified thaE police and fire
were not ocaparable jobs. Dr. Ross based his opinion on conparative lists
of typical skills of the police officer and firefighter as prepared by the
U.S. Departzrent of Labor, if my recollection of the source is correct. These
lists show that the skills required of firefighters tend to be mechanical
skills, while the skills required of police officers nm trore toward the
skills necessary to deal with the public, often in stressful situations.
This is not to say that firefighters never deal with the public in stressful
situations; nor is it to say that the police do not scnetimes need mechanical
skills. But it does say that most typically, these are the necessary skills.
Professor Holcomb based his opinion upon his experience as a mmiter of
the Iowa State Fire Education Council and the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy
Council, and on his 41 years.e>gperience in various areas of law enforcement.
He also testified that firefighters need mechanical skills for their job,
while the police need skills in working with people. He further testified
that a recent major change in police work has made the line police offices into
a generalist, moving away Fran the idea of specialty officers. Consistently,
in our last negotiation session with the police, the City "bought out",
Ms. Morgan testified, two former civil service classifications - those of
detective and juvenile officer, These are now considered duty assignirents
for the police officer. Professor Holccnb also stated that the police officer
works under a minimn of supervision, often alone, while the firefighter works
with others in a group, as fighting fires require team effort. Professor
Holcmb swmarized by saying that le believed that "police duties have expanded
more in recent years than have those in fire,"
Additionally, both Dr. Ross and Professor Holcomb discussed the problems
that police have in terns of public relations. Dr. Ross said words to the
effect that he had known of few situations where the presence of the fire-
fighter was not appreciated, whereas this is often not the case with the police.
9
• •
Professor Holcomb said that one of the difficulties faced by the police is
that they cannot predict the behavior of the people they meet, whereas
fighting fires should be predictable when there is knowledge beforehand of the
materials that are likely to be stored in a particular building. Thus, he
stressed the importance of building inspections.
Dr. Ross also testified that it ray well be appropriate to pay the police
more than fire because of the difficulty in retaining police officers. This
problem was also recognized by the fact -finder (Ex. 2, p. 5), and given weight
by him. The recent"turnover" experience of the City for police and fire is
summarized in Exhibit 10, which clearly shows that.police officers have a
much higher. termination rate for the period 1972 to 1976. With regard to
Ex. 10, it does appear that the bulk of police terminations have come in the
years since the Griffenhagen and Krueger salary survey, so this may be an
additional reason to reject any facile reliance upon relative salary positions
of police and fire in that report: Ho+ever•, it must be admitted that the data
does not reflect termination practices for a substantial period of tine before
the Griffenhagen Report.
This brings us to the problem of education. The Griffenhagen Report
assumes that a high school education is appropriate for both firefighters and
police officers. For fire lieutenants and captains, the requisite is a high
school education plus experience. However, it is informative to look at the
job descriptions for police detective and juvenile officer, for in addition to
a high school education and experience, they require courses in police methods.
Thus, some sort of educational requirement is built in to the job descriptions.
Since the trend is to make the police officer a generalist, and since these
job descriptions have now been combined with that of police officer, we can
assume that it is now appropriate that all officers have these qualifications.
This is clearly an additional ground upon which the Griffenhagen Report, and its
salary relationship for police and fire, must be considered suspect.
The City's Exhibit 7 shags that in the late 1960's, the City made a
policy decision that advanced education was appropriate for police officers.
Beginning in 1970, incentive pay was offered, and it was continued until
July 1, 1976. It is interesting to note.that more than strictly courses in
law enforcement were paid for, for "college course" was defined as "any
subject which is normally taken as a required or elective course for a degree
with a major in law enforcement." The City requests the.arbitrator to take
official notice of the fact that a degree program in any area nearly always
requires courses outside the area, These are for the purpose of a general
broadening of the student.
Upon cross-examination of Candy Morgan it was ascertained that one police
officer was hired with a degree in music. We see nothing suspect at all in
this, as Professor Holcomb testified that it is important that the officer be
able to deal with the public. As stated in Task Force Reports The Police,
the President's Commission on lad Fhforcerent and Administration of Justice
(1967), p. 126:
"Siaorn personnel, who, in various unpredictable situations;
are required to make difficult judgments, should possess a sound
knowledge of society arra human behavior. This can best be attained
through advanced education. . . .
The City's Exhibit 11 clearly shows that since 1970, the police officers
hired by the City have had a substantially higher educational level at hire
than have the firefighters. This is part of the reason why the educational
incentive was bargained out by the City beginning July 1, 1976 - the police
officers we are hiring are'coming to us with their educations behind them,
so to speak.
0
increased police retention problems, increased police education at hire,
increasing scope of duties - these are changes in the police department that
have occurred within the last few years. They call into question our past
assumptions about salary relationships between police and fire.
It can be seen that other fact -finders and arbitrators have taken the
position that police and fire are not comparable positions. E.g., City of
Binghamton v Local 729, Binghamton Fire Fighters Association,. AFT, -CIO Inter-
national Association of Fire Fighters, 2-6047 OCH Arbitration Reports, 6249,
6253 (1969). The Binghamton fact-finding is also reported at GF.RR, 1-6-69.
The fact -finder, Frederic Freilicher, wrote:
". . . the police patrolman deals primarily with the public.
For a large part of the day the patrolman Corks on an individual
basis, without close supervision. He is concerned with maintain-
ing public order, as well as with the protection of lives and
property. The firefighter is involved in the specialized job of
fighting and preventing fires, and thereby protecting life and
property. When he fights fires and when he works at the fire-
house he is generally under close supervision, and his contact
with the public is limited."
A case where a fact -finder has justified a departure from the parity
standard on the ground that the jobs of firefighter and police offier are not
comparable is Local 1564 Fire Fighters and Town of Winchester, Mass., AAA
Case No. 30-0125-69, September 3, 1969, also reported at GERR, No. 314, p.
" 11. The following is an excerpt of the = source:
Fallon oommments p
"Wage parity is a legitimate demand, and where the
Association can establish that there is no significant
difference in the skill, responsibility and working con-
.
0 -7-
0
ditions between police and fire personnel, and can show
a history of parity, then its demand for parity should
be granted,"
However, he finds that a departure frau the traditional
wage parity is justified in this case on two grounds.
First, Fallon says "that the patrolman in Winchester
operating one man cruisers and otherwise working alone in con-
stant confrontation with the public has a somewhat greater respon-
sibility than a fire fighter who generally will be involved in
a team effort where any mei a of the team can immediately help
out any other member whenever the occasion warrants it."
i
Second, while Fallon acknowledges increased difficulties in
fire fighting duties, he finds the change in police work more
dramatic. He determines that "the increasing complexity of the
law and the increasing responsibilities imposed by statute on
police officers tends to justify a departure from wage parity
with the fire fighter."
We can think of.no better current example of the increasing complexity
of the law than the recent 5 - 4 decision of the United States Supreme
Court in Brewer v, Williams, 97 S.Ct. 1232 (1977) . Williams involved the
conduct of a Des Moines, Iowa, police officer in questioning Williams while
escorting him in a police vehicle frau Davenport to Des Moines. The Court
split 5 -.4 over whether the officer's conduct deprived Williamu of his 6th
Amendment rights, with the majority opinion provoking some extremely heated
language from the Chief Justice. We see the spectacle of a courtroom full
of lawyers arguing passionately over the conduct of a police officer done
in a most stressful situation. This case clearly supports Mr. Fallon's
®1
contention and Dr. Noss' testimony, that the law with which a police officer
must work has become nrore canplex.
In another recent case, IAFF,
Local 1041,
City
of Albert lea, Minn.,
P.S.A.A., Case No. 96223, Vol. 2,
1975, p. 71,
72
Wenerran), the arbitrator
held:
"Although there has been parity in the past, precedent
is insufficient grounds for this always to be true. Thus, for
example, substantial changes in job duties, responsibilities
and requirements could make one job reasonably higher priced
than another. In the present case the panel is convinced that
the job duties and responsibilities of fire and police in
Albert lea are substantially different, the job requirements are
higher for police than fireman jobs, and thus a differential
in favor of policemen is justified,"
Lastly, there is a case oontra that is instructive hese. See City of
Auburn, Wash., and Auburn Fire Fighters, Iocal 1352, GERR, 9-8.69. The
arbitration boand!s.irnpartial chairman, J. B. Gillinghwn, agreed with the
city that the function of the police departrnent beccmes increasingly more
inportant and connplex as the city beoonrns more urban. lie then goes on to
say:
in order to translate such considerations into
actual changes in a well-established wages structure, the
board must be presented .. . . most inportantly evidence of actual
changes in job duties, and secondly, recognition of these
changes in increased entrance requirements and performance
requirements."
In that case he found such evidence absent. In this case we have presented
the type of evidence sought for by Nh'. Gillingham:
E
1. Actual change in job duties: The police mist now function with
a vastly more complex legal system, and with a society that is less homo-
geneous than in past years, and thereby more likely to present problems.
2. Recognition of changes in increased entrance requirements: Although
a high school education will qualify a person for the job of police officer
on paper, the great majority of our officers have higher educational quali-
fications, and therefore it can be said that, practically speaking, the
entrance requirements have changed.
3. Recognition of changes in increased performance reg„irerrents: Since
the job titles of detective and juvenile officer aregone, all officers may
be expected todo these functions now.
For these reasons we believe that firefighters and police officers
should not be considered to be performing oomparable jobs.
B. The use of the historically -established wage relationship denies the
collective bargaining process by imposing a formula upon it.
This position is taken by arbitrator C. Carey Donworth in his dissent
in City of Auburn, supra.
The unocntroverted.testimcny of Candy Morgan is that both the Iowa City
police officers and fire fighters requested the City Council to grant them
separate status as'bargaining units. I£ it is to be considered that there is
an insufficient camunity of interest between the tao jobs to warrant joining
together for bargaining purposes, then there should not be any reason to
adhere to a theory which entails the maintenance of established wage rela-
tionships between the two groups. If they are separate groups doing different
jobs, then a neutral should -riot refer to their established salary relation-
ships in interest arbitration. In City of Binghamton, supra, the fact4inder
stated at page 6253:
to
• -10-
0
"Apart from these considerations, the Taylor Iaw
itself, by sanctioning the establishment of separate bar-
gaining units for different groups of enployees, would
appear to be encouraging a unit -by -unit approach to collective
negotiations and to be ensuing that a public ertplcyer will
be able to respond on an individual basis to the special
circumstances presented in each bargaining unit."
It makes no logical sense to have the City go through two completely
separate bargaining processes with the two unions, only to have their
interests molded into sane unified picture at the end by a fact -finder or
arbitrator. We do not deny that historical relationships exist, but we do
believe that with the advent of the PERB law and the establishment of separate
police and fire bargaining units at the request of the unions themselves,
that reliance upon historical relationships should be ended. As has been
well stated by fact -finder Freilicher in Binghamton, supra:
" the fairness of the firefighter's salary
request must be separately considered." - This brings us to the next major section of our Brief.
II. THE PAY RAISE PROPOSED BY THE CITY IS
M
The City's Exhibit 3.A. shows that when base wages, longevity, food allowance _
payrrents, and health insurance contributed by the employer are considered as a
package, the City of Iowa City ranks third out of. sixteen conparable Iota cities
in the benefits paid to firefighters/drivers, lieutenants, and captains. The
last page of Exhibit 3.A. shows that if the three cities out of the sixteen can -
parable cities that have not yet settled for fiscal year 1976 should settle at
a 66 raise figure, the City of Iowa City will then rank fourth out of sixteen.
This data shows that the City's proposal is reasonable when comgpared to the pro-
posals of other cities. The assumption of.a 6% settlement for the remaining cities
of Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Dubugue appears to be reasonable when considered
in light of the data that the average increase in base wages for fiscal year 1978
for Iowa fire departments surveyed that have settled is 5.78. Our 6.58 proposed
increase is higher than the average of the thirteen cities for which we have collected
comparable data.
With regard to the issue of how the City's proposal tracks with cost of living,
Candy Morgan's testimony was that the Consumer Price Index data, U.S. Cities
Index, had increased 6.48 from March, 1976 through March, 1977. Assuming that the
price index will rise at the same rate during the next year, the period of time
during which the award made at this arbitration will be in effect, our 6.5% raise
would approximately c arpesusate the firefighters for the cost of living increases,
As pointed.out by the fact -finder, Exhibit 2, pages 6 through 7, the firefighters
have been more than carpensated for the increased cost of living during the thirty
month period of the contract that is about to terminate. Harever, the City's offer
of 6.58 must be considered within the context of other economic gains made by the
firefighters during the current round of bargaining. Those gains are essentially
two:
9 -12- 0
1. Increased vacation benefits, as testified to by Candy Morgan, and
2. Increased benefit to the firefighters by the fact that the City
is still paying the full cost of Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance
for firefighters and their dependants, Ms. Morgan testified that health
care has been a significant factor in recent cost -of -living increases, and
therefore we 'can': expect -that health insurance premium costs will reflect
this rise. Since the City is staying with the policy of the previous
contract that it will pay the full cost of these health insurance premiums,
this represents an economic gain to the firefighters, and should be considered
seriously in evaluating the City's wage proposal of 6,58.
Lastly, the 6.58 increase as proposed by the City is greater than the settle-
ments with the police unit, the library unit, and the white collar -blue collar
I- AFSCME unit. As testified to by Ms. Morgan, the police settlement for fiscal year
1978 was 58. The units represented by AFSCSE settled for a cost -of -living escalator
clause with a ceiling. She testified that if the percentage increased in the C.P.I.
increases to the ceiling in the contract, the average salary in the AFSCDE units
will increase 5.1/28 over the course of one year, Therefore, it would appear that
the 6.58 increase offered to the firefighters is in excess of the settlements with
all other City bargaining units.
For these reasons, we submit that the pay raise proposed by the City is com-
parable to raises negotiated by firefighters in other Iowa cities for fiscal year
1978, and is also ccngarable or exceeds raises issued to other City employees, We
believe that this evidence, the only evidence of its type presented by either side
at the hearing, is directly relevant to the statutory criterion that must be con-
sidered by the arbitrator concerning the omparability of wages, hours and condi-
tions of enploynent between the firefighters and other public ertplcyees doing
cmWable work. In short, we believe that it is most appropriate to compare the
firefighters in Iowa City to other firefighters in Iowa cities,, and that this is
the best comparison that can be made.
• -13- •
III. THE FACT-F.ID1MI S BION OF AN B PER CENT ,RAISE
Testimony by Candy mc)rgan indicates that the fact -finder atteipted to
mediate the dispute before the hearing began, but was unsuccessful, Thereupon,
the hearing was held. However, it is clear from the fact -finder's report that
the recommendation reached is in itself a comprci se figure. At Exhibit 21
page 9, the fact -finder states:
"A oanprcmise between the two base period results would clearly
cover any recent losses in real incono and at the sane tine be a step
toward full. recovery of the 1973 level of real inure. In future
negotiations, perhaps more of the loss can be recovered. Such.a
oonprcmise.could yield a reommerxdation in the area of 7 1/2 to 88."
It can be seen here that the fact -finder clearly considers his recommendation to
be a crnprcmise figure. It does not represent the fact -finder's own best considered
judgment as to what the figure should be, based on the criteria outlined in the
statute. In fact, the fact -finder deliberately chose to modify the criteria in
the statute to fit his purposes here.
The City does not in any way claim that this action on the part of the fact -
finder was inappropriate. Indeed, in a paper given by Professor Richard Pegnetter
of the University of Iowa at the Fall, 1976 SPIDR Conference at Toronto, Canada,
Professor Pegnetter suggested that the fact-finding prooess often engxhasizes con-
ciliatory elements. Professor Pegnetter Is -as yet vnpublis6ed paper is attached
to this Brief as Exhibit A. and by this reference made apart hereof. The paper
was qualified at the arbitration hearing by testimony from Candy bbrgan, At page
14 of the paper, Professor Pegnetter states:
mNhy intention was to increase your view of fact-finding as a
dispute settlement device and thereby keep the production of a I
fact-finding report in its proper prospective in the total process.
My review of the process emphasized the heavy conciliatory
elements in fact-finding."
once again, it is the City's position that the 88 recmuendation represents
only Professor Gerhart's estimation of a figure that is most likely to settle
the dispute between the parties. Professor Gerhart does not offer, nor was it
his purpose to offer, a reasoned analysis of the figure that would be, in his
opinion, most supported by the evidence. The reason that we bring up this matter
is so that the arbitrator will be reminded of the nature of Professor Gerhart's
recc rendation. Since the Union has chosen to rest upon the fact -finder's
reccumendation, and to adapt it as their own reconvendation, we believe that this
means that the Union has offered no evidence that tends to support any particular
figure. In contrast, the City has offered specific evidence of what = g3arable
cities in Iowa are paying their firefighters, and we believe that we have
• offered the evidence that directly supports the reasonableness of our 6,58 wage
offer increase,
I
• -15-
IV. TAXES FOR FISCAL, YEAR 1978 GATHERED FFOM ASSES-%SWrS UPON PROPERTY
WERE LUSTED W AN INCREASE OF 6.988 PER CEW.
At the arbitration hearing, upon the cross-examination of Candy Morgan
by the Union, there was a question with regard to page 153 of the City's fiscal
year 1978 budget, which shows a 15.68 increase in the property tax line for the
fiscal year 1978 budget over the fiscal year 1977 budget. It was suggested by
the Union that this figure indicated that the facts were that the City was not
limited to a 78 increase, as Candy Morgan testified was a state law requirement.
A memorandum to Candy.Morgan and myself from Rosemary Vitoshi the City Director
of Finance, is attached to this Brief as Exhibit B, and by this reference is made
a part hereof. Page 153 of the fiscal year 1978 City budget is attached to this
Brief as Exhibit C, and by this reference is made a part hereof. I neglected to
make a note as to whether the City budget had been placed into evidence or not,
but my recollection is that at the end of the hearing, the Union asked if the
City had any objection to placing the City budget into evidence. b indicated
that ve did not. It is hoped that the arbitrator has in his possession the entire
City budget.
As explained in the mairandum, there was only a 6.9888 increase in monies
gathered from assessments upon property located within the City for fiscal year
1978.' Two other additions to the fiscal year 1978 budget included $100,000 for
an insurance reserve, and $233,131 in pension costs. These amounts were transferred
into the property tax line so that the City could be at the $8.10 maximum levy in
1
tee general fund, and could therefore levy in the trust and agency fund. The
Attorney Geral had recently ruled that cities cannot levy.in the trust and agency
fund for pension costs until the City has reached its $8,10 maximum levy in the
general fund. This matter is explained in sare more detail in Exhibit B.
The reason that this material is included here is to support the City's'argu-
rant that an 8% increase in salaries for firefighters is inconsistent with the 78
limitation for new monies gathered from property assessments.
V. CONCLUSION.
To recapitulate, the City believes that no reason now exists for maintain-
ing any historical salary relationships between the police and fire units in
iowa City. That being so, the question of whether the firefighters should receive
a 6.58 pay increase or an 8.08 pay.increase should depend upon data which oonpares
Iowa City firefighters to other public eWloyees doing cagxrable work. We
believe that when that criterion is afployed, that the City's offer of a 6.58
pay increase, considered in light of other bargaining concessions concerning
vacation time and health insurance, should be considered the Trost reasonable offer.
Iowa City Association of
cc: Professional Fire Fighters,
Local 610
David Loney
200 S. Summit St.
Iowa City, Iowa 52240
William W, Petrie, Esquire
Rouite 1, Box 809
Waterford, Wisconsin 53185
Respectfully sutmitted;
CITY OF Iova CITY, Iowa
Fo H. Bowlin
Assistant City Attorney
Civic Center
410 E. Washington St.
Iowa.City, Iowa 52240
Phone: 354.-18001 ext. 209
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
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