HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-09-09 TranscriptionSeptember 9, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 1
September 9, 2008 Special City Council Work Session 5:30 P.M.
Council Present: Bailey, Champion, Correia, Hayek, O'Donnell, Wilburn (arrived at 5:40
P.M.), Wright
Staff: Karr, Lombardo, Dilkes, O'Brien, Helling, Davidson, Capt. Johnson
Others: Gunn, UISG
Parking and Transit Reorganization:
ITEM 11. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE BUDGETED
POSITIONS IN THE PARHING AND TRANSIT DEPARTMENT
BY DELETING ONE FULL-TIME PARHING MANAGER
POSITION, DELETING ONE FULL-TIME TRANSIT MANAGER
POSITION, AND ADDING ONE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF
PARHING AND TRANSIT POSITION AND AMENDING THE
ADMINISTRATIVE PAY PLAN BY DELETING THE POSITIONS
OF PARHING MANAGER AND TRANSIT MANAGER, GRADE
30, AND ADDING THE POSITION ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF
PARHING AND TRANSIT, GRADE 31.
Bailey/ I see Chris is here. Did you want to give us an overview, Chris?
O'Brien/ Um, I took the acting role of the Director position, or on the July 1St, uh, when
Joe Fowler retired. Um, had some discussions with Michael, um, and we started
looking at the department, um, and I made some proposals, uh, regarding
some...some different changes, um, some minor, some, uh, extremely
complicated. Um, I put them in a memo dated July 28th, which I think was in
your packet. Um, some of the basic ones, um, department name change, um,
rather than Parking and Transit, um, the proposal I had was to change that to
Transportation Services. Kind of a more...a more broad view of what we're
looking to do. Uh, relocation of the customer service operations - I think that's
one that has been kind of a focus for a long time for, um, even prior to this memo.
I was trying to get someone downtown where most of our customers are, for...
especially on the transit end of things. Um, we have the annex in the downtown,
right adjacent to the Old Capitol Mall, which we staffed for a while, uh, with
people from Revenue. Um, there were some cutbacks and that person was one of
the ones that was removed. Um, we do have a customer service representative out
there, very few walk-in...not a whole lot of walk-in traffic, um, as far...and, for
our transit-dependent customers, it's difficult to get out there. So we proposed a,
uh, moving those people to downtown. Uh, emerging of our maintenance
operations. Um, the reason for that is that we have resources in both, that when
things are slow in one area it'd be nice to help out with the other. Um, so we
thought that was, uh, a good move to make. And then the last is, as far as the
management stuff, um, currently we have two division heads, each with three
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September 9, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 2
operation supervisors that report to them. Uh, the proposal is, um, trying to merge
those together so that we have six operations' supervisor... supervisors, I'm sorry,
available to be in the downtown to respond to incidents, to take up different
duties, um, and then to...there's several of the duties that are similar in nature of
both, um, both locations, um, policies, procedures, uh, facility maintenance -
they're all things that...that fall into both locations. Um, and then I'm looking at
the duties, we looked at combining, uh, both division head positions into an
Assistant Director position.
Bailey/ Okay. Questions for Chris?
Wright/ Yeah, I have a question. Chris, I was looking at the job description for the
Associate Director.
O'Brien/ Yes.
Wright/ Which seems very complete, um, but it leaves me to wonder, what's the Director
going to do?
O'Brien/ Um, a lot of these are the same duties. The actual job description was taken,
um, we had done a job reclassification last year actually. It was completed in
July, um, and then we combined both of those. This is a combination of the two,
uh, management positions that were there.
Wright/ Right.
O'Brien/ So we just took those duties, combined them into here, um, a lot of those duties,
um, you know, will fall under the Director position, as well. Um, I think it's like
more of a team management scheme that we're going for. Um.. .
Correia/ It would be good to see the Director job description.
Bailey/ Right. I have those concerns, as well. (several talking) It seems like with the,
um, the direct supervision of six and the size of the department, I don't think that
we typically have Associate Directors in those departments. So it seems a little
bit unprecedented, I mean...you know, I...I always look for value added to
customer service or...or citizen interaction (noise on mic) that's what this would
result in, so...I'd be interested in seeing that and comparing those.
Correia/ I mean, I do like the, I mean, it seems like it creates some efficiencies, and
my...increased confusion, or allow for people to have cross...
O'Brien/ Right. There's some cross-training, um, implications here, and to prevent
people from, um, having to do the same things day in; day out on their side of the
wall, I guess is how I put it in the memo. That informal wall that was built
between the two divisions, um, to kind of streamline those, get communication so
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it's going into one point rather than having two points of...of communication. So
that was another part of it.
Correia/ One other question I have is, when you're saying change the name of the
department to Transportation Services.
O'Brien/ Uh-huh.
Correia) How does that, I mean, I think there's a brand for Iowa City Transit.
O'Brien/ Uh-huh.
Correia/ You know, you hear the commercials on NPR and that sort of thing. Would
that.. .
O'Brien/ Well, and I think again, the Parking and Transit...you start, we're trying to
eliminate the separation of the two, and show them more, I mean, I understand
what you're saying and it, um, it's very applicable. People think transit, they're
going to think...but the number, you know, a lot of our phone numbers will be the
same, um, having all of our operation supervisors as Transportation rather than
Parking or Transit. So people feel they can report to all six, um, rather than
segregating them, and that was the reason for that change.
Bailey/ Other questions? So, six months after, if we move ahead with this change, I
mean, how will you evaluate to see if it's been successful?
O'Brien/ Well, and I think looking to make sure that we have people in .place and that
those positions are necessary, or that the functions that they are performing are
right for the City, for the department itself, um, to see were we missing anything
along those lines, and I think that evaluation will start, um, well before six
months. I think we'll, you know, you get into the three month range, you'll start
to see things as you go quarter to quarter. Um, yeah, after that six months, I
guess, for us it's looking at, are we providing better service to the customer, or did
we somehow, um, drop the ball, um, by combining these resources. Um, I don't
foresee that, especially with the combination of, um, all the supervisors, making
them available to both all the Transit drivers, the cashiers, the parking
enforcement, um, all the things that happen in the downtown, and having multiple
supervisors available for them, rather than just three, that...some are there at 7:00,
some come in at 10:00, some are there late at night, um, so your opportunities to
catch someone maybe, you know, if someone calls in sick, if someone's busy,
you don't have as many people to respond to you. Um, but I think that the big
thing is that six month point, um, like Isaid -did we drop the ball? Did we...did
we miss something when we were putting this proposal together that, um, comes
out to be a red flag and we need to re-evaluate at that point and make some
alterations.
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Bailey/ Do you see any anticipated cost savings in this new configuration?
O'Brien/ Um, we did put some cost savings in, um, we eliminated one division head
position, um, I believes it's in the $50,000 to 80,000 range, depending on where
you place them at. Um, and that was with the Associate Director, the...kind of
the thought behind that was having basically one division head type position
instead of two, um, limits it down to where, like I said, the communication is
streamlined into one, uh, but yeah, there will be some cost savings.
Bailey/ Other questions for Chris?
O'Brien/ And that, just to clarify, that will be divided between, it'll be split, so it'll be I
guess half in the Parking side, half on the Transit side, because currently those
positions would be split. So it'd be kind of half and half.
Bailey/ Okay.
Champion/ I like the idea of the savings. I also like the idea of combing the two. It
seems practical to me to combine the two since the same people are doing the
same situations all the time. I think it's a good plan.
Wright/ I like the idea as well. I...but I really would feel a little more comfortable going
ahead if I could see the job description for the Director, so this is not being
viewed in so much of a vacuum.
Bailey/ Any other discussion?
Hayek/ I assume you guys have (mumbled). Do you have anything to add to this?
Lombardo/ The discussion was, you know, should we move forward now, or uh, you
know, should this concept wait until, you know, I have to do a recruitment or
decide what I'm going to do about the Director's position more permanently. To
me a good idea is a good idea, and you know, we often get kind of, um, perhaps
caught up in process and drag things out. It seems like a very good approach to
me. I like the enhanced customer service, uh, you know, and I do realize that I do
need to do this recruitment and get the position of Director filled permanently,
and I'm committed...I'mfust starting to dust that off and give some thought to
getting that done. So, you know, it should flow together. Perhaps the timing's
not perfect, but I think it's a good, uh, approach; it's a good strategy. Um, if
there's a...if there's a...and so it comes with my recommendation that we
proceed. If there's a...if you all would like to see a little bit more information
about the...the two functions day to day so that you have a better...I mean, the
job descriptions kind of often act as a catch all for the types of duties that you
may perform, but may not constitute the bulk of your day-to-day functioning, and
if you want a little bit more information on...on how these two positions would
differ and...in terms of a day-to-day process, we can provide you that, with the
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additional job description for the Director, and...and hit the next, um, work
session to...you know, to give you one last opportunity, or however many you
feel you need, but to discuss it further. We're not trying to rush this in any way,
shape or form, but I think it's ready to move forward and...and, you know, here to
ask what additional questions do you have and what additional information do
you need to come to a decision on whether you want to proceed or not.
Bailey/ Well, and forme looking at one department, um, that's (mumbled) Associate
Director, sort of looking at the whole organization just seems like something we
don't have in all departments. For example, Public Works, that's a huge
department and I don't think we have an Associate Director. So, how does...how
does the development of an Associate Director set precedent, or...or talk about
how we organize our full organization.
Lombardo/ Well, the responsibility of the Division Directors is...is a lot different than the
Division Directors here, as well, so it, you know, perhaps we can revisit the title
and...and I guess discuss whether Associate Director is really, um, I mean, to me
the titles are...are meant to just kind of provide broad description of what the
duties would encompass, but you know if you look at the water and sewer plant,
and their...the title is more of a Division Director title, but it has a lot more
capacity than...than perhaps a Division Director in other agencies, as well, so it's,
you know, it's tough to compare just on title alone.
Bailey/ Sure. But...
Dilkes/ And on job description. I mean, if I was going to write a job description for the
First Assistant City Attorney, it would be very much like my own.
Bailey/ Well, I think it's, I mean, so would we like to defer this item? To get more
information? Is that the general feeling, or...
Hayek/ I don't need to do that. I'm comfortable supporting this.
Correia/ I'm comfortable supporting it too.
Wilburn/ I'd support (mumbled)
Bailey/ Um, I'm not really comfortable with the Associate Director position, but I guess
I'm in the minority. So...
Hayek/ Well, I mean, I...two things. One, this does collapse three senior positions into
two, um, if you assume that there is X amount of work for those three people,
there will probably be X amount of work for those two people, with maybe some
being pushed down to those six positions, and I guess the second thing is, uh, I...I
view this as within the purview of the City Manager's discretion really. I mean,
and if that's the recommendation, I'm comfortable with supporting that.
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Bailey/ Well, it is, but it's also a policy change, I mean, enough to acknowledge where
we (mumbled) and part of it is a cost issue, forme. I mean, is there...are there
additional cost savings possible, and are there additional customer service benefits
possible if we use those funds...making our administrative, um, our
administrative hierarchy deeper doesn't necessarily enhance customer service.
We're about interacting with citizens, and so that's...that's alot of my just
philosophical sort of concern.
Wilburn/ Can I just put forward...the Council has that concern, that's our policy, that's
our overriding thing, and I see it as the purview of the, uh, of you, Michael, to
given what our concerns would be, to make it work logistically, however
mechanics you want to operate that, but.. .
Lombardo/ I'm...I'm comfortable with the proposal. I'm comfortable with...with the job
title. I think the job description, um, captures the essence of it, um, and...you
know, it's going to vary day-to-day, depending on what I have Chris working on.
We have the St. Pat's property coming online. His, you know, there's going to
be, um, or whomever ultimately is in that position, you know, there are big
projects and it's going to be time shifted away and it'll play more of a director
type role, um, but then there're going to be other, you know, day-to-day, week-to-
week things where you're in a more...just gives us that flexibility. So, I...I think
it's a creative solution, um, I'm content with it the way it is.
Correia/ What I like about (mumbled) one is, I like the bringing customer
service...services to where folks are. I mean, I think that's incredibly important
and, um, you know, at the transit hub, at the downtown interchange, makes a lot
of sense (noise on mic) we have a customer service representative on Riverside,
but not a lot of people come in. I mean, that makes a lot of sense. Move the
person to where people are, and there's applications for parking customers, as
well as transit customers, and that's where I see the benefit of not having silo
approaches, that it is an integrated department. It's one department, um, so it's, I
feel like it's going to streamline, it has the potential to streamline information
sharing both from the...upwards, downwards, um, I mean, increase the efficiency.
So, I mean, I would like to see there be some type of evaluation component,
whether that's in the first six months, some type of customer satisfaction surveys
available for people who are calling, as well as, you know, that we're getting, um,
as well as feedback from staff in those positions, as well.
O'Brien/ Well, and part of the initial discussion when Michael and I first approached this
was that, you know, we're going to have to look at it later, since it is
unchartered...an unchartered area for us, and see how it is working. You know,
not just to keep forcing it, thinking that because we proposed it it has to go
through. So...
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Correia/ And it's not very often that we get proposals that come in saying, `We don't
need a staff person.' A lot of times it's, `We need more staff people,' so I mean I
appreciate the looking at something and saying, `We could do it better with, um,
less people,' in the new format. So...
Wright/ I honestly don't have any problems with the proposal as it sits. I just...such a big
part of my job is writing job descriptions. So I just sort of focus on those.
Champion/ Well, maybe you could write one.
Bailey/ Okay. So shall we move on to the next item then. Commercial vehicle
congestion downtown. I suppose this is you, Chris, as well.
Commercial Vehicle Congestion Downtown (reference IP2):
O'Brien/ Yes, I will, um, I'll give you a brief...you know, this happened...I think we had
this discussion prior. Um, a lot has happened obviously since then that's taken us
away from it. Um...I think this started actually in a Council meeting, this
discussion arose regarding commercial vehicles in the, uh, Dubuque Street,
Washington, Iowa Avenue area loading zones. Um, not loading zone street, um,
what say you, um, we went out, put together some different options, um, in order
to address that issue. Um, went out, um, it was Dale, myself, Matt, Joe at the
time, um, sought feedback from...from some different entities, um, we actually
made a...we had several proposals, limited it down to what we thought was...was
some things that we could propose and have, um, people comment on it and give
us feedback on. We came up with, uh, the memo dated April 10 regarding
downtown parking, uh, and then there's a map that's also, um, on the back where
we kind of gave a visual of what our proposal was. Um, I always find those
easier to work with. Um, so you can visualize what it would look like in the
downtown area. Um, and then it got stalled. Um, like I said, a lot of things
happened in Iowa City in that time, um, and we thought we should address this to,
um, to get it off the plate, so it's not hanging out there, and discuss and see what
the direction was for us, what you would like us to do. Um, other things you
would like us to address, things you'd like us to move forward with, things you
want us to stop...stop looking at, um, and I think that's where we're at with this
right now.
Bailey/ Matt, did you have any comments? This was something that you were working
on.
Hayek/ Yeah. This picked up some steam and then, you know, the floods hit. So we're
picking this back up. Um, we rolled this out, or this proposal out, uh, and had a
meeting with the Chamber and the Downtown Association attended, and...and uh,
the Chamber didn't take a position, per se. They're interested and they want to do
what's reasonable and what makes the most sense for our downtown business
community, and the DTA, uh, as I understand the position, uh, doesn't want any
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change. They don't think there's any problem downtown, and um, they didn't uh,
they decided against countering with a proposal of their own, other than leaving
things completely as is. Um, but our goal, uh, is to address, um, both the real and
perceived congestion issues downtown, and primarily those deal with parking in
the middle of Dubuque Street, um, by commercial vehicles and parking on, um,
other sections of downtown streets that would normally be illegal, but that the
City has informally allowed to occur, uh, one example is, um, on Washington
Street in front of Herteen and Stocker, um, where the sidewalk actually bumps
out, not in, but bumps out and nevertheless, you have cars, you know, double
parking there, with their hazards on. Um, and it has to do with, uh, safety,
especially in areas like Dubuque Street with, um, almost the entire block, um,
blocked by commercial vehicles in the middle of the lane, and what that does to
people crossing the street, um, it also has to do with the flow of traffic, and
Washington Street, which historically was afour-lane road with parking on top of
that has been, over time because of the expansion of sidewalks, reduced to a two-
lane road, um, with parking and when you are parking a commercial vehicle on
that street, double parking a commercial vehicle, you essentially reduce it to one
lane and if somebody's backing a car out of an angled spot, that...that stops it.
Um, so...but I think our overriding goal was to...to, uh, to protect shop owners,
retailers, who on the one hand need their vendors, their suppliers to be able to
access their stores and deliver services and goods, uh, and at the same time, uh,
try to protect as much possible parking for retail shoppers who want to get
downtown. And it's kind of hard to do both, if...if, because those are interests
that sometimes butt up against each other, and the idea with this, um, and I...I,
you know, Chris, I think you get the credit for this, for some of your earlier ideas
because I'm not sure I would have even thought of these things, but I like them.
Um, providing an incentive to commercial vehicles to make their deliveries, uh, at
certain times of the day, not that they can't make them at other times of the day,
but...but, uh, providing them essentially an extra encouragement to...to come in
the mornings, and get a huge swath of parking in the mornings, before the shops
open, and especially before the lunch hour hits. Um, and then also, uh, give them
some additional commercial loading areas throughout the day, beyond that 10:00
A.M. cut-off point, to make it easier for them to park in legal places, as opposed
to illegally but with our passive consent.
Bailey/ Dale, did you...go ahead, Chris.
O'Brien/ Oh, I'm sorry. No, I was just going to say, I think that's something...and I
think one of the things that, um, the other issue we talked about was with
Dubuque Street being a major entry into Iowa City, that site line, once you hit
Iowa Avenue, or even prior to that, of what downtown Iowa City is was a major
factor in us addressing this issue, as well.
Bailey/ Dale, did you have any comments? You were working on this, as well.
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Helling/ Well, I...I guess my main comment would be that this is a problem that we've
addressed many, many times. You have limited parking downtown and you don't
have enough parking to accommodate all the interests, the loading, the unloading,
the patrons' parking, so forth, at the same time so we constantly struggle to try
to...try to balance out those needs, and uh, the latest problem or issue, I guess,
we've had is the parking in the middle of Dubuque Street and the congestion on,
in the 100 block of Washington Street. Well, 100 and 200 blocks, primarily the
100 block, and this is the way we came up with to try to balance that out a little
better. LTh, there...I think that from having spoken with the Downtown
Association folks on a number of occasions, uh, I don't think there's a clear
consensus among even the merchants downtown or...or other folks downtown
that use the downtown about, you know, what the real needs are, uh, so it always
falls back to Council to try to make these balancing decisions, and that's where
we are.
Bailey/ When we talked about this a year and a half ago or something, and we were going
to do some increased enforcement and talking to people and...where did that get
us?
Champion/ We did it for a while. I've kind of given up on it, actually. Um, my...my
whole problem with the parking downtown, and it still hasn't been addressed, is
I've given up on the trucks in the middle of Dubuque Street. I've given up on `em
-let `em come! Just bring my goods, put `em in my store and let me sell `em, but
my problem is that the two commercial loading zones on Iowa Avenue are never
used by commercial vehicles, which means...I'm not going to say never. Rarely.
And yet, they don't use `em even when they're totally empty. So my problem, the
reason I brought this up a year and a half ago is that all the other loading zones in
the downtown, except for the ones on Iowa Avenue, allow anybody to park there
for 15 minutes. And that's why the businesses on Washington and, whatever that
street behind me is -Clinton? Um, don't want that changed, but see I wanted it
changed so the customers that are coming to Dubuque Street can use those
loading zones for 15 minutes, and that's basically the only loading zones in town
for commercial vehicles only. And so all the ones by Herteen and Stocker,
Hands, Austin Burke, those other ones are all...anybody can park there for 15
minutes. That's was my whole point in this thing is that, well, why can't my
customers park on Iowa Avenue, because no...there aren't any beer trucks
parking there, I'll tell ya! It's...it's...that's my whole problem with the parking,
I've given up...there's no other place for them to park. I want people to get their
goods, um, so I don't know. That's still not been addressed on why those are only
commercial vehicles allowed to park there, and...and 99% of the time when I'm
at the store, there's no commercial vehicles parked there. They're all parked in
the middle of Dubuque Street. So let them park there and let other people park in
the commercial zones.
Hayek/ Well, we...I mean, I think everything's on the table. This is not the silver bullet
necessarily. I suppose we could talk about making commercial zones, uh, loading
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zones for everybody, for commercial and non-commercial, but I suspect then
we'd catch flack for not providing space for commercial vehicles when we're
going to cut down on the middle of Dubuque Street commercial parking. I mean,
if you take away here...if you give here, you're going to take away over there.
That's the problem.
Champion/ Well, sure, it's the problem, but they're not using those spaces anyway.
O'Brien/ A lot of the concern on Iowa Avenue, um, to address some of those issues is, all
it takes is one car, one personal vehicle to pull in there, and it ruins it fora 40-foot
vehicle to get, I mean, we observed those spaces religiously, um,
upon...especially on the 100 block of Iowa Avenue, um, the 200 block in front of
Dulcinea. It's a personal vehicle that, you know, that throws a sign up in their
vehicle, which by code, you know, makes it a commercial vehicle. I mean, those
are some of the things we're trying to address is what are the problems. You
know, the problems are trying to get the delivery trucks...
Champion/ So maybe you make them all 15-minute limits, so somebody can't do that. I
mean, merchants do that to themselves all the time. They park in parking places
and just feed the meter all day, and then they wonder why customers can't find a
place to park. I mean, I don't have the answer. I guess I'm...I feel like I've been
discussing this for ten years and we haven't gotten anything different or new, and
I don't know what the answer is. I'm not saying there is an answer. I'm not
saying anybody hasn't done the best they can. I just say, just equalize everything
and leave it alone. It works.
Bailey/ Other thoughts?
Correia/ So, Connie, you say do nothing.
Champion/ Well, L ..do nothing. I just think...if we're going to make commercial
parking zones for anybody to park there for 15 minutes at a time. They're called
loading zones and not commercial loading zones. That they all should be loading
zones for 15 minutes. And that would prevent...this merchant from parking by
Dulcinea all day long because they have a thing in their car window. I mean, I'm
going to get one of those. I don't have one. (mumbled) No, but I mean, I just
think, we keep addressing this. It's been going on since I moved to Iowa City,
which is a long, long time ago. (several talking and laughing) Uh, they were, um,
no! Or big, I mean gigantic, actually.
O'Brien/ One of the other issues, and...and I think we addressed this the last time when
we were here and this started was, you know, we did start enforcing it by the
book, and then we started getting calls saying, okay, stop! Um, it was
from...directed from above myself.
Correial You mean from the City, not from the public?
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O'Brien/ It was from the City, um, it started with merchants who called, people who then
said, look we need to look at this again. So in the meantime let's back off it a
little bit. How about we go to 15 minutes instead of strict enforcement, um, and
then the loading zones, you know, one of the things I proposed was upping that
fine. That $25 fine, if a personal vehicle parks in a loading zone, give `em some
incentive not to park there. Um, stricter rules for what constitutes a commercial
vehicle, um, there's way to approach it without the giving up, you know, and I've
been here seven years in a row now we've had the same discussion, and I
understand the frustration level of the people in the downtown, um, you know, we
have things on the books we can enforce. There maybe some things that need
tweaked, you know, and if we get the go-ahead to do it, which we've done every
time we've been given the go-ahead again, um, and I'm not, you know, I'm not
trying.. .
Wilburn/ He's being polite, and not saying that...
O'Brien/ No, I think what we need to do to address.. .
Wilburn/ ...stuck to a solution.
O'Brien/ ...here on out, the future, how do we want to approach it?
Bailey/ Amy, you had a comment (mumbled) you had a question?
Correia/ Um, oh, well I was just, I mean, I've seen those spaces on Washington, the
loading zones. I don't know if I've ever seen a truck in any of those spaces, and
I've certainly pulled in myself. Do we know how often we ticket people for
staying longer than 15 minutes?
O'Brien/ Yeah, we...our enforcement areas, we've changed to accommodate the loading
zone areas. Our downtown, the number of people we have in the core of what we
call Area 1, which is the major business district. That's where the majority of our
people area because of the loading zones, because of the alleys, to make sure
we're chalking, to make sure we get follow through on the chalks. Um, you
know, there's one commercial zone right there on...on Clinton, at Clinton and
Washington. The rest are, it's a...but it's my understanding that those started off
as commercial zones, and were changed. Um, to accommodate requests, or
whatever. That was well before my time, but...
Correia/ (mumbled) Well, I like the idea of the delivery hours, targeting delivery hours,
and we don't have in here saying the option of you can only deliver between these
hours, but having the...but I wonder if...if we, if we had a similar situation that
you propose on Dubuque Street, where we have 6:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M., that
whole south side or...east side, 6:00 to 10:00. It's before most of the businesses
open, and then those same commercial loading zones that now are not really used
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as commercial on Washington be 6:00 to 10:00 A.M., and then the rest of the time
meters. That would add parking, add metered parking on Washington Street, but
be... starts to be considered commercial loading zones, and we would get.. .
O'Brien/ We actually propose...the area in between those two loading zones, if you look
at a map, is actually proposed delivery hours in between there.
Correia/ Right.
O'Brien/ Um, so we're looking at those two blocks, basically. That was one of Mike's
suggestions, actually, was that the Dubuque Street, um, the meters in front of the
Sports Column and, you know, why not utilize that? That was one of the things
that we...
Correia/ But I'm saying on Washington Street.
O'Brien/ Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you said Iowa Avenue. My mistake.
Correia/ Yeah, on Washington Street, those...have those be metered 10:00 A.M. on to
5:00, commercial 6:00 to 10:00, and then other commercial zones in the other
areas, if you don't see them being used for commercial unloading.
Bailey/ But we do see them being used to a certain degree for commerce, and that's
something we want to...
O'Brien/ Those are heavily utilized, the ones on (several talking) on Washington 100.
Correia/ What type of commerce? I mean, I...
Bailey/ People running in and out of shops.
O'Brien/ People running in and out.
Bailey/ To purchase things. (several talking)
Correia/ Right, isn't that what the metered are for?
Wright/ Why not have short...
Bailey/ Yeah, could we, yeah, could we do short duration meters?
Correia/ 15 or 20-minute meters?
O'Brien/ Yeah, we could certainly look at any of those options.
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Bailey/ Because I don't want to lose that option of, I mean, seriously, if you do need to
run in, um, Post Office, bank, uh, Zephyr Copies, there are all kinds of stores
along there that lend themselves to that dash in.
Correial Why don't we just do 15-minute meters (several talking)
Bailey/ We've all done it! Yeah.
O'Donnell/ I really don't think a 15-minute meter will allow you to do anything. If you
park there (several talking) go into a bank and be the second person in line. When
you come out you're going to have a ticket.
Wright/ Well, it's a 15-minute loading zone right now.
Bailey/ Yeah.
O'Donnell/ It is, it is, and...
Wright/ So let's have it 15-minute metered and be honest about it.
Bailey/ Yeah.
O'Donnell/ L ..I just don't really, you know, it seems like we'd be building our income
with tickets. You know, but I.. .
Bailey/ Well, we already are!
O'Donnell/ ...I don't think that's the plan.
Champion/ I don't object to the way (coughing, unable to hear) I would leave them alone.
People generally honor the 15 minutes and I'm.. .
Bailey/ I actually think those work. I mean, I think those are one thing. The thing that I
don't think is working is this...the, uh, the commercial loading along Washington
that reduces it to one lane, sometimes no lane, as people are backing out of angled
parking, and then the commercial loading in the middle of Dubuque Street. I
think the site line argument is...is accurate. You...you're driving into downtown
and you say, `No, I'm not going to go to Prairie Lights. Forget it.' You know,
it's too congested; I'll never find a place to park. And so you just don't do it, and
we need people coming...I mean, we want people to come.
Champion/ I don't know. I don't think parking (mumbled) being in business right there, I
don't think it affects my business. It affects me personally, because I don't like to
hear the beer trucks running all day, but I don't think it affects my business. I
think people just drive around `em.
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Wright/ It doesn't make a very positive impression though (several talking) Dubuque
Street and you see beer trucks lined up. (several talking)
Champion/ It's part of the Iowa City identity. It's been written about in national
magazines.
Hayek/ I know, but it's also why people avoid downtown and go to places like malls
where they...they know they can park and they're willing to park a half mile
away from the mall, but they'll find a spot, um, so perception, I think, is so
critical, and it becomes reality, uh, so that's why we're looking at it, but one area I
would have some reluctance about is that, is the corner of Washington and
Clinton, which is presently, uh, anyone can load there, and the proposal is to make
it commercial only. I think the rationale behind that was to make up for the loss
of commercial space elsewhere that we're taking away by going this route, uh,
and I understand that, but we may want to consider leaving both, or maybe one, as
general loading zones, uh, to not hurt retailers...
Bailey/ What do you think of the meter idea? Those...short-term meters?
Hayek/ I don't know if it makes a difference or not. I think if you could...I don't know.
I mean, I think that area is heavily policed, um, and so we're getting the violators
already. I don't...
Bailey/ I think people do take it...I think they take the limit fairly seriously, but.. .
Champion/ And if you're going to take away, I mean, do you remember when we decided
to put taxicab stands there? I mean, I wouldn't touch those areas with aten-foot
pole. People like `em the way they are. They're used regularly. They do provide
access to those businesses that don't have a lot of on-street parking there anyway.
I don't know. Are we going to discuss this forever? I say just...
O'Brien/ That was a lot of the feedback we did receive was those two loading zones,
people weren't really supportive of the adjustment to...to commercial only.
Champion/ So I'm suggesting, I'm going back to my original suggestion, they do the
same thing with Iowa Avenue, and let all those businesses along there get the
value of that 15-minute parking, because right now I can tell you, I don't, maybe
there are some commercial vehicles using `em. I don't see them, and
I'm...downtown a lot.
O'Brien/ Well, and that's another area, I'm sorry.
Correia/ Well, I mean, I think the reason why we see trucks on Washington Street during
the middle of the day, loading and unloading, and taking up a lane of traffic is
because there are cars parked in those loading zones. So if you have...if the same
thing happens on Iowa Avenue that anybody can use what's now commercial-
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only loading zones, park for 15 minutes to run into whatever store they want to
run into, we're going to see trucks on the road, on Iowa Avenue.
Champion/ Amy, my whole point is commercial vehicles are not using those loading
zones for unloading.
Correia/ Well, they must be.. .
Champion/ Even if they're going to Brueggers, they don't park in that loading zone.
They park in front of Brueggers.
Correia/ If we took loading off of Dubuque Street they might...start to use those
commercial loading, but not if they can't park in the middle of...right now they
just go around the corner and park down the middle of Dubuque Street. If you
take that away, they'd be forced to use those loading zones.
O'Brien/ Just to...to go back, I'm sorry, that was nice. Go back a little in history. When
we were given the direction to enforce Dubuque Street rigorously, we cleaned it
up in about two weeks. So, if...if things are allowed to...to go through, um, we
can make things, we can change things in how you want downtown. It's just a
matter of direction. What do you want to see?
Correia/ So many people will complain at first, that it's changing, what they usually do,
but after a while, they'll get used to what the new policy is, especially with
enforcement.
Lombardo/ May I recommend a strategy for coming to a decision?
O'Donnell/ Please!
Champion/ Please! (laughter)
Lombardo/ One would be to first, I guess, discuss and...and decide is there an issue here
that needs to be addressed? Is, you know, is the parking in the middle of the...of
the road an issue that we need to correct, and if the answer is yes, then let's talk
about stricter enforcement if that's a favorable, um, approach.
Bailey/ Let's just start with that. How about if we just start with that? Stricter
enforcement on both Washington and Dubuque. And hold to it.
O'Brien/ The thing about Washington, um, the code allows for, basically as long as you
can get vehicle passage through, allows for vehicles to park in a lane of traffic.
Bailey/ Let's change it.
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Champion/ Well, it's the amount of time they park, but I don't think that's necessarily a
problem on Washington.
Wright/ You talking about...
Bailey/ I think Washington is more of a problem.. .
O'Brien/ The 100 block of Washington, right...just past those loading zones?
Wright/ Yeah.
O'Brien/ As you get down by the Post Office and.. .
Bailey/ So, are we in agreement on stricter enforcement, on Dubuque Street, and looking
at this Washington Street, about using a lane?
Champion/ Are we talking about time limit enforcement?
Bailey/ No, we're talking about.. .
O'Brien/ ...about no parking allowed, I think is what we've looking at, in that center
lane.
Bailey/ (several talking) Yeah.
Champion/ Ah, no!
Wright/ You want parking over the center line?
Champion/ Yeah! I don't know where else they're going to park!
Correia/ In the loading zones! That's why we have the loading zones!
O'Donnell/But that's it. You have a car parked there and that just prohibits it. (several
talking)
Bailey/ On Iowa those are commercial loading zones.
Champion/ But they don't have a time limit. So there are commercial people who are not
delivering anything who will park their car there because our law allows you, if I
have a sign on my car that says "Catherine's" I could park there all day long.
Correial So the commercial loading zone on Washington...on Iowa Avenue doesn't say
30-minute limit?
O'Brien/ Yes.
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Correia/ Okay. So there's a...
O'Brien/ There's a 30 minute, and it's acommercial-only zone, to allow for, um, you
know, right now they're going for the path of least resistance. Right now
Dubuque Street, they have multiple places they can, they can walk just around the
corner onto Washington Street with their deliveries.
O'Donnell/ Does anybody use the alleys anymore?
O'Brien/ Yes.
O'Donnell/ I mean, those are...are they still just really congested, you can't get a truck
up `em?
O'Brien/ Well, once again, the problem is it just takes one personal vehicle to muck
things up. Um, yeah, and then a truck will say, okay, I'll just stop here and...
O'DonnelU So if you could better utilize the alleys and maybe start ticketing those
individual cars that park there (several talking)
O'Brien/ You get 15 minutes...
Champion/ Right, but if you get a commercial truck down there, a big truck. What do
you call those big trucks?
O'Donnell/ Trucks.
Champion/ A big truck...the alley is blocked from both ends.
O'Brien/ So what I'm hearing is to address the enforcement issue?
Bailey/ Well, we have a problem, and I've heard people concerned about problems of
parking in the middle of the street, yeah, I think that we have laws on the books
that would address that.
Hayek/ Well, to follow Michael's approach. If...if enough of us agree that parking in the
middle of Dubuque Street and on Washington Street in what I would call a lane of
traffic is a problem, then the next thing is, what do we want to do, and I think step
one could be greater enforcement. We're talking about that, um, but only doing
step one, seems to me, could result in us restricting commercial parking because
we're now making...we're actually saying it's illegal to park in these places, uh,
you know, in the middle of Dubuque and on Washington Street, without softening
the blow, without, uh, providing for some other opportunities for them to park
elsewhere in places that we sanction.
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Bailey/ When you cleaned it up in two weeks, where did they go?
O'Brien/ We got them into the loading zones, and then they moved over to Washington
Street, where...is one of the places where, right.
Bailey/ Right, but I mean, we have that option. The commercial loading zone, and if
we...if we address the Washington Street issue.
Correia/ How are we addressing the Washington Street issue?
Bailey/ Well, it's currently legal to what? Park in a lane of traffic?
O'Brien/ As long as you don't restrict access down that street, we allow parking in...
Correia/ What if...if the loading zones on Washington Street are not commercial-only,
and I understand why we don't want them to be commercial-only if we're
restricting access there, where...and that's where they went. I mean, they need to
go somewhere. So if they can't get to the alley because there's a car parked there,
can we say no cars parked in alleys, and make sure the alleys are always open?
And.. .
O'Brien/ That's what lead to the delivery hour option, give them an option where they
pretty much have free reign in that area, to come in, drop, and go. Um, and then
you open it up to customers who want to come to those places that just received
their deliveries. So that was kind of the essence of that.
Champion/ Can I just make one more comment, then I'm just going to be quiet. You
know, I used to be the biggest bitch about the trucks on Dubuque and
Washington, and the congestion, until I went to a city convention - I won't name
the town -and there wasn't any better, there weren't any people walking, there
weren't any cars, there certainly weren't any delivery trucks, and I came back to
Iowa City and thought, this is really pretty terrific! (laughter) So I've kind of
given up on being...complaining about it. I think it's wonderful we have all this
congestion and people downtown, so that's what totally changed my mind. So
look at it from that standpoint. (laughter) We're lucky to have all this (several
talking and laughing) I know! I said give it up!
O'Donnell/ You have to love parking. Can we go into the center of Dubuque Street and
put a time limit on that, like...like 6:00 to 10:00 or 8:00 to 10:00 or something
like that? The majority of the traffics going to come down to town, I think, after
10:00. If you could have them in the street, and I think you can move a problem.
I don't think you're solving a problem by this. You can move the trucks to, from
Dubuque to Clinton and Washington, but they're just going to be there longer
because it's going to take longer to deliver product. How `bout putting them on
Dubuque Street for a specific hour?
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O'Brien/ Yeah, we can certainly...
O'Donnell/Doesn't that seem to make sense? (several talking)
Correia/ So we currently have an ordinance that doesn't allow parking in the middle of
Dubuque Street?
O'Brien/ The problem we run into with that one is that it's in two lanes, it's...it's across
the center line, and I know that's one of the issues that has been raised. Um, I
guess technically you could pass on either side, um, but once again, once you
cross that center line, I...
Correia/ Right.
O'Brien/ ...I believe that's...
Correia/ The issue isn't so much that we allow parking, delivery parking, down the
middle of Dubuque. It's that it's not allowed but we don't enforce that it's not
allowed.
Bailey/ Right, that's the issue. We don't enforce what we...
Correia/ ...decide we want to allow it and we'll have an ordinance or whatever we have
to do to allow it, and we have a sign for it, or we say enforce the ordinance that
we have, which is what I think we should do. If we have an ordinance, we should
be enforcing the ordinance. If we don't like it, we should change it.
Bailey/ Right. I agree. So I'm all for enforcing.
Correial I think we enforce the ordinance, six months, decide then, do we need to change
the ordinance in our commercial loading zones, and we all have to stick to it and
not call Michael and say, stop having them enforce the ordinance because (several
talking) to me about it.
O'Donnell/ If you're going to do that, you have to patrol the alleys on a regular basis.
Correia/ They do that already!
O'Donnell/ Well, no, we don't, because we've said one car blocks the whole alley.
O'Brien/ No, and it can be in there legally for its 15 minutes. It just takes that one, the
truck goes to pull down...
O'Donnell/ We need to eliminate that. Alleys need to be for commercial deliver, I think.
I mean, we...I think we do have an abundance of business going on downtown
and we're fortunate for that, and I...I just think what we're doing here is
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curtailing the ability to get product to sell. I don't know. I'm in the minority
here, so let's, um, let's...
Bailey/ So, where are we here? Who wants to enforce the current ordinances and see
where we are? It's what I would like to do.
Hayek/ So, before I raise or lower my hand, let me understand. It would just be crack
down on this parking on Washington Street...
Bailey/ See where we are.
Correia/ Not on Washington.
Hayek/ Just Dubuque.
Correia/ Because Washington we allow, our ordinance allows, so we just...
Bailey/ And see what happens with Washington Street, and then...
Hayek/ But...but provide no additional areas, um, or incentives to come in the morning?
Is that what you're saying?
Bailey/ I liked that idea, but I, you know, I didn't see anybody...
Correia/ I like the idea of 6:00 to 10:00 A.M. along Dubuque Street.
Hayek/ What if...
O'Donnell/ Might work.
Hayek/ This is crazy, but what if we said, uh, what if we allowed it in the middle of the
street, and maybe this is what you were saying, Michael, or Mike, uh, 6:00 to
10:00 in the middle of Dubuque. Afterwards, no way.
Correia/ We'd have to change our current ordinance.
O'Brien/ Well, and I think...or we could...everybody could think on it for a while and
we dedicate a different time to it...so, I mean, I know this was sprung on you
and...
Bailey/ Because Connie loves to talk about this.
Champion/ No! I don't want to talk about it anymore!
Lombardo/ I guess...can we agree on what we want to accomplish, with any changes? Is
it the elimination of vehicles parked in the middle of the, of travel lanes.. .
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Bailey/ For me it is.
Lombardo/ And if that's the case then we have certain means to do that (several talking).
Wright/ I think that's...
Bailey/ ...the whole time.
Champion/ Where are they going to park then? Because I mean...deliveries for my store
are not a problem because the UPS guy has a key. All my stuff comes by UPS. If
it comes by American Express, it comes in the afternoon.
O'Donnell/ And he doesn't drive a truck, right?
Champion/ Well, they do, but.. .
Dilkes/ Well, I think it's partly the size of the truck. The way the current ordinance
reads, if you can park close enough to the parking...parked traffic to leave 10 feet
between you and the center line, that's fine. You can do that for 15 minutes.
Problem is with the great big.. .
Bailey/ Beer trucks.
Dilkes/ ...beer trucks who can't do that. Um, so...
O'Brien/ One thing, you can always limit...there's hundreds of options. It's...it's how,
and yeah, Michael said it -what you want to accomplish and then we bring back
here's what we can do.
Bailey/ Elimination of congestion in the middle of the street -that's what I.. .
Dilkes/ Well, then we're down to two questions. Do you want to do it, do you want to
eliminate that parking in the middle of the street all the time, or just at certain
hours of the day?
O'Donnell/ Certain hours of the day to me makes sense.
Bailey/ All the time.
Champion/ Has there ever been an accident recorded there? I don't think so.
Hayek/ Yeah, there was almost one on Friday, and...
Champion/ Almost!
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Hayek/ Enough that I shoved my wife and baby out of the way and jumped on the hood
of a car.
Champion/ Sorry `bout that!
Hayek/ About 20 feet from your place, Connie. So.. .
O'Donnell/ Well, it goes back to you have to allow people to get their product to sell
downtown, and I...I like the idea of...of letting them park 6:00 to 10:00, and then
you have a clear street the balance of the day. I think that will work.
Dilkes/ Okay. Let's see some hands. What are we talking about then? Who wants to do
it all the time? Who wants to do it 6:00 to 10:00? (several talking)
Bailey/ I just want to enforce our ordinance. (several talking)
Dilkes/ Well, then that's all the time.
Bailey/ Yes. That's what I want. (several talking)
Dilkes/ Four of you want to do that? (several talking) It doesn't matter. Just one person
(several talking)
Bailey/ Four.
Dilkes/ Okay.
Bailey/ Four or five minutes ago...there were four now. Thank you, Chris.
O'Brien/ Thank you.
O'Donnell/ Thank you.
Bailey/ Uh, Community planning initiative -Michael? (several talking)
Community Planning Initiative:
Lombardo/ Yeah, my intention is not to back away from that, unless you decide to
change the ordinance. So, we'll enforce it vigorously. Um...
Champion/ Are we going to warn people ahead of time?
Lombardo/ Yeah, we'll...we'll work out a strategy for, uh, that. Uh, I'm passing out...I
put together some notes, um, to kind of discuss...we've been discussing some
time, uh, the, you know, the prospects of a retreat to, and I've been building this
on the premise that we were going to engage in, or desire to engage in a broader
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community based planning initiative, strategic planning initiative. And, um, I
want to make sure that we're all on the same page and that we can enter into the
October 4th, uh, event with...with agreement and acceptance of what we want to
accomplish in that there is broad support for a broader community based planning
initiative, and so I...this two pager kind of captures, uh, I think the highlights, and
then I guess I can walk through that, and then entertain questions, and I guess I
need some reassurance that I'm heading in the right direction and that we're
utilizing the October 4ch day in a manner that you all agree to and find acceptable
and will help us along our way. So, the...based on a lot of just kind of
preliminary discussions, um, you know, the purpose for engaging in this broader
initiative is to provide an opportunity for a broad cross section of Iowa City
residents to, uh, to participate in an initiative to frame and define kind of who we
are, what we aspire to be, um, and then flush out some details in terms of how we
get there. iJh, it's to develop consensus, it's to identify shortcomings, roadblocks,
challenges, and...and identify, uh, a clear and definable method for overcoming
them. Um, it's a process to identify clear and achievable goals, and the strategies
for achieving them, and specific action plans. The last thing I want to see come
out of this is a document that sits on a shelf, and say look at what we did, but not
really what we accomplished. So, any effort that...that I envision us going into
would have to come apart with, it would clearly define action plans, who's
responsible, who are our partners in achieving these specific goals, and how do
we go about accomplishing them, and we do in a very measurable, definable
space and time, and we have a means for evaluating that, based on data and...and
information that we collect throughout the year. A byproduct of this effort I see
as being the ability for us to evaluate our policy codes, our organizational
structure for that matter, to ensure that the services that we deliver and the manner
in which we deliver them are...are furthering, uh, our objectives under this
initiative in this broad, uh, strategic plan that we've developed. Uh, it's an ability
to, or provides the ability to allocate resources in a purposeful way, gives us the
basis to begin to look at performance-based budgeting, and how we allocate
resources, and what we want to try and achieve in terms of outcomes, and then the
mechanisms for measuring that will be built into it, and then, uh, the ability to
track progress towards those desired outcomes and develop a framework for
broader community-based discussions. Um, the way I envision the October 4th,
and I call it retreat, and it's probably unlike any retreat you've ever engaged in,
and so maybe that's not the proper terminology. This is not a swat analysis. This
is not ahalf--day or a day where we sit in a room and identify our strengths and
come away with some short-term goals. We can do that, but to me the real
substance, the real meat, is to get at this broader community-based vision, and
then talk about how do we...what do we need to do to mobilize, and the
community as a whole, to accomplish that vision. Um, and so it's not a swat
analysis. I think we have a good understanding of our strengths. We can flush
more of that out and that will come into play, um, throughout the broader
initiative, but the October 4th retreat is really meant to have an opportunity for, uh,
City Council Members and Department Directors, um, and...and um, Dale and I
and Marian and Eleanor are trying to figure out where we fit into that scheme, but
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we'll be participants, as well. Um, but you know, to develop a common and
broader and deeper meaning, or understanding, of...of this broader initiative that
we want to engage in. To start really framing the substance of what this event
will look like, um, what the desired outcomes will be, and then, uh, to set the
stage for working with a develop to design the process to get at that. Um, it's
meant to prepare all of us for our respective roles in the broader initiative, um, to
provide a conceptual framework for how to proceed and move forward, um, and
then meant to be more of an orientation to lay the groundwork for this broader
planning initiative. So not...not developing, uh, goals, but to set the stage for this
broader initiative, uh, that will allow us...excuse me...to set goals, but with a very
large amount of community input, um, from a broad cross section of people, and
um, and we can define how much of that we want to see and how we're going to
go about that, and who the players are that we want to see come to the table to
help us in that endeavor. Um, the...some of the ideas, uh, and I'm working with a
facilitator and I'll get to that in a minute, but um, it's really meant to...the
context, uh, to engage interactive dialogue about our aspirations for the City and
how do we frame a process to begin to address those, um, aspirations, uh, it's
meant to provide, uh, alignment across the system. So all our departments, uh,
engage in the community and the not-for-profit sector, the business sector,
individual residents, um, and then, uh, to discuss desired outcomes, so that
the...the process can be tailored and fine-tuned to...to make sure that we are
endeavoring towards those outcomes. Um, some of the questions, and the Mayor
and I chatted about this briefly, perhaps not so briefly, is how does this fit with
other planning initiatives? We're engaged in a cooperative effort with the City of
Coralville and the University, is it, you know, is this a replication of efforts? Is it
duplicity or...or can they co-exist together, um, I think the planning initiatives
that are going on now, if you want to call it a planning initiative, really are meant
to focus on very specific things and very specific deliverables, very specific...a
response to certain needs. So with the river corridor, how do we envision, uh,
future flood mitigation, very specific projects, and how do we open up the river
perhaps for, um, passive recreational use or linear parks and trails, those types of
things, uh, they're project-driven, not conceptual or philosophically driven like
this broader initiative would be. Um, so I think they can co-exist quite nicely, uh,
and then the...the gate valve, or the check and balances, as you do this broader
planning initiative, you begin to assess some of these other more project-based
initiatives, and how do they square, do they get us further in this cause or not.
Um, there's also some discussion with ICMA and the...uh, Cedar Rapids
and...and the corridor to develop a longer term recovery or economic
development strategy, but focused on...the concept right now is focused on the
next generation of business and industry and workforce development, help get us
there, so it's more cutting edge stuff, it's more um, breathing life into this corridor
concept, um, but...but specifically as a unit or a community we need to...to spend
time on our own strategic initiative, and...and I see them as complimentary, not,
um, duplicative. Um, the affordable housing study, the downtown niche analysis,
again, I think these address very specific unmet needs in the community, um, this
community based planning initiative would provide an overarching framework
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then to evaluate how do we go about achieving, uh, or, um, approaching a
solution to these unmet needs. So I think they work together, um, one of the
conversations we had today in a conference call with ICMA and an observation
that was made, um, not sure if it was somebody from, uh, from the or if it
was Jim Prosser that, you know, the concern about, uh, planning fatigue, um, I
can appreciate that. We have a lot of people working on a lot of initiatives, but I
think more than ever, and perhaps the history of this municipality, and perhaps
this state, we need to work on a lot of parallel fronts to develop broad strategies
for...for elevating us above this event, and preparing us for the future, um, I think
now is the time that you do burn the late night oil and you do this hard work, and
you set the framework for how to respond in years to come, um, and...and like
the ICMA initiative, they would likely lead the event. We would play a support
role in providing data information, but...but it's working with them to do more of
the nitty-gritty work, um, we've yet to...to discuss and really get our arms around
the coordinated effort with the University and Coralville. Um, certainly that's
going to likely involve more of our staff time in our own initiative, but I think this
could, you know, we can time this to fit in nicely with that. I don't see that as
being a problem. Um.. .
Bailey/ You didn't mention the comp plan, talk about how, um, strategic plans in cities
also relate (both talking) probably our most active.. .
Lombardo/ Sure, and quite frankly, the...after, if we do accomplish this, you know, there
maybe some needed updates to that comp plan, and I don't know when it was last
revised. But...but this provides the overarching umbrella for all of the comp
plans, the neighborhood plans, the...the Central District, you know, the
revitalization plans, they all get, uh, evaluated under this broad vision for the
community that we've all developed together, and...and the questions that get
asked are do they further us in accomplishing that vision or not, or you know, do
we have to modify these initiatives, these plans, to...to help steer us in a much
different direction. So, they all, they are all inter-related, but without defining
that broad community-based vision, I don't know how they would fit, if they
would need additional work or...or updating or not. That's something to discover
towards the back end of this process. Um, so should I stop there and ask for some
questions, or...uh, we can talk about...
Bailey/ Questions? You just hit `em with a lot of stuff.
Lombardo/ It's a lot!
Champion/ I most definitely need a facilitator.
Hayek/ So we...we would not engage in discussions on any particular item, project or
substantive item, whether it's economic development or housing or anything else
on this retreat, we would instead be focused on the process we want to follow to
engage the community in this...
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Lombardo/ No, I think that there would be opportunity for identifying you know, some of
the broader, um, aspirations. If economic development is, you know, I think we
can discuss in broad terms how important that is in terms of our priorities and
our...our need for attention, but...but to, you know, not develop the strategy or
how, you know, how does that square in terms of broad community priorities. I
think we can identify it as something that we need to elevate in terms of
discussion through this broader process, um, but not necessarily develop the
strategy for solving that. We can identify it as an issue that needs to be engaged,
much like affordable housing and some other key issues. Um...and then you run
that against the litmus test of the community forums that we would hold, um,
but...you know, I think the...that's a discussion that you have with the facilitator
in terms of how do we walk that line.
Wilburn/ I think given that overall broad strategy for purpose, I think in particular it
would be helpful to have the department heads there, in with Council and the
three of you, um, for the purposes of I think perhaps greater buy-in, um...this
isn't strategic planning, but I've always felt that if you're going to do your
strategic planning, the folks that are actually going to implement the plan need to
be in on the, uh, in on the discussion, and it can create an opportunity for, um,
when you were talking about, uh, I guess the...for lack of a better term, the all of
the streams moving in a uniform direction, towards whatever that broader vision
or purpose is, um, something may come up in one department that, uh, as part of
the discussion with the Council there, that ,uh, may be able to sync better or more
effectively, um, with those folks present. But otherwise I think it'd be fine.
Lombardo/ This is bold new territory for the City. We've not done acommunity-based
strategic planning initiative on this...this scope before, and so it's a lot of
unchartered ground and I can appreciate that there maybe some uncertainty about
what is this going to entail and where's it going to bring us, um, and you know,
the communities that have done this and have done it well, I think really begin to
focus and really, you know, the sense of identity and how do we further that kind
of broad mission. I think it's there. I think a lot of the components are already
there, but this gives us the platform for really refining it, and bringing it into focus
and saying, `This is what we need to do as a community, and here are the players
and how we need to bring this, you know, further down the road.'
Wright/ I think it seems like a really good opportunity to pull all the different threads that
we have dangling out there together and weave them into something. This'll give
us a process and the way to begin to focus.
Hayek/ So what is the flood, post-flood mitigation package relative to this, I mean, on the
backside of the memo it seems like it's separate. Um, and maybe that's a good
thing.
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Lombardo/ Yeah, I mean, my thoughts on...were you talking about the neighborhoods in
particular? In the, or about just the river corridor and reconceptualizing what
happens down there?
Hayek/ Both. I mean, we're partway down the track on the first issue and just starting on
the second, and the second really has much more, I guess for lack of a better word
- opportunity because there are probably a hundred things we could consider
doing and would need to talk about.
Lombardo/ I guess again those are very much project or, you know, the focus is on...is
different than the broader, you know, at some point they do gel and come
together, um, but...but you know, the response to the neighborhoods and
response, I mean, to trying to assist people in rebuilding their lives and I don't
know that, you know, you have to evaluate how to proceed in that regard, based
on the broader kind of vision for a city, um, and...
Bailey/ Other questions or comments? Okay, so are we in agreement that this is the way
we'll proceed? On the October 4t"...can you give us some hours so we can...
Lombardo/ We have blocked off Saturday the 4th. It's going to be about four or five
hours. I can...
Bailey/ So what times?
Lombardo/ Um, well, what time would you like to get started?
Bailey/ What time would you all like to get started?
O'Donnell/ Some reasonable time, like 12:00. (several talking) At what time?
Champion/ 8:00.
O'Donnell/ That's not reasonable.
Bailey/ Pick a time.
O'Donnell/ It's Saturday.
Bailey/ How `bout 9:00?
O'Donnell/ That's good.
Bailey/ How `bout 9:00?
Lombardo/ And what I'll do is I'll...
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Bailey/ 9:00 to 2:00? 9:00 to 3:00?
Lombardo/ ...I'll refine the agenda and get more specifics to you in preparation for that,
and we'll refine the time, but plan around 9:00 to 2:00, give or take.
Bailey/ And you will find a facilitator?
Lombardo/ Yes. Well, you know, there are different ways to approach this, um, we could
do a broad RFP based on a scope of service, um, I typically advocate for that. I
wouldn't in this instance. This, you know, and I've talked to several firms and
facilitators, um, I would ask that, you know, I'm trying to cultivate somebody that
I think is a very good fit with this community. We have the ability to do this
under our procurement code, and I think finding someone who's willing to tailor a
process to our specific needs and what we want to see come out of it is a very
good thing, as opposed to many firms who come in with a very cookie cutter
approach. Um, and lead you through a process and say `Here's what you get.'
Um, I've found someone who, um, who has a, I think it would be a great fit and
would do what we would want, and that is to tailor an event to...to meet the
desired outcomes. What I propose is that we go through the October 4th session
with this particular facilitator, and then decide is it, do we all agree, is it a good
fit, do we like how things are shaping up, before we launch into an event. We can
make some additional kind of discussions at that time of whether or not we're
ready to proceed.
Bailey/ If we want...if we go through the October 4tn with this particular facilitator, I
think it might be helpful to see then a, if we feel the fit is good, to see a proposal
from that person about how they would, how they heard we would like to
proceed, and then how they would envision proceeding. Would that be possible?
Lombardo/ Absolutely. This would be, this would culminate in a proposal for a process
that you would all have to approve, because the dollar amount is likely to be
above my ability to approve it, and.. .
Bailey/ Talk about the dollar amount so people aren't, don't have sticker shock.
Lombardo/ Um, the range, depending on what we're hoping to accomplish is right now
somewhere between $50,000 and $80,000, um, plus, you know, meeting expenses
and...and um, so in that realm, um, I will say, uh, for cities this size I have seen
events cost $100,000 to $150,000 and upwards. It really depends on how much
and how often you want to engage the community, and we can discuss that on the
4th, um, to fit this to something you all feel very comfortable with.
Bailey/ Okay, are we comfortable proceeding in this way?
Champion/ Yes, I think it's a really good thing to do, and long overdue. (several
responding)
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Bailey/ Thank you. Um, shall we just do agenda items when we do the agenda at the
meeting? Okay.
Agenda Items:
ITEM 8. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 9, ENTITLED
"MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC," CHAPTER 1 AND
CHAPTER 6 TO ALLOW ELECTRIC PERSONAL ASSISTIVE
MOBILITY DEVICES TO BE OPERATED ON THE SIDEWALK
AND TO REQUIRE OPERATORS TO YIELD THE RIGHT OF
WAY TO PEDESTRIANS. (FIRST CONSIDERATION)
Dilkes/ Could we talk just briefly about segways? I've got Matt Johnson here from the
Police Department.
Bailey/ ...not going to be here for the meeting?
Dilkes/ That had not been the plan, but I suppose he can be.
Bailey/ Oh, I wasn't aware of that. Okay.
Dilkes/ Well, agenda items was on the work session agenda.
Bailey/ Right. I just figured since we were collapsing this tonight. Shall we talk about
segways?
Dilkes/ Let me...let me just give you a little bit of background of where we got here.
Um, under the State Code, segways can be on the sidewalks. Um, cities can
prohibit them from being on the sidewalks. Um, the City ordinance currently in a
technical reading would define a segway as a motor vehicle and therefore prohibit
it on the sidewalks. My interest in...initially in doing this ordinance was simply
to clean up that glitch, because given the passage of the State Code, subsequent to
when the City code was drafted, and the fact that, um, nobody thought about
segways when the City code was drafted. We certainly would enforce that in its
present condition. So, the way, the ordinance in front of you, um...
Bailey/ And we got a handout tonight. I just want to point...
Dilkes/ Yeah, you got a handout tonight. The ordinance in front of you, um, would
change that definition of motor vehicles so that's not a glitch, so it would allow
segways on the sidewalk. The one I handed out tonight did, does prohibit
segways in the Central Business District downtown. That seemed consistent with
our prohibition of bicycles on the sidewalks downtown. So that's what you have
in front of you. And Matt's here to answer any questions you have about...
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Bailey/ Any questions for Matt?
Dilkes/ ...segways and safety and...things like that.
O'Donnell/Matt, how fast do the segways go?
Johnson/ By code, um, by definition in the code, a segway would be any vehicle with a
maximum speed, traveling on a level, paved surface, with a passenger of 175
pounds, maximum speed of 20 miles per hour.
Champion/ They don't really go any faster than a wheelchair.
Wright/ Oh yes they do. (several talking) Yeah, segways, standard speed of a segway is
about 10 to 12 miles an hour.
O'Donnell/ I really...I really don't have a problem with this. They're not in the
downtown business district and uh, you know, other sidewalks, I just really don't
see a problem with this. I think (several talking) creative way to get around.
What's that?
Wilburn/ Um, I was just going to say the speed limit on trails is 20...is it 15 or 20? I
can't remember, if we have one.
Bailey/ Do we have any other, not discussion items, but questions for Matt since he's
here?
Hayek/ Well, what else do we regulate on sidewalks? We regulate bicycles downtown.
Dilkes/ Downtown. (several talking)
Hayek/ Outside of downtown, do we regulate anything that's not a motor vehicle?
Johnson/ On certain streets, uh, operation of a skateboard is prohibited. Others it's
permitted, and there's a laundry list of streets where that occurs. I just think for
consistencies sake, it makes sense to...to bring our ordinance into sync with State
Code, but I also think we need to be mindful of...of our special circumstances.
For instance, the busyness of our downtown and the number of pedestrians that
we have in the Central Business District. I think marrying these two may not be
a...a good marriage, but, um, as for the segway itself, and as was pointed out in
the media, correctly, that we are one of the owners of a segway, uh, the time for
more frequent use of this type of vehicle, I think, is at hand for a variety of
reasons. Um, so I think it needs to be addressed in some fashion.
Dilkes/ Someone can ride their bicycle at any speed on all sidewalks outside of
downtown.
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Bailey/ Other questions for Matt?
Hayek/ So is the PD comfortable with this proposed, uh, ordinance?
Johnson/ Yes.
Hayek/ Okay.
O'Donnell/ I just don't have a problem with it.
Wright/ (mumbled)
Bailey/ Any other questions for Matt?
ITEM 9. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 6, ENTITLED
"PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY," TO DECLARE ADDITIONAL
AREAS AS NONSMOHING PLACES AND TITLE 3, ENTITLED
"CITY FINANCES, TAXATION AND FEES," TO INCREASE THE
FINE FOR LITTERING IN CITY PLAZA. (SECOND
CONSIDERATION)
Correia/ Well, actually, since we're doing agenda items and we have smoking on the
agenda items, I wanted to ask about is smoking, the no smoking ordinance in the
downtown, that there had been some comments made in the media by Police
Department, um, saying that there would be no Police Department enforcement of
no smoking. I'm just wondering, in our downtown area, if there were officers,
you know, patrolling during the Friday Night Concert, I would want a police
officer to observe somebody smoking to say, `You can't smoke here,' I mean, so I
was wanting to clear up...I know we don't want to direct police officer to go out
and find people who are smoking, but in the case...situation where you would
come upon somebody smoking in a no-smoking area during regular course of
doing business.
Johnson/ I think the manner that we addressed that is the key, um, and it may have to do
with the definition of enforcement. Our perspective on the new ordinance was
that our objective first and foremost would be to provide education to those in
violation, and that would mean identifying to them that they were in an area
where smoking was prohibited, that their requirement, their mandate, was to
extinguish the smoking material and um, not persist with that.
Correia/ Right.
Johnson/ Obviously, there are options available to officers should it come to that. Rarely
would it, or has it. So I don't think it was a blanket, `Naw, we're not going to do
that.'
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Correia/ Okay.
Johnson/ I think the tack was, let's educate. I think there's a good argument to be made
that people are aware of the ordinance, or the code, but um, on the other hand, I
don't think reinforcing that as a first step, um, causes you to fail. So...
Correia/ So, police officers would if they're on the Pedestrian Mall and see someone
smoking in a no smoking area, would go up to the person, say put out your
cigarette.
Johnson/ I would certainly hope that would be the case, and that would be consistent with
the message that has been projected, pursuant to the passage of that code.
Correia/ Okay, so that's something that police officers would get information on these are
the no smoking areas in our downtown and during the parade and during...okay.
Johnson/ Right.
Bailey/ All right. Thanks, Matt. Thanks for being here. Um, information packet
discussion -any burning, pressing items? Why don't we just do council time at
the meeting. Um, I have one question with schedule of pending discussion items.
Schedule of Pending Discussion Items:
Bailey/ We've had on this list that housing task force report, and my question for Council
is, shall we wait until the JCCOG task force convenes and comes up with some
recommendations, or shall we take this on before that? What's the preference?
O'Donnell/ Wait for the recommendation.
Correia/ Well, I also think there's a value in having a parallel discussion, because I think
I'm the representative from Iowa City, and I think what...there's a sense of the
individuals going to JCCOG with information about what their, the jurisdiction
that they're representing, is interested in doing. So it would be sort of, I mean, I
think it would be a complimentary process.
Bailey/ So, you're suggesting that we schedule in among Council so we can give, provide
you direction for this task force? Other.. .
Wright/ I agree. (mumbled)
Bailey/ Okay, all right. So we'll make sure that it gets scheduled on a work session.
When, um, is the task force meeting next? Do you know? Just let us know.
Okay. But we'll get it on our work session. Thank you.
Upcoming Community Events/Council Invitations:
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Bailey/ Um, upcoming community events. I did want to, um, point out that, and perhaps
most of you received this -the Mark Twain Elementary playground dedication,
the ribbon cutting, um, is next Friday, September 19t", and I will not be able to
attend, but I think it would be terrific if we would have somebody there. It's at
12:45.
Wright/ I'm going to be out of town.
Champion/ I' 11 go.
Bailey/ Okay. (several talking and laughing) RSVP and just let her know. Thank you,
Connie. Thank you, you should go, and um, does anybody else have any, um, of
those kinds of community events or Council invitations?
Karr/ Michael, do you wish to talk about the Parks and Rec? Invitation? The park tour,
or the Master Plan? Or do you want to wait until the formal?
Lombardo/ I'm drawing a blank on terms of the date and all, there's a memo and there's
mention (both talking)
Bailey/ ...Monday...
Lombardo/ ...um, 8th. (several talking)
Karr/ And then the Master Plan.
Bailey/ On October 8th, at Parks and Rec.
Karr/ And we just need to know if there is a majority of you interested or potentially
going, we'll post it as a meeting, or...
Bailey/ Monday. (several talking)
Karr/ October 8th. It's a Wednesday.
Bailey/ Do we have to know that now?
Karr/ Not.. .
Bailey/ How `bout the 15th though, that's next week? The Parks tour next week, the 15th,
if there are four of us going we have to post it as an open meeting. Will there be
four of us going? (several responding)
Lombardo/ Would...would you like us to tape that event so that, for those unable to
attend? (several talking) Okay.
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Bailey/ On the 8t", will people just check their calendars and let Marian know, so we
know whether to post...well, that's (mumbled)
Karr/ Right, but if it's a joint meeting with Council (both talking)
Bailey/ Okay, any other, um, meeting schedule? Okay. All right. Let's take a break.
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