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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-02-03 TranscriptionFebruary 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 1 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session 7:12 PM Council: Nov, Kubby, Lehman, Norton, Thomberry. Baker & Vanderhoef (7:30 PM). Staff: Atkins, Helling, Karr, Trueblood, O'Neil, Shank, Yucuis, Craig, Kopping. Tapes: 97-22, all; 97-23, all. Council Meetinv Schedule 97-22 S1 Nov/ ....Wednesday, 19th... in the afternoon ....Do you mean Tuesday or do you mean Wednesday. Thomberry/...third one down under plus. Karr/It is the same February 19 as above, Wednesday. Nov/I would prefer the evening on that one. How about Thursday morning, 13th, 9:30? Kubby/Everyone said they could. Nov/ Kubby/Can we have these on Channel 4 again? Nov/Yeah, we can do it on the character generator. Kubby/I mean that they would be here to tape our conversation. Nov/To tape both of them? I was thinking just the one in the evening. Kubby/It matters what we are talking about... public is highly interested... when it has to .do with the shooting of Eric Shaw and policies and training and further questions. That we need to be consistent and make that accessible .... Nov/We will find out .... Kubby/So we need to put that request in. Karr/So we have just the two meetings? Nov/Does anybody else feel like we need to put in more than two? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 2 Kubby/It depends on what we continue to discuss. Norton/We had better pick up a back up date I would say .... a rain date. Lehman/Personally I think... two meeting dates .... Council/(Schedule discussion): February 13, Thursday morning, 10:00 AM February 19, Wednesday evening, 7:00 PM February 20, Thursday morning, 10:00 AM Karr/I will revise the schedule. Nov/Okay .... Thornberry/ Boards and Commissions 97-22 Sl LIBRARY BOARD Charles Traw/I am president of the Iowa City Board of Trustees at the Library. And I am here to thank you for your assistance in the past, present and future and answer an questions you have about our proposed budget ..... major difference in format... in capital improvements ....roof needs to be replaced, HVAC system .... carpeting is worn out .... Lehman/Chuck, we had this meeting last week with Monson .... they presented five options for lot 64 .... I think it is going to be very difficult to pass a bond issue .... I really believe that we need to replace the roof, heating and air conditioning, the carpet .... add the 8,000 square feet that we can... give us the time to evaluate and perhaps pursue... Option 1 I love .... I thought that was a very very good option. I really think from the library's standpoint, we need to do something now. Kubby/We have all agreed to the roof and the heating and air conditioning system .... I didn't realize that was a question. Lehman/I think we need to add the 8,000 square feet. Norton/ .... just have to pass the budget and regard it as tentative and take another look in mid-March .... At that point we will have to go back to the drawing board and fix this depending on what we learn and decide at that point. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 3 Lehman/ Norton/This part is rather more tentative. Lehman/I think we need to have a commitment to the library .... I assume it is going to be a tough time passing a bond issue .... in the interim the library should have as much space as we can possibly provide for that library. I think adding that 8,000 square feet is a reasonable legitimate thing to do ....sorts of things we should be doing anyway. Nov/If we are going to build a new building, let's not worry about that 8,000 square feet first. Let's worry about it next .... Lehman/Obviously I don't have a consensus. Traw/ ....I haven't even seen the options to be honest .... Thomberry/I think it is imperative that we get the roof fixed ....So the roof needs to be fixed now. Can the HVAC be fixed? .... Traw/The contractor that we have had maintaining... this system is at life's end as it is .... most of it is shot. Thornberry/How old is the system? Traw/17 years. Kubby/I am looking at our budget, page 91 and there is a big discrepancy between what the department requested for capital outlay and what the city manager has proposed. It is... between $5-600, 000. Do you know what was requested that was not passed on .... ? Susan Craig/The reason for that is we requested the full funding for each of the items needed and the City Manager and the Finance Director selling bonds for that and paying it back over time. So you see the $75,000 payments somewhere here. Under principal, under capital outlay, it is listed as principal, $75,000. The way they are including this in the budget is to sell bonds and pay it back. Kubby/ This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 4 Thornberry/Question on $336,400 for two books and materials. Craig/The reason it says two is because we budget on two budget lines for that. One that says adult books and one is children's books and materials. We actually add about 25,000 items to the library's collection each year. Norton/I would like to ask a question about a computer project .... Is that one designed to be compatible with a variety of futures? Craig/Absolutely... timing is right... systems of the future .... with the same vendor... sof~ware upgrades ....began with in 1978. We think it is time to take a look at the market... new things ....do a systematic search of the market place before we make a major investment in a computer that is getting too small and outdated ..... Norton/Start to put the list together .... Craig/And any system that we would purchase would be able to be moved... to a new building... enough capacity to add terminals and work stations to .... Thornberry/I can see the roof, the HVAC. I can't really see the carpeting until we know if the bond issue passes .... Norton/ Thornberry/I think if the bond issue doesn't pass, then I could go ahead an pop for the new carpet. Kubby/Is the CIP those three things? Atkins/Yes. Thornberry/When does it go to the voters? Norton/We don't know yet. Lehman/Seems to me that there is certainly the chance ..... the bond issue will not pass. Nov/ Lehman/I believe that if we are interested in the library, that we need to look at expansion of that library .... That we add that 8,000 square feet .... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 5 Norton/We can do that in mid-March .... I think even the roof repair ....depends a little bit on what you are going to do with expanding that second floor .... I think all of it is kind of tentative... mid-March.. realities... Craig/The best time to do the roof repair is in the fall .... Thornberry/ Craig/There are special pads that they walk to the air handling units on .... We have been told not to walk out there when it is below zero or over a certain temperature. Thornberry/ Kubby/ Nov/Back to the HVAC. I wonder if there is anyway we can keep the library warmer in the winter. It has been miserable .... Can you control that in some way? .... Craig/You can approve a new building .... design of the doors .... We do put those screens up to baffle the cold air in the winter time and part of the HVAC working would be to do some significant things around the entry way to that door to keep the cold air out .... Nov/I know all about that design flaw. Craig/And we do use energy management guidelines... Nov/If you could do something with those doors, it would be a big help. Trau/ ....thank you. AIRPORT COMMISSION Nov/Moving on. Airport Commission. Howard Horan/Chair of the Airport Commission and thanks for your continued support. We had one specific concern over the budget after it made it through administration. We had requested $29,500 in contracted improvements .... on the roof and overall exterior rehabilitation of the shop building which is leased by our FBO .... Right now the situation isn't critical. What we will do instead- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 6 Atkins/Howard, we recommended that. $29,500. Horan/Under Admin. Budget, I have zero. Atkins/It was shiRed to CIP ....you got it, it is in the budget. Horan/Thank you for your continued support .... We will spend that money... architectural services, we have budgeted $10,000 and as we are able, we will ask that survey to include the shop building as well as the terminal. So we will have a clearer and sharper focus on what to do about the shop building. Do you have any questions? Kubby/ ....tell me about this half-time person in Treasury. A cashier in treasury that is devoted half-time to the Airport. I don't get it. Yucuis/It is not in the CIP .... There are several names that are not in the correct spots and we have picked those out and those will be corrected in the final. The half-time position is there but it is not a cashier treasurer. Kubby/What is it? Horan/He is at the airport and he helps with maintenance and he helps with snow removal and grass cutting .... Kubby/That makes more sense .... Horan/Thank you. HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION Pat Harvey/Chair of the HR Commission. I would like to also acknowledge other members of the commission that are here tonight .... Diane Martin will be speaking to you ....Jan Warren .....loan Jehle ....Ann Shires ....Key issue in the budget this year... last year we asked for approval of an additional full time investigator and a half time position was approved. This year we ask again that you approve the budget recommendation to add a half time HR investigator position .... Two major complaints... 1-the slow pace at which we process cases and 2- lack of interaction or involvement in community education .... cases, we are continuing the process them... making sure that we review the cases... team decisions in a very expeditious manner. I think a lot of the major credit also goes to the current coordinator... Ms. Shanks .... productive individual .... Other credit belongs to you... Ms. Carolyn has already proven herself to be a key addition to the staff.... We are making strides, too, with community involvement and education .... The This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February $, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 7 commission as been offering more public forums than ever before .... training sessions... more member representation on other community activities .... It is very exciting... I think the justifications for the need for a full time investigator certainly haven't diminished. In case processing... still have 55 outstanding cases as of February 1 .... 2.5 new cases files each month .... Norton/Does that include housing cases that you are now going to pick up or have you started that yet? Harvey/We have not started that yet. That is on board for 1997 approval this year .... Nor does this take into consideration phone calls and the length of time those take .... We are just logging what we are processing .... Community involvement we are increasing ....trying to juggle things as best as we can ....I think we have made great strides ....I stress to you that this is truly based on our current responsibilities and activities as they are today. Ms. Martin is going to comment on behalf of the commission .... the other concerns that we have relative to staff duties .... Diane Martin/Commissioner. As Pat has said, we are asking for the financing of a full time position to assist in the current work of the HR Commission ..... my concern .... consideration of asking staff that works currently with the HR Commission to perhaps be intake for complaints that might be lodged with the proposed PCRB. I think that our numbers indicate that we currently have a full time load with what is being handled ..... concern with compatibility... our work revolves around the ordinance and that is what our mission states .... In the annual report .... the amount of time that Heather spends currently with calls and part of what she is doing is educating the public on the ordinance. Lehman/I don't think... complaints to the PCRB will be handled through this commission at all. Kubby/But it was talked about... That has not been finalized. Lehman/I heard no support for that. Norton/ Nov/The comment was made but it is not going to be in the ordinance that way. Martin/That was our concern. We have all we can handle at this point .... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 8 Kubby/One of my concerns... glad.we have some HUD money to do the housing discrimination work. But that is not really going to help you take care of those 55 outstanding cases .... Really you are still going .to be in the same boat in terms of the backlog .... Trying to figure out how can we make our current half time person full time and to hire a half time HUD housing person .... I am talking about an additional half time to what we are currently talking about .... Baker/We are going to go to a full time. Norton/ Kubby/But that new half time position is with HUD money and their time is to be targeted for housing discrimination .... Heather Shank/HUD is up in the air right now because of a new administration ..... a lot of the key people have lef~ HUD. So everything is sort of in a state of flux. Cedar Rapids recently .... revised their ordinance... equivalent to the Fair Housing Amendments Act. They received $100,000 to start .... However that is not guaranteed that we will receive the same amount because everything is currently being changed. From what I understand .... that person could only do housing complaints .... that person is limited to do housing complaints... Norton/In your case, where have the housing cases been going up to now? Shank/To the state. Norton/And do we have a count?... Shank/There were like 21 from 1992 total .... Norton/... so there is some hope .... Kubby/If the HUD money ..... allows them to work on other cases .... Shank/I am going to try to discuss it with HUD again to find out what exactly the restrictions will be on the money. I do believe we need to have our ordinance substantially equivalent to the Fair Housing Amendments Act .... Baker/I thought that we had agreed to a full time position... HUD .... Norton/ This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 9 Lehman/What Karen mentioned... this is for housing only? Kubby/ Nov/It is theoretical at this point that we will get the HUD money .... budget does include another half time position and if 1/4 of that position if paid with HUD money .... that amount of time would have to be devoted to housing. Kubby/Steve... in the budget... half time is 100% funded by HUD? Atkins/Yes. Kubby/ ....We would have to come up with that money .... Atkins/I am not sure exactly how it is going to end up working... Heather's observation is a correct one. That ..... Heather and her staff would investigate housing complaints and we would have some sort of a charge back system .... charge it against some HUD funds. The other side is that the early HUD initiative was that they gave you a lump sun of money and said you are now on your own. How it is going to shake out now, I simply don't know. Kubby/ .... I want us to not only do housing discrimination investigation .... but I want us to get those backlog cases moving .... I am not sure that what we are talking about is going to do it. Norton/It is not in the budget right now .... Baker Lehman/ ....We really need to clean these up. Kubby/We need to keep this on our list of alive issues for further discussion. Baker/I would like to see it full time and if the HUD money develops, we can do- Kubby/Helpful to me... there was a chart about how we compare with other communities and how many cases we have and if we could add this half time to it... still in the bottom three or four. That would be helpful to me .... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 10 Shank/We can update that chart for you .... HUD... they will, I believe pay $1,500 for every resolution in a housing case. I think that is pretty set ....the start up money, the $100,000. That is not set. Lehman/Heather... extremely positive .... If we add this half time person, is that going to enable us to start to get rid of these backlog of cases that we are talking about? Thomberry/ Nov/We have made good progress. Lehman/I think it is important that we do this. Shank/I agree .... I will give you an example. Cynthia Riley was a temporary employee and she worked full time with my office ..... more than full time .... we did not get through the backlog. Having Ms. Carolyn full time is only going to bring me back to the position that I was in when there was a temporary employee working full time. I don't imagine huge leaps and bounds in the case load .... Lehman/I think Karen's concern is a very valid one. We really need to clean up the backlog and we need to stay as current as we possibly can. How close can we do that by adding a half time person? Shank/I don't think we can .... In order to clean up the backlog and get close- get to the point where I feel comfortable ....We would have to add an additional full time person. Thornberry/I can see doing that to catch up a backlog on a temporary basis .... Shank/That person would have to be an attorney. Thornberry/ Kubby/Unless that person gets shifted to community education. Thornberry/If we can get caught up with all the cases with two people, then next year we don't really need three people. Kubby/ ....there are other missions and charges .... Norton/Budgetwise we really need to get serious. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 11 Thomberry/ ....if we can get caught up in a year .... Shank/The more you talk I get all excited in my heart ..... Kubby/ .... Question .... It was stated that the HR Commission had reviewed police policies and I have never seen that in the bylaws or read it in the minutes ..... Shank/Alison Ames Galstad is sending you a letter regarding the statement that was made on Saturday and the HR Commission's input but Pat also was there. Pat Harvey/That was when I had first started on the Commission and Alison will probably have more details since she was a more experienced commissioner at that time .... a few brief meetings... Police Chief.... asked us to look at it based on the way it was written in terms of discriminatory language .... Certainly it was not based on content because what would we know about validated policies and procedures of the police force. So it was in that context that we were asked to take a look at it .... Brief review .... Kubby/ Thomberry/I have a question .... those of a protected category. Protected ~category from Human Rights. Harvey/Or protected classes. Thomberry/It was protected category .... Who are the people in these protected categories? Is a WASP in a protected category? Harvey/Protected category such as age, gender, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation. Those are considered examples of protected classes. Thornberry/ Kubby The HR Ordinance lists the whole- Council/(All talking). Kubby/You are not one. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 12 Thomberry/Why not? Don't I have human rights? ....It was presented as human rights protected categories. Shank/Allow me to run through them. Age, color, creed, disability, marital status, race, religion, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity. Kubby/ Shank/There are several categories .... Thomberry/ Council/(All talking). Lehman/Heather, you have asked for one more person than we have allowed for in the budget. Is it possible for us to use outside help from other attorneys to clear up this case lead without hiring a full time additional city employee? Shank/No, I don't believe so... conflict ....It would be very expensive if they go on their hourly rate. Lehman/Dean's point, if we could clear this up.. within a year ....spend a little extra money on outside help .... Harvey/We have more era charge on this commission than just the backlogging .... We are asking for a half time add to staff.... The other charges that we have in terms of community involvement and community activity ....That is the other part besides the case lead .... Shank/I think he is talking about adding a third person. Norton/You are asking for a half time person and you are getting a half time person but out of HUD resources. Shank/I think the HUD issue needs to be completely divorced from what we are asking. Norton/ Kubby/In our budget that has been presented, it is HUD money that is paying for that half time. So if we want to do either a half time or a full time additional, that comes from the general fund. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February $, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 13 Shank/Correct. Kubby/Tonight is really just to discuss these issues ....It should be when we come back .... Shank/ Nov/Heather, you did at one point hire a temporary person and this is not impossible .... Harvey/ .... the length of time it takes to get an investigator up to speed needs to be considered, too. Kubby/Carolyn .... Shank/I think she would really like to...doing a great job. Thomberry/We need to get these cases caught up. HERITAGE TREES. Nov/Heritage Trees. Kate Klaus/I act as the project designer for Heritage Trees and I didn't get an invitation .... until late Friday .... care and protection of trees... Start by passing this handout... gives you our purpose statement... tells you what our purpose is... how we sort of mean to go on .... Talk about our activities this year .... spent money.. last year .... We have been working like beavers. To start off with... one of our main functions is dissemination to the public of information about trees... Heritage trees in the urban forest of the Iowa City area .... Johnson County Fair- CHANGE TAPE TO 97-22 SIDE 2 Klaus/ We gave away 1000s of pieces of material about trees .... Forestry Extension Service... Trees Forever .... We also were invited .... Project Green Fair ..... They have invited us to be at the Green Fair again .... leaf guide printed .... We are hoping to get ...into school system .... targeting 5th and 6th graders .... Our main activity .... tree search warrants ....response to this has been sort of overwhelming ....Between 175-180 big trees ....Because of this ....we were going to start a registry of trees to try to get all of these trees on a map somehow .... Here is our working draf~ .... This is at two pages now .... There will be a third page like this .... Johnson County... large map of Iowa City.. trees will all be numbered .... So that people can go see these trees .... inform people .... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 14 Kubby/This would be great to add this to our Sensitive Areas Map .... GIS. Klaus/ That would be great. It tums out the largest fiver birch in the state is down in City Park .... We were going to try and make these maps topographical .... good source of information .... That is where we are fight now .... also going to be restocking the places around town that we had stock last year... tree walks.. spending some money.. to put out a full color poster of the top ten trees .... actually the most beautiful specimens that were entered in this contest .... We are also in the next month .... we will be sending them a list .... recognition... Nov/Who is going to be the judge? .... Klaus/ We will duke it out .... steering committee .... checking out what was entered was accurate ....Other posters will be sold at a nominal sum to help us get a little income ....For next year... computer programmer... finishing entering the data .... disks will be available... What we want to do is we really feel we have to start the tree survey and platting of all the trees in Manville Heights .... necessary... (refers to map) .... Here is what we want to do, Manville Heights and City Park .... probably the most heavily wooded .... We could stretch it over two growing seasons... more complex... these surveys were greatly facilitated by the existence of neighborhood organizations .... There is no neighborhood association in Manville Heights .... Kubby/What is the request and where is it in here? ....What are we talking about? Atkins/ ....We do not have anything in the budget. Klaus/We would like to be in your budget again. The request .... I figure we are going to need $1,000 to $1,500 for materials .... and for paper costs .... To hire the arborist we are going to need $8- to $12- and we are looking into- $8,000 to $12,000. Nov/ Kubby/How was the arborist paid for by the previous survey? Klaus/This was from our original grant .... $5,000 from the USDA. Baker/How much did we approve last year? Atkins/I think $3- I don't recall an official request coming in, Kate. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 15 Klaus/I haven't requested anything officially. I didn't even know about this meeting until late Friday. Atkins/I meant from the budget. Klaus/No, we weren't notified about that either. Kubby/This is really the first time .... Klaus/We were given $3,000 last year and I think we are going to need $12,000 to $13,000 minimum over a two year period and we will have maybe some lef~ from this year. Norton/Over the next two years. Klaus/ .... all the labor is volunteer .... We are looking into some percentage of the REAP Funds... for next year for preservation work ....looking into that... other ways to try to get extra public and private funding .... Nov/Thanks .... Parks and Recreation Commission. Matt Pacha/Chair of the P/R Commission. I believe you had a letter. I will be brief.... moment to read that front cover page .... answer any questions that you might have. Kubby/If you have 28,000 hours of temporary part time help d.t., who is going to supervise them? Pacha/There in lies the problem... supervision.. only from full time. Kubby/ Pacha/I think one of the things is there are going to have to be limited to very simple tasks which is emptying the trash and so on .... Trueblood/We don't have 28,000 hours. Kubby/2,800 hours. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 16 Trueblood/2,800 additional hours. The total is 7,400 of temporary. Kubby/I am talking about these 2,800 new temporary hours for the CBD .... who supervises these people. Trueblood/Part of that additional 2,800 hours is to expand the season... with the current schedule .... supervised by full time employees .... The other sizable number was requested to put on a late agternoon, evening, weekend crew and that crew also... that full time position would supervise that evening crew. Kubby/... who would supervise them? Tmeblood/We would have to do one of two things. We would either have to forget about the evening crew or we would have to hope that we would be able to hire temporary personnel that could work without full time supervision .... Kubby/Thank you. Nov/ Baker/I thought I had a sense of the council from previous meetings that we wanted the full time position .... Kubby/I also want to know when we do all of these things, where is the money going to come from .... ? We need to challenge ourselves if we are going to say yes- Nov/We need to also consider all the extra soccer fields that are going to have to be mowed this year. We may need somebody out there .... Kubby/... increased 55% our parks... provide more long term maintenance for our increasing parks inventory .... I feel like we have an obligation in that direction .... We really need to talk about it. Nov/Some of these additional acres... are very low maintenance .... The soccer complex is going to be high maintenance. Pacha/There is some maintenance involved with the trails .... projections in there for new acquisitions of park land as well which come into play. Norton/ This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 17 Thornberry/I will say it, don't forget privatization. We don't necessarily have to hire more employees for a particular job ..... companies can do that. You can get contracts .... Baker/ Lehman/ ....This council has said on a number of occasions ....We have a commitment to d.t ....We have appointed this committee ....Uppermost is our housekeeping d.t .... We could do a better job .... See to it that d.t. Iowa City is as important as we say it is .... I think we need a commitment to see to it that we keep It up. Norton/There may be more than one way to do it. Lehman/ Nov/We need to think hard about that. Our one experience with contracting was not highly successful. Kubby/ Lehman/ Norton/ Nov/We will think about it. Kubby/ ....sense of the commission, if they have to choose between a full time person for the CBD versus parks, what the commission's priorities would be7 Pacha] I can only speculate .... Norton/ Thornberry/I would just assume see a full time person d.t ..... Nov/It needs more than a maintenance cleaner .... It is possible to design the new equipment or whatever with a lower maintenance .... Thornberry/The d.t. clean up has been better. It is still not great .... Sycamore does their own, Pepperwood Mall does their own .... They do do their own... they look considerably better than our d.t. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997' Council Budget Session page 18 Lehman/I come to work... in the morning, our folks are out there... they get it cleaned up... Our folks work hard. They do a good job down there. Kubby/Level of activity. Norton/We have tO look for other ways to finance it .... this enhanced clean up. Nov/We are going to have to think hard about it. Is there anything else you want to add? Pacha/No. Thanks for your time. Nov/Thank you. SENIOR CENTER COMMISSION. Nov/Senior Center Commission. We haven't said no or yes. We have always said we are thinking about it. Terri Miller/I am from the Senior Center Commission and I wanted to just start out by thanking you all for funding in the past .... The Senior Center is an important part of the community .... The key item that is in our budget for the upcoming year is to renovate the controls of the HVAC system. The system was renovated when... in '97... There have been a lot of changes... system is quite old... H.R Green Company came in and did a study and made some recommendations... to bring it up to par... so the heating and cooling would be more regulated .... Lehman/That is in our proposed budget, is it not? Miller/Yes, it is. That is the major item that is in there... If there are any questions that you have... We are not asking for additional staff this year... But we will be back. Lehman/You guys do a great job. Norton/You got good advice on your computer request? Miller/I believe so, yes. The current computers are Macintosh and they are getting old... Linda Kopping/We have also talked with a variety of people... Gray Cohn and Barb Coffey, Kevin O'Malley .... Norton/We look at overall budget and there is $650,000 in this years city budget for computers .... Humongous item .... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 19 Kopping/The reason ours is so high is the seven computers... are all networked together. So we are unable to replace one at a time .... We have to do the whole thing at one time .... They should interact with the city and we will be able to rely on city support services. Thornberry/ Nov/ Kubby/There is a minus $5,000 in the capital outlay on page 92... chairs. So someone is giving us money to get chairs. What is that minus $5,000? Yucuis/It is actually a mistake. It applies to the $5,000 below it. The $5,000 just below it should have been netted out. So none of that should have been printed. The work station and the task chairs were approve for now, this FY. So we took them out of FY98. The grand total. is right. Kubby/There is $ 100,000 some under capital outlay in terms of expenditures total. Is that in the CIP? Atkins/Yes, the HVAC is $100,000. Nov/Thank you. Kubby/ .... she says they are trying to reassign duties and see how a new management system is working, how people are using their time .... good process. Nov/CVB .... Kubby/We also have people from Arts Fest, Jazz Fest and- Nov/Well, they talked to us already... Kubby/They are here tonight. Nov/You have given us your spiel. CVB Wendy Ford/Just browse through these while I am talking .... Executive Director of the CVB .... I would like to thank Dee Vanderhoeffor her laisonship to our Board, to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 20 Naomi for her continued assistance... recognize the Board members... Brad Kraut, Fran Jensen, Peggy Slaughter and Vicki Lensing is here today on our behalf.... We have realized... why dollars should be spent on promoting tourism, that we haven't explained enough of the mechanics of how we do what we do at the CVB .... value of Hotel/Motel Tax dollars being re-invested in marketing the area to overnight visitors .... The cities have been collecting Hotel/Motel Tax for 15 years now .... clear understanding of what we do .... Annual report... 12,000 delegates came to our area .... Those are just the meetings that we assisted with .... also read that we hosted 78 motor tours overnight .... How we work with area attractions and hotels to get meetings and group tours .... The Bureau focuses marketing efforts on two primary targets, the group tour market and the meeting and convention market... we decide who... we might influence to come to the Iowa City area ....the CVB has a membership in two national associations of group tour operators ....We attend the national conventions of those organizations... schedule appointments with member tour operators .... Everyone, tour operators, destination markers, hoteliers .... At those appointments I talk briefly about our attractions and how we could package... tours... I also do some prospecting .... We market on what we have... location... 1-80 and Avenue of the Saints .... We also are in the center of three of our state's favorite attractions .... Hoover and Kalona and Amana Colonies. And finally .... that what we have to offer right here in river city. It takes promotion of all the area .... Follow up to these appointments is critical. (Refers to handout folder) .... New Iowa City Coralville Group Tour Manual .... promoting our agricultural attractions .... There is still room to do more marketing .... direct mail .... We service the group... personalized itineraries of area attractions .... provide a free guided tour of the area onboard a motor coach .... if dining or overnighting in the area .... cooperative trade show and convention .... promote the entire area of giving .... regional strength .... Our other big market is the meetings and conventions market .... We are members of an organization, two organizations... professional meeting planners ....We also publish... a meeting planners guide ....(Refers to Handout-blue tap) ....bid sheet... Iowa Tourism Conference ....memo that I sent to all the convention hosting hotels in Iowa City and Coralville to get on board .... meeting planer... ask that the CVB compile everything .... Sometimes we even need to do a dog and pony show .... The Iowa Tourism Conference is coming to d.t. Iowa City in 1988, that is 275 delegates in the tourism industry .... The CVB worked closely with the Holiday Inn and also IMU to work a schedule .... that worked well for the State of Iowa ....CVB is the link between those organizations that makes things like that happen ....Those are out two markets, the group travel and meeting and convention markets. But there are thousands of other people who are influenced to come to the Iowa city area by the information they receive in the Iowa City and Coralville Visitors Guide .... print This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 21 Guide .... print 100,000 of these guides .... Midwest Living Magazine... netted over 7,000 requests along this year. Kubby/Do you track that? .... Ford/Yes .... Well, I have illustrated some of our marketing strategies and given you samples of what we do to lure overnight visitors to Iowa city .... Our no-interest loan program has provided seed money .... In 18 months we have loaned $25,000 to these organizations to help them... use and re-use this money for organizations to be able to provide visitor attractions for us .... We could do more... we need to do more .... The CVB is the only marketing department for the city that can influence the number of heads we get on those tax generating pillows in the hotels .... revenues from Hotel Tax are rising slightly .... We hope you will agree and support the Bureau to the fullest extent. Nov/Thank you. Kubby/This the third year in the row that it has been proposed that we take the money for some of the local festivals from that 25% of the Hotel/Motel Tax and each year we have said .... we will work on figuring this out differently .... I apologize for that .... I hope that if we make that intention again this year... that we need- Lehman/We need to do what we say we are going to do. Kubby/That we fulfill that commitment. Ford/ ....Vanderhoef.... she held out hand... get discussions going early. Somehow something didn't happen there. Kubby/ ....or figure out another way to deal with local festivals .... Nov/We have the option. We can redistribute Hotel/Motel Tax with a simple resolution any day .... Norton/ .... tax based on overnight stays... Visitors for a day are also visitors and also contribute something to vitality and the economy .... logic that has led me .... make some possible readjustments .... got to come from somewhere .... Ford/One of the things that we.do is now advertise in print within a less than an overnight stay .... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 22 Norton/ ....hard to say in terms of their contribution. Thornberry/Remember where this money comes from, the Hotel/Motel Tax. Norton/I understand .... Thomberry/ ....secondary properties, are all of the Hotel and Motels in town listed? CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 97-23 SIDE 1 Ford/That upon request, would provide the rates and any special amenities .... In general we have a meeting planners guide which will list more of a range ....They are certainly all in the Visitors Guide... Norton/ Baker/Have any thoughts about the drop in Hotel/Motel use? Ford/ No, not exactly. Were are working as hard as we have ever worked... competition is much greater .... Baker/Extraneous forces .... Ford/We are getting new attractions everyday... largest river birch in Iowa. We can promote that .... In all honesty, we have probably one of the best markets in Iowa... numbers are down across the board .... Brad Kraut/There seems to be a misconception that the hotel industry is fantastic in Iowa City. It is not bad, it is not good, it is okay. The problem... we am not seeing any growth... We can't compete with inflation alone .... Indicators that I use... hotel occupancy for the area. You will see in 1993... citywide occupancy was 63%; '94 it was 62%; '95 it was 63.7%and '96 it was 62.1%. Thomberry/ Kraut/I get these numbers from Smith Travel Research... Baker/Has them been an increase in the number of rooms available? Kraut/There has not been an increase in the number of rooms .... We have raised our rates .... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 23 Nov/Didn't they add more rooms ....? Kraut/A small number. Baker/Are you saying we don't need anymore hotel rooms? Kraut/No, we don't need anymore hotel rooms in town. What we need is more marketing and better marketing ....Hotel Tax dollar designed to bring people to spend money in hotels and cities ....completely and exclusively marketing dollars. Thornberry/These are percentages of average. Kraut/Percentages of occupancies. Thomberry/ .... on an annual basis. Lehman/ ....What is the occupancy rate of the Holiday Inn ofd.t.? Kraut/I choose not to answer that. It is similar to what you have got right here. Lehman/ ....successful operation ....talk to me privately sometime .... Kraut/We work very hard .... Revenue per available room. That is how many rooms are out there and how many dollars we get back for those rooms that are out there... '93, the area, Iowa City and Coralville... area rev par was $34 .... '96- $35. So the hotels are bringing in more overall... We have made up for the lost rooms by raising our rates and the CVB does what they can to sell the rooms .... One thing... investment that you make... into CVB. You need to look at that as an investment... in advertising and marketing and brings you back many dollars ....by increasing the taxes to bring visitors to town. Nov/We are going to take a break. Council/(All talking). Atkins/Fran or Wendy. Do we ever hear anymore whether the University is willing to pay the Hotel/Motel Tax? Ford/ This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 24 Kubby/Wendy, you should come to the mic- Atkind Ford/It is a state law that the state cannot contribute. Arkins/I didn't know that. Ford/They are exempt from- All state owned hotels are exempt from collecting the Hotel/Motel Tax and Tom Kept with the IMU has tried every which way he can to try to make that happen .... get some legislation change... They have contributed more in kind and in other ways. Atkins/How do they approve their room rates? Ford/The state? The IMU? Atkins/Is that a local decision? Why don't you just bump the room rate and don't call it a tax? ..... If they also want to participate activity in all the things that Wendy and Fran do, it would be nice is they were to throw a buck this way. Fran Jensen/ .... follow up on what Wendy has been talking about... three perspectives... I am currently the president of the CVB and I also... owners of Highland Inn and Country Inn here in Iowa City and 3- native of Iowa City who cares very deeply about the past, present and future... greatest place to live, work and play .... The Bureau has grown a great deal in past five years... increased visitors walk in traffic by 33%. 1996 the Bureau greeted 10,474 visitors .... aggressive placement of advertisement... generated 1,158 phone calls and 8,000 requests for mailings about the area ....We have built a very strong volunteer program ....Occupancy percentages for the area... we had a 62.1% occupancy rate .... That is not a good rate ....It could be better. There is a great deal of opportunity for growth in this city ....Your Iowa City hotels have their own marketing departments .... The City of Iowa City marketing department as being the CVB .... to entice meeting planners .... tour groups... If we could increase our percentage of occupancy by just 5% .... the Bureau would add $126,000 of Hotel/Motel Tax to the city's coffers .... economic impact .... We would all win from an increased occupancy rate in this area .... How do we make this a reality? We have to give the CVB the tools that they need to make this happen for the community .... The CVB cannot increase the hotel motel occupancy rate .... without commitment from you to increase their funding .... limited budget... not consistent... We need to have support for the growth in our community .... If 5% increase in occupancy could bring an additional $126,000 ..... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 25 We need and the time is now to get the momentum going.. I would ask you again ....to please approve the CVB's request for the full 25% of the Hotel/Motel Tax ....consider the possibilities that lie ahead for Iowa City ....Iowa City... I think it is vital that we have the CVB set up for success .... The opportunity for growth is them .... Thank you. Nov/Okay, break time. [Council Break] IOWA CITY JAZZ FEST Nov/... Is there something you haven't told us that you would like to add? Mark Ginsberg/Naomi, all I want to say, it will take half an hour. Nov/It will take two minutes, Mark Ginsberg/Five minutes. Come on, let me talk... I got invited .... Steve told me to relax and not talk with so much passion... There was an article today in the Register... recent studies have shown that artists are as much players in the economy as plumbers, insurance agents, stock brokers .... Study done by Iowa Arts Council .... non-profit arts organizations in Iowa... spent $47 million and created 2,266 full time jobs in 1995. The result $79.9 million in total economic activity in the State of Iowa alone .... In 1995 Iowa's cultural events drew larger crowds, 2.9 million, than all the home and away football basketball games oflSU, UNI and University of Iowa which was 2.4 million. Nov/Okay... now what? Ginsberg/Don't rush me, come on. I want to make sure the Festivals life exist .... We are going to spend $84,000 this year... we don't charge this event ....d.t. Iowa City. Why are you in such a hurry for me to be over? Nov/Because we have allocated your $5,000 .... Ginsberg/No one said this to me. Norton/... Let him talk ....Go ahead, Mark, talk. Lehman/Mark, you are among friends. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 26 Nov/We are on your side. Ginsberg/I appreciate all the support .... ARTS FEST Diane Sulk/Did you allocate our $5,000? I am Diane Sulk from the Arts Fest. Nov/I think we did. Sulk/Then I can say thank you, too. I also might add I know the question about the whole Hotel/Motel funding is one that needs to be dealt with and we feel that also. We feel that the CVB are a group that we need to be working closely with for them to market us .... I directedthe BIX Arts Fest for several years .... Most recently I was in Cedar Rapids... Festivals fill rooms, too. We are good business.. for the economy ....Original intent of that legislation on Hotel/Motel Tax funding is vague ....to support facilities ....We would like to be part of the group that solves the problem in how we can come out with supporting our festivals without taking away from the group that we need to market us .... We are running about as lean and thin that is possible. So your support of this event is really critical to us and we thank you for it. Nov/Thank you .... I want to commend you for trying to do some entrepreneurial money raising. Sulk/ .... fall fundraising ..... hole ofgolfd.t. someplace .... little things on the side... dollar or two adds up to help defray some of our costs. Nov/Thanks. MONDAY FORUM Jim Clayton/I got a letter addressed to the Monday Forum. We didn't get the money that we asked for. I think you estimated that $800,000... We had suggested that you consider increasing the Police force by as many as 20 officers. We didn't just make up that number... Meeting with Sid Jackson.. got involved in graffiti... school district... gang seminars.. talked to Police Chief... He told us he was going to ask for eight police officers and we asked him to justify that... information... showed that we were woefully understaffed .... Average number of police officers per thousand citizens in those communities is 1.56. The lowest city in that list is Iowa City with 1.07 police officers per thousand. The Big Ten schools have an average of 2.06 police officers per thousand .... We are woefully understaffed .... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 27 Nov/Did you add in the University Security people? Clayton/No .... limited to functioning only on the campuses and are not included in these other schools either .... He said you can ask for me... We are not asking for police officers for d.t. We are asking for the whole community... This community is so short of coverage .... The Chief admits that this is not a good situation .... four officers at d.t. at bar closing time, the rest of our community is totally unprotected by police officers. We had two break ins at Eby's .... those were initiation crimes... member of the gang... We have an opportunity to be in a intervention prevention mode .... or reactive mode .... It is very difficult to do anything. We really think we should go into a prevention/intervention mode .... Community based policing .... worked .... a part of the community .... model that all kinds of cities across this country are taking on .... If we take acre of the little details in our community and enforce the small things, we set a standard and a climate .... our neighborhoods are going to be safe .... So I cannot emphasize enough that we don't understand how we can do the kind ofjob that this city is going to demand in the future with 1.07 officers per thousand .... Victoria Gilpin/One thing I would like to clarify is the Monday Forum is only .... ten d.t. business owners. So we are not really anything else .... We have an interest in the community and investment d.t .... grant for neighborhood centers for community policing... with those additional officers on the street, there was an dramatic improvement in the quality of life of those citizens .... 5% decrease in crime .... With adding 20 police officers, we prefer not to approach this...wait until we have more calls... when you have enough officers to safely have a community of community policing, we should have a more preventative type of situation .... I would really call on this council... what kind of leadership we want in this community on this issue... This gang situation is very alarming to those of us who have been investigating it ....Very dearly there are three phases that we will go through. We are going through ....in relation to gang... Sid Jackson... we missed our opportunity to be preventative .... We are now in between prevention and intervention. The third phase.. is reaction .... We are not talking about crack houses... break ins to Eby Sporting Goods... indication that this community is having of increased gang activity in this community .... I am not willing.. to wait until we have the kind of crime that other communities have .... We think it is an important preventative measure for the quality of life for this community .... would really like to see this council's attitude about this particular issue ....We love the idea of having a beat cop d.t. The DT Strategy Committee... business people.. very top two things on their list over and over again is maintenance and security .... If police officers know our community and know our businesses and know who is in their shops late at night .... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 28 Kubby/It is an incredibly compelling argument... Where do we find... in the budget? .... Clayton/We think that is a very high priority .... Kubby/ Clayton/ .... we look at how does a city like Cedar Falls pay .... when we can't do it .... We have all of these students here .... Nov/ ....sales tax ....city utility system... Clayton/They have a revenue stream that let's them- Nov/Two more revenue streams than we have. V. Gilpin/ .... Coralville has a good deal more officers than we do per capita .... They feel very strongly .... preventative mode with gangs .... I said to Sid Jackson and Vicki Lalla... how many officers to we need specifically trained and assigned to gangs .... they said a minimum of five. We have gone from two to one most recently .... Kubby/ Thornberry/At least we started with one several years ago ....Cedar Rapids... they have got their head in the sand. Gilpin/We feel this community traditionally takes a proactive .... Kubby/If we cut out library ....we have to balance all of those. Gilpin/I sat at a meeting of the DT Strategy Committee not to long ago where... asked to evaluate improvements... There is plenty of things... d.t. parking.. tremendous amount of money .... 20 officers for this community .... I can't think about beautification until I think about safety .... Kubby/ ....state ties out hand as to how we can generate money. Thornberry/ Kubby/Most beautiful or CIP are not General Fund moneys. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session Council/(All talking). Thomberry/ Nov/I really appreciate what this DT Strategy Committee is doing .... Lehman/The DT Forum is really much more than just ten d.t. business folks .... You folks have looked at some very'serious issues ....I guess I genuinely share your concerns .... Thomberry/ Lehman/They have good concerns .... Baker/The only thing we can't answer you about it how to pay for it .... sales tax .... Clayton/I have my own thought on sales tax .... local option sales tax before the new mall opens in Coralville is shooting yourself in the foot ..... I will work for a local option sales tax .... But I wouldn't put it in place until opening day at the Coralville Mall .... Nov/If we think about other sources... possibility of d.t. merchants...voluntary fund of some sort... designate the purpose... not even talking about a taxing district .... local businesses who really want another police officers... voluntarily contribute to a dedicated fund for the purpose if they want. Ginsberg/Specifically a police officer and not a security person .... Nov/Stand up and let's get it on tape. Ginsberg/We want to have a police officer .... Nov/If there were a voluntary fund... and chose to donate to the city for a particular purpose .... You need to think about what kind of ideas we can use .... Gilpin/ ....those of us who have been meeting every Monday... we did a lot of research .... We heard information that alarmed us very very much .... Norton/ .... some data is worse than none .... variety of officers... how everything is counted .... nervous about that comparison .... page 29 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 30 Gilpin/When I talked to him today... football weekends, it takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours to respond to any calls .... Baker/I don't think we are disagreeing about that need. Norton/ Nov/We have seen those numbers... Norton/ ....that they have 2 per 1000 where we have 1 per 1000. Atkins/Use Waterloo as probably the best example... similar population. Their department is about twice the size .... 120 officers... Clayton/129, 2.87 per 1000. Iowa City is 65,000, 1.07. Gilpin/Waterloo is a little bit more in a reactionary mode than we want to be .... Thomberry/It is a different community .... Nov/Give you a couple of more thoughts... voluntary contributions go to keeping the sidewalks clear .... So they would extend the cleaning beyond that area .... These kinds of things are possible if people really want to put their money into it. Gilpin/ The DTA is starting to talk about taking some leadership roles .... We have always felt this needs to be a partnership... Once we became aware of what the actual situation is, we feel like it really needs to be addressed and soon ....We are a disaster waiting to happen. Thornberry/ .... d.t. businesses putting in a little money to a fund to fund a police officers, maybe three officers... all over d.t ....I have to hire a private firm for security and I do .... Gilpin/ .... D.t. we have .... a tremendous amount of our population concentrated there .... Taxes... It is unbelievable how much money we are putting into the city.:. Thomberry/ Council/(All talking). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 31 Clayton/It is not to say we can't get the d.t. business community organized .... If city could let .... businesses know what their responsibilities are .... They don't realize that they are responsible for clearing the sidewalk and for sweeping .... Norton/We are looking into even other methods of doing that .... Clayton/There is a business in Iowa City at the corner of Dubuque and Market... Phillips 66 Station, they have a rent a cop .... every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 6:00 PM on they have to pay a security guard .... endemic problem with what is going on in our community ..... He is a block and a half from the center of the city. It is not right ..... We are going to be a lot of years before we get up to any number where we should be. Thanks. Lehman/Thank you. Council/ Ginsberg/ HOSPICE IOWA CITY ROAD RACE Peg Fraser/The Executive Race Director of the Iowa City Road Races. On January 10 we place before you a request for $5,000 cash contribution for 21st Annual Iowa City Road Races .... Our major focus has been to take the opportunity to promote this event throughout the mid-region .... help us raise funds for our area agencies... part of this fall festival.. strong promotion of this event... placing significant emphasis in recruitment in the schools... families... To continue the involvement of a local community artists .... development of our awards .... This is a first time asking for a cash contribution from you .... We are in need of raising the cash resources for this event .... I would open up for any questions .... Thank everyone... in terms of support you have given to this event historically. Nov/How many people ran this year, last year? Fraser/We had 4,800 people participate this year. Last year we had 5,500 .... The area that concerns... half marathon deeply concerns us because that is the event that attract people from throughout the region .... we feel it is important ....Our difficulty has been the publicity marketing dollars .... Thomberry/What does it cost to put on this event each year? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 32 Fraser/The in-kind contributions are actually... tabulate... also consider the pledge raising contribution and then the actual cash contributions ....Our entire budget, in-kind and cash, for last year was $380,000. CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 97-23 SIDE 2 Lehman/What are the actual cash cost, no in-kind...? Fraser/Approximately $115,000. Thornberry/What does that go for? .... Fraser/My salary, salary of my assistant .... cost associated with awards, volunteer benefits... t-shirts .... very modest rental that we do pay .... on-going computer costs, office supplies... fundraising costs... Norton/What about entry fees? What do they generate? Fraser/The entry fees generated this past year, $63,000 and those vary largely based on when individuals enter the race .... early bird .... Norton/Those go towards these expenses? Fraser/They do as well .... sponsorships... in-kind sponsorships... and race entry fees are all what goes to the cost .... Our insurance is another factor .... Kubby/Are you looking for a new major sponsor? Fraser/Yes, we are in the process of looking for another major sponsor .... Nov/Some of us have concerns because you are charging entry fees .... If you have 5,000 entrants, why not add another dollar to each entry fee? Fraser/ We certainly can do that .... looking seriously at that .... competitive with our prices .... number of our people are also involved in significant fundraising .... also promote strongly .... concept of scholarship funds .... We would like to be able to expand that opportunity .... I will be happy to provide any detailed information .... audited and reviewed now on an annual basis .... Thornberry/... more interesting in giving to Hospice as opposed to the road race ....Why aren't they on Aid to Agencies? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 33 Kubby/There are a lot of agencies that don't get city money .... County .... Nov/United Way... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription.of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 : Council Budget Session Council Time 97-23 S2 1. Kubby/When is our next budget session scheduled? Nov/We haven't scheduled it. Kubby/We need another one .... We picked three meeting dates... Nov/We need to set this p.h. on the 1 lth ....cannot raise our budget... We need to discuss this again sometime before the 1 lth. Kubby/Is our next council meeting going to be thick? Atkins/ Nov/My thought... try for a longer meeting on the 10th... talk about budget before the work session .... Council/(Meeting schedule discussion). Nov/ Karr/5:00 PM the 10th. Nov/We don't want anymore than 2 hours. Kubby/ Atkins/A new number we want to give you... The general Fund over three years is $102,000 to the good .... say $33,000 a year... to the good. Council/(All talking). Atkins/$40,000 for a police officer. Norton/What is the Arts Fest is asking for? Atkins/Friday Night increased theirs. Norton/They are asking for $7,500. What is Jazz Fest asking for? Nov/$5,000. I am very reluctant to put money into the Road Races .... page 34 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 Febmary 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 35 Norton/I just want to know what they are asking for .... Nov/$12,000 to Heritage Trees is their top number .... spread it over three years... Lehman/I have two magnificent pin oaks in my yard .... Council/(All talking). Kubby/We are all kind of talking at once .... 2. Baker I want to know when we are going to have a meeting to talk about resolving personnel questions? Kubby/We have chosen three meetings. Wednesday, 19th at 7:00, Thursday, 13th at 10:00 and Thursday, 20th, at 10:00. Nov/ Kubby/ Baker/ ....personnel going into the executive session. Nov/ ....we will probably not have a complete report on all of Linda's case studies until about 15th or 16th .... Baker/13th .... we arrange to have e.s. on morning of 13th to discuss matters of personnel .... only list Steve... request that R. J. be present for questions .... To evaluate Steve we have to be able to ask... Kubby/Why can't we evaluate R.J.? .... Baker/I don't think we can list him? Kubby/That is a legal question. Atkins/I will check that. Baker/ Kubby/ This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 36 Baker/Those two have been high profile .... Nov/We need also to think about meeting sometime in June .... in addition .... Baker/ Kubby/If we do that, personnel, on 13th. We maybe haven't asked all of our questions .... some thing's I might not even know about .... Thornberry/These meetings could go on for a long long time... We have got to come... to a conclusion on Steve and R.J. Council/(Meeting schedule discussion). Nov/I would like us to also being ideas about changes in procedures .... bring to that meeting .... bring the draft ordinance on PCRB ..... to have it with us .... Thomberry/ Baker/I have 5-6 follow up questions ....questions that I think can be asked of somebody in e.s ..... Thornberry/You want Steve and R. I. to be in e.s. so you can questions of personnel .... Baker/Personnel evaluations .... in Steve's names... Nov/ Baker/To be able to evaluate Steve .... Have R. J. there to ask questions of him .... Norton/If some of the 13th can be open... then start the other one ..... We ca start open... then move into e.s .... talking with Steve and/or R.J .... Baker/ Norton/Have session... Thursday... start at 9:30 .... Karr/Moving the 13th to 9:30. Norton/ This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 37 Karr/ Nov/... Marian, 9:30 work session, 11:00 formal executive session. Kubby/We need to ask our attorney .... appropriate .... Atkind I am pretty sure you can call that, have us both there .... I talked briefly with Sarah about that... she is going to check that. I can confirm that .... Council/ Norton/Question of how to get information .... related issues or other issues .... Baker/We have the right to ask any city employee any question we want. Thomberry/But I do go through the administrators .... Arkins/It depends on how far you reach down the organization. Norton/ Kubby/It is really a difficult situation .... Baker/ Norton/ Atkins/You pretty well settled on 13th... executive session. At that point it is R. J. and I at the most right now .... 3. Kubby/Can we find out? Some firefighters who were on the scene on August 30 took a bunch of pictures but nobody really- I don't know if anybody knows where the pictures are .... Atkins/That was mentioned on Saturday. R. J. thinks he has some pictures we took... crime scene pictures... There are others of the area in general... He has also contacted the DCI to ask if we could have a set of all of them... We hope to know in the next day or so. Nov/ This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, I997 Council Budget Session page 38 4. Kubby/How do people feel about the Freedom of Information Act request for the full DCI report?... agree on... start that ball rolling .... Nov/I think we ought to wait until after FBI and Federal Justice Department has made some decisions .... Kubby/ Thomberry/ Atkins/Why wouldn't you just want to ask Pat White? Kubby/He doesn't have the whole thing, does he? Atkins/Yes. Nov/He does but he was told not to release it. DCI didn't want him to release it. Atkins/I don't understand all the legal ....full report, I would start- Kubby/Why don't we request it from him first this week .... Baker/I think you have our permission... call Pat and say... this is what the council wants, yes or not .... Lehman/I don't know what is in the DCI report .... released to us, then .... becomes public property .... May be other things in there that are very derogatory about a person who is dead .... I am not sure everything'in that report we would like to have .... Atkins/Pat knows that... simply pick up the phone and we will call Pat and ask him what he has to say .... Lehman/I would certainly value his opinion. Norton/ Arkins/If it is released, it is released ....So I understand you want me to make the call? Nov/Yes, make the call ..... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 39 Atkinsd I will make the call. Thomberry/...could you request on the request of the council to get the Johnson County's Sheriffs Department Use of Force policy .... Baker/And their statistics .... Council/ 5. Norton/Steve, have you had a chance to analyze the police staffing data of the Monday Forum? Atkins/R. J. came to me before he prepared that report and indicated that request had been made ....I said, call each city, put the numbers together and give it to them straight up ....That is all he did ....He also knows that we' can argue that is not purely a numbers game to determine whether your city is safely policed .... Norton/There could be substantial differences on how things are interpreted. Atkins/There are substantial differences ..... Norton/ Baker/ ....compare their other budgets .... Atkins/ .... several services that we provide .... I am meeting with this group on... this month .... I am preparing for them a list of all the things that are in the budget related to d.t ..... Norton/ Nov/ Lehman/There is a significant number... that crime rate .... important to look at the crime rate .... That is a very very significant figure .... Kubby/Community policing.. charged to be in the one section of town... value is not being met... get them out of their cars. Norton/Where does the budget? .... What do we next after Monday, 10th? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397. February 3, 1997 Council Budget Session page 40 Nov/P.h. Atkins/Can't increase it. You can move it around. Norton/Be careful to set the library at a high side .... Arkins/That is a bond issue. It is the General Fund tax rate that you have to deal with .... Norton/ ....only two hours .... Thornberry/ Atkins/ Do you want food Monday night? Okay. 6. Nov/Employee Service Awards are 9:00 AM, 2/27 at Recreation Center. Atkins/Whole new program, though. Nov/ 7. Nov/Also, Thursday, April 24, 7:00 PM, Room A ICPL .... Forum on the University Community Partnership... drinking problems. It is a town meeting ..... urging you to attend. Council/(All talking). 8. Norton/Don't forget meeting with Student Senate on 18th. Nov/ .... Kubby/6:30 to 7:00 a social half hour. Then 7:00 PM the meeting will begin. Norton/ Kubby/Second floor ballroom, IMU. Norton/ ....participatory ....group task to perform .... Thornberry/ Norton/Focusing on... parking, transit and trails. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397 February 3, 1997 · Council Budget Session page 41 Lehman/ Nov/It is posted as a meeting, yeah .... Norton/ Adjourned: 10:30 ?M. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 3, 1997 WS020397