HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-05-28 TranscriptionMay 28, 1996 Council Work Session 4:00 PM
Council: Nov, Baker, Kubby, Lehman, Norton, Thornberry, Vanderhoef.
Staff: Arkins, Helling, Woito, Karr, Franklin, Sohoon, Fowler,
Dilkes.
Tapes: 96-66, all; 96-67, Side 1.
Community Development Coordinator Introduction 96-66 Sl
Nov/ Karin Franklin give a general introduction before we get into
this. Karin, please go ahead.
Franklin/ I just want to introduce our new Community Development
Coordinator, Maurice Head .... starts today...taking Marianne
Milkman's place... 19 years experience in planning, last eight
in community development.
Nov/ Karin... repeat the name, please°
Franklin/ Maurice Head ....
Nov/ Thank you.
Meetin~ with Iowa City Area Development GrouD 96-66 S1
Now/ We are going to talk about ICAD first. Is there anyone else
here who would like to see up at the table? ..... I am going to
let Bob Sierk start... general background history for those
who hadn't heard it before.
Kubby/ Go around with names first.
Nov/
That is a good idea .... (self introduction-Kubby, Norton,
Bruce Wheaton, Dave Skorton, Baker, Vanderhoef, Lehman,
Thornberry, Steve West, Rose Rennekamp, Marty Kelley, Bob
Sierk, Nov).
Robert Sierk/ The history part always falls to the person who has
been here the longest ..... give a little bit of the
background. ICAD now has been a going entity for 11 years. We
started... as First Capital Development .... we couldn't always
rely on University of Iowa to provide the growth for this
community ..... We needed to have a proactive effort to attract
new business and industry into this community ..... Important
that it be said... Mayor of Iowa City 11 years ago who came to
us with an offer of $40,000 that the city would put in if we
could go out and raise money from within the community ....
start of this effort. Since that time the City of Iowa City
has been a very major contributor .... a very very important
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of May 28, 1996.
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partner in this whole development process .... One of the
things that we continue to work on is broadening the base and
having more people involved in the process .... We have had
great support from the University of Iowa .... area support...
having public private funding in that partnership .... The
reason we are here today is just to let you know how important
we feel you are as a part of ICAD and we are here to say
that .... Ask for input that you may have .... We are your agent
and we want to know how we can do it better .... recognizing
you for what you mean to the organization...asking you how we
can serve you better. This is the first time we have been
here .... It is extremely important that we spend more time in
these kinds of sessions talking about ways we can do better as
partners in this whole area of economic deuelopment and making
it better for this community .... We comm~nd you on the
Economic Development Policy, the ad-hoc committee that has
been formed .... positive steps for which you should be
¢o~mended .... Encourage a very open exchange about the whole
area of economic development .... You are very important to us
and we want to do the job for you. I would encourage questions
and comments .... You know Marty, president of ICAD ....
Nov/ There are a few board members in the audience ....
Sierk/ Bill Bywater .... John from the Chamber and Bob Downer...
Steve Lacina .... and Steve Atkins is a board me~er.
Kubby/ ... talking in a summary way what have we gotten from ICAD
in last 3-5 years and talk about how you assess your
accomplishments... What is your benchmark to tell if your
efforts have paid off...?
Marty Kelley/ Our goals are established on an annual basis by our
board of directors .... they all revolve around creation of
Jobs. The jobs that we try to create are not in the retail
section ..... Judge ourselves by the number of jobs .... Work
with all the industries that are currently here in town and
there expansions .... NCS with their expansion... Moore
Business Forms .... NCS.. found them a place to expand .... Also
work with all the ones ..... General Mills .... that company
continues to expand in that location ..... Bill Bywaters
Company has expanded .... We do count jobs and that is how our
success is done .... We are facilitators .....
Kubby/ How do you assess how you have facilitated then .... is it
through some kind of interview with the company? .....
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Kelley/ We will give you an example°.. Moore Business Forms. They
approached me about i 1/2 years ago and they were in a
situation .... their business was declining annually at 2% a
year .... With PCs and this little places that can make forms
d.t .... They had to figure out how they could survive... They
came up with an idea of creating a hub plant. That plant, at
one location, do all of the scheduling, purchasing, production
control, human resources..° in one place for five other plants
around the United States .... We would be one of the six
candidates. What would distinguish us from the six to be the
winner. We went through what they expected of the community...
how we could help them .... tendency... subject to closing ....
They came to the city, filled out a CEBA grant.°. show them
that we were willing to help the cost of setting up this
operation... retrofit a change .... training through Kirkwood
Community College .... We showed them that we really wanted
them to be there. Worked with them .... the city has to go
through the process .... local match by the community .... The
council agreed to forward that to the state, the state awarded
them the CEBA grant and they evaluated locations .... They
picked Iowa City .... pleased with their work force .... They
closed their plant in Texas .... part of that production has
come up to Iowa City... had to be very positive about this
company... we won and they are here ....
David Skorton/ Can I interject..° one part of the question you
asked was a really important question .... could these things
happen without the inter-position of a group like ICAD? I
would submit that there is sort of two big worlds .... One is
expansion of stabilization of existing businesses .... Second
one is attracting new businesses. That second universe has
also two sort of parts. Responding as a community to
opportunities that come to us .... the other basic universe°..
to directly market something that is here... No one
organization that is dealing in this world in economic
development is going to get the job done by itself. The IDED
will not do it without the strong work of the local
community .... ICAD won't do it without some vision and some
plan of each of the constituent communities .... combination of
state incentives... community°.. what the company wants, how
much information they are willing to share in advance. It is
sort of an art form .... Big success of Iowa City°.°
combination of ambiance and groups .... I think it is some very
hard to predict combination of how clear the community's
vision is .... what they want.. how a facilitator group like
ICAD is able to .°.see that vision and how much help we get
from the state and other entities .....
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Kubby/
Skorton/
Kelley/ It is not done by one person. It is done by all of us
together. One of the things that we try to do .... when we make
a presentation to a company and we were unsuccessful, we
always ask the company what did we do that we could do
better ..... One of the things, using Moore Business Form
example .... ask how did they rank them .... community...
location .... different variables .... They said they liked
Pennsylvania a lot .... their location participation was very
weak .... So they walked away .... It takes a lot of people to
accomplish what we sometimes can take credit for ....
Norton/ Have you targeted particular types of firms that you want
to try to attract?
Kelley/ How that works is I am part of the economic group from the
state ..... marketing group of the State of Iowa. We sit down
as a state of Iowa... try to determine what types of jobs do
we want in the state of IOWao..in out into the selection of
targeted industries. Once the state targets their industries,
then normally .... we as a community or as ICAD targets the
same group. We work with the University of Iowa in what types
of business they want to see .... It works in a system of
initial contact ..... they will select a community or a group
of communities to visit ....
Norton/ And they do a good job, in your judgement? The state has a
handle on the right-
Kelley/ We try hard in targeting industries, there is no doubt
about that ..... We can always do better. What I like to do is
look at each project and say what did we do that was very
positive and what can we do in the way of a better job .... The
state, as a whole, does a good job. Can they do a better job?
The answer is absolutely yes.
Baker/ ..oIowa City is the largest part of your budget .... it is an
area wide development program. The perception that some people
have is that the area is benefitting more from the investment
that Iowa City makes than Iowa City is benefitting from that°
Is that a fair perception?
Kelley/ Right now, the last 2-3 years, has not had available
land .... It is one that is your call .... Right now we have two
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sites .... anything over six acres I don't have available that
would be considered an industrial site.
Baker/ Unless we have land available, we are spinning out wheels>
/ I would think that is not really the right approach. Where
you locate doesn't mean that is where the people live, that is
where they shop and all of the other things. Where a
particular job is created is not necessarily only affect that
one community, particularly this area because people are so
mobile ....
Baker/ So jobs in Coralville .... will benefit Iowa City?
/ Absolutely.
Baker/ And you are doing this just for Johnson County, is that
right?
Kelley/ No, Cedar County and Washington County.
Baker/ Do they contribute to this? Do they have separate economic
development organizations themselves?
Kelley/ Cedar County has one but West Branch prefers to deal with
us .... people commute up here from West Branch.
Baker/ West Branch contributes to ICAD?
Skorton/ It is a fair question. In any given year or any given
short period of time, I think it would be easy to show that
one or another community might benefit more than some other
community area depending on luck of draw and who comes in ....
There has to be some point of view that everybody is going to
eventually do better in the long run.
Baker/ .... Accountability and measurement. How do you account for
what you are doing and how do you measure how well you have
done it? ..... It is true that we contribute to an organization
that benefits the area and we benefit from that ripple affect
even if it is in coralville. Why doesn't .... the city go ahead
and take that $50,000 and create its own staff position whose
own focus is Iowa City .....
Kelley/ That is a good point but it gets down to when we have a
site visitation ..... they will say they want a certain
acreage .... office building.°. What we do is we take every
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community within ICAD's territory that fits into the
parameters of that project... They will determine where they
want to be. My job is the more we have... land, empty
buildings... the more we have to show, the more success ....
Skorton/ The direct answer to it is that there is an assumption
there is an economy of scale by having one organization over
X number of communities ....
Baker/ .... If we had our own economic development specialist, we
would still have to have something to market ....
Nov/ That person may not be able to show something outside the city
limits ....
Baker/ The logic of your own specialist has to come after you have
got something to market ....
Kubby/ We need to recognize that we do have our own person .... and
he plays a role in all of this .... we provide a supportive
role.
Baker/ Sometime, once a year, we like to get a sense of where the
money goes. What did we get ....
Skorton/ There is no reason why the area organization shouldn't be
responsive to this kind of request .... I don't know what each
of the communities... would view as a reasonable report for
accountability .... three types of things: 1-amount of
labor .... 2-outcome... how many fish have you actually
landed.°° 3- How did the larger group do..o the larger group
is going to reflect back into the community in a positive way.
Baker/ One of the senses that I have gotten... we really don't know
what you all do .... There is no steady input about what is
going on in economic development.
Kelley/ That is why Steve and Naomi are on our board.
Vanderhoef/ I am hearing some comments about supportive issues and
some barriers. I would like to explore that... what kinds of
barriers are we putting up? What are we not providing you that
you need to market our area? ....
Bruce Wheaton/ One important evaluative question that the council
might ask ICADo.. Does ICAD help each of its constituent
communities... meet its own economic development agenda? .....
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In that respect it might be helpful... conversation...
clarification of the economic development vision from the
city ....
Norton/ ... there was an effort to formulate some of those ....
Wheaton/ The job of ICAD... not to blend them together..° but to
pick out those actuaries that might be common to all the
constituent communities to act on those .... separate tally on
those things .... here is something that is important to Iowa
City's vision .... Approach has to be more guidance in terms of
vision from the participating communities.
Steve West/ If we have a dialog... forum... what are the
priorities .... having it before it gets to a point of
confrontation of finding out what is perceived to being a
barrier to recruiting a company ..... as you are looking at
policy and decisions on what is coming forth... to engage this
group for input .... look at both sides of the issue .... I
think that would be very helpful
Baker/
Vanderhoef/ That we are partners and we need to share these kinds
of things. Steve put it very well.
Thornberry/ Regardless of what is... our policy, it is the
perception that new and existing businesses have regarding the
business climate in Iowa City that is going to make a
difference ..... ICAD was an agent for the council. The council
is an agent of the residents of Iowa City. They come first ....
Our responsibility, the council's responsibility to promote a
positive business environment... to insure the vitality of the
community .... With recent downsizing of many employees...
other businesses and industry are absolutely necessary to
insure the vitality of Iowa City. Very very important that we
have not just the University .... clinics and healthcare .... a
wide diversity .... I think perhaps working with the county the
city could make some land available for the right industry.
Kubby/ ...looking at airport site... larger commercial and
industrial sites ....
Thornberry/ .... it has got to be the perception that companies and
businesses have .... saying that yes, we are a city that is
looking to insure the vitality of the city ..... I would like
to see the industry around Iowa City to bring more people to
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Iowa City ....
Kelley/ That is why it is important that we have opportunities ....
We had one too long ago that was here. By virtue of size of
land, we were eliminated i~u~ediately .... We had a step up is
their perception of Iowa was very positive... Our role is to
land the jobs .... That is the way it is. They look at
competitive among parts of Iowa or parts of other states and
then they look at competitiveness within a region° I think a
regional approach is extremely important ....
Skorton/ I want to emphasize two things... One is that the
University doesn't have this attitude... that it is going to
be the only economic development tool .... Many of us have been
here for decades because of Iowa city .... I think the fact
that there are so many University people active in this
organization. Second... not missing opportunities because of
being unaware of some way that land might be rearranged...
More communication among volunteer members of ICAD board ....
and council members... Another reason for having this dialog..
frequently is so that we understand each other .... It always
behooves us to try to do better .... Marty... will be able to
do better the more we interact with each other.
Kubby/ And the more we can lay out what our expectations are ....
you have more concrete to work with .... values they want to
live out .... This is a good foundation in which to build ....
we expect them to have a full budget .... We didn't do that
with ICAD .... If we are going to have Arts Fest, Jazz Fest,
DVIP .... give their whole budget, everyone should be treated
the same .... something that hasn't happened in the past and it
may be something that we ask for in the future ....
Baker/ ... we do have to create a good business environment. We
have to have clear economic policies .... Who are you talking
to, who is talking to you on a regular basis. What is the flow
of questions and problems out there on a regular basis...
confidential if necessary .... If I understand what you are
doing in more detail.
Skorton/ In situations in which Marty does not reveal the name of
the company... tell you type of company it is or enough
information ....
Thornberry/ Dee Vanderhoef asked earlier, what can we do to help
ICADand perhaps if we knew more°.. we could write a letter to
these companies to help you get them here.
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Kelley/ .... We need to move this project along-
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 96-66 SIDE 2
Kelley/ Second thing I deal with all the time is hurry up, hurry up
and how fast can we do it .... We have to perform and we have
to show that we are positive and we want these companies... We
have to be prepared before hand .... to say these are the kind
of companies we want .... If you understand what CEBA is all
about... good tool... that and jobs training are the two key
things that we think help us recruit companies. Now the state
is set out to spend that $8 million in projects... If we have
the kind of company that we want in our community... then CEBA
is simple... let's put it through .... We have to be user
friendly .... I spend most of my time to be a cheerleader ....
I have a strong feeling about Iowa City .... Great community or
an environment that I wanted to live in .... I had a tremendous
regard for our work force... I think there is nothing we can't
do... That is the approach that I have ....
Lehman/ I was involved when we set up ICAD a number of years
ago .... We felt that we had to have the cooperation of
University of Iowa... support of City of Iowa City if this was
going to fly. At that time we put together a three part
organization ..... bets reason why city can't have their own
economic development director .... confidentiality ..... the
fact that if you are going to deal with a public person.° that
information isn't going to remain private .... I would think in
economic development, confidentiality is probably the single
most important thing that you have to maintain.
Kelley/ That is right... they have a marketing plan. They want the
competition to know that they have made a decision to
aggressively move into a market ....
/ We can still get the kind of information that Larry is
asking for.
Baker/
Kelley/ We can still prepare you the kind of report ....
Nov
Steve West/ Economic development is not a static situation. I think
it is quickly evolving ...... During the 12 year period... not
only did Iowa City and Johnson County not shrink, yes
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enrollment did decrease, but it became the fastest growing
county in the upper midwest .... ICAD cannot take that credit.
It was the combination of people and region working
together... making it a fertile environment for job creation
and growth .... 12 years later... lay off... University
Hospitals and Clinics... The environment is very similar to
the way it was 12-15 years ago when we created ICAD .... There
are a couple of very important things that are much better
today... 1-The University is a strong participant in economic
development .... very proactive in getting involved in research
and creating new companies... 2- We have a state... top
business climate states in the country .... They are doing a
much better Job ..... benefit us tremendously locally and
regionally .... We must communicate better... There are so many
forum things.. This kind of forum or however we are going to
communicate to exchange these ideas... are critical to the
success over the next five years ....
Wheaton/The kind of report that you were asking for, Larry, could
be very useful .... could also serve as kind of a strategic
check-off that could help cycle through.. vision of city was
an council was .... ICAD needs more from council than its
check. It needs a kind increasingly refined sense of how you
all... want it to turn out .... One specifically mechanism for
doing that is not only receiving the report but responding to
the report ....
Kelley/
Nov/ Years ago ICAD used to have an annual meeting .... open to the
public... get a better understanding of what was going on ....
Kelley/ All but this year. A part of that is to make sure we use
that annual meeting in the most productive way .....
Kubby/ .... customers are always right and that is when I start
having some problems... what our vision for community is ....
getting some specific objectives .... seeing results from
that... to say you are always right. To know who to say that
to and who not to say.
Kelley/ I have been involved with ICAD from the beginning .... We
have never in ICAD have even tried to .... We don't want
smokestack industry .... they never give me a call. We try to
select all the companies... up front... if a company doesn't
seem to fit, we don't respond to them.
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Kubby/
Kelley/ The attraction was empty existing building met their
qualifications... They were very willing to work through the
process .... If it is a targeted industry that we want, what
are we willing to do to get it within the confines of what we
have already decided .... I want your input... I will not bring
a low paying job ....
Kubby/ Do you look at turnover rate projections?
Kelley/ We try to.
Kubby/ What are the things you automatically look at?
Kelley/ Wages and benefits ....
Kubby/
Kelley/ We look at the county average... non-government county
average of Jobs .... You are up to $14 now .... it is going to
limit all of those $10-12 an hour jobs that people here would
love to have .... Let's be realistic.
Norton/ ...discussing briefly the issue of regulation. We are also
hearing .... that we are over regulated... hurdles...
Sensitive Areas Ordinance.. o trying to get common engineering
standards .... Are standards... I hear companies are concerned
that maybe University communities are too environmentally
concerned..° I trust all of those matters ought to be
discussed with us in some detail because we are under the gun
on that thing... trying to be careful about that. We need to
know in detail the kind of impact it has in recruiting°
Nov/
Kelley/ I will try to answer that. Obviously we want people to be
good corporate citizens .... Most of the industry that we deal
with are very positive
again is the expediting
pretty quickly do they
about that. The grief that they have
of those things .... They want to know
qualify and they don't want to wait.
They are in a hurry .... If we know ahead of time that it meets
this criteria .... wages .... jobs .... environmental criteria...
then I think we need to move forward.°. permitting .... state
level... they want that expedited very quickly .... They want
an answer ....
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Kubby/ Rez0ningo.. They are going to make decision to come here
first.
Skorton/ .... Can we agree on what we are going to do from here on?
We are going to agree to supply more refined budgetary
reports. We are going to agree to ..... periodic refined
budgetary reports, periodic activity reports.°. periodic
meetings like this, maybe matched to the activity reports so
we can act on the results of those. Then we need to have a
working group picked out now before we leave from this group
to set the agenda and periodicity for those meetings, don't
you think? To pick out a couple of people... to suggest..
agenda and when it ought to be so we can keep doing this. We
shouldn't meet a year from now° We should meet sooner than
this.
Nov/ I can't see any reason why not .... once or twice a year.
Skorton/ Maybe at the beginning a little more frequently until
we... feel a little more comfortable ....
Kubby/ Task force recommendation coming this summer sometime.
Sierk/ Bob Downer is here. Bob is chair elect and Bob will assume
this chair in July .... have his consensus to carry forward ....
Bob Downer/ That is fine.
Skorton/
Sierk/ It is important that we don't walk away and that we continue
to bring everybody together .... As much as we can talk with a
single voice, we are going to show success here .... I would be
for pushing this and keeping this kind of exchange going.
Kubby/ That can be challenging° We have seven very diverse people
and styles on the council ....
/ We are all assembled for the same reason .... I was glad
Steve said the change in University... significant role in
this whole process ..... many of these calls come to Iowa City
because the University of Iowa is here and we don't want to
forget that ....
Kelley/ (Distributed annual review 1994-95).
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Nov/ If it ends July 1, do you think you will probably have a
report...?
Kelley/ We would normally have one of these finished by now ....
understaffed by design .... very very busy on the other side...
prospects... have been keeping me...
Nov/ We will call you in September .... arrange some kind of report
and some kind of meeting.
Skorton/ Could be between Naomi, you and I will be glad to help,
Bob Downer. We can figure ut the process. One thing is to keep
it going.
Kubby/ Nice to have some real specific conversation based on the
report but also some generalized conversation .... about
potential tension that can happen ....
Skorton/ Nice to have a mechanism to set the agenda for the next
meeting. So you tell us what you want to talk about or
something we can focus on. Who is going to do that, Naomi? Who
is going to set the agenda?
Thornberry/ ..I would like to see some success locally.
Nov/ Until we see a report... the agenda doesn't fit...
Skorton/ Could you respond back to us after getting that report...
what you would like to talk about and we will go with that
agenda...
Downer/ Sure, we want to be responsive°.. talking about the things
that you are interested in ....
Nov/ Thank you very much.
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City Attorney Introductions 96-66 S2
Woito/ I want to introduce Eleanor Dilkes, assistant city attorney
that I hired in March .... And Dennis Mitchell who started
today.
Nov/ Welcome .... Eleanor is the attorney for the Library Board.
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Meeting With Library Board 96-66 S2
Nov/ Introductions (Nov, Phil Hubbard, Kubby, Norton, Jim Swaim,
~nne Spencer, Steve Greenleaf, Baker, Vanderhoef, Margaret
Cox, Lehman, Thornberry, Jesse Singerman, Mark Martin, Chuck
Traw). Chuck, do you want to start?...
Charles Traw/ I wasn't sure what information you want.
Nov/ We have all received a memo and we have all read this ....
Traw/ I assume one thing you want to know is what the status might
be as far as negotiations are concerned pertaining to the
building ..... the answer to that is they are ongoing°
Nov/ We have no specific appraisal yet?
Traw/ We have gotten appraisals and we have made offers and we have
received counter offers. Verbally we received a counter offer
back from building owners. We have not received a written
response yet... this week... A~d the master lease hold we have
made an offer on. We have gotten some favorable indications
back... Waiting for written response. So that is the status of
negotiations at this point. They are ongoing, they are
favorable... moving in the right direction. Nothing final or
firm...
Kubby/ Purposes of this meeting .... updated but there were some
council members with some real fundamental concerns .... move
to those concerns and have people explain what their concerns
are and talk about those.
Nov/
Kubby/ I don't have any fundamental major concerns ....
Nov/ Larry was one of the people who asked that this meeting
happen...
Baker/ I have said over and over again... concern about overall
cost of the project .... In my mind there comes a point where
some body has to say this is either appropriate or it is not
appropriate .... total package is probably not appropriate in
the context of the overall city budget ....
Kubby/ What dollar amount if appropriate?
Baker/ .... instead of what dollar amount is appropriate... is there
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a dollar amount that is inappropriate? ....
Jesse Singerman/ We share you concerns about cost. First numbers
that we heard were in the $7 million .... It has been hard to
pin down the cost without knowing exactly what project can we
do and there has been... the cost has risen... because the
nature of the project..° We do share your concerns about cost.
It is important for us all to remember... the library is
already out of space and has been since 1990. We are talking
about getting adequate library space for the current demand in
Iowa City .... half of square footage that we are proposing is
Just to meet current demand. the rest of it would take us to
year 2010 in terms of the expansion .... trying to deal with
library services in Iowa City. Second point .... remember...
the building is deteriorating... unavoiding and major capital
expenditure in the near future... something that must be
done... that increases the cost of the project also. Third
point°.. the library was under built the last time .... That
forces us into some hard choices .... We think it is important
that we not repeat the same mistakes twice in terms of under
building .... Fourth point is cost per square foot of this
project are not unreasonable for this size and type of
building .... very much in line... You have appointed us to
plan for the future of library services in Iowa City and that
is what we attempted to do here .... we kept three things in
mind° 1- develop of project that met community demand for
library service at present and into the future .... one of most
heavily used libraries in country... 70% of Iowa City
residents have a library card .... 600,000 visits to the
building in a year. This is a very heavily used public
facility .... We also want to get excellent value for every
dollar spent... design a public building that enhances the
d.t. area .... We think ~he project that we have brought to you
achieves all those goals. We are certainly willing to look at
any option for reducing costs which don't jeopardize the
primary goals we have going into the project.
Baker/ .... Maintenance of current facility... I would assume that
this council... at very least we have an obligation to
maintain that facility .... That shouldn't be a concern to you.
Nov/ I think everyone would go along with that.
Baker/ Other points... my perspective is looking at the future for
next five to ten years, looking at other services that we have
to provide... demands and requests that have come to us .... An
expenditure of that amount makes very problematic a lot of
Thlsrepmsent$ only areasonab]y accurate transcription ~ the Iowa City councilmeeting of May 28, 1996.
WS052896
May 28, 1996
Council Work Session
Page 17
other projects that we might like to see happen in Iowa City.
The total budget constraints for the city.
Nov/ When we are talking about total budget.. construction of new
building but also staffing of the new building.
Singerman/ Staffing the new building will be much cheaper by
expanding the central facility than any other solution.
Nov/ ..... we have to think not only of the cost of construction of
square feet but the cost of staffing.
Steve Greenleaf/ You have two constraints...capital expenditure
constraints .... plus your ongoing budget constraints .... Two
different avenues that you have to look at .... I think from
our perspectives there are two questions. One, if you buy our
apples, what oranges in terms of capital expenditures would
you not be able to undertake. ;Lnd #2, if you recognize if
there is a need and demand for this service, as I think is
pretty clear. Then the questions becomes is there a better
alternative than the one that we would like to present to the
voters which is ultimately asking you to do and I think some
direction in those two regards are important to the voters.
What are we going to lose if we build a new library or expand
our central library and two, if we don't do that, what do we
do?
Baker/ Can I ask just one final point?.°° I want to make it clear
that we are not having this meeting today because I wanted
this meeting.
Nov/ There was more than one person ....
Baker/ ... I don't think at the last meeting the council expressed
the concerns that I was hearing privately and if those
concerns don't exist-
Traw/ They need to be addressed, I agree.
Norton/ I am one of those who has concerns .... I will be very clear
about it .... We are looking at a lot of demands .... a lot of
requests... I understand 64-1A was off limits at the time you
started .... What I am concerned about is this, if we go to
November with the plan we have and it were to go down, where
would we be? I just don't see how we can afford to lose the
time and therefore I am trying to get some thinking
unde~ay ..... 64-1A .... library... with components of
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WS05289~
May 28, 1996 Council Work Session Page 18
CenterSpace ..... possibly some retail uses .... 64-1A, could
a library possibly go in there ..... with components of
CenterSpace... might be a possibility .... from our point of
view, if we do one thing we are kind of down the tubes for
some of the other projects that are lurking ....
Traw/ I think some of the problems associated with that are- I mean
to take 70,000-80,000 square feet of that facility and tie it
into thepublic use that we need, I don't know. We have talked
about this. I don't know if the next phase is branch
libraries .... People that made decisions in '78-79 obviously
didn't foresee today and I can't promise you that we can
foresee 2015.
Norton/ But at some point you can't expand endlessly d.t ....
Kubby/ ..... you have already figured out what those benchmarks
are.
Traw/ To integrate a library into that facility .... how that
impacts on accessibility for people that use the library and
the large children's population that uses the library are
issues and the cost. If we are talking about apples and
oranges ....
Norton/
Nov/ There is no a requirement that that be vacated. There could be
a bridge across and a whole second floor of a new building ....
connection .... There are design kinds of things that could be
done ..... with a bridge of some sort.
Norton/ I understand .... try to look at this thing in kind of a
larger way .... Who knows what is possible .... Library...
absolutely critical to the vitality and viability of d.t.
Jim Swaim/ The Board has talked about all of the options that are
being presented here .... question is cost per square foot is
reasonably similar in any of the options... And the need for
square footage is paramount .... It is lack of space and I just
wanted you to be aware that we are considering all of those
options. Cost of per square foot of all of them has been
analyzed ....
Norton/ That would depend on the package, how much retail
components are in there...?
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WS052896
May 28, 1996 Council Work Session Page 19
Singerman/ We have looked at the bridge concept ..... operating
costs definitely go up if that is a solution is arrived at. It
costs more to operate a library that way than to have a single
facility .... Library... an asset of Iowa City.
Nov/
We are not arguing against library expansion. We are saying
this may not be the only way to expand and there is a staffing
costs certainly... there can be a design where the only exit
is the current exit .... What we need to do it reach some kind
of conclusion that a particular number of square feet or a
particular number of dollars is reasonable and I am not sure
if we are going to get there .... I think there will be an
understanding .... There may be some different way to cut costs
today if there is some kind of consensus that we need to cut
costs ..... Are there other alternatives?
Greenleaf/ There are two issues here that I think the council needs
to decide. One is does the council want to necessarily adopt
a project .... or does the council wish to pass that decision
on to the voters in November and let the chips fall where they
may? That is a decision you folks have to make... we have to
come up with something to take to the voters and it is going
to be ultimately in their hands anyway ....
Kubby/ I want something on the ballot that the majority of council
is actively going to be out there recruiting ....
Baker/ .... you don't want to have mixed signals going to the
public.
Kubby/ I don't know if that is true ....
Nov/
The public vote is just the bond issue .... we need to think
about what we can truly support .... There can be difficulties
in terms of the budget because we are not sure there is going
to be enough increased money from new construction somewhere
else to pay taxes .... We are already at the limit on the levy
we are allowed on the General Fund. We cannot go beyond $8.10
per $1000 valuation .... there will not be money for staffing
.... we need a bigger tax base .... I think there will be a
good turnout of people who want more library space ..... get to
point we will say there isn't enough money to hire all of this
staff needed for that square footage.
singerman/ Susan, the staff that you have estimated is three?
Susan Craig/ Three F.T.s, I think that would be the most that would
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WS052896
May 28, 1996 Council Work Session Page 20
be needed. It is difficult to say again .... that is assuming
some growth from where we are right now but not extraordinary
growth .... We are operating the library now with less staff
than what we think we need ....
Nov/ Susan understands that we have been turning away staff.
Craig/ There are also some features that if we have the space to
design them and put them into the building, we will ultimately
save on staff costs .... self check out machines .... some of
growth in circulation can be handles... in automation. But we
can't do it unless we have the space to put it.
Slngerman/ The project we have looked ato.. the most minimal
increase in staffing comes from the project that we have
brought to you.
Norton/ Suppose 64-1A had been on the table at the time you
started, would you have gone the way you are going?
Greenleaf/ It is hard to say ....
CHANGE TAPE TO REEL 96-67 SIDE i
Greenleaf/ The problem is space ....
Norton/ Combination of things might be more interesting°.. more
exciting... Just one possibility .... general enthusiasm... for
this substantial undertaking. What would happen were it go
down in November? What would be our backup position? GO out
again?
Singerman/ Probably.
Traw/ There aren't many options available and one of the problems
that we would like to avoid .... expensive process is really a
deferred payment for not spending the money in '78-79 ....
Kubby/ For me the library is one of the cornerstones of d.t ....
There is all of this fear .... that the Coralville is going to
take people away. By having library space .... is an important
part of keeping d.t. consistently revolving so that it
maintains it vitality .... One of the problems I have...
bridging over to 64-1A is right now that pedestrian is another
very important piece of d.t. Iowa city .... community space
that that creates .... Idea of making it bigger and mixing up
the uses is really interesting to me .... maybe the connection
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WS052896
May 28, 1996 Council Work Session Page 21
is underground versus above ground ....
Baker/ One of the things that we are not going to resolve today is
an alternate design .... Focus today has got to be how does the
council feel about this project budgeting... how can we
support it or not support it.
Kubby/ .... Let's throw out another dollar figure .... You need to
start- As a council, the people who are uncomfortable with the
dollar amount need to say what they are going to begin to feel
comfortable with so that the Library Board... other things...
wou14 think about ....
Baker/ We are not going to get to that dollar figure today,
Karen .... I need to sit down and talk again to the Finance
Department and council and to the Library Board again .... I
think the council role ought to be establishing this project
in the context of the overall city budget ....
Kubby/ I want to challenge you .... you need to spend the time...
Baker/ Karen, don't lecture me. I have talked to Library Board
members... I am just trying to get the council to focus on
what their concerns are .... It is my impression that a
majority of this council has enough concern about this project
to call this meeting and say we think you ought to reconsider.
If that is not true then I need to hear from other people.
Nov/ We need to hear from people other than Karen or Larry.
Baker/
Lehman/ I share your concern about total costs .... I do think it is
the voters are ones who make up their minds. If voters want to
spend that kind of money, I think that is their decision. I
fear... other things that are coming up .... I have grave
concerns .... When we are talking about buying or possibly
condemning a piece of private property where there is a vacant
piece of municipal property across the mall, I don't think the
public can buy that. I am willing to give them that
opportunity ..... perception, timing .... very very difficult.
It is more than just the questions of dollars. I think the
question of private property coming off of tax rolls and all
of these other things that are being proposed at the same
time. The biggest problem .... is the sewer and water
plants ....
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WS052896
May 28, 1996 Council Work Session Page 22
Phil
Hubbard/ I would like to point out that we have been working
on this for four years and we have taken it very seriously...
kind of stunned when we saw the dollar amount .... One of the
reasons for staying in one location is that you can operate a
particular amount of space more efficiently with your people
if it is all together .... We have sought professional
advice... heard from people who take pride in their
library ....
Lehman/ ... suggesting alternatives that you have gone all the way
through... I am just saying... But the perception on the part
of the public is probably more important than the actual
facts ....
Hubbard/ We are prepared and will continue to work on the idea of
carrying the message to the public. We first must convince
you.
Baker/ The key question... tl~e voters have a right to expect us, as
a council, to say to them, yeah, this is a good idea. We would
support it ..... If this were our decision, would we make this
decision? And if the answer to that is not yes, that has got
to be clear to the Library Board°.. I would say no for lots of
reasons .... Knowing what we know about the budget for the
future, is this the decision you would make?
Nov/ That is a good question. I don't think we are going to answer
it tonight, however.
Vanderhoef/ I stopped and talked to Susan... Chuck.. one of the
questions they haven't had a lot of time to prepare .... One of
my real concerns°.. is private building and if the city owns
the building, will the rents be fair market rent value if we
are talking into consideration retiring bond and replacing the
tax dollars that are off the rolls? Those are critical things
to know and use as a selling point .... unless that rent can
generate enough that would be replacing tax dollars.
Kubby/
Vanderhoef/ What I am saying is we cannot compete with private
business for space for a commercial unless we are recouping
that same kind of tax dollars ....
Nov/ We can sell the commercial space.
Vanderhoef/ °..that has not been presented to us at this point.
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WS052896
May 28, 1996 Council Work Session Page 23
Traw/ Our objective is to sell out the commercial space .....
existing rents ..... appropriated into their rents, is their
prorate share of the taxes ....
Vanderhoef/ Will the fare market value truly figure into this? ....
Traw/
Nov/ It is possible the rent for new space will be higher than rent
for old space.
Vanderhoef/
Traw/
Susan Craig/ I did get a call from Don today... what the city taxes
would be on commercial property°.. at what that building is
appraised and the answer is just under $14,000... assuming
about 2500 square feet of rentable space ....
Traw/ You can clearly incorporate the taxes ....
Kubby/ .... airport... rents figured... money is being paid back
with rents over 30 years... may be a little lag time to make
the rents more even with the market that is out there ....
Lehman/ .... This is in fact a public project. There is an awful lot
of things we do as a city where we do not recoup our costs ....
We do it all the time .... public service ....
Vanderhoef/
Nov/ I don't think we were talking about recouping all. I thinkwe
are talking about recouping 1/4 or whatever that space in
proportion ....
Lehman/
Kubby/
Nov/ Karen, I do want to hear from Dean ....
Thornberry/ Karen, you have been on the council a long time .... I
would like to know what your stand is on the project ....
Kubby/ I would like to see the dollar amount be less but I know
they have looked at all of these alternatives .... I would vote
This represents only e reesons§ly accurate transcription of the Iowa City council meeting of May 28, 1996.
WS052896
May 28, 1996
Council Work Session
Page 24
to put this on the ballot in November at this point .... square
footage cost is at or below average ....
Baker/ Karen, what is your view...?
Thornberry/ I stated in the questions that we got during the
campaign .... that I really supported branch libraries..~ has
been addressed .... There are people in Iowa city that would
like to use the library more .... that don't have an
opportunity to do that now .... no free parking .... there was
free parking .... old library .... I agree there needs to be a
d.t. library .... If it were a priYately owned commercial
building .... could I justify going up when it shouldn't, when
it is not supported enough physically to go up... As a
business decision... I may not go to the expense if it were a
privately owned building... of reinforcing the bottom portion
to go up... possibility.. branch library... building across
the street. But I cannot, as a businessman°.. am I going to
spend this much money renovating this building .... I just
can't support expanding the current library in its current
location for a number of reasons .... displaying some current
businesses. I really don't want to get into public ownership
of private businesses ....
Kubby/ .°°exactly the same socialistic kind of thing... just like
our water and sewer plants and our streets...
Nov/
Excuse me, Karen. I am hearing the same people talking again
and again. Is there anyone else on the Library Board who would
like to say something.
Mark
Martin/ .... You have given us nothing to work with...
statement of fact. We have come to you with what we believe to
be the best project we can put together given all of the
constraints... We have looked at every alternative you have
mentioned. We have dealt with every issue that you have
brought up. We could show you how branches are more
expensive ....
Margaret Cox/ ... we can't provide the service we need to provide
d.t ....
Martin/ What we have is... an impasse really and the issue is how
do you deal with an impasse ..... only choice that we can see
is allowing the votes to decide if they want this project or
not.
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WS052896
May 28, 1996 Council Work Session Page 25
Thornberry/ You are right and I would not oppose going to the
voters withito I am just saying I couldn't support it ... If
it did not pass .... maybe we will put it to the voters
again... I would be so adamantly opposed to that .... I would
take out ads in the paper. When the public says no, we don't
want this, and then several months later put it back to them
again.. differently ....
Norton/ Schools have gone back several times ....
Martin/ We haven't put it to them the first time .... It is not an
us and them kind of situation .... We did not know the 64-1A
was going to be available .... If this goes down in November,
we are going to have to go back and talk about it .... Between
now and then you are not going to get a better project out of
this Board ....
Phil
Hubbard/ One of the things I would like to see come out of
this meeting is an agreement by this council .... to be our
allies in taking it to the public .... what additional
information you would like to have from us ....
Norton/ Dee has identified some information about the financing
that you would like to see or give us ....
Nov/ I think I have heard some people say it could be ].ess
expensive ....
Kubby/ ...challenge Library Board to say can you get the same
square footage .... and decrease the cost by 10% ....
Nov/ ...I think that. people need to consider 10% cheaper
construction... I don't want to be too specific.
Martin/ I think out initial figures were $10 million... We are
getting the most accurate estimates at this stage that we
can... only estimates... We know if this project is approved,
then we are looking at design... frankly that is where I
anticipate the scissors come out from the Board's point of
view .... We anticipate we will get to that point where we will
have to make some decisions about what can or can't be
done .... Always expense has been our major consideration ....
Nov/
Anne Spencer/ I have a lot of the same feelings that Mark has. I
heard you agree that the need for space is justified .... Only
Thisrepresents only a masonably aocur~etranscHptlon ~ theIowa Citycouncil meeting of May 28,1996.
WS052896
May 28, 1996
council Work Session
Page 26
real objection that I have heard is the money which is a big
concern .... something that we continue to look at .... I would
like to hear other objections that you have to the project.
Thornberry/ If there was a way of expanding the water plant so that
we would not have to build a new water plant, I am sure that
we would have done that .... some places and some buildings
that should probably not be renovated to the point where it
would cost less to build new ....
Traw/ We did get estimates for the new library .... Because of the
nature of special use building ....
Thornberry/ ... to go back in and reinforce a building ....
Norton/ They are not going to do that .....
Nov/ I think they had better design it so they can add on.
Kuhby/
Norton/ I have heard from some ... people... ought to take a look
at some of the functions of the library ..... maybe we ought to
rethink some of the functions ....
Jim Swaim/ I hear from people who talk about why aren't we doing
these other new things .... I know that people feel both ways
about it .... We were a state of the art library in 1978 and we
really aren't that ....
Singerman/ The new services that we have added in the electron
area... demand is definitely there.
Norton/
Baker/ Respect this .0. autonomy of library is very important. I
don't want get into your operations .... You have a financial
relationship with us and that is what I want to focus on ....
Council is going to have to make a public statement of how
they fell about this project in conjunction with the overall
budget ....
Lehman/ May I suggest... if we could have a presentation with the
total cost..° staff...rent... real bottom line thing... land
costs, building costs... all of this sort of thing .... They
did satellite libraries in Waterloo .... you folks have come to
the right conclusion .... If we could have just numbers .... see
Thisrepresents only 8 masonably accurate tmnscrlptlon ~ the Iowa Citycouncil meeting of May 28,1996.
WS052896
May 28, 1996 Council Work Session Page 27
what the impact on the budget would be .... I think we need
that.
Vanderhoef/ One more piece of information... survey that you did in
1991 on parking ..... the lost of 64-1A as a parking space ....
Old Library lot is going to disappear... address parking to
your patrons and say how is this going to affect the use of
the library given these two places not available? .....
..... Are we going to be able to provide parking ..... Is it
going to be accessible for small preschool groups. I would
like some more answers on parting... to survey your patrons
and find out how they will address it ....
Nov/ Can we ask the Board to come up with some numbers and get back
to US?o..
Craig/ My concern about asking anyone about parking right now is
that there is no parking on College .... Wait until we have our
parking back on College.
Nov/ I don't think that parking will be the final decision ....
Thornberry/ ...is there parking available for people who need to
utilize it?
Nov/
Traw/ The only answer to provide adequate parking is to put it
somewhere ....
Council/ (All talking).
Kubby/ o.. fit in very well with library use.
Nov/ We really do have to move on to something else .....
[Adjourned To Formal Council Meeting at 6:27 PM.]
[Reconvened To Council Work Session at 6:45 PM.]
Baker/ NLC and the Seattle conference that I wanted to go to
originally.°. limited enrollment conference .... August 21.
Norton/ Have you gone into August scheduling yet?
Baker/ August 21-25.
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WS052896
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Council Work Session
Page 28
Karr/ August 21-25 will not affect a council meeting at this time.
Norton/ I am planning to miss one, August 13.
Karr/ I have you, Dee, 12th and 13th ....
Karr/ First of all I would urge you to let me know as soon as
possible if you have any travel plans... question Naomi raised
today about the need for three council meetings in July. Right
now we are scheduled for 2, 16, and 30th and I have one
council member gone the 30th. Two council members gone the
29th ....
Kubb¥/ I thought we were only going to do two meetings in July?
Nov/ That is what we are asking. I will be out of town the 29th and
30th ....
Karr/ I had Dean gone 29th and 30th and Larry gone the 29th ..... Do
you want to cancel the 29th and 30th?
Baker/ I am all for that.
Council/ (All talking).
Karr/ We can always call a special meeting .... Go from 16th of July
until 12 of August unless there is a need for a special
meeting.
Nov/ Okay.
Thornberry/ There is one for the 16th of July?
Karr/ That is correct. 1st and 2nd and 15th and 16th. July's would
be 1st and 2nd and 15th and 16th and out next meeting would be
the 12th and 13th of August. And be every two weeks there
after .....
Nov/ Anyone else have anything-?
Vanderhoef/ Is anyone besides myself interested in going out and
walking around and looking at Dubuque Road intersection ...?
Norton/ I would take a look .....
Nov/ Are you talking about ACT area?
This represents only a reasonably accurate ~enscrlptlon ofthelowe Citycouncll meeting of May 28.1996.
WS052895
May 28, 1996 Council Work Session
Vanderhoef/ Yes.
Kubby/ Call me when it is set up ....
Nov/ I was just going to go and look at it on my own.
Thornberry/ ..... Work session on the 1st
Karr/ Work session 6:30.
Thornberry/
Karr/ July starts the new schedule.
Kubby/ I would like us to talk at some point about
informal to 7:00.
Nov/ We can do that without a formal resolution ......
Council/ (General schedule comments).
Adjourned: 7:00
is what time?
Page 29
moving our
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WS052896