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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-04-20 Council minutesMinutes of the Joint Meeting of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, City of Iowa City, City of Coralville, City of North Liberty, City of Tiffin, City of Hills, City of Swisher, City of University Heights, Iowa City Community School District Board, and Clear Creek Amana School District on Monday, April 20, 2015 at City Hall in Coralville; Council Chambers at 4:30 PM. Mayor John A. Lundell welcomed everyone and he asked all the elected officials to introduce themselves. Lundell asked anyone who was in the audience to introduce themselves when they participate in the meeting. Johnson County Board of Supervisors present: Sullivan, Carberry, Neuzil, Harney, County Attorney Lyness Iowa City Council present: Mayor Hayek, Mims, Throgmorton, Dobyns, Payne Coralville Council present: Mayor Lundell, Dodds, Goodrich North Liberty Council present: Mayor Nielsen, Chipman, Donahue, Tiffin Council present: Mayor Phillips University Heights Council present: Mayor From Hills Council present: Mayor Kemp Swisher Council present: Mayor Taylor Iowa City Community School District Board: President Lynch, Baruah, McGinness, Kirschling Staff members from the school districts and local governments were in attendance along with members of the public. Mayor John A. Lundell mentioned Coralville Councilperson Tom Gill was attending the Annual Meeting of Hills Bank & Trust Company because he is a Board Member, Councilperson Bill Hoeft was not able to make the meeting and Councilperson Mitch Gross might not be able to attend because of his duties as West High's Tennis Coach. Lundell also noted several Coralville staff members had to attend a RAGBRAI Meeting with Des Moines Register staff. Update on diversity policies and school boundaries. (Iowa City Community School District) School Board President Chris Lynch reported the Iowa City Community School District rescinded their diversity policy in January at the direction of the Iowa Department of Education and United States Department of Education. They directed the Policy & Engagement Committee to work on a new diversity policy. Chairman of the Committee and Board Member Brian Kirschling was asked to report on the committee's progress. Joint Meeting April 20, 2015 Page 2 Kirschling reported they are discussing having the equity policy being a strong board statement and they are looking at how it can work with the Equity Department report coming out in a few weeks. It is being crafted right now and nothing has come out of the committee yet. Lynch added they expect it to have a strong link with student achievement, researched based and they will take their time with it to get it right. Board Member Jeff McGinness reported the Board adopted aspiration goals for class sizes using socioeconomic status, ELL and special ed. They are considering a weighted resource allocation model, which realizes all schools are not equal or have student populations with the same needs, so this model will take into a lot of different factors when allocating resources. Lynch introduced the topic of school boundaries and attendance zones at the same time since they are essentially the same thing. Lynch reported last year they focused on elementary boundaries and the opening of Alexander. This year they are working on secondary attendance zones or boundaries. They will begin the �rocess with bringing it to the Board table. They will review the scenarios at the April 24t Board Meeting, April 28th they will have the next round of scenarios, between April 291h and May 11th they will have more community engagement looking towards a May decision making process. The policy has 25 different planning parameters that need to be considered when it comes to boundaries, which include student achievement, traffic balance, socioeconomics, special education, operational costs, support neighborhood schools, and managing capacity. They would like to start Liberty at 800 and keep City and West at a similar size. Multi jurisdictional sustainability group. (Johnson County) Supervisor Mike Carberry reported the Sierra Club and other environmental groups formed a Cool Cities program with Iowa City, North Liberty and Coralville which worked well for working on climate change activities for a while. They never came up with a comprehensive plan on how to move forward, because some entities were way ahead of others and the meeting turned into an update of what communities were doing. It may be time to relook at forming a Multi jurisdictional sustainability group because climate change and sustainability are becoming more important in what counties, cities and schools are doing. Recently some County sustainability people and Iowa City Sustainability Coordinator Brenda Nations from Iowa City attended a regional workshop that helped identify some of the things we could work on together. Carberry suggested having staff from the county, cities and schools get together now without involving the MPOJC yet to create a plan and sharing information. Carberry suggested the County could convene some meetings with the help of Iowa City sustainability staff to get started. Lundell suggested the county extend an invitation to everyone to participate. It was noted Iowa City has done a couple of things including a 2013 sustainability assessment by Nations and she will produce a 2015 update soon. Iowa City will also have a work session on sustainability and climate change. School Board Member Tuyet Baruah state if the County is willing to spearhead the effort the School District would be interested in participating. Nations reported the County and Iowa City have been working on a climate adaptation grant and they are working with some climatologists with climate Joint Meeting April 20, 2015 Page 3 projections for this area. They would like to work with people in other communities on things that will affect everyone like if the climate is going to be warmer and different asphalt will need to be used in the future. There is interest in a citizens group but they feel there is some internal work to be done first. Nations noted they will be working on a Star Community Rating Index, which is more comprehensive than the 2013 report, and one whole area is climate change and it focusses more projects and policies. Nations stated Iowa City would be interested in having every community complete their Greenhouse Gas Inventory so they could put them all together and Iowa City did work with North Liberty and their provider Alliant Energy to complete North Liberty's inventory and Iowa City is willing to work with other communities. Community ID Program. (Johnson County) County Attorney Janet Lyness reported the Johnson County Supervisors passed a resolution last week in support of a Community ID and committing staff and resources to implement it. The purpose of the ID is to provide proof of who they are and where they live who does not have a State ID. They hope this could be used at local businesses and to get community services. This will be a basic card where they hope to get businesses to offer discounts, and the main purpose is to interact with law enforcement and open bank accounts. In other communities people with the ID feel they can contact the police. The process will have people coming to the County where staff will collect and verify information and send the Community ID to the person's address. The Center for Worker's Justice has signed up 700 people who are interested. The County is interested in hearing what other communities are interested in. School Board Member Tuyet Barauh noted this might be used as a School ID program for adults. Barauh noted the school has facilities available on weekend and their family resources could help identify people who might need an ID. Lyness thought is a great idea to use school facilities for people to sign up for an ID. Mayor John A. Lundell asked what support the County will need from municipalities other than facilities to sign people up. Lyness responded they will be looking for funding to help pay for the equipment, stating what services that require an ID that the City would accept a Community ID for, and the help of law enforcement to accept the IDs as valid identification. The County will be using the same documents other communities use and figuring out how to verify them. These IDs cannot be used to purchase alcohol, cigarettes and getting into clubs that have an age limit. Lyness noted people who do not have a permanent address or can't prove who they are or where they live will not be able to get an ID. Barauh asked if they has looked for grants to fund the equipment and Lyness responded they were mainly looking to the County and communities to fund it, but they might look for grants as well. Supervisor Mike Carberry added they have looked into churches and other organizations paying for IDs but they were asked if people would value something they did not have to pay for. Lyness stated they will also be trying to get banks and pharmacies to accept the IDs. Banks are important because a person need IDs to open bank accounts and if they can't it makes them vulnerable to theft. Joint Meeting April 20, 2015 Page 4 Affordable Housing. (Johnson County) Executive Assistant Andy Johnson reported a group got together in early April where representatives from various entities and the Affordable Housing Coalition and they shared information on their affordable housing efforts. Johnson provided a summary of the meeting. Johnson noted the group has agreed to continue meeting and he will be the one organizing those meetings. They will not spend a lot of time on a regional plan but they will get together to share information and find ways they can collaborate. The group will try to engage the University, because they are the area's largest employer and drive the housing needs in the area. The group will reach an agreement on some definitions, so everyone is using a common language. They hope to come up with some ideas for successful uses of resources and opportunities for other resources. They will revisit the idea of forming a consortium of local entities to distribute HOME funds, which the 2010 JCCOG Task Force chose not to pursue. The group hopes to identify some goals to work toward and identify some "low hanging fruit" as first steps. Johnson noted a formal schedule has not been set yet. Supervisor Rodd Sullivan suggested this item become a standing topic for the Joint Meeting. Winter Homeless Shelter. (Johnson County) Supervisor Terrence Neuzil reported last winter Johnson County with the leadership of Iowa City and the Emergency Housing Shelter partnered along with other communities to provide a Winter Homeless Shelter at the former Aldi's location in Iowa City to address winter homelessness. Neuzil noted Johnson County has budgeted $20,000.00 towards winter homelessness and he asked other entities to start planning for next winter with setting aside money and start thinking of a possible location for a winter shelter, because this is a multijurisdictional issue and not just an issue for one community. Neuzil reported law enforcement saw a dramatic decrease in nuisance complaints and other issues because of the Winter Homeless Shelter not to mention saving lives. Supervisor Mike Carberry thanked Iowa City for taking a leadership role and he noted even though local businesses had reservations to begin with they received few complaints when the shelter was in operation. Major Project Update. (Johnson County) Supervisor Pat Harney reported the Secondary Roads Facility is mostly done and they are moved in. Some items need to be completed and the solar array will no longer be on the roof of the building, but will be between the new building and the IWV Road. Harney reported the Ambulance and Medical Examiner's Facility has had RFPs sent out for design and eight RFPs were received and the Board of Supervisors will review three of them Wednesday. They hope to begin construction this year and the cost will be around $3,500,000.00. Harney reported the secure access to the Court House design is complete. They will begin remodeling the control center of the jail and some cells later this month. Mahaffey Bridge Road has half of its deck torn up and the one lane traffic is being regulated by traffic light. They have until the end of June to reopen the bridge lanes to two-way traffic. In 2016 the trail will be completed, between North Liberty and the Corps of Engineers boat ramp along Mahaffey Bridge Road. Supervisor Mike Joint Meeting April 20, 2015 Page 5 Carberry added The County will make improvements to 4.5 miles of Sutliff Road from the Linn County line to where Sutliff road turns south at 140th Street. This includes eleven foot lanes with two foot paved shoulders and it is part of the RAGBRAI route. Coralville Mayor John A. Lundell asked about the ownership of the Secondary Roads Department solar array. Carberry explained the Iowa State Supreme Court made this incentive legal a year and a half ago. Since incentives are limited to taxable entities the only way for a city, county or school to afford solar power is to give tax credits away to a taxable entity who owns the facility and in turn the city, county or school buys the power from that entity. RAGBRAI. (Coralville) Coralville City Engineer Dan Holderness reported City Administrator Kelly Hayworth and Asst. City Administrator Ellen Habel and Supervisor Janelle Rettig are attending a meeting with RAGBRAI representatives. Holderness stated the camp grounds will be north of City Hall in S.T. Morrison Park and Northwest Jr. High and the entertainment and beverage garden will be in the Iowa River Landing. Vending will be available at both locations. Holderness noted if people want to volunteer for the various committees they can go to Coralville RAGBRAI 2015, because more are needed and they are looking for more host families for the riders coming to town. Holderness stated 5th Street is under construction now and will not be done until after RAGBRAI in August. There will be a shuttle service between the Iowa River Landing and the campgrounds. Coralville Councilperson Laurie Goodrich and member of the Hospitality Committee reported the theme is "Ride the Red Carpet" and she invited people to cheer on the riders as they arrive in the Iowa River Landing welcome area. There will be 200 feet of red carpet for the riders. Holderness reported the route into town will come from Solon, to Mahaffey Bridge Road, to Sugar Bottom, to Newport Road, to Prairie Du Chien, down to the reservoir, and across the dam, to West Overlook Road, to Dubuque Street, to Oakdale Boulevard, to 1St Avenue and into the Iowa River Landing. The route out of town will be down Highway 6, to Mormon Trek Boulevard, to Melrose, to Hawkins, to Elliott to Newton, to Iowa Avenue and downtown Iowa City where they will have a lot of breakfast venues available. Mayor John A. Lundell asked City Engineer Holderness to give an update of Coral Ridge Avenue. Holderness responded the northbound lanes are paved; the second lane of the southbound lane is being poured this week and they are working on the underpass and retaining walls to the east side; they will pave the trail on the west side of the project in the next few weeks and the project will be completed by early summer. Holderness reported they received a grant from the Water Board to do stormwater improvements with this project where they will collect all the stormwater from the project area and run it through bioswales with the goal to improve the quality of the water going to Clear Creek. The University of Iowa will do testing on the water to see how the water quality improves over the next three years and they will produce a video of how to install the stormwater improvements to be shown across the state. Joint Meeting April 20, 2015 Page 6 Facilities Master Plan Update. (Iowa City Community School District) School Board President Chris Lynch reported the Iowa City Community School District is going through a historic year. Alexander Elementary is the first Iowa City elementary school built in 20 years and is on schedule to be completed on schedule and budget. They approved the $48 million construction contact for Liberty High School at the last board meeting with a completion anticipated in 2017. Twain Elementary is going through renovation and they have a temporary facility in place while construction is completed. Penn Elementary is receiving renovations and an addition this year. Van Allen Elementary is getting an addition this year. Central Elementary and Hills Elementary will be renovated next year. City High will have a third floor and classrooms added next year. Lynch reported the administration has a Master Plan update and they are working on a Ten Year Athletic Master Plan. School Board Member Tuyet Barauh added the budget for the updated plan went up $17 million and the Iowa City Community School District will need everyone's support to pass a $120 million G. O. Bond passed in 2017. School Board Member Jeff McGinness noted Liberty High School will have the Auditorium and indoor athletic facilities built in the first phase, but the outdoor athletic facilities will be included in phase two of the project. Discussion occurred about existing local schools in Iowa City receiving updates in the Master Plan and it was acknowledged there will continue to be concerns until the actual work on those schools begin. There was a discussion of what would happen to students in the new riverfront development in Iowa City. Iowa City Councilperson Jim Throgmorton and Barauh discussed the current model to determined enrollment projections and the possibility of using a better model that takes more into account than current trends in development. Mayor Matt Hayek asked if the school district has figured property tax reform into their budget. Barauh responded the Johnson County's analysis determined the change of apartments to condominiums is relatively small for the school district. The district's levy amount will increase 13 cents per thousand and they will continue to see if the State continues to backfill the loss of corporate taxes. Discretionary Busing. (Iowa City Community School District) School Board President Chris Lynch reported the school district received a recommendation from the Superintendent to eliminate discretionary bussing, which is busing elementary and junior high students within 2 miles and high school students in 3 miles. The board has decided not to do anything this year, but they will be looking at the issue more in the future. Attendance Zones Review. ((Iowa City Community School District) This was discussed earlier in the meeting when school districts were discussed. Other Business. Coralville Mayor John A. Lundell reported Coralville Police Chief Barry Bedford's father passed away Friday and he asked everyone to pass it on to their law enforcement officials. Joint Meeting April 20, 2015 Page 7 Bob Welsh thanked the county, school boards and cities for working together. Welsh encouraged them to expand working together because the more they do the better it is for everyone in the county. Welsh asked everyone not to forget seniors in their planning because there is an advantage to having people his age living here. Seniors care about schools and housing and there is a need for more housing designed for seniors rather than the assumption people never grow old. Welsh asked for more affordable housing, socialization opportunities for seniors and more senior services. Mayor John A. Lundell thanked Welsh for his comments. It was agreed the next meeting will be hosted by Johnson County on Monday, July 20th at 4:30 PM. Adjourn