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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998-02-24 Transcription#3 page 1 ITEM NO. 3 MAYOR'S PROCLAMATIONS. a. Community Fitness Week - February 23-28. Lehman/ The first is Community Fitness Awareness Week, and I read this last night to a reception for the Iowa City Hospice folks, so I'll read an abbreviated version, Peg, if that's okay. (Reads Community Fitness Awareness Week Proclamation). Thornberry/ That was abbreviated. Peg McElroy Fraser/ Mayor Lehman, thank you so much, and thank you for drawing attention to the fact that 29 February won't be on our calendar this year. We appreciate it deeply. The last time I was before you, giving you the award for the outstanding commitment of this fine city of Iowa City, I didn't have a voice, so I couldn't say much, and I bet you were happy, because you had a major agenda before you. But let me also be brief tonight in saying to you that Michael Collier said the only way to really have is to give. And this fine city of Iowa City stands above and beyond this entire country in really having what there is to give. Along with all the fine people that are involved with this tremendous organization, and this tremendous event that raised $117,000 for Iowa City Hospice, and the agencies of United Way in 1997. We also honored last night at the Hospice Hooray, and we were so glad you could be there with us, Ernie. Our volunteers of the year for 1997 are City of Iowa City Police Department, and we were very fortunate to have with us Captain Widmer who will always be called Captain "Tommy Fire" Widmer because he renegotiated traffic for 6,000 runners and walkers in 1994 with only an hour and a half to do it, and somehow he did it, and no one missed a beat, and it was awesome. Also, ChiefWinkelhake was with us, and Lieutenant Matt Johnson, who I spend a lot of time with now, because we're involved in 21 Races, many of them here in Iowa City, and also in Coralville and in our community. Finally, I would say that we raised $117,000, and you know the math of our County and our cities, and our, what I call great-great-great- grandmother race in Tampa, Florida, with a county of 907,000 people raised $140,000 and thought they were doing well. So if you ever wondered are we awesome? You'd better believe we are. And how are we? Because of you. So, thanks, from the bottom of my heart. b. Prevent a Litter Week - February 24-March 2. Lehman/ Thank you, Peg. The second proclamation. (Reads Prevent a Litter Week Proclamation). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #3 page 2 Marian Karr/ Here to accept is Kathy Janz and Misha Goodman-Herbst. Misha Goodman-Herbst/ The numbers are right. Lehman/ Oh, I believe you. I believe you. It's just a lot of cats and dogs. Goodman-Herbst/ You're right, it's a lot of cats and dogs we'd like to prevent and not see. We really want to push this this week, and for the whole month. It's a national campaign, actually, that's out there. We'd like to tell everyone that all the local vets are involved in this. They're giving discounts during this time for spaying and neutering, and with that and the Florence Unash Fund which is distributed through the Humane Society and the Animal Control Center, we should be able to get a lot of pets spayed and neutered. And we want to thank Karen for her assistance in the bus posters that are going out. Kubby/ Thank my dog. Thornberry/ Misha, Misha, I have one question. At what age is it too old to spay or neuter a pet? Goodman-Herbst/ Oh, we can do yours. You'll have to speak to your vet. Kathy Janz/ Even if you're not worded about pet overpopulation with your animal, to reduce its chances of cancer, it's always a good idea, regardless of the age. Thank you. Goodman-Herbst/ Thank you. Lehman/ Thank you. c. Daffodil Days - March 9-13. Lehman/ (Reads Daffodil Days Proclamation). Karr/ Here to accept is Christine Riggs. Lehman/ And I hope you're going to tell us ~- I know you told me where to buy them. Now tell the rest of them. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #3 page 3 Christine Riggs/ Thank you, Mayor, I will. I'd like to thank the City Council for its recognition of Daffodil Days. As Mayor Lehman has stated, the American Cancer Society and its volunteers actively work throughout this County in bringing education to every citizen and education and assistance to patients who are courageously struggling with cancer, and their families. This year, as the Mayor noted, we will be selling bouquets of daffodils, ten daffodils for $5 each, from March 10 through March 12 at these sites: The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Mercy Hospital, Old Capitol Mall, First National Bank, Pleasant Valley Nursery, and the North Dodge Athletic Club. We appreciate the support of this community in raising funds to support these programs and the research moneys that come into this community. Thank you. Lehman/ Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #4 page 4 ITEM NO. 4 OUTSTANDING STUDENT CITIZENSHIP AWARD -- Helen Lemme Elementary. Lehman/ Item four is our Outstanding Student Citizenship Awards, and these are from Helen Lemme Elementary. Kubby/ I was one of the first students at Helen Lemme in 1970. It was, it was kind of an innovative school with the library in the center of the school. That's one of the reasons I'm a huge library supporter is because of Helen Lemme. Lehman/ You be first. Sarahe Gorashi/ Hello and good evening. My name is Sarahe Gorashi. I am eleven years old, and attend Helen Lemme School. I am honored to receive this award. I believe that good citizenship is to be kind to others and to respect their rights and beliefs. Just saying "hi", "bye", "thank you", or a simple smile shows respect and kindness. Complimenting my classmates, teammates, and others, for their accomplishments contributes to develop good citizenship. Taking care of my school and my community, being kind to the elderly and young kids, is also good citizenship. Fulfilling my responsibilities at school, home, and with the team, on time, and without being pushed to do so, indicates self-motivation and respect. I love learn and to serve others, and to participate in activities. Some of the activities I participate in, in and out of school, are basketball, piano lessons, school patrol, and our school musical, and community service. I want to thank my classmates for voting for me. I also want to thank Mr. Onnen, my homeroom teacher, and all the teachers at Lemme for teaching, and for considering me worthy to receive this award. I also want to thank my mother for teaching and guiding me. I try to do what I believe. I want to be a good citizen. Thank you. Lehman/ Sam? Sam Leohr/ My name is Sam Leohr. I am interested in being a representative for this award because I believe I have demonstrated good citizenship. Some ways I show good leadership in and out of school consist of assistant patrol leader in Boy Scouts, baby-sitting my younger brother and sister, assistance with reading and spelling and also helping second graders with their math. I work hard in school and I don't criticize my classmates. Other activities I participate in in school are safety patrol, sixth grade band, piano, which I have taken for four years. I intend to work hard in school and out of school. And I would like to thank my sixth grade classmates for voting for me for a representative for this award. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #4 page 5 Lehman/ Both of these awards are the same. I'll read one of them. "For her outstanding leadership, qualities of leadership, within Lemme Elementary, as well as the community, and for her sense of responsibility and helpfulness to others, we recognize Sarahe Gorashi as an Outstanding Student Citizen. Your community is proud of you. Presented by the Iowa City City Council." Thank you very much. This is really one of the best parts of the Council meeting. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #5 page 6 ITEM NO. 5 CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS PRESENTED OR AMENDED. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #5). Thornberry/ Move adoption of the Consent Calendar. Norton/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Thornberry, seconded by Norton. Any discussion? There are a couple things I probably should point out. One is a public hearing will be on our transit funding grant application. Another is a public hearing that will be regarding the deer management program that has been in the news so much recently. Are there other things that Council would like to point out? Roll call- (yes). Motion passed. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 7 ITEM NO. 6 PUBLIC DISCUSSION (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA). Lehman/ Item six is public discussion. This is limited for items not on the agenda. We would ask you to sign in, state your name, and limit your comments to five minutes, please. Philip Zell/ My name's Phillip Zell, and I'm here representing the Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center Commission. I wanted to report that we met with Tim Shields who's the Director of the Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Iowa, to discuss the functioning of the Senior Center Commission. The topics that we covered were accomplishments of the Commission in the past year, the role of the Commission in Senior Center functioning, becoming a more effective Commission. We also reviewed existing mission statement and goals, and identified key issues for attention over the next one to two years. Some examples of our accomplishments over the last year: we instituted town meetings, we developed scholarship programs for low-income participants of the Senior Center, we participated in a County-wide survey of the Center users and other eligible people. Key issues that we will be addressing in the next one to two years include following up on this survey, developing outreach strategies for underrepresented age groups, and developing plans to deal with evolving issues of accessibility, for example, parking. Lehman/ Thank you. Steve Singer/ Hi, I'm Steve Singer, and I live at 360 Samoa Place in Iowa City. And I'm a driver for SEATS. I think you'll remember that. It's been four weeks since you first proposed the takeover of SEATS, and during that time there's been an overwhelming reaction against this move, from passengers and their families, from the SEATS staff, and from other social service providers. You've heard many heartfelt stories, and you've received a lot of information, almost all of which supports the system as it not exists. Despite all this, you're still moving forward, almost without comment, without second thoughts, and without anything that resembles a plan. You know, free speech like this is a part of democracy, but as you said, Ernie, earlier, so is responsible government and accountability. Tonight, I'd like to ask you, instead of giving a spiel, I'd like to ask you just a couple questions tonight. I hope you'll give me the courtesy of answering as completely as you can. I'd like to start with the Council's understanding of budget allocations. A project such as the Iowa Avenue Renovation will cost several million dollars, and will have a great impact on the businesses in the downtown area. This is something you know firsthand. Paratransit, on the other hand, directly affects the ability of people to meet essential needs, including This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 8 medical visits, food shopping, and the general ability to live independently, as independently as possible, with the greatest degree of dignity. These are issues that you say you want to leave to staff because you have little or no firsthand knowledge of these issues. Two weeks ago, a young woman asked all of you briefly if you'd ever ridden with SEATS. Only Mr. Lehman gave her an answer. You said, you raised your hand and said that you, for one, had not. At the same meeting, each of you were invited by the County to spend time with SEATS, to sit in with our schedulers and dispatchers, or to ride with our drivers. I guess my first question is, because I only work part-times so I'm not there every day, how many of you have been able to do this, or how many of you have arrangements to do this in the near future? Dee, I'll start with you. Norton/ I'm going to go tomorrow. Singer/ Okay. Norton/ But I made my arrangements secret. No, I plan to go tomorrow. Singer/ Are you riding, or are you going to be with dispatch? Norton/ I'm going to do both. Singer/ That's excellent. And Dee? Vanderhoef/ I have not made any plans at this point, and I will be out of town. Singer/ For the next, let's see, July 1st was the date you keep saying? Vanderhoef/ I will have time. Singer/ (What?) Vanderhoef/ I will have time. Singer/ You will have time. Vanderhoef/ I will have time. Singer/ That's excellent. Dean? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 9 Thornberry/ Let me say that I also have not ridden with the fire trucks. I have not ridden with the Police Department. I have not done a lot of things that the City does. Singer/ Have they invited you? Thornberry/ For the functions of the City. This is, and I do not know how many of the Supervisors of the County have ridden the SEATS, and they've been doing it for years and years and years. Don't know how many have. But, I may. Singer/ Okay. Ernie? Lehman/ I haven't yet, but I certainly can. Singer/ Have you made arrangements? Lehman/ No. Singer/ Okay. Mike? O'Donnell/ ! have not made any arrangements yet. Singer/ Okay. Do you plan to? O'Donnell/ But I plan to. Singer/ So you plan to. Okay. Connie? Champion/ No, I haven't. And, I'm not going to primp myself to do it. I think there's a misconception that I have to ride a SEATS bus to have empathy with what people are going to go through to get transportation. I guess I really don't believe that. I have total empathy for people who need the kind of transportation that SEATS provides. I don't consider myself an uncharitable person or a selfish person. And I certainly mean to stick up for people who need paratransit service. And I may, or may not, ride it. Whether I ride it or not I don't think is important. Singer/ Okay. Karen? Kubby/ Last week ! spent some time at dispatch, because for me, it was real important, if we're going to compare and contrast quality of service, for me the flexibility of the system is provided by the kind of dispatching that happens currently. I needed to understand that, to understand our budget, whenever, our plan whenever it This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 10 comes back to us, provides the same level of service. And I think it is important for us to, I have ridden with the Fire Department, and I have ridden with the Police Department within the last eight months. Singer/ Okay. Well, for those who are on the fence, or you know, Dee's made his commitment, I'd like to repeat the invitation, you know, just publicly. And, I'd also like to just say that if you ride with me, I actually, I've just been overwhelmed with family stuff for the last few weeks, or I was going to call you. I was going to call you after talking to you at the break last time, Connie. I can promise you, and I think most of our drivers can, no political discussions during your time on our van, no arguments about the proposed take-over. Come as a first-day driver trainee. Our first-day drivers trainees don't drive, they observe. And they let us, through direct observation -- Connie, it's not a matter of empathy, because God knows, I mean, we know what you did with the School Board. It's not a, no wait, it's not an issue of empathy, it's a matter of knowing what we do, exactly why we do it, and how. And it's -- Champion/ If you would call me, I probably would go. Singer/ Okay. I'm calling you. The second thing, the second question I have for you is, if you're going to make reasonable decisions with my tax dollars, you need this information. And it gets to, second the County has invited you to run the SEATS, our program, for a one-week trial, using your budget estimates, using, for van use, for office Staff, and for rider surpluses, according to the proposed budget you laid out. And they've even asked that your Staff come in and help with our office dispatch. Have you made arrangements to do this? Just in general. Ernie? Lehman/ Steve, and we're not going to engage Council in public discussion here, but I think you are as well aware as I am, SEATS is a very complicated system. Singer/ Right. Lehman/ Until the City, if we do, puts together a plan that we think we can work, it would be fruitless for us -- I mean, there is so much time involved in putting this thing together. If we were to all have ridden on SEATS last week, if the City would've gone down and sat with the dispatchers or whatever, probably it would be meaningless at this point in the development, from the City's perspective. We aren't even close to that yet. Singer/ Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 11 Lehman/ And I think that you need to realize, and I think everybody needs to realize we have said we are interested in pursuing this. We have never said that we are going to do it. We say if we can do it, if we can provide the same level of service, yes, we will definitely look at it. And I think that's very, very important, that you realize, everybody, that we have not indicated that we are going to do it. We have said that if we do, we will provide the same level of service. I don't think there's anybody that would say that there's anybody sitting up here who would intend to provide any lesser service. But I think that if it's going to be done by us, or by the County, that it takes time to put something together. And I don't think that going down and riding with the SEATS riders or sending our staff down with dispatchers, until we have a plan, makes a whole lot of sense. Singer/ Okay. And my response to you is that, as Mayor, I know you can try to speak for the whole Council, yet even last night, when this issue of taking over the service for a week under your proposed budget came out, Dean, you were very strong, not necessary, you're almost shouting it. Not necessary, just flat out. Dee, you said that, all these questions can be answered by your own staffs expertise, and that echoes something that's been said in previous planning sessions. Mike, you said you don't see what it accomplishes at all. Connie, you said you trust in the City staff. You said they're not naive, and you said, and forgive me ifI got this wrong, but "it's not my job to understand." This is a statement from an elected official, and you're telling me it's not your job to understand before you make this decision? Champion/ I think you're misinterpreting what I said. You're taking it, you're taking what you want to say publicly that I was thinking, and putting those words in my mouth. And-- Singer/ I can only say what I heard. Champion/ Well, I know. But I don't think that's fair, and I'm not going to respond to that. Singer/ That's fine. Ernie, you did say that there wasn't time yet. And you reiterated that same time. But I guess, the final part of this is, you said, at the end of this, following Connie, you said it's early enough in the process to do later. Which is what you just said. What process -- and this is the thing we're asking -- the decision to go ahead with the transfer, or the planning? Because, if you mean later, as far as planning, it means you've already made up your mind. And if you mean to research it, in order to make the decision, then if not now, when? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 12 Lehman/ Okay, well I'll answer than, and then we'll go to the next person. Singer/ I'm done. Lehman/ I think it's pretty obvious from last night's Council discussion that the Council, nor as far as that goes, do ! believe the staff has made up their mind yet. There are numbers we haven't put together, information we have requested from the County, there are mountains of work to do. There has not been a decision made, and I think anybody who listened to that discussion last night knows that the majority of this Council has not reached a decision. Singer/ The majority of the Council last night voted three firm in favor of doing it absolutely, no matter what, and a fourth person said absolutely no matter what, as long as absolutely, and I do appreciate this, Connie, absolutely the guarantee that the same level of service is maintained. And I agree with you. If you can do it, and I told you this two weeks ago, I said out there if it were merely a matter of changing hats, if the City were to provide a mirror image of what the County is doing, just under the City government, I personally wouldn't have a problem. So, Kubby/ It matters what the costs are, though. It's not just an automatic. It's a responsibility issue, too. Singer/ Thank you very much for your time. Lehman/ Thank you, Steve. Intesar Duncan/ I'm right here? I don't need to sign anything? My name is Intesar Duncan, and I haven't been coming to any of the meetings. Maybe some of you remember me from a year ago. I live in Coralville, and I work in Iowa City. I work for Systems Unlimited. I'm a tax payer, and I have been using SEATS for almost nine years. I used to use SEATS a lot heavier than now, it's just my need has a little bit changed. But even the little bit I use it now, it's very important to me, like going to the grocery store, or to church. I, in the past, also, my children were a lot smaller, and I needed it more. And they have gotten a little bit older, and things are a little bit changed for me. The reason I'm here this evening, I want to, there is, I've been heating so much about the SEATS, the City wants to take over, to handle SEATS, and I am, like I said, I am a user of both the fixed route, and the paratransit. And I'm going to tell you a little about the fixed route, when it relates to the paratransit. Since last summer, I've been back and forth talking to the City transit system about them calling out -- before I go on, I'm This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 13 legally blind, and I have a progressive eye disease which is, eventually I completely will lose my eyesight, I want to let you know that. Anyhow, I have been back and forth with the City trying to get them to call out the stops. I, yet, have not been able to successfully get the City to do this for me. Now, the reason, I want to open eyes, I want to open the eyes of some of these Council members, to let them know that what the City is saying, I don't trust them. I think it's lies. I don't believe in what they are proposing they are going to do because I have been in many discussions with the City transit, and I'm not going to say names, they know who they are. And from last summer, on calling out the stops, they have given me excuses after excuses. The first one, it was the drivers haven't gotten their training. Then they got their training, they're feeling more comfortable. We'll push it, we'll tell them in a memo. The next thing is, oh, I was waiting for those, the AP system, to get on all the buses. Now they got it on all the buses, it's all got the system. Now, oh, I'm waiting to get this exterior microphone, so they will announce it on the outside when it gets downtown. I thought that was a wonderful feature, but it's a joke because I haven't heard it yet. I asked the City person, the transit, if it's, if he has ridden on the City buses, and see if it's happening, and oh yes, it happens. I have never seen it happen. I got to the point of getting on the bus and asking the drivers, would you please call out the stops. They argue with me. They said, oh, where are you getting off. I said, you don't want to call out the stops. Well, it's a lot easier, just tell me where you want to get off. And then I don't want to be humiliated. I don't want to be degraded. I have a pride. I'll just tell them where I want to get off, and but what's happening, I've gotten forgotten three times, after I tell that driver I'm getting off at this stop, please let me know. One day, I'll never forget, we had that snowstorm recently, in the morning, when the snow was coming so hard. And the driver had forgotten about me. Two blocks later, he let me off. Of course, he's got to go on. Oh, I'm sorry. Of course, they sometimes ask me to sit in a spot so they can see me and let me off. I have to find my way there, there's snow all over. There was no limits, no guides. I have to go all the way back to my old stop to know what house. It took me twenty minutes to walk two blocks to find where I was because of that snowstorm. Because of their, they don't want to do what they're supposed to do. So, I'm, anyhow, what I wanted to say, I went back to the City, talked to the City transit about, can't you get your people to call out the stops. And that's when he said, well you know, I've worked and it's not happening, and maybe you need to tell me driver by driver. I don't want to make all these drivers my enemies. What I want to say, that if the City transit managers cannot implant this simple thing that they were supposed to do, they are trying to want to take over the whole paratransit and manage it, and they can't meet this one thing they got to do, call out the stops. They can't get their people to do that one thing. They are proposing they are going to take care of the paratransit and meet every disabled This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 14 need? I want to tell all of the Council Members here, every one of you, if this is, if you let the City take over, and you say they're going to give us the same quality, and everything, and it does not happen, I'm going to be calling every single one of you every day. In fact, I'm planning on starting calling every single one of you starting tomorrow, if the City does not start calling out these stops. I already had contacted a congressman. I've been working on that, to see what could happen with the City transit, about calling out the stops. This simple thing, it's not happening. It is not happening, and I still argue back and forth with the drivers about calling out the stops. There's only one driver. She calls out the stops. Lehman/ Ms. Duncan, we will check into that. I think that's something we certainly can, and we should check into. Thank you very much. Duncan/ Now, I wanted to tell you a little about -- Lehman/ Kind of wrap it up though, because there's a lot. Duncan/ Okay. I also wanted to say that for the last eight years that I've been riding SEATS, SEATS used to be just very wonderful service. And since the ADA and all the City pressure on the SEATS, the county, things have been so much changed from taking us all the way, let's make it more efficient, half an hour before, half an hour after, it just means so many cutting down on their quality because they want to cut budgets all the time. And I just want to say, you're almost trying to take our fides, I mean, this is like our civil fights. You cannot take this away from us. We are the disabled people, have loud voices just like everybody else, and we don't want the City -- oh, I didn't know the microphone's this close -- the SEATS are just wonderful. They are, really, there's a human value. They know how to do it. And I just don't trust and I don't want to see the SEATS, the City take over. Thank you. Lehman/ Thankyou. Loren Schmitt/ Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, I'm Loren Schmitt. Let me reinforce Ms. Duncan's commentary this way. For purposes of analysis, there's some value in distinguishing between the City Council as a collaborative body and City staff. The political reality is that, since some officials within staff have displayed the capacity to take both sides on many issues, there has emerged what might lightly be termed a credibility problem. I mention that now, because if you all determine to deal seriously, and in a continuing way, with people close to the paratransit issue, i.e., service users and provider staff, and then delegate that task This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 15 entirely to City administration, that could compound the problem, not solve it. And there's one thing more. Much has been made of comparisons to, of the service to that of a business. And it notes saying that if one is to go beyond derisive references to instances in which vans are not running, when I am to analyze a business, I think it's helpful to begin by listening very closely to those who have reason to know the product. Lehman/ Thankyou. ??/ Good evening. CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-30, SIDE B ?~ The County has sponsored SEATS for over twenty years, and in my book, that's a very good record. In my hand, I hold the ace of hearts, which stands for the outstanding services, the compassion and loyalty, that SEATS has brought to persons with disabilities. In my next hand, I have the ace of diamonds which represents the independent life that we all hunger to live. And SEATS has allowed us to achieve that goal in Johnson County. My ace of spades is the doubt that I have towards the City if you should take it over. And I understand that during the non-peak hours, you intend to do it that there would be less vans to go around, and we're going to save money. However, we have our appointments with the doctors needing to maintain a lifestyle equal to yours. And it would be a very hard break in the winter-time to gauge accessibility just in narrow spots where the City transit picks up the people. My ace of clubs is for the financial restraints that we have on us every day. We can only work so much, and particularly in paying for this service. So with these four aces that I stand here and hold for the County, if you can beat this, you're welcome to. Good luck. Lehman/ Thank you. Kubby/ That was wonderful. Elinor Maffitt/ You have stated that, as I understand, you would not approve the City taking over the service unless they can provide the same quality of care that SEATS does. Now, I heard Mr. Fowler say that they would train drivers. There is just no way that the quality of service provided by the SEATS drivers can be duplicated. These drivers all together, they have 200 years experience. They know what each of us needs. And they are, their goal is safety. They take very This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 16 good care of us. The City drivers, while I'm sure it's with the best of intentions, they would try very hard to do this. But my experience with them is that they have been trained for speed. But we are disabled people. And as I understand it also, the City has a staff of two, and SEATS has a staff of twenty. So, does anyone really know how this quality can be reproduced if the City were to be doing the driving? Kubby/ We don't have a plan yet, so it's hard to talk about that. O'Donnell/ We don't have all the information yet that we've requested from the County, so we can accurately plan the thing in working order. Lehman/ But you can be assured, we would have far more than a staff of two. O'Donnell/ Absolutely. Thornberry/ We have gotten so little information from this guy, we were not aware that they have a staff of twenty people, and I don't know what this staff of twenty is. Is that, what is the staff?. Maffitt/ Well, it's a general staff of twenty, and as I understand it, there is another standby twenty. That would have to be explained to you by the people that run SEATS. Thornberry/ We've been asking questions that we have not yet gotten answers to from the County, and until they wish to share that with us, we're sort of in a blind until they do. Maffitt/ Well, I'm sure they will. Thomberry/ I hope so. Karr/ Ma'am, could I have your name please, for the record? Maffitt/ I'm Elinor Maffitt. Karr/ Okay, thank you. Anthony Christianson (??)/ Hi, I'm Anthony Christianson. I am a taxpayer. I'm a citizen of Iowa City. My reason for being here is to simply support that the elderly and the disabled who have received this service from SEATS for the past This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 17 twenty-three years will be able to do so. I have heard maybe but a few comments as far as the same quality of service. I have heard more about the fiscal responsibility, about the money. Now I, personally, am more than content to have my tax dollars spent to maintain the kind of service that SEATS is providing right now. As far as that is concerned, money is not a concern. As far as, with me, as far as whether the City plans to take over. If there is nothing on the table yet, if there aren't any ideas about whether or not the City is going to take over, you know, why are we continually heating what sounds like that it's going to be done? Champion/ Who are you heating it from? Christianson/ We're heating it from all, we're hearing it from all over town. We're reading it in the newspapers. Champion/ Have you heard it from us? Kubby/ Well, last night, we heard it from three of these people. Christianson/ To me it would seem, and I'm not, now, I do not, I may not know as much about this, obviously, as the drivers, or the clients that ride this, but it would seem to me that if one of the ways you want to find out the information about how this whole thing runs and costs and all that, would be to get involved in the day to day operations of SEATS -- tiding with the riders, with the dispatchers, with anybody else that works there. And to see what, how they go about picking up the, as far as dealing with the different types of passengers that they pick up. I think that there in itself would be probably the best idea. This comment that you made, Councilman Thornberry, that you don't ride with the Fire Department or with the Police, well those serve the entire community. This is a special segment in the community with very special needs, and to me, to go out there and get involved in the day to day operations of this job would be the best way to find out at least some -- I'm not saying you will, I'm not saying that'll give you all of the costs, but I think it would give a good idea. Plus, it would also give you an idea, perhaps, if you say you might want to hire drivers, train them, this perhaps would give some of you an idea about what these drivers indeed go through. And maybe that would aid in your decision if there is yet that to come, as far as whether or not you want to even consider that possibility at all whatsoever. It's just, for me, it's just rather ironic that here we can find out what stores are coming to a mall on the outside of Coralville a year before it opens, but when we hear of that, but when we hear of this, we can't seem to hear of any sort of plan, and whatsoever's for, what the Council wants to do. That is all I have to say. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 18 Lehman/ Thank you. Lezlie Lemar/ Good evening. My name's Lezlie Lemar. I don't know if you saw the article in the Press-Citizen on the 20th of this month. I came to address the issue of accessible parking in Iowa City, and the fact that many times I see people illegally parking, whether they're pulling in to drop someone off and then going and parking there and waiting for someone. But any, at any point in time that someone's there illegally parking or sitting there waiting for someone, even if they have their placard but they've dropped the person off, that's another occurrence. They prevent me or someone else who is indeed in need of that space to park. I can only park in a very few areas, due to the fact that I drive a lift, or drive a van with a lift, and I need a full extra space, or an open space, perhaps that goes out into the driving area, where the vehicles pass by in front of the stores or such, so that I'm able to get back in my vehicle, or out, or back in when I come back and return. What concerns me is that even when this does occur to me and I am prevented from getting back in and a vehicle has come and parked by me, or a motorcycle, that I will have called the Police, who at times have been very helpful in having someone towed and ticketed. But more recently, I've experienced the fact that they want to just sort of reprimand, address it with the person. And ifI may read from the paper what an officer here in our community stated. It was Lieutenant Matt Johnson, let me find it, he said that when an officer discovers a vehicle in handicapped space without the proper stickers, the officer will attempt to locate the owner. If the owner is not easy to find, a citation usually is issued. If the owner is located, Johnson said an officer will not always write a citation. Instead, he said, an officer will try to explain to the owner what she or he did wrong, and how parking in handicapped spots can be harmful to a person who needs that space. There's some education there. Well, the ADA came about in July of 1990, and I think that's been addressed in a lot of ways in the media and the papers, and I think when we all go through drivers' training, we're made well aware of where the accessible, or handicapped if you would like to say, parking spaces are. They're now designated with parking signs. They're up closer to the stores, to the store fronts of parking areas. And they also have the accessible marked off area in yellow or blue now. That's basically designated so those persons with disabilities that have wheelchairs, walkers, etc., will have that access lane and be able to use it, and will be able to exit or enter their vehicle, and be able to have those places open. And what I'd like the Council to consider is implementing some sort of a guideline for the Police Department to follow, or the store managers to follow, that when, in the event that the person is found there, and the Police are called and come to aid someone that has called and stated that someone is illegally parked there, that they do receive a fine. I spoke to Mr. Johnson on the phone, and he told me that in effect, the fine of $100 was steep, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 19 and that he first would like to speak to the person and find their excuse for having parked there. And as long as the person was not belligerent, he was not likely to receive a citation because of that. And I think that it went from $50 to $100 probably because it wasn't enough of an incentive in the first place. Many other cities around the country have higher fines for it. But if we're not going to implement the citation, if we're not going to give the person a citation, well does it do any good to have it stated on the sign, or have the sign there, or have them mark off access lanes? Why provide that if no one's going to enforce it? Lehman/ Thank you. Lemar/ Thank you. Kubby/ I hope that we can at some point talk about this. Lehman/ Oh, I think we will. Kubby/ I'll put it on the list then. Lehman/ Yes. Christine Denver/ Good evening. My name is Christine Denver. And my mother has ridden SEATS for five years. My mother has a brain disease and is unable to communicate. These people, for the last five years, have taken care of my mother and myself. There's a lot of reports that you can read. There's a lot of trips you can go on. But you don't understand some of the things that can happen on these rides. For instance, when I wanted to bring my mother out of her nursing home, Larry came to my home and looked it over and gave me advice, with his help, I could bring my mother, with the SEATS bus, to my home, and how to make my home handicapped accessible. My mother, at one point, had a seizure in my driveway, the day after Thanksgiving. The SEATS bus driver stayed with us, took his coat off, and waited for an ambulance to get there. My mother is unable to be left alone. When I schedule rides for her, the SEATS bus driver has to wait to make sure that I'm there, otherwise, my mother has to be returned to Oaknoll. There have been a couple times when something has happened, and I've been unable to go and meet them. And SEATS has taken my mother, and they've waited ten minutes, and they've had to take her back. That's not in any of the schedules. That's not in any of the reports. One time, I scheduled a ride, and I wanted her to go to the library, to go to story hour with her grandson. And then there was a problem, and I ended up having to switch the ride to my house. Somehow, between me and SEATS, it got misunderstood, and my mother This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 20 accidentally got dropped off at the library. And I waited, and called after fifteen minutes and said where's my mother. They went back and they got my mother and they brought her to my home. There have been numerous occasions where she's had dental problems she's had medical emergencies. I have called SEATS and they are there within a half an hour. We had a time at the hospital where one of the SEATS lifts did not work. It was in the wintertime. It was ten degrees. And they called, and within ten minutes, there was another driver there that was willing to help her and teach her how to use the emergency hand-lift. That woman followed us back to Oaknoll to make sure the same problem did not occur there. You know, I could go on and on and on about these kinds of situations that happen. I don't think you understand this is not just an average bus where people get on and people get off. We all have special needs, and these people, when I call up and say "Hi, I'm Christine," they know my last name, they know my mother's name, they say "How is Sarah?" They know my mother cannot be left alone. Each of us have individual needs, and those people, that staff of twenty that you have never seen, that I have worked with for five years, they all know me. Every single one of those people knows me, and they know my mother, and they know where my mother lives. And if I see those people on the street, they can stop and say "Hello, how is Sarah?" I want you to make sure that whatever you do, that we continue to have the same loving service that we have received for all these years. And I don't think you understand how impassioned people are, because you're messing with a part of my family. These people are our family. They have transformed our lives. And I trust them to take care of my mother. And I don't know who you're thinking about bringing in here, and at the drop of a hat they're all of a sudden, they're going to memorize how many riders on the SEATS system? All of a sudden they're going to memorize what a thousand people need? That doesn't happen. These people know us, and we know them. And they are a part of our family. And I beg you to leave them alone. Thank you. Sally Murray/ Hi, I'm Sally Murray. I work for Johnson County. I am a Supervisor in the Mental Health/Developmental Disabilities Service Unit, and I have worked with people with disabilities for the better part of the last twenty-five years in our community. I have worked with SEATS since it was bom. And I have a number of concerns that I'm hearing from our consumers, from the people who work for me, and that I also have myself. I could not state the concern about something that is a lot more than curb to curb service any better than Chris just did. So I'm not even going to try. But that is a large concern. I have had people asking me if the City does not provide this level of service, will the County pay for individual aides to ride with people who need that kind of attention while they ride? This is a financial issue for County, I can't answer that at this time. This is the time of year when we are generally very busy planning for summer. A lot of children are This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 21 in special programming during the summer, and SEATS has traditionally provided the transportation for that, both for families who live in Iowa City, and people who live out in the surrounding County. Right now is usually when we would be working on this. It's very difficult to do with the uncertainty as to just what the transportation system is going to be on, presumably, July 1, or some other date. We don't even know a date for sure, much less what is going to happen. We need to plan now. You talk about not having a plan, or having made a decision. I am concerned that it's, it's a very short period of time between now and July 1 st. I am not sure that there is time to implement a plan. The best plan in the world. I am not sure it can be developed, even if it was fully developed, can be put into place in that sort of a time frame. I would consider, if you really are no further in developing a plan, than I've heard tonight, and if you are going to have this transition, to at least consider delaying it for whatever period of time, be it another three months or six months, or what have you, so that we can have good planning and a smooth transition, and no interruption in either the quality or the quantity of service. Thank you. Thornberry/ As the Mayor said last night, there is no line in the sand on any date-specific that we're looking at. It's when the County and the City can get a transition team together and make an easy transition, if that is in fact the way we go. And that decision has not been formalized at this point. But there is no date-specific at this time. Murray/ In some ways, I will say, I'm glad that some definite decisions have not been made, but it is also creating a lot of stress -- Thomberry/ Yeah. Murray/ In that so many decisions have not been made. And those of us who work in the field do not know how to proceed or when to proceed. Thomberry/ Right, right. But the County has been gracious enough to say that they would put forth a transition team and help us get the program underway if that's the decision that is made. So, they are willing to work with the City in transition. AT least they have already indicated that. So, again, no time-specific, it's whenever they feel comfortable in doing it. Thank you. Lehman/ Thank you. Does anyone have anything that hasn't been said? Audience/ Yes. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 22 Lehman/ Okay. Nancy Ostrognai/ My name is Nancy Ostrognai, and I realize I'm kind of difficult to understand, so I brought you each a copy of what I have to say. Dale? Thanks. First of all, I'm very angry and disappointed, so there's a big chip on my shoulder. I was told by Ron Logsden that I was on the advisory panel. Well, I got there, to that meeting, and it was basically, I think, Joe Fowler said it was to smooth out the misinformation and fears in the disability community. That's not what I call an advisory panel. Anyway, I am an eternal optimist. I thought, well, the City's finally doing something right. Well, I was wrong. This is more than a question of whether we get the blue bus or the red bus. There are three points, at least, that Joe Fowler made, that differ with the current service, that shows we have worse service under the City. The first thing he said was Iowa City drivers could not come into homes. I have a problem -- I cannot zip up my coat. I mentioned that. Ron Logsden, I think, said, well, if you come out to your front porch with your coat in your lap, I'm sure they'd button it up for you. Well, you know, this is Iowa. It's twenty below zero for one week out of the year. The second difference is they said that if you were going outside of Iowa City, you'd be a County call. So, you'd have to have two phone numbers. You have to call the City number for the internal things, and the County number for the external. The third thing, and I thought this was terrible, real cruel, SEATS drivers have to train their replacements. I thought that really, that's really adding insult to injury. How can you expect that, you know, one of the drivers said to me, I'm really sorry, but I just can't bring myself to do that. Joe Fowler said the cost-savings would come mostly from the overhead, so I'm not going to talk about numbers of rides. He said the management was about $90,000. Steve Atkins has already hired Ron Logsden to run paratransit, and Chris, though I don't know his last name, to supervise the dispatcher. He said that he would hire more people to manage paratransit if the scope was expanded. I wonder where is the cost-savings there? Johnson County had the Janitorial Services, they said was $15,000. A SEATS driver informed me that SEATS has no janitor. So, where are your cost-savings there? The final big thing, where I guess you would have a cost-savings is rent and utilities and electricity, which the transit people wouldn't have in the bus part. But you could get the same effect by renting the space to Johnson County SEATS. You know, you could, I was argumentative with them, looking for a place to -- paratransit is not a cash cow. People generally lose money. They don't get all sorts of money to buck up other areas. In likelihood, paratransit will not make any money. The County, I was told, said that they would pay back a part of the money that was from Larry's departure in management. This was early in the negotiations. So, there are several savings worse service, why are you doing this? I really don't understand. A service which is vital to elderly people and people This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 23 with~sabilitiesisabho~entto use thisin a grudge m~ch withthe County. I'm done. Lehman/ Thank you. we're going to have about two more folks, and then we're going to take a break. Diane Poulty(??)/ My name's Diane Poulty. I live in Iowa City, and I would like to ask the City Council, you have often times, when someone has asked how can you make sure that your service is equal to the service of the County, you've pleaded ignorance. You've said you don't understand yet, you're working on the figures. Yet you're coming up with a full-blown proposal to take over the service. How, it doesn't seem to me that you're in a position that the position you're in right now should be of making a proposal. It should maybe be doing some preliminary background research, trying to come up with a proposal to make. Not just sitting and saying we can save this $90,000. I don't see how you can. You inevitably, the new system would have difficulties. It would be something that people would have to learn, even if you do have the most brilliant plan in the world, which right now, you don't seem to have a plan at all. My question is really, and I'm sorry, I understand this does sound confrontational, why do you think that you can save money? Why do you think you can provide the same service when you don't know what the service is? And I do mean this as a genuine question. Please don't take it as a rhetorical attempt to grandstand. Thornberry/ Well, without grandstanding, I guess, I won't answer it. Lehman/ I don't know, if you want to briefly -- Thornberry/ I don't know what you want for an answer. Poulty/ I want to know what, why are you making a proposal right now? Why, what savings do you think you have to offer? Lehman/ My understanding is the preliminary information given to us by the County as to cost associated with the program. It was analyzed by the City staff. They looked at whether they felt they could provide the same service using the County information, and their projected costs were somewhat less. Now that, I mean, it wasn't a number just pulled out of the air. Kubby/ And those numbers came from having fewer vans on the road at any one time, which means fewer vehicles that were responsible for gassing up and maintaining, and fewer employees that we're paying, and providing some of those rides by This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 24 privatizing the rides, either with a cab company or some other form of paratransit service. So that's where we're looking at saving. Poulty/ And you're going to a private company, which, private companies are designed to make profit. I don't quite understand your logic in saying that's going to make it less expensive, and I think that there is a legitimate concern that if you're saying there are fewer vehicles on the road, how are they going to provide the same service? Thornberry/ We're looking at eliminating the excesses, if there are any, and from the records, the sketchy records that we have received, we can see where there are possibilities, possibly some excesses. The City of Iowa City uses about 85% of the paratransit rides provided currently by the SEATS program, provided by Johnson County. They're not mandated to have a SEATS paratransit service, but they do provide it. We are mandated to have it, we have to have the paratransit service, and so does Coralville. Anybody who has a transit service must provide paratransit, by ADA. The County would like to keep the service, for one reason or another. You say that it is not a cash cow. It is not, but $223,000 in two years, in excess money, has been generated by the County, so it is a profit company for the County. They have made a profit. No, not a profit, because by law they can't make a profit on a service, but they've had excess funds. And the people who ride paratransit pay what, $1.50 a ride? Is that correct? Audience/ Yes. Thomberry/ Okay. What does it cost really for that ride, and who is paying for that service? All of us that live in Iowa City. All that live in Coralville, are paying for those rides. I can't remember the cost of the ride, what was it, $177 Kubby/ (Can't understand). Thornberry/ An average ride for paratransit? Kubby/ Around $15. Steve Atkins/ $11 to -- (can't hear). Thomberry/ Around $15. And so, all the taxpayers are paying the difference between $1.50 and $15.00. So some of that money comes from the taxes. Norton/ No-- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 25 Audience/ (Can't hear). Thomberry/ Whatever it is. Atkins/ According to the information -- Audience/ Whatever it is, $15 or $17. Thornberry/ Excuse me, just a minute. Yes? Atkins/ I'll read from the 1997 statistics, and it says the cost per fide, paratransit, $11.72. Kubby/ And we calculated over the years in various different ways, and depending what you take as the per-fide cost, whether it's minutes on the van, or the number of fides divided into the total budget, you get numbers ranging from $7 to $15. And that's using one of those calculations. Vanderhoef/ And the cash cow kind of thing, when we recognize that we tax Iowa Citians to the maximum tax of 95 cents per thousand, and have for a number of years, and that we still subsidize the transit with a transfer of $90,000 every year from our parking, just to keep the buses and the paratransit running, we recognize that it's not a cash cow. We recognize it as something that is actually a large drain on the City. So where we as Councilors are looking at this as being riscally responsible in trying to provide the best service that we can, at the least amount of money for our taxpayers. Lehman/ Well, I think at this point, we really are I think, in a position to take questions to recognize concerns. And I think this, at this point in the process, this is really where we are, as far as the nuts and bolts of it. I'm not sure we've really gotten to that point. But certainly we are here to listen to your concerns. Now, I don't know that, whether it's $11.12 or $12.11, I mean, I don't know, that's all relative. But I think your concerns certainly are. Thomberry/ That's correct. And when the numbers have been floated around, Steve Singer just hollered at me from the audience that -- Singer/ Dean, I apologize for hollering. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 26 Thornberry/ And then, I've been criticized by him for hollering a certain answer that he asked, I don't think is very fair, because I have not hollered at Steve, and don't intend to. Lehman/ Let's-- Thornberry/ What we do intend -- let me finish this. What we intend to do is find the best possible service, the best possible service for the least cost to the residents of Iowa City that we are elected to serve. The best possible service. Poulty/ You're-- Kubby/ I just want to make a very quick point. Poulty/ I must, you know -- Lehman/ That's all right, go ahead. Poulty/ I must admit that I don't ride paratransit. I do frequently ride the bus. I also drive. I am happy to pay whatever it is, 60 cents an hour, to help keep the buses running. I think most people in Iowa City are. Thomberry/ The buses will continue to run. Poulty/ I think we're, this is a statement, a government is not a business. The point of having a government is to provide for things that are not profitable for the needs of individuals that are not able to be met by companies. We can get a new mall from anybody. We want from you, we want the services that make Iowa City a good place to live. Lehman/ Thank you. Karen? Kubby/ I think part of the confusion is that because there's a broad spectrum of viewpoints about this issue up here, that we're giving a lot of mixed messages. We heard last night, and when I use the word "we", I'm talking about the community, I'm talking about us, all of us, we heard last night that there are three people on Council who have said I'm ready to give a firm go-ahead, and money's really not the issue. And I mean, people said that last night, three people said that last night. And others are open to this issues in various levels. And so I think that just, and that's maybe a natural place for us to be. I'm not quite sure. But on the one hand, I hear people saying I want the City to do it, and on the other hand, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 27 saying we'll have to see what the plan is. And so, I think we need to wait to see what comes forth next, to see if some of this gets a little more solidified. But I think we are getting mixed messages, and that causes confusion, up here and out in the public. Lehman/ I think, Karen, -- Champion/ You're right. Lehman/ You're right. I think we do have to wait. Now, we're going to take one more speaker, and then we're going to take a break. Go ahead. Ron Rogers/ My name is Ron Rogers. My son is a SEATS customer. Because of his apprehension, I want to address the Council, and I think that apprehension is apparent, and fairly widespread. I would reiterate the old adage that's been stated up here before, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. As far as we can see, the SEATS system is not functionally broken, it's politically broken. And in that case, it seems it's the responsibility of our elected officials to fix the problem. And I use officials collectively, as Dean said, our City Council, the Coralville Council, the U-Heights Council, and the Board of Supervisors. Let me tell you our personal situation is much like many you've heard. My son is a quadriplegic who rides SEATS to and from work. We live on Phoenix Drive, on the far west side of the City. He works in a research facility at Oakdale from 9 o'clock in the morning till 1 in the afternoon. He's picked up shortly after 8 o'clock and delivered by 9. Then he's picked up at Oakdale shortly after 1:00 and delivered home, sometimes directly, sometimes with multiple stops. His concern has to do with the proposed, and apparently reduced from what we have heard, and what we have read, system and his ability to maintain that schedule. We are familiar in my neighborhood with reduced and modified systems, and we have some trouble understanding the administration's attitude toward SEATS in light of the recent changes in the Iowa City transit system. We have lived in our present location for just under nine years, and the nearest that a City bus comes to our house is 1 3/4 miles, on Mormon Trek Boulevard. Yet, there's a free bus that circulates the near- downtown area throughout the day. So, it appears to us, that subsidizing the system for the benefit of others is all right in some instances, but not in another. My intent is not to complain, but to encourage you to proceed cautiously and carefully, and to not destroy a system that serves the needs of those that it is intended to serve. I believe that the governing agencies of Johnson County should be able to work this out without establishing an additional bureaucratic entity to duplicate an existing and functioning one. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 28 Lehman/ Thank you. We're going to take about 10 minutes. BREAK Lehman/ All right. We're going to take -- folks, we're going to take two more speakers, young lady, you, and Fred Martin, I told you we would, and we're going to have to continue this at the next meeting. We've got a budget we have to go through, we've got a lot of other things, and I'm not limiting debate, but I am limiting it tonight, because we've got some other things we have to go through. So, please, state your name and go ahead. Beth Gier/ My name is Beth Gier, and I live at 3036 Friendship Street. I agree with the previous speaker, it ain't broke. At least that is what my friend Casey tells me. She should know, she uses SEATS nearly every day. I come to you as an Iowa City taxpayer. I am probably a lot like many of you on the Council. I don't have a disability. I drive a car, and I even have an attached garage. We Iowa Citians grumble a lot about things like a shortage of parking spaces. We complain about the cost of registering and insuring our automobiles. We grapple with such tough issues as road widening and street extension. Gas is expensive. The roads are never plowed as quickly as we would like them to be. Yet somehow, despite all of these difficulties, most of us manage to get where we need to go when we need to get there. And I'm willing to be that most of us take it for granted. We tend to forget that there is a group of Iowa Citians for whom concerns about transportation are more basic than most of us can even imagine. For many of the elderly persons and persons with disabilities in our community, SEATS is the crucial link to the outside world. SEATS drivers are courteous, competent, and professional, and are trained to assist their clients according to their individual needs. As you ponder the formation of a new City-run paratransit system, I can only hope that you, too, are considering these individual needs. What may seem like small changes on the surface to those of us outside, could dramatically and directly impact the life, lives of these citizens. We're not talking about minor inconveniences here, like adding parking meters or an extra traffic light here or there. The decisions that you make could determine whether or not a person like Casey, who has a disability, is able to maintain her work schedule. And elderly person reluctant to venture out might find a less flexible system just discouraging enough to keep them from getting medical care. CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-31, SIDE A This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 29 Gier/ In our community, and let's celebrate the success of a County-run paratransit system that in its own way helps to make Iowa City a great place for Casey and for the rest of us to live. Thank you. Lehman/ Thank you, Beth. Fred Martin? Dale, would you move the mic up for Fred? Fred Martin/ When I said good evening, good night to everybody that's here. You know my name is Fred Martin. I worked at First National for thirty years, plus I have twenty years of other business here in town. I know two mens up there like I know my childrens, O'Donnell and Lehman. And then I was in the community for years. But see, I been gone for quite awhile. I've been ill for a while. But I have to say something because the scripture led me. A man with the demon possessed and here Jesus met him, and he met Jesus, and Jesus had this question in talking with him. And so this man, you couldn't do anything with him, he was mean. Bad man. Chain couldn't hold him, mens couldn't hold him. When he talked to Jesus, all that stuff went away. And Jesus told him he wanted to follow Jesus. He wanted to be a missionary. But Jesus told him to go home. Go home and let your folks see what God has done for you. He cleaned him up. He went home. So what I'm saying to the panel, I've been gone for years and I've seen Iowa City. And also the majority of you wouldn't have thought of. I came to Iowa City in 1951, and I've seen three major overhauls in Iowa City. In the City now. I'm not talking about First National Bank, because they had three, too. But the City. The CRANDIC, you know about the CRANDIC? You know about the railways? See, I know all about that. You don't know nothing about that. There's peoples that I know that I used to run to the bank to the door when they had the wheelchairs, and pushed that door open and let them in. Ernie, you're well aware of that. Mike, you're well aware of it. And see, on this same thing, I'm talking about what Jesus said, one of his friends went to his house at midnight, for bread, for feeding his kids. And what did the friend do? He got up out of bed, and went and gave bread enough for him that Jesus took it back and fed them. And see, what I'm talking about tonight, none of these kids, I say kids, I've got children older than all of you up there, some of you. And they don't know what I know. What it is and who it is. Lehman, you used to come to the bank, and you'd ask me, "Fred, what teller must I go to?" What did I do for you? I gave you the teller. And when she left, what was you doing? You was still carrying your money to her. You could walk downtown and forget about it, come throw that bag and take off. What you have, you put your faith and confidence in her. You didn't know nothing about her, but after you did what you did, starting with looking, you come and ask me, "She's not here today, where is she?" And This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 30 there were seventeen other tellers. But you knowed who that was, and you paid the price, you didn't pay no price for that. See, what I'm saying about SEATS, I ride it. I ride it. Now some things, now see, I'm pretty fortunate. I talk pretty good. Kind of ignorant, but I talk pretty good. I know each one of you, one by one, name by name. And some of these people don't know you. But what I'm saying to you, when did you know that the City was going to take over. How many months has it been? You know, you know when this will happen. You know, you know when it's going to happen. You know, I've got kids all out in California talk to me crying about this, saying Daddy, that's not Iowa City. That's not Iowa City. See, Iowa City is Iowa City that I know. When you fall down and hurt, Fred hurt too. And the lady was saying a few minutes ago about riding the van, riding around in the van, you know, I gets on the van to ride with them just to ride. Some of those drivers will tell you. I'll go around with them. I'm pretty fortunate. I'll go around with them. Sit there and watch them sit those people down, put them in those wheelchairs, buckle them down, pick them up if they have to, and take them out. Like the one said just a few minutes ago, they get back home, they call ifnobody's there. I'm not going to leave this man or this lady by herself, nobody here in the house. Some of us a little better of, we don't have to be the ones to wait. Don't have to be the ones to wait. But they stay there until they find out where that brother or sister or mother are, before they leave. Now, you may say, that's a bus driver standing there, but he there for one reason, to take care of that person that he got there. And so with me, they heard somebody (can't understand) I wouldn't be here tonight, but this is for, I see. Now, you many not ever see me here no more, but I want to ask you one thing. I'm 77 years old right today. How many of you are going to be 77? What will you say if you said, when you get to 77, you know, I need SEATS. You don't know nothing about SEATS. I need SEATS. I might have a brother but I need SEATS. Yet I never would have though thirty years ago when I was at First National Bank, running up and down stairs, stepping hard at my heels, and be getting peoples in wheelchairs and open doors for them, that Fred would ever come to this. I didn't ever think that. But see, we don't know what's going to happen in time. I saw today, the first thing I saw today, on TV, something about $11,000,000 or $37,000,000 uplift of Iowa City. (can't understand) you know what I'm talking about? Make it look beautiful. Now you're going to talk about, here's a girl walking out here can't even get on the bus. Can't get on the bus. But yet still, we're going to do something with $11,000,000 to something that we don't know nothing about. And you see these every day that needs it. I'm pretty fortunate. I've got everything I need in my house, wheelchairs, lift to take me upstairs, take me out, you know, and all that kind of stuff. But I'm thinking about someday, you think about this, fellow, (can't understand) a 34 year old boy, fell This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 31 off the roof, last week. He broke both his legs, both arms, and he's all messed up today. Does he need SEATS? If anybody need it, he need it. Lehman/ Fred, you're -- Martin/ Okay. That's just it. Lehman/ I appreciate it, listen, you're a great one to finish up on tonight. We've got a lot of Council business we're going to have to go to now. We'll be here again in two weeks. If other people want to speak, we're more than willing to hear them, but we've got some things that we need to -- Martin/ That's good. I thank you mens for that. Lehman/ Hey, thank you, Fred. Martin/ Thank you. Joe Bolkconff Mayor Lehman? Ernie, I'm here on behalf of the Board of Supervisors. I have a very brief statement. Lehman/ Go, two minutes. Bolkcom/ Two minutes. Mayor Lehman, members of City Council. Mayor, may I approach you? Lehman/ Certainly. No one's never said I'm not approachable. Kubby/ Mayor Lehman, I would ask that if it's a statement from the Board of Supervisors, if the Chair needs more than two minutes that he be given the allotted time he needs to make his statement. Lehman/ I would not disagree with that, but if it's a statement from the Board of Supervisors, I would have hoped it would have come sooner. But that's fine. Go ahead, Joe. Bolkcom/ Well, there were a lot of people here earlier. I thought I'd sit and listen to them, but I could have, I guess I could have stood in line. Good evening. I'd like to introduce Supervisor Stutsman who's been here this evening, as well. we're here on behalfofthe Board. (Reads statement). Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 32 Champion/ (Can't hear). Lehman/ Thank you, Joe. Okay, Connie, you can have one minute. Champion/ I won't use any of my Council Time. This will be my Council Time. Lehman/ Go. Champion/ I am thoroughly discouraged by this evening. I feel that the users of paratransit have been emotionally disturbed by the political bickering of our City and the County. I would like the Council to seriously consider a group of people to put together with a couple Supervisors, a couple drivers, a couple riders, a couple Council members, and decide how we're going to move forward with this, without emotionally damaged people who are in fear of their transportation needs. I find it terrible that we have people living in fear and emotional distraught over a service that we want to continue to provide, and we need it to come, because some agreement on how we're all going to handle this possible transition. This is terrible. I don't want any more of it, and I think we have to make a decision as to how we're going to handle this as a group, as a governing body. These people should not be pawns in the political game we're playing. It's terrible. Norton/ Well, if we're going to see the data tomorrow, that'll be a big help. Maybe we can, maybe we'll have the basis then for getting a plan together. Vanderhoef/ We can move forward a little bit. I'll be happy to have -- Champion/ That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking that we as governing bodies aside, how we're going to handle this transition and keep these people's emotions out of it. And that we're using them. Kubby/ But we don't know what, if we're making a transition yet, because we haven't made a decision. Champion/ That's what I said. Thornberry/ Close the public hearing. ??/ Could we --? Marilyn Belman/ I just have one sentence that sort of ties into what you're saying, I think. I guess a lot of us are, I'm very loyal. Because I think a lot of us are very This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 33 tied to these people. A lot of us have experienced, you've heard so many stories, you've heard so many of us that have experienced this personally. It must be draining on you, as well. I sense that it is. Champion/ I find it exhausting. Belman/ I'm sure it is. And you have so much responsibility, I recognize that. Not only the responsibility over decisions, but also the financial responsibilities, that I'm sure it's a lot for you to do. And I went to the Board of Supervisor's meeting as well. There are a lot of decisions that you folks have to make, and I recognize that that's a lot. I wonder if it would be possible to resolve this if mediator could do it? I think that a lot of us feel, I like, Mr. Thomberry said this as well, Mr. Thornberry said that he thought that it was a good idea to have the Council. I think that the Evert Conner Center has worked a great deal in trying to put together what kinds of things an Advisory Council might do, a Committee might do, I'm getting all my words mixed up. But, I think that, you know, that's a step you've taken that I really approve of, and I think it's heartily gratifying that you've allowed us riders. And I think that, you know, that could be something that we could take with us, and I think that if the two intergovernmental bodies could just get together and resolve the conflict, I think a lot of that would be diminished. Lehman/ Well, obviously, we're still -- Kubby/ That's been suggested in the past by the County, and we've not taken them up on it. Belman/ Okay. I'm sorry. Lehman/ I'd say we are still talking. Belman/ Okay. Lehman/ So-- Belman/ Thank you, I really appreciate it. Lehman/ We'll carry it from here. Belman/ I appreciate that you're still talking. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #6 page 34 Lehman/ Thank you. Belman/ I guess I'm still talking, too. Lehman/ Okay. Belman/ Thank you very much. Kubby/ I move that we accept correspondence. Lehman/ So moved. Second? O'Donnell/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Karen, seconded by Mike that we accept correspondence. favor- (ayes). Motion carded. All in This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #7a page 35 ITEM NO. 7a PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS -- Consider a motion setting a public hearing for March 10 on an ordinance amending Title 14, Chapter 6, "Zoning," Article E, "commercial and Business Zones," Section 2, Neighborhood Commercial Zone (CN-1) regarding size restrictions on restaurants. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #7a). This is, I think, regarding basement areas of restaurants and how it is to be computed. Do we have a motion to set the public hearing? Thornberry/ Move to set the public hearing. Lehman/ Moved by Thomberry. Vanderhoef/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion? Thornberry/ Yeah. Mr. Streit in the audience, and on March 10th, this will be, there will be a public hearing on this, John, to revise the ordinance regarding basements, or regarding the size or scope of, Karin, would you explain that really quickly? Just Norton/ Wait a second, it'll be a public hearing, yeah. Thornberry/ But it's going to be on ~-? Karin Franklin/ The ordinance amendment is on looking at the issue of intensity of use through occupancy load rather than square footage of the building. Lehman/ And this will all be discussed at the public hearing? Franklin/ Yes. Lehman/ And John will be there. Franklin/ Yes. Norton/ staff report? Thornberry/ Now this will be an ordinance change, or would this be a way of--? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #7a page 36 Franklin/ It's an ordinance amendment that would address anyone who wished to locate in the CN-1 zone. Thomberry/ Okay. Kubby/ Maybe we can make sure that P/Z minutes and staff reports relating to this could be sent to Mr. Streck so he can read about what the proposal is and have feedback for us. Franklin/ Sure. Thomberry/ I'm in favor of that. Lehman/All in favor of the motion- (ayes). Motion carded. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #7c page 37 ITEM NO. 7c Consider an ordinance vacating a portion of former Benton Street between Riverside Drive and the Iowa River which is adjacent to Linder Tire Service (Second consideration). Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #7c). This is a vacation that will give the City, I guess it would be ownership, isn't it, of a piece of property along the Iowa River, along which the Iowa River Trail would be located. Eleanor Dilkes/ This is the vacation. The disposition is later on in the agenda, but that's right. Lehman/ Now-- Dilkes/ And we need expedited consideration on this. Lehman/ Right. I think we were asked at the last -- Vanderhoef/ I move that the rule requiring that ordinances must be considered and voted on for passage at two Council meetings prior to the meeting at which it is to be finally passed be suspended, that the second consideration and vote be waived, and that the ordinance be voted on for final passage at this time. Thornberry/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by Thornberry. Discussion? Roll call- (yes). Vanderhoef/ I move that the ordinance be finally adopted at this time. Thomberry/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by Thomberry. Discussion? Roll call- (yes). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #7e page 38 ITEM NO. 7e Consider an ordinance vacating .50 acres of Waterfront Drive, located south of Highway 6 and east of Gilbert Street. (VAC97-0003) (Second consideration). Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #7e). This is part of the, actually part of the original new Hy-Vee store development south of Hollywood Boulevard. Thornberry/I move that the rule requiring that ordinances must be considered and voted on for passage at two Council meetings prior to the meeting at which it is to be finally passed be suspended, that the second consideration and vote be waived, and that the ordinance be voted on for final passage at this time. Lehman/ Moved by Thomberry. Norton/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by Norton. Any discussion? Roll call- (yes). Motion carded. Thornberry/ I move that the ordinance be given second consideration and vote at this time. Karr/ Pass and adopt. Thornberry/ Oh, pass and adopt at this time. Vanderhoef/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Thornberry, seconded by Vanderhoef. Roll call- (yes). Motion carded. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #7f page 39 ITEM NO. 7f Consider a resolution approving a preliminary and final plat of Disposition Parcel of a Portion of Waterfront Drive, a 0.5 acre, 4-lot subdivision located south of Highway 6 and east of Gilbert Street. (SUB97-0033) Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #7f). This has been approved by staff and the P/Z Commission. Norton/ Move approval of the resolution. Vanderhoef/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Norton, seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion? Kubby/ So this item is how that land that was just vacated is going to be used? Lehman/ Right. Franklin/ Correct. Lehman/ Roll call- (yes). Motion carried. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #7g page 40 ITEM NO. 7g Consider 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 a special events or seasonal outdoor storage and sales. (Pass and adopt). Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #7g). And this is just a mechanism by which we can make current events legal. This is pass and adopt. Thomberry/ Move adoption of the ordinance. Lehman/ Moved by Thomberry. Champion/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by Champion. Discussion? Norton/ Did we get a new resolution? Lehman/ Not on this one. Norton/ We didn't change anything from last night, did it? Franklin/ No, the resolution is later on the agenda, it's number 19. It just adds an effective date to coincide with the ordinance. Norton/ Oh, okay. Lehman/ Roll call- (yes). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #7i page 41 ITEM NO. 7i Consider a resolution approving a preliminary and final plat of Westport Plaza, Part Two, a 14,41 acre, one-lot commercial subdivision with one outlot located on the southeast side of Highway 1 West, north of Sunset Street. (SUB97-0034) Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #i). This is adjacent to Menards if I'm not mistaken. Norton/ (Yes). Move adoption of the resolution. Lehman/ Moved by Norton. Vanderhoef/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion? Vanderhoef/ I'm pleased to see that this is going ahead, and being subdivided off, since the rest of that property is property that we'll be using for the airport free zone. Thomberry/ Great. Lehman/ Roll call- (yes). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #7j page 42 ITEM NO. 7j Consider a resolution to sever (de-annex) 78 acres of property located south of Highway 6 in the northwest comer of the corporate limits. (ANN98- 0001) Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #7j). My understanding, this is by request of the property owner, and it will be de-annexed if it is in fact annexed by Coralville. Kubby/ Move adoption. Lehman/ Moved by Kubby. Thomberry/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by ThombelTy. Discussion? Norton/ We're going to be sad if they strike oil on this. Thomberry/ They probably will. Norton/ But you don't understand, this is a piece of property that we can't service with our sewer system, and it straightens out our western boundary, takes some odd features out of it, and it's something I guess Coralville needs, so, as long as they don't strike oil. We should maybe retain the mineral rights. I was going to make Champion/ Or air space. Thomberry/ Or air space, yeah. Kubby/ But it isn't, I mean, this is a reminder that we actually use some ecological parameters to base some planning decision on, using watersheds to make some of these determinations, and that this is more appropriately serviced by Coralville. This makes more sense. Thomberry/ Eleanor can probably handle that, too. Norton/ We haven't been entirely consistent with that, but this is one step. Kubby/ This is an example of where we're doing a common sensical and ecological thing. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #7j page 43 Lehman/ In spite of your concems about mineral and air rights, I'd like to have a roll call- (yes). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #7k page 44 ITEM NO. 7k Consider a resolution approving a preliminary plat for Boyd's Fashionable Acres, an 11.34 acre, 16-lot residential subdivision located at 2511 Rochester Avenue. (SUB97-0027). Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #7k). This is another subdivision approved by P/Z and staff, and I think there was a question as far as access for a walkway? Franklin/ I spoke to Mr. Boyd today, and he was willing to work with us on a walkway. However, we looked at the properties along Post Road, where we would need to go in between houses to get to the Boyd property. It's quite steep, the houses are probably five to seven feet off the property line. There's chainlink fences that are in place. I think it would be very difficult to get that easement all the way over to Post Road for a walkway, which is a lot different than a storm sewer. we're willing to pursue that if you wish, I'm just not real optimistic that the property owners will be excited about having a walkway because it will be so close to their houses. Thornberry/ I don't think -- Kubby/ Is there another spot that doesn't have those factors to it, further down? Franklin/Not, no. In fact, when you get further down, as you would proceed then into the Boyd property, then it becomes very steep. You would be taking a walkway through the stormwater detention basin, and up a hill. Norton/ Well, you'd also get close to the access offofMt. Vernon, and you already have one there, don't you? Isn't there an access? Kubby/ If you went all the way down. Franklin/ Yes, but that -- Vanderhoef/ That's kind of long. Franklin/ You'd be closer, but still, kind of on the other side, yeah. Lehman/ What I hear you saying is that probably is not a reasonable -- Franklin/ I think it'd be very difficult. We have not talked to any of the property owners. If you want us to pursue it, we can pursue it. As I say, Mr. Boyd was amenable, it was just in terms of the physical layout, and what we already have existing, in This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #7k page 45 terms of existing development on Post Road. it a reality. I think it's going to be hard to make Lehman/ But in terms of this resolution, he is amenable to doing this if we can find a spot for it. So, -- Franklin/ Yes. And I would just need direction from the Council as to whether you wanted us to spend any more time on it. Champion/ I don't think we want you to if it's not feasible. Thornberry/ If you've looked at it and it's steep and it's thin, it's got fences there and all that~- Vanderhoef/ It needs to be down there at the lower end if it is, and yes, it would come back up the hill there. The fence obviously will go away, when the horses are no longer there. Franklin/ Yes. Thomberry/ Not the chainlinks between the houses. Franklin/ No. Vanderhoef/ No. Franklin/ The fence around the Boyd property. Lehman/ I think I hear that we're not going to have a walkway between the homes. Any other discussion? Thornberry/ Move adoption of the resolution. O'Donnell/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Thomberry, seconded by O'Donnell. Roll call- (yes). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #8 page 46 ITEM NO. 8 PUBLIC HEARING TO DISCUSS THE PROPOSED OPERATING BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 1998 THROUGH JUNE 30, 1999, THE PROPOSED THREE-YEAR FINANCIAL PLAN, AND ALSO THE MULTI-YEAR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRAM THROUGH FISCAL YEAR 2002. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #8). I think, Don, you're going to do kind of a synopsis of this? Don Yucuis/ Yes, ifI could. Don Yucuis, the Finance Director for the City. I wanted to spend a few minutes explaining to the citizens some of the highlights of the budget and summarize the process staff and Council undertakes each year in order to formulate a financial plan for the City. Each year, the City of Iowa City enters into a lengthy process of formulating a budget. The new fiscal year 1999 budget begins July 1 '98, and ends June 30, '99. The State requires that cities adopt a budget and file with them by March 15th of each year. It's truly a group effort from beginning to end. The process of initial proposals, review and analysis by Staff, and final approval by City Council takes over six months from start to finish. The primary focus of the budget is a one-year budget, FY99, but our budget process entails a financial plan for a three-year period into the future. The capital construction projects are also planned for five years into the future. The proposed budget for all funds for fiscal year '99 is $200,688,294, compared to $185,886,000.69 for the current year. This is an 8% increase, with the majority of the $14,800,000 coming from capital improvement projects. This budget maintains the basic services citizens have come to expect from Iowa City such as Police and Fire protection, library, parks and recreation, water, sewer, refuse, landfill, transit, while it also invests in maintaining and improving the facilities in our community. The construction and maintenance element of the budget is called the capital improvements program, and we'll discuss that a little later, the major projects that will be in the FY99 budget. When property owners in Iowa City send their property tax checks to the County twice a year, they may think that property taxes are the primary source of revenue for the City. From the chart, you can see that although property taxes are very important, 11% of the overall budget, they are just one of several important sources of revenue for the City. Those major revenue sources are interfund transfers, 35%; bond proceeds, in this budget is 22%; fines, permits, and fees, 16%; property taxes, 11%; federal state aid, 7%; and all other income is 9%. Where does that money go? What's it spent on? Well, again, capital projects comprises the major portion of the budget, 48% of expenses are there; enterprise funds, which include parking, water, sewer, landfill, refuse, cable TV, airport, and transit, is 23%; the general fund is 15%; special revenue funds are 9%; and all other funds comprise 5% of the overall This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #8 page 47 budget. The general fund, again, comprises 15% of the overall budget. The chart of the general fund shows where the money comes from: property tax in the general fund is 57%; the general fund revenue, employee benefits transfer, which is also a property tax is 12% of the budget; road-use tax transfer is 9%; intergovernmental revenues are 8%; fines, fees, and licenses are 8%; and all other revenue is 6%. Where does that money go in the general fund? Police and Fire combined, account for 33% of the general fund budget. Parks and Rec, Public Works, administrative support, are all 13% each of the budget. Library is 10% of the budget. Subsidy and transfers is another 10% of the general fund budget. Planning, Housing Inspection Services, and Senior Center are the balance at 8%. The tax levy rate will increase 2.7% from 12.7%, $9 per $1,000 dollars of taxable value, to $13.13. The two areas that increased were Tort Liability levy, which is a new tax for 1999, and the Debt Service levy. Tort Liability, prior to FY99 was paid for out of the general 8-10 property tax levy. The Debt Service levy will increase because of a planned March 1998 bond issue of $8,500,000. This chart diagrams the City portion of the property tax, not County or School District. The property tax currently is $1,129 for the owner of a $150,000, in 1998. And $1,179, proposed in 1999, after adding a reassessment of 8.7% on that home. As a rule of thumb, the homeowners' tax bill is made up of three parts, 40% for the City, 40% for the School District, and 20% for the County. Even though the assessed value on this home increased by 8.7% on average, from $150,000 to $163,000, taxes will only increase 4% because the State has reduced the amount of a home's taxable value by a rollback factor. For FY99, the rollback is 55%. So, even though your home's value increased by 8.7%, and the tax rate is increased by 2.6%, the City tax bill increases by only 4% because of this rollback. Where does that property tax money go? Let's take the $150,000 home in Iowa City. The City tax is $1,081 annually, and that money goes towards police and fire protection approximately $312 of it; administrative, $259; debt service, this is principle and interest on bonds sold, $155; library is approximately $132; parks and rec, $122; and transit is approximately $99. Champion/ That figure only includes City property tax, not School and County, that's kind of misleading. Yucuis/ That's correct, Connie, that's only City. The City's not undertaking the costliest capital projects in its history: the replacement of the water plant and improvements to the wastewater plant. To help pay for the large cost of these improvements, water and sewer rates will be increasing this coming year, as well as planned in March of '99 and 2000. 15% for water in each of the next two years, and 10% and 5% for sewer in the next two years. Besides water and sewer rates, however, other fees such as garbage or bus fares, are not planned to increase This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #8 page 48 in the three-year plan. Parking fees may need to be increased in the next fiscal year, if the City decides to build a new parking ramp. These plans are still being discussed, and the cost of the new ramp and how it is operated will determine whether rates will be adjusted. Utility rates will increase for bills on or after March 1 of 1998 by 15% for water and 10% for sewer. Another change that will occur on March 1, 1998, is that the minimum usage calculation will change from 200 cubic feet to 100 cubic feet of water. The change in minimum billing from 200 to 100 cubic feet will affect the amount of your utility bill. In general, people who use very small amounts of water will see a decrease in their bill for the next twelve months, even though there's been a rate increase of 15% and 10%. Only when you're usage is approximately 1,000 cubic feet, which could be an average family usage, will there be an increase in the utility bill. If a customer bill is currently $75, their new bill will be around $76. The larger users will pay a greater proportion of that increase. While talking on utility bills, I wanted to mention that the City does offer a discount program for the City utility bills to qualifying low-income users. The qualifications are that the account holder be a resident of the household and participate in one of the following programs: the Family Investment, Title 20, Foodstamp, Supplementary Social Security Benefits, Iowa Disabled and Senior Citizen Property Tax Relief, or the Rent Disbursement Claim program. The new discount program that will go into effect March 1 of 1998 was changed slightly, where the minimum fee, 60% of the minimum fee for water and sewer and 75% of the minimum for refuse/recycling services will be used then, in total, the new discount for bills after March 1, '98 will be $15.93. Thornberry/ For those that perhaps might be listening to this instead of watching it, for any reason, the phone number for more information for any of these low-income discounts is 356-5066. Yucuis/ Capital Improvements program for FY99 is projected to be $97,000,000 roughly. The major projects that will be undertaken are as follows: Captain Irish Parkrway, Dodge to ACT; Court Street Extended, Phase I; Dodge Street - ACT Intersection; Highway 1-Sunset fight turn; Highway 6 left turn at 1 st; River Street; Riverside to Woolf; Southgate Avenue extended; Woolf Avenue; Newton to north of River Street. There's a couple bridge projects in the works, Woolf Avenue and Summit Street. Downtown Streetscape is being discussed fight now, as well as Iowa Avenue Streetscape. Discussions will be occurring in the next several weeks with the Council, and where that's headed. The Sycamore Street Regional stormwater detention is a big project in the next fiscal year. Also, the new South Plan for wastewater, and Water Plant site development. And a couple of recreational projects, the Iowa River Trail, Burlington to Napoleon Park, and the Mercer Park Aquatic Center Gym expansion. Council is scheduled to vote on This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #8 page 49 this budget at the next Council meeting on March 10. If any citizens have questions later, they can call us at 356-5050. Thank you for letting me do this. Lehman/ Thank you, Don. Kubby/ You know, every year, our citizen summary gets more readable, and I think some of these charts would be a good addition to our citizen summary, and I really liked you using PowerPoint or whatever that was. Very nice. Thornberry/ It was neat. Yucuis/ Our Document Service -- Lehman/ (Can't hear) is open, ifI forgot to say that. Kubby/ Maybe we should ask if anyone else has a PowerPoint presentation before we turn off the equipment. Steven Kanner/ No PowerPoint for me. My name's Steven Kanner, and I live at 225 North Lucas in Iowa City, and just a few comments on the budget that I wanted to speak to. First off, I think that SEATS is a good investment, and what we're spending, we're getting good return on that. And I speak in self-interest for that and other public transportation. One, I think that we need more money going to public transportation. $90,000 for the parking garage I think is not enough. I think when we had a newsletter form Steven Atkins about the new garage going up, I believe it was a couple newsletters ago, talking about the costs of the improvements, and I'm wondering though, if you talked about the cost of the pollution, the cost of wear and tear on the roads, when you figure in enticing people to drive more cars instead of taking more public transportation. So I think we need to put more money into the idea of public transportation, and making all the areas of the City and the County accessible to all people, whether abled or disabled. And, I think that's in my interests, and I think it's in all of our interests to make it a more vibrant city. And, I wish we put as much scrutiny as we're giving to the SEATS program as it currently exists, to a few other items, lines, that we currently spend money on. For instance, my understanding is that we're spending about $50,000 a year for ICAD support under economic development, and my understanding is there's not much scrutiny about what we get from that. And so, I think we need some detailed reports, and see if it's worthwhile to continue to spend that money for so-called economic development. And, also, I think we need to scrutinize the D.A.R.E. program, which we're giving approximately $85,000 a year. My understanding is, one, in Iowa City, that there This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #8 page 50 were some pretty good programs that worked on drug use prevention, that were pretty successful. And also, nationally, my understanding is that D.A.R.E. is nothing more than a police promotion program. And I think we'd probably be better off spending that money elsewhere. Thomberry/ Oh, D.A.R.E., D.A.R.E. Yeah, I got it. I thought you were talking about the deer. Kanner/ No, d-a-r-e. Thornberry/ Okay. Lehman/ I just changed it. Vanderhoef/ All at once. Kubby/ We don't know how much we're spending on the deer program yet. Norton/ No. Kanner/ Maybe we can combine those two programs together in some way. Lehman/ Oh, don't dare. Kanner/ And, I'm glad to hear of the programs for subsidizing lower income people for utility usage that the City provides. I think though, that we would be better off, perhaps, looking at equalizing the cost of water, in particular, for all different usage rates. And I think that might be the best way to promote not only lower costs for people who use less, but it would also promote conservation of our water resources. And that seems to make much more sense to me, for our budget, in the long run. And I'd like to know, has there been an examination, I suppose, the reason that we have rates for, lower rates for using more water, is that supposedly it would attract businesses. And I'm wondering, has there been a report on that? Have we found out that we are attracting more businesses because we have lower rates as you use more water? So, I'd like to see if there are any answers to that. And also, I just finally want to say that I'm not speaking on behalf of the Greens, but I am a member of the Iowa City Green Party, and I just want to inform you that there is a group of people out there that are discussing these issues, and keeping an eye on it, and we're going to continue to be involved in the issues that affect all of us here in the Iowa City area. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #8 page 51 Lehman/ Thank you. Because I remember, and correct me if I'm wrong, we did not have anyone who spoke at the public heating last week about the budget, did we? Champion/ No. We didn't. And I was amazed. Lehman/ It's amazing. We do appreciate your comments. This is a huge budget, it's a lot of money. And it's nice to know that someone is reading it. Thomberry/ Besides us. Lehman/ And telling us about it. Thornberry/ We spend a lot of time on this, and it can always be decided, of course. Thank you for your help. Lehman/ Other comments on the budget? Catherine Woods/ Yes. Hi, my name's Catherine Woods, and I'm a member of the Iowa City Green Party. I'm here to comment, and ask a question arising from my reading of the Citizen Summary of this budget. My comments do not necessarily represent the views of my fellow Iowa City Green Party members. Tonight, what I have to say, arises from, and hinges on my belief in one of our party's key values though, and that is that we must create and maintain a sustainable pattern of relations between individual society and the earth. I don't know ifI said who I was. I'm Catherine Woods, and I'm an Iowa City resident. I live on Grove Street. Anyway, I believe, and put into practice, a personal lifestyle that emphasizes living lightly on the earth. And so, where am I going with this? Well, basically, how does it relate to the plan? Well, my comments arise from my commitment to a particular way of getting around town. I bike. It's a sustainable form of transportation, and I enjoy it. I also bike for recreational purposes. I noticed in my reading of the budget, several line items that I call bike tracks. And I want to commend the Council for a track record that shows an ongoing commitment to bikes and bike-friendliness. I moved to town partly because of the bike-friendly town. Specifically, I'm pleased that in fiscal year 1999, and fiscal year 2000, and fiscal year 2001, when monies are budgeted on the following arterial streets, Captain Irish Parkway, Foster Road, and Highway 6, these monies allow for them to be made safe and accessible for a pedestrian -- CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-31, SIDE B This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #8 page 52 Woods/ I commend you for an ongoing five-year commitment at $30,000 a year to intracity bike trails. In fiscal year 1998, I support the budget items of $1,547,000 approximately for the Iowa River Trail, $1,164,000 for the Iowa River Power Dam, which I'm told includes a bike trail and pedestrian walkway, and $236,260 for the Willow Creek Trail, and finally, in fiscal year 2000, I support the budget item for $245,500 for the Longfellow-Pine Street PedestriarffBike Trail. My understanding is that previous Councils have been very supportive of bikers and bikes, and I urge the present Council to continue that pattern. I do have a concern over what appears to be a trend. From my reading, there appears to be a decreasing commitment to bike trails, beginning in fiscal year 1999, when no monies seem to be budgeted for any specific trails, outside of the $30,000 I've just mentioned for intracity bike trails. I'm wondering, in particular, why the Court Hill Trail has been postponed to fiscal year 2003 and beyond? And I also note this same postponement to fiscal year 2003 and beyond for the Iowa River Trail Bridge over Iowa River; the Willow Creek Trail, Napoleon Park to Riverside; and the Willow Creek Trail, Riverside to Highway 1. Finally, I've noticed that in fiscal year 2001 and 2002, again, as in fiscal year 1999, there doesn't appear to be any budgeted monies for separate trails. I'm concerned this could become a different kind of track record, one which looks to be bike- unfriendly. And I would like to know if any of you would like to address my concern, and I think yon for letting me have a chance to make these comments. Kubby/ Catherine, would you repeat the last two that have been postponed, or put on the beyond list? Woods/ Yeah, I've got, I'm noticing, actually, not from the summary, but from the big report, Willow Creek Trail, Napoleon Park to Riverside, and Willow Creek Trail, Riverside to Highway 1. They're from the big one. I don't remember the numbers. They're 300-something. Vanderhoef/ Of the one trail, that I could answer for, there was a choice made whether to go down the east side or the west side, down to Napoleon Park, so that section from Highway 6, south, was traded off to get the trail down to Napoleon Park. And we also looked at that bridge situation going across, and it wasn't the highest priority for trail monies at this point. And when you talk about putting them into the "out", anytime we go beyond the three-year part of it, it gets a lot sketchier, because we don't know what our needs are going to be for total capital projects. And they get filled in, and we readjust things annually, sometimes for opportunity, sometimes for different kinds of things. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #8 page 53 Woods/ Do you consider yourselfbike-friendly? Vanderhoef/ Me? Woods/ Yeah. Vanderhoef/ Absolutely. Woods/ Well, I'm very glad to hear that. I -- Vanderhoef/ I helped write the plan. Woods/ Well, great. Does anyone else want to say anything to me? Otherwise I'll just move away. Kubby/ I'd just encourage you to watch the trend, and make sure that nothing -- Woods/ Well, I may say something next year, I'll be looking next year. Norton/ Well, keep an eye on it. I think the trend will please you. I think most of us are very deeply committed to trails. Woods/ Well, I didn't say that I don't even own a car. That's a decision I made, and Iowa City makes that possible for me to get around with that choice. Thornberry/ Instead of having a separate trail for some things, what we're doing is making sidewalks much wider. Woods/ Yeah, I know that. I understand that that's what done with arterial streets in particular. Thomberry/ Yeah. And that provides access for both pedestrians and bicyclists, and keeping off the arterial streets. Woods/ Yeah. Thomberry/ So, they may not be called paths, but if they're, if it's a wide sidewalk, it takes, you know, you can call it whatever you want. Woods/ Yeah. But it doesn't address my concerns about recreational trails as well. I don't bike just to get around, I also bike for fun. And I'm glad that that's been This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #8 page 54 supported in the past. And I commend you on what you're doing presently. Wish you would do more. Thanks a lot. Lehman/ Thank you. Woods/ I'm writing my address here. Bennett Brown/ Hi, I'm Bennett Brown from 802 E. Washington Street. And I noticed that the First Avenue Extension was scheduled for the year 2002 in the Capital Improvements Program, and I wanted to thank you for that, and tell you that I was glad for two reasons, and also make a suggestion for, if not this year's budget, for next year's. Sir? Lehman/ Go ahead. Brown/ Can you hear me? Lehman/ Oh yeah. Brown/ Oh, okay. The two reasons that I was glad to see it in 2002, obviously, the first one is that the voters requested it, and I know that you have the legal power to overrule the referendum in the year 2000, and I was glad to see that you respected the wishes of voters and put it in 2002 as the referendum, as people voted for. I was also glad to see that you put it in 2002 for a political reason, and that is that I think that it was an incredibly divisive issue for this community. And I think that one of the reasons it was good that it was postponed is so that we could have some time to find solutions that would satisfy not only commuters, particularly commuters going from the Rochester and First area up to the ACT area or the highway, but and developers, but also people who use the Park, people who live on First Avenue and have kids that go to those schools, and the various issues that were raised during that debate in the community. Which brings me to the suggestion that I would like you to consider for the Capital Improvements Program either this year or next year, and that is that, in talking with people and I think you know, it was some 3,500 people that signed it, not all of which were registered voters, and I talked to over 1,000 of those folks. And the overriding concern that people had related to the Park and their ability to go somewhere close to downtown where they wouldn't see development. And the reason that they didn't want to see First Avenue developed was that they had the belief that if First Avenue were to go through, and I think it applies equally well to Captain Irish which will be paved this spring, if I'm right, is that those roads would facilitate development on land adjacent to the Park. And that the vista that's currently there This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #8 page 55 would not be preserved. So, what I ask you to include is a purchase, or at least an offer to the Larsen's, and I believe the Press-Citizen owns the land that's north, the Larsen's own the land that's east of the Park, to extend the Park to the site- line, so that if houses were built on the boundary of an extended park, that at least those houses would not show two stories of developed structure from the majority of the back half of the Park. I can give you a rough estimate of how many acres that is. I believe it's approximately 10 acres north of the Park that is assessed at $5,000 an acre, and approximately 10 acres east of the Park that is assessed at $500 an acre. Of course, I realize that those assessments that are incredulously low, but that's the tax that is being paid on them, and I don't know the City's right to eminent domain for parkland. I don't know if that's something the City is allowed to do. But I would request that the City make a reasonable offer to the Larsen's and the Press-Citizen for that land, and maybe that's $50,000, I don't know what the going rate for developed land is. $50,000 to $75,000 are numbers that were quoted to me during that campaign, when people were trying to assess the profit that would be brought to those folks, should First Avenue go through. But, I think that the larger community could profit greatly if we were to add those to the Park. Thanks. Lehman/ Bennett, I think the reason that you see First Avenue in the year 2002, I think that's a statutory requirement after that referendum, is it not? We could not have put that in the year 2000, even if we wanted to. We could build it in the year 2000, but we couldn't plan it. Brown/ I suppose I was being generous to you, in thinking it was a sincere statement, that you weren't planning to do it until 2002. Lehman/ No, no. But you do realize that the building could occur earlier than that, even though it's in the plan in the year 2002. I don't -- Brown/ You're saying that what -- Kubby/ In other words, we can change the plan. Brown/ You're saying that this year, you could say that it's going to be in 2002, and next year, you could say it's in 2002, and as soon as November 4, 1999 rolls around, you could say it's going to be tomorrow? And yes, I realize that. I'm hoping that that's not the case. Lehman/ Well, okay, and I'm not saying we're going to do that at all. In fact, I think you're probably aware of the fact that we are doing some, a very extensive This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #8 page 56 Comprehensive Plan survey in that area, very shortly, in fact, I think, starting next month, so that, anyway, we all know what the numbers mean, and they don't have to mean what they say they mean. Okay? Brown/ Thank you. Kubby/ Isn't it nice to have people watch what we're doing? Norton/ Yes. David Reed/ Hi, my name's David Reed. I've been a resident of Iowa City since 1986. I now live on Dearborn Street. I'm a little nervous about being up here, but you were so kind to the people that spoke earlier, that I was encouraged to come up. There's just two things I'd like to comment on. One is water. I'd like to encourage you to think about whether you want a policy that encourages increased usage through volume discounts. There are substantial water and sewer costs that are coming up in the future because of having built a new plant, and I think the logical outcome of encouraging increased usage is having to expand the water treatment facilities, and that means even greater costs in the future, and in fact, a kind of structure that perhaps even discourages high-volume usage would be a better long-run interest to the City and the citizens of Iowa City. Second thing is that it's my understanding that there's been a recommendation to not contribute any more money to the Park Acquisition fund. And I would like you to encourage you to continuing to contribute to that. I think that Iowa City could use more parks, that having them would in fact be a very inexpensive way to increase the quality of life in Iowa City. There's a, I guess I don't know a whole lot about the plan to improve the downtown, but there's a substantial amount of money going into that, and I think that parks might be a more economical way to make Iowa City an attractive and desirable place. Thank you. Kubby/Thank you. Reed/ And I'm also a member of the Iowa City Greens, by the way. Lehman/ Any other comments on the budget? Brown/ No, but I neglected to take my pen back, and put my name down. Lehman/ Is there Council discussion on the budget? Kubby/ I'll reserve comments for when we vote. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #8 page 57 Lehman/ (What?) Kubby/ I'm going to reserve my comments for when we vote so I can think about what the public has brought to us. Norton/ I had one question. There was something about the sewer connected with the Court Street Extension. Is that, I know it's somewhere, but I can't remember where, but Court Street Extended is one of the capital projects, fight? Lehman/ Right. Norton/ Is there something that we haven't heard about about the sewer situation when that is extended? Atkins/ Karin-- Lehman/ I see a lot of head shaking. Norton/ Where did I see a concern about a sewer? Atkins/ There's a sewer project proposal that would mn up along, I'm trying to think of the project proposal where we have those individuals who want to build that housing for elderly citizens at the comer of American Legion and, I mean it's in that general vicinity, but that is nowhere close to being -- there's a prospective developer on the site. Norton/ So there's no hidden sewer problem in that region. Atkins/ Sewer problem? Not that I know of. Norton/ Okay. Atkins/ There's an inquisitive look in the audience. Wait a minute. Franklin/ There's the sewer for the Iowa City Care Center that we've talked about. Kubby/ We declined to -- Franklin/ Which we haven't moved forward on. That's the only -- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #8 page 58 Norton/ That's the only -- Franklin/ That's the biggest sewer issue there. Lehman/ Public hearing is closed. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #9 page 59 ITEM NO. 9 CONVEYANCE OF A VACATED TWENTY-FOOT WIDE PORTION OF THE FORMER BENTON STREET RIGHT-OF-WAY BETWEEN RIVERSIDE DRIVE AND THE IOWA RIVER WHICH IS ADJACENT TO LINDER TIRE SERVICE TO HENRY AND GRACE LINDER. a. PUBLIC HEARING Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #9) This is the same property we've talked about, adjacent to, this'11 be used, well, we've traded it for the bike path, is that not correct? Dilkes/ Right. Lehman/ All right. Oh, p.h. is open. Kubby/ Make sure Catherine hears that before she left. Catherine, we're trading some land for a bike trail. We're voting on it right now, just so you know that. Woods/ (Can't hear). Lehman/ P.h. is closed. Do I hear a motion? b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING. Vanderhoef/ Move approval. Norton/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by Norton. Any further discussion? Roll call- (yes). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #11 page 60 ITEM NO. 11 PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT, AND ESTIMATE OF COST FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE WILLOW CREEK INTERCEPTOR AND LATERAL SEWERS 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/ (Reads agenda item #10). This is an estimated $8,500,000 project that will open up basically the southwest side of the City for development in the area west of the River and west and south of the airport. P.h. is open. P.h. is closed. b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING. Thornberry/ Move adoption of the resolution. Lehman/ Moved by Thornberry. Vanderhoef/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion? Norton/ Ernie, I just want to add that it not only opens up that area, but it also relieves some problems on the west side, generally, all the way out -- Lehman/ That's right. Norton/ To our northern border on the west. Kubby/ And actually, if it was just to open up development, I probably wouldn't support this amount of money for that. Norton/ Yeah. Kubby/ Because most of those acres are currently outside the City limits. But 5,000 acres have either bad pipe or excess flows and are going into an 18-inch pipe, and that's what allows me to support this, relieving some problems for 5,000 acres -- Norton/ Yeah, it relieves the whole west side. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #11 page 61 Kubby/Already in the City. Thornberry/ This river crossing, it's under the river, right, with the pipe? Lehman/ Yeah. Norton/ Now, this is our last chance to consider, this is where we were going to consider putting a trail bridge, putting the piers for a trail bridge in. Thornberry/ Yes. Norton/ So I hope we're right there. Lehman/ I think we considered not doing that. Norton/ What was that, $200,000 or $300,000 extra to put those in now? Lehman/ $200,000, yeah. Norton/ I'm just hoping we can hook onto ford. Atkins/ (Can't hear) from Chuck. Norton/ Oh, well -- Thornberry/ $400,000. Norton/ Okay, but I'm hoping we'll have a crossing somewhere else down there, perhaps on a road bridge at some point, huh? In the far distant future? Thornberry/ I think it's what you suspected we might have that led us not to put in the footings for the bridge that we might not need. Norton/ Okay, I hope I'm right. Lehman/ Roll call- (yes). Resolution carried. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #12 page 62 ITEM NO. 12 PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT, AND ESTIMATE OF COST FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE WILLOW CREEK TRAIL, PHASE I PROJECT, MORMON TREK TO GALWAY HILLS, ESTABLISHING AMOUNT OF BID SECURITY TO ACCOMPANY EACH BID, DIRECTING CITY CLERK TO PUBLISH NOTICE TO BIDDERS, AND FIXING TIME AND PLACE FOR RECEIPT OF BIDS. a. PUBLIC HEARING. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #12). And this is the project that goes from Mormon Trek basically out past West High School. P.h. is open. And closed. b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING. Kubby/ Move adoption. Lehman/ Moved by Kubby. Vanderhoef/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion? Vanderhoef/ I'd just like to comment that this is over a large area, and this is also the one that will be connected up with West High School with the monies that the neighborhoods out there have put together, and our allowing students to come in from the south side of the High School property. Kubby/ And a big thanks to staff. This was a very complicated one because of a particular property that had a lot of, that has a lot of owners, and they spent a lot of time trying to negotiate some things. So that's very appreciated. Thomberry/ Has it been determined yet, Chuck, whether this is going to be concrete or asphalt? Ten-foot wide asphalt, or concrete trail? And the difference in the price? Do you know? Chuck Schmadeke/ Bid it either way. Thornberry/ Yeah, bid it both ways? Rob Winstead/ I'm Rob Winstead, from the City Engineering office. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #12 page 63 Thomberry/ Hi, Rob. Winstead/ It'll be up to the bidders to select either asphalt or concrete, and we've done that in the hopes to attract more bidders. And the increase in the engineering estimate is mostly due to some sitework items, and we've received information from the DOT on other trail projects throughout the state, and we've adjusted a few of those to reflect bids that they've received. Thornberry/ Thank you. Lehman/ Thank you. Roll call- (yes). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #13 page 64 ITEM NO. 13 PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT, AND ESTIMATE OF COST FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE NAPOLEON PARK ENTRANCE AND PARKING LOT 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/ (Reads agenda item #13). This was set early, I think, according to Mr. Schmadeke, we're hoping that because of the mild weather, we might even be able to get this project done before the softball season. The estimated cost is $442,000, and the hearing is open. Closed. b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING. Lehman/ Discussion? Roll-call. Kubby/ We need a motion on the floor. Lehman/ Oh, I'm sorry. Champion/ Moved. O'Donnell/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Champion, seconded by O'Donnell. Roll call. Kubby/ Well,-- Lehman/ I'm sorry. Kubby/ I want some discussion about this, because we had some discussion. Thomberry/ We did, we did. Kubby/ I just feel like it's, we need to do something on the parking lot. I'm committed to that. I don't know that I want to spend this amount of money for that. A lot of money. Thornberry/ Really? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #13 page 65 Kubby/ Yeah. So I'm thinking about no. So someone persuade me otherwise. Thornberry/ Well, I was apprehensive of the cost of putting in a concrete and blacktop parking lot that will never be shoveled. I mean, all kinds of questions that arose that I had about it, and I'm glad to hear you be apprehensive about this, too, because I sort of still am. Kubby/ That's not persuading me. Thornberry/ But, it can't be gravel. we've said that parking lot can't be gravel. Champion/ Why? Thornberry/ You can't build parking lots -- Kubby/ We don't allow the private sector to do so. It would not be proper. Norton/ So what's the options? Thomberry/ Can we say chipseal? Chipseal was just about as expensive, or almost as expensive, because of the under-- Norton/Base. Kubby/ Because of the base. That's a good reminder. That's an important factor. Norton/ That's why I went with the asphalt. Vanderhoef/ Same base, different topping. Kubby/ Dean-- Thomberry/ What I also didn't care about is the, is this concrete curb all the way around this thing with stormwater things, and with stormwater, you've got to have pipes underground going somewhere, and if it's not being used in the wintertime, and it's just chipseal, which has a base, or concrete without the curb, what's wrong with that? Why put in the water retention stuff with concrete curb all the way around it, what could we say? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #13 page 66 Schmadeke/ Well the storm sewer, the majority of the storm sewer cost is for the street improvement. And we're tying the parking lot drainage system into that street drainage system. Thornberry/ So it doesn't go very far. Schmadeke/ That's right. Kubby/ But, that's, would that street be, if the (can't understand) addition was ever annexed in, would that street then be used as a residential street? Schmadeke/ It could be used as residential street. It would be a public street. Kubby/ I mean, that's maybe one reason to put the infrastructure in now, instead of tearing up the concrete road. Norton/ That access road you mean, yeah. Atkins/ Chuck, isn't there something about the project that it's also part of the bike trail system eventually? Schmadeke/ That's right, yeah. Vanderhoef/ Yeah. Atkins/ Actually, that walk, and shoveling. Vanderhoef/ Well, and the safety thing is that we were putting the curb in there so that we were real clear that cars from the parking lot would not impinge -- Norton/ On the trail. Vanderhoef/ Infringe on the trail area, and that it was a safety issue for anyone walking or biking on the trail. Kubby/ I appreciate the discussion. It helps remind me about why we decided that, and I will vote in the affirmative, thank you. Champion/ I kind of like the gravel. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #13 page 67 Norton/ For me, the chipseal being so close to the cost of the asphalt, might as well do it right. Kubby/ The long term, the lifetime costs of it will be to our advantage because the prices are so close for the two materials, correct? Thomberry/ Yeah. Because that's what was decided. Vanderhoef/ And its age is increased. Kubby/ Thank you. Lehman/ Thank you, Chuck. Roll call- (yes). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #14 page 68 ITEM NO. 14 CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 9 OF THE CITY CODE OF IOWA CITY ENTITLED "MOTOR VEHICLES AND TRAFFIC," CHAPTER 3, SECTION 12 HEREIN TO AMEND BY ORDINANCE LANE USAGE AND PAVEMENT MARKINGS ON MELROSE AVENUE FROM UNiVERSITY HEIGHTS TO BYINGTON ROAD. (FIRST CONSIDERATION). Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #14). This is, if I'm not mistaken, adding a right-turn lane to Melrose between -- Vanderhoef/ Hawkins. Lehman/ Hawkins-- Norton/ On Melrose, into Hawkins. Lehman/Right, and today, we sent a letter to the Mayor of University Heights, this, because I think that road was set by ordinance, and unless we change it by ordinance, and we indicated to the Mayor our intentions on this, and asked him for a response from their Council, although I'm certain there's no problem. Kubby/ We sent that today, and we're voting on it tonight? Thornberry/ First consideration. Kubby/ Right. Lehman/ Well,-- Kubby/ I know. But still, there's a matter of maybe courtesy, and the appearance of a done deal before the feedback. Lehman/ I already talked to him. He knows. I've talked to him a week or so ago. He's had information from his JCCOG web. This is nothing new, and it's a courtesy, but I think it's something we should do, so we sent the letter today. Kubby/ What about the Neighborhood Association? We've heard nothing back from them. Atkins/ He contacted them, and they were okay with it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #14 page 69 Lehman/ Right. I think we've done our homework on this. Thornberry/ Because-- Lehman/ We will have to have three readings. Thornberry/ Because the University of Iowa indicated any participation. Norton/ It's coordinating the timing of this, weren't they? Lehman/ No, I think we talked about them helping with the cost. Kubby/ And we wanted the check. Thornberry/ Right. That's what I sort of asked. Lehman/ If we said -- Thomberry/ If they need our participation. Atkins/ It's still being worked on. Thornberry/ All right. Kubby/ And if they forego this one, maybe we can ask more for Iowa Avenue. Lehman/ Well, we should certainly have some answer back before the third consideration, I would think. Atkins/ I would hope so. Kubby/ Okay. Thomberry/ Move first consideration. Lehman/ Moved by Thomberry. Vanderhoef/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by Vanderhoe£ This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #14 page 70 Thornberry/Now we can have discussion, right? Lehman/ Is there any further discussion? Norton/ Ernie, my only concern is that this somehow got past us in the original planning of this street, and that's my only regret. I don't know exactly how that happened, but it did. Lehman/ Dee, ! think it's interesting it got past us, University Heights Neighborhood Association, University of Iowa, the Hospital, it got past everybody. And you're right, I don't know how it ever happened, but it happened universally. Champion/ I think (can't hear). Lehman/ Roll call-- Kubby/ Would you comment, please? Atkins/ We knew full well what we were doing when we walked into this issue project. I mean, this took a long time. Norton/ And you left out the lane? Atkins/ Oh, yeah. I think we knew what we were doing. Lehman/ Yeah, the best part of that was there was a lane there, a temporary lane that was cut out and hauled away, and now we're going to put it back. Atkins/ Yes, sir. Champion/ This time it's a political decision. Lehman/ Roll call- (yes). Carded. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #15 page 71 ITEM NO. 15 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AWARDING CONTRACT AND AUTHORIZING MAYOR TO SIGN AND CITY CLERK TO ATTEST CONTRACT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE WATER MAIN -- PENINSULA PROPERTY PROJECT. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #15). The estimate for this project was $331,350. The low bid, and the one recommended by Public Works is from Maxwell Construction of Iowa City, $231,207.10. Thomberry/ Move adoption of the resolution. Lehman/ Moved by Thornberry. Norton/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by Norton. Again, we have really, really good bids, or these really, really high estimates. One or the other. Roll call- (yes). Resolution carded. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #16 page 72 ITEM NO. 16 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE IOWA CITY DOWNTOWN STREETSCAPE PLAN. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #16). Item 16 deals with the Downtown Iowa City Streetscape Plan, as does item #17. I would entertain a motion to defer both of those. Vanderhoef/ I will so move. Norton/ Second. Lehman/ To, I suppose we need to defer to a date? Karr/ It's either that or else indefinitely. Atkins/ I think the next meeting. Karr/10th of March. Lehman/ 10th of March. Okay. Moved by Vanderhoef, seconded by Norton. Discussion? Kubby/ Well, we're deferring this so that we can kind of talk about all the downtown potential changes in one big conversation before we move forward with adopting plans for certain segments of it. Atkins/ It would not be out of the question for you to move to adopt these, but I suspect you may want to then have to amend them later on. I mean, I just think, it's more of a convenience decision on your part. Lehman/ I think it would be inappropriate for us to adopt plans without really having discussed them, and we really have not discussed those. So -- Norton/ At some point, aren't we, at some point going to adopt a plan -- Lehman/ Oh yes. Norton/ In which every t is not crossed, because -~ Vanderhoef/ A guide. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #16 page 73 Norton/ Because at some point we have to adopt, a guide, right. Kubby/ Take the Southside Development Plan, for example. Almost every six months, we amend it, since I've been around. Norton/ That's right. Lehman/ Yes? JeffKillion/ Hi, I'd like to make a quick comment. Hi, my name is JeffKillion. I'm a former resident of here, and I'm studying Landscape Architecture at Ball State in Indiana. And as far as my thesis project is, it's on the Iowa Avenue Streetscape, and I'd like to commend all of you for going along ahead with that three-block area. As part of my project, I'm looking at the entire Streetscape, and I would be more than happy to send a copy of that to you. Because I consider the whole street as a whole street, rather than just three block segments. Considering the University, and the commercial and residential areas. Lehman/Do that, we'd like that. Champion/ Great. Killion/ I will. Thank you. Lehman/ Thank you. Norton/ You don't have a grant to go with it, do you? Killion/ I'm sorry? Kubby/ Like a $3,500,000 one? Killion/ Yeah. Lehman/ This is just a motion. We need a simple vote. All in favor of deferral- (ayes). Opposed- (none). Those two will be deferred till March 10th. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #17 page 74 ITEM NO. 17 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE IOWA AVENUE STREETSCAPE PLAN. (See Item #16). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #19 page 75 ITEM NO. 19 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION TO ESTABLISH A FEE FOR TEMPORARY USE PERMITS. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item #19). An ordinance amending the City Code to allow fees for the use of a temporary permit. This was the ordinance that we passed just earlier, and the fee schedule would be $75 for a permit, $25 for additional permits, if issued within a year. Thomberry/ Now is this, oh, never mind. Lehman/ Do we have a motion? Thornberry/ Motion to adopt. Lehman/ Motion by Thornberry. Norton/ Second. Lehman/ Seconded by Norton. Any discussion? Thomberry/ Yes, I have a question. Now, I asked the other night, is this, is this within twelve months, or the calendar year? Did anybody find out? Lehman/ It says one year, so I think it has to be twelve months. Thornberry/ No, but one year --? Atkins/ Here's how I understand it'll work, and I've lost my notes, so, the $75 fee, an example's what they gave me, a $75 fee, for example, for Hy-Vee which puts their garden centers in the parking lot, they would pay that $75 fee. And that involves a review of the site plan, where's it going to be situated, I mean, traffic, all of those issues. Then, the next year, when they reapply, they would pay $25, because we've already been through everything. They would not have to pay another $75. Kubby/ If everything was the same. Atkins/ If everything was the same. I hate the term, but we'd rubber-stamp it and send them on their way. But that's how it would work. Lehman/ Well, I think this is just, you know, -- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #19 page 76 Thomberry/ A reapplication of same, same, whatever it may be. Atkins/ Unless they change it. Thomberry/ Okay, yeah, that makes sense. Atkins/ Yeah. Lehman/ Any other discussion? Roll call- (yes). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #20 page 77 ITEM NO. 20 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST TO AN AGREEMENT WITH THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF CHICAGO FOR A PURCHASING CARD SYSTEM. Lehman/ (Reads agenda item//20). Do you want to tell us, in just a thumbnail, what that is? Atkins/ It's probably not easy to do on a thumbnail, but -- Lehman/ Well-- Atkins/ One of the things that it's very clear about the government and our purchasing practices and policies, is that we really do have a major system of checks and balances, which involves a lot of paperwork. But during the course of a business day or week, many routine purchases have to be made. And rather than go through the paperwork process, we are proposing the creation of, the bottom line is, it's a credit card. And that these would be issued to employees, under certain rules, regulations, restrictions, can't get cash from it, and the idea being is that if we can eliminate, or at least substantially reduce the paperwork, our employees can go out and get the goods, and services that they need, get them immediately. We place whatever, you know, reasonable limits on it. The vendor can get paid within 24 to 48 hours. We have virtually immediate access, through electronic, the downloading of that information, to our purchasing, so we can check very, very quickly. It just simply should expedite the purchasing process. It tums a great deal of the decision making over to our employees. Again, but, we have, I think, reasonable controls built in on the thing. I mean, all in all, I just think we're going to save ourselves a lot of time, happier vendors. Lehman/ The University went to a system similar to this about a year or two ago. Atkins/ Yes, that's correct. Lehman/ I know their purchases are now made by University credit cards. ??/ Do we have a motion? Thomberry/ What do we have, a voucher system now? Atkins/ We have a voucher system, you have -- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #20 page 78 Norton/ Purchase orders. Atkins/ You have purchase orders, we have small purchase orders with certain employees have certain rules and regulations, and it will be tightly controlled. Thornberry/ Okay. Norton/ It'd be kind of nice to tally the time, because presumably you could save quite bit of time on the staff's part. Atkins/ Well, and the staff had estimated, they felt, that we're talking $150,000 on an annual basis, on paperwork alone. I think that's a little enthusiastic, but we will go through and try to calculate just what kind of savings we're going to have. Vanderhoef/ Don, can you just give us an idea what the cost is for this service? Yucuis/ The cost is, for the software license, is $1,500, and $150 a month maintenance. Vanderhoef/ And that takes care of it? Yucuis/ Yeah, and that takes care of it, yeah. Thornberry/ Move adoption of the resolution. O'Donnell/ Second. Lehman/ Moved by Thomberry, seconded by O'Donnell. I might point out local providers of service were asked to bid on this, and my understanding is that the local vendor did not bid on it. Kubby/ And that was one of my big hesitations about this, because banks will make some money off this, because they get a percentage of the credit card amount. Atkins/ Absolutely. Kubby/ And I prefer that local banks, especially locally-owned banks, make that money off of us being more efficient. And so, since the University's doing it, and now the City's doing it, and maybe we can talk to ACT or maybe NCS, or some other major employer, Proctor and Gamble, whoever -- Atkins/ That's a good idea. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #20 page 79 Kubby/ That if many different larger employers did this, it's de-centralization of responsibility, with good accountability, that maybe they would have the employee in the system and maybe be willing to invest in this, if maybe a lot of different local folks would do it. So I would love for us to explore that and have some conversations with folks. Atkins/ We're proposing to use the bank out of Chicago. The University uses one out of Minneapolis. And so I -- Kubby/ Let's bring it on home in three years. Atkins/ Yeah. It always makes it easier for us to have somebody in town who manages things for us. So hopefully this will encourage them to get into the business. Kubby/ Our local banks make more money, they do more volunteerism and more mortgages for local people. Lehman/ Roll call- (yes). This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #23 page 80 ITEM NO. 23 CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION. Lehman/ City Council Information. Who would like to go first? Norton/ I'm ready. Lehman/ Dee. Dee's always ready. Norton/ This is a question I posed to you, Marian, and I don't know where we stand on this, but there are a number of departures from Commissions, and I don't know, have we adopted any, we had a method of introducing -- Karr/ Recognition? Norton/ Commissioners to us, but we still don't have any formal way of acknowledging their departure, do we? Karr/ We held in December, if you recall, -~ Norton/Yes. Karr/ An initiation, as it were, and we are taking a look at strategically doing those throughout the year. And it just depends on how many departures we have within a given time, whether we're going to do it twice a year, or four times a year. And we're working on that. But we do have it in place, yes. Norton/ All right, good. Next, I just want to, for the sake of the public, I don't remember that we voted on the TCI issue, but apparently, the paper did. Vanderhoef/ Hear ye. Norton/ I was kind of surprised. I thought I don't remember voting on that. But I never got called, because I guess they got four before they got to me. Lehman/ Dee, I think Dale could give us a rundown on that. Dale Helling/ Well, last night, the Broadband Telecommunications Commission met, and discussed this issue, and by the way, late last Friday, I got a copy of it yesterday, I did receive a request from TCI for an extension of the deadline for the completion of the upgrade. The Commission talked about it, and their motion that they passed was to recommend to the Council that the Council grant a 6-month This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #23 page 81 extension, but impose the liquidated damages provision of the franchise agreement which calls for $250 a day. In speaking with the City Attorney, we're not sure exactly whether you can extend the deadline and impose that, but it's clear that the Commission's intention was that you impose the $250 a day, and look at this again at the end of six months, so it's not an unended, kind of ongoing, $250 a day. And that you look at it in six months, and see how long they, or how far they've come. And if they're nearing completion or whatever, you might, you know, you might continue to impose the liquidated damages until it's completed. Or, if it is completed, that's fine. But, the notion here is that you don't leave it unended. You can make this retroactive. There are some, there's a process whereby they have to be notified and so forth before you can actually collect the damages, but they can be retroactive to the date that the eligibility occurred, which would be March 1 st. Norton/ But my question, basically was, when did we, when in what context did we discuss this and reach the collective decision. Kubby/ In March, we're going to talk about this. Helling/ At your next meeting, we would plan to have it on your Work Session agenda, and we'll prepare the proper paperwork for you to deal with it then. Norton/ Moving on, I want to, I got reports of a couple of incidents uptown. One had to do with ramp vandalism, and another one was a fight downtown that by the time the police got there, the fight was gone, but, and there were two such incidents in the last couple of weeks. And it makes me think more about our Police Auxiliary possibility, Steve. And it seems to me, conceivable that an appropriately designed auxiliary might help to head off those incidents, to have a presence right there, without having to be called. I still think we need to look at that. Is that coming in the -- I know there's a lot of things to do. Atkins/ No, I understand, and we owe you a report on that. And I know that the information has been collected. But a formal report, I don't know if it's ready. Kubby/ I think we should head up a citizens' committee to do this. I mean, you're definitely interested in doing this. I'll bet if you put out a call to the community, people would come to you, you could be the first member and make deep grass roots. Norton/ Well, I see a lot of people a lot of places doing something like that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #23 page 82 Kubby/ Yeah, you're saying "Thanks, Karen." Thornberry/ Yeah. Norton/ I'll have to go out and start patrolling myself. The other one I want is to make sure we're going to look at our water project costs, now that we're past the budget hump here. We've got to review our water costs and see where we stand. I hope that's on the list. And finally, don't forget Bowl for Kids is Saturday, and if you want to see many of the City Councilors in action, at 2:30, many of us are bowling, at 2:30 on Saturday at Colonial Lanes, and I hope you're out raising money for Bowl for Kids for Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Everybody. That's it. Lehman/ Thank you, Dee. Vanderhoef/ Are you taking your contribution? Norton/ Well, I certainly will. All you have to do is just come and you're in. Vanderhoef/ That works fine. Mr. Mayor, I think I took care of everything, and yes, I had TCI and the lack of a vote high on my list of things to do, so thank you, Dee. Thornberry/ Just a couple of things. To let the folks know, very, very soon, I guess in the next two weeks, in the first part of March, we're going to be talking about some of these downtown projects. And the downtown projects include the Downtown Streetscape Phase I, II, III; Iowa Avenue Streetscape; Iowa Avenue Parking Garage; and Library Center Space, and Parking Multi-use Facility, to the tune of approximately $337,690. Vanderhoeff $37,000,000. Thornberry/ Oh, $37,690,000. Norton/ You've got two ramps in there. Kubby/ You were ready to go! Thomberry/ Oh, it's just a couple of zeroes. $37,690,000. This is a lot of cash, on a lot of projects that some people are questioning. And I'm sure that this will be of interest to the majority of people in Iowa City, and I would like to get some input from the community on these projects before we get too far down the road. That's one. My second thing, and final thing is, Dee Norton forgot to mention railroad This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #23 page 83 crossings, so I'll bring it up. There was a new street, or not a new street, a street redone last summer that took almost all summer. It's called Highland. I'm very familiar with the street. It's got a railroad crossing, and they redid the railroad crossing last summer. It's already sunk. Norton/ It's sunk. Thornberry/ So, if we could go back and maybe, and I know it's railroad property, but if we could throw some -- Atkins/ I hear you. Thomberry/ That's it. Lehman/ Sue the contractor. Mike? O'Donnell/ I just want to second what Connie said earlier, about the SEATS. The information, or the misinformation is really flowing out there. If we in fact have the information that we've asked for from the County, I would really like to get a decision on this. CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 98-32, SIDE A Kubby/ Well, one issue that was brought up during our Public Discussion was the issue of when an officer arrives because of a complaint about a vehicle that doesn't have a right to be in a an accessible parking space, where sometimes they're given a citation and sometimes they're not, is a concern. Especially if it's taken a rider, a driver who has a legitimate reason to park there, that they are either stuck because they can't park there because of someone who shouldn't be parking there, or they can't get out because someone's parking there who shouldn't be. But if it's taken that to get an officer there, it just seems that we should be citing them with a ticket. And that that will be, I hope, a one-trial learning experience for that driver who shouldn't be there. I don't know, there are probably lots of circumstances, but if its' taken someone calling the police to be there, then I think a citation should be written. Lehman/ That's a state law, is it not? Atkins/ State law is the fine, the $100 fine. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #23 page 84 Kubby/ There's always discretion. And I don't want to take away full discretion from the officers. But if it's taken a phone call to the police department from an individual, I think there should, the officer should, discretion, their choice should be to give the citation. Norton/ It's hard to see why somebody can justify pulling in there when they're as well- signed as they are. O'Donnell/ Well, I really don't think there's any excuse. Lehman/ Well, except a lot of people are willing to -- Kubby/ We should direct our police department. Lehman/ I hear what you're saying, Karen. Kubby/ Well, if there are a majority of Council who feel that way, we should be directing our Police Department to behave as such. Norton/ Yes. Kubby/ To at least let them know that we feel this way, and they can choose to do that. Thornberry/ I can see how there could possible some extenuating circumstances, if someone -- Kubby/ Well, if you feel that way. Thornberry/ Oh, excuse me. Kubby/ I'm sorry, Mike was asking me a question. Thomberry/ Oh. I can see where there possibly could be some extenuating circumstances, if perhaps I was taking my invalid mother right inside the mall there, to get her eyes checked or something, and I used my car instead of hers. That, there are extenuating circumstances that possibly could be affected. So, I wouldn't want to say give it no matter what. But I agree that, if this is a problem, then perhaps the PCRB should -- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #23 page 85 Lehman/ I think nobody's saying give it no matter what. You're saying this is a grave concern to Council, and we should express our concerns to the Police Department. Thornberry/ Yeah. Norton/ I say, by and large, give them the ticket. They can double park somewhere else. Lehman/ Double parking. Kubby/ Dean, you can double park and the -- Norton/ I mean, give them the ticket for that, but at least they're not in the -- Thomberry/ Double parking would be the lesser violation. Lehman/ All right, I've got a couple -- Kubby/ I'm sorry, I have a few other things. Lehman/ No, no, no. Please go ahead. Kubby/ The weather's been incredible, and there are always consequences of incredible weather, an done of them is that the streets are pretty dirty. And I saw street sweepers out today, as a matter of fact. But one place that I think is really crucial, to be at the top of the list this time o fyear, is First Avenue, because it's our only designated on-street bike lane. And you can't use it. It's full of sand and grit and big tree limbs and stuff. Atkins/ We'll take care of that. Kubby/ And because it's our only designated bike lane, I think it's important to have that clean, so people are safe and not being forced to be in the flow of traffic. I wanted to give a brief update. Dee Norton and I, as your subcommittee to the Student Senate, met with the full body. They're much more parliamentary than we are, and I'm glad we're not like that. It's dysfunctional almost. But it's just not very conversational, I appreciate our process. But we updated them on some of the parking and transit issues that we worked on with them a year and a half ago or so, and updated them just a little bit just about the keg ordinance, and it was very amazing, what we had the most suggestion and comment on was Dee's comment on, or maybe someone asked a question about our stripes on the street fading. And people had all these ideas, and people had a lot of conversation during the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #23 page 86 meeting, and afterwards, people came up and talked to us. So, it's just very interesting. And we asked them to give us some ideas on topics, and a process for our next meeting. People seemed to like the smaller group conversation with Student Senators. And to me, it was really great because we reminded them that some of the things that we'd talked about at our Parking and Transportation Meeting actually got implemented. Norton/ That's where the Shuttle Bus idea really took hold, I think, most firmly. Kubby/ So, we're doing some work in that way, and we hope to have a date and topic for us to try to get a date for the Student Senate, the full Student Senate to meet again. And my last item is, I wanted to let people know about the next Women's Resource and Action Center social change training. This one is on March 7th, and it's entitled "Speaking up, Speaking out." It's a basic public communication skills for activists. And you'll learn to organize your thoughts, to analyze public communication contexts, and to develop basic public speaking techniques. Basically, you'll be practicing public speaking and having some coaching by some professionals. March 7th from 9am to lpm. That's a Saturday. You can call the WRAC at 335-1486 to register. That's all I have, thanks. Vanderhoef/ Could I have one second? Lehman/ Well, sure. Vanderhoef/ I'm sorry. Lehman/ Well don't be sorry. Be quick. Vanderhoef/ Be quick. I can do that, too. I did attend the Chamber Legislative Breakfast last Saturday, and there was considerable talk about the one-cent sales tax that has come out of the committed in Des Moines. And I have talked with our local legislators, and the one that came out was the one-cent additional for schools. So it would be a seventh cent is the one that's out there. So if you have any thoughts about that one, please let your legislators know about that. The other one was that I've been following is the 411 on the benefits packages for the Police and Fire, and we received that letter from Steve back in December. And it figured out that this cap that the State has put on our contribution to that fund is at basically 17%, and the actuarial tables are showing us that we can accomplish all that we need to do with 13+%. So this would, if we can get the cap removed by the legislature this year, we could have a direct tax relief to our citizens right away. So, I did take Steve's letter, and I dropped a note to Mona Martin, a Representative from This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #23 page 87 Davenport who is chairing the Local Government Committee, and encouraged her to bring that out of committee. Kubby/ As a member of the Legislative Committee, I was never notified of that Saturday morning meeting, so we need to contact somebody -- Vanderhoef/ Those were set for the whole season. Kubby/ Oh, I've never gotten one. Norton/ Neither have I. Kubby/ Have you two? Vanderhoef/ No, all I did is took it out of the Reflections. Norton/ But it's coming up this Saturday, isn't it? Kubby/ No, it was last Saturday. Norton/ Last Saturday, right. Lehman/ Bowling is this Saturday. Vanderhoef/ Bowling is this Saturday. Lehman/ Okay, I've got a couple of things. First, I'd just like to, you know, I think that we should confirm that last night we discussed the City's policy on the use of the Plaza, and all concurred that present policy, as is implemented by the City Manager's office, we concur with. I think that's important to be in the record. Tomorrow night, there will be a meeting with the Airport Subcommittee, which is Dee Norton, myself, and a couple of folks from the Airport Commission. We're going to be talking about some events that we've seen in the paper recently about possible development at the airport, and if we can be of any assistance or help, at least keep us informed of it. And on a light note, one that I'm, we've got to mention this, Angie Lee and her girls have won the Big Ten outright. Kubby/ Yes! Lehman/ I mean, outright. They have won it. Now, they're going to play in the Big Ten Tournament this weekend. If they win the Tournament, they'll be the first team This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #23 page 88 that have won the League outright, and the Tournament. I think that's an incredible bunch of woman, a great coach, and I think we wish them nothing but the best. Kubby/ Here, here. Vanderhoef/ Here, here. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498 #30 page 89 ITEM NO. 24a REPORT ON ITEMS FROM THE CITY MANAGER. Lehman/ And, in that vein, there was a very lighthearted event here. Steve, I think you should tell us about it. Some of us were there, but I think it was a very impressive event. Atkins/ Those of you who were able to attend, thanks for coming by. Today was our annual Employee Recognition Service Award Day. And we had 86 people that have five years or more service with the City. Just to mention, we had fifteen people with twenty years, eleven people with twenty-five years, and one person with thirty years, and I think he deserves to be named, Lieutenant Ron Fort of our Police Department. So thank you for being there. The employees, I think, always get a kick out of this, particularly when you all can show up. Kubby/ And Jerry Nixon's video was incredible. Lehman/ Yes, Vanderhoef/ It was fun. Atkins/ Yeah. You mean the skinny people with the dark hair. Kubby/ Uh-huh. Vanderhoef/ And sixties music. Lehman/ Dee? Norton/ There's one thing I want to comment, and some of us were at the diversity session on Tuesday at the Library. And that was very impressive turnout, both in makeup and numbers. And considerable concern was expressed about one issue, and that is affordable housing in kind of concentrated areas of town, reminding us of some of the issues we talked about in our Housing discussion, and will be talking about again. And also, there was a good deal of encouragement of people there to start showing up at the Council meetings and keeping a good eye on us. Lehman/ Okay. Steve, did you have anything else? Atkins/ No, sir. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of February 24, 1998. F022498