HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-04-14 TranscriptionApril 14, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 1
April 14, 2008 Special City Council Work Session 6:15 P.M.
Council Present/ Bailey, Champion, Hayek, O'Donnell, Wright, Correia, Wilburn
Staff/ Helling, Dilkes, Karr, Trueblood, Yapp, Davidson
Other/ Volland, UISG Liaison
Council Appointments:
ITEM 19. CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS.
a) JCCOG Affordable Housing Task Force (1)
b) JCCOG Public Transit Expansion Exploratory Task Force (1)
Bailey/ Okay. So, let's get started on the work session. Um, just an FYI -we're going to
talk about smoking policies before agenda items because, um, Planning Director
Davidson can't be here until 6:30 and I think he's here for an agenda item. So,
council appointments is...
Karr/ We will be talking about that agenda item because it's a rezoning.
Bailey/ The Hieronymus Square.
Karr/ Yep.
Bailey/ I think he's here for a slew of `em.
Karr/ Okay.
Bailey/ Um, so, council appointments.
Correia/ (garbled) JCCOG housing. I said, I'm interested in serving on the JCCOG.
(several talking)
Bailey/ Yeah, we didn't have applications.
Wright/ We have one, I thought. (several talking) For the Youth Advisory Commission
(several talking)
Bailey/ Right. You're interested, okay, is anybody else interested in the housing? Okay.
Amy.
Correia/ Thank you.
Bailey/ Okay, and then we have the transit.
Wright/ Public transit, which I'd be interested in.
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Bailey/ Okay. Anybody else interested?
Hayek/ Mike can do it. (several talking)
Bailey/ Okay.
Wright/ Just amazing the way that worked. (several talking and laughing)
ITEM 20. COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS.
c) Youth Advisory Commission
Bailey/ I know that there's probably some wrestling behind the scenes, but...and then we
have, um, Danielle for the Youth Advisory Commission, and just so you know,
Danielle was involved in the beginning of the, the development of the Youth
Advisory Commission and actually didn't live in town at that time. So...I think
she'll be terrific.
Correia/ I do too!
O'Donnell/ I do too.
Wright/ Sounds really good.
Bailey/ Okay. John, did you have anything to say? We've already decided those
positions -for JCCOG? Great. All right. Okay, council appointments.
City Property Smoking Policies (IP2 of 4/10/08):
Bailey/ Let's talk about the City property smoking policies. Terry, did you want to speak
to that first? I mean, you had a memo in the packet.
Helling/ I could...
Bailey/ Or Dale.
Helling/ Well, yeah, briefly and if you have any questions, Terry...in terms of
clarification, that's fine, but essentially, this was brought up at a work session and
uh, at that time it seemed to be focusing on parks. Obviously the discussion can
go beyond that, uh, but...so we wanted to give you an idea of...of smoking bans
that we have right now in the City, um, and some of these will probably
go...anything that has to do with parks would go back to the Parks and Recreation
Commission to take a look at, as well, and get a recommendation from them. So
we thought tonight, just kind of a short brainstorming session to see where are the
areas you're interested in. We have, uh, another factor that's come into play,
which is the bill that the Governor's going to sign tomorrow, the State smoking
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prohibitions, and that will figure in here, as well, probably in some way or
another, in terms of, uh, um, City facilities that might come under that, um,
statute, and Eleanor, I think, has done some, at least initial, review of the statute,
uh, so, I think really what we need to do tonight is try to find out where are the are
as that you're interested in...in controlling smoking or prohibiting it, and then we
can go back and see what we need to do legally to, between the City and the State
ordinances, to, uh, to affect that.
Champion/ You know, I've given some thought to this, and I hate to see us make
ordinances that aren't enforceable. Um, you know, if we're going to do parks and
now people aren't going to be able to smoke on the Ped Mall. I think you'll have
just lots of trouble, but there are areas where I think smoking is inappropriate, like
the soccer park is certainly one of them, the softball park, uh, the girls' softball
park.. .
Wilburn/ That's why I have a question for Eleanor. If, uh, if City workers are at the
soccer park, I'm sorry...I didn't look at the final version of the, the smoking ban -
the statewide proposed smoking ban -would that...is that, uh, a stretch...it was
outdoor areas if there's.. .
Dilkes/ It's not clear under the new law, um, just the question about whether parks are
covered, um, the State...
Wilburn/ For example, what I'm talking about is like at Napoleon Park, the City hires the
umpires to, for the girls' softball, that type of thing is what I was.. .
Dilkes/ Yeah, well...
Champion/ I'm sorry, go ahead.
Dilkes/ The first question is whether parks are covered under the State, um, code and
that's not clear because it says, uh, buildings, public buildings and associated
grounds, and I've talked to the League today about whether that includes all
parks, given that there's usually a building in a park, um, I don't know whether
that was the intention or not. My understanding is the Iowa DNR has some
concern that it does cover all parks, and um, so it's...it's an unknown. It also
covers seating areas of outside sports areas, um, so probably seating, you know, if
you've got a seating area at Napoleon Park, that probably would be covered.
There's also some, uh, provisions about where employees, public employees are,
but I think there's an exception for, um, outside areas. So, um, kind of the devil's
in the details, and there's going to be some issues there. I think the Department of
Public Health has rule-making authority under the new statutes, and some of those
things maybe able to get cleaned up, or cleared up, in the rule making that goes
on.
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Bailey/ But we can brainstorm some ideas, and then as this develops, Eleanor can sort of
see what covers, or what we need to have a City ordinance.
Champion/ I was thinking that we could actually do something really quite simple, and
because, like for instance, the soccer park only has one entrance (garbled)
Karr/ Connie, you do have to wear your mic when you talk.
Champion/ Oh, I'm sorry.
O'Donnell/ It's that little thing with the clip on it. (laughter)
Champion/ I mean, why don't we just put some signs up, "Please no smoking in the
soccer park."
Bailey/ Well, I think we do have signs.
Correia/ We have signs that discourage smoking there, but doesn't prohibit smoking...at
the soccer park and the softball park.
Bailey/ Well, and I am interested in taking this a little bit further. I do have concerns
about enforcement, but given that we now have a State law that will, uh, keep
smoking out of restaurants, I don't want our Ped Mall to become the "smoking
area" for the restaurants adjacent to it, and I don't want those sidewalk cafes to
become defacto smoking areas, or...or have the impact on people who are on the
Ped Mall smoking, you know, I think that would destroy the nature of the
sidewalk cafes, so I am interested in looking at, um, some kind of limitation on
the Plaza, especially around the play structure and the Library. Um...
Champion/ There's already a sign there.
Bailey/ Right, but also just consideration, because I don't want people to have to run the
gauntlet of smokers to get into restaurants. I think that sort of defeats the whole
purpose of the smoking ban in restaurants.
Champion/ I haven't seen that happen or...
Bailey/ It's happened a little bit in New York...
Champion/ I mean, I think you've got to, well, it doesn't make any difference to me, but
even though I smoke, I just think that...we should not make laws that are really
unenforceable. And that's what I'm afraid you're going to do if you start
covering all the outdoor areas.
Bailey/ Well, and I'm not so sure I want to cover all the outdoor areas, but I think I want
to make sure that's not where we end up putting the smokers, and creating another
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issue for citizens who want to enjoy the Ped Mall, Friday Night Concert Series,
that it becomes markedly smokier down there with families and those sorts of
things. So, I mean, I was interested in talking about that possibility, but if others
aren't interested in taking it to that degree.
O'Donnell/ Are you talking a total ban? Is that what you're...
Bailey/ I don't know! I don't think so. I mean, I've been known to enjoy a cigarette or
cigar. I mean, I'm not a zealot about smoking, I just think that we need to balance
the interests, and we recognize the challenges of second-hand smoke, and that
particularly we don't want kids around it. So...
Wilburn/ I have a questions about pre-emption then. Um, if we get into areas where the
State law doesn't...don't we get back to that same...
Dilkes/ Yeah, I think that's an issue.
Bailey/ But we can brainstorm.. .
Dilkes/ ....I don't where I'd come down on that issue, because I haven't spent enough
time with it yet, but I don't.. .
O'Donnell/ ...Eleanor, is we can't be more restrictive than the...
Dilkes/ Well, the question is whether the State has occupied the field with this
comprehensive, no-smoking, um, or whether we still have the authority to
legislate in areas that aren't covered.
Bailey/ Well, so let's start first where we started the discussion, and that was with parks.
Where are we with the parks issue?
Hayek/ Let me just say something here. If we're waiting to see how the State legislation
plays out and what it means and what it covers, to engage in a discussion on this
at this point in time seems potentially.. .
Bailey/ But we can brainstorm a list for Eleanor, and when we see where the State comes
down, she'll have a better sense of what direction we can go, and we'll be that
farther ahead on moving forward.
Wilburn/ And as she's paying attention to...it might help provide a framework to, or I
guess just a, those nuances (garbled) something to pay attention to, to prepare
Eleanor, to be prepared as we do get into...do you see what I'm saying? If
she's...if she's...as she's looking at, uh, how the administrative, um, rules that
come out associated with the statewide ban and as the DNR, everybody, kind of
jockeys for position and interpretation, if she has an idea on where we might have
areas of interest, then rather than us sitting and doing it again, and then her have
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to do more research anyway, you know, as it's kind of evolving, it might provide
her something to...
Bailey/ And we know what we're going to have continuing discussions regarding this.
Correia/ We have the ability now, in terms of the soccer park...I mean, I'm interested in
the soccer park and the softball complex. I mean, those are parks with fences.
There's a...absolute boundary, we know what the boundaries are, and we have
lots of kids using their lungs there, and it doesn't make sense that there would be
smoking allowed.
Champion/ I agree with you. I think that's a (several talking)
Correia/ ...we have the ability to do that, without having there be the State legislation...
Bailey/ Okay.
Dilkes/ I don't think that's the case anymore though. I think it...I think it would be
helpful to know what you all are interested in accomplishing, where you want
there to be no smoking -whether that be by the State code or whether it be by,
um, our own legislation, etc., and it may take some time to sort all that out. I
don't think it makes a lot of sense to forward it to Parks and Rec at this point,
really. Um, but for instance, I got...there was a question, I got a questions from
Terry Timmins at the League today saying, when we were talking about this
whole interpretation issue with the parks, that his understanding was that the Iowa
DNR was going to try and do some kind of amendment. I don't know how they
do that at this point, since the Governor is scheduled to sign it tomorrow, but
anyway, and was wanting some feedback on, you know, whether cities would be
interested in being involved, or included in that amendment. So, I think it would
be helpful to know where your interests are in terms of having no smoking.
Wilburn/ In my...in my, uh, I mean, coming into this my interest was, um, those youth
park areas where kids are signed up for activities and, uh, some protection that
way, but then as I got to thinking about it this afternoon, I was...that's why I was
wondering about that pre-emption thing, Amy, and well, can we do that, um.. .
Dilkes/ Well, that kind of depends on what the State law means, whether you've got a
pre-emption issue. If the State law...for instance, if the State law simply covers
places where...parks where there are buildings, then that's a different issue from
the pre-emption (several talking)
Wilburn/ ...when the Legislature went after this, there were two...there were two parallel
bills. One was to give states and counties the authority, the local control, and then
it was state-wide ban. So...
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Bailey/ Well, why don't we talk and provide our list for Eleanor, and obviously, there's
going to be some continuing discussion about this, um, because we obviously
have a law that's a little, uh, less clear than we'd like. So, I hear soccer parks and
the softball complex. I'm interested also along trails. I don't think, I mean, once
again.. .
Wright/ Yeah, trails, uh, would it be possible to only allow, you know, smoking in a
parking area (mumbling). That's...the associated litter...(several talking)
Bailey/ Well, that's what I was saying too with the restaurants going smoke-free.
Hayek/ I swept up 20 cigarette butts this morning in front of my office. That should be
on the table too.
Bailey/ I would like to look at the CB-10 and the Plaza. I really would, because if the
restaurants are going smoke-free, where are they going to do and where are they
going to, you know....I agree. Are there other people interested in that?
Correia/ Well, I hadn't really thought about it, but...
Hayek/ ...where do you stop, I think is the question.
Bailey/ I don't know what that might look like, but Eleanor, if we put it on the list, might
come back with some suggestions, or we might have some ideas of what other
cities are doing, but it's a, I think it's an issue.
Dilkes/ I think I need to know if four of you are interested, because I don't want to put a
whole bunch of stuff on this list that one or two of you...
Bailey/ Yeah, that's probably a good idea! Because it wouldn't work! (laughter) So, are
other people interested in...
Wright/ Are we talking about on the Plaza proper?
Bailey/ CB-10 and the Ped Mall.
Wright/ CB-10.
Correia/ No smoking anywhere...I have a hard time thinking that you could do that. That
it would be a piece of legislation that...because the thing about...
Dilkes/ You mean in terms of whether you can enforce it, or whether you can legally do
it?
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Correia/ Well, like, I mean, the...my understanding, and obviously I haven't looked at
the legislation with the ban, but the State is legislating smoking happening in
work places, in...I...saying that there's no smoking anywhere in the CB-10...
Bailey/ Well, or within a certain amount, a certain feet of the entrance of a restaurant, or
an establishment. I'm not concerned about people smoking, people can make
their choices that they want. I'm concerned that to get into a restaurant that's now
smoke-free, you have to walk through smoke to get in there, and that doesn't
seem to be the intent. Right? So that's my interest there.
Champion/ I think you're creating a problem before it exists.
Bailey/ Oh, we're already doing that, because we have this after-hours thing, so we like
that.
Champion/ I really haven't seen that happening in other cities that have smoking bans.
For instance, San Francisco and Chicago. I've not seen that as a problem at all.
Bailey/ People smoking outside?
Champion/ Well, I see them smoking outside, but I don't see them congregating around
the doors to the restaurants. I...I don't....I go to the city a lot. I don't ever see it
to be a problem.
Dilkes/ May...oh...
Champion/ Hotels are all non-smoking in Chicago now. I don't see people congregating
outside the front doors smoking.
Bailey/ I see people congregating outside this building that smoke.
Champion/ Well, you know, that actually could be moved to the other end, and that
would take care of it.
Wright/ Which is another point that actually I was hoping we could talk about. Could we
move it away from the entrances of City buildings?
Correia/ I'm interested in that.
Champion/ I mean, that would be an easy thing to do, just to move that...
Dilkes/ I'm starting to think that you all before you can do this need to understand what
the State law says. I need to understand what the State law says! Tell you what I
think it means, including whether I think you can do anything more than what the
State law says. So that's kind of where I'm...coming from.
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Correia/ But I do think that we would have the ability to say, I mean, other public, other
governments have said, `No smoking within 20 feet of a public building.'
Dilkes/ (several responding) that was prior to when the State law chose to legislate on a
state level, as opposed to giving municipalities the right to do that, and they aren't
just doing it with respect to public places like restaurants. They're now into the,
into legislating about public buildings and parks and that kind of thing. So I think
the whole issue has kind of changed.
Correia/ Okay.
Bailey/ So they'll have a sense of that, well, it goes into effect July so they should have a
sense of it at one of our...we can put it on a June work session.
Dilkes/ Yeah, I'll have to get a feel for when they're thinking about doing that, the rule
making too, because I guess the latest thought that I heard from the League was
that maybe some of this would be cleared up, that the Department of Public
Health is supposed to do.
Bailey/ Okay.
Dilkes/ I don't know when that would happen.
Karr/ I know the State Clerks and Finance Officers are meeting later this week in Des
Moines, and they scheduled discussion and update on this very topic, as well.
Bailey/ Okay. So...we'll just bring it back.
Wright/ Do you have a sense of where we're coming from, which is all over the place?
Bailey/ I don't know if there are four all over the place. I think that there are certainly
some park interests.
Dilkes/ Yeah...I think what I'll do is, I will, at the point where I think that I have a
handle on what the law might mean, then I will give you a memo and tell you that
and you can all go from there.
Bailey/ Any other questions or comments for Eleanor? Okay. Moving on.
Agenda Items:
Wilburn/ Before we move on, just, um, I know since the...get some more comment for
the media. I think there's just an attempt to understand the breadth of the State
law, and um, and I've been a supporter of the State law. In fact, I'll be there
tomorrow for the signing, but, uh, until we get an understanding of what all...if
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we can't do some of these others, then I'll be fine with that, because I've been a
supporter of the State law. So...
Bailey/ I'll be disappointed if we can't do some of these others. Okay.
Dilkes/ I think you do have the issue too because the University has announced that it's
going to ban smoking on all its properties. As to how that interplays with...
Bailey/ Our downtown.
Dilkes/ ...our downtown.
Bailey/ I agree with you. Okay. Let's move on to agenda items.
ITEM 4. CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS
PRESENTED OR AMENDED.
d) Public Hearings.
6. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION OF INTENT TO
CONSIDER THE PROPOSED CONVEYANCE OF
A SKYWALK EASEMENT IN FAVOR OF
JOHNSON COUNTY, IOWA, WHICH SKYWALK
IS TO BE CONSTRUCTED ABOVE BENTON
STREET BETWEEN CLINTON STREET AND
DUBUQUE STREET, AND SETTING A PUBLIC
HEARING FOR APRIL 29, 2008.
Bailey/ Item 4.d.6 - I would like to remove this from the Consent Calendar and consider
it separately. Um, I believe that Amy has a conflict with this particular item, and
um, additionally, I have some concerns when I looked at the diagram today of
their building, and their...what are they calling it - a parking deck. I know that
they've expressed interest in doing some landscaping, but I think that -around the
parking deck -but it's not shown on the plans, and I think as we set the public
hearing if we're interested in seeing some screening on that, we should indicate as
much, because I talked to Eleanor and these could be tied together -the easement
agreement and getting (mumbled) for that deck if we're interested in.. .
Wright/ Is the site plan for that (mumbled) establish (mumbled)
Bailey/ Does it establish it in any formal way?
Davidson/ Question?
Wright/ For the, uh, new, uh, skywalk, the easement coming in from the parking deck
that's being built - is the site plan fully developed yet?
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Davidson/ Um, yeah, we've received a site plan for the building and the parking deck.
We have not seen the actual skywalk, and when you actually hold your hearing
and consider approval of this item, you might want to put a contingency on us
seeing what the skywalk looks like, because we haven't seen it yet.
Wright/ Well, also about landscaping.
Davidson/ Yeah, and in terms of the landscaping, um, we've had several discussions with
the County about this project. They have indicated their intention to landscape
the, um, parking deck portion of it, which is not probably the most aesthetically
pleasing part of it, and that's why we'd expressed interest in having it landscaped
around it, even said they could use the City right-of--way if need be, as long as we
reviewed ahead of time what was going to be there. Um, they've...they keep
indicating their intention to do that, but yet every plan that we see has nothing on
it. Um, we were able to find out today from the County Attorney's office because
David Kempf who manages these things for the County has been out sick
apparently, that where the County's at with it is, um, it is still their intention to
landscape around the parking deck, but they, because of cost concerns on the
project, they intend to do it in-house and that's why it's not reflected on any of the
plans that they have, because it's not anything that they're going to have a
contractor do. So, we have the word from the County Attorney's office that it is
their intention to in-house landscaping it, landscape it, but we still haven't seen
anything specific on a plan.
Bailey/ So, those are the two contingencies that I would like to indicate that we'd like to
see, is the skywalk design and the landscaping design, um, before we have the
public hearing on the skywalk.
Wright/ I would agree.
Champion/ On the, um, site plan, whatever kind of site plan you have, the parking lot is
what we're talking about, right?
Davidson/ It's a deck. In fact, I think it's two decks over a surface lot.
Champion/ Is there a space between the sidewalk and the parking deck to landscape? I
mean...
Davidson/ There is definitely on the west side, and I believe there is on the north side.
But they east side is, which faces Dubuque Street...
Champion/ Right.
Davidson/ ...is pretty tight, and that's the, particularly there, Connie, is where we
indicated, all right, it doesn't look like you've got room - we understand that.
Why don't you consider use of the City right-of--way, uh, for your screening
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materials, and as long as the City Forester approves them ahead of time, and by
the way, the City Forester indicated that would be okay, but he wanted to review
exactly what they were going to do.
Champion/ And what about the design of the building itself, is it just ugly? (laughter)
Davidson/ The way it was...I would certainly not...not use any term like that. Uh, what
they've indicated to us, Connie, is that they want to continue to emphasize the
architecture of the County Administration Building.. .
Champion/ Oh, okay.
Davidson/ ...and so it is...it is considered architecture that is plainer and will still focus
on the County Admin Building.
O'Donnell/ Plainer than what, Jeff? (laughter)
Davidson/ Than the County Admin Building.
Wright/ That's pretty plain!
Davidson/ I mean (several talking)
Hayek/ Do we have any cost involved in this easement for the skywalk project?
Davidson/ I don't believe so.
Bailey/ It's air space.
Hayek/ Okay, it's just air. We're not paying for any portion of the skywalk.
Davidson/ No, it's just a matter of they're going over our right-of--way.
Bailey/ And there would be, obviously, clearance, of the appropriate amount of clearance
and that sort of thing.
Champion/ I don't...(several talking)...and I don't have any problems with the skywalk.
It's probably a good idea.
Bailey/ Well, but we haven't seen a design either.
Wright/ I'd like to see a design before I'm going to say I don't have a problem.
Champion/ Well, what is art to somebody is not art to somebody else, so that's another
problem.
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Davidson/ You do have a skywalk in town that was designed as art, remember?
O'Donnell/ Yes, we certainly do!
Bailey/ So, I would just like to pull this out and indicate our interests in these, uh,
contingencies so they have aheads-up and have some time to bring those to us
before the public hearing.
O'Donnell/ I don't know how we could possibly even think about approving this, until
we saw a design on it.
Karr/ You're just setting a public hearing.
O'Donnell/ Yes.
Bailey/ Right, and we can indicate that as much, that we probably couldn't approve it
until.. .
O'Donnell/ Absolutely!
Bailey/ Okay.
ITEM 4. CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS
PRESENTED OR AMENDED.
~ Correspondence.
3. Rezoning North Aviation Commerce Park:
5. Panhandling
Karr/ Since we're amending the Consent Calendar, I just wanted to note that you will also
be amending, by deleting f.3 and f.5, out of the correspondence because both of
those deal with public hearings, are items that are on your agenda someplace else.
So we will incorporate f.3, which is the North Aviation Commerce Park into the
rezoning discussion, and we'll incorporate the panhandling into your ordinances.
Bailey/ Okay, thanks. Other agenda items?
ITEM 4d(9) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION FIXING DATE FOR A
MEETING ON THE PROPOSITION OF THE ISSUANCE OF NOT
TO EXCEED $645,000 OF GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS AND
PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION OF NOTICE THEREOF.
Correia/ I had a question about the additions, the one addition to the Consent Calendar
that was...
Bailey/ We have five bonds and then we have one dealing with the Airport.
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Correia/ Oh. The one is in Item 4.d.9, where it says...for $645,000 of General Obligation
bonds and bond proceeds will be used to pay cost of City Hall lower level
remodeling. I thought we had amended General Fund dollars in for that City Hall
lower level remodel.
Helling/ No, I don't think so. The bonds will be retired from the General Fund. But I
don't recall that we were going to spend cash.
Correia/ I remember talking about that at the, when we were discussing that $225,000 or
something for lower.. .
Dilkes/ I think it was discussed, but it wasn't changed. (several talking) It was
discussed, but it was not changed. (several talking) I don't think so. I mean, as
far as L ...the financing was adjusted by Kevin, I think...
Bailey/ I thought...did we talk about spending reserves? Is that what you...
Correial I just remember that we...I thought we had amended.
Bailey/ Okay. Other agenda items?
ITEM 4. CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS
PRESENTED OR AMENDED.
d) Public Hearings.
1. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION SETTING A PUBLIC
HEARING ON AMENDING THE FY2008
OPERATING BUDGET.
Correia/ At the meeting, when we, uh, we're setting a public hearing on amending our
Operating Budget, can we have Kevin come and give us a, uh, presentation on
what we're doing there? What, I mean, because usually we sort of have the
information and then if we have questions for Kevin (mumbled) like to have.
Bailey/ I'm not following your question. I'm sorry. I didn't hear the beginning of it.
Correia/ Um, we're setting a public, or we're...
Bailey/ Item?
Correia/ Uh, d. in the Consent - d.l. - Consider a Resolution Setting a Public Hearing on
Amending our 08 Operating Budget.
Bailey/ Oh, okay.
Helling/ Normally you would...you would discuss those at the public hearing, at the time
of public hearing rather than when you're setting it.
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Correia/ No, no, I don't want to do it now. Right.
Helling/ Oh, he'll be here. Oh, yeah.
Correia/ I guess I'm wondering if at the, uh, we don't usually have a formal presentation
from Kevin on this is what we're amending and.. .
Helling/ We can do that.
Correia/ I just wanted to see if we could that.
ITEM 14. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR
TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST THE FIRST
AMENDMENT TO THE AGREEMENT FOR PRIVATE
REDEVELOPMENT BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA
CITY AND HIERONYMUS SQUARE ASSOCIATES.
Bailey/ Okay. If no other agenda items let's move on to...did anybody have any
questions about Hieronymus Square? Jeff is here, or do you want to just do that
at the meeting itself? Do you.. .
Wright/ Could be either, but I'll just bull in now. Just curious...I actually asked you
about this some conversation, but whether or not there any interest from the hotel
so far in the Hieronymus project. You said you weren't aware of anything - is
that correct?
Bailey/ Right, and the hotel requirement is a best attempt.
Wright/ Right.
Bailey/ Do you know of any interest in...
Davidson/ There...has not been interest in a hotel from an outside developer. I think
that's probably one element of the, uh, project that they're kind of rethinking a
little bit. It's still of their intention to fulfill the obligations of the Conditional
Zoning Agreement, and make a best, uh, best effort to do that, but I think they're
also thinking if that doesn't come off, then what are their other options for that
space.
Wright/ Have they talked about any other options at all? Apartments?
Davidson/ I think...I think apartments, condominiums, or office are the, you know, are
the three things that would logically be part of that. Which one they're focusing
on at this time, Michael, I'm not sure. Remember, the only thing at this time that
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they're asking to do is to push those dates out for a year, the commencement date,
the completion date, and then when the first TIF payment would be.
Bailey/ Any other questions? Okay. Thanks. Um, Council Time.
Council Time:
Volland/ I have something quick. We have proclamations for City High's boys' and
girls' basketball teams, and I'm wondering if there would be interest on Council
in doing one for the University of Iowa wrestling team, as well, for recognition
for their championship?
Karr/ We've got that in the works.
Volland/ Oh, we...thanks, Marian!
Bailey/ Okay.
O'Donnell/ Is there any interest...in revisiting our traffic calming policy?
Champion/ Are you talking about the speed humps on North Dubuque Road?
O'Donnell/ Yeah.
Champion/ Well, they haven't surveyed the neighborhood yet.
O'Donnell/ Oh, I know, but...but before we do that, we have a road that's got eight to ten
houses on it, and is fed into by cul-de-sacs where there's 50, 60 people who will
be effected by this traffic calming, and I wonder if, well, six...five people could
come in and vote this in the positive manner and we could affect everybody on
the block, and I just wonder if we need to revisit that.
Bailey/ But it would be the same all over town. I mean, everybody believes that the
roads that they use, they should be able to weigh in on. Maybe we should just put
speed humps on all of our streets.
O'Donnell/ No, well, I'm afraid that's what it's coming to.
Bailey/ Well (several talking)
O'Donnell/ I'm not okay with that. I mean, the Fire Department has a problem with it.
The, um...
Hayek/ What you're getting at is the, uh, abutting rule, that whether you're counted
towards the percentage to trigger this, uh, depends on your property abutting the
street that would have the speed hump on it.
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O'Donnell/ Right, and...and is that a fair way to do it, when you are addressing, when
you're affecting an additiona150 homes, be it a cul-de-sac.
Bailey/ But every street in the city affects other people in the city.
O'Donnell/ No, this is kind of a unique one.
Dilkes/ I think...I think what you need to decide right now is whether you want to talk
about the issue, and if you do, put it on a subsequent work session.
Bailey/ I'm not interested in (several talking)
Champion/ I'm not interested. So...
O'Donnell/ Nobody's interested? That ends that!
Hayek/ I'm not opposed to talking about it. I don't know what the genesis of that policy
was, you know, why we ended up with that. I can understand why there might be
concerns about expanding it.
O'Donnell/ Sure!
Hayek/ If there's not sufficient interest, I'm not.. .
Bailey/ There's not sufficient interest.
Hayek/ That's fine.
Champion/ Well, aren't...
Bailey/ There's not sufficient interest.
Champion/ ...no, but those speed humps are just...
Bailey/ Yeah, we can't talk about it. Okay. (laughter) John can tell us that if it's
between speed humps and speed bumps. Just for the.. .
Champion/ I'm just asking a simple question! (laughter) I had something else. I forgot
what it was!
Bailey/ You have something?
Champion/ I forgot!
Bailey/ Oh, sorry!
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O'Donnell/ And let's hope there's no chicanery about that! (laughter)
Wilburn/ Presuming that the (several talking) presuming that the, um, legislative session
in Des Moines is over this week, um, Metropolitan Coalition will have a
conference call, a meeting, to just, um, kind of, uh, wrap up, make sure we
understand where each piece of legislation ended or didn't end, and then, uh,
sometime within a month or two after the session closes, we're going to evaluate
the, the...lobbyists that we hired. We're also going to evaluate, uh, just kind of
reflect on the nature of the Coalition, um, what was helpful, what might have been
helpful, where we could have made some improvement in our preparation and our
strategies. So we'll get back to you on that.
Champion/ I know what I wanted to talk about.
Bailey/ Okay.
Champion/ I'm not interested in micro-managing a police department, but I think the
uproar, at least from the phone calls I've gotten about this so many stops per
month sounds like big-city crap to me. And I think it's probably the way it's not
going to be used, but the way it appears to the public is that any of us might be
stopped for absolutely any reason because it's like they have their little tally.
Bailey/ Do you want to put that on a work session?
Champion/ Yes.
Bailey/ Are there other...
Champion/ I mean, I don't know, I mean, do we have...I don't know if we even have the
right to tell the Police Department what to do.
Bailey/ Well, we can talk about it and hear from the Police Chief, correct?
Helling/ You can certainly talk about it. You're getting phone calls. That's probably...
Champion/ Oh!
Bailey/ Are there others who would like to...
Champion/ I'm being stopped on the street.
Hayek/ I haven't gotten a single phone call on the subject. (several talking at once)
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O'Donnell/ I've had several. I think...I really, I don't know that I want to talk about it.
It's something that we can't talk about. And we want to know if we want to put it
on a work session. (several talking)
Bailey/ I think it'd be fine to put it on a work session. I would be willing to do that...one,
two, three, four (several talking)
Correia/ Do we keep data, uh...
Bailey/ Yes, we do, on what kind of...
Correia/ Racial profiling? Okay, so we'd be able to have an analysis after six months of
putting this into place, the demographics of who we're stopping. (several talking)
I would be interested in that.
Wright/ ...also have the reason people were stopped?
Bailey/ Yeah, we keep that data, yeah.
Wright/ It'd be interesting to see, if nothing else.
Correia/ Eleanor has a quizzical look.
Dilkes/ We'll talk about it.
Correia/ Okay.
Helling/ So you don't want to wait six months to talk about this?
Correia/ No. I was just asking if we kept that data so we could evaluate the policy, if
that's what we want, yeah.
Bailey/ Okay, I was going to move on, because we've got...
Correia/ I just want to do a quick, um, the Violence Against Women Task Force is, uh,
wrapping up. We have two more meetings left, um, our expectations at our April
28th meeting that we will have a final set of recommendations that we would be
presenting to the Council on the 29th
Hayek/ Briefly, traffic congestion downtown, uh, Dale and I met with representatives of
the Parking Division, and coming up with a proposal, but the idea is we're going
to talk to the DTA and the Chamber first, get some input, try to address some of
those concerns, and then tee it up for a work session.
Bailey/ Okay. Great, more to come. Janice Frye from the Johnson County Task Force on
Aging has, um, requested...theyhcve had anon-voting member from the Council,
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April 14, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 20
it was Bob Elliott, um, as part of their Task Force, and they have requested
another, that we appoint somebody else to this Task Force. It's anon-voting
member. They meet monthly on the second Monday. If there is interest in doing
this, we'll put it on an agenda, and do it like our other Council appointments, um,
my concern and just asking, it's anon-voting member and I know that we're all
very busy. If there's interest in doing this, we can put it on an agenda. If there's
not interest or we don't think somebody would be interested in serving, I can
indicate to Janice that we won't be appointing this time. Is there interest...in
putting it on an agenda?
O'Donnell/Bob had a lot of free time.
Champion/ Yes! (laughter)
Bailey/ I'm not hearing a lot of interest. I will indicate to Janice that, thank you for the
invitation, but at this time we're not going to be making an appointment to this.
And just keep us in the loop. Um, the last item I have is, it's, um, actually an
invitation that I received for the National Summit of Mayors on Reproductive
Health. I received this basically because of two qualities, um, reproductive health
and reproductive rights are an issue that I've been active in for years, and I
happen to be Mayor of the City of Iowa City. They're not expecting any
representation of the City's role in, on reproductive rights or reproductive health,
and the City wouldn't be expected to pay any expenses for this trip. I asked
Eleanor if there was a conflict of interest, and she sees none. She suggested I
discuss it with you, if you had any concerns about me participating in this in New
York in May, and I would not speak on behalf of the City, but I would speak on
behalf of my own experiences and...
Champion/ You can do anything you want on your own behalf.
Bailey/ But I would be part of the Mayor...the National Summit of Mayors on
Reproductive Health.
Correia/ Fine with me.
Wright/ I don't have a problem with that.
Bailey/ Concerns? Okay. Thank you. All right. Any other Council Time? We talked
about some schedule of pending items. Any questions about the meeting
schedule? Pretty clear. It's six minutes before our formal...
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Council special work session meeting of April 14, 2008.