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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-08-20 Council minutesMINUTES JOINT MEETING August 20, 2008 Page 1 of 5 JOINT MEETING MINUTES -AUGUST 20, 2008 CITY COUNCILS OF IOWA CITY, NORTH LIBERTY AND CORALVILLE; JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS; AND THE IOWA CITY SCHOOL BOARD EMMA J. HARVAT HALL, CITY HALL, 4:30 P.M. CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Bailey called the meeting to order at 4:30 P.M. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS: Iowa City City Council: Bailey, Champion, Correia, Hayek, O'Donnell, Wilburn Staff: City Manager Lombardo, Asst. City Mgr. Helling, City Attorney Dilkes, Planning Director Davidson, JCCOG Executive Director Yapp, City Clerk Karr North Liberty City Council: Kuhl, Chipman, Salm, Donahue Staff: City Administrator Heiar, Asst. City Adm. Mulcahey Coralville City Council: Fausett Staff: City Manager Hayworth Johnson County Board of Supervisors: Harney, Neuzil, Meyers, R. Sullivan Staff: Executive Asst. M. Sullivan, Asst. Planner Busard Iowa City School District Board Members: Fields, Klouda, Cieek, Krumm Staff: School Superintendent Plugge (A complete transcription is available in the City Clerk's office) FLOOD UPDATE FROM ALL ENTITIES: Coralville City Manager Hayworth began the discussion by sharing the estimated flood costs for his city. He noted that they presently have approximately $6.5 million in public assistance estimates. Hayworth added that Coralville is currently working to estimate damage to their various city facilities, including Parks and Transit. They are renting space currently for Transit and are working on long-term plans for these displaced facilities. Hayworth continued, stating that the City of Coralville has purchased ten properties that were damaged by the flood event. He stated that approximately 200 private businesses and approximately 400 households were displaced by this summer's flood. Hayworth then responded to questions regarding the buyout of flooded properties MINUTES JOINT MEETING August 20, 2008 Page 2 of 5 and what the long-term goals are for these areas. In response to questions regarding flooded businesses, Hayworth noted that some businesses would not be able to reopen due to loss of income during the flooding, and also not being able to afford to upgrade after the flood. Iowa City Council Member Connie Champion stated that Iowa City is looking at roughly a $7 million impact from the flooding. She added that she personally hopes the County Board of Supervisors does not drop the property taxes or penalties, as has been suggested, as Iowa City, and undoubtedly Coralville, will need these monies to help pay for damages caused by flooding. Iowa City Council Member Hayek added that the ad hoc committee on which he sat was able to distribute the $75,000 in Economic Development funds to businesses needing assistance in flood clean up. He added that Iowa City had approximately 50 business affected by floodwaters. Iowa City City Manager Lombardo briefly stated that the City is working on gathering as much information as it can regarding flood mitigation measures and possible funding sources, in order to come up with the best possible plan to avoid future flood disasters. Johnson County Board of Supervisors Member Rod Sullivan addressed the gathering, stating that he was at a meeting today with representatives from FEMA. He added that currently Johnson County has 1,485 registrations with FEMA, and that the total requests for public assistance are roughly at $20 million, excluding the University of Iowa requests. Sullivan continued, stating that FEMA has leased 39 mobile home/trailer pads in North Liberty at the Golfview Trailer Court. He shared the FEMA phone number for folks to call if they need housing assistance - 866-274-4392 -stating that people should call this number, even if they are not sure they qualify for housing assistance, and go through the FEMA process. North Liberty Mayor Tom Salm reported that North Liberty was not directly affected by the recent flooding, other than some of their residents possibly losing jobs due to flooded businesses in other towns. He stated that some of the businesses closed due to flooding might be relocating to North Liberty. Iowa City School Board Member Toni Cilek and Iowa City School District Superintendent Lane Plugge noted that this area is much luckier than Cedar Rapids, where flooding and school problems are much larger. She stated that they have approximately 90 students affected by flooding, but that transportation issues have been handled. Johnson County Board of Supervisors Member Terrence Neuzil asked if the cities of Iowa City and Coralville have talked yet about what kind of flood mitigation strategies they may have discussed in light of this year's flooding. Iowa City City Manager Michael Lombardo noted that Iowa City is going to file its Notice of Interest to include all of the flooded homes for a buyout, but that they are currently looking into various flood mitigation strategies, and do plan to speak with Coralville and the University of MINUTES JOINT MEETING August 20, 2008 Page 3 of 5 Iowa once they have more solid plans in mind. Neuzil and Lombard also spoke to the possibility of moving the wastewater treatment plant. Terry Donahue, North Liberty Council Member, asked if anyone knows if the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has reviewed its policies and procedures, and looked at how they can keep something like this from happening again in the future. Lombardo noted that in order to do this, they would need a "sponsor" or a public body to initiate the process to re-examine their policies and procedures, and that Iowa City is looking into this and will let others know what they find out. JOINT COOL CITIES/COUNTY ADVISORY COMMITTEE: R. Sullivan passed out information to the group, prepared by Josh Busard of the JC Planning and Zoning Department, regarding the Cool County/Cool City initiative. He added that the County is at the point where they feel a committee of some sort is needed in order to provide the information they need to proceed. Neuzil noted that this could be a JCCOG or ECICOG function, that representatives from each community and the County are already part of these organizations. Executive Director of JCCOG, John Yapp, spoke briefly to this issue. He noted that the JCCOG Board discussed this issue last fall, and he will note this at next week's meeting. HOSTING AN ICLEI CONFERENCE IN JOHNSON COUNTY: R. Sullivan then spoke to the possibility of having an ICLEI, International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, conference in Johnson County. Josh Busard of the JC Planning and Zoning Department appeared The Committee has asked Johnson County to consider hosting this conference, but R. Sullivan noted that they would want everybody to be on board with this. Iowa City Mayor Bailey asked the group if they would be interested in such a venture. Attendees noted that they need more information before they sign on, but that the concept was a good one. SCHOOL START: FACILITIES & ENROLLMENT: Cilek noted that school started this past Monday. She stated that they are down in enrollment numbers by approximately 90 students, and she asked Plugge to speak further about this. Plugge noted that the number today is 89, but that the final enrollment number isn't until October 1St. He then thanked North Liberty for their expedited handling of the zoning issue for the new school. He briefly shared with the group the enrollment figures at various schools in the area. MUNICIPAL TRANSIT CHANGES: Plugge asked Hayworth to speak to this issue. Hayworth noted that they were able to talk to Senator Harkin about this issue, but that a change maybe forthcoming in the rule regarding school charters. He shared how this change could impact Coralville. MINUTES JOINT MEETING August 20, 2008 Page 4 of 5 Lombardo noted that this change will not affect the east-side loop in Iowa City, but could impact the west-side loop. SAFE SCHOOLS & HEALTHY STUDENT GRANT: Cilek noted that this is a grant the District has received, and she asked Plugge to share the specifics. Plugge noted that this is a $1.2 million a year grant that comes from the Departments of Education and Justice, and will focus on five areas: substance abuse prevention, mental health issues, safe school environments, students behavior, social, emotional learning supports, and early childhood social and emotional learning supports. INDIVIDUAL COMMUNITY UPDATES: North Liberty - Salm gave the group an update on North Liberty projects. He started with the upgrading of the I-380 and Penn Street intersection, noting that they received a USTEP grant to help fund these improvements. He also noted that they are working on the Highway 965 widening plans and ideas, and will continue to do so as this project becomes more of a reality. Salm noted that the RAGBRAI stop in North Liberty was quite successful for them. North Liberty Council Member Gerry Kuhl added that the dedication of the new Clear Creek-Amana School took place recently. He also noted the new wastewater treatment plant in town. Johnson County - R. Sullivan spoke briefly about the new Health and Human Services building under construction. He stated that a tentative move-in date of November 1St is still being planned. The new Secondary Roads/SEATS facility should be open mid- September, according to R. Sullivan. Neuzil stated that on September 3rd the criminal justice coordinating committee will meet again to review their report from Durant. He will let the group know of any further plans for a new justice center. Iowa City -Lombardo shared that he met with his department directors and introduced a tool called "Kolbe" to help in decision making, problem solving, team building, etc., with staff. He also added that he is going to start compiling a "what's happening" type of communication in order to keep information flowing and fresh, especially in light of the busy times they have had with the flooding issues. BETTER WAY FOR UPDATES; DIFFERENT FORMAT; NEWSLETTER: Bailey asked if the group would like to continue these joint meetings, and if anyone has any ideas about better communication, etc., between all of the entities involved. Neuzil stated that he believes the joint meetings are very worthwhile, as did Champion and several others in the group. It was decided to continue quarterly meetings. MINUTES JOINT MEETING August 20, 2008 Page 5 of 5 SCHEDULE NEXT MEETING: The next meeting will be held December 10, 2008, in North Liberty. Members are asked to keep a list of any items they would like to see on future agendas. ADJOURN: The meeting adjourned at 5:50 P.M. Minutes prepared by Karr.