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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-01-13 Transcription#2 page 1 ITEM NO.2 OUTSTANDING STUDENT CITIZENSHIP AWARD - Weber Elementary Michael Ahrens Boyu Hu Jane Schlapkohl Lehman/Second item on the agenda is Outstanding Student Citizenship Awards. I will step up front. I will pretend like I am Naomi. Karr/If we could have the recipients step forward please. Lehman/She is a grandmother and I am a grandfather. So there are certain similarities. Face the camera because you are going to be on T.V. We are going to make you stars. Now you realize that these awards are presented by the City Council. But the City Council represents the people of Iowa City and you folks have been selected from your own peers and your teachers. This is really quite an honor. You should be very very proud of this. I am going to ask each of you to read about yourself and then I will read the award. Jane Schlapkohl/I enjoy helping out in the Adaptive P.E. class. I organized clothing drive with my friends. I am a patrol captain and I help in the summer at Foundation II Program for the at-risk children. I am on the Eel's Swim Team. I play viola in orchestra at school and I also take piano. Thank you. Lehman/Congratulations. I am going to read this one time. They are all the same. For her outstanding qualities of leadership within Weber Elementary as well as the community and for her sense of responsibility and helpfulness to others. We recognize Jane Schlapkohl as an outstanding student citizen. Your community is proud of you. Presented by the Iowa City Council. And we even got the seal. Congratulations. Boyu Hu/I am very pleased to stand here to receive the Outstanding Citizen Award. This even is very important to me because it will encourage me in the future. In school I am a lieutenant for Safety Patrol, a school store worker and also conflict manager. I also am in the Orchestra playing the violin and at home I play the piano. At home my parents always say a good citizen should always be a responsible family member. I help out a lot at home. I will value this award and I thank you for listening. Lehman/Congratulations. He does really well without reading, I would think. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #2 page 2 Michael Ahrens/Hi. I am Michael and I am currently on the Weber Student Council serving as Council President. I help maintain school safety by being the Safety Patrol captain. I am also helping with Adaptive P.E. this year. This is my second year playing trombone. I attend lessons at school as well as at Northwest Junior High. My group meets every Wednesday. Not only am I active in school but outside of school. I am currently on competitive baseball team called the Firebirds. I participate in Club West Basketball. I am also part of Boy Scout Troop 211 where I have earned my Tenderfoot badge and I help with various community service projects. I am very honored to receive this award. Lehman/Michael Ahrens. That is a really important part of our council meetings because I think we all realize that these folks are the ones who are going to be sitting up here someday. The real value that we have is in our children. So I am really proud to make those presentations. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #3a page 3 ITEM NO.3 MAYOR'S PROCLAMATIONS. a. Preucil School of Music Week - January 18-24 Lehman/Now we have Mayor's Proclamations. The first one is for Preucil School of Music. (Reads Proclamation.) Karr/Here to accept, Mr. Mayor, is Bill and Dorothy Preucii along with Bill Nusser who is from the Foundation Board. Kubby/Congratulations. Council/(Congratulations). Bill Nusser/As member ofthe Preucil School of Music Foundation, I am here to emphasize that the Preucil's are probably too modest to let you know more about the Gala honoring them this weekend on Sunday, the 18th of January, Hancher Auditorium at 4:00. 44 musicians are returning who all have Iowa City roots and are returning from all over the world to play at this concert. As you said Mayor Lehman earlier about the potential of children, these 44 people are the realization of this potential that happened here in Iowa City. So we encourage anyone who can attend to attend this benefit concert. Tickets are available at the Preucii School of Music or at the door. Thank you very much. Lehman/Thank you, Bill. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #3b page 4 ITEM NO.3 MAYOR'S PROCLAMATIONS. b. Women's Right to Choose Day - January 22 Lehman/Our second proclamation is Women's Right To Choose Day and I have asked Karen Kubby to read this one for us. Kubby/And I am honored to do so. Thank you. (Reads Proclamation). Karr/And here to accept is Marilyn Cohen. Kubby/And on a personal note, the Emma Goldman Clinic has also helped other people provide high quality health-care around the country. My sister is in OBGyn in Phoenix and has done some training at the Emma Goldman in the past and is providing good health-care for Women in Phoenix now. Marilyn Cohen/On behalf of the Clinic Board of Directors and staff and volunteers, I would like to thank you for this recognition and beyond that, I would like to thank you for the community's on-going support of the Clinic. We feel that we are very lucky to be in the Iowa City community where we have such a high level of support from the community itself and from the community leaders. Thank you so much. We would like to encourage you to come and support fellow legislator, Minette Doderer as we honor here that evening. So thank you again. Lehman/Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 p~e5 ITEM NO.4 SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS. a. Iowa City Hospice Road Races Lehman/A presentation from Peg Fraser, Iowa City Hospice Road Race. Peg Fraser/Kids, I am going to be very brief tonight in view of the fact that I have lost my voice. On behalf of the Iowa City Road Races and we will be telling you a whole lot more about the conclusion of the 21 st Annual Hawkeye Medical Supply Hospice Road Races and everything else that we do with you, because of you and for you and with you. May I present you with a little more art on behalf of the great Henry Louis Photo World. The 21 st Annual Road Races for your artwork and we will talk to you later about everything you have done when I can talk again. Thank you, Ernie. Lehman/Thank you, Peg. We will put this is the gallery. Kubby/Add it to our collection. Lehman/Yes. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 FOI 1398 //5 page 6 ITEM NO.5 CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS PRESENTED OR AMENDED. Lehman/Consider adoption of the Consent Calendar as presented or amended. Moved by Connie and seconded by Vanderhoef. Is there any discussion? I would like to point out this does include setting a p.h. for a project that I think will have real significance for Iowa City and that is plans and specifications of a Peninsula water main extension. In April that property to be developed. It is owned by the City of Iowa City and we have got some real special plans for the manner in which that will be developed. Norton/Ernie, I have one or two comments. One of these items is a resolution acknowledging that over 95% of the work has been done on the South River Corridor Interceptor Sewer Project, connecting the north and south sewer plants. l guess that is what it comes to, isn't it? And I always think of it as kind of like the Union Pacific getting across the country. It is a great accomplishment and I think we should be very- The citizens are going to find that a very useful development. Another one, it calls for to accept a resolution on that street light at Burlington and Governor and I want to say it seems to me that in passing through that neighborhood a lot, it is helping and may relief some of the traffic on Summit. I hope that is the case. It has been a long time in coming. Lehman/It is true. Roll call- (Yes). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City. council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #6 page 7 ITEM NO.6 PUBLIC DISCUSSION (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA). Lehman/Public discussion. This is the time for any items that are not on the agenda. We would ask the public to limit their comments to five minutes or less. Osha Davidson/I am not sure if this is the proper time to bring this up. I noticed that farther back, under Correspondence, there is a mention of the letter that I sent to council. I would like to talk a little bit more about that. Is this the appropriate time to do that? Lehman/That is fine. O. Davidson/Great. With the weather as cold as it is, tensions in the Ped Mall are not as obvious as they are in the summer and that they will be again when it does come to be springtime. But like other places, there are tensions when you have a lot of young people spending time in areas like the Ped Mall and in malls. The article in the New York Times that I sent to council talked about how this was dealt with at one mall in Connecticut. And what they did instead of just seeing these kids as a problem, which there are problems created when you have this going on. But they realized that they needed to treat these young people with respect as well. And what they did was for some of these kids who were having problems, to get them the help that they needed and to treat them, as the manager of the mall said, if you treat young people as if they had brains and they are honorable, they will react accordingly. Now I know one step that has been taken already is increasing the police presence in the downtown area and that may well be a necessary part of what is needed downtown. I hope that the police officers who are going to be on this beat are told to remember to treat these kids who might look odd and are maybe being loud as teenagers, as they often are, to treat them with respect and dignity. And if that is done and if we can find out if they have problems, how we can best meet those needs that those kids are having, then I think that will create a better atmosphere in the downtown and it doesn't have to be businesses versus these young people. I think there is a better way of dealing with it and the example of what was done in Connecticut is one example of it. So I just wanted to point that out as an example of how we can deal with it before it tums into other than an irritation. I guess what I am really afraid of is if we just crack down. What we are doing then is turning kids into criminals and that is not going to be a solution that helps anybody. These are our children and some of them do have problems and let's hopefully find out what they are and help them solve those problems. That is all thank you. Lehman/Thank you, Osha. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #6 page 8 Kubby/And also I asked out City Clerk to send that article to the Coralville City Council and to General Growth, the builders of the new mall, too. O. Davidson/Great. Kubby/It was public domain stuff. So I figured I could do that. Norton/I would like to add, Osha, that we have had that- I have sent around a couple of articles like that from Mall of America, where they have hired what they call Mall Morns. Every mall has to deal with these issues and we have talked here locally about the possibility of some kind of auxiliary help that would be able to talk with kids and interact with them and not just in the police role at all. So we are certainly strongly aware of the issues that you are talking about. O. Davidson/That is great and I knew that you are and this was just one example of how to deal with it that I thought was an added resource for you. Thank you. Lehman/Anyone else from the public? I have seven P/Z matters. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa Cit3' council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #7b page 9 ITEM NO.7b Public hearing on an ordinance amending Title 14, Chapter 6, entitled "Zoning," Article L, entitled "Provisional Uses and Special Exceptions," to provide for temporary use permits to allow short-term activities, such as special events or seasonal outdoor storage and sales. Lehman/Declare the p.h. open. Short p.h.P.h. closed. Any discussion on the part of council? I would just like to say that this is an ordinance to enable staff to make temporary uses, I would use the word legal, to make them conform to the ordinances that we presently have. It is not intended, I think, to make life difficult for anybody. It is to make life easier to the city staff and to make sure that provisional uses do comply. So I think a fairly non-controversial ordinance. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City. council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #7c page 10 ITEM NO.7c Public hearing on an ordinance amending the Building Code and Title i 4, Chapter 6, entitled "Zoning," Article B, entitled "Zoning Definitions," to change the definition of GRADE. Lehman/Again, this is an item that has been approved by the P/Z Commission. The p.h. is open. l like these p.h.s.P.h. is closed. Any comments? Norton/People should understand that this is one to try to deal with issues of change in the grade and changing the height of buildings in a way that might not be compatible with the neighborhood. So it is an effort to assure that things like the number of stories and the height of the building are consistent with what the intention of the Codes. I think it is fairly complicated and detailed but I think that is the general purpose. Lehman/I think it is intended to prevent development from circumventing the intent of the presence ordinance. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #7g page 11 ITEM NO.7g. Consider a resolution approving a preliminary and final plat of a Resubdivision of Lot 7, WB Development, a 1.78 acre, two-lot commercial subdivision located southeast of the intersection of Naples Avenue and Escort Lane. (SUB97-0024) Lehman/Moved by Kubby, seconded by Vanderhoefthat this be deferred as was requested. Any discussion? Thomberry/Again, as Karen reiterated, this is not our deferral. This has been requested by the applicant. We are not- Lehman/Right. All those in favor? (ayes). Carried. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City. council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #8 page 12 ITEM NO.8 PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT, AND ESTIMATE OF COST FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE CAPTAIN IRISH PARKWAY PHASE I IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT, ESTABLISHING AMOUNT OF BID SECURITY TO ACCOMPANY EACH BID, DIRECTING CITY CLERK TO PUBLISH ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS, AND FIXING TIME AND PLACE FOR RECEIPT OF BIDS. a. PUBLIC HEARING Lehman/This is a project which will be the first part of any !ink on the eastside, north- south route which would include Scott Blvd. This is a p.h. The p.h. is open. P.h.s are going great tonight. Kubby/I don't know. I think p.h.s aren't great when no one comes to comment on public business. I have some timing questions for Steve and maybe Karin. Because we are doing this is this FY and next FY, this section of it. But the extension of Captain Irish Parkway from Dodge Street over to Scott won't be until beyond 2003. Atkins/That is correct. Kubby/Neither- That same is true for Scoot Blvd. Extended from Rochester up north to this connector. And we are not going to do First Avenue until at least 2002. So why are we doing it now? I mean I know it is going to help with some ACT traffic because of the intersection of Captain Irish Parkway and Dodge. Atkins/You are on your way to answering the question. I think that the primary motivation and they are several factors. One is the intersection of Old Dubuque Road and Hwy 6 and that that intersection has for sometime, at least sometime in the last few years, has met the sufficient warrants to have a traffic signal. That was one and this project is part of that. Secondly, ACT and an agreement with had with them was to close their driveway. It was now their current driveway and relocate their parking lot and employee movement to this intersection which means the volumes on that road will also go up. I think a third point is that a plan is to give them another access point. That them being ACT, so they both have Dubuque Road and further along Captain Irish Parkway. It would be an access point. And finally, it is the beginning phase of the extension of Captain Irish Parkway all the way over to Scott Blvd. Those other projects, other phases are in the out years. Of course budget hasn't been adopted yet by council. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #8 page 13 Kubby/I mean because at first blush that explanation makes it seem like we are basically doing it for ACT which in many ways we are but the public good here is that we create a safer place on Dodge Street, all up and down Dodge for all traffic. Atkins/Yes. Kubby/And that is one of the reasons I can support this. Norton/But eventually we are talking about an east west extension here, an east west road, that will connect at some point with Scott. Now the question of timing and when and how, whether Scott goes north and bends over or how that connects. But basically the east west arterial is what we are starting here, isn't it? Kubby/My questioning was why should I support this now. For the timing makes it seem like it is just for ACT at this point. But it helps us set it up to create better traffic patterns in the future and create the better short term safety problem now. Norton/Also won't this be a pretty slow project? Isn't this pretty time consuming, this whole process? When do you complete this first phase, do you figure? Franklin/It will be into FY99 easily, yes. Of course that starts July 1 of this year, 1998. Atkins/Chuck, can you answer the construction timing? Assuming that we bid this according to our schedule. Schmadeke/Yes. The construction will be completed this fall which is FY99. This fall. Kubby/I guess the other thing I want to mention, too, is that when we put the First Avenue Extension initiative on the ballot, we had kind of said we were still pursuing putting a water line down the alignment of First Avenue. Staff brought that back to us and council decided because of the public's determination that we should delay First Avenue, that any kind of earth moving all up and down the alignment for the water line might be misperceived and so we decided not to do the water line at this time, although people might see some earth moving in the area for Captain Irish. Thornberry/And I think you hit it on the head, Karen, when you said a delay of the First Avenue Extension and putting the water lines down, the water and sewer lines down, in that configuration that the road would go along Captain Irish Parkway would save considerable money, time and effort then having to go back and do it This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #8 page 14 later. So, I think in building the road in conjunction with the sewer and water lines makes a lot of sense, especially in that first phase. Lehman/I also think, Karen, and I understand your first question, the timing. The other part of it that concerns me is that as we look at the extension of Scott Blvd. and the various phases, because of the huge cost of that, I think it has got to be done incrementally. This is the first step and I have no problem with doing it now because we certainly cannot begin to do that project as one project. So this is a first step on what will eventually be a north south connection. Kubby/It is a very rolly polly road and we are going to do a lot of filling in and grading. We are going to destroy a lot of hillsides doing this and I need to acknowledge that with my yes vote. I am saying go ahead. Franklin/Just in terms of the years that you have talked about, Scott Blvd. and the remainder of Captain Irish Parkway, my understanding is that as we start out planning process for the Northeast District, that some of those years may change. The planning for that may change as we go through this process. So I think as far as the public is concerned at this point, the one thing that is set by this project is a part of Captain Irish Parkway and then its fate as it continues onto the east or wherever it goes, we'll be working through with the residents, the property owners and the city council over the next year. our goal is to have that plan completed by December of 98. That is that you have approved it by then. Kubby/So public meetings will start in March? Franklin/March, yes. Kubby/So people should be on the look out. You don't have to live in the northeast side of town to participate. Franklin/Right. In fact we just talked about it with the staff today if I can just share this with you a little bit, take a couple of seconds. What we have decided that we are going to do is we will send out notification to everyone within the district. That is all the property owners within the district and residence as much as we can. And also to any interest groups that have expressed an interest in this section of the city. We will hold a public meeting in March in which we will identify issues and then have people indicate their interesting serving on any kind of subcommittees to deal with those particular issues and go through a neighborhood planning process with those subcommittees and it is kind of self selected then as to who is This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #8 page 15 to be on it. We want to encourage, of course, the participation of people who live in that area and who own property in that area. So that is the plan right now. Kubby/Thanks. Lehman/Thank you, Karin. Any further public comment? Thomberry/Just a suggestion, Karin. If this notification could be included in a water bill or something like that, you would notify everybody and not have to make 1- a separate mailing and 2- miss anybody. If that could just be incorporated with that and then everybody would know about it. It would remind them. Lehman/The p.h. is closed. b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING Lehman/I would entertain a resolution or motion to approve the resolution. Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by Thomberry to approve the resolution. Any further discussion? Roll call- (Yes). Passed unanimously. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #9 page 16 ITEM NO.9 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AWARDING CONTRACT AND AUTHORIZING MAYOR TO SIGN AND CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A CONTRACT FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE WOOLF AVENUE BRIDGE RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT [PROJECT NO. BRM-3715(4)--8N-52]. Lehman/We received five bids. Engineers estimate was $1.2 million. The bids ran from $1, i 26,000 to $1,600,000 and almost $80,000. The Public Works is recommending the awarding of a contract to Iowa Bridge and Culvert of Washington, Iowa for $1,126,188 and I don't know what the $.73 is for. Do we have a motion? Moved by North, seconded by O'Donne!!. Roll call- (Yes). Norton/We should add, Ernie, that this has been a long time coming, too. And some of Rick's pictures of the under-structure of this bridge and the plywood holding up the bottom suggested that it is none too soon. Lehman/It is probably long overdue. We will get it done this year. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #10 page 17 ITEM NO. 10 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING, AUTHORIZING, AND DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND NNW, INC. OF IOWA CITY TO PROVIDE ENGINEERING CONSULTANT SERVICES DURING CONSTRUCTION OF THE WOOLF AVENUE BRIDGE RECONSTRUCTION PROJECT [PROJECT NO. BRM-3715(4)--8N-52]. Lehman/This is what it says, hiring an engineering finn to inspect the project as it is being completed and it relates to the item before. Moved by Thomberry, seconded by Vanderhoef. Do we have any discussion? Norton/Has NNW, have they done this exact kind of thing before, working with the neighbors? Dennis Gannon/Exactly. They did it with the Melrose Avenue. Norton/Okay, they are the ones. They are familiar with it because there is a good deal of that, right, I take in this case. Kubby/Having weekly construction meetings and I know when we did that with First Avenue that there were residents that almost every week there. Did we do that with Melrose? Gannon/Not exactly but the Melrose had their head of the Melrose Neighborhood Association was in close contact with NNW. Kubby/With this we are doing neighborhood meetings, too, aren't we? Gannon/No. It is pen for neighborhood meetings but there isn't that many neighbors directly involved with it. We have dealt with the neighbors and talked to them. Norton/Before this is over, they may form an association. Thornberry/I think they will be happy with it. Norton/Oh, I am sure they will. Lehman/I think we have a tradition of really doing a very good job on the part of the city on working with neighborhoods when we have construction projects. If you did Melrose, we have every confidence that the same thing will occur here. Roll call- (yes). Unanimous. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #11 page 18 ITEM NO. 11 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN EXTENSION AGREEMENT FOR FY97 PARATRANSIT SERVICE BETWEEN THE CITY AND JOHNSON COUNTY. Lehman/We have been working with the county for several months now trying to negotiate a contract for SEATS. I visited this afternoon with Transit Director for Iowa City and I have been assured that we will, prior to the next meeting, receive a report from him and hopefully very very shortly we will be through with this negotiating process and the City and the County will know exactly where they are. But in the mean time we need to approve this and do we have a motion. Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by Thornberry. Any further discussion? Champion/Ernie, how long do we see this process taking before we actually have our contract? Lehman/Connie, that is really hard to say. Two years ago it was a reasonably short process. This year it has been a much longer process than any of us thought it was going to be. I think from the tenor of last night's work session and from what I hear from the Board of Supervisors and from other members of council, this is going to be something that is going to come to a conclusion relatively soon and it needs to. Kubby/And I hope that we can get a contract that is a multi-year contract because if we get the parameters in place and the numbers change and money changes hand according to use of the service based on the parameters we decide upon, then we can have a multi-year contract that will fluctuate with the conditions each year of how much use there is. One of our goals years ago was that we wouldn't have to have this conversation every year and I hope that we fulfill that goal. Lehman/Well, we should in two weeks hopefully we will have the answers to a lot of out questions so we can move from there. Roll call- (yes). Carried unanimously. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #13 page 19 ITEM NO. 13 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING FEES AND CHARGES FOR THE POTTER'S STUDIO IN THE ROBERT A. LEE COMMUNITY RECREATION CENTER. Lehman/Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by Thomberry. Kubby/I would like to say something, please. This is a separate item because I need to abstain and I thank council for having this separate so I can vote for rate increase at the Rec Center. But I will be abstaining because I use the potter's studio professionally. Lehman/(Roll call- yes, Kubby: Abstain). Passes 6-! abstention, Kubby abstaining. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #14 page 20 ITEM NO. 14 CONSIDER MOTION GRANTING A 45 DAY EXTENSION TO THE POLICE CITIZENS' REVIEW BOARD FOR THE FILING OF A REPORT WITH THE CITY COUNCIL ON COMPLAINTS 97-2 THRU 97-7. Lehman/This request comes to us from the Citizens Review Board, feeling they need additional time to do the job that we have appointed them to do. It was unanimously requested by them that we give them the extension. So do we have a motion to that effect? Moved by Kubby, seconded by Vanderhoef. Any discussion. Kubby/I just have an observation that we have had seven complaints of through the PCRB in less than six months and all of them have been- The PCRB has requested time extension. So I would like us to have our staff person track this and that if in a year we see that all of them are needing extensions or most of them are, that maybe we need an amendment to our process. It is obvious that our process isn't set up to accommodate what is needed to fairly review these cases. Karr/That mechanism is already in place and that is what we are waiting for is a period of time to go through a year first. Kubby/Great. Champion/They are so new though that they might just have trouble organizing. Kubby/We might have a lot of clean up amendments to make the process go more smoothly. Norton/While we are about that, I think it is worth noting that the PCRB is working very hard. I noticed they meet almost every week, three times in December and three times in January are scheduled and they are writing their own reports. So they are- It is not from any lack of effort on their part that these matters are- They are working very hard. And I wanted to add to that that they are also emphasizing in their materials the availability of mediation and informal agreement. I think that should be noted while we are talking about the PCRB. Lehman/I would really emphasize what you said, Dee. Their schedule for meetings is just murder. It is amazing the amount of time those folks are spending and they are really doing, I think, a stellar job of what we asked them to do. Roll call- (yes). Passed, 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #17a page 21 ITEM NO. 17a CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION. Lehman/City Council Information. Karen- Kubby/I have a couple of things. I brought up a couple of weeks ago about stepping up our implementation of a Solid Waste Advisory Committee and I know that Brad had kind of sent some information to you, Steve. But wondered what our time frame was. Atkins/Remember, when I presented the budget to you the other day, I listed like 6-8 major items. That is one of them. I don't- Kubby/A whole bunch of landfill stuff?. Atkins/Yes. I don't doubt I can't have it to you in the next couple of months for sure. Kubby/Okay. I am just real- I guess I am real anxious to have it because we are dealing with so many big ticket items and landfill things. To have some citizens who can focus on those issues. Atkins/I think we can move that up. That is not a problem doing that because work is being done already. Kubby/I wanted to announce a special dinner, the City Federation of Labor, which is a group of all different labor unions in the community. They get together and deal with various issues. is having a chili dinner for organized labor and friends of labor on Thursday, January 15, at 6:00 PM at 1212 Highland Court. The public is invited. There will be meat and meatless chili, combread provided and drinks. If you want other stuff, you can bring it. I also want to give a plug for council members and Big Brothers/Big Sisters. We have a couple of teams going from council to raise money for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Johnson County. You can also get a bowling team going on Bowl For Kid's Sake for February 28. You need six people, you each need to commit to raise $50.00 a piece and the money goes to the- All the money stays here locally in Johnson County. if you want to- Ifyou don't want to do that but you want to pledge, you can call me at home. I got it in before anybody else did. Norton/Call any of us. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 # i 7a page 22 Kubby/Finally, the Business Fair is coming up in February and I am going to be out of town during it but it is a really- I am assuming that other council members will be there as elected officials to talk with folks as they are going around the fair. We should get a sign up sheet going around. Norton/Do we have that sign up sheet? Karr/Not yet, it is in route. You will get it next time. Norton/Okay. Kubby/That is all I have. Thank you. Lehman/Dean- Thomberry/Just one thing. The council has elected me as Mayor Pro-tern and I will pledge to them and to the city to do my best to serve my city. Sounds like the Boy Scout creed but I do have a sense of humor. Sometimes it doesn't come out the way I would like it. But I do pledge to do my best for both the council and the community and I appreciate the opportunity to serve. Vanderhoef/A couple of things. We had a memo about the compost and yardwaste charges and being able to use clean compost in changing the rates on this and it is something that I would like to see if anyone else is interested in moving forward with this and give direction to staff to bring it back to us. CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-13 SIDE 1 Vanderhoef/Landfill. Norton/Was the idea to produce something like Blue Stem does? Atkins/No, what we were doing is operationally it probably would not change substantially. What we did was calculate the operational costs for preparing that compost and found that we were charging the regular landfill rate and in affect, we were not incurring that level of cost. So that we recommend that the rate be lowered to $30.00 per ton as opposed to the $48.00, $48.50 and $53.50 because that is closer to our costs. It also helps us stabilize our residential refuse rates also. It is not a big big ticket item but I think it is something that we have enjoyed some benefits from and we should pass those savings along to other folks. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 # 17a page 23 Kubby/But we would still be providing free product back to the community. Atkins/Absolutely. Norton/I don't see any reason not to get it moving then. Atkins/I intended to bring it up as a matter of- When it came time for budget unless I hear really differently from you and there doesn't see like there are any difficulties. We can start putting it in the mill right away. Let's do that. Norton/Why not, yes. Atldns/Okay. Vanderhoef/Okay. That is a great one. Something else that I think staff did and it surprised me when I got it out of my mailbox. Recently they just mailed this brochure out and then it says tear out the cover because there are two important documents inside. So it is not only our Parks and Recreation winter and spring scheduling book. It is also a wonderful citizens report for Iowa City. And in a few short pages you get a lot of information about where our money goes, where it comes from, how our budget breaks down, who is using it. I encourage you to take 30 minutes and really read it. It is an important document and it may spur you to come to our budget meetings and to come to the p.h. for the budget and let us know how we are doing. That is it. Norton/One of these maybe you will do, Ernie. I wanted to express on behalf of the council our thanks for Sarah for holding up and welcoming Eleanor back to the City Attorney's desk. Thank you. I wanted to ask Steve about this graffiti question that has been much in the news. Are we in a position to actually remove the graffiti or are we in a position to talk about graffiti removal? Atkins/I will be candid with you. I was surprised to read the tone of the article. I mean, we have a policy if it is reported. We have a time frame. We will do all of the things in accordance with the ordinance. I wasn't real sure what was trying to be accomplished by it. We will do our best in accordance with the ordinance and follow- Norton/You know who is going to go get it, right? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 # 17a page 24 Atkins/Well, to the best of our ability, we will get it removed. We don't want it out there more than anyone else. I wasn't real sure when I read that- Norton/All right, I am reassured that the policy is going to be implemented, is being implemented. Atkins/Yeah. Norton/I wanted to second that view about the Budget Report. I think it is a terrific report for the citizens survey. I would like to also commented finally on regarding a note that we got and perhaps we have heard some other comments about water rates and I want to assure people that despite the announcement that water rates are going up 15% and the wastewater rates 10%, the actual increase for a typical user is only about a quarter given our adjustments in the minimum usage. So I think people are going to be very pleased when they see their March bill. It is to going up in the way that is appears. I won't give them the detail numbers. Vanderhoef/No but what I was going to say is this is in the utility bills. It gives you a heads-up of what is being done on your water bill. Norton/Okay, that is it. Lehman/A couple of things. I would like to thank those many many folks who sent me notes or called me or whatever and wished this council the very very best. I have got a really good feeling about this council. I think that we can get things done. I think we can go places. The first week of February I will have a short State of the City message for both the council, I think, and for the community. I have met with the mayor of Bettendorf. Expect I will be meeting with the mayor of Coralville in a couple of days and I expect that we will be meeting with Cedar Rapids and other cities in Iowa. Certainly as one of the five largest cities in Iowa, I would think that it is imperative that we make ourselves known to the State Legislator on matters that really affect the way we do business. The State does really really control the way cities can do business. So you can expect me to be as active as I can be in that regards. I would just like to, I guess, pass along we are in the middle of budget discussions. I think those are going very well. We spent a fair amount of time with them. I think we are hashing things out well. There is good discussion. Hopefully by the end of the month we can have that pretty well done. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa Cit3' council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #17a page 25 And we will be, council knows this, the public does not. We will be, toward the end of the month, setting a time when council will be getting together and trying to set those objectives and goals that we see for ourselves for the coming year to end. I think that is going to be a very very important meeting. I am really looking forward to exchanging ideas with the other council folks. At our last Monday's meeting we appointed council people for various committee assignments. And I think the appointments were the Legislative Committee was Dee Norton, Karen Kubby, Dean Thomberry. The Rules Committee: myself and Dee Norton. Emergency Management: Mike O'Donnell. JCCOG: all members except myself. Convention and Tourism Bureau was Connie Champion. And the Student Senate were Karen Kubby and Dee Norton. Last night we had some discussion regarding membership on those committees and I would entertain a motion from any council person if any of these people are to be changed. Thornberry/I would like to make a motion, Ernie. Since Dee was out of the state when this was announced and didn't have the opportunity in submitting her application. And she really wanted to be on the Committee, Legislative Committee. And I told her and the rest of the council that I would relinquish my seat in favor of Dee Vanderhoef for the Legislative Committee. Lehman/Are you making that motion? Thornberry/I am. Kubby/With yourself as an alternate if one of us can't. Thornberry/If one of you can't make it, I will sit in as an alternate. Lehman/That was part of the motion made by Thomberry and seconded by O'Donnell. Is there any discussing? All those in favor- (ayes). Motion camed. Vanderhoef/May I say thank you. Thomberry/Yes. Vanderhoegt And thank you for listening to my request. I appreciate that. Kubby/I am glad you felt comfortable making it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398 #18b page 26 ITEM NO. 18 REPORT ON ITEMS FROM THE CITY MANAGER AND CITY ATTORNEY b. City Attorney. Lehman/Eleanor, glad to have you back. Dilkes/Thank you. Lehman/How is that little one? In fact you can talk about the baby if you want to. I love that. Dilkes/I know, you like babies, too, Ernie. He is fabulous. He is wonderful. Lehman/Thank you. Kubby/And we need to stay a few minutes to deal with March- Lehman/I will entertain a motion to adjourn and ask that the members stay for just a minute or two so we can confirm our first meeting date in March. Moved by Thomberry, seconded by O'Donnell. All in favor- (ayes). Meeting is adjourned. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of January 13, 1998 F011398