Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007-11-15 Transcription November 15, 2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 1 November 15,2007 Special City Council Work Session 5:30 P.M. Council Present: Bailey, Champion, Correia, Elliott, O'Donnell, Wilburn Council Absent: Vanderhoef Staff: Karr, Helling, Holecek, Trueblood Wetherby House: Wilburn! If there are any of you that are here for tonight's work session about the Wetherby House in the lobby feel free to come on in right now. We're getting ready to start. Come on down! (several talking in background) Okay, uh, just a reminder for, uh, those present and those of you in the lobby who are here for the Wetherby House, that are free to come in now (laughter) that.. .could you please? (talking in background) I'll wait then so I don't have to say it again. (laughter, several talking) I thought I was. Thank you, Sarah. Thank you all for joining us this evening. I want to thank the Council for being willing to meet tonight for this, uh, work session, and just a reminder for those present and any members of the media who might be listening to a tape of this, that this is a work session. Council is not and cannot vote on any resolutions or ordinances this evening. Is that correct, Sarah? Holecek! Correct. Wilburn! Okay. All right. We were going to meet to get any updates, should there be any updates or information about the efforts on the Wetherby House, and uh, I found out from staff this morning, there is at least one update related to Parks and Recreation Commission, which... which did, uh, meet last night, I believe. So, uh, either Terry, um, or Craig.. .not Craig, Matt. I'm sorry! (laughter) Or Matt can.. .can come to the podium and at least share what, uh, we've got some correspondence - if they want to add anything to the correspondence. Um, I'll also, after hearing any updates, uh, from those present, give Council an opportunity to just make any comments, uh, so that you can hear out thoughts, but reminder again that we, uh, have no formal action posted, so we can take no formal action, uh, so Terry or Matt, you want to.. . give us the skinny oflast night? Trueblood/ Well, I'll lead off anyway, since Matt just received this summary that I had prepared for you, distributed earlier. Uh, but the Commission did meet yesterday evening, and uh, discussed for the second time at some length this Wetherby cottage issue, and essentially, as the information I, uh, passed out to you says, the Commission. . . there were 7 of 9 members present, and the Commission did pass two motions on this issue. The first one, uh, and they were both unanimous. The first one was that they did not support moving this house, or relocating this house, into Reno Street Park. Uh, the second one, uh, was that they did support moving this house into Upper City Park, and that would be to take the place of, in essence, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15, 2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 2 of one ofthe log cabins, the smaller of the two, log cabins, uh, that is falling apart, and as I was telling Mike earlier, needs to be, uh, tom down and either rebuilt or removed, and we had recommended removing it, and. . .and the Commission endorsed that last night. Uh, there were 15 people in attendance, besides staff and Commission, most of them from the Reno Street area neighborhood, Goosetown area. Uh, but, uh, after voting not to support moving the house into the Reno Street Park, uh, the Commission discussed a number of other locations as listed here on your paper, and I would say preferred by both Commission and staff is that the house be relocated on a private lot, but realizing the urgency of the situation, the Commission did vote favorably to, uh, move, to support moving it into Upper City Park. On the back, uh, side of the memo that I passed out are, is a kind of a summary and some, uh, conditions that the Commission would like addressed if this is to happen. Uh, and just quickly, uh, written agreement to be entered into, uh, agreement has to include an appropriate timeline for restoration, uh, the Committee to Save the Wetherby Cottage, and their supporters, must insure the Commission that the necessary funding is in place to move, to restore, and for ongoing maintenance. The Committee or a supporting organization must assume responsibility for cost associated with operating or programming the facility. Now, that might not be all inclusive, but those are the highlights, and also, you know, the final, which we didn't talk about last night, but typically if such an agreement that the City would be, uh, allowed to schedule events or do some programming in it on a space available basis, at no cost. So, that pretty much summarizes. I know that's quick. Matt, do you have anything.. . you would like to add? He'll be with you in a minute. Wilburn! Okay. (laughter and several talking) You'll have to come to the microphone, otherwise your comments won't exist. Pachal He mentioned that, uh, it was not our first choice to put it in a park. I think the Commission was fairly unanimous on that, in that regard, but, as Terry said, and I want to reiterate that, uh, our intent here in the short-term, in the near future, is to draw up a park guideline. We have one for Hickory Hill, and we'd like to put one together for parks in general, so when (garbled) future commissions, hopefully, when I'm gone will have, uh, some guidelines to go by and what have you, so, but we are also unanimous in the site at City Park. Wilburn! Council have any questions for. . . Bailey! I do, um, let me just try to articulate it. I mean, I see that, that we don't want to have any cost to the Commission, but naturally by having it in a park, there will be cost to the City. I mean, we have liability exposure, I assume, to a degree. Can you talk a little bit about what responsibility we have, having that house in City Park? Holecek! Well, I am sure that we would have to add it on to our general liability policy, make our Risk Manager aware of.. .ofthe existence of it. Uh, the liability issue This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 20~7. November 15,2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 3 would generally adhere where we're doing programming, or somebody else is doing programming, with the house, but, you know, we are talking about negotiating certain terms with the Committee, and one of these terms is that, uh, the Committee assume responsibility for, and costs associated with, operating and programming the house. One of those costs could be that they maintain a liability insurance policy. Bailey/ Okay, or. . .. Holecek! .. .on the house itself. Bailey/ ... that if an organization takes it over they will already have that kind of policy? Holecek! I wouldn't assume that. Bailey/ Well, no, we would check obviously, but some organizations already have that, if they're doing programming. Holecek! Correct. Uh, given the new nature of this particular committee, I would doubt that they cover such a policy. Bailey/ This particular.. . yeah. Holecek! Um, but we could put as part of the agreement that they will obtain appropriate...a policy, an appropriate insurance policy. We do that, for instance, just as an example, with sidewalk cafes. We do it with any type of use of public property, so that would not be inconsistent with how we do other agreements. Correia! I was, when I was reading this, I was thinking about our agreement with the University, for the Boat House. Holecek! Uh-huh. Correia! And that agreement, how does that agreement work? Because I can't remember, I mean, I know we passed that contract and all of that, but is there... Holecek! Then you're way ahead of me, because I didn't draft it, so I don't have a lot of knowledge of it. Correia! But I mean, I'm just.. .I guess I would be interested in, urn, since that's also in a City park, uh, a building that's being operated by another entity, or is owned by another entity in a City park, I mean, I was sort of wanting to think about consistency and uniformity. I don't remember if we were able to use that Boat House without charge, but I don't remember. Trueblood! Yes we are. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15,2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 4 Correia! We are, okay. O'DonnelV But the University maintains all costs. (several responding) Holecek! .. .indemnify and defend. That's a very sticky issue with the University because they take a view of our Constitution.. .the Iowa Constitution that's different.. .we've been working for the last twenty years on hammering out that particular transfer of liability language. O'DonnelV I've got a couple questions, um, it said they voted unanimously not to support the move of this house to Reno Street Park. Why.. .why was that? Trueblood! Well, I think one of the main reasons that the, uh, majority of the folks there representing that neighborhood were not in favor of it. And that was the main reason we, uh, had a public hearing was to hear from them specifically. O'Donnelll Are these the same people then who spoke against the house being moved into a park? Would you say? Trueblood/ Uh, no. O'DonnelV Because it says there were some dissentions about moving it to a park. Trueblood/ .. .no there was actually quite a few of them that supported it, of course, being moved, and wanted to preserve it and what not, but just not in their neighborhood. O'Donnell! And would you say... Trueblood/ Would that be a fair assessment? O'Donnell! Would you say the balance of them wanted it on private property then.. .would you, would that be accurate? Trueblood/ I don't know that that. . .I think the just of it was they were supportive saving the house (several talking). Champion! .. . speaking specifically of Reno Street Park there. O'Donnell! So.. .did not want the move, yeah. Champion! They didn't mean they didn't want it moved... O'Donnell/ " .but was there a feeling in there that.. .that it should be on private property? Did you get that sense? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15, 2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 5 Trueblood! I really didn't get that sense, no. I think that most...I don't there was anybody that either sent an email or a letter or attended the meeting that said anything against saving the house. It's just that, uh, some of the Reno Street Park residents didn't think it belonged in a park, some did, and uh, but no, there wasn't anybody that came to us or wrote to us that said, 'Don't save the house.' I did want to mention one thing, that I should have mentioned earlier. After the Commission voted on the City Park location, uh, they asked if I could, just in case something could be worked out quickly, ask me to follow up with the Hayeks on their property that they own that's right adjacent to Happy Hollow Park. I talked with both the brothers that own it, and they said they were going to talk and get back to me. They're not interested in donating it. So it'd be the kind of thing that. .. that we've talked that we may, with your approval of course as it always works that way, may be willing to consider using some Parkland Acquisition Funds, since this would be adding to Happy Hollow Park, and then that would appear to be a good location for the house, as well, and then also, uh, to get in contact, which I haven't done yet, with Mr. McLaughlin who currently owns the Wetherby House to see if there's any possibility, anything.. .if he would be in any way interested in selling the current lot and property. I guess being we don't have enough money in the Parkland Acquisition to cover that, but... uh, but I have not talked with him as yet. Elliott! Regenia, did you have a.. .were you going to ask a question? Bailey/ No, go ahead. I mean, yes, but go ahead. Elliott! Um, at the, urn, the Reno Street, my understanding was there was topography that would have needed quite a bit of work at Reno Street, to place the structure there. Is that correct? Trueblood! No. Not really. It's a... Elliott! So it was...it wouldn't have been, that was leading to my next, is there much of that that needs to be done, ifit's located in Upper City Park? Trueblood/ I think it would be, just personal opinion, it would be a little bit more challenging, uh, but Terry Robinson has actually been out there and measured the log cabin that we're proposing to be removed and it's about the same size, width wise and all that. Elliott/ Topography-wise, it's a pretty good location for it then. Trueblood! It appears to be. Elliott/ Good. Champion! So it'd be an easy move.. .two streets basically. (several talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15,2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 6 Bailey/ Market to Dubuque... O'Donnell! Dubuque, and then down the hill and across (several talking) Elliott/ My other observation is, uh, I like this agreement, but it seems to me, without funds in escrow, the agreement is not terribly meaningful. Trueblood/ I think that was discussed, as well, Bob. They have, the group has some funds, and one of the suggestions that they made was that that could be a possibility. Elliott! Good, good. Bailey/ So, what's the, um, I mean, how does moving this to Upper City Park affect the historic status of the building and what's the vision of the use of the building in Upper City Park? I mean, there are probably other people who can speak to this, or you can speak to this, Terry. Trueblood/ I wouldn't be able to address that. Bailey/ Okay. Trueblood! Somebody else would. Wilburn! Before you come up, does anybody have any other questions for. . . um, these two? All right. Don't take off. (laughter) Um, go ahead and come forward, address this question, and then, urn, ifthere's, uh, any new information on funding, or private location, or if you could just give us an update on that status. And could you state your name for the record, please. Could you state your name for the record please? Slonneger/ I'm sorry. Wilburn! That's all right. Slonneger/ Marybeth Slonneger, and I'm with the Committee to Save the Wetherby House, and urn, uh, we want to thank you for this session tonight, this work session. Uh, this is.. .Mary Bennett just brought this over from the State Historical Society, and it's an original, the original Wetherby degara, from 1854 of Old Capitol, and this is kind of what really is triggering this whole thing. Um, this was taken in October of that year when he was in town. It's the earliest picture of Old Capitol, in, uh... Elliott/ The year again, please? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15, 2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 7 Slonneger/ Um, I'm.. .the 1854... Elliott! Thank you. Slonneger/ .. .on which this all hinges. He stood in his window and actually (unable to hear). Wilburn! I'm sorry, your comments.. .you'll have to save your comments. If you want to pass it over. Slonneger/ Yes, urn, Mary said as long as it stays in the box and you don't handle it, we can just pass it along, okay? Um... Wilburn! Nobody mess up, please. (laughter) Elliott/ My understanding is 1854 is the year he came to town? Slonneger/ Okay. He rented a room on the comer of Washington and Clinton Street, and he records in his account book that he looked out the window that day and just decided to take a picture of what was then the State Capitol. Actually, he took a couple of pictures at that time which we have - two of them are degara types, and um, urn, they're.. .they're priceless. They're, um, unique to Iowa City, actually and to the State, and um, what's important is, in terms of the history of photography, is that he kept an account book and he records when he bought his first camera, and when he took these pictures, and this is very unusual for a photographer. This is what makes him important nationally in the world of photography. He, uh, came back.. .as a young boy he bought his first camera shortly after photography was announced in.. .in, uh, the world, and uh, so he came back here and he had three studios downtown, all of which have been eliminated through urban renewal. The house is the only thing that we have left that's connected to Wetherby. Um, so then, um, since we've met you, having established this again, since we met you, oh, and I'm sorry. Mary gave me one other thing, urn, this print, and she urged us to pass it carefully against this backing, was just donated to the State Historical Society by the Wetherby family. It's uh, a view of the Lincoln Memorial on the day that Governor Kirkwood was speaking in memory of Lincoln, after he had been assassinated, and uh, this was a gift from the family. Okay. To bring you up to date with what we've been doing since we met last time, uh, we began a fundraising campaign, um, to, urn, to get the funds for moving the house, and uh, the Committee to Save Wetherby Cottage is co-chaired by Jean Lloyd Jones and Mike Wright, who will be speaking in a few minutes. Um, to date, we've raised something like $22,500 in pledges. We are going to apply for a matching grant of$15,OOO, which will bring us up to about $37,000 - to cover the move, 00, to put in a foundation, and urn, you know, immediate expenses for the building. Um, we have met twice with the Johnson County Board of Supervisors. We were looking at the Poor Farm as a possibility. Um, that, uh, did not work out. The State felt that the Poor Farm had its own This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15, 2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 8 integrity, and um, at this point didn't see how we could screen the two buildings from each other and not detract from one another. Um, we met with the, uh, Parks and Recreation Commission twice. Um, we have, uh, explored five parks, urn, the possibilities, and last night's sixth park. Um, several of us went out with Terry Robinson to look at various parks to see what would work out best. We thought going into the meeting last night that Reno Street was our best option. Um, there were.. .peop1e I would say, um, maybe not necessarily against the idea of Reno Street, but didn't have enough time to assimilate what the problems could be, like traffic, um, you know, infringement on the park and so were just not in a position to quite make up their minds right now. Um, then.. .then this wonderful opening of the possibility of City Park came up last night. Um, we've also been, um, looking at various lots throughout the city as working with, um, City staff, trying to identify these things because lots of times, urn, the ideas are not necessarily known to the public. Um, we are still exploring options. We haven't got anything right in hand. Um, we, uh, are coming here tonight to request that you examine City Park as an option for the house, um, we would like you to consider, uh, the waiving of the permits, the fees for the permits, and we ask if you could help us, give us some flexibility so that, urn, when we...if and when we need to move quickly, um, we can line up things like building permits and moving permits and so forth, um, to.. .to make this happen. So, with that, I'd like to, I guess, have Mike Wright, uh, speak to you a few words next. Wilburn! Let me add, uh, to before Mike comes up. Slonneger/ Uh-huh? Wilburn! Again, thank you for your work, and 1.. .it's, as someone who's into family history and things like that, it's neat to see those things, but I think for tonight's meeting we're really needing to hear, uh, um, more kind of updates, as opposed to the historical significance. I don't know that you'll get anyone that will disagree about.. .it's an interesting story, an interesting piece ofIowa City, but is it, is this going to be realistic and plausible to pull off. Slonneger/ Right, well, I think that's what the other people are going to address for you. So... Wilburn! I'm just adding that in, so, okay? All right. Slonneger/ Okay, thanks you. Wright/ Good evening. I'm Mike Wright, uh, 225 N. Lucas Street. Um, I have very little that I can add in terms of factual information to what Marybeth has filled you in with, other than to say, uh, and Marybeth doesn't even know this. We picked up a couple more donations today. There's a great deal of interest in the community, and a great deal of concern, uh, that the Committee to Save the Wetherby House can pull this off. We really do need, uh, whatever help Council feels that they can This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15,2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 9 provide, in terms of waiving permits, flexibility, assistance with cooperation in, 00, getting our permits, and 00, whatever time we can possibly finagle to pull this off. It's, uh, it's a tight timeline, to say the least. Really all I needed to add. If you have any questions, there are several folks here that should be able to. . . Bailey/ Well, I do have some questions. I mean, once again I want to know the concept for programming in the park, and how this will affect the historical status, and I see that we have the owner here and I understand that today was the deadline, and I just want to have a better understanding of his flexibility regarding, um, if this is the site that we chose, ifhe has flexibility to enable us to do that. I mean, those would be my questions right now, about moving forward on this project, because I really do want to understand the implications, if we move forward, what this means, what this means for the park, what this means for this organization having.. .having it in the park. It seems like a nice opportunity, but what's your vision? Wright/ Um, there's quite a few ideas that have been tossed around in terms of programming, and they include things such as, uh, including the Friends of Historic Preservation, historic house tours, Friends of Historic Preservation programming, uh, summer camp sites for Johnson County Historical Society, uh, summer recreation opportunities, programming through Parks and Rec. Uh, as a site for Friends of Historic Preservation to have, uh, "how to do it" workshops. Um, uh, site for display of Wetherby photographs or Wetherby related lectures. Um, possible idea to work with Riverside Theater to develop a play about Wetherby, to perform in and around the house. Um, one man Irving B. Weber play, a site for a one-man Irving B. Weber play, uh, that could be performed during Irving B. Weber Days. Uh, creating a permanent display or timeline of Wetherby's work, which could be installed in the house. Uh, working with the School system, uh, to provide a local history curriculum for local school kids. Um, these are some of the ideas that have come up. I think there.. .there are a lot of very good opportunities. Bailey/ So are we thinking of making it climate controlled to be able to do exhibits, or are we thinking of more like the log cabins that are there.. .now? Or have you talked about that? Because I assume that the exhibits... Wright/ I don't think anybody's even mentioned that at this point. Bailey/ Then maybe I'm just too far ahead. Some of the things you mentioned seemed to. .. Wright/ I down the road, particularly if you're talking about use for, use of the facility for some ofthese programs, we want to have some kind of.. .of climate control. If nothing else, some heating, so that it could be used in the winter. Champion! I'd think you'd want air conditioning too. (laughter) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15,2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 10 Wright/ It'll be a very simple building to air condition, it being pretty tiny. So... Bailey/ Okay, that helps, and how about, um, how moving it affects the historic status. I mean, and does that matter really to people who are concerned about historic preservation. I mean, maybe Shaner or Mary, you could answer that specifically, because I'm not familiar with the regulations. Wright/ I think someone else could probably better address that question than me. Bailey! I'm quite unfamiliar with the regulations, in fact. Bennett! My name's Mary Bennett, and I guess we'll go in order of your questions. Um, yes, it will be able to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, even if it is moved to a new location. It's going to have its significance based on Wetherby's importance as a historical figure, rather than on the architectural integrity ofthe property. The Friends of Historic Preservation hired a man named Marlin Engels, who's a historic archeologist that works with the State office.. .the office of the State Archeologist to do an assessment of the building. I believe he sent that report to you, but let me just state a couple of things from it. The preliminary results from his very thorough investigation indicates that, first, the house retains integrity of plan and massing. Its core appears essentially intact, and as it was during Wetherby's occupation. That's very important for the field of historic preservation. Two, the construction methods and materials, along with the building's wooden framing, are consistent with the mid-19th century construction date. This is marvelous to follow behind Marlin and have him point to the clapboard siding and say, 'Well this is cypress wood that was all milled out of the Ohio River valley by 1840.' He knew precisely that brand of wood, versus one a few feet away, which came from the 1850's. So, in other words, we are talking about authentic materials. This is not a house that has been masked by, that we can't bring it back to its original state. So the third point he makes is the house retains, presents a great deal of historical integrity from its period of significance. Fourth, the use of hewn timbered ceiling beams, over full dimension lumber, hand-struck soft face bricks. In other words, bricks that were made on the site of that place. Local quarry face stone, and cypress siding is consistent with some ofIowa's earliest vernacular buildings in point, as a valid construction. Again, looking at things for example, when you build walls you have a standard of 60 inches now between the wall studs. In this house, sometimes it's 14, sometimes it's 15. So it tells you things about early construction methods, as well. Fifth, the condition of most of the framing elements ifvery good. Condition of the siding is exceptional. The house is solid enough to be successfully moved, and retain sufficient material integrity to be restored to its original appearance, and finally, the house as it stands is visually consistent with Wetherby's period of occupation. So those are sort ofthe standards that they will be working with. I think you also received as Council Members, a letter of support from the State office of Historic Preservation, which is part ofthe State This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15, 2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 11 Historical Society. They have been part of this team. They're very much wanting us to save this house, and have made their resources available, in terms of these grant applications that we can apply for, under HRDP and other granting things that they as the State govern. You also have a letter from the Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance, which is a statewide advocacy group, again, pointing to the importance of trying to work together to make sure this happens. I also want to thank you for your time tonight, and also Mr. McLaughlin for the patience he's demonstrated as we try to work through these solutions, and I'm looking at this scene now and can see that we're probably going to have to ask for additional time from him beyond 6:00 tonight, obviously, just because it's so hard to bring all these players to the table and meet these deadlines, and new ideas that keep cropping up. So I hope I answered your immediate questions. Bailey/ That was very helpful, Mary. Thank you. Elliott! Mary, one more thing. How much of the house that we see now there on, what is it? East Market. . .is a part ofthe original house? Bennett/ All of it. Elliott! All of it. Okay. Bennett! The back foundation of cinder block, cement block, is new, and in the plan that's being proposed, actually, if we stick with one of the plans, there will be a full basement put in at the new site, and that would hopefully provide some handicap access and, uh, some other things. So because the house is currently located on a bit of a slope, we're going to have to either put it on a flat foundation, crawl space, or more desirably, would be to put a full basement down there, so that we can add the furnace and some of the other amenities that would make this a more useful property for public programming. Elliott/ And I...I was also wondering, what individual, or organization, would be the pnme.. . Bennett! Caretaker? Elliott! Caretaker, yeah. Bennett! That would be the Johnson County Historical Society. Elliott! That Shaner's group is going to... Bennett/ .. .can talk to you about the role they would play, and I'm sure Friends is going to want to address you, as well. Elliott! Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15,2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 12 Bennett! Thank you. Magalhaes/ Good evening. My name is Shaner Maga1haes. I'm here representing the Johnson County Historical Society. I'm the Executive Director there. Um, we, uh, have been very supportive, of course, of this effort to save the Wetherby cottage. It's clearly a vital part of Johnson County's history and Iowa City's history. Um, quite frankly, it is a difficult issue for our organization in terms of a long-term commitment. Uh, I think it does make sense that we would take a leadership role, uh, in operating the.. .the facility and, uh, working with other organizations to come up with programming ideas and so forth. Obviously, funding is a big issue. Um, you know, it seems fairly apparent that the City is not, at least at this moment, inclined to think about potential funding stream to help with that facility. We, of course, having just had this, uh, come up, uh, don't have the ability to say, yes, we have x-amount of dollars to devote to, uh, the operation of that facility. Uh, I do think, however, that it's important enough that the first obstacle that needs to be overcome is to save the building, and I think there's.. .there's enough support among all the groups that you are seeing tonight, as well as other groups that we haven't even talked to yet, uh, that, you know, we may not, as Bob was indicating, have $200,000 in escrow to say, 'Here's the guarantee that there's money for maintenance,' uh, but, uh, you know, if we can find a site for it, and there's a definite plan of where it's going to be, it makes fundraising efforts a lot easier. It makes looking at grant opportunities a lot more focused than if you can say, 'Okay, here's.. .here's where it's going to be, and here's who's going to operate it.' Um, I do need to say, uh, very candidly to the Council that my Board has not had the opportunity to discuss the implications of whether our organization would indeed be the caretaker for the facility. Uh, I don't know how they're going to react, quite honestly. I've had individual conversations with Board Members. I've expressed my interest and support personally, uh, for this being an appropriate role for our organization, uh, but I don't...I can't predict, uh, once we.. .we have a regularly scheduled Board meeting on the 2ih, and that will be, obviously, an important agenda item for that evening. Again, I can only say that, uh, it's certainly in looking at the possible, uh, organizations to run the site, uh, our organization has the track record of doing this. We have, as you know, relationships with both the County and City of Coralville, and the State of Iowa, running historic properties, and, uh, I have to say that our favorite arrangement is...is with the State, because they pay us to do it (laughter) and they take care of all the maintenance and so forth, but that's... that's not often replicated, but uh, but again, we're very excited about the possibilities there. There's.. .the programming ideas that Mike was talking about are.. . are just the tip of the iceberg. I mean, there's just a lot of neat things we can do. Urn, I mean, the Council is I'm sure aware ofthe "stories project" that's being discussed for our River Landing. I see the photography aspect as being a really nice complement to the literary focus of that project, and having some nice synergies possible there, and also with the University of Iowa, of course. So... uh, hopefully we can work this out and, uh, move forward. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15,2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 13 Bailey/ So who's receiving the donations? Is it Friends of Wetherby Cottage, and who's that fiscal agent, or are you... Magalhaes/ The Johnson County Historical Society is receiving donations. Bailey/ All right, thanks. O'DonnelV And you're not going to know until the 2ih, Shaner, whether you will be the one who.. . Magalhaes/ Well, let's put it this way. If the Council tells me tonight, 'Listen, we need to know for sure what the Johnson County Historical Society's stance is on this,' we'll have an emergency Board meeting, and also if Mr. McLaughlin says, 'Hey, I'm not giving you any more time,' and that's a critical piece of all this decision making, then, you know, we'll move quick on that. O'DonnelV Well, I would really like to know, if you indeed are going to be the group that's going to do this thing. You know, I think that's fairly important. Wilburn! Well, I'm a little... tom here. I mean, my next thing was to invite the owner, urn, to speak to the Council. Uh, so, I mean, I and I know the Council would like to thank you for the patience, the flexibility that you've shown. I'm sure some Council Members are interested in kind of your time1ine because my next step was to just ask Council what their initial reactions were to the request. We.. .we.. .you came in a little late, but we.. .we have no formal actions scheduled for tonight, so we can take none. All I can do is ask the Council, just kind of what their reactions are to what's being requested of, in terms of flexibility with permits and those types of things, and all that, but, um, some of Council's flexibility may depend on what.. .what your timeline might be. So... McLaughlin! I understand.. .I'm Mike McLaughlin. I've spoken to most of you - not everybody, and I apologize to those that I haven't spoken to. Uh, however, 00, basically I want to communicate my willingness to cooperate up to a certain extent on getting the house moved, relocated, and 00, I'm still of that nature. There is some additional time, certainly, consider, 00, somewhat dependent upon the weather. I think with winter looming ahead and although every year I'm kind of hoping that less snow and a little more seasonable, but, 00, you know, it's Iowa. So, 00, I hesitate to really set a firm deadline. You know, initially we talked about today, and I know in retrospect it's somewhat unrealistic, but I've seen a great deal of progress by the Friends of Wetherby, with the support of Johnson County Historical Society, 00, the Friends of Historic Preservation, and I'm sure there's other support groups that are not coming to mind, and I don't mean to offend or omit anybody, but 00, I'm getting a little information back and forth. I'm, uh, through, uh, Friends of Historic Preservation, so I don't know exactly all the fine details of what they're working through, but, um, since this This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15, 2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 14 came up, and we discussed it, two weeks ago, I know they made some good progress, got some commitments, which is good to see, and uh, I think certainly more time that is needed, uh, and I think there's more time that's earned too, based on their efforts, uh, however, uh, again, like I said, it's somewhat dependent upon the weather. I guess I'd like to see, uh, you know, assuming we don't have a huge snowstorm and freeze tomorrow, uh, something done before, really before winter sets in real heavily. You know, and I guess we had to put a timeline on it, you know, to later December or something of that nature, is kind of, or that timeline, is what I was. . . what I would be comfortable with. I'm trying to move ahead with plans for the site, um, I'm still little less time in it this week than last week and the week before, but, uh, haven't gotten progress too much in that regard just simply because it's still phone calls and discussions and that type of thing. So, certainly there's more timeframe in doing it, um, you know, probably more weeks than months, I guess, is my feeling, just more so because of the weather. Uh, you know, and I guess you'd base that on recent history, what the weather's been doing, and December isn't...I don't think too difficult a month to work in yet, based on what's going on here. Wilburn! Well, again, on behalf of the Council, you know, thank you for your patience and flexibility. Does the Council have any questions, or do we just have general comments and then we can. . . Elliott/ I guess, I know very little about moving a house, but I know that it can be very disruptive to, uh, portions of the City, and.. .the worst case scenario I see is a house sitting in the middle of one of our major streets, and the snow comes down, and it sits there for three days. And I would definitely not want that to happen, and we're getting very close to that time. Other than that, 1...1 would assume, as a Council Member, I've got as much time as you folks have. (laughter) Champion! That's right! McLaughlin! I don't know a whole lot about moving structures either, but been involved in moving a garage once, and probably similar distance, but, uh, it was middle of, I'd say middle of night or very early morning, so it does take some planning, so you don't disrupt, uh, assuming you're going to... Elliott! Iowa City has been the scene of some very interesting adventures with house movings... . several decades ago. Champion! .. .giant one! (several talking) O'DonnelV .. .power lines and.. . and so forth that have to be... McLaughlin! Oh, I would imagine there's quite a few departments that need to coordinate, with, uh, traffic, you know, the police, utility companies... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15, 2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 15 Correia! Yeah, and I think those are things that, I mean, I don't know if that's what gets worked out in the permitting process and there're professionals that do this and have done that. I mean, I don't have any concerns that. . . Wilburn! And I don't think that's necessarily something we would need to know tonight. I think the main thing, which is kind of what you shared with us, in terms of... McLaughlin! Right, there's more flexibility in time, and again, it's going to be more dictated by the weather. Uh, ask me to wait till March, when winter thaws and that type of thing is, uh, I think a little bit beyond what I'd be able to accept, but, uh, and depending upon we don't have an early winter, we get into the end of the calendar year here, and still be in consideration, and personally, I'd like to see it move. You know, there's some interest, urn, I think possibly because the elections were going on, maybe not as much interest as what I thought might be in the newspapers, have been some interest. I think there's some good potential for it, uh, but it's going to take a considerable amount of volunteer work, given you know, move to another site, because it is in quite a bit of, uh, a neglected state. It's.. . Wilburn! Okay, thank you. McLaughlin! You bet. Thank you. Bailey/ Thank you so much. Wilburn! Mike, before you.. . maybe just...I presume you're going to come up and talk about moving power lines and stuff like that, but, uh, that may not be a concern by Council, um, if someone is, if that is right now for at least just say your initial thoughts, reactions, could Council just share your initial thought, reaction to flexibility in terms of waiving permitting, or putting it in a park in the first place- can we hear those type of comments? Bailey/ Can we get a sense of...I don't have any sense of how many permits we're talking, and... Correia! I don't think we're talking about waiving permits. We're talking about, my understanding is that. . . the, there wasn't. . . Bailey/ The request is the fees, not waiving the permits. Correia! Right. Bai1ey/ You have to. . . Wilburn! You have to be at the microphone. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15,2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 16 Bailey/ .. .right, waiving the fee, but not waiving the permit. Holecek! We don't tend to use the word waiving - the City absorbs the cost. Bailey/ Okay. (several talking) Wilburn! Mike, it's not that I didn't want to hear... Haverkamp/ No! And, Ross, believe me, I would do anything to shorten a meeting! Wilburn! Okay. Haverkamp/ Um, I'm Mike Haverkamp. I'm currently President of Friends of Historic Preservation. Um, I do have, just happen to have some copies and I'll pass them out to you of the report that Helen Burford, our Executive Director, and I put together for our own Board, investigating what are some of the costs associated with the move, and what's the process. So... Correia! Did we have that in our packet? Bailey/ No, I don't have it in front of me. (several talking) Haverkamp/ Um, like I say, I'm not a fan of prolonging meetings at any expense. I do want to echo what other people have said. I'd like to thank City employees and volunteer commission members, especially people like Matt Pacha with the Parks and Rec Commission. Also the Historic Preservation Commission, the Planning department, um, Sunil Terdalkar who pursued some very creative ideas; Jeff Davidson, Rick Fosse for considering right-of-way on Market Street as a possible home for Wetherby; Jann Ream who patiently explained multiple times what the process is for moving a house, as we came back with different locations each time; and Terry Trueblood and the Parks and Recreation Commission, as well as the department, and Terry Robinson, the City Forester, who's been mentioned several times, exceptionally generous with their time and their assistance. I think the biggest thanks goes to Mike McLaughlin who was very generous to extend to the 15th, and has shown even more generosity tonight, I think the thing I've learned in going through all this, it is truly not what you know, but who you know. Everybody I've talked to is either a former schoolmate of mine, a former student of mine, or a parent of a former student of mine, and I.. .it's amazing! Um, that report tried to ballpark what we could do as best we could. Some of that site cost might be a little bit higher, and in. . . . absolutely we were not thinking this at all, but on the last page you'll see it could be cheaper ifit was in a less-restored state, ala the parks. . . the cabins at City Park. We were not even considering City Park when we put this together. We were looking at several different options. We.. .Friends as an organization did explore several private locations and made some overtures. We made some initial contacts with folks. Um, other things just to let you know that Friends of Wetherby group has pulled together in a short This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15, 2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 17 amount of time and done a.. . done a great amount of work, as Shaner and the Johnson County Historic.. .uh, Johnson County Historic Society have really stepped up. What we've tried to do as a Friends organization is to be the catalyst. We've tried to be the go-between. We have committed $5,000 of our own funds towards the Wetherby move. We also contacted the Scanlon Foundation who committed tentatively up to $5,000, provided that we would match it. So that's. . . that's also money that's on board. That money is contingent on a non- profit organization receiving the house, which could be Friends, could be Johnson County Historic Society.. .our plan would be to turn it right around to a Friends of Wetherby kind of organization or whomever to turn that house over to them. Um, we as a Friends group were the ones under Mary's suggestion contacted Marvin Engels, got him to document the house. Besides giving all that information, he.. .that is the very critical first step of a National Register application. So, we've got that out of the way, and we helped fund that. So like I say, our role was to try and be a catalyst, try to save a historically significant structure, look at a lot of options, and do what leg work we could, and I think a lot of other groups have really stepped up. We would hope that you would approve citing this at City Park, and I think...I think it's a great idea and I think there's a lot of good that can come from it. Correia! So it looks to me, if I'm reading this right, that we have an $85 moving permit, $500 traffic engineering deposit escrow.. .$2,500 police escrow, $300 electric- plumbing, that's a building permit -- $534 building permit. I'm not sure there's something out of this. .. Bai1ey/ Well, and that looks like Code compliance, so it depends upon what state we leave it in. Haverkamp/ Right. Correia! (several talking) .. .which seems as a match to what Friends has come up with, and, um, I feel like that's a reasonable... Elliott/ My question... Champion! I'm sorry. I couldn't hear what you said, Regenia. Bailey/ I think that there are some other organizations here that we could approach, or that they could approach, to waive, I mean, MidAmerican.. . (several talking). They could. Elliott! You said, it says here the site, $73,000 a little over that. Is that preparing the site? Haverkamp/ No, that would.. . we were trying to ballpark what it would take. We were thinking of...if it were going to be actually occupied as a structure, you know, putting in complete plumbing, putting in a bathroom, you know. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15,2007 Special City Council Wark Session Page 18 Elliott/ I was just wondering, because...I think, I don't know if Mike was the one who said you were at least considering, or planned to put in a basement, so would that, would the... Haverkamp/ Right. That's in.. .that's in that fee. That's that $9,000 for the foundation. Correia! .. . (several talking) foundation, full basement with floor in there. Bailey/ But if we put it in City Park, are we assuming, Terry, or Matt, that the City would be responsible for the foundation? I mean, or is.. .no? You're just offering up the area, the space? You're just... Haverkamp/ Yeah, that's what the State grant money can help us do, is put in the foundation and help pay for that move, so that's that HRDP, the (several talking). Champion! One of the questions that I have, um, from the City, is when we use policemen to control traffic for Hancher Auditorium, football games, do we charge the University for that? Holecek! I believe we have in the past, which, uh, led to the VI doing some of its own traffic control at football games. Wilburn! We...I think we tried it one time, and there was the outrage and up. ..uproar about it, and then we decided. . . Elliott/ It was an unfortunate situation. Champion! So, I mean, that's really a for-profit organization, so I don't see why we couldn't use our policemen for a non-profit, moving a historic document, without charging them, if we're not charging for all the police we use for different social events, uh, in Iowa City. (several talking) Correia! Yeah, I think there's a basis for us to say that the, and I would imagine this could be used as a match of, these are.. .we are absorbing these fees as our contribution to this project, and as a public-private partnership. I mean, it seems absolutely appropriate that we would offer our resources that way. Bailey Ifwe were talking $3,000, I'm very comfortable with absorbing those kinds of fees for the City. I mean, I'm assuming that this is reasonably comprehensive, so... Wilburn! The only other comment that 1. . . that I would add, I guess, you know, if it can be saved, and this is a temporary fix, then, uh, uh, thankful to have the recommendations from Parks and Rec, and please thank the Commission for me. It seems like a, uh, it makes sense in terms of what's there and probably what This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15,2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 19 needs to come down anyway, in terms of those, the cabin up there. So I think that was the main concern that I had, was, 00, one is the owner willing to hold off a little bit more, and then if it's okay with Parks and Rec, that it go there temporarily, then I would. .. Correial Are we talking about it going there temporarily? (several talking) No, I don't think we're... Wilburn! I'm sorry. I was thinking, yeah, go ahead. Pachal Well, actually, based on an editorial by Bob Hibbs came up with regard to doing it temporarily, and we definitely, 00, it was unanimous in terms of the Commission's opinion that we would not support a temporary move, into any park. Correia! Because that would be disruptive, and.. .probably not good for the house either. Pacha! We'd be revisiting the topic again, down the road. Bailey/ Let's make a decision (several talking). Correia! .. .very comfortable. I think it's an exciting.. . exciting for Iowa City and I think.. . Wilburn! With.. .with the caveat that we have access for programming, then I support it. Bailey/ I think it's an exciting opportunity. Elliott! Is my understanding correct, that the one of the two log cabins that would have to come down is going to come down anyway? Champion! All by itself probably! (laughter and several talking) O'Donnell! When were these log cabins, Terry, uh, constructed in City Park? Trueblood/ The.. .they weren't constructed in City Park. O'Donnell! They were brought in? Trueblood/ They were both moved to City Park. They were both constructed by the, 00, Old Settlers, whatever. They were, one of them, the one that would remain, is actually a replica of a trading post that John Gilbert built. It was moved to City Park in 1914, but it is a replica. It's not an original, and the other, the single one, the one that's falling down, uh, was built actually constructed earlier than the other one, 00, the information that I have in our file doesn't indicate exactly when it was moved to City Park, but it too had to be in the early 1900's. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15, 2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 20 O'Donnell! It's approximately 100 years old. Trueblood! Well, it could be more than a 100 years old, but as far as being in City Park, it's somewhere a little less than a 100 years, yeah. Wilburn! Dale, did you have anything you wanted to add to.. . our conversation, or your point of view? Helling! The only thing I would, just wondering in terms of the, uh, use, ultimate use, is this something...1 know 1 saw something about, uh, meetings or whatever, is there, have we factored in water and sewer at all, or is that something that would be needed? Uh, will it be needing running water and sewer facilities? (unable to hear person in audience) Wilburn! I'm sorry. You're going to need to come to the microphone. Helling! Because I don't know what exactly what's in City Park. I know the pool's there. Haverkamp/ I'm not going to speak for Friends of Wetherby at all, but that $73,000 we said of bringing it up, that we were thinking that that would be to put water into it; however, if it's sitting in the Park next to another cabin that doesn't...I mean, there are bathrooms right beyond there, and the.. .the, if you were going to use it as an "occasional use" structure like that, that you wouldn't necessarily have to do that. Wouldn't have to bring water in.. .or a bathroom, and that would actually make it look more historic and reduce your costs significantly. Wilburn! Okay. Well, um, I think we're probably said all that we can say, minus making any decisions, which we can't do anyway. So... Correia! In terms of being able to direct staff, I mean, can we, is it.. .can we have a sense that we are, um, we want to move forward and in terms of having staff start to draft contract language, or.. . start to work on, urn, the, uh, expediting the getting of the permits, so that once it's ready to be moved or whatever that that, those things are already under way? Bailey/ And how much is feasible to do at our next meeting, which is a week from Tuesday. That would be my question. Correia! Right. Could it be on our agenda? Bailey/ How quickly can we move? For the benefit of the property owner. Holecek! You mean have a draft agreement? Bailey/ Yeah. Yeah. I think that's feasible. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15,2007. November 15, 2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 21 Holecek! You can direct staffto do that. I can't promise (laughter). We can try! Elliott/ Now, my understanding legally, as soon as we set a public hearing, there's an automatic stay on the demolition? Is that correct? Holecek! I'm sorry, Bob. I didn't hear you. Elliott! As.. .as soon as we set a time to vote on a resolution, is it when we vote on a resolution that the automatic stay goes into effect, or when? When does that happen? Holecek! No. The automatic stay would not take effect unless you were going to rezone the property. . . Elliott/ Okay. Holecek! .. . and designate it a historic landmark. Before you can do that, you would need a recommendation by HPC... Bailey/ We're not doing that! Holecek! .. .Historic Preservation, and that's not what's being discussed. Elliott/ So nothing that we're talking about tat this time, encumbers anything that the current owner is planning? Holecek! It does not...it does not hinder his ability to take action under the currently valid demolition permit. Elliott! Good, good. Champion! But I don't think he'll do that. Holecek! Based on the representations he's made to you. Wilburn! I think that was just a message from Connie. So.. . (laughter). Champion! And we thank you! Wilburn! Um. . . O'Donnell! I think we want some clarification. McLaughlin! In may say, I mean, this is really all built upon trust, and.. . and certainly, uh, I'm willing to proceed in that manner. Ijust.. .just ask that my side of things This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15,2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 22 be respected and.. . and, uh, you know, up to a certain extent, I'm willing to provide what time I can. Champion! I must tell you that the last time we did this on trust, on the building we were going to move, we had the tornado. (laughter) McLaughlin! Well, there are things that are out of our control (laughter) so I think we're safe. I don't anticipate any.. .I'm no weather forecaster, but I think we'll be all right in regards to tornados. Correia! It seems like it might be a little bit difficult to have a draft contract by our next meeting, when it's a holiday, and ideas need to be in by Wednesday. Um.. .so I'm wondering. . . Holecek! Um, what we could do is try to negotiate some ofthose terms. I mean, we don't even know who would be signatory to it, um, we can take staff direction to start negotiating and drafting that, but... Bailey/ I think it would be helpful if we had some progress by our next meeting. I think that would indicate a certain level of trust, um (several talking). Yeah, I think it's important that we move as quickly as we can, just as the volunteer groups have and the property owner has been willing to, 00, given that opportunity, so I would like to do that. Elliott/ And the financial aspect is involved also. (several talking) Helling! Just for clarification, it sounds like it would be Council's wishes that we do waive some of those soft costs, at least for (several talking) if we're going to do that and there's no cost incurred, 00, by the Friends, then we could start the, they could start the application process for the moving permit, and 00, other logistics that we would need to do, 00, so we can move ahead on that. (several responding) Wilburn! That's good, Dale. Okay. Slonneger/ Do we need a series of public hearings, or will your decision next week, um, if there is a decision, will that solidify the process, or will it go to hearings, or how is that going to work? Wilburn/ I presume if we have an agreement, then that would be one that would need to be voted on by the Council at a Council meeting, which wouldn't necessarily involve a public hearing. It would be an item on our agenda and, um, I and past Mayors have allowed public comment during those items as they come up on an agenda. So if we have, uh, the next thing you would physically see from the Council would be, uh, if we have, uh, an agreement in front of us, Dale will make sure it's put on an agenda. We would post public notice, 00, you can send out This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15, 2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 23 your emails and people can see which item - it is on a Council meeting, or they can watch on the web, and we would, uh, take action, one way or the other. Slonneger/ Okay. Wilburn! That evening, that it would come across. Is that fair? Correia! So we probably, though, I think what we're saying, is we're not going to probably be able to have an item to vote on our 2ih agenda, because there's not going to be enough time to have a contract hammered out, started... Holecek! Because of the. . .the short week next week, everything needs to be done by the 21 st. And that is Wednesday, Tuesday, so that gives us just a few working days. I think it's probably overly aggressive to... Champion! But we could have a special meeting. Correia! We could, that's what I'm saying, and I think after... Wilburn! We can have a special meeting if there's a majority of Council present to do so. I don't want to put any promises to the group, that we can pull off a special meeting. (several talking) Bailey/ .. . and so if we have an update at the next meeting or work session, urn, I think that that proceeds on the trust basis, and looks like, I mean, Parks and Rec, they're very supportive of putting this in City Park, thank you, and they were able to do a special meeting. Ifwe need to do a special meeting, I think we probably... Wilburn! Ifwe can get a majority, I don't want to give the illusion that, ifthere's.. .it's plausible. Karr/ Ijust want to clarify. You have another meeting, after the 2ih, that's the lOth and II tho Bailey/ Right. Karr/ So, that also would be before the end of the year. Correia! And at that point we're going to know the Historical Society's Board decision, you know, we.. .so I think that... Wilburn! It's plausible that we can (several talking). Champion! What day is that, the lOth? Karr/ The lOth is a work session, the 11 th is your formal. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007. November 15, 2007 Special City Council Work Session Page 24 Champion! So they could plan on moving on the 11th. (several talking) Correia! Because you'll be able to start doing all your permit fees between now, or not, permit applications, things could be al in place. McLaughlin! I just wanted to clarify in regards to putting together an agreement, which essentially would layout the time of the move and all the affiliated details. I'm trying to envision kind of what you. . . Correia! This agreement, what we're talking about is the contract between the City and whoever's going to be operating the house, once it's moved, not the agreement between, no. Wilburn! Okay. All right. Elliott! Do I have a minute before we leave? Wilburn! Sure. Elliott! Good. I would like to ask my Council colleagues, and you folks here, that, uh, I have a warm spot in my heart for this photography. I was practicing photography in the olden days. I learned on a 4 by 5 speed graphic, and uh, there is a house on Governor Street. There's a building on Governor Street that is important as the Wetherby house is. I think the Bethel AME Church is infinitely more important historically, and I hope that you folks, as those people are wanting to work with the City and have that preserved and restored and expanded, I hope that you put the same amount of energy in that, I think that building's extremely important to the City of Iowa City. So, I ask you to be interested in that also. Wilburn! Okay. I'm.. .let me, we can't, we can't.. .this was not a work session item. Burford! Okay, I just wanted to comment that some months ago, we met with. . . with the Bethel. . . Wilburn! I'm sorry, this is not a work session item. Okay. So, if you would like to send some correspondence, we'd take a look at it. Okay? All right, thank you. Correia! I think this is fabulous. I really appreciate all of your work, and... Wilburn! Thank you all. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session meeting of November 15, 2007.