HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-11-05 Transcription
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ITEM 2 PROCLAMATION.
a) Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week: November 11-17,
2007
Wilburn: (reads proclamation)
Karr: Here to accept the proclamation is Crissy Canganelli on behalf of the
Local Homeless Coordinating Board. (applause)
Canganelli: On behalf of the Local Homeless Coordinating Board of Johnson County,
I want to thank all Members of the Iowa City City Council, and City staff,
for all the work that you do to help the over three dozen organizations that
work throughout Johnson County to address the needs of men, women,
and children who are homeless in our community. Urn, you are to be
commended, you are truly leaders throughout the state in addressing these
issues, urn, you give of your time, treasure, talents, and we're very, very
grateful for your support, the technical expertise of the staff, and leaders
throughout our community - the business community in particular. Um,
during the week of Hunger and Homelessness, there is a drive that will be
held. There are boxes at the Hy-Vee on First Avenue, and the Hy-Vee in
Lantern Park in Coralville, where people can drop off sleeping bags,
blankets, and winter coats. We have an annual sleep-out that is scheduled
on December 8th. We feel that it'll be colder then. I know it's outside of
the week of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness, but I invite all
of you to come and join us for soup that evening, and if you feel up to it,
to sleep out, just to draw attention and bring awareness to the issues that
we're dealing with locally. Thank you very much.
Champion: What time is that? The soup.
Canganelli: The soup dinner (laughter)... will you be bringing soup, Connie? That'd
be great!
Champion: No, I really want to!
Canganelli: Uh, the soup dinner is at 6:00.
Champion: I'll call you. I'll be glad to bring some soup!
Canganelli: Thank you very much, and I'll leave posters here. Thank you.
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ITEM 3
Wilburn:
Karr:
Wilburn:
Wright:
Karr:
Wilburn:
Wright:
Apolonio:
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OUTSTANDING STUDENT CITIZENSHIP AWARDS - Mark
Twain Elementary
Could the students from Mark Twain Elementary please join me up front
here.
Here to assist you in the...in the awards is Audrey Keranen from the
Youth Advisory Commission.
Well, good evening, and thank you all for coming down. This is a
reaL.. you guys look nervous. Are you nervous? (laughter) Yeah, me too.
We get nervous up here. We just kind of fake it, so... uh, this is a real
special time for us on the Council, and for the community that's watching.
You're also on the World Wide Web right now. You're getting an award
that can be seen anywhere in the world that they've got Internet
connection, so how 'bout that, huh? But it's.. .it's a great time for us to
hear about the work that you've been doing in your community, whether
the community's at your school, in your neighborhood, uh, sometimes we
get people that have been doing things throughout, uh, the town, uh, the
state, and the nation, but, uh, it's a nice, uh, recognition for us and
awareness for the adults here, uh, and at home, to be aware of what you're
doing, and so I guess you all have something that you want to read off
about why you were nominated.
What I do best in school is I follow directions when they are given. I
respect teachers and students. I work hard to do my best. I return my
books on time, and I will try to get my Math homework done. What I
would do to help the school is donate books to each classroom that needs
them, and also help sorting books in the Library, and I would like to thank
the teachers for selecting me. Thank you. (applause)
Mr. Mayor, if we could have them state their name first so that we could...
Go ahead.
Urn, I'm Tim Wright. (laughter)
What I do best in school is I follow directions when they are to be
give.. . followed, and respect the teachers and my classmates. I follow the
rules at Mark Twain. My favorite subjects are Math, Science, and Social
Studies. They are all great. I also help my classmates who are my friends
when they need help, and when they need me. What I do. . . what I did to
help the school is solve conflicts when I'm out on duty for Conflict
Manager, collecting box tops, and help clean the tables after I get done
eating my lunch and get dismissed. Thank you. Blanca. (applause)
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Chavez:
Wilburn:
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I'm a good student. In school I do extra things like in Spelling. I do my
regular assignments then do extra and then I do that in almost every
subject. I do extra reading. I follow directions and when almost any
teacher tells me something that makes sense, I do it. So.. .yeah. I really
improved since last year. This year I've been studying. My test, quizzes,
and other scores have gone up. I'm getting my assignments turned in on
time, and thanks. ( applause)
Well, it sounds like each one of you has been working very hard, and I
know after you've done, uh, the regular.. .the regular work, it can be hard
to do something extra, but it sounds like each of you did something extra,
and that's a nice example for all of us. If all of us can do just one more
thing extra, it will greatly improve our community, so thank you. We've
got a certificate for each of you. I will read off, uh, what each one of them
says, and they each have your own name on them. For their outstanding
qualities of leadership within Mark Twain Elementary, as well as the
community, and for their sense of responsibility and helpfulness to others,
we recognize you as an Outstanding Student Citizen. Your community is
proud of you. Presented by the Iowa City City Council. All right.
Congratulations! (applause) See, the Mayor gets nervous too. I forget to
tell you to say your name.
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ITEM 4
CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS
PRESENTED OR AMENDED.
Bailey:
Move adoption.
Correia:
Second.
Wilburn:
Moved by Bailey, seconded by Correia. Discussion? Within the Consent
Calendar, we are setting two public hearings. The first is a public hearing
on amending the Fiscal Year 2008 Operating Budget, and the hearing will
be November...is that on the 13th? Is that correct? I'm sorry, the 2ih,
November 27. The second.. .uh, is a public hearing on plans,
specifications, forms on construction of two duplex homes located on lots
13 and 16, Longfellow Manor Subdivision. This is under the Affordable
Dream Home Opportunities program. Any other discussions? Roll call.
Item carries 7-0.
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ITEM 5 COMMUNITY COMMENT (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA).
Wilburn: This is a time that's reserved on the agenda for the public to address the
Council on items that do not appear on tonight's agenda. If you wish to
address the Council, please state your name for the record, and limit your
comments to five minutes or less.
Keranen: Great! My name is Audrey Keranen, and I'm the Chair of the Iowa City
Youth Advisory Commission. Um, I'm here today just to make sure that
you and the public are aware that we are currently fielding applicants for
our Youth Empowerment Grant Program, um, which is a program that
would award up to $500.00 to community members who are youth
between the ages of 15 and 21 who are interested in doing a community
service project to help better Iowa City. So Ijust wanted to make
everyone aware, and encourage them to visit our web site, which can be
reached through icgov.com. Thank you, or org.
Champion: Thank you. Org!
Keranen: Great, thank you!
Wilburn: Thank you. This is also a nice example, uh, of community youth
development and youth and adults, working together to improve
community. So thank you all for the work you're about to do!
Bennett: Hi, my name is Mary Bennett, and I'm just speaking as a private citizen
tonight, but I'd like to address the Members of City Council, the City
Manager, and City staff, and especially members of the public who might
be watching this program tonight. And thank you for allowing me to
speak for a few minutes. I'm here on behalf of Isaac A. Wetherby and the
group of citizens who are attempting to save his home on Market Street.
Mr. Wetherby's house is deserving oflocallandmark status and the State
Historical Society ofIowa's Historic Preservation office has already made
a preliminary ruling that the house is eligible for the National Register of
Historic Places, even if it is moved. Weatherby is truly a nationally
significant figure, even though he's been low on our radar screens. Uh,
preserving the only extant building associated with him will allow us to
revive memories of him and his many accomplishments as an artist,
photographer, and historian of Iowa City. The Weatherby cottage, built in
1860 by an Irish contractor speaks to various dimensions of our shared
history. Typically historic preservation groups focus on expensive, stylish
structures; however, this structure could be saved as a representation of
working class lives, the type of home early Iowa City tradesmen would
have built for their families. This modest cottage reminds us of an era
when people lived with modest means, creating intimate surroundings for
their families, rather than living extravagantly in large homes. This
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cottage and Weatherby's life have important lessons to transmit about his
era, about racial tolerance, the immigrant experience, how artisans and
artists thrived in this community, as they do today. So I'm here tonight
because this little orphan of a house needs the support of this community
ifit's to survive. The clock is already ticking. So please help us seek a
positive outcome to this at-risk cultural resource so we don't erase such an
important part of our past. The owner of the property, Mike McLaughlin,
generously decided to donate the cottage to the Friends of Historic
Preservation, provided it is moved to a new location by November 15th,
and possibly with some extension beyond that, if a solid plan can be put in
place. The Iowa City Historic Preservation Commission, which had a
hearing about this last Thursday night, deferred asking for landmark status
for the cottage, simply because it would have triggered the destruction of
the building, while the owner's demolition permit was still valid. When
MaryBeth carne to here in October she asked you to put a stay on that
demolition permit, but we're here tonight to try to work with...in a
positive way with Mr. McLaughlin and with other members of the
community, and to bring the City Council up to date on the progress we're
making, and inform you about the level of community interest and support
that's already been demonstrated. We hope you'll support us and help us
accelerate this process of moving and preserving the structure, and
specifically we need a signal from the City as to whether this relocation
project is feasible. Friends of Historic Preservation has taken the lead,
especially Helen Burford and Mike HaverKamp, in researching various
options available to us. There are several potential parties in the
community who have responded to our call for help. The Johnson County
Historical Society, including the Director, Shaner Magalhaes, who may
speak later tonight, have agreed to help. Mike Wright and Jean Lloyd-
Jones have agreed to co-chair a fundraising drive, and Johnson County
Historical Society will accept funds on our behalf. The Iowa City Press-
Citizen will help inform citizens of this effort, and the Scanlon Foundation
has tentatively pledged $5,000 towards the project. The Friends of
Hickory Hill are open to discussion about location of the project in the
park. Some members of the Goosetown Neighborhood Association have
been involved, and others will join in. The State Historical Society has
provided input and suggestions, and will welcome an application under
their historic resource development program for an emergency grant,
totaling up to possibly $15,000, if matching funds can be found. And the
property would be nominated to the National Register under Criteria B,
which is based on the significance of the person associated with the
property. Additional grant funds from the State of Iowa, such as a
community cultural grant, will help provide revenue for future
rehabilitation work on the house and HRDP funds can also be requested
for various bricks and mortar work, or public programming associated
with (unable to understand) in the future. The staff of the state office of
the State Historic Preservation endorses this project, and hopes that
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community cooperation and creative collaboration will save the significant
evidence of (unable to understand) in Iowa City. Sunil of the City
Planning office has dedicated many hours to this project, as have other
City departments, ranging from Legal department to Parks and Recreation.
This will require a concerted effort with leadership from the top of the
City government. Facilitating this process over such a very short period of
time - we're talking less than ten days - will be very challenging, unless
the City Manager or the department heads can make this a top priority.
Some of the current obstacles for Council to consider right now is that
very tight time frame for action. Uh, we really need to decide first of all
whether we can find a site - that's of paramount importance. We've been
in discussion with various people, including the Parks department. We
understood the Parks Commission could convene for sort of an
emergency, urgent meeting and possibly make a recommendation on this
proposal. We also understand that City Council could make a ruling, even
if they don't make a recommendation. Uh, we have been in touch with
various parties, looking potentially at the Reno Street neighborhood park,
the Hickory Hill Park near the Rose Hill area. There's a direct association
with an Irish family in Weatherby. There's Weatherby Park, Happy
Hollow Park, or possibly some other public space, but we have a very
short time for public input, and we need your guidance in getting, uh,
urgent meetings established, uh, so that we can work out some of these
problems. Another example, our Building Codes and permits, with a long
list of things we could ask for help in the City, for example, the cost of
police escort as the property is being moved through the streets of Iowa
City. As I understand, the City Forester might be involved in helping to
cut down some trees that might be in the way of wires. Uh, we need to
consult the City Legal department. We have to try to establish, first of all,
whether we can move it, and then we can move on to whether we can raise
the funds for moving it, and the cost of rehabilitation, and then hopefully
engage the community in an active discussion to determine its future. So,
I guess the real thing for us to coming here before you today is to point out
that we have so many complex issues to work through, and we really
would like to engage the public, but the pressures of this demolition
permit are.. . and pressures of us, you know, just trying to work through the
process through different City departments, we really need the Councilor
the City Manager to take sort of an overseer role, and work with Sunil, the
City Attorney or whatever, to facilitate this process. I'd be happy to give
you my remarks, uh, via email or answer any questions you might have,
but I realize this is just for public comment at this time.
Champion:
The imperative thing, though, is to get the money to move it. Not
necessarily to rehab it.
Bennett:
Right! Exactly. We want to secure its future. It's very much at risk. If
we can move it. ..
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Champion: . . .making sure you can move it.
Bennett: Right.
Champion: And then it's also my understanding that November 15th doesn't have to
be an absolute deadline.
Bennett: It's somewhat firm. I think we have possibly a week to ten days, maybe
two weeks on the other side of that, but that again would depend on, you
know, the whole process of permits and, you know, his demolition permit
is in place. He could take the structure down right now.
Champion: He won't do that.
Bennett: He won't. He's being very generous about donating it. And that's, you
know, we want to work with him on this, but he has his own pressures and
we understand that.
Bailey: So, Friends of Historic Preservation are taking the lead on that.
Bennett: They would become the owner of the property.
Bailey: But I mean regarding this process that needs to move forward very
quickly, who's the point person is my question. I mean, that will make it a
little bit more.. .
Bennett: There is a committee to Save the Wetherby Cottage, and people could
contact MaryBeth Slonnegar, or myself. Uh, they could contact Mike
HaverKamp or Helen Burford at Friends of Historic Preservation.
Hopefully there will be an article in the Press-Citizen, detailing this, and
there will be an editorial coming up this week that might explain some of
it.
O'Donnell: When will you know if the house is able to be moved?
Bennett: We're working on that right now. That's one of the sticking points, is the
City has to determine whether it can be moved before we can move it,
and. ..but also more important is where can we move it to. So we don't
have a site plan. We can't apply for that State grant money.
Wilburn: I want to (several others talking) first of all, I want to thank, uh, all of you
who have been involved in trying to take a look at how to preserve this. I
want to thank, uh, I don't know if the owner, the property owner, is here
or not, but I do want to thank you for your patience, and your willingness
to at least have a conversation with folks. Uh, you know, this is a.. .you
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know, you're talking about deadlines and specific detailed plans, and this
really isn't the format to do that.
Bennett: Right, I understand that. .
Wilburn: Uh, I mean, if you would like us to set some type of work session, like you
said.. .
Bennett: Well, your next formal meeting, I believe, is November 2i\ but I would
request that we perhaps ask Council to have a special meeting to address
some of these issues, if that's possible, before deadline is reached. We
had hoped to come to you tonight with a recommendation from Parks
Commission about whether or not a park might be an option, but they
declined to meet on such short notice without more direction from City
Council.
Wilburn: Well, like I said, I mean, if we set.. . setting. . .the formal action that
Council can take is setting a hearing, but if you're just wanting to have a
conversation, then wouldn't a work session, just to hear all the information
that you've gathered and options be more in line with what...
Bennett: Possibly, yes, I think if we could get together cooperatively, that we all
have a shared interest in...I can't state enough...
Wilburn: We can't make assurances...
Bennett: I understand that.
Wilburn: Yeah...
Bennett: But we have some issues, we have so many hurdles to climb over between
different departments and different rules and things that we have to abide
by. We have had a structural engineer in there. We've had architects in
there. Architectural historians. We're gathering that data now, but we
don't have.. .we have a report from the mover, but I don't have that to give
you tonight.
Vanderhoef: I have two questions. Uh, number one, what's the length that a
demolition, uh, permit is...is good for?
Dilkes: I don't know. I'd have to look at that, but.. .beyond the time frame we're
talking about.
Helling: Yeah, it's.. .months.
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Bennett: .. .posted it around October 4th; I believe he has until the 15th before it
expIres.
Vanderhoef: Till when?
Bennett: It expires on the 15th, that's why he wants to not lose that.. .0fNovember.
Wilburn: That's in conflict with the information.
Helling: Doesn't sound right, but we'll.. .we can let you know.
Bennett: That's what he's implied to us.
Dilkes: Can I suggest...I think we're getting kind of beyond the thing here...it
seems to me that there are the issues that you need assistance on from the
City Council need to be identified clearly, and then there needs to be a
decision made about whether you're going to have a special meeting,
special work session, on that.
Vanderhoef: Right, and in that decision, I would request that you have one point person
that the staff works with. I mean, the Committee can come, but one
person who gets all the communication from Council, from staff people so
that we know that it's.. . who is in charge of all of this. r understand you're
working collectively and that's great, but we need one, one person, so if
you'll identify whoever out of your group, uh, that would be very helpful.
Correia: How.. .how close are your...is your group to identifying what the issues
are that Council would need to take.. .
Bennett: We have that list. Wernet with Sunil and we had a phone conference with
the State Historic Preservation today. With SuniL..
Correia: .. .because we were, uh, we were scheduled to meet on Thursday, and then
that was cancelled. I mean, I'm willing to set a special meeting for this
week. It sounds like there's time, pressures.
Champion: That's fine with me.
Bailey: rfthey have information. (several talking at once)
O'Donnell: We need to know first if it's able to be moved. r mean, a structural
engineer will tell you that.
Bennett: We're getting people to work as quickly as we can, but we'll try to get a
statement from.. .we tried to get the City inspector to come out and.. .he
did not have time on his schedule to do that.
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O'Donnell: And I don't want to have a meeting, if we don't have that information.
Correia: Well, we could... tentatively, it needs to be set so it can be posted. We can
always cancel if we don't have the information, that we need.
Bailey: .. .declare that it's a work session and not a formal meeting, but we're
going to take action, because I think that would be concerning to the
owner.
Bennett: I appreciate that. . .
Dilkes: Based on my communication from him, I think you want to be careful
about it.
Elliott: Whatever we do, uh, Mike McLaughlin has to be involved.
Bennett: I appreciate your time listening to us tonight, and we'll try to get some
written, formal proposals to you tomorrow. Thank...
Wilburn: Why.. .why don't you get that to Dale.
Bennett: Okay, thank you for expediting it.
Wilburn: And Dale and I will, uh, talk to see if we, if that. . .if we can come up with
a work session.
Bennett: We just appreciate the City's help making this a top priority. Thank you.
Wilburn: Is there anyone else who wishes to address the Council on an item that
does not appear on tonight's... work, or agenda?
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ITEM 6 PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS.
a) CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR
NOVEMBER 27 ON AN APPLICATION TO REZONE
APPROXIMATELY 0.48 ACRES OF LAND LOCATED AT
THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF THE INTERSECTION OF
LINN AND COURT STREETS FROM CENTRAL BUSINESS
SUPPORT (CB-5) ZONE TO CENTRAL BUSINESS (CB-IO)
ZONE. (REZ07-000014)
Bailey: Move to set the public hearing.
Vanderhoef: Second.
Wilburn: Moved by Bailey, seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion?
Bailey: I want to know how this works, uh, with recommendation to deny from
staff, as well as from Planning and Zoning. I don't think we've ever been
through that when I've been on Council.
Davidson: Yeah, this one's a little bit unusual, in that at the next meeting, all you'll
have on the agenda is the hearing. Uh, there's not an ordinance prepared,
which would be typical for a rezoning, because the recommendation is to
deny, and because of that, you know, in the ordinance we would cull out
the conditions of the, uh, rezoning. Since the recommendation is to deny,
those conditions haven't been developed. So, urn, since the
recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Commission was to deny,
urn, during the hearing the applicant will have the opportunity to present
any information they wish to you. You can have any other discussion
you'd like. If at that point it appears that there is a majority of Council in
favor of.. .of going ahead and considering an ordinance, then we would
schedule a joint meeting with the Planning and Zoning Commission, and
at that meeting, you know, have discussion of the project and hopefully
staff could get some direction then on what, uh, types of conditions you
would like to see. Uh, otherwise ifthere's not a majority, urn, it'll, it
won't be considered...
Correia: And so...
Dilkes: Sorry. You'll need to continue the public hearing, of course, because any
Conditional Zoning Agreement would have to be signed before the close
of the public hearing. So, it's pretty much a given that if you do want to
move forward with the project, then we need to continue the public
hearing. Determine what the conditions are, and develop a Conditional
Zoning Agreement.
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Correia: And so, in our packet for that public hearing, we'll have the minutes of the
Planning and Zoning Commission where there's the vote to not...
Champion: We had them.
Correia: Well, I thought that was...
Elliott: No, we don't have the 18th.
Correia: We have the minutes where they deferred. . . the.. .
Davidson: We'll make sure, Amy, that you get the minutes from the Planning and
Zoning Commission meeting. We'll put a cover memo with it, kind of
laying out what I just sort of stammered and stuttered through, and. . .
Correia: And the staff report that the Planning and Zoning Commission would have
received?
Davidson: Yes, the staff report (several talking)
Correia: Yeah, okay.
Davidson: But no ordinance because one hasn't been developed.
Correia: Exactly! Thank you.
Dilkes: But you'll get all the background information that you normally get.
Correia: Okay, that's what I wondered. Okay. Thanks.
Champion: Because it's hard for me to locate things that have been around.
Wilburn: Do I need to do Ex Parte with setting a public hearing? Okay. All those
in favor say aye. Opposed same sign. Carries 7-0.
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ITEM 7
APPROVING PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF
CONTRACT, AND ESTIMATE OF COST FOR THE
CONSTRUCTION OF THE MCCOLLISTER BOULEVARD PCC
PAVEMENT (HDP-3715(628)-71-52) AND MCCOLLISTER
BOULEVARD BRIDGE (HDP-3715(634)-71-52) ESTABLISHING
AMOUNT OF BID SECURITY TO ACCOMPANY EACH BID,
AND DIRECTING CITY CLERK TO PUBLISH
ADVERTISEMENT OF BIDS AND FIXING TIME AND PLACE
FOR RECEIPT OF BIDS.
a) PUBLIC HEARING
Wilburn: This is a public hearing. (pounds gavel) Public hearing is open.
Vanderhoef: Before we go any further, uh, is there a water project that goes along with
this, or are we talking about, uh, water revenues as along?
Helling: I think there's.. .there's a water main involved.
Knoche: There's a water main that'll go along McCollister alignment, that'll go
across the river.
Wilburn: Anyone care to speak to the public hearing? (pounds gavel) Public
hearing is closed.
b) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION
Champion: Move the resolution.
O'Donnell: Second.
Wilburn: Moved by Champion, seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion?
Champion: This is really exciting! (several responding) It's a back bridge!
Wilburn: Roll call. (laughter and several talking) Item carries 7-0.
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ITEM 8
RENEWAL OF CLASS C LIQUOR LICENSE FOR YELDER
ENTERPRISES, INC., DBA QUE, 211 IOWA AVENUE.
a) HEARING
Wilburn: This is not a public hearing. This is a hearing opportunity for the owner
to, urn, speak to, uh, a recommendation from the Police Chief, uh,
recommending denial of the, uh, liquor license, renewal of the liquor
license. Uh, can we get some background information, Chief, before I
give, uh, Mr. Yelder an opportunity to address the Council.
Dilkes: Let me say, since we have not done this previously, I think that is the best
procedure to have the Police Department put forth the facts they have for
you and why they're recommending denial and then give Mr. Yelder an
opportunity to respond.
Wilburn: Okay, all right. Chief?
Hargadine: Normally it's pretty easy to make a recommendation to you on liquor
licenses, urn, we get two or three of these a week, almost every week, and,
urn, 1. . . Sergeant Kelsay goes through the, uh, file that we maintain on
liquor license, uh, establishments, and he makes a recommendation, or
raises a red flag ifthere's any, urn, things in that file that we've, urn, or
accumulated over the year. Um, when I received the Que's application for
renewal, they have a number of violations that have occurred. Urn, as we
were looking at it, that same day we received, urn, a picture of a young
lady that was featured in the Booze News newspaper and, urn, the
bartender who was identified as being an employee of the Que Bar was
pouring a beverage into a patron's mouth on the bar, directly from a, looks
like a liquor bottle. That is in violation of City Ordinance. That, in
addition to a common theme, urn, is why I could not put my signature on a
recommendation towards you. Urn, that common theme is, uh, through all
of the enforcement actions, and the apparent photo that appeared in Booze
News, there appears to be a lack of supervision when the owner is not
there. Uh, on the liquor license application and on most applications I see,
I see co-owners or co-management, assistant managers, they list those and
that's not the case here. The only management interest is Mr. Yelder, the
owner, and clearly, um, all...in all of the instances that I've been made
aware of, urn, they occur when Mr. Yelder is not on the property. Uh,
therefore, because of the lack of supervision, I, uh, am recommending
denial.
Wilburn: Chief, can you walk us through, uh, and for the benefit of the public too,
the, uh, the prior violations within the three.. .three-year period?
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Hargadine: Urn, yes, there's.. .there's more than that; however, for the last three years
there's one in 04 of 05, urn, that was a sales to a minor case. Additionally,
in August of 06 there's another sales to a minor case made, and urn, the
last one was September of 06, a sales to a minor case.
Wilburn: And with each, uh, with each situation, a penalty as it follows our
procedure, urn, the escalating penalty, uh, including both fine and
suspension?
Hargadine: That's correct.
Wilburn: Okay. Did Council have any other questions of the Chief, before we give
Mr. Yelder an opportunity to address the Council?
Champion: Were the suspensions, urn, took place.. .did the suspensions take place?
Hargadine: Urn, I believe some have, and some are pending. Yeah.
Wilburn: And what is the...
Dilkes: We need to clarify here. Remember, those are not suspensions that.. .that
are, urn, given by the City Council. When the violation occurs, we
forward those to the, urn, Alcoholic Beverages Division, and they proceed
from there, and there is a multitude of processes that take place there. For
instance, the first one, the $500.00 fine actually was appealed.. .District
Court Court of Appeals, and a decision came out a couple years later. So,
urn, in terms of the actual status of all those, you'd have to get more detail
from Sergeant Kelsay.
Wilburn: And the, urn, if this. . .ifCouncil does deny the Class C liquor license,
what's the period of time that Mr. Yelder would have to appear to.. . appeal
to the State Liquor?
Dilkes: I believe.. .we'd provide him with that information if there was a...I
believe it's a 30-day period.
Wilburn: Okay.
Dilkes: Urn, and the, uh, he continues to operate during that period oftime.
Wilburn: Okay, thank you. All right. Thanks, Chief. Mr. Yelder, if you chose to
do so, you can address the Council.
Yelder: Uh, first of all, I'm not used to addressing a Council, and urn, I guess what
I really want to say is that (coughing) uh, first of all, we haven't had any
violation in over a year, and also, I've been in business for about eighteen
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years. Now the eighteen years I've been in business, I've had maybe
seven or eight violations, and most of the violations are not serving
minors, per se, it was police sting operations, and uh, because they kind of
know how.. .how we, uh, check people at the door and mark people, and
so then they come in and.. . and uh, that's most of the violations that we
had was sting operations. It wasn't actually serving a minor. The other
thing about, urn, the Police Chief was talking about (coughing) the, not
having supervision on duty. That is not correct. We have supervisors on
duty. Urn, the reason why on the application that we didn't have a
manager on duty was because I was in the process of hiring a new
manager, and then after I hired the new manager, I call the City Clerk
office, I think last Wednesday or Thursday, and.. . and uh, informed them
that I had hired a new manager, and I was going to add that new manager
to the, you know, the paperwork. Um, what else. . . the. . . about the incident
in the Booze News, that was a mark.. .that was not real. That, urn, they
posed that picture, and so I don't know where the Police Chief got that
that was a patron that was served, because it was not a patron. The person
that was pouring the water in the person's mouth was another bartender.
Okay? And in addition to that, we.. .because they, we, uh, suspended our
bartenders that. . . that was in that picture because they give a bad
reputation ofthe bar. Urn, most...I have some staff members here that,
um, they...I don't know. I'm kind of nervous. (laughter)
Wilburn: Sure.
Yelder: I don't know what else to say.
Wilburn: Does Council have any questions ofMr. Yelder?
O'Donnell: I...I do. Did you say you've been in business for eighteen years?
Y elder: Yes.
O'Donnell: And how many.. .how many violations?
Yelder: Uh, seven or eight, and out of that seven or eight, they was all these sting
operations. I think it was maybe one or two that wasn't a sting operation.
So, urn, one of my staff members would like to talk.
Wilburn: That's fine. That's fine.
Garfield: Two points I wanted to make. First...
Wilburn: Please state your name.
Garfield: Gerard Garfield.
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Wilburn:
Garfield:
Wilburn:
Garfield:
Page 18
Thank you.
First time also.
That's all right, no problem! (laughter)
One of the points I wanted to address was with the whole sting operations.
Uh, Roy had kind of mentioned that on the last sting, which was a month
after a previous offense, involved a girl being sent in with a mark on her
hand that was at the time similar to our marking system for illegal. We
had a black stamp and a red stamp for a minor illegal. And at the time,
that girl carne in with a black stamp across one way, and a red stamp
across the other way, and when they pulled the bartender out of the bar
and the police talked with him and the girl, the officer acknowledged that
it was a little confusing with the stamps, just to show how these things
really don't accurately identify bartenders serving minors or doing
anything of that nature. As a result of that, we haven't had a violation in
over a year, and that's because after that point we changed our marking
system. We no longer use stamps to identify illegal. We have a wristband
which clearly identifies illegal person, versus a little stamp that shows a
minor, urn, and as you see, we haven't had any violations since. All our
door guys are well trained to check LD.'s very hard, um, it's pretty well
known that we check LD.' s very hard. Second point with respect to the
officers' claims of the bottle being liquor, and that the person was a
customer, urn, last Thursday, two Thursdays ago, an officer came to the
bar. I was working that evening. Asking for Chrissy, the girl in the
photograph, for her last name. He did not identify what he was there for.
He wouldn't tell us what he was there for, and we gave him the last name
because we didn't know what was up, and he proceeded to ask us, okay,
where does she live and I live with her and I proceeded to say that I'm her
roommate, what does this concern, and he told me that's none of my
business and that he wasn't going to tell me, but was still demanding we
give him more information. Myself and another individual, as well as our
manager who was on duty, urn, clearly stated to him, well, we're not going
to give you any more information unless you tell us why you're here and
what you're doing. He got very hasty with us and was not happy that we
weren't being cooperative and, in my defense, I wasn't going to give up
information ifhe wasn't going to tell us why he was looking for my
roommate, urn, and it makes no sense why in that documentation where he
said that we had no manager on duty when the first words out of his mouth
was, 'Where's your manager?' And we brought our manager over and he
spoke with her, and we also informed him from about seven or eight
different people that were there that were working that the bottle contained
water, and that the two people in the picture were both employees ofthe
bar, and that was a staged photograph, and I'm curious to know why that
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information didn't make it into the officer's report, urn, because obviously
he had that information at the time when he made the report, because he
had her last name. And he got her last name from us. Also, he never
made contact with Chrissy. Chrissy never spoke with the police, so the
judgment that he made about her serving alcohol, or showing that there
was negligence from the management's part seems a little distorted
because he didn't follow through on the entire case and get both sides of
the story. They only took the perspective of whoever sent in the picture,
whoever brought it to the attention, urn, not to mention this newspaper
shows pictures. . . every page is a picture of somebody drinking at another
bar, or slamming a beer or something of that nature, and why does this
picture get singled out? It's just kind of a concern that the case wasn't
followed through in an appropriate manner. But, aside from that. . .
Wilburn: Thanks for your comments.
Garfield: Thank you.
Henningfield: Hi, Sarah Henningfield, General Manager of the Que Bar, as of about a
month now. I was there the night that Officer Smithy, I believe it was,
entered the Que Bar and had a young man with him who was told to be a
photographer of the Booze News crew. This young man said nothing the
whole time that he was there. Officer Smithy asked my bartender,
Christen, if there was a manager on duty. I was upstairs at the time,
approached the officer and said, 'Yeah, I'm Sarah Henningfield, General
Manager.' He asked for Chrissy's last name, which I gave, and then asked
what the matter was concerning. I was not told, and he proceeded to
involve many of my other employees, who happened to just be there, off
the clock, urn, where she lived, certain information about her. They all
refused, urn, just another testimony to that night. I was there, and I was
introduced as the General Manager, and there is supervision at that bar.
Urn, there has been supervision at that bar since the day that it opened,
whether it's a General Manager, Supervisor, Head Bartender, as we like to
call them, or the Owner himself. At no time has there ever been a lack of
supervision at that bar, just going off of reports of all of my head
bartenders/what I call supervisors, um, when there is not a General
Manager, Mr. Yelder is there, in person, himself at that bar from open to
close. I can testify to that because the day I applied he was there at that
bar from open and close, every single day that I interviewed for that job,
which was over a period of three days. Ever since then, Mr. Yelder and I
have been at that bar, for hours on end, during the day and the evenings,
until Mr. Yelder went out of town to take care of some other businesses
that he has around the area. During that time, I was at that bar, urn, I was
the Manager on Duty, on Call, 24-hours a day, if you will, seven days a
week. Urn, just another testimony that that bar is supervised at all times.
This picture is not.. .not un...I don't even know how I want to say it.
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Chrissy has been reprimanded for this picture, just because it goes against
the reputation of the Que Bar as an upstanding bar in Iowa City, and yes,
we have had prior violations, all of which have occurred while I am not
employed at that bar, but I'm still responsible for those past violations, and
the reputation of that bar, so she has been reprimanded, as well as the
other employee. Um, as far as the City Ordinance that was.. .the new
Police Chief has, urn, the new resolution 6216, the resolution approving
the Police Chiefs guidelines for determining etc., etc., 423, states that,
where Section 423 of the City Code requires that the Chief of Police
determine if the applicant is of good moral character, I believe that the
Que Bar as a whole is in good moral standing with this community. I
really do not understand how such slander can be brought against the Que
Bar when that Chief of Police has never set foot in that bar. This Chief of
Police obviously didn't know about the past record, had to turn to another
officer not more than twenty minutes ago to get the story straight. So
I. . . there is just a lack of due process on this case. As well, Mr. Yelder
was not informed of any of the proceedings here today until about a day
ago. In introducing myself to the General Manager, you would think that
contact to me would have tried to been made as far as the hearing for
today, all the paperwork, all of the letters that he has received. I have
received none of them. The bar has received none of them, and Mr.
Yelder just received today.
Wilburn:
I. . .I have a question for you, and I'm sorry, what was your name?
Benningfield: Sarah.
Wilburn:
Sarah, do you.. .do you check the Post Office box of the Que, because
there's a letter dated October 25th?
Benningfield: No, I do not.
Wilburn:
Okay, all right, and urn, yeah.. .you'll have to come to the microphone.
Yelder:
I'm the person that goes to the mailbox, you know, and I'm here. Last
week...
Wilburn:
Uh.. .go ahead.
Yelder:
.. .last week I was in Arizona for, uh, health reasons, so maybe that's why
I didn't receive it.
Benningfield: But we did receive the first letter from the City Attorney.
Yelder:
Right.
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Benningfield: At the Que Bar, not at the P.O. box.
Wilburn:
Champion:
Wilburn:
Okay.
So there was communication.
I was just trying. . .
Benningfield: There was one letter of communication that instructed us to reprimand the
employee to the full extent, due to the violation. We did not receive the
other two letters at the Que Bar. They were sent to a different address.
Yelder:
One of the letters, I think it was from the City Attorney's office, urn, yeah,
this.. .um, I received this letter the day before, a couple days before I was
leaving, going out of town.
Benningfield: October 25th.
Yelder:
It was the 25t\ right.
Benningfield: It was addressed to Roy Yelder at 211 Iowa Avenue, which is the address
of the Que Bar.
Wilburn:
Correct.
Benningfield: All of the other documents have been addressed to the P.O. box, which is
P.O. Box address 2531, Iowa City, Iowa.
Dilkes:
Wilburn:
Dilkes:
Can I just clarify with.. . since we're talking about letters from my office.
Sure.
Urn, the October 25th letter was sent, and these are in the materials
that. . . that you've been provided, was sent to Roy Yelder at Yelder
Enterprises, Inc., at 211 Iowa Avenue, P. O. Box 2531, Iowa City, etc.
Urn, my office's letter of October 29t\ 2007, was sent to the exact same
address.
Benningfield: But the exact same address is listed, but it was sent to the P.O. box, not the
211 address.
Dilkes:
Well, I'm just pointing out that information, and then, um, the October
29th letter from the Police Chief was sent to a home address, as well as the
business address. And these addresses come from the file that we
maintain.
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Wilburn:
Yelder:
Wilburn:
Yelder:
Wilburn:
Yelder:
Wilburn:
Yelder:
Wilburn:
Kelsay:
Wilburn:
Kelsay:
Page 22
I was just trying to clarify, uh, you had made the statement that, uh, no,
that Mr. Yelder had just found out a day ago, so I was just trying to clarify
what had happened. So, thank you.
May I say something?
Sure.
Actually, I received a phone call when I was in Arizona. It was from the,
uh, Cedar Rapid's Gazette and that's how I actually found out.
And that would have been because the information.. .once those letters go
out...
Yeah, that was like Thursday. It was like Thursday, maybe about, I don't
know what time it was.
All of our, all of our formal actions get posted in a public information
packet, and those go out on Thursday, and so, urn, that's how the media
would have seen that.
And so, and so the media was asking me all these questions. I told them
that I hadn't received anything, because I was out of town.
Okay, all right. Thank you. Thank you both. If I could have Sergeant
Kelsay, if you could walk us through the.. .the, uh, sting procedure...
Mayor, Council. . .
. . . that are used. Thank you.
.. . sure. Background, my name is Sergeant Kelsay. Two of my current
functions, uh, since 2001, I have coordinated some of the alcohol
enforcement, specifically the alcohol enforcement directed to, uh, proper
service of alcohol, and part of that is service to underage persons,
checking.. .checking to make sure licensed liquor establishments are doing
that, as they are required. Another function that I, uh, currently sit in is
I'm the Planning and Research Sergeant, or the Keeper of Records - in
this case - liquor license renewals. That's why the Chief turned to me to
ask me for information. I happen to maintain those files. Uh, as to the
liquor license renewals, what happens is when there is a new one, or when
there is an application for renewal, I'm notified by the City Clerk's office
that, for instance in this case, the Que Bar is applying to have their license
renewed. I do a review that includes the application itself. Is the
information provided on the application consistent with what's on file with
the State Alcoholic Beverage Division. Are owners and management
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interests listed, uh, what are the calls for service that we've had at that
premise. Is there any problem, for instance, are there fights every night,
are there ambulance calls, are PAULA's disproportionate to the other bars,
uh, what are. . . what has been the result of any enforcement efforts towards
liquor license compliance checks, or as this individual referred to them, as
stings. Uh, I maintain those. I also review anybody that is listed on the
application itself, whether they be owners or managers. I look at past
contacts the Police Department have had with them. Specifically the last
twelve months, but all past contacts, and I note anything that. . . that might
be of interest to the Chief. Uh, I don't make a recommendation, but I note
here's what Alcoholic Beverage Division has, here's the ownership, here's
the contact information, here's.. .they're on their watch list. Uh, here's
their history, and I note all that information. I send it on to the Chief. As
the Chief said, the majority of them go through without a hitch. Uh, I get
back an email that it's been approved, and that is forwarded over to the
City Clerk's office. Occasionally the Chief or the Captain of Operations
will come back to me and say, 'I have some concerns about this. Can you
explain this, or can you answer more questions for me,' and that's what
happened in the case of the Que. Also, history as to compliance checks,
uh, the gentleman who spoke is correct. It isn't real life. It's meant to be
easier than real life. Um, my underage volunteers come in. They present
their identification, uh, their actual identification that says they're 19 or
20-year-olds. If they're asked how old they are, they say they're 19 or 20-
years-old. As far as multiple marks on her hand, you know, we checked
multiple places, uh, the volunteers do as good an effort as they can to try
to get those marks off, but they don't always get them off completely.
Again, that falls to the establishment to.. .to make sure that they're
properly I.D.ing and doing good service. The young lady here said that
we didn't send notice to her as Manager. She's not listed as Manager on
any of the contact information that Mr. Yelder provided. He is the only
person that's listed. He is listed as Owner, uh, I'm not saying that they
don't have management. What I'm saying is we don't know who that is,
and it has been inconsistent management. I've been doing .alcohol
enforcement since 2001, specifically relating to the establishments. Since
that time, I think. . .I think the Que has had four violations, only three of
related to those compliance checks, or those stings. One was, back in
2003, one related to, uh, patrol officers actually doing PAULA checks and
something occurred in front of them. Just as an example, the last two
violations that occurred, uh...in August of 2006, a Daniel Boyson, an
employee, was charged with providing, or selling, to an underage person.
At that time, as I do after any of these, I go in and I ask to speak with
management. I ask for somebody to step forward as manager, and none of
them at the Que has the same person ever stepped forward. It's always
been somebody else. On that particular night, the gentleman who stepped
up and identified himself as a manager was a Blake Peterson. I spoke with
him outside. I told him what was going on. As I always do, and actually,
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to Mr. Yelder' s credit, after the fact, the following day or days, he has
contacted me and we've discussed what the instance.. .what has happened
and what the possible ramifications are, after some of these. But, Daniel
Boyson was cited. Blake Peterson stepped up as management. I spoke
with him. A month later, uh, September 8th of 2006, Blake Peterson was
cited for the same violation. This is the person who identified himself as
the Manager a month prior, and now somebody else stepped up and
identified themselves as Manager. There's just...it isn't, there isn't
somebody who is maybe supervisory, but it has not been consistent, at
least on the three nights that compliance checks have been conducted and
they failed. I don't know their general business practices, other than that.
Uh, as relates to the Que, when I did the liquor license renewal, uh, there
had not been, as Mr. Yelder pointed out, there had not been any new
service to underage person violations within the twelve.. .past twelve
months. What did pop up is there is pending action with the State
Alcoholic Beverage Division. They noted that they were, uh, in the
process of sanctioning them for several violations. That piece had not
been in place earlier. I noted that new information, and I forwarded it up
to the Chief. The Chief came back and asked me some additional
questions, and at that time he showed me the. . . the article, or the feature
that had been in the Booze News. Uh, I asked Officer Smithy to go up and
identify, just verify that the person in the Booze News was actually an
employee of the Que. I wasn't looking to pursue criminal charges.
Actually, the letter that the Chief sent out that we discussed before he sent
out does not say that it is alcohol. He says, it appears to be alcohol, or
pouring a substance that appears to be alcohol. It is being poured from
what appears to be an alcohol bottle, into the mouth of somebody laying
on the bar. I'm not saying that it necessarily occurred when the bar was
open, or we're not saying that. What we're saying is that, regardless, it
portrays an illegal action, and it. . .it fosters or promotes that, and that, I
mean, Mr. Yelder and his Manager now have said they've taken steps to
rectify that, and that seems to be a consistent theme with the Que, is that
those steps are always taken, after the fact. There has not been, and the
Chief wrote two letters last year, there has not been any indication that
when Mr. Y elder's not there, there is that consistency of management, that
consistency of.. .of some sort of supervisory staff, that there is a problem
the Police know who to go to, or even who to send a letter to. The letters
were sent to the addresses that we have on file, and that is Mr. Yelder,
both his business address as provided to the City and the State, and his
personal address, as provided to the City and the State. I don't have any
other contact information. I would be glad to do that, but there is just this
inconsistency in supervision that the Booze News was just the latest
indicator of.. .of anything like that.
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Wilburn:
Kelsay:
Wilburn:
Elliott:
Kelsay:
Elliott:
Kelsay:
Champion:
Page 25
I want to make sure I understood. During the compliance checks, the
youth that you utilize to.. .they do verbally identify themselves as a 19 or
20, as an underage person, correct?
They come to the door or the server, whoever asks them for identification.
If they're asked for LD., they will present their actual LD. that clearly
indicates they're underage. Ifthey're asked how old they are, they will
say that I'm 19 or 20, whatever the case may be.
Urn, Council have any questions. . .
Yeah, Sergeant Kelsay?
Yes, Sir?
The reason. . .I've been a proponent of identifying where problems exist
and addressing them. So, the basis for recommending that the license be
either suspended or not renewed, does it have to do with the number of
infractions, or the seriousness of the infraction, or is it a combination of
both? How do you separate what has happened with the Que from how
other bars have responded to these situations?
Sure. It is both. It is the number, uh, frequent or repeated occurrences.
It's kind of that, you know, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice,
shame on me. If.. .that's the reason there are incremental steps built into
the system, and so far, uh, although a year has gone by, but so far there has
been very limited indications, if any, to say that the Que has.. .has resolved
this supervision issue. Uh, there have not been any new violations, but on
another front that seems to corroborate or.. .or reinforce that there are
some supervisory or management or ownership issues is the Booze News.
As far as whether to, uh, sign off on it or not, I don't make a
recommendation. I answer questions for the Chief. I try to document the
information. In discussion with him, this particular time, one of the things
that we talked about was, again, last year he felt very reluctant to put his
name on the renewal, but guidelines, procedures, policies - those.. .an
actual list of criteria had been drafted. Warning letters had been sent out
to all the establishments, including two that are on file that went to the
Que, following violations, saying, you know what - this doesn't fly. You
need to be aware of this. This is something that can be held against you,
and.. . and while, Mr. Elliott, there have been no new violations, which is
encouraging, there was also reason why the Chief continued to be
concerned and.. . and again, most notably, it was the Booze News article.
Would you, could you clarify something for me? You said at one, one of
the violations you asked for a manager and they produced a manager, or a
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supervisor. And then at the next violation, it was that manager that had
violated the, who had...r did understand that correctly?
Kelsay: Correct. August 19th of 2006 when we did compliance checks, Daniel
Boyson, who was an employee, sold to my underage volunteer. At that
point, while an officer was dealing with Mr. Boyson outside, I went in and
asked for the Manager. Uh, Blake Peterson was presented to me as the
Manager. He came outside. r explained the situation. I spoke with him
about the event. When we did compliance checks less than a month later,
September 8th of 2006, it was actually Blake Peterson who sold to my
underage volunteer, and a different person identified themselves as
Manager that particular night.
Vanderhoef: Sergeant Kelsay?
Kelsay: Yes.
Vanderhoef: Uh, I know this isn't alcohol, but it can be alcohol-related, I suspect. Uh,
what's the history of calls to the Que for fights, for, uh, inebriated, uh,
people, those kinds of offenses?
Kelsay: The Que, there's nothing outstanding in the Que's history. In fact, their
P AULA numbers this year, their percentage ofP AULA numbers this year
is actually better than it was at the same time last year. Again, I just, r try
to present all the information. I'm not trying to sell one position or the
other. They have done a good job there. Uh, we have fight calls there
occasionally. That's going to happen, I believe, at any of the bars
downtown, but there is nothing, there is no other indicator, as far as calls
for service, or even alcohol-related crimes, specifically PAULA's that I
can point to and say, 'Look, this adds to that pattern.' Uh, it seems to...it
seems to just be primarily the issue, as we talked about it, is it boils down
to a lack of control or consistent control by the management. They're
there, somebody's there, somebody's responsible, somebody identifies
themselves as the person in charge, but it isn't consistent. r as law
enforcement don't know who to go to when I need to go to somebody,
and, again, just citing this one example, the person who's supposed to be
responsible for making sure there aren't any violations is the very next
one.. .month the one who is committing the violation, and again, Mr.
Yelder spoke to me after at least one of those, if not both of them. I can't
recall, but this is during daylight hours and after the fact, and I...I don't
have that contact when I need it. As Sarah, is that right? Sarah, I'm sorry.
As Sarah said, you know, she is the Manager. That would be great, that
would be nice to know and it would be nice to have that person, but I
don't, as it currently exists.
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Vanderhoef: So are you saying that, uh, in this past year, and I took it that the letter of
warning went out to all of our bars, um, that, uh, these were the criteria
that they were going to be judged on, uh, did that letter go out, uh,
basically right after the last offense at the Que Bar?
Kelsay: That letter went out, and either the City Attorney or the Chief may be able
to provide that documentation - that didn't come from me - but that letter
went out in fall, I believe, of last year.
Karr: The City Clerk's office sent it out immediately after passage. The other
letters that Sergeant Kelsay is related to specifically are in the packet this
evening, and those were dealt.. . those letters of warning dealt specifically
with the Que.
Kelsay: And there were two of those, aside from that letter of notice, if you will.
There have been two warning letters sent out by the Chief, since that
original, uh, notice, and then the City Attorney's office, Eric Goers, I
know just sent one very recently, based on the.. .the feature in Booze
News, and that's the one that.. .that Sarah was talking about also.
Vanderhoef: Thank you.
O'Donnell: Sergeant Kelsay?
Kelsay: Yes, Sir?
O'Donnell: Said there's seven or eight violations against the Que in an eighteen-year
period.
Kelsay: I did not say that.
O'Donnell: Well, that's what I heard.
Kelsay: Okay.
O'Donnell: Is that accurate?
Kelsay: I have records from when I became involved, uh, Mr. O'Donnell, and I
have records back to 2001. There have been four violations, uh, since
2003, three of those were enforcement efforts that I coordinated, and one
was...was unrelated, again. Officers were in doing PAULA compliance
checks and alcohol was being redistributed.
O'Donnell: So.. .so we've had four since 2001?
Kelsay: Since 2003, but four since 2001, that is correct.
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O'Donnell: In...in your experience, is that above average? Is it below average? Is it
average? Based on the number of bars that we go through downtown.
Kelsay: That is above average. Uh, since 2001, I dealt with probably two other
establishments that have risen to that level, uh, and I don't, I mean, I will
tell you who they were, if you feel that's appropriate, but there was two
others in the downtown area, and there's currently one other convenience
store that has three violations, but very recent violations and is also, uh,
facing some pretty serious sanctions.
Bailey: And you indicated that, urn, that some of these suspensions hadn't.. . are
still pending?
Kelsay: Correct.
Bailey: Could you explain that to me?
Kelsay: Yes. There are so many different interests on this. The server themselves,
if I was serving, I would receive the criminal, the criminal citation or the
criminal charge. I'm the one that's online for the $500.00 criminal fine,
plus.. .plus costs. The City has an interest because the City regulates the
alcoholic.. .the liquor licenses within the City. The State actually
prosecutes, or the County Attorney's office, actually prosecutes the
criminal charge. Any civil sanction, is born by the owner or owners of the
bar, and the State Alcoholic Beverage Division is the one that imposes
those civil sanctions, and ultimately rules on the liquor license. So you
have so many different interests. The criminal one tracks relatively
quickly. It might be as much as a year following the.. .the issuance of the,
uh, the charge and release of the citation for service to an underage person,
or it might be, it might be inside of a month, but that tracks relatively
quickly. The State itself is much slower. It's beauracratic red tape. The
City Attorney's office forwards all of these events, regardless of criminal
conviction or not. They forward all of these events to the State Alcoholic
Beverage Division, and the State looks at it civilly and says, 'You know
what, we don't care necessarily that the door man did a bad job and the
server relied on the door man's J.D. What we care about in the State
Alcoholic Beverage Division is there was a bad service there. Somewhere
the procedures broke down, so we're going to issue criminal sanctions.'
These things can take literally years, and then there's an appeal process,
uh, which Ms. Dilkes talked about, and Mr. Yelder has participated in, or
attorneys on his behalf, and it can be, uh, that first sanction was at least
two years after the event. Oh, I have the dates here.. .uh...
Dilkes: Just.. . yeah, just as an example, the first violation, which occurred on
September 6th of 03 was decided by the Court of Appeals in.. . about two
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years later, I think, or maybe a little more, and it's my understanding then
that the next three are still pending.
Kelsay: Correct. And they are cumulative, they are cumulative, so they can't act
on the next one until the first one is resolved. So, they tend to backlog,
and State has to act on them, because these violations, ifit's a service to
an underage person, the.. .the State sanctions are automatic. If they're
handled or disposed of as another way, as this is some more generic
violation of the liquor license, the rules opposed on it, then the Alcoholic
Beverage Division has a little bit more leeway in what they do, but, uh, the
2005 and both of the 2006 are in the pipeline, but they haven't been
finalized yet.
Bailey: Thank you.
O'Donnell: I have one more question.
Kelsay: Yes, Sir?
O'Donnell: Could you.. . could you tell me on.. .on a bar downtown or nightclub,
whatever we're calling them now, if.. .uh...
Champion: A bar. (laughter)
O'Donnell: A bar? All right. I've never heard of the Booze News before. I've not
heard of this, and I assume it's some sort of advertising prop or something.
But if.. .if you. . .if we had a new bar open tomorrow, and they were guilty
of selling to a minor, how many times would you have to sell to a minor in
a year to be denied a liquor license?
Kelsay: Sure. First offense, you're talking about civil penalties. A first offense
sales to a minor is a $500.00 civil penalty to the establishment. Second
offense, within two years, is a $1,500.00 civil fine to the establishment,
and a 30-day suspension of the liquor license. Third offense, within three
years, is another $1,500.00 civil fine and a 60-day suspension of the liquor
license, and fourth offense within a three-year time period is revocation of
the liquor license, both for the physical premises and for the.. .uh,
whoever's listed on the liquor license as a license holder. So if, uh, I was
revoked and I owned several bars, I would. . .I would lose my ability to
operate a liquor license for any of those.
O'Donnell: Did you say within a period of four years - how many offenses? Three?
Kelsay: Four offenses within three years, results in the revocation oflicense,
correct.
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O'Donnell: Okay.
Dilkes: Now, what Sergeant Kelsay is talking about, just so we're clear, are the
civil or administrative sanctions that are imposed for those violations, not
the renewal of the license, and the guidelines that you all approved state
that one of the factors to be considered is sales of alcoholic beverages to
persons under the legal age by the licensee, or its employees, and that
multiple occurrences will be considered as a grounds for renewal. So it's
one of the factors that's considered.
O'Donnell: Okay.
Wilburn: Thank you.
Kelsay: Thank you.
O'Donnell: Thank you.
Bailey: Ross, there's somebody else...
Wilburn: Uh, go ahead. State your name again, please.
Garfield: Gerard Garfield.
Wilburn: Thank you.
Garfield: Uh, first point, urn, I don't see why the local government and police have
any position in dictating to a private business how they have to structure
their management team. Our policy at the Que Bar is, and in any
management team, is purpose of a manager at any time during business
hours is to be the person in charge, ifthere's anything wrong, are the
person to report to ifthere's a problem. The way the Que Bar is set up,
among many other bars, is that there's a head bartender, who is Acting
Manager, who can do anything the Manager can do during business hours,
is the person the police report to, is irrelevant if it' s the same person every
time, because we're all a team, we're all working for the same purpose
and the same goal. How Roy wants to construct his management team is
none of the business of the City, or the Police, and that's irrelevant to the
police doing their job effectively and our doing, and us doing our job
effectively. Urn, so I don't see why that point that, urn, the officer just
made has any relevance to our ability as a staff to function, or as a
business to function, for that matter. Urn, second point, um, with the
comment about how our, which I was just made aware of, we've only had
three offenses in the past three years. If you look at the last one, the date
is actually a few days past the three-year marker, urn, technicality, but I've
been in this town for over four years now, and I find it a little odd that our
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Wilburn:
Dilkes:
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four offenses in that time period is considered high, when I would always
go online and I could look at the report, they would do the breakdown
either by month or weekend ofP AULA's and public intoxes, with respect
to individual bars, and in every week, every time I looked, it'd be the same
three bars on top: Summit, the Union, and the Sports Column, and they'd
all, the majority would be PAULA's, and I know that when people get
PAULA's it doesn't necessarily come down on the bar, because the bar
can say we didn't serve them, or they pull them outside because they see
them outside, or all of the above. With that being said, that should
definitely be taken into account because obviously those people are getting
served, or they're, or that establishment is not doing anything to prevent
those people from consuming that alcohol, urn, so why our four offenses
stand out doesn't make any sense when you have a list of 50 PAULA's in
one weekend that all came from outside or near the same bar. I just don't
see how you could say ours is above average, when.. .not to mention,
we've been clear for a whole year, and how many PAULA's and public
intoxes that get issued on a weekend occurred near the Que Bar, or as a
result of somebody coming out ofthe Que Bar, or anything ofthat nature.
So...
Okay. Thanks for your.. .your opinion, and just so that your, uh,
aware. . . the State of Iowa has, municipalities has cities monitor, and
correct me in say something that's incorrect, please, City Attorney,
monitor, uh, we administer the liquor license on behalf of the State, and
some of the criteria that you're discussing are set by, uh, that's
information that the State is going to want to know. There's State Code,
State Law, that describes some of the things that are going on here, in
particular the example of good moral character. That's an Iowa State
Code, and, uh, we are in a position of having to try and, urn, work with
anyone who has a liquor license, and that's a license you are getting with
the State, so there are criteria that are set and have to be met. Otherwise,
you're getting.. . some of the other things you talked about, there are
differences between civil and criminal, urn, offenses. Is that all fair to...
1'd say it's fair. Let me just speak though to the management issue. I
think. . .I think what the Iowa Code does is it, is it creates a situation
where, urn, it's quite clear that the, the establishment and the owners of
that establishment, however they chose to structure their management
team, are responsible for what goes on in that bar and responsible for
making sure that illegal activity does not occur. And so it's not so much a
question of how they do it, but when there are problems that come to the
attention of law enforcement, then one starts looking at the, urn, the
management interest, and just so...so you'll recall, um, Iowa City's
ordinance requires specific additional addendum to the, uh, Alcoholic
Beverage Division's license application, which requires that all
management interests be identified. Urn, and that evolved, urn, with some
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problems that developed because we didn't have that information and
couldn't do background checks on those individuals several years ago. So
we specifically require that, and on the addendum that, uh, Mr. Yelder has
provided and this is in your packet of information, urn, he is the only
management interest identified. It's my understanding from the Clerk's
office that the young woman who spoke was identified today, but.. .but
that was the first time.
Wilburn: And so, uh, that extra page and extra information that Iowa City had put
on is part of our effort to be able to monitor the liquor license.
Dilkes: It is. We do a DCI, or background check, on all those that are identified as
having management interests, as well.
Wilburn: Okay. I just wanted to make sure that you had that extra information.
Garfield: Okay, a question about that. Does being declared as a manager, is that.. .is
the State saying that there has to be somebody declared as a manager there
every hour of open business time, or does that. . .
Wilburn: You're getting.. .you're getting into, um, you're getting into the how, and
you might cal it micro-managing, but if we the City are in a position of
monitoring the liquor license that Mr. Yelder has, we have determined a
set of criteria that we are going to look at, in order for us to comfortably
say that, yes, there is voluntary compliance going on. So.. . all right?
Thank you. Urn.. .Mr. Yelder, I'll go ahead and allow you to make one
final comment, and then we're going to move on to whether or not
Council wishes to, uh, urn, put on the table the motion to deny.
Yelder: Okay. The... the only thing I want to say is that when the liquor
license.. .when I was in the process of completing the liquor license, like, I
was in the process of hiring a manager, so that's why the manager did not
show up on that particular form.
Wilburn: Okay. All right. Thank you. Urn, so I'm going to close this portion of the
hearing, Mr. Yelder's opportunity to respond to the recommendation. Urn,
the Chair will entertain a motion to deny.
Karr: Excuse me. Can we accept correspondence first?
Wilburn: Okay. Uh...
Bailey: So moved.
Vanderhoef: Second.
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Wilburn:
Moved by Bailey, seconded by Vanderhoef to accept correspondence. All
those in favor say aye. Opposed same sign. Carries 7-0.
b) CONSIDER A MOTION TO DENY IN ACCORDANCE WITH
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Bailey: Move to deny.
Wilburn: Moved by Bailey to deny.
Champion: Second.
Wilburn: Second by Champion. Discussion?
Elliott: I just wanted to make a rather quick observation. The two words "moral
character" we discussed that at a meeting, what, a couple of years ago. I
think there was a consensus we didn't like that wording, but that's what
the State says it has to be. So, uh, I think none of us cared for that
wording. It casts aspirations, which we really aren't interested in doing,
but that's the wording we were given. Uh, secondly, I guess, I'm going to
support the Chief on this. I've been very much in favor of identifying bars
where problems exist and dealing with those, and not being so tough on
those that do a good business and don't cause problems. I would assume
some of the other situations, where there have been PAULA's, are going
to be dealt with in a similar manner. 1...1 make that assumption.
Champion: I also am going to support this. Two things that bothered me about, uh,
the bar was, number one, that one of the managers was the one who failed
the compliance check. The other one that bothered me was when the
young gentleman got up to speak and said, 'Well, her.. . stamps were
messed up.' Well, in was a bartender and I saw some messed up stamps,
I think I'd probably ask for some I.D. to clarify what color's supposed to
be on there, and the fact that that was the blame for failing the compliance
check really bothered me. I think that's really, uh, naive to think that
somebody with a couple marks must have the right mark. So I'm certainly
going to uphold the Chief s recommendation.
O'Donnell: I'm not going to support it. Uh, I'm a huge supporter of the Police
Department. I think this Booze News is something new to all of us. I
have no idea what it is. Urn, it seems to me like it's, it's a form of
advertising, um, and trying to create an atmosphere for the bar, and I don't
know if that's good or bad, but I don't, you know, the explanation was
given, and 1...1 believe that explanation. It wasn't, urn, alcohol, it was
water and, uh, it was two bar employees. So I'm.. .I'm not going to
support this. I...I personally don't think that, uh, well, I do believe that
there are a lot of businesses that would like to have as few a number of
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Wilburn:
Bailey:
Wilburn:
Bailey:
Wilburn:
Page 34
violations as this bar has over the period of time that they've been open.
So I'm not going to support it.
I'll just say that, uh, if you.. .if you are going to have a liquor license, I
mean, this, uh, well, whether it's liquor or cigarette permits, the cigarette
license, um, you know, there.. .because you are, uh, dealing with a product
that does have some State regulation on it, that, uh, um, you're going to
have to take steps to insure that you are complying, and as the City is
charged with monitoring that license, we need to take steps, and those
steps are delineated as to what we will (unable to understand) law
enforcement is trying to observe, um, and get a read on how that
establishment is doing with monitoring, whether it's liquor or cigarettes.
Urn, compliance checks are one way that we can pro actively take a look to
see if you are, if you are essentially doing your promise that you're
following State law and not making sure that someone under. . . under age
is getting a hold of the product. Urn, and, urn, I had one other thought, but
it escaped me. Um, oh, there's also a graduated series of.. .ofum, uh,
consequences built in with this, with the smaller fine to a larger fine with
suspension, and we've built up to this point, so it's not as if this is the first
time, and there are, uh, other establishments that have, urn, and/or in the
process, of receiving this consequence. So, uh, it's not as if this, uh, has
occurred overnight. Urn...
I'm going to support the recommendation...
. . . I' 11 be supporting.
.. .ofthe Chief. I think it's been really clear in this community that, um, I
mean, this resolution has been on the books for over a year, that there's
greater scrutiny and we have a greater expectation for responsible
behavior among our establishments that sell liquor, and we're not going to
address some of the challenges that we have in this community unless we
can trust our businesses when there is a problem to be very, very
aggressive in dealing with this, and that.. .that kind of behavior hasn't
been evident. I mean, if there was concern about not having management,
regardless of your management approach, it's been very clear that there
have been some problems that haven't been addressed at this
establishment, and perhaps by, uh, denying this liquor license, that we are
sending a message to you, that you need to address some of the problems
of your establishment. That's what we expect out of the businesses that
sell liquor in this community.
This is a motion, so all those in favor of denying the liquor license, signify
by saying aye. Opposed same sign. Urn, carries 6-1, O'Donnell in the
negative, and, urn, how will Mr. Yelder get information about making
the.. .
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Dilkes:
We'll do a written notice to him.
Wilburn:
.. . about how to, uh, appeal?
Dilkes:
Appeal.
Wilburn:
Okay, all right. Okay. We've had a request to take a break. Let's take a
ten-minute break. Back at twenty till. (BREAK)
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ITEM 11 CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 5, "BUSINESS
AND LICENSE REGULATIONS, "CHAPTER 2, "TAXICABS," IN
SECTIONS 5-2-2, "TAXICAB BUSINESS LICENSE; VEHICLE
DECALS,: SUBSECTION C AND D; 5-2-3, "LIABILITY
INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS," SUBSECTION A(2); 5-2-4,
"VEHICLE INSPECTION REQUIRED," SUBSECTION Al(a) AND
(b); 5-2-8, "VEHICLE REQUIREMENTS," SUBSECTION B; 5-2-9,
SUBSECTION C, "VEHICLE STAND,"; AND 9-4-10D "PUBLIC
CARRIER STOPS AND STANDS," SUBSECTION 2b
"T AXICABS," OF THE CITY CODE TO CLARIFY CURRENT
REQUIREMENTS TO INCREASE SAFETY, AND TO REQUIRE
ANNUAL INSPECTIONS. (SECOND CONSIDERATION)
Vanderhoef: (several talking) I move that the rule requiring that ordinances must be
considered and voted on for passage at two Council meetings, prior to the
meeting at which it is to be finally passed be suspended, that the second
consideration and vote be waived, and that the ordinance be voted on for
final passage at this time.
Bailey: Second.
Wilburn: Moved by Vanderhoef to expedite, seconded by Bailey. Discussion?
Elliott: Is this just so you won't have to read it again, Ross?
Bailey: It is! It's a sympathy (laughter).
Wilburn: Roll call. Item carries 7-0.
V anderhoef: I move that the ordinance be finally adopted at this time.
Champion: Second.
Wilburn: Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by Champion. Discussion? Thank you
very much, Dee.
Vanderhoef: You're welcome.
Wilburn: Roll call. Item carries 7-0.
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ITEM 16 CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION.
Wilburn: Bob?
Elliott: I thought the conversation, uh, during the comment period regarding the
Wetherby house, I'm very pleased that the parties involved have gotten
together. They're talking. They're going to get something done, but I
think it's also important to note that something that has been ongoing with
the AME Church on Governor has been wanting to, uh, expand and do
some nifty things with their church, and I would like the same level of
interest, whether it be for historic preservation purposes, or for minority
representation purposes. I would hope that the same level of interest and
concern and cooperation is shown to the AME Church, as is being
exhibited for the Weatherby house. Uh, secondly, uh, somewhat
controversial, I was.. .while I was working on the computer this afternoon,
I was surfing and I carne on several candidates, responding to questions at
a bicycle-oriented forum. I agree with everything that was said. I think if
we had bike trails all over our community, it would be great. But I
continue waiting to hear what the bicycle riders are going to do
financially. That never comes up. Ifwe have a thousand bicycle owners,
and we had them licensed at $10.00 a piece, that's $10,000. I never hear
that brought up, and I would like to hear what the bicycle riders are going
to pay their fair share. I'm done. And that's where almost all the funding
comes from.
Wilburn: Regenia?
Bailey: Urn, first of all I know that this is the same time as the employee lunch,
but the Convention and Visitors Bureau annual meeting will be next
Thursday, November 15th, at the Hotel Vetro, at 11:30, and I'd like to
extend an invitation to all of you to attend.
Champion: We're going to be eating turkey and dressing.
Bailey: I will not be eating turkey and dressing. I will be at the annual meeting of
the CVB, but I wanted to let you know you were all invited. So, and I'll
get those annual reports to you all, if you have to miss.
Wilburn: No turkey for you.
Bailey: No turkey for me. I'm sure I will be eating plenty of turkey, some time
this month. A couple of, urn, energy, environmental items. Urn, I did
meet with Jim Baker regarding JCCOG, um, working with a task force.
We talked about the Cool Cities Initiative with, which the Mayor signed in
April. I would like it put on the work session, urn, at the end of this
month. I don't know what your intent was to join the International
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Council for Local Environment Initiatives or ICLE, but we should
probably talk about that so we know at that December JCCOG meeting if
Iowa City will be part of ICLE, urn, to move forward on that energy audit.
Wilburn: What I had told some ofthe folks was that, uh, since that involves a
budgetary, uh, expense, that, uh, we would most likely that will be a
discussion during budget time that. . .
Bailey: It's a $1,700 expense, so if you want to wait until budget, we can, but it...I
think it would be helpful knowing, going into that meeting about the task
force.
Wilburn: We can put it on the work session to see what.. . yeah, I didn't want
to.. . spend money, spend money without a conversation...
Bailey: I certainly respect that. I think though, urn, it would be helpful for Iowa
City to know when we were going to decide about that, and if we decide to
put it off until budget, that's entirely appropriate, but at least we'll end up
going into that JCCOG meeting, and then in talking about some legislative
initiatives, there's some talk on the State level about, urn, energy building
codes, and the State kind of having sort of a minimum building code for
energy efficiency, and it would be helpful for me, as a Council Member, to
know, um, what our building code contains regarding energy efficiency
and environmental, sort of initiatives, and I was wondering if we could
have that on a work session, maybe after the first of the year, so we're all
up to speed, should that come up in the legislature, at least we're aware of
what we have locally. Is anybody else interested in that?
Elliott: I'll look forward to that at the first of the year. (laughter)
Bailey: Oh, we're going to invite you back! (laughter)
Champion: As a consultant! (laughter)
Bailey: A consultant for public art maybe! (laughter)
Elliott: There ya go!
Bailey: So ifthere's interest in that, if we could do that, I think that that might
better prepare us for some of the environmental interests that we're seeing
on the State level, as well as the local level. Okay. Thanks. That's all I
have.
Wilburn: Dee?
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Vanderhoef: Okay. Uh, I will be leaving Monday for National League of Cities, and
uh, be gone for the week, and uh, Abbie Volland, our liaison, is going to
be down there too, so I look forward to introducing her around, and letting
her, uh, experience the conference. Uh, I expect great things out of it.
Other than that, I think that's all for tonight.
Wilburn: Okay. Mike?
Vanderhoef: Everybody go vote tomorrow!
O'Donnell: I was going to say that!
Vanderhoef: Oh! (laughter) Go ahead! Say it again!
O'Donnell: No, you did fine. And everybody, go out and vote tomorrow, um, on this
21-issue, whether you agree with them, the 21-issue or not, vote on it!
Urn, let us know.
Wilburn: Connie?
Champion: Um, the only thing I want to bring up, besides the voting, is when, when
we got that letter from, was it Procter and Gamble about the bussing, the
night and evening bussing? Can we get that on an agenda with the Transit
people, to see if they're, if we can do something (several talking). Okay.
Helling: Yeah, we sent a response back, and.. . about the JARC grant that has been
approved apparently, and...
Champion: Okay.
Helling: .. .so that whole notion of the reverse commute.
Champion: Fine, I guess I didn't get that. (several talking)
Helling: So if you still want, if you still want to talk about it, beyond that, that's
fine. We'll put it on.
Correia: Well, it'd be good if, if we received that grant, to get an update on the
JARCK program and how it's going to work and (several talking).
Helling: Sure. We'll get that for you.
Champion: Because I think those are really important things to keep our, urn, work
force working, and to keep our companies that are hiring our work force
here. (several responding)
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Council meeting of November 5, 2007.
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Vanderhoef: It is, and that's certainly one of the things that on the nationallevel, we're
pushing for even more funding for, uh, those kinds of programs in the new
Transportation Bill.
Wilburn: Amy?
Correia: I just wanted to give you an update on the task force on violence against
women. Abbie and I met and we met with the Police Chief. We have a
first meeting on November 26th, and invitations were sent out last week,
working with Marian on that, and I guess we've heard back from at least
half so far, and they just went out on Thursday. So that meeting will be on
November 26th in Meeting Room A, urn, from 4:00 to 5:00. The first
meeting is just going to be an organizational meeting for the first hour, and
we'll get our plan of what, in place. That'll be in Meeting Room A at the
Iowa City Public Library. Urn, just wanted to, I received an update. We
have joined the Working Towards Inclusive Communities partnership.
We had our unveiling of the sign; that sign will be going up along
Dubuque Street, urn, and the sign department will be making some smaller
signs, replicas. We received the first sign from the National League for
free, for joining the, um, for joining the partnership. There is a, uh, survey
for the community that will be going out, requesting input from the
community on their feelings about whether Iowa City is a respectful
community, feelings about.. . folks feel that they are treated fairly or not
fairly, um, that survey will be going out in the water bills in the next, over
the next month. That's also available online. And we'll be distributing it
in other venues, and with a collection date, a cut-off date for receiving
those surveys is February 29th, so those are out there, so I encourage
people to go to the web site. There will be a, or fill it out in their water
bill and return it to the City. There will be a box in City Hall or they can
be returned in the mail. That sort of thing. Uh, also wanted to let you
know that the plans are underway to continue the, urn, outreach sites for
the free tax preparation assistance, the partnership with the University,
urn, Accounting Department, to have a tax, the student tax preparers at
outreach locations, looking again at, urn, Pheasant Ridge Neighborhood
Center, urn, Lucas, as two Iowa City locations. There will also be
Coralville, North Liberty locations, as well as the Iowa City Public
Library. We're receiving really good support from, urn, the Housing
Authority, and other non-profits and the Family Resource Center, so that
is going to be, urn, going on again in the community. And I attended,
along with Regenia, that grand opening of the Nile Valley Restaurant on
Saturday. Uh, we supported that with the CDBG, um, loan, and the food
is delicious. Urn, the one question I had for Dale is just on the, this is a
new, that new building, urn, there were no bike racks, and there's a
requirement that. . . that building new commercial building behind, on
Gilbert Street, south Gilbert, have bike racks.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of November 5, 2007.
#16 Page 41
Helling: I'm not aware of any requirement, but we'll find out.
Correia: Okay. But it seems like it's probably should be bike racks, and then, Ijust
want to say congratulations to Jennifer Jordan and the recycling division,
receiving the Recycler Recycling Award, urn, of the Year for the
Rummage in the Ramp.
Champion: That was a great (several talking).
Correia: . . . so congratulations to, uh, that department.
Elliott: Ross, quick item. Amy, on the task force, in the newspaper, it said, uh,
violence or crimes against women. I presume you're talking about
anyone?
Correia: Well, this task force. . .
Elliott: Because there have been, especially recently, a number ofmuggings,
assaults, robberies, uh, so the problem is men and women both. Uh, that's
just my suggestion. Uh, secondly, I haven't missed a single Council
meeting, but I just told Marian today that the 2ih I'm questionable for
that. I'm meeting my grandson, our grandson, in Chicago. He's corning
back from Central America, so I mayor may not be here, and if I'm not,
you can all weep collectively.
Champion: Or applaud.
Elliott: Oh! Now that's not nice! (laughter)
Champion: That's not your last meeting though.
Elliott: No!
Wilburn: Okay, urn, I would like to encourage folks too to, uh, pay a visit to the
Bethel Church, they have a fundraising project going on to support their
expansion and their mission and uh, it's kind of a neat history, urn, in our
community. So, uh, agree with Bob's sentiment there. I'd also like to
thank, uh, Connie Benton Wolfe for her years of service to the United
Way, to.. .of Johnson County. She's accepted a position in the Quad
Cities, back with aging organization, and we just wish her well!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of November 5, 2007.