HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-01-26 TranscriptionJanuray 26, 1998 Council Work Session page 1
January 26, 1998 Council Work Session 6:00 PM
Council: Lehman, Kubby, Champion, Norton, O'Donnell, Thomberry, Vanderhoef.
Staff: Atkins, Helling, Karr, Dilkes, Franklin, Head, Boothroy, Grosvenor, Davidson,
Fowler, Doyle.
Tapes: 98-15, all; 98-16, all; 98-17, all.
Organizational Issues 98-15 Sl
]Tape Problems]
Board and Commission Application.
Norton/Maybe we are talking too big of step here given- I don't know.
Thomberry/It is just one question on an application.
Norton/That doesn't seem to be too unreasonable given the delicate nature of many of
these Commissions .... Many of them deal with pretty delicate matters.
Thomberry/
Norton/
Kubby/It matters what we end up doing with this information. In the last ten years I have
been arrested for criminal trespassing for political purposes ....
Lehman/You have an opportunity to explain it which, I think, is a very important part.
Kubby/ .... you might just say any arrests, out. It matters what we say that we intend to do
with that. If people understand that that is not an automatic out ....How we actually
function as individuals in our decision making process ....
Champion/We can always speak for ourselves on that, Karen .... Don't bind any future
council members.
Kubby/I guess I want to know because we are the council who is talking about doing
this. I want to know that each person is not going to use that as an automatic ....
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Lehman/I wouldn't use it as an automatic test but I would have to say all things being
equal .... I would probably choose the one who did not.
Kubby/Doesn't it matter what they are convicted of?.
Lehman/Yes ....
Norton/The trick is we don't make some move of this kind, I have a feeling .... get this
information some way or another on our own which is not as good as being more
straight forward about it and public .... I kind of think I am going to go with it ....
Kubby/ ....talking about confidential.
Lehman/Absolutely.
Norton/How does that work?
Thomberry/How can it be confidential? ....
Lehman/Eleanor will explain that.
Dilkes/I think we can maintain it as confidential under a certain exception to the Open
Records Act .... case law that says we can. People don't have to apply to these
positions .... I think we can maintain their confidentiality and Marian and I have
talked about the logistics of it.
Karr/I think, logistically, a second page. One page would be a public document and the
second page would not.
Norton/Does that mean going into executive session to discuss appointments?
Karr/...simply a matter of the information would be furnished to you. You would discuss
the information among yourselves off the public document.
Kubby/We have a whole slew of issues to talk about in our hour. So I would like us to
make a decision and move on.
Thomberry/I am willing to do that.
Vanderhoef/I would like to see it.
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Karr/Ernie, I apologize but there was problems with the tape. Would you read the
question again that you want included on it?
Lehman/I will read the question as it is written here .... important part is the purpose of
the question. The exact wording I don't think is critical. The question is: "Had
you been convicted of a crime other than a simple traffic misdemeanor in the last
ten years." The second one is, "If yes, please explain it. Include the type of
offense and the place and date of conviction." The third, "Will this conviction or
the circumstances leading to the conviction affect your ability to perform the
duties of a member of the board or commission?" Then the other two statements
will apply to the entire application. One being that, "The failure to fill out the
entire application could result in your not being considered." And,
"Misrepresentation on the application is grounds for removal."
Vanderhoeff And those statements will be on the public?
Lehman/It would be on all applications.
Vanderhoef/
Norton/Any concern about 10 years? .... I don't remember whether I inhaled or not.
Champion/That's right, I can't remember.
Lehman/Next is Dee, I want to thank you for your response in the packet to tonight's
topics. Let's get started. Karen.
HACAP
Kubby/...whether the city council wants to have a representative on the Board of
Directors of HACAP. We got .... something from Suzanne Blouin, Assistant
Director of HACAP, on why there are elected officials on this particular board ....
Norton/That was part of their mandate ....
Vanderhoef/...back in 1968 ....
Kubby/But the mandate is now removed .... They continue to keep that structure because
they found it very successful in keeping up with what is going on in the different
communities ..... We do have a council member who is interested in serving on it.
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Norton/...whether it differentiates HACAP from other agencies .... Does it give them a
special status when it comes to passing out the cookies?
Vanderhoef/The dollars is a real problem ....
Kubby/HACAP gets $6,200 this last FY .... They asked for this huge increase ....They are
not getting special favors.
Norton/Just seems to me there are 35 agencies .... they would love to have them ....
Kubby/But they also have a different mission than other agencies. They are a community
action program .... family service ....
Vanderhoef/I am hesitant to continue this pattern .... lots of citizens that are capable of
serving on this board .... I would have a problem starting to cut off anyone else
who invited us to sit on their boards .... This is a good time for me to say I think
we should discontinue this practice of being on that board .....
Lehman/Anyone of us can attend any board meeting .... I feel that if we serve on one, we
could reasonably be expected to serve on others. I am not sure that is a good
idea ....
Kubby/Has there ever been a human service agency in the last ten years that has asked
city council, except for HACAP, to have a city council representative on their
board?
Norton/What is the rationale? .... Someone else .... How would we respond .... What would
we do.'? We wouldn't be able to stop.
Kubby/...history with HACAP .... because they serve so many needs of families .... pulls
everything together ....
Thornberry/Why is it they dropped this mandate requiring a council member to be on the
board?
Kubby/I don't know... State government did that.
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Vanderhoef/ ....not all these other agencies ....It was the big funding agency. Now we
have all these other agencies out there ....requesting funds from the city ....
Everybody ought to be on the same level .... stop sitting on the board.
Norton/Karen... member of Free Meal Board .... Free Lunch. Nothing to preclude a person
in their private capacity in being on those.
Kubby/...HACAP, that seat does not get magically opened up to a community member.
That seat is slated for an elected official ....
Norton/Precedence does bother me .... level way of proceeding.
O'Donnell/l think you are probably right.
Lehman/Any other comment?
Champion/ .... defer to past city council members .... not speaking up for or against it .... I
will go along with majority ....
Thomberry/I would be more than willing to relinquish my place on Aid to Agencies to
you for this coming year....get as much information as you would ever want to
know .... It has been a very good experience ....
Kubby/It has changed some of Dean's attitudes .... It has been good.
Norton/...troublesome... Sally Stutsman spoke to you about... Juvenile Justice Task
Force .... many of these grants require... representations from governing bodies .... I
think Sally wanted you to designate...Is Connie willing to? ....
Lehman/That was one we were required ....
Vanderhoef/It wouldn't have the same money ....
Lehman/I think I hear us saying that although we want to remain interested and if those
are interested want to attend HACAP meetings, that we do not appoint an official
HACAP member. Is that correct?
Norton/I would think so if you can write a delicate letter so they don't feel insulted.
Thornberry/
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Lehman/Steve, make a note. We will drop a note to them explaining that we will not
have a representative and I think we can articulate why.
Kubby/I think we owe them a why.
Norton/
Lehman/
Goal Setting
Kubby/Our goal setting session. We need to figure out how that is going to work ....
facilitate ourselves... staff person... outside person... in charge of the process ....
Lehman/What is your pleasure?
Champion/I think it is important that we do goal setting ....get an outside facilitator ....
works well ....
Thomberry/I would suggest that we do have a goal setting .... do in in-house just as well.
Norton/Steve did it last year ....can remind us... reality ....
Thornberry/He knows well where .... what it is all about ....
Kubby/Someone in his position... he will have an agenda .... If we had a city manager
without the ethical standards... direct us in a way .....cleaner process to not have
out city manager.
Thornberry/Since we do have a manager... we don't have that problem ....
Kubby/
Champion/
O'Donnell/... we listed our goals on our brochures...
Lehman/l think this is really an important session.
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Atkins/A couple of observations ..... One of the things that we talked about .... old notes ....
Traditionally, goal setting sessions with us .... has been a list of tasks... things to
do... That is not particularly difficult to come by .... We have not been real good
about priorities. Last time we were ..... Another side... make the goal session more
vision directed ....You could kind of break the session into two elements ....You
had mentioned ....a couple of staff people... to actually sit at the table with you. l
don't have a strong feeling one way or the other about it .... List of things to do and
a vision kind of direction. The list of things to do, I feel very comfortable to help
go through that do. The vision, it is probably better off to step back.
Kubby/
Norton/Two parts to the session.
Kubby/... I think our biggest downfall, I have never experienced a goal setting session
that we then do follow-up sessions about .... Things have gotten done, yes and no,
on that list of things from two years ago. We only do it once every two years and
then we don't really- It is not in front of us all of the time.
Atkins/That is why we are going to do the Comp Plan a little different for you. We are
actually going to prepare an annual report from the Plan ....
Kubby/It is kind of all backwards.
Lehman/Karen has a real good point .... 20 some goals .... We identified them .... We
obviously have not looked at them .... or not very much ....And if we had a list of
ten goals, l would have no problem ....front page of every packet. Remind you
every time you get your packet.
Kubby/...those are setting expectations for a lot of our behavior.
Champion/Have you ever thought about having goal setting as part of the goal setter?
Kubby/Say that again-
Lehman/Say that again.
(All talking).
Atkins/I would not hesitate to try to contribute as best as I can ....
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Champion/He is the person that we direct and hire to take the city forward with direction
from us .... The goals we want are probably goals that Steve wants and I think
working together as a cohesive group ....
Kubby/That is not what the vision in the goal setting is about. Steve is not accountable to
the public in the same way we are .... We have to provide staff with direction.
O'Donnell/So everybody sits downs and lists?
Norton/We did that, right ....
O'Donnell/Where does it go from there?
Kubby/We need to go through a prioritization process .... group discussion.
Norton/We did about seven ..... some difference of opinion .... downtown concerns...
ought to be high on the hierarchy and we have focused on that quite a lot in the
last year .... I think we could start this session by reviewing where we stand with
respect to the goals from last year and then start articulating a new visions... new
goals.
Vanderhoeff In the previous council packet we had a lot of reports... what we have
done .... If you look at them .... goals that we were setting... Even though we
prioritize the goals, they don't always fit in the same CIP budget ....some of those
other goals ....
Kubby/ ....time to spend on the bigger picture, the vision. And then doing some more
specific goals around that vision. The committee could do some follow-up ....
Some of our goals we need to do with process, too .... agreements about how we
function and that we can check in with each other.
Vanderhoef/I am not real clear what you are saying about process ....
Kubby/One of the goals may be some commitments we make towards each other about
how we function, like some things .... not repeating ourselves ..... rules we make for
our conduct... evaluate our performance .... Some follow up sessions just to check
in with each other .... We don't do any of that follow-up.
Vanderhoef/...some feedback.
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Kubby/
Lehman/l think I hear us saying we would like a goal session, part of which is
visionary .... The second thing, a nuts and bolts sort of approach. These are the
immediate things that we would like to get to, prioritizing them .... I think we need
to keep- I have not problem with them being the first page of every packet that we
pick up.
Norton/
Lehman/I think the goals from last time should be the first thing we look at.
Kubby/ .....Do our vision and then look at the goals ....
Lehman/Are we willing to do this with our staff and ourselves? ..... Outside facilitator?
Vanderhoeff
Arkins/A number o£ us went through training when we did our task forces .... Karin
would probably be the strongest candidate.
Vanderhoef/Karin Franklin.
Atkins/She would be the strong~st staff.
Thornberry/...a city manager fi'om another city...know city works?
(All talking)
Kubby/
Thornberry/
Arkins/ ....vision... that is clearly illegal, can't do it, I will raise my hand.
(All talking)
Norton/Tim Shields ....
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O'Donnell/How long did the last goal setting session take?
Lehman/Three or four hours .... I am not sure that we shouldn't spend maybe two, three,
four hours on visions and then another equal session on goals.
Thomberry/l don't know... how long does it take you to get a vision?
Lehman/...I think it will be how these visions mold themselves together .... come up with
something .... still need to mold those together.
Thomberry/
Kubby/
Norton/Get into the process .... Ifwe are going to talk about how we are going to do what
we are going to do, that is another. I don't know whether you want to put that on
the same day or not.
Kubby/Some of that is maybe what the function of today is.
Norton/....just kind of... belabor the obvious there. But look at the nuts and bolts.
Lehman/... Do we want to do it with the personnel that we have on staff right now or do
we want to do it with an outside person?
Kubby/Outside.
O'Donne!l/...own staff.
Vanderhoeff I am comfortable with staff.
Norton/Fine with me.
Lehman/Who would that staff be... Karin Franklin. I think Eleanor should be here ....
Steve would be here. Eleanor and Marian. Anybody else from the staff?. Dale. We
need Egor to write on the board.
Norton/Those five.
Lehman/Those five... what date? ....
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Norton/Bringing them out on a Saturday morning ..... fairly soon.
Lehman/I think we need to know where we are going.
Kubby/ ....everyone has to be here.
Lehman/Is there a day other than a Saturday? .... weekday .....a day ....
Champion/Or two four hour stretches? ....
Lehman/Have first session in mind ....
Thomberry/...Vision, how long does it take to do a vision?
(All talking).
Lehman/Can we plan on doing this 9:00 AM and see what happens? ....
Karr/ ....In February ....There are only four days I have all of you in town ....12th/13th.
Norton/
Lehman/Can you get away for a day?
Karr/12th is out. 13th?
Lehman/That is a very good day.
Vanderhoeff If we are done by 3:00.
Norton/Holy chicken plucker.
Thomberry/I can't take offa whole Friday. I can't do it.
Karr/26th of February, Thursday.
Kubby/I can do it.
Lehman/l can do it.
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O'Donnell/I can do it.
Vanderhoef/Folks, I will say I can do it ....
Lehman/Thursday, 26th, 9:00. Okay.
Champion/
Atkins/Thursday, 26th, goal session, a vision. A work program, goal session component.
Staff as facilitator. Is that what you have agreed to?
Lehman/Yes.
Norton/But we are not necessarily committing to three hours of vision. We begin to
choke after an hour.
Lehman/Whatever it takes.
Champion/Visions are the hardest things to do.
Norton/ ....we got visions up the kazoo ....I am ready for action.
Champion/I always think if you have a vision that we can agree on, the goals would be
easy.
Thomberry/You are not going to have a vision that everybody is going to agree on.
Lehman/ ....9:00, 26th. All right.
Atkins/And you have not selected the facilitator other than the staff person ....
Lehman/No, but we do know who we expect to be there. Karin, you, Dale, Eleanor and
Marian.
Atkins/...work with Karin and have her do it.
Kubby/Tag team.
Norton/One could do the vision and the other do the- Which ever you prefer.
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Thomberry/Marian, you can put me back on for 23, 24, 25.
Atkins/Okay, we will set it up.
Meeting Schedule.
Vanderhoef/On organizational issues, I know we talked about it the other day, whether to
change the meetings for March and I started re-reading the National League of
Cities .... Monday, that is when all the big meetings are ....
Lehman/
Vanderhoef/
Champion/I will not be in town. I will be in New York.
Norton/On the 9th?
Lehman/I thought we had this settled last meeting.
(All talking).
Norton/I agree with Dee. The best session are on that Monday.
Vanderhoef/
Lehman/
Karr/Several options .... combine work session with your formal .... If people are going to
be gone .... move it to the 11 th and 12th to a Wednesday/Thursday because we
have people gone the 2nd/3rd. Spring break is 16th/l 7th and there are people
gone.
Kubby/I have no problems with either of those.
Norton/
Karr/Every meeting on held on alternate Mondays and Tuesdays are special whatever it
is.
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Norton/
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-15 SIDE 2
Norton/It is hard to come back for a session and try to get organized.
Lehman/Are we agreed on the 11 th/12th?
Karr/So we are moving the 9th/10th to 1 lth/12th.
Vanderhoeff ....Thank you.
Lehman/Does anybody have any strong feelings about work sessions starting at 7:00 as
opposed to 6:30?
Champion/..start them at 7:00 and not 6:30.
Norton/7:00 ....
Champion/
Lehman/We took care of that, what is next?
Norton/I would like to bring up .... we ought to look at other items than just P/Z items at
our work session. There are key items .... highlight issues that are coming up that
are key items other than P/Z... may need more elaboration .... I feel it would be
wise to look at key, non-P/Z items at our work session quickly... to identify those
that might need more elaboration the following night.
Lehman/I have a procedure question. Is there any reason why our work sessions- Do we
have to have a work session?
Karr/No.
Lehman/Do we have to stick to the agenda at the work session? So we finish P/Z items
and the scheduled work session, if someone on the council wants to talk about
something else that is scheduled-
Kubby/That is council time.
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Karr/Something that is on the formal agenda for your action the next night?
Lehman/Yes.
Norton/No, something that is on the agenda the next night.
Karr/Yes, that is council time.
Norton/But not to wait until council time... by that time, everybody is ready to get home.
Lehman/
Norton/At the work session.
Kubby/We could have P/Z Items and then another category, Other Formal Topics.
Vanderhoeff That catches a lot of staff before they leave.
Norton/It helps us highlight issues that are liable to be ....require more explanation.
Kubby/Let's try it for a few meetings.
Lehman/I like that ....timely.
Atkins/
Lehman/A~er P/Z items, we will have essentially a council time, any items that a council
member wants to speak to that is on the agenda for the following evening. Of they
would like to discuss that at that time, we will.
Norton/On agenda items only.
Karr/On agenda items only.
Atkins/The work session agenda would read... Review Zoning Matters .... Council Time.
Kar~/On agenda matters. How about Council Agenda Questions?
page 15
(All talking).
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Lehman/Fine, wording doesn't make any difference.
Atkins/We also try to measure time.
Lehman/It would be well .... council... get a hold of staff earlier ....
Norton/Put down 15 minutes and see what happens.
Atkins/Go with 15 minutes and see what happens. Council Agenda Questions.
Norton/
Kubby/Another issue... having more frequent off Monday informals to talk about focus
issues ....
Thomberry/I don't agree, Karen .... I have got a business to run that is a big business... I
don't have the time to spend... I can't .....
Norton/She is talking about occasional Mondays.
Kubby/I would love to have every off Monday be a on Monday for focused discussion
time... Shorter meetings that are really focused on a topic .... I think we should
commit to doing them .... commit to having some special focus time on those
issues.
O'Donnell/ ....try and be more efficient on these two Mondays that we do get together ....
Lehman/ .... I feel that anytime .... have a topic that really deserves more attention .... we
should be able to schedule a meeting... to talk about only that item.
Vanderhoef/ .... did stay very focused because we only had one topic .... discomfort...
Everybody saying Monday night. For me, I cherish that off week .... long
weekend ....Tuesday night versus Monday night .... so that I had that option of my
long weekend routine, it would be more palatable .... I can handle three or four or
something like that.
Thomberry/I can too but I don't want a meeting every week.
Lehman/Dee, I want to respond to a couple of things that you wrote. I agree with you...
As far as comments about the agenda items, I guess the thing that I find
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frustrating is reading a lot of technicalities that mean literally nothing. I don't
choose to read those .... Anytime there is meat in the comment section .... I totally
agree. I would prefer to do it that way.
Kubby/ ....conversational tone ....
Lehman/Other thing .... no way that we would ever limit debate. Never .... As long as we
have got meaningful debate about any subject on this council, I think every
council person should have the opportunity to speak their piece ....
Norton/l trust you understood about responding to public comments ....
Lehman/
Norton/It has to be under your firm control.
Kubby/Does this mean that all these things that were in your memo are going to be done
unless we bring them up?
Lehman/Absolutely not ....
Atkins/Do I understand that you want the organizational matter (can't hear).9
Lehman/I think probably.
Atkins/I think there are things that you still need to discuss.
Lehman/I agree.
[Conference Board Meeting 7:00 PM]
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Review Zoning Matters 98-15 S2
a. Consider a motion setting a public hearing for February 10 on a resolution approving
revisions to the August 6, 1996, Fringe Area Agreement with Johnson County, which is
part of the Iowa City Comprehensive Plan.
Franklin/To set a p.h. for February 10 on resolution approving revisions to the Fringe
Area Agreement .... We will talk about it when we have the p.h. next time. It is a
very minor amendment.
b. Public hearing on an ordinance vacating .50 acres of Waterfront Drive, located south of
Highway 6 and east of Gilbert Street. (VAC97-0003)
Franklin/P.h. on an ordinance vacating .50 acres of Waterfront Drive. This is a vacation
of a street that we have done before but we need to clean up little bits of it ....
Small parts are up in the northern part of this .... (refers to overhead map) .... Small
parts of this section of Waterfront Drive and down here that were being vacated to
clean up this whole outlined area of Waterfront Drive which we vacated and
closed when the HyVee went in ..... Working with these property owners around
this area. This is to vacate this as public r.o.w ..... The remains city owned
property. next thing that you will get will be a plat that divides it up as shown and
then you will get a resolution to dispose of this property to abutting property
owners .... (refers to map) .... new business that takes place of Robo Car Wash.
Yellow goes to Country Kitchen... Orange to Carlos O'Kelleys and blue to
Contractors Tool and Supply ....
Kubby/
Franklin/(Refers to map). Access will be in this older part of Waterfront Drive... shared
parking for these various uses around it .... curb somewhere ....
Kubby/But that doesn't have a problem with using parking area as an access through a
business? ....
Franklin/No ....small shopping center ....trying to achieve ....
Norton/I will seem rational? Now it seems irrational .....
c. Consider an ordinance amending Title 14, Chapter 6, entitled "Zoning," Article L,
entitled "Provisional Uses and Special Exceptions," to provide for temporary use permits
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to allow short-term activities, such as special events or seasonal outdoor storage and
sales. (First consideration)
Franklin/First consideration on ordinance amendments for Temporary Use Permits.
d. Consider an ordinance amending the Building Code and Title 14, Chapter 6, entitled
"Zoning," Article B, entitled "Zoning Definitions," to change the definition of GRADE.
(First consideration)
Franklin/First consideration on definition of grade that we discussed before.
Norton/In reading the P/Z minutes... impression... Is this a band-aide on some huge
problem?
Franklin/ .... I think the P/Z Commission had concerns about this whole method of using
the change in grade, filling around buildings, to achieve a height of a building that
got around the regulations and I think their concern would focus on that exercise
of filling. There are times... you want to be able to fill around a building to bring
up the grade .... to make that building function. We were advising to not to
completely eliminate the option of putting fill around the building .....
Norton/ .... There must be ordinances dealing with this issue in all kinds of places .... So
this must not be the first time this issue was confronted ....
Franklin/I would guess that that is probably true.
Norton/Jump on local access govemment .... somebody must have thought long and hard
about grade ....
Kubby/May not be a band-aide ....
Franklin/That 20 feet that the P/Z Commission put in .... that really insures it ....
Vanderhoef/
Lehman/Also is 50% of the perimeter.
Franklin/It is an average.
Lehman/The average is of the 50% .... You wouldn't have to have 20 feet on one side?
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Franklin/Not on all sides, that is correct.
Kubby/Would this prohibit someone from building an earth-sheltered home where
maybe on two sides they had to do a bunch of fill?
Franklin/Doug is saying no.
Norton/Did we get any response from the Homebuilders? Or any formal responses from
anybody? ....
Franklin/The Board of Appeals includes people who are in the trades .... went through
P/Z as well as through the Board of Appeals .... Did you want to have public
discussion, Mr. Siders, tomorrow night?
Glenn Siders/The Homebuilders Association did address this issue .... we did not go to
the public P/Z part of it.
e. Consider an ordinance amending the Zoning Chapter by amending Title 14, Chapter 6,
"Zoning," Article B, "Zoning Definitions," Section 2, by changing the definition of
Transient Housing to increase the number of days persons are able to stay as temporary
residents. (Pass and adopt)
Franklin/But the definitions are exactly the same in the Building Code and Zoning Code
and that is what we are amending here .... so it stays the same.
f. Consider a resolution approving a preliminary and final plat of a Resubdivision of
Outlot A, WB Development, a 15.9 acre, one-lot commercial subdivision with one outlot
located on the east side of Naples Avenue, across from Alyssa Court. (SUB97-0025)
Franklin/To consider a resolution approving a preliminary and final plat of W.B.
Development ..... 15.9 acre, one-lot .... This one has been on your agenda for at
least for a little while. This is off of Naples, south ofHwy 1 and west of 218 ....
(Refers to map) ..... outlot in this subdivision. What they have decided to do is
subdivide this outlot to create a lot over here for development .... This was held up
because of a necessity of getting a revised legal paper which was a document that
was between the owners of various lots within the subdivision pertaining to storm
water, sanitary sewer ..... Now we think we will be ready to go tomorrow.
Dilkes/We think so .... If it isn't, we will get the applicant to request deferral again.
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Vanderhoef/Show me where the access is again.
Franklin/The access is on Naples ....This is where development would occur, right here
(refers to map).
Vanderhoef/
Franklin/And you have access offof Naples, right along here ....
Norton/
Franklin/A!yssa Court goes west into the subdivision to the west. The access point that
comes into Alyssa Court is also going to be serving Lot 8. It is a commercial
subdivision.
g. Consider a resolution approving a preliminary plat of Westcott Heights, an 84.6 acre,
3 l-lot residential subdivision located in Johnson County on the west side of Prairie du
Chien Road, approximately 1/4 mile north of Newport Road. (SUB97-0017)
Franklin/A subdivision in the County and it is up offof Prairie du Chien Road. This is
one that also has been around for a long time... Westcott's originally brought this
in before we amended our Fringe Agreement the last time .... platting and rezoning
of the property to RS. It got hung up in discussions between city and county about
the Fringe Agreement and how development was going to take place in this area.
After we revised the Fringe Agreement, what was... in the Fringe Agreement for
this area is that it be zoned RS-3... one dwelling units per three acres. When the
Westcott's originally platted it, they decided... RS-3 density .... decision to sell the
property. Mr. Anderson has purchased the property .... brought in a plat that (refers
to map) developed not just the portion that is shown here, but also this portion
over here ..... RS-3 density on entire property. However one portion of it was
zoned RS and the other RS-3. So what we were unable to do at that point was to
transfer the density .... We needed to get this rezoned to RS .... under current Fringe
Agreement, mandates the property owner set aside 50% of the property for open
space-
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-16 SIDE 1
Franklin/The platting is proper with a 50% set aside... issues raised related to number of
units and that was at the County level... concerned about the density .... also
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concerned about secondary access. What Mr. Anderson has done is lopped off the
westerly lots on this to diminish the number of lots in the overall development and
provided an access fight here that will go south to the south property. (Refers to
map).
Kubby/
Franklin/ .....this will be reserved as a r.o.w.
Thornberry/Where would that go if that were extended down?
Franklin/Down to the property just to the south... connection made and come back to
Prairie du Chien .... Unusually in the County to have connections between
subdivisions .... because the roads are private .... maintenance of roadways ....
Vanderhoef/Are you anticipating the roads also going further west into that property?
Franklin/But not far.
Vanderhoef/
Franklin/
Kubby/So it was access concerns, not about sewage and water issues?
Norton/Is there a CZA that spells this out that the west part can't be developed until the
secondary access is developed?
Franklin/No because in the county they don't do conditional zonings as a matter of
common practice ..... You have to go back through the platting process .... This
issues were raised largely by the county, this time, not the city.
O'Donnell/Do all of the subdivision out in the County have secondary access?
Franklin/No .... served by single road that goes into a cul de sac system .... Does preserve
rural character of the place .....makes a lot of entrances onto the arterial and school
buses ....
Vanderhoef/Since this has been deferred several times .... notes that had been sent to P/Z.
I was...looking .... no idea how long ago these notes were written?
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Franklin/The staff reports? It has been ....history ....
Vanderhoef/Are you comfortable with water and fire protection ... if this were to be
annexed at some point down the road? ....
Franklin/It is not in our growth area ....quite a ways outside of our growth area...
Vanderhoef/How far?
Franklin/(Refers to map). The growth area... south of Rapid Creek .... It is quite a ways
there .... To the west of here is Corps property .... highly unlikely that it is going to
be part of Iowa City for 100 years .... prediction ....
Kubby/I have a storm water question... In the staff report it mentions something about
many areas of the subdivision do not drain .... Where does this water go and who
will it affect and why aren't we having storm water management? .....
Franklin/ ....I don't know that I can answer that very specifically ....
Kubby/
Franklin/(Refers to map). This is a ravine area and the natural flow... to the west, through
the Corps property... river and reservoir... I would have to check on that.
Kubby/Could you check on that for tomorrow?
Franklin/You bet. Anything else?
Kubby/I have a question ... a Zoning question from P/Z minutes .... It is about the
Ruppert Property at Westport Plaza... Why we would approve something before
the wetlands determination is made .... city council can approve development there
before the wetland determination and that doesn't make sense to me ..... Seems
like that determination should be on the front end and not allowed to be on the
back end ....
Franklin/I know we have done wetlands- We usually do them during the subdivision
process. Is that the one... Rupperts near the airport that you are referring to?
Vanderhoef/
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Franklin/I know we had discussions about storm water management, deferring that until
the building was actually going to take place on that lot ..... When a building
permit is pursued... wetlands determination would have to be made before the
building permit could be issued. At that point we would see whether we had to do
a Sensitive Areas Overlay on that lot or not. It may be because that Outlot A, that
very large of that subdivision- There is two lots in this, Outlot- A .... other one is
the development lot. It may have to do with where the hydric soils were shown on
our Sensitive Areas Map .... Lea, do you remember this discussion?
Kubby/
Lea Supple/At P/Z we had the same question and same concern and what we were told
was the developer wanted to go ahead with this now but that the wetlands
determination could not be made until summer time.
Kubby/ ....grading and stuff and filling in of wetlands before the determination is made?
Will you check on this? ....
Franklin/You would have to have a grading plan approved before you could do any
grading.
Kubby/I don't get this. Will you get back to me on this?
Franklin/Yeah, I will.
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Housing Forum 98-16 SI
Lehman/Housing Forum.
Maurice Head/The Community Housing Forum started October 23, 1996 .... first meeting
we had people resented by non-profit agencies, neighborhoods, University, people
from major employers... housing industry, bankers, and developers. We had about
75 people to attend the first meeting... panelists... current information about
housing trends in Iowa City. From that, this group of 75 people broke down to
small working groups... asked... l-What are the housing issues in Iowa City and 2
What are some of the solutions. That group then reported back to this larger
group .....issues...solutions. As staff, we took this information back and we looked
at it ....issues broke down into three main areas: target populations, who do we
want to serve .... Funding .... development of regulatory measures... What can the
city in the development process to make housing more affordable.
January 1997 we established three subcommittees: Target Groups and goal setting
subcommittee; Funding Mechanism Subcommittee, and Development and
Regulatory Measures Subcommittee. We contacted people that came to the first
meeting, other people in the community... 12-14 people that participated on each
subcommittee .... 8-9 month period... see the list of people who participated ....
Have representatives... present to you the strategies .... Target Groups and Goal
Setting .... John Shaw... Funding Mechanisms .... Liz Swenson and Heather
MacDonald... Development and Regulatory Measures Subcommittee. Charlie
Eastham and Glenn Siders ....
John Shaw/ .... I will try to provide a quick overview of what we did .... going to define
those groups which should be served... Impact of housing costs, unavailability of
certain types of housing and presence of different types of housing mixed in same
neighborhood or lack there of.... impacted the entire society of Iowa City ....
individual from NCS and ... ACT... responsible for recruiting... mentioned the
difficulty they have in getting people to move to Iowa City to accept very well
paying jobs because these individuals have to trade down so far in the quality of
housing .... They simply will not make the move. We saw how the lack of
accessible houses put people... impaired mobility at extreme disadvantage... They
had to essentially take what was there... pay the price of what was being asked...
limited .... We saw...told .... the established neighborhoods were where people
chose to move .... saw that city had very few things in place to help preserve those
neighborhoods, quality of life that we saw in those neighborhoods... parts and
pieces of those neighborhoods being torn down and things being allowed to be put
up that really disturbed the entire fabric of the neighborhood .... these were the
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preferred locations .... We saw also .... newer building... didn't see the same sorts of
qualities happening in the new neighborhoods that were attracting people to the
old neighborhoods .... We weren't in the process of replacing those things that we
had already identified as valuable .... We realized that we did need to define some
target groups. We defined the groups... three groups: Those earning 30% of
median income .... 4,226 homes .... 50% of median income, 3,190 homes... 80% of
median income, 3279 .... 100% median income, 1,883. If you will turn to your
books... attempt to put faces on these numbers ..... explanation of those who fall in
each of these categories .... These are people that live in Iowa City... accurate
descriptions... face these problems .... comprise each one of these individual
groups .... accurate picture .... 1990 census. Housing expense we took percent of
median income that was allocated towards the expense of housing ..... what it
would cost to purchase a house .... Summary of Goals and Policies. The goals were
four-fold: Provide opportunities for rental housing or for eventual ownership ....
brought out many times... provide the opportunity to own houses... median
income... provide some sort of skill in managing how one makes mortgage
payments .... needed to integrate necessary skills and abilities to be successful in
this enterprise along the help .... Partnerships and Cooperatives With the City...
individual businesses .... best interest with businesses of Iowa City... try to
integrate cooperative programs between business, industry and public sectors ....
Last goal was to make those that were seeking affordable housing aware of the
programs that we already have in place .... Policies that were suggested were
increased access, security and utility deposits, identify codes that hinder
accessibility, increase CDBG HOME funding, identify new funds, preserve
existing affordable housing, develop partnership with UI student impact .... study
impact student market has on overall cost of housing in Iowa City ..... achieve
lower cost housing for incentives, improve access to home ownership, create
housing through acquisition and deposition of lands through helping offset cost ....
mix between large expensive houses and small houses .... identify banks that will
finance and rehabilitate houses .... create partnerships for county policies...
incentives for mixed uses, create alternative housing for out of town market,
increase awareness of housing for one-stop service .....
Liz Swenson/Funding Mechanism Committee .... first three items... Home Ownership
Housing Rehabilitation Assistance Program .... 1977 .... opportunity to have their
houses brought up to code .... place of last resort for people ..... serious conditions
that need to be repaired... funding at the state... possibility for funding .... 18 month
waiting list ....opportunity to expand this program a little bit ....First Home
Program ....in Iowa City .....provided gap financing ....small scale but has been
effective. Third program is in New Housing Strategies .... combining mortgages
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and rehab programs .... Many of those houses need serious repair work ..... do
really needed repairs. This idea seeks to address that ....including banks in process
of doing some of the rehab when families buy a house .... serve our city very
well... keep our existing housing stick in good repair.
Heather MacDonald/On the Target Groups Subcommittee .... help Liz out .... number of
meetings together .... Loan Deposit Program .... city would take money that it
already deposits in banks... encourage employers, private individuals,
organizations ....buy certificate of deposit with that money ....current interest
rate... 5.5% ....provides interesting opportunity ....use money already in savings
accounts .... earmarking those funds to be low prices mortgage funds ..... Bank
would make that money in the certificates of deposit available for short-term
construction financing ....low price construction funds .....largely rental housing...
be some opportunities... for owner occupied housing .... Next new strategy ....
involve city issuing GO bond .... that would be earmarked for permanent housing
finance ....City could add 10% onto a GO bond .... earmarked for affordable
housing ....rate the city currently pays on GO bond financing is about ....4.6% .....
bond would be re-paid by revenues from the housing ..... permanent financing
would be provided at much lower costs .... entailed large commitment on city's
part ....housing that would benefit extremely low income households .... Option
aimed at households under 50% of median income .... rental housing ....also
appropriate... housing... more permanently affordable ....number of alternatives
that could be explored... non-profit housing .... limited equity cooperatives ....
mutual housing associations .... 6th Strategy developed by the group .... revolving
loan fund... Afforded Housing Funding Pool... take CDBG and HOME funds ....
cyclical ....take those same funds ....have a pool that is spread out across the
year .....funded initially ....proposal ....half of the funds from the HOME program
and have of funds from city general revenue funds ..... attract other money...
contributions .... state sources .... provide stream lined way to organize
contributions from a variety of places .... Funding here would be aimed at
somewhat higher income group .... 50 to 100% median income group .... more
homeownership than rental... provide good way... innovative housing options .....
using this money to funds... land trust .... to acquire land .... good way to both help
lower income homeowners... insure permanent affordability .... Land would be
held by that community organization in the long term .... covenant placed on
homeowners .... limited amount they could make on the sale ..... can't make a
windfall profit off of it ..... Housing Funding Program .... aimed at .... not have
much city money in it... interest on renter's downpayments that landlords
currently get in the State of Iowa .... would provide a source of rehab funds,
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improvements funds... production funds .... benefit properties .... given the number
of rental units in Iowa City ..... could produce $300,000 annually ....
Liz Swenson/In the Appendix... information about Greater New Haven Community Loan
Fund .... Link Deposit Home Funds .... Community loan funds... all around the
country... national organization ....could participate in ....history of that kind of
fund in our country ....
Charlie Eastham/Along with Glenn Siders... Development and Regulatory Measures'
recommendations ..... emphasize that these... all strategies... arose from work of a
number of people... variety of backgrounds .... recommendations represent a set of
recognitions that these measures will produce some concrete results in this
community and are very suitable for this community. We have seven
recommendations ..... 1- reduce the minimum permitted .... of lot area to 4500
square feet ....number of units per acre ....has a strong influence on the eventual
selling price ....housing that is built. One of the ways to reduce cost is to increase
the number of units that can be built on a given acre of land ..... go through the
normal regulatory process .... public comment .... 2-Reduction in lot widths ....
permit lot widths of 25 to 45 feet in appropriate zones ....existing developments ....
as well as development in new neighborhoods ....
Glenn Siders/3-Reducing some infrastructure costs .... recommending that you reduce
street widths a minimum of two feet... look at maybe 25 foot streets .... 22 foot
public streets for short through streets ..... allowing designs of like alleys...grid
system... garages in rear... allow you to set closer to front streets .... get parking out
back... utilities. in rears of properties .... Looking at innovative street designs ....
role over curbs .... 4- Fast track method for affordable housing .... project .... have a
mandatory pre-development meeting with the city and the developer .... review
process... receive a check list that you could go through...take proposal back to
designer .... through check list .... then go to P/Z .... innovative... for final plat...
State Code requires council adopt final plat .... not have to go back through P/Z for
final plat approval .... go directly to council .... time is money .... 5- ...Review all of
your current regulations .... scrutinize those regulations .... simplify process ....
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-16 SIDE 2
Siders/Together to just analyze all the codes the City of Iowa City has ..... something that
is very important and a key element that needs to be done in this process.
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Eastham/The six recommendations has to do with providing density bonuses for
developing affordable housing in both in-fill projects and in new developments.
We talked about density bonuses and compulsory measures .... reached a real
agreement that in Iowa City .... for a variety of reasons, including local market
conditions. That the best use of density bonuses is as an enticement or a reward
for developers to want to try to include some lower priced housing in their market
rate developments. The proposal is to provide a density bonus of up to one bonus
unit per unit of affordable housing included in a development that would not
otherwise include affordable housing. In the 7th recommendation has to do with
neo-traditional development in regards to the peninsula project ..... Our
recommendations are that that is a good area to have a neo-traditional
development... include some affordable housing components .... target
population... 2, 3, and 4 ....Consensus is that owner occupied housing ~vould be
god... for that area .....
Siders/
I just wanted to mention in your booklet that you have... we did talk about a lot of
items that aren't included in here .... inclusionary zoning... hot topic... widely
debated... consensus to not include inclusionary zoning .... It was a topic that was
~videly discussed. These things are just a start... for affordable housing... I don't
think you can take this document and pick and choose ..... and make it work. I
think you have to look at this as a complete document and for this to work .... You
need not only the cooperation of a lot of people in the community, you need this
as a total package .... lastly .... I would like to thank Maurice... pleasure to work
with... He is a good person to work for.
Kubby/ ....fast track process, how do we insure that affordable housing is the result? ....
How do we insure that the prices actually go down?
Siders/ .... We haven't figured out all the technicalities of how this thing works .....
affordable housing project... somehow you have to define that .... There are a lot of
things we will need to define and look at when we do these.
Kubby/Was there discussion about the private sector accepting the fact that if the theory
is the savings will trickle down to the homeowner and stay with subsequent
homeowners? .... that there has to be some kind of mechanism in place to monitor
that .... The positive for the private sector is that you go through faster and you
save money. But there is also a trade-off.... to insure we are getting results ....
Eastham/From my view point, the whole purpose of these recommendations .... most of
these recommendations really are to allow developers who are interested in
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lowering the price of housing, to do so. It does not necessarily mean that every
developer who uses some of these recommendations is going to, in fact, lower the
cost of housing .... There recommendations are intended to permit them to achieve
their price objectives.
Siders/
If you look at one of these items... reduction of lot widths .... purpose... encourage
row housing .... that automatically is going to lower the cost and make housing
more affordable ....
Lehman/We talked earlier tonight... obviously there is an awful lot of stuff to talk
about .... I think you folks are to be commended with the amount of work... I think
there is going to be a lot of work out in by council .... priorities ....
Kubby/This is a Thursday evening focus ....
Lehman/Thank you, folks, very much for all the work that you have done. It becomes a
priority for us to set this for one of those special meetings .... discuss this report ....
Kubby/Also logistical questions... where do we go from here... final public input... do we
need to vote on stuff to bless this plan, all of that stuff.
Lehman/I think all of that will come after a work session ....decide what we think we
want to do.
Kubby/I agree... I was just expecting a little more conversation tonight.
Lehman/ .... We need to dig into this thing ..... I would encourage us at one of our next
meetings.
Head/Is there any anticipated date as to when council may give direction to staff?.
Kubby/...time to move for further discussion.
Norton/There is even more things we can do... get appropriate groups started looking at
the codes. That could start tomorrow ....I think we have to look at codes and
simplify them every chance we get .... I don't want to wait ....
Head/I want to mention to you- In Appendix A .... see the cost of impacts of the
programs .... The programs are not going to cost any additional money to the city
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at all .... than what is already in the budget. Appendix B... time schedule that we
have laid out ....
Kubby/A lot of stuff is in FY99 ....which is approaching in less than six months ....
Lehman/Do we wish to set a date? I think we probably should.
Karr/Are you looking at a Thursday evening?
(All talking).
Karr/...February ....When all seven are in town ....
Kubby/Might need a couple of meetings .... late afternoon ....
Karr/I had February 12... City manager can't be here the 12th.
Atkins/That is Student Government Day .... available 2:00 on.
Kubby/
Norton/2:00 to 5:00 on the 12th.
Karr/Scheduling of the room at 2:00... a problem.
Champion/It is our room, isn't it.
(All talking-schedule)
Lehman/Set this for the 12th at 2:00 to whenever ....
[Council Break]
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General Obligation Bond Issue 98-16 S2
Lehman/Don Yucuis. We are going to talk about General Obligation (GO) bonding.
Yucuis/General Obligation bond issue that is in front of you which has three resolutions,
setting public hearings for two weeks from tomorrow, is for authorization of up to
S10.5 million of GO bonds. The majority of the list of projects are essential
corporate bonds which do not require a referendum and there are three projects
that, based on another section of state law, we are allowed to issue up to $700,000
of bonds per project and those normally would require a referendum and that is
why they are separated out, so that they are voted on them separately .... That is the
Library HVAC, southside soccer fields. The reason those are combined into one
authorization is we don't believe it will exceed the 5;700,000. So we can keep it as
one project. Then the Parks central maintenance facility, $700,000. These
projects, except for two of them, have been listed in the CIP .... We have added in
some money for the downtown streetscape, $720,000, and also the Willow Creek
trail... at Napoleon Park... Like to add to the Willow Creek Sanitary Sewer to go
off of it... keep the costs lower... S200,000 that was added for that.
Lehman/ .... We are in the midst of our budget discussions ..... CIP... What happens if
some of these projects re adjusted ....in our CIP. What does it do to the bond
issue?
Yucuis/Right now it is just an authorization and once we receive authorization for the
5;10.5- Then I will start packaging .... We can sell up to $10.5 million... we can sell
less .... Cab take 5; 10.5 million and break it up into two issues over the next year.
Lehman/Didn't you also tell me we must spend the money for the projects? ....
Yucuis/You have to use the money. When we approve a resolution, it is by categories .....
You will see streets, trails... stormwater, bridge... They can be moved around ....
You can't take- If you issue bonds... We couldn't take a bridge project and move
it over into the sewer project unless we came back to you and had another public
hearing ....
Lehman/
Yucuis/If at Thursday's meeting, if there are projects that you need more information
on .... get information back to you, delete project, or re-prioritize the project.
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Norton/Tonight was to make clear that you have added three things: trail bridge ....
central maintenance facility ....
Yucuisd The Central maintenance facility has been in the CIP .... listed as a separate
authorization with in the state code.
Norton/But the downtown streetscape was added. Okay... Iowa Avenue streetscape, was
that added?
Yucuis/That has been in there.
Norton/Library thing has got to get in. Okay.
Kubby/ .... I asked him if there was any other options for moving other moneys around so
that these two general corporate purposes .... wouldn't either be so high... I feel
uncomfortable having two of them so close to the upper limit .... I do support these
projects ....
Norton/
Kubby/This is just getting close to the line.
Yucuis/There was also a question raised on the soccer complex and what that money was
going to be used for .... what was contributed by the Kickers? They have
contributed $140,000 towards that project which is really god. The 5;400,000 was
continue to improve the 17 soccer fields that are already in place, keep irrigations
program going .... restrooms, maintenance building, park shelters, playground
equipment .... in the works... Terry is working with an engineering firm to work on
that plan to know what we would like to do down there.
Lehman/Each of these will come back to us in the form of contracts that we must
approve?
Yucuis/Correct.
Lehman/ ....again look at it and approve the contract.
Atkins/Not necessarily .....smaller contracts.
Lehman/Earlier discussion .... behooves us to look these over before Thursday ....
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Norton/
Lehman/We are setting the public hearing .....
Atkins/
Norton/People would know if they want to come to a meeting...
Lehman/I think that probably would be a good idea.
Norton/Is that possible, Don?
Kubby/Have just an overhead of this sheet that has the listing ....
Vanderhoef/At the time of the p.h .... will have had CIP meeting ....delete or add ....
Lehman/Thank you .....
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Transit Building 98-16 S2
Lehman/Transit building.
Fowler/The Transit building was built on a landfill and at the time of construction,
pilings were put down all the way underneath the building and the building was
actually built like a bridge .... Underneath it there was a clay cap, utilities, a gravel
bed and then the reinforced steel floors under that. This was our original
construction (refers to overhead) and this is what has happened today. The ground
has settled... floor drain pipes have broken... ventilating system that was to carry
the methane out from underneath the building that would build up... underneath
the floor. So we have had failures in our drains and failures in our venting system.
The venting system appears to be crushed .... we found failures in both of those
systems ....Over years this clay cap will continue to deteriorate ....methane can
begin to build up underneath the floor and enter into the building ....through the
broken drains... possibility of methane getting in the building in the future.
Methane in small concentrations in not dangerous... level where it does become
dangerous and can be flammable .... We had Terracon come in .... recommending
that we drill down on the outside of the building below the frost wall on the
outside...drili all the way across underneath the building and pt in a vent pipe and
vent the gas out from underneath the building... so there is not a possibility of gas
starting to build up underneath the floor... gas will be pipe away to be disposed of
away from the site .... Several different ways mentioned to dispose of it.. let it go
into the atmosphere... odor problem for neighbors... capture it and use it... burn it
off as they do at the sewer plant. Expensive proposition... $230,000 to $300,000
project .... necessary to come in and advise you.
Kubby/What would happen to the methane that is in-between the new pipe put in... and
bottom of the building?
Fowler/Acceding to Terracon, that new pipe... all the gas would go to that... go into the
pipe and vent out.
Lehman/One pipe?
Fowler/Yes, 18 inches.
Thornberry/I take it one of the options is not to move the building?
Fowler/Well, that would be an option because of the way it is built.
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Thomberry/ ....Max Yocum.
Fowler/That is an option to abandon the site and build another building is an option...
depends on use of the building ....We felt the life of the building didn't justify to
go ahead and abandon it ....
Champion/
Fowler/Between 5;230,000 and $300,000 is their estimate.
Kubby/What kind of liabilities are there for the original design? Has this lived out its
usefulness? .... Can we go back to the designers or the builders to make them
partially liable.
Fowler/We have met with the original design team and discussed the problem with
them... They told us that they had expected these failures would occur.
Lehman/Fixing the drain would not solve the problem .... We have got to get rid of that
gas.
Fowler/Yes.
Thomberry/
Fowler/The way the building is built, there is no access to get underneath the building to
do any of the repairs.
Kubby/Did we know this on the front end?...expect some failure in a certain period of
time?
Norton/They knew methane was going to build up ....
Fowler/From the early press reports that I have read, the garbage smell has been in the
building since we took it over .... I believe that at that time, they said that was a
problem that they had anticipated and the venting pipes would take care of it...
booster fans.
Lehman/We really don't have any alternative... We have got to get rid of the methane
gas.
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Norton/
Kubby/
Fowler/We had Terracon... look at the different alternatives... one they recommended.
Lehman/There is not enough gas to heat that building? I would really doubt that.
Kubby/
Fowler/Landfill is going to outlast the building ....
Thomberry/
Lehman/Are we going to go ahead and do the repairs?
Vanderhoef/We don't have choice.
Kubby/Can we ask some more questions about the ability to capture the methane to heat
something? ....
Fowler/We can go ahead .. plans to do the tunneling underneath and then we can look at
ways to use it or capture it once we get it out. We can start the one process while
we are exploring the other ....
Kubby/I would like to see what are the possibilities.
Fowler/There is a continuing cost of once this is done of burning the gas.
Kubby/And what are the pros and cons environmentally.
Lehman/Does that gas have to mix with anything to bum it?
Fowler/I don't know.
Norton/ ....waste management ....
Fowler/... it only bums between 5 and 10% concentration ..... If you get higher than that,
it won't bum.
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Kubby/Are there any legal issues we should be discussing... designers and builders of the
original construction?
Dilkes/I don't think so at this time. The information I have to date is that it was designed
appropriately at the time it was designed .....
Lehman/It was just built on a dump and we knew it when we built it. Thank you.
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SEATS 98-16 S2
Lehman/Next item on the agenda is a discussion of SEATS and I have asked, with
permission of council, I would like our negotiating committee, which is Dean
Thomberry and Dee Vanderboef, to give us a very brief thumbnail sketch of what
they feel the issues and conclusions are. I then would like Joe Fowler to do the
same from his perspective. And then if Steve has anything to add to that .... Then I
would like to discuss it .....
Thornberry/I have been out of town for the last week. Dee, do you want to start?
Vanderhoe17 Sure. You all have received our report and as you may expect from the
length of time that we spent on this issue, it hasn't been an easy decision. What it
has come down to for me... recommendation that we take over the management of
the paratransit system comes about for me because we have a very expensive
project here and it is a contract. This contract, once it is written, we have no
management of it after the contract is signed. We looked very hard at putting in
standards and expectations... came back to that until the next negotiating period...
three year period .... the City would have very little recourse. Then I started
looking at the management. We have two very capable people in our city, Joe
Fowler and Ron Logsden, who already manage a large amount of money in our
Transit system .... whole budget of Transit. We have moneys that we get ....
maximum levy of $.95 per $1,000 that we levy .... We are taking money from the
Parking system to subsidize out Transit system ....We also are subsidizing our
total Transit system with money from the General Fund. When we are talking
about $600,000 and an increasing amount of money going for paratransit without
having the capability of doing innovative things to incorporate this into a total
transit package, that is where I decided that we had the management, the money...
capabilities to run a very very good total packaged Transit system. Our paratransit
will be equally as good. We may even enhance the paratransit possibilities
because we will have certain things at out tingetrips... I think using one of these
innovative things will be the taxi possibilities... excited... lift van with a taxi
service. There are people in the community that could use this as a private thing
above and beyond what is available during the regular Transit hours for
paratransit ..... We can use smaller vans... deviate them off of the regular fixed
routes .... total Transit picture... As far as contracting... I understand there is a
concern out there for what happens to the total integrated system ....I had a very
brief conversation with Coralville ....There are options out there ....28E
agreements go either way. I just think Iowa City is better suited to provide
paratransit as part of the total Transit package.
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Thomberry/As far as the money aspects are concerned, we have been paying our fair
share to the County .... These questions regarding paratransit are not a new
question .... Ernie was on the negotiating team... three years ago.. same questions
were there then... We went into the thing... to get a new contract with the County
for paratransit. That was our goal. As things progressed .... we came to the
conclusion, as was written in our memo, that gee, we can probably do this thing
for the same amount of money that we are paying the County to do it and be
closer to it... We would have more control over the... paratransit system... Be more
responsive possibly to the needs of our Iowa City residents. There is a span of
control .... 20% ofridership has decreased over the past year ..... We can do the
paratransit system for about the same cost, perhaps less .... Next year the County
has been adamant that we have been getting too good of a deal. So they have been
telling us that they are going to increase, I believe, 9% the next year and then 4%
thereafter. Now, in this contract there is also a paragraph or a sentence saying that
if their costs do not increase, that we would be paying what we actually paid. I
mean what we actually- Our share. However, what you paying is bottom line, is
the net ..... I don't know of anyone who would invest for a service and had it based
on the net price, the bottom line price after all expenses because any company can
make their net profit, their net bottom line, anything they want. That is what we
had zero control over ..... We have not control over their expenses ..... We think
that we can do .... I have been assured by the Transit people that we have the
capability of doing at least a good a job as has been provided .... perhaps enhance
that to a certain degree .... planning on using these vehicles to the fullest extent
possible by utilizing them in the evenings and other times .... have the vehicles
available to use those at our discretion at anytime we needed to .... We think we
can enhance the paratransit system to our residents by doing it ourselves.
Lehman/Joe, based on the information that you have gotten .... how you feel.
Fowler/From the reports that have reviewed .... It would appear that the SEATS service is
very efficient during morning and evening, what you would call peak usage,
basically getting people to work and home from work. It is very efficient during
that time period. There appears to be less efficiencies mid-day, similar to our own
Transit system .... Right now the SEATS system doesn't decrease the number of
vehicles that operate .... results in vehicles being idle-
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-17 SIDE 1
Fowler/But this would be where if Iowa City ran it, we would schedule some rides on a
cab or lift equipped vehicle .... keep vehicles busier .... recommendations, as far as
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the service goes .... We think there are some real enhancements available to the
community as a whole by providing the taxi cab company and lift equipped
vehicle. Cedar Rapids this... Vehicle would be available 24 hours a day for
anyone who wanted to take a non-scheduled ride ..... possibilities could be opened
that way. The Systems Unlimited contract accounts for 22% of the fides and are
considered Iowa City fides under the current system. Those fides fall in about a
three hour period ....I would propose that those fides would be bid out to the
lowest provider ....Iowa City would be required to bid along with anyone else .... I
just think that there are different possibilities that are available to us as far as
using the vehicles in the evenings ..... have those vehicles available during the
evenings to run instead of our large fixed route buses and also would open up
possibility of deviated routing all day long so that we would run a bus through an
area .... deviate over to their residence and pick them up... Major advantage... open
a lot of possibilities to the citizens for transportation alternatives.
Lehman/
Thornberry/Any city who has transit, has to have paratransit according to ADA. Could
you tell us, please, the cost that Cedar Rapids spends for their transit system per
year?
Fowler/I think it is about $250,000 ....
Thornberry/And ours is?
Fowler/$560- proposed for this year.
Lehman/That is before the 9% increase.
Thornberry/$250,000 for Cedar Rapids and $560,000 for Iowa City.
Fowler/Yes.
Thomberry/I know it is a little different system. Basically they are adhering to ADA .....
Do we have- All the personnel that are currently- For example, the SEATS
drivers, would they have an opportunity at driving for the Iowa City Transit
system and paratransit system services?
Fowler/They would. We would advertise for drivers and anyone could apply.
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Thomberry/...they can apply and since they got experience of doing that, they would
probably have an up on anyone else ....
Kubby/Some of them decades of experience.
Thomberry/So they would be given an opportunity to fill those positions ....
Fowler/Yes .....
Kubby/Some of this sounds really exciting .... but two questions... about cost of labor and
amount of management .... City pays a higher wage... How would we take on this
size of a program without 1-increasing the management staff and 2- how would
we not have the same kind of increase in cost that we see from the county ....
higher wage scale to begin with ....
Fowler/On the management question, our plan calls for no increases in management in
Transit. It would be done with the current management staff.
Kubby/Does that mean you have too much management now?
Fowler/No.
Kubby/They have a full time director .... It is a big program... needs to be supervised
well .... being more flexible... takes more management... Is what you are
proposing, no new management, realistic?
Fowler/I am going to have to tell you what Ron has told me. He is on vacation and
unable to be here tonight. Ron was the operations manager for Great River Bend
for two years before he came to work for Iowa City and he feels that with the
current management staff, that he could absorb these duties and have to depend
very heavily on very good very qualified dispatchers and schedulers to be able to
do it.
Thomberry/So the scheduling would not be a management person?
Fowler/No, they wouldn't, no.
Lehman/I think there is one thing we need to make very clear .... I sense a very strong
commitment on the part of the city to maintain the level of service or improve the
level of service that they are currently getting from the county ..... Are we agreeing
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that what we want to offer, if we were to consider this, would be at least as good
as we are currently offering? I don't want to give the impression that we think we
are going to come in and do it for less money and in doing so, offer less service.
Kubby/But we can only offer the same service if we have a unified system or else we
complicate everyone's lives .....A unified system has to stay intact in order to have
the quality be at the same level.
Lehman/I don't think that dropping off at city limits is even a possibility. In your
thinking, Joe... Is there any reason .... that we cannot offer the same service to the
County, to Coralville, to North Liberty that is currently being provided? And if
that is possible, do we still feel that we can do it in the same- in a manner that is
as efficient or more than what is being provided now?
Fowler/All the information that we have looked at and we have put together have
concerned Iowa City and Iowa City only. If we expand outside the borders of
Iowa City, you are going to see an increased cost in your fides and increased time
to complete your rides.
Lehman/... is that a possibility that we could contract other entities?
Fowler/Yes. We haven't put any numbers together for that. Our numbers have been
based on Iowa City service.
Norton/Management costs... look at what would be the tangible benefits of handling
paratransit within the city system ....more efficiency ....more control and
flexibility. Lower cost, I don't understand that yet ....staff, equipment,
maintenance ..... Clearly, somebody is left out.
Thornberry/ ....This $560,000 did not take into consideration a 9% increase and 4 and 4.
Norton/How are we going to escape increases?
Thornberry/Wait a minute. That is 16% increase in three years. This last year we had a
22% decrease in ridership.
Norton/
Kubby/
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Thomberry/Part of is that in the mainstreaming .... all of the buses, over the years, we
have gotten handicapped accessible .... is decreasing the ridership.
Vanderhoef/Our costs went up in fixed transit because of the ADA requirements .... done
it even faster to make our large buses lift-equipped ....more flexibility for our
fiders.
Norton/ ....what is wrong with the county allocation of their operating costs? .....
Thomberry/Two years ago they had a profit... from the Iowa portion .... $120,000-
$103,000 which they said we are not going to give it back. We said okay, go
ahead and buy the computer system .... which they did. This last year .... we did not
get the reports that they said we were going to get .... This last year they had- The
year before was $120- and this last year was $103,000 ..... overage .... extra money
that went into their General Fund. They didn't return the money. They said they
didn't have to because it wasn't in the contract ....
Champion/Are you telling me that $103,000 of Iowa City money went into the County's
General Fund?
Thomberry/That is what we were told ..... This last year they also had over $ ! 00,000 in
profit and they said since it is not in the contract, we are not going to give it
back .... So yes, we think that without a 16% increase over the next three years and
without a profit of $103,000 .... Yes, Dee, I think we can do it... cost savings
there ..... They are looking for a new director and have been unable to find one at
this point ....
O'Donne!!/Is there supposed to be a profit, an extra?
Thomberry/We had a contract with them for a certain amount of money and since they
didn't spend it all, they had money left over that went into their General Fund.
Are they suppose to have a profit on a contract with another governmental
agency? I will ask Steve.
Atkins/We have a contract with a fixed amount of money, right. And within that amount
of money, under the terms and conditions of the contract, they provided the
service to the best of our knowledge. I don't get quite as excited about the overage
because we did contract for that amount of money .... and amount of service .... a
savings was generated in some fashion .... I don't know the details of that ....
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Norton/It is not necessarily our call to get that money back.
Atkins/No, it is a contract.
(All talking).
Vanderhoef/Historically... if they ran short, they came back and everybody just paid
extra money.
O'Donne!l/ ....As close to break even as possibly can be... This isn't break even ....
Kubby/Those overages are not something that has happened long term .... vacancies in
jobs that added up.
O'Donnell/Can we benefit by this overage?
Kubby/It is not part of the contract. Dean is trying to make the point that every year we
would save $ ! 00,000 and I am making the case that that is not true. That that
money-
Thomberry/I didn't say that we would be making $100,000 every year. What I said was
is ridership is down and 16% increase and cost. There has got to be some savings
there somewhere.
Kubby/ ....I am saying the moneys aren't there every year, savings aren't there every year.
Thornberry/I just said that Joe told me that we could do, for $560,000, we could do the
system ....
O'Donnell/If we over-paid 5; 120,000, there is 5; 120,000 excess ....
Kubby/
Lehman/My understanding... three years ago... objective was for Iowa City to pay our
fair share .... cost of providing service to Iowa City .... not more, not less .... I think
that was the goal of the county at the same time ....We each pay what it cost each
entity to provide the service.
Kubby/That was not a point of contention ....
page 45
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Thomberry/We have no control over the costs ....
Kubby/
Vanderhoef/One of the flexibility things that comes up is... changed policy on ridership...
We had no opportunity to change our contract for service .... I see the possibility
that we may be changing some more policy and look at the big picture, the big
vision of things that we can do with the service .... There are some things... even
offer more for the city and for our paratransit riders.
Norton/ .... our contract with the contract... Coralville .... set up their own .... buses passing
in the night ....
Vanderhoef/I was negotiating a paratransit for the citizens of Iowa City .... What I can do
is offer to make 28E agreements with other groups if they choose to come. They
have some other choices ....
Kubby/ .... labor costs. One of the biggest cost for our Transit system is labor ..... How, in a
realistic way, have we really looked at what our labor costs are going to be? ....
Fowler/Approximately 50% of our Transit budget for the fixed route is labor and under
the scenario that we would propose, it would be more fides done by private
contractor... wouldn't pay for down time ....
Kubby/How does that go back to Ernie's issue that we pledge .... quality will stay the
same? ....cab rides ....quality of service isn't the same ....What percentage more
rides would go to taxi? .....
Fowler/One or two rides per hour mid-day .... I have talked to the... cab company owner...
one complaint from a Systems passenger... couldn't find a seat belt... complaints...
need to get to me .....Not hearing complaints... more than glad if people would call
me.
Thomberry/Maybe we could even get a card with numbers to call .... If they have a
complaint, we need to hear it so that we can correct it through our contract with
the cab company.
Kubby/
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Thomberry/There are ways to find out... perhaps we haven't been hearing all of the
complaints ..... Let's have a central number for the complaints .... a place in the city
that they can call .....
Kubby/I hope people will make those complaints and talk to council members about the
variance in the quality of the service ....
Norton/Can we write a contract such that the drivers provided by the cab company meet
certain specs? .... build that into the system ..... control... monitoring.
Thornberry/Require their cab drivers... have the training... maybe use one of the
paratransit drivers.
Kubby/ .... How we are going to do this in a cost effective way is to privatize part of the
system which creates some control problems, too .... shifting the control
problems ....
Champion/ .... I want to know how our taking over SEATS is going to affect the riders in
this community. For instance, are we going to pick somebody up at their home
and take them to Coralville .... and pick them up and bring them back here? ....
cross lines .... What is going to happen? .....
Kubby/It matters whether we get a contract with Coralville or not .... The cost will
increase if we are willing to drive into Coralville .....increase cost to Iowa City tax
payers in order to provide equivalent service ....
(All talking).
Vanderhoef/There is also a possibility... I don't know whether the county will continue
to run their own paratransit .....Iowa City rider is a citizen in the county. So if the
County is running a system .....It is a county ride.
Kubby/
Vanderhoef/ .... l think it is very realistic to have this in place in the city and open it up
and offer to whoever chooses to come to the table.
Norton/ .... so many rides... seems to me the County will have to .... Let's just play out a
scenario... County does SEATS .... then they have to adjust their taxes ....
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Kubby/...Iowa City has to run paratransit system..
Norton/And Coralville does, too, right? ....
Vanderhoef/Their are counties... contract with private ....out of Quad Cities ....possibility
for the County even.
Norton/Let's all get together... write a giant contract .....SEATS Authority ....
Champion/l want to know how it is going to affect the person riding it ....
Thomberry/Depends on the system that comes down.
Fowler/There are many scenarios... council decision... jointly with other governing
bodies. Possibility that Iowa City would run their own system .... set up transfer
points ....
Champion/So they really could be dumped on the border.
Fowler/Possibility of reaching agreement with other communities .... Possibility .... county
ride ..... county takes anybody that crosses boundaries... Many possibilities ....
decision that would need to be made by the council.
Lehman/I think we need to give direction .... We need to give some direction to
ourselves .... Questions here I think we have got to have some answers to. How do
we want to handle this?
Thornberry/I think what needs to happen .... for us... say let's try this one to try it. We
have brought you our recommendation. If we want to do our system through the
city, we tell Joe to start the system, we would like to start July 1 and these riders
that go from Iowa City... Coralville... We have already talked to Coralville ....
They are looking at same increases .... They would not mind doing this either. I am
not speaking for them. An agreement with Coralville... with University Heights ....
Would the County still be running a paratransit system? I don't know? .... Is the
County going to run a SEATS program? They don't have to .... It is getting to the
point we can do it more efficiently with less money.
Norton/I agree ....require contact with these other entities.
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Thomberry/Correct, so we say Joe, contact these people, answer some of these questions
that we have got. We have come with a recommendation and that is what we were
suppose to do .....
Kubby/There are some basic issues .... budget item for management for paratransit .... I
still want to explore management issues, labor cost issues and actual service to the
customer. I don't think it would be prudent to say yes, we want to do this and
there is that date of the coming fiscal year. I think it is way too fast .... It takes
longer to have a transition .... basic questions answered first.
Thomberry/ ....If you have questions, give them to Joe and he will get back to you ....
Lehman/I would suggest .... If we feel that there is some possibility... to us doing the
service .... Got to have some questions answered... have answer from at least the
contiguous communities .... University Heights and Coralville .... We should look
into seeing whether the County would .... I really feel that one system is best for
everybody .... appears .... maybe we can do this .... I don't think we can continue to
drag this thing on and on and on ..... I guess I would like to see us direct the
appropriate person, Joe, I am not sure who that is. But I do think that we need to
look into and get some answers from Coralville... University Heights... County ....
Champion/
Lehman/How long is it going to take us to get some sort of answer?
(All talking).
Fowler/I think the answers...hardest .... reaction of University Heights or Coralville... I
would assume they would go through the same process.
Lehman/Got to have some numbers to give them. Can you generate those kinds of
numbers?
Fowler/We can go back and look.
Thomberry/ ....If you want to ride from point a to point b ....
Kubby/
Fowler/Our whole proposal was based on Iowa City.
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Kubby/
Thomberry/We have increased service to an Iowa City resident... we have not decreased
service at all ..... County fide ....
Kubby/I don't know that is true to say... tax payer ....my bill is going to go up over
there ....
Lehman/ ....Our responsibilities are to the tax payers of Iowa City ....
Kubby/
Norton/One of the questions... Is will the County retain their system? .....
Vanderhoef/Until we make a decision... willing to go...separate... I don't think you will
ever get any of the answers from the other entities...
Lehman/What percentage of the rides does Iowa City have?
Kubby/73% or something like that.
Lehman/
Fowler/It is about 61% of rides are regular fides and another 19-20% are through
Systems unlimited.
Lehman/ ....utilizing 80% of all fides provided by the system.
Vanderhoeff A very large dollar amount .... Believe that we won't get anyone else to visit
with us... that we are willing to go forward... spinning wheels... what if, what if,
what ifi I think we have to go with our feelings at this point .... what we have
looked at .... Are there four people that are interested in going?
Kubby/I would prefer to wait for our next informal so I have some time to read the
memo again .... two weeks to think about it .....
Thomberry/...we have presented the facts as we know them. Make up your mind. You
have had the memo.
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Kubby/But we haven't had discussion.
Thornberry/The County has said they will not extend another month ..... We have
presented the report.
Norton/ ..... l want a little more time to talk to people .... Talked about integration on a
number of fronts ....
Vanderhoef/
Lehman/Dee, you would prefer to wait?
Norton/I guess I would.
Lehman/Connie?
Champion/I think we should look at going forward on this ....
Lehman/
Kubby/
Lehman/My feeling at this point is to direct staff to proceed with this .... can say a week
or two... I would like to see them move forward with it .... I think some things are
critical, the agreement with Coralville... University Heights .... We really are the
entity that folks are going to deal with .... Not going to know until we try.
Norton/
Lehman/I would be prepared to tell them to start working out the details.
Thornberry/I would, too.
O'Donnell/I would, too.
Vanderhoef/I would, too.
Norton/You got four no matter what we do.
page 51
Lehman/
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Thomberry/
Lehman/I think if we sit down two weeks from now .... hope in two weeks time if we start
this process going, we may have some information that we don't have right now.
We can always say put the brakes on. I think the sooner we get this going- It
appears to me to be the direction we should go.
Norton/I have a little breathing room ....
Thomberry/Breathe quickly.
Kubby/
Champion/...important answers-
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-17 SIDE 2
Lehman/I would suggest that we notify all of the entities involved with SEATS that our
intention is to move forward with this, ask for their reaction .... also goes to mayor
of Coralville, University Heights, Lone Tree, Tiffin, North Liberty, Hills, every
place. They all get notified at once of our intention.
Norton/Does this assume our ability to get the vehicles?
Lehman/All of those details have got to be worked out.
(All talking).
Kubby/ ....When do we get to hear from the public? ....
(All talking).
Lehman/ ....if we are talking about offering the same service with a different career .....
Kubby/
Thomberry/
Lehman/I think obviously the public will have an opportunity to speak with us .....
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Norton/I assume somebody will show up tomorrow night at Public Discussion.
Lehman/Do we concur?
O'Donnell/...possibly going to improve the service .... many options...
Lehman/Based on what we have heard, we think it is a good idea. We would like to
pursue it.
Kubby/I had a sidebar concern about our process and ..... Whenever we talk about public
transportation issues, they seem to always end up on the end of our agenda ....
can't use public transportation to get home ....frustrating... We should never have
these kinds of issues that start at 8:45 PM ....
Lehman/Next informal session .... we will put this as immediately after-
Kubby/Nothing that says we can't do this before P/Z-
Lehman/
Karr/February 9, you want to put this at the front of the agenda before P/Z matters? No,
you do not adopt a procedure ....
Lehman/That is what we will do.
Karr/You want it before P/Z?
Lehman/Okay. Joe, thank you very much .....
Thornberry/For the record... Joe has spent many many hours...
Lehman/So has the County ....
Norton/Also thank our subcommittee.
Lehman/Thank you, Joe.
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Council Agenda/Time 98-17 S2
!. Vanderhoef/I did go to the Legislative Breakfast on Saturday morning. Karen and Dee
were there and the issue was drug testing .....I continued on to the Library, the
League of Women Voter's presentation .... education ....Thing that wasn't brought
up... nothing said about the 1 cent sales tax to use as education ....So I don't know
if or when that will come up .....
Kubby/
2. Vanderhoef/We are moving towards Legislative Day in Des Moines .... These are the
10 legislative issues that the State League chose to work on this year to lobby
heavily. What I am looking for from council is direction for the Legislative
Committee on these issues and if we could talk about those at the next meeting ....
Other thing .... propose .... way League things come up ..... start making your list so
that when we go to League of Cities- March 4 is the Legislative Day in Des
Moines ....
3. Vanderhoef/Is another program being put on by Kirkwood... Apprenticeships in
Workforce Development ..... I would entertain the possibility of some going to Des
Moines and .... I might choose to go to that one if there are some other people
going to Des Moines ....
(All talking).
Norton/The briefings in the morning are worthwhile ....
Karr/Is there anyone else besides Kubby and Norton going to Legislative Day in Des
Moines?
Lehman/I think we should be them.
Vanderhoef/I have to make a decision .... Did anyone else get an invitation to Kirkwood?
Norton/l saw that somewhere .... I did get that.
(All talking).
Vanderhoef/Workforce Development... being used for economic development ....
Lehman/
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Januray 26, 1998 Council Work Session page 55
Karr/I can make copies of it ....Anybody else who is interested in Legislative Day...let
me know.
4. Vanderhoef/In reading the Airport Commission notes, they were talking a bit about
their realignment of Dane Road and doing it at the same time as the Willow Creek
sewer schedule.
Kubby That is not even in our CIP, even Beyond List.
Vanderhoef/I know .... I have no idea about cost or timing .... If we could have any
information on that...
Atkins/That came up in staff.... Let me run that down for you.
Lehman/
Vanderhoef/Realignment of Dane Road .....
Lehman/Is that associated with realignment of the creek at the same time? l have some
real questions about that.
Vanderhoef/
Atkins/
Norton/
Vanderhoef/I will quit for tonight.
Lehman/Tomorrow night, 6:00 PM.
Karr/6:00 we are going to start with pictures .... solo picture... group pictures... done ....
prior to the meeting .... No white shirts... watch for design things ....
(All talking).
Adjourned: 10:30.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council
meeting of January 26, 1998
WS012698