HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-09-13 Transcription
September 13, 2004 Special Council Work Session Page I
September 13, 2004 Special Council Work Session 6:30
PM
Council: Bailey, Champion, Elliott, Lehman, O'Donnell, Vanderhoef, Wilburn
Staff: Atkins, Dilkes, Fosse, Franklin, Helling, Karr, Rocca
TAPES: 04-54, BOTH SIDES; 04-55, SIDE ONE
TAPE: 04-55, SIDE TWO
(Tape problem)
14. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION REJECTING BIDS RECEIVED ON
SEPTEMBER 13, 2004, FOR THE OAKLAND CEMETERY SEWER
SEPARATION PROJECT, DIRECTING THE CITY CLERK TO
PUBLISH ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS, AND FIXING THE TIME
AND PLACE FOR RECEIPT OF BIDS.
Karr/ We have a revision to item number 14, Mr. Mayor. That was awarding contract for
the bid for the open cemetery sewer project. And we received one bid, and we
would like to go back out for bids right away. So we'll be passing out for your
approval, rejecting the one bid received and going back out for bids right away.
So I'll post that tonight and pass out the original---
Lehman! And tomorrow night we have a motion to approve it and we defeat it?
Karr/ No. Tomorrow night you'll have a resolution rejecting the bids and going out to bid
agam.
O'Donnell/ So we're just going to reject 14.
Lehman! You're going to make the motion to reject the bid.
Karr/ It's a resolution. It's a resolution so it gets a motion.
Lehman! Thank you.
Champion! I understood that totally.
(Laughter)
Vanderhoef/ So wenI'm still confused now.
Lehman! It's going to be a long---
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Karr/ We're giving you a new resolution for tomorrow night. So instead of awarding the
bid, you're going to be rejecting the bid and going back out for bids.
Vanderhoef/ The resolution will say---
Karr/ The resolution will say that, yes.
Vanderhoef/ OK.
Karr/ Item number 7--14, I'm sorry, 14.
Bailey/ I object.
Lehman! All right. Better object than reject.
O'Donnell! This is mine.
Lehman! Karin?
PLANNING AND ZONING ITEMS
Franklin! Item a. You have a public hearing on the rezoning for the Idyllwild---
Atkins/ Karin?
Franklin! Yes.
Aktins/ Before you start, I think I told everybody Red Cross will not be here tonight.
Franklin! Oh, I'm sorry.
Atkins/ Angela was ill.
Franklin! Apologies from Angela. She got the flu today.
Atkins/ Something about her, yeah.
Franklin! Angela Schmucker who is the executive director of Red Cross called today and
she's ill and so can't dOn we'll just reschedule her?
Karr/ OK.
Champion! Highlighter.
Bailey/ I got it.
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Champion! I do. I've got a question on---
Franklin! OK?
Lehman! Yes.
Franklin! All right.
a. REZONING 20.8 ACRES BY AMENDING A PLANNED DEVELOPMENT
HOUSING OVERLAY (PDH-8) PLAN FOR IDYLL WILD
CONDOMINIUMS, A 104-DWELLING UNIT DEVELOPMENT,
LOCATED BETWEEN FOSTER ROAD AND TAFT SPEEDWAY.
(REZ04-00020)
Franklin! The Idyllwild Condominiums are, as you know, between Taft Speedway and
Foster Road. These were approved originally in 1992. With this revision to the
OPDH plan, the number of units stays the same but the footprint of the buildings
changes such that it will be, it will appear to be more dense; however, the
number of units is the same. The reason that the footprints are changing is to
enable it to go from stacked flats, one over the other, to townhouses because
that's what the market seemed to want. It also has gone from one-car to two-car
garages.
Vanderhoef/ Townhouses meaning one story?
Franklin! No, two stories option. I mean, some of them are going to be just one story.
Some of them are going to be two stories, but you would own up and down.
What the market was not responding to was the stacked flat one over the other,
where you had someone living above you. And so people are looking for units in
which there is no one above them, even though they don't mind having people
on either side. So, bigger garages and what it means then is that for some of these
units, it's a bigger building.
Vanderhoef/ OK. Where is the trail being relocated?
Franklin! OK.
Vanderhoef/ I was having trouble on my little map.
Franklin! Yeah, and I don't have one to show you because this is a project which when
you project it, it's no better than what's in your book. So I will try to explain this
to you. The trail was coming out of the Idyllwild project. Pentire Circle is the
southeast loop. The trail would come through there and around the north side of
the storm water detention pond. As this project builds out I've got a--let me try
this overhead. That wi 11m
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Vanderhoef/ That will help us. That's better.
Franklin! OK. The trail was to go around behind the storm water detention basin here.
And what was going to happen after these buildings were actually built is that it
was going to be much too close to these units. The people that moved into those
units didn't want to have it right outside their screened-in porches. So the change
is to have the trail, the walkway system on the streets, and then comes down this
private drive here and eventually goes out and between these two units to hook
up with the what-will-be part of the Iowa River Corridor Trail, because Foster
Road sidewalk is part--well it goes out there--is part of the Iowa River Corridor
Trail system.
Vanderhoef/ So, what it does is it shifts it from behind the units out into the street system,
more sidewalks on the streets and then out to Foster Road. And to accomplish
this, what has transpired over a number of years is meetings with the
homeowners' associations to get agreement with where this new trail would go.
So, at this point there is agreement amongst the people who live there now, the
developer, and then this has been acceptable also to the people who have
reviewed it at the City, Planning and Zoning and the staff. Landscaping was
another issue in which the landscaping was not being planted exactly as the plan
was envisioned in '92 or whenever it was, I think it was '92. And so what this
planned development does, it will reflect the actual landscaping that has been
planted as well as any new that is going to be planted. One of the other features
is to take parking off of places like Pentire Circle in this green space, which is in
the center here, previously that had parking spaces there. Taking that off was
found to be reasonable because since we're going from one-car garages to two-
car garages, that parking is being provided with the units and need not be in that
green space. And then there's some relocation of easements that needed to
happen as these building footprints changed. So, what this is going to do is
amend this planned development such that it reflects what is built and what is
going to be built in a much more accurate fashion. OK?
Lehman! OK.
Franklin! OK. So that's on for public hearing, first consideration.
b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE EXTRATERRITORIAL
PRELIMINARY AND FINAL PLAT OF SCOTT'S FIFTH SUBDIVISION.
(SUB04-00022)
Franklin! Item b is to consider a resolution approving the extraterritorial preliminary and
final plat of Scott's Fifth Subdivision. This is on the west side, west of Naples
and south of Highway 1. It is essentially a subdivision of existing development.
This was developed before we did the WD subdivision to the east of Naples.
These two buildings that are on lot 1 and lot 2 are currently there, and this
subdivision will enable the sale of these two lots. If this had been coming to us
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brand new, that there was no development in place, we would have required
annexation with the development.
Vanderhoef/ Am I correct that the water and sewer is already there across from the other
side of Naples?
Franklin! Yes.
Franklin! So, is there any need to put that they will voluntarily annex when the next
adjacent comes around and that they will connect up to water and sewer at that
time?
Franklin! I don't believe that you could do that with a subdivision plat because we don't
have that as a requirement of subdivision platting. When we look at subdivision
plats in the county, number 1, we honor the zoning that is in place. In this case,
there is not a rezoning. rfthere were a rezoning, we would have a little bit more
latitude. But it also is, it's a matter of plat, and I'm not sure, and Eleanor, I guess
I would refer that question to you. In terms of requiring the annexation or a
commitment to it, in order for them to hook onto sewer and water, they would
have to annex by policy. But otherwise, I don't know that we have anything to
compel them to annex.
Dilkes/ I think Karin's right about the, in doing it as part of the platting process. I think,
as some of you remember, too, there's a real question with the enforceability of,
you know, agreements to annex in the future, so that'smI think that's---
Vanderhoef/ I'd hate to see it sitting there withoutm
Franklin! I do too.
Vanderhoef/ ...public water and sewer now.
Franklin! Well, yes, and just being there in the county right on the other side of the street
from the city.
Elliott! Karin, I'm not familiar with Naples. What's this close to?
Franklin! It's on the, just on the west side of2l8.
Vanderhoef/ Interchange.
Franklin! You won't see that if! use my finger. 218 is right here. This is where a lot of
the grading is being done in and (can't hear) from Menards.
Elliott/ Thank you.
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c. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE PRELIMINARY PLAT OF
WINDSOR RIDGE PART TWENTY ONE. (SUB04-00024)
Franklin! Item c is a resolution approving the preliminary plat of Windsor Ridge Part
Twenty One. This is a portion of Windsor Ridge at the intersection of Court
Street and Taft Avenue. As a consequence of this plat, Court Street will need to
be extended to Taft A venue, and work will also need to be done integrating
Court Street into the intersection with Taft Avenue; that is, the grade of Taft will
be brought down to where we have the design done for that, and the developer
will be responsible for that. And then Taft Avenue itself will be the chip sealed at
that intersection. Court will be the paved cross-section. With this project when it
was zoned to RM-12, there was a requirement that before development of it, a
site plan would be approved by the staff. That will be the next step. We've
already looked at a preliminary site plan with the developer for this, and this
subdivision will enable that site plan to come to fruition. What is going to be
included here in lot 2 would be multifamily and then on lot I would be
townhouses similar to the ones that they have on the south side of Court Street
farther to the east.
Vanderhoef/ Where is the school in relation to this?
Franklin! The school is in that RS-5 area where the arrow is.
Vanderhoe£' OK.
Franklin! Now, the 13 1/2 years will be up in June of2006, I think. It is very unlikely. I
know it doesn't seem---
Lehman! It doesn't seem possible.
Franklin! Time flies. It is very unlikely that the district will be building a school at this
site. When the time period passes, then the reservation that has been in place for
the school will become null and the property will go back to the developers.
d. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE FINAL PLAT OF A
RESUBDIVISION OF LOT 77 OF WALDEN WOOD PART 6. (SUB04-
00026)
Franklin! And then Item d is the final plat of the resubdivision oflot 77, Walden Wood,
Part 6. Legal papers are complete on this and this is the end of Jensen Street that
we've dealt with a number oftimes. And that's it.
Lehman! Thank you, Karin.
Franklin! You're welcome.
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PUBLIC WORKS PROJECT UPDATES
Lehman! Public works projects update.
Fosse/ The computer just went to sleep while Karin's (can't hear)
Franklin! Was it me?
Lehman! Better the computer than the Council.
Vanderhoef/ Karin, while we're waiting---
Franklin! Yeah?
Vanderhoeti' I just heard today that Shelley has resigned.
Franklin! Yes.
Vanderhoef/ And refresh me, what percent of her time is presently devoted to historic
preservation?
Lehman! Eleanor's not going to let them answer that, Dee. She's giving this pained look.
Dilkes/ I say that's a Council time item.
Vanderhoef/ I wanted to catch her before she left. That was the---
Dilkes/ Well, if you guys want to move Council time up.
Champion! That's fine. We can move Council time up.
Lehman! I don't have any problem with that.
Atkins/ Do two of them.
COUNCIL TIME
Franklin! Half-time at Council's direction.
Lehman! All right, we've got a short Council time. Go.
Franklin! We did it.
O'Donnell/ They've already got the answer, haven't they?
Vanderhoef/ It's all done.
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Lehman! Fine.
Elliott/ Next.
PUBLIC WORKS PROJECT UPDATE
Lehman! Now, public works project updates.
Fosse/ What I'm going to do in the next 15 minutes or so is get my computer hitched up
for starters. I was telling Dee beforehand I caught a summer cold and took
something for it, which has made me dry andm
Vanderhoef/ Guilty.
Fosse/ Yeah, that too.
(Laughter)
Fosse/ This is the remedy for the dryness. I don't have the remedy for the dopiness. So,
we'll see what I cannwhoops.
Atkins/ Otherwise, you're a really exciting guy, is that it?
Fosse/ Yeah. On a regular day.
O'Donnell/ Should we take a break while they do it?
Fosse/ Anyway, what I want to do is in the next 15 minutes or so just give you an update
on what's happening in public works. Over the years I've shared with you a lot
about capital projects in my role as City engineer, and now my role is public
works director and I've seen a lot of interesting things going on--thank you,
Mary--in the public works area that you normally don't exposed to, so I want to
try to do that tonight. We'll start our with our solid waste folks. They're a
division of the public works, or excuse me, part of the Streets Division, and in
addition to picking up the garbage they do a lot of public outreach. And here we
see them out working with the Boy Scouts on a Plum Grove cleanup day.
They've also worked with the Westside Neighborhood on cleanup, storm water
detention basin area. And our folks get out there and they provide the packer
truck and the bags and the neighborhood provides the labor to get those things
done. And it turns out to be a nice event for everybody involved. You also may
remember the Pin grants, that had the neighborhood dead couch day for the
Northside Neighborhood, and we picked up 22 couches to get them offthe
porches. And normally they cost property owners $10 to get rid of a bulky item,
but we went out and picked them all up as part of this Pin grant. We'll pick up
most any bulky item for $10, except for cars.
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(Laughter)
Fosse/ You put your car at the curb but we'll not pick it up for any price. We also get on
new public outreach about recycling, and we like to get with the young kids out
there. And here we are at a Regina Preschool event. It's good to get the kids out
and get around these guys. They enjoy it. A lot of you probably know that
Rodney Walls was over in Iraq for a year, just got back and with us this summer.
Even though he was over there, being a soldier he was still interested in solid
waste and taking pictures of the garbage truck. Here he is checking out the
equipment. It's an interesting truck. It's got three windshield wipers across the
front of it, but no windshield.
(Laughter)
Fosse/ And we think they do that because it's so hot and there's really no reason to have
that in there; it just helps them stay cool while they're doing their job. On to the
Wastewater Division, this is in our lab, but let me preface this slide by saying
that all five divisions in the Public Works Department accomplish our tasks by
using in-house staff and private sector work. One of the challenges for each of
the division heads is finding that dividing line (can't hear), and this is an
example of one ofthe cases where we examine that. One of the constituents of
wastewater we test for is mercurynthat's Hg, if you remember that from your
periodical charts. And we were paying about $7,800 a year to have that done in
labs. Our chemist knew how to do the tests research did; the equipment only cost
$3,900. So we bought the equipment; we're now doing that in-house. So that's
an example where we had about a six-month payback on equipment like that.
Another neat thing down there besides just treating wastewater is they've got 22
acres of prairie just south of the wastewater plant. And if you've got prairie,
you've got to manage it. So what they do is they've split it into four quarters and
they burn a quarter of it per year and the reason they only do a quarter of it is to
allow the rest of the three-quarters, just for the critters to go into, oh this is
burned, and it maintains the habitat. So not long after it's bum, you begin to see
the emergence of the prairie plants again and then by midsummer, you've got
what we see here; it's really amazing to see how fast it goes from black to bloom
like that.
Champion! So, what did prairies do in the old days when people didn't bum them every
other year?
Lehman! Lightning struck them.
Fosse/ Lightning was part of it. There weren't the invasive species that we have today.
O'Donnell/ Careless pioneers.
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(Laughter)
Champion! Oh, OK, invasive species. All right.
Fosse/ Yeah, that's one of the things that we try and keep out of there. On to the Water
Division, now that we've got our new plant in place and we're producing
excellent water, we're beginning to refocus on some of the other things that slid
a little bit. And one is our meter-reading system. And we're getting caught up on
replacing our meters, just this year. We plan to replace 3,500 meters that either
worn-out or obsolete, that aren't compatible with current-day equipment. And
we're installing an automated meter-reading system that allows, that transmits it
by radio signals so you can walk by the home, get the reading without going to
the home. That increases productivity and reduces injuries and conflicts with
dogs.
O'Donnell/ Which is good.
Fosse/ And also getting the water out to the customers, we have our distribution system,
and one of our major projects was out in Ernie's neighborhood this year, was
replacing the water main on Benton Street. One of the things that I keep an eye
out for is opportunities where we can accomplish the goals of two divisions in
one project. Here we're replacing the water main. We've also got our Streets
Division in there while the street was shut down and replaced pavement and got
that in a lot better shape than it was prior to the project. Now, this is a good
candidate for the diamond grinding projects that we've done in other parts of
town. I'll talk about that a little more in a minute. At the water plant we've had
one of the pre-cast concrete panels on the outside come loose and drop down
onto the ceiling of the garage below. Fortunately for us it landed right square on
a beam. It didn't penetrate the roof. But this is something that we're taking
seriously and we are working on formulating a plan now to have the contractor
fix not only this but any other panels that can potentially fall and we'll be getting
more in touch with you on that later. We'll keep you informed as that evolves.
Atkins/ Rick, you've got to point out where Ed's standing.
Fosse/ Ed is standing on the roof of the maintenance garage so he's about 30 feet above
ground level, and this piece right here weighs about 10 tons. So we want to make
sure that we remedy this for the long term. I'm on to the Equipment Division, in
addition to taking care of our equipment, the Equipment Division takes care of
our underground fuel facilities. And since Tom has a good understanding of
those regulations, when we come across a stray tank in the right-of-way, he takes
care of getting it out and dealing with everything that needs to happen then. This
one showed up, not far from the library, on Linn Street when digging a hole, ran
into it, no idea how it got there. It cost us about almost $16,000 to get it out, get
it cleaned, and as you'll see it's written right on there that it's clean--that's very
important because the resident, or the fumes, that reside in there can kill you. In
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fact, there was a person killed in Dubuque this year by the fumes from an old
tank. And you get that done before you dispose of it. This was a cheap one. And
we expect to get about half of that back rrom the state. They do have an
insurance fund for stray tanks like this. But if it's a tank that you constructed and
maintained, the insurance fund doesn't cover that sort of thing. Just last week we
took bids on five replacement trucks, and this is just one of the trucks that it's
replacing. Sterling was the low bid. It was only $400 lower than the other one; I
was amazed on trucks of this size, how close the bids are. And then the new beds
that will go on the back are manufactured up in Manchester, Iowa, and they're a
little different design that's going to allow us to use them for spreading salt and
sand without sliding the sander box in that. It'll serve double duty and be a lot
more efficient for us. Here's a new piece of equipment. You might remember
this from last year's budget process. This is a new loader out at the landfill, and
in the summertime it works making compost and then in the wintertime it's on
the streets clearing snow. That's another thing we look for is efficiencies
between the divisions. Our compost operations are growing. We're getting a lot
of yard waste in out there, and we just finished a batch of compost. I bought a
bucket along for you today. This is different than the bio-solids we produce at
the wastewater plant.
(Laughter)
Vanderhoe£' Thank you.
Fosse/ Anyway, smell that, look at that---
(Laughter)
Fosse/ It's amazing to me just how it goes from this to that. It's just like dirt. And you
can literally get a ton of this for $10 out there, if you go out, that's what we sell it
for. And one of the other public outreach things we've done iSnthis is going
around fast; I thought you guys would be digging in it-n
Lehman! Are there any bugs in there?
Fosse/ There are bugs in there, I should warn you about that.
Champion! There's no snakes?
Fosse/ No, I don't think there are any snakes in there.
Champion! Beautiful compost really.
Fosse/ Well, we supply compost and mulch for the Kate Wickham PTO to do
landscaping at the school. That's just another example of some of the public
outreach that we do.
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Vanderhoef/ How many tons are we doing of that a year?
Fosse/ You know, I don't know off the top of my head. I can find out from Dave and get
that back to you.
Vanderhoef/ Are we at the size now that we could be bagging it and selling it?
Fosse/ Well, Blue Stem's already doing that.
Vanderhoef/ I know they are.
Fosse/ And they're bagging more than they can sell. So right now what we're doing is
we're selling it to the public in bulk, and then we're using it on capital projects
as well. And it's a terrific soil amendment for capital projects. And we can take
all that we make for that.
Vanderhoef/ OK.
Fosse/ Where was I--oh, out at the landfill. We upgraded a piece of equipment this year,
the compacter. We had a 50,000-pound compacter. We traded that in, bought an
80,000-pounder, and it's not because the 50,000-pound one was worn-out; it's
because this one does a better job of squishing the garbage down and it more
than pays for itself in getting more waste in the same volume out at the landfill.
It works just like your garbage can. When it gets full, you stomp on it. Mike's
going to get more in his garbage can than Dee's going to.
(Laughter)
Fosse/ Same principle applies out at the landfill. We want to maximize what we get done
out there. This is a Vacation Bible School group that we had out here one
evening. Again, we like to show the kids where the garbage goes, how it's dealt
with, and ways that we divert garbage from going down into the landfill. They
found that was fascinating. Streets Division--they've got two full crews doing
nothing but concrete repair in the summertime. I think they were out in your
neighborhood, Dee, not long ago, and--good, I'm glad that worked out there.
Between the two crews, they've done almost an acre and a half of pavement,
which doesn't sound like a lot but when you're doing it 400 square feet at a time,
it takes a long time to add up to that amount. We've also got a crew out there
doing asphalt patching and they put down about 370 tons of asphalt a year. Just
today they put down 16 tons, filling potholes and that sort of thing. Now
transitioning into the engineering projects. We had our asphalt resurfacing
program this summer where we maintained some of our asphalt streets. We did
our Dodge Street diamond grinding project. This is a neighborhood where we
had a lot of complaints about buses and trucks shaking their home, and what this
diamond grinding is it reestablishes the ride, the smoothness of the original
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street. It gets rid of those impact loads which lengthens our pavement life as
well. And Iowa City is one of the leaders in the state in getting this done. Other
cities call us for the specifications that we use.
Lehman! Mormon Trek was done several years ago, wasn't it?
Fosse/ Yes, that was our first.
Lehman! It's an unbelievable difference.
Fosse/ That really made a difference. And what we heard from the people along that
project was how much better they sleep at night. It just really quiets the road
down. And I'm sold on this wonderful means of maintenance, and it gets cheaper
every year just because of the availability of more of the diamond grinder
contractors that are out there. One of the projects that we did related to storm
water was out in the Brooklyn Park Place sewer separation. That's one where we
had a storm sewer intake draining into the sanitary sewer. It was very difficult to
find an outlet for that storm sewer--that's why it wasn't addressed years ago, but
it's done now, it's complete; we wanted to get that done during that window
when school is not in session and we accomplished that. Here's Mormon Trek
Extended, phase I. The pavement is pretty well done on that and they're
wrapping up the restoration. This is a project that is not under construction, but
it's on your agenda tomorrow night, the design contract is, and that's why I put it
in here. This is Highway 6 from Lakeside out to 420th. This is a situation where
we have some intersection improvements that we need to do, some capacity
improvements. The DOT has some maintenance that they need to do. We're
looking at rolling it all together into one project to make it a three-lane through
there, widening out at the intersections beyond that as necessary and doing it
together to save money. It's about a $2.1 million project. Our participation will
be about $700,000 plus the design work. The DOT will do the contract
administration. But that design contract is on your agenda tomorrow night. So
this is what that's all about. The Iowa River Power Dam is under construction
right now and that's taken quite a while because we have to work with the flows
in the Iowa River. There are three modes of dam failure. One is the dam can
slide. Another one is it can tip over. And the third is that it can crumble. We
don't worry about this dam sliding because the base of it is cut right into the
bedrock, excellent construction there. But we do worry about it tipping. There's
not as much factor of safety there as you'd like to see it for a dam in an urban
setting. And then when you cut a hole in it and stick your head inside, you get
even more uncomfortable with that because you find out that it's partially
hollow. These are huge nails. It's actually big enough you could crawl back in
there. So that's less mass than you'd want. So, to remedy that, we've gone in and
we've built a more massive wearing surface on that downstream river side,
drilled holes in it and filled the inside, those voids, with mobile concrete to fix
that. So we don't worry about it tipping over any more. As far as crumbling, the
old dam was crumbling. This is the way it looked after the flood of '93. It
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knocked a piece out of that east end. I really don't know what was holding it up
at that point. It (can't hear) stayed put and I'm glad it did. This is the way the
east end looks right now. That is reconstructed here. This is going to be one of a
couple observation points that will be along the pedestrian bridge on that project.
And it serves two purposes: one is it serves as a point of rescue for the sheriffs
department if people get caught in the downstream face of this dam. That was the
main reason for it. And then we wanted to get double duty out ofit so we're
creating a couple of observation platforms for people to stand and take in the
view there. Not many cities take on a dam reconstruction project, and it's, we're
finding that there's hazards with this. The birds out here are huge. There's my
car keys, just as a point of reference.
Champion! Oh, my god.
(Laughter)
Fosse/ I've never seen anything like it.
Lehman! Bird dam near got the keys, didn't he?
Fosse/ Yeah. You don't want to get hit by that.
Vanderhoef/ Is that eagle?
Fosse/ I think it's the gulls out there.
Lehman! Gulls.
Fosse/ The big white--it's frightening whatever it is.
Champion! Oh, my gosh, that's incredible.
Vanderhoef/ You have to wear your hard hat for that.
Fosse/ Right over here on the Burlington Street bridge, we reconstructed this summer.
We wanted to have it done for football season. We got it done, at least the center
lanes. We're still working on finishing things up around the outside. We did
manage to get around the coal tar issues by reusing the existing pier super out
there, and also we made a decision to repair the existing beams and then add to
those. And that turned out to be a very good decision this summer because of the
price of steel. You always kind ofwondernare we better off investing in labor or
materials? This summer the labor was the better value there. One thing you'll
notice about this bridge that's different from others--this barrier between the
pedestrians and the roadway. Usually you'll see some sort of concrete barrier
there. We didn't want to do that because the water will flow over this road two or
three feet deep when it rains hard, and we didn't want to put a concrete dam in
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the way, if you will, so we designed an open barrier that is structurally equivalent
to the concrete. And hopefully relatively pleasing to look at.
Champion! It looks a lot better than the concrete.
Lehman! Yes, it does.
Fosse/ I do like the way the Summit Street barrier rail turned out. That's, again, that one
is structurally equivalent as well. I enjoy collaborative projects with other
entities, and we've been working with Project Green on a few of them. One right
here is at the east end of the Park Road bridge. And they've been fixing things up
on the east side of the road there as well as plantings around the end of the
bridge. Tomorrow our Streets Division is going to move in, start working on
fixing up those areas right off the end of the bridge that have been kind of ratty
for a couple of years, and we hope to have that done in a couple of weeks. We're
going to put in a brick area, some new railing and some benches so you can sit
there and watch the fireworks or just look at the river as you please. Other
projects we've done with Project Green is the planting along Highway 6. They
did the original planting when it was built; they did a rehab to it just last summer.
And then a lot oflandscaping along North Dubuque Street is their work. They're
a nice asset to have around.
Vanderhoef/ And replanted on Melrose on the west?
Fosse/ Yes, that's another one. Thanks for bringing that up, Dee. Those islands along
Melrose clear out on the west end. The landscaping plan just didn't work well for
that setting, and they took it upon themselves to redo that and did a wonderful
job with it.
Vanderhoef/ Good.
Fosse/ Another project we did just this summer with the University ofIowa is to put in a
power source for having events downtown underneath the pedestrian bridge.
Prior to this summer they had to rent a generator, which is expensive, and that
detracts from the event itself. We tapped into the electrical power in the Biology
Building, set up a subpanel outside and created a situation so it's very easy for
events to wire up there, and they pay for the power that's used. It's a much more
reasonable approach than what was being done in the past. We've got 400 amps
of power out there now, and it takes a good share ofthat for just the Nitty Gritty
Dirt Band that was in during Arts Fest, for the lights and amplifiers. There's
what it looks like from the stage. This is a panoramic view ofthe downtown
during that event, and you really can't stuff any more people in there. You've got
to be happy with the way the Iowa Avenue project turned out there. So, that's it
for what these folks have been up to this last summer, and I'll entertain any
questions you have if I can answer them.
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O'Donnell/ It's very good.
Champion! Very good presentation.
Lehman! On that Mormon Trek Extension, part ofit---
Fosse/ Mm-hmm.
Lehman! ...is there a bridge as it goes east before it gets to old Riverside Drive over
Willow Creek?
Fosse/ A bridge over Willow Creek?
Lehman! Yeah.
Fosse/ No, we're working to put Willow Creek in a culvert there.
Lehman! A culvert.
Fosse/ Yeah. And we've not worked through all the permitting issues related to that with
the Corps of Engineers but we're working on that now.
Lehman! That creek is relocated because of the airport plan I think.
Fosse/ Yes. Yes, and we're looking to relocate a portion of it again, and that's the crux of
the permitting issue.
Lehman! Right. OK.
Fosse/ Yup.
Elliott/ Rick, I have a question about the North Dodge Street construction.
Fosse/ Mm-hmm.
Elliott/ It's getting to be a serious problem with the traffic control. Is there going to be
anything planned? There's a couple hours every day when there are businesses
on the west side ofthat road, the new restaurant that's going in, North Dodge
Athletic Club, is there a veterinary clinic still there? There's an office building;
there's a service station. There's probably close to at least an hour every day in
the morning and in the evening when you can't enter or exit that area.
Fosse/ Mm-hmm.
Elliott! Is there something that you're planning to do with that?
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Fosse/ Dee was quizzing me on that as we came in today, and r don't know the answer to
that off the top of my head. I'll talk with Ron Knocke about that tomorrow and
follow up with you all.
Elliott/ It looks like there's going to be a new restaurant starting there. There are some
businesses who if they're cut out of some key traffic times, that's really a
significant hardship for them.
Fosse/ Yeah. And we hope everything's going to be better when the project is done. Of
course, that's one of the objectives of the project.
Elliott! Mm-hmm.
Fosse/ But it's kind oflike taking a Band-Aid off. It hurts to---
Elliott! You can't eliminate it but hopefully we could alleviate it.
Fosse/ Mm-hmm. As best we can.
Elliott/ OK.
Fosse/ One ofthe questions I have for you: Are you interested in something like this once
a year, twice a year?
Vanderhoef/ Yes.
Lehman! Sure.
Elliott/ Yes.
Champion! Mm-hmm.
Fosse/ You are?
Elliott! Yes.
Bailey/ I was fascinated.
Champion! Especially ifit's this entertaining.
O'Donnell/ Yes.
Lehman! I like the (can't hear)
Bailey/ Always take the drugs, I think.
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Fosse/ Oh, OK, take the sinus tablet whether I need it or not.
Lehman! Is that Iowa River Power Dam project, is that coming--I realize it's taking a lot
more time because of the river flow.
Fosse/ Mm-hmm.
Lehman! That's, I mean is that anywhere near what we estimated?
Fosse/ The contractor we based their working days on the number of days in which the
flow is beyond 1,500 cubic feet per second. And based on that they've still got
plenty of working days left. You know, it's not been that wet a year in Iowa City,
but it's been pretty wet north of us and the result iSm
Lehman! We haven't made dramatic changes to the design of what we're doing to incur
significantly higher costs?
Fosse/ No. Still plugging along there. Yeah, it's a good price.
O'Donnell/ Is there going to be another observation point from the center ofthat bridge?
Fosse/ Yes, there will. And there will be one at the west end as well but that'll be more
integrated into the bank.
O'Donnell/ OK.
Fosse/ Well, thank you.
Vanderhoef/ Thank you.
Elliott/ Thank you.
O'Donnell/ Very good.
Champion! Yeah, that's very good.
O'Donnell! Enjoyed that.
Champion! Yes.
AGENDA ITEMS
Lehman! OK, folks, Agenda items.
4. f. (2) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN
AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST TO A SUBORDINATION
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AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF lOW A CITY AND HILLS
BANK AND TRUST COMPANY, lOW A CITY, lOW A, FOR PROPERTY
LOCATED AT 830 LONGFELLOW PLACE, IOWA CITY, IOWA.
4. f. (3) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN
AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST TO A SUBORDINATION
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF lOW A CITY AND HILLS
BANK AND TRUST COMPANY, lOW A CITY, lOW A, FOR PROPERTY
LOCATED AT 832 LONGFELLOW PLACE, lOW A CITY, IOWA.
4. f. (5) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN
AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST TO THE RELEASE OF LIEN
REGARDING A MORTGAGE FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT
857,939,963, AND 800 LONGFELLOW PLACE AND AT 859, 941, 965,
AND 802 LONGFELLOW COURT, IOWA CITY, IOWA.
16. RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO APPROVE AND
COMPLETE ALL REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION FOR THE RESALE
OF PROPERTY ASSISTED WITH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) OR HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP
PROGRAM (HOME) FUNDS THROUGH THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT.
Vanderhoefi' Eleanor?
Dilkes/ Mm-hmm?
Vanderhoefi' Could you just run us through how it's working with the sale of these houses
that the Greater Iowa City Housing Fellowship owns the land, the Longfellow
Manor area? I'm trying to figure out how we keep what the contract says that
allows us to keep those for low-income housing for the next 20 or 30 years,
whatever HUD requires.
Dilkes/ Which item are YOUm
Elliott! Is that l6?
Vanderhoef/ Well, there's some of it, too, in the Consent Calendar under the resolution
because they're selling them and these are the subordinate agreements, and it
talks about writing these contracts to keep them affordable over the period of
time.
Dilkes/ Mm-hmm. Well, we often use a resale agreement, which includes and is recorded
of record that includes the requirements about affordability over the period of
time.
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Vanderhoef/ So, it's called a resale agreement?
Elliott/ Does that mean the sale can be increased only x percent per year over the
original?
Dilkes/ No. I mean, I'd have to have one in front of me to give you the specific terms but
basically what it does is that it requires that if it's sold that it has to be sold to an
income-eligible family. So you can'tnit doesn't stop at the first (can't hear)
Champion! Isn't there a period of time though, Eleanor---
Dilkes/ Yes.
Champion! ...if it doesn't sell, then they can sell it to anybody but (can't hear) the land at
that point, too.
Dilkes/ In terms of the resale agreements, there is usually a calculation for where the any
appreciated value goes, how that settled is between the City and the--but I mean,
to give you the, if you want to see a copy of one, then you can see it. But that's
basically the idea.
Elliott! It's to inhibit someone from purchasing it as subsidized housing and then selling
it later at an exorbitant profit.
Dilkes/ Right. Or to someone who's not income eligible.
Elliott! Right. OK. My question was--Dee, did that answer yours?
Vanderhoe£' Mm-hmm.
Elliott! Item 16, Ijust don't quite under--ifsomebody could explain what's going on with
that one, I don't quite understand what's happening.
Vanderhoef/ Well, that's what we were just talking about.
Elliott! Maybe that's why I don't understand what's happening.
Dilkes/ It's an authorization for the City Manager to sign the resale agreement.
Elliott! Oh, OK. So that was it.
Lehman! Any other agenda items?
7. CONSIDER A MOTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN THE CLG
NATIONAL HISTORIC DISTRICT FORM NOMINATING THE
REVISED GILBERT-LINN HISTORIC DISTRICT FOR ELIGIBILITY
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FOR PLACEMENT ON THE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC
PLACES.
O'Donnell/ Item number 7. A couple packets ago, we had like 25 to 30 letters objecting
to this. Have all these people, Karinnwhat has been done to address those
letters?
Champion! Well, they actually eliminated the commercial part.
O'Donnell/ That's seven or nine properties though. We had like 25 letters, 30 letters.
Champion! Mm-hmm.
Franklin! Well, there's two possible issues that you're addressing here. One is whether
the protests of each one of those letter was addressed in the revised nomination. I
don't know, Mike, but I would say probably not. What happened is that in the
revised nomination, all of the commercial properties from the alley between
Bloomington and whatever's north of Bloomingtonn-
Lehman! We know.
Franklin! ...south were eliminated. And so that took out Mercy Hospital, Dr.
Kammermeyer's property and any of those commercially zoned properties were
out. So I doubt that each individual person's objection was addressed. In terms of
the percentage, Regenia, that you're referring to, there is a requirement or an
opportunity to protest this. If you have 50 percent plus one ofthe people
protesting the district, then the thing is dead. The protest, however, must consist
of a notarized letter sent to the state. It's not to you; it's to the state. Six of the 68
properties except on that, so it's not even close to the 50 percent plus one.
O'Donnell/ Are they all aware of that, Karin?
Franklin! I don't--Mike, I would never profess to say what people are aware of.
(Laughter)
O'Donnell! OK, but have we advisedm
Franklin! But we have advised people of that. Yes.
O'Donnell/ We have told them that?
Franklin! Yes.
O'Donnell! By letter?
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Franklin! That 50 percent plus one?
O'Donnell/ Yes.
Franklin! The state ofIowa has told them that in their notification letter.
Vanderhoef/ Mm-hmm.
Elliott/ Karin, I think you answered the question because Dee asked you. I've had contact
from both proponents and opponents.
Franklin! Mm-hmm.
Elliott! And I was telling them the person to contact is Shelley. Who should they contact?
Franklin! Oh, Shelley's still here. She'll be here until January 1st.
Elliott/ OK Good. Thank you.
Dilkes/ In response to Mike's question, not everyone who would prefer that their property
not be included in this nomination is now excluded by the actions that have been
taken.
Lehman! Well, the only thing that are excluded is those commercial properties.
Dilkes/ OK. I just wanted that to be clear because I think that was Mike's---
Vanderhoef/ What is the process now--I read the minutes and it appears that there's some
leaning toward adding some properties on North Linn all the way, or North
Gilbert all the way up to Church Street on both sides of the street. And at the
same time there's a letter in there requesting a property clear on the west edge to
be removed. And I wasn't clear and I'm not sure that the letter writer was clear
whether it was a noncontributing property or not, that one on the west side.
Dilkes/ I think that's Mark Hamer's letter that she's referring to, Karin.
Vanderhoef/ It is. Yeah.
Franklin! To my knowledge there are no properties being added. You may be thinking
about discussions that the Commission is having about a local district
nomination. Because that discussion is now going on in the Commission.
Vanderhoef! Well, this was, this was in the review of the minutes for the Historic--and
they said, well, we can't do it, something about they couldn't do it at this point
until it comes up at the public hearing.
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Franklin! That's the local district.
Lehman! Right.
Champion! Yeah.
Franklin! That's the local district.
Elliott! An Historic Preservation District, yes.
Franklin! Yes.
O'Donnell/ Well, the reason---
Franklin! That's the lownI'm sure that valid response.
Vanderhoef/ Why would they be adding that to the local district if they haven't put it into
the---
Franklin! Because the local districts and the national districts do not have to be
coincident.
Vanderhoef/ I know that. But that's the justification for the local district is to already
have it on the national. So if they are contributing in any way, why wasn't that---
Franklin! The justification for having a district boundary drawn rests in the historic
characteristics of the properties in that district. Now, what was not included in
your packet is the whole rewriting of the justification that Marla Svenson did in
response to this revised nomination of why, how you can from a historic
preservation perspective take out the commercial properties.
Vanderhoe£' Mm-hmm.
Franklin! And that had largely to do with the inclusion of parking lots and she came up
with a justification for taking those properties out. But I don't know what you're
referring to in terms of adding properties on Gilbert Street. They're with this
National---
Vanderhoe£' But this hasn't been---
Franklin! ...Register of Historic Places nomination, it is not adding any properties on
Gilbert Street. The map is---
TAPE 04-54, SIDE TWO
Franklin! ...that compared to what was in the old nomination. Properties have been
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eliminated but they have not been added.
Lehman! I think we have both maps.
Franklin! You do.
Lehman! One shows the original and then it shows the new one, right.
Franklin! Right.
O'Donnell! The reason for my question, Karin, was after we received--does anybody
remember how manYm
Elliott/ Twenty-five.
O'Donnell/ There were 25. And what's the total properties, Karin?
Franklin! Sixty-eight.
O'Donnell/ Sixty-eight, so we're approaching that.
Champion! No, no, because a lot of those letters were from properties that were
eliminated already.
Vanderhoef/ Karin?
O'Donnell! No.
Champion! Yeah.
O'Donnell/ These weren't the commercialm
Franklin! Yeah.
O'Donnell/ ...that we were talking about.
VanderhoeG The old map is showing all of this in white over here. And no house
numbers or anything. The new map is showing all ofthese as shaded and with
house numbers.
Franklin! But they're not included in the district. The bold line defines the district.
Vanderhoef/ But why then is it in part of the application?
Franklin! Because they have taken them out. Now maybe those were also protesters. The
dark line designates the district.
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Vanderhoef/ The dark line is the same on both maps.
Franklin! Except for the southerly part.
Lehman! That's the commercial.
Vanderhoef/ Except for the southerly part.
Franklin! Yes.
Vanderhoef/ But one of them all at once shows up with all of these shaded like
everything in the district with the numbers on it.
Franklin! But they're not part of the district.
Champion! They're not part of it; they're not within the dark line.
Elliott! The question is why is it shaded then?
Vanderhoef/ Why are we shading itnbecause it's all talked about in the minutes.
Franklin! They're contributing properties but they're not being included in the district. It
may be because they were protested; I don't know. I can't answer that question.
Champion! Or maybe because they're going to be part of a city district or whatever butm
Dilkes/ I think, Dee, the reference that you're referring to in the minutes was a discussion
about the upcoming local district. And that was kind of put on hold because
appropriately that should be discussed when that is dealt with.
O'Donnell/ Well, the 25m
Vanderhoetì' Well, I'll reread it because it's very mixed up in there, especially with the
two different maps.
O'Donnell! The 25 letters that I was speaking specifically of, Karin, you said there's six
that did send one in to the state objecting to this designation? OK.
Franklin! That they're notarized letters to the state protesting, yes.
O'Donnell/ What I wanted to make sure is that all of those 25 people knew that that was
the formal procedure they had to follow?
Franklin! That procedure would have been included in the letter from the state that was
sent in August?
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Lehman! Before that.
Franklin! Before that. July?
Vanderhoef/ Mm-hmm.
Franklin! And it was all outlined as to what you had to do to protest.
O'Donnell/ OK. IjustnOK.
Lehman! OK, other agenda items?
COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS
Lehman! OK. Council appointments.
Champion! Well, we only had but one application.
Lehman! For CDBG.
Champion! CDBG.
Wilburn! I can't make that appoint--participate in that decision because of the
Community Block stuff.
Champion! I think we ought to open it up for more applications. I have one---
Elliott/ Yes.
Champion! ...1 have some concerns. The particular applicant is also associated with
Shelter House, and I don't know if that's a conflict of interest or not but---
Bailey/ I think it makes a (can't hear)
Lehman! Well, perceived it will. Are we in agreement---
Elliott! Yes.
Lehman! ...we will readvertise, Marian?
Karr/ OK.
Lehman! OK, thank you.
Vanderhoef/ For?
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Lehman! HCDC.
Vanderhoef/ Good. I tried to call the lady and the phone number that's in there obviously
is a cell phone and it's not a 319, because I tried the 319 and I called the Center
and they said they hadn't seen her for some time.
Lehman! OK.
BUDGET PRIORITIES
Lehman! OK, budget priorities. Youngster Steve, why don't you take the stage.
Champion! We're going to take a 5-minute break.
Lehman! Oh, we're going to take a 5-minute priority break.
BREAK
Lehman! Priorities. I suppose this is the time when anybody on the Council who would
like to address Mr. Atkins, so he can respond, and we can---
Atkins/ Yeah. I can just give you a minute or two.
Lehman! Go ahead.
Atkins/ What we normally do iSm
Lehman! We gave Rick 15.
Atkins/ I won't take much more than a minute. What's normally done is we use the
current program of service, little staffing levels, the things that we're doing now.
The departments inevitably will come back with revised ways to do some of the
various, similar things, and we like tOnwe incorporate those in. The operating
budget is essentially controlled by the state. I think a number I gave you once of
our general fund revenue, 83 percent, either has some sort of state regulation,
federal regulation, cap, whatever, and so you really don't have a lot oflatitude.
We burned up a lot of that latitude when we did those budget amendments a year
ago, increased housing fees, increased building inspection fees. You'll often get
an argument from folks who, well, if you're just willing to raise the tax rate just a
little bit. Well, you don't have that choice, as you know, there's an 8.10 fixed
levy, pension benefits and other related employee benefits are in a levy that is
not capped. But clearly you've expressed some interest in dealing with that issue
as well as in the future. I'mnI don't mean to be a wet blanket, but you don't have
a lot of latitude. Of course, neither do we when we assemble the thing. And as,
like I showed you when we did this thing a couple weeks ago, we live on a
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growth because the increase in the rollback, the residential takes it away, and
that's why the underlying policy of the industrial and commercial development
remains very important to us. As far as if you want some new things, fine. But
I'm probably going to have to say you, no, in fact, I will say it to you, that you're
going to have to trade it off with something else. And that's where it gets
difficult. Ernie, I don't really have anything prepared.
Bailey/ Well, I have some questions because this is the first time I've been through this
since September.
Atkins/ OK.
Bailey/ So how do we link or how do we find out departmentally if we're doing the
current staffing level and how we're doing things now, what are those
departments' goals and relating those to the price tag in what we're doing
budget-wise? Because I feel very much out of the loop about what we're buying
for our departmental budget and what the goals ofthe department are. And then
how do we accommodate things like policiesnwith development we always seem
to have trails going along with that but in minutes of Parks and Rec, we read
about the challenge of maintenance, and I think most of us are interested in
talking about those sandpits and that would involve--that would be a policy that
would also help increase maintenance costs.
Atkins/ Yes, it will.
Bailey/ How do we accommodate that in the budget planning process?
Atkins/ A good bit of the budget preparation is the word that you use--accommodation.
There are some basic principles that we encourage the departments to use and
that is wherever applicable, use technology to its fullest extent. I'd rather invest
one time in some new technology that allows them to do their jobs more
efficiently. Other thannI don't ask the departments to have formal goal
statements.
Bailey/ So we don't do measurable outcomes of what we're---
Atkins/ No.
Bailey/ ...buying for our money. So, huh. That's kind offrustrating to me because that
seems more like---
Atkins/ We have done that in the past many years ago and to be brutally candid found
very little Council interest in going over goals.
Bailey/ Well, and I think it probably works better in some departments than others.
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Atkins/ And it does.
Bailey/ And--but in a service organization, I mean, we're not a household budget where,
you know, you just increase the number of dinners out to get a little bit ofthe
revenue mcrease.
Atkins/ The margin that we work with on the operating budget, the general fund budget
in the course of a year is anywhere from say $500,000 and a million dollars of
difference. That's not very much marginnon a $45 million operating budget.
That's 1 to 2 percent swing. That's about all the room we have to work.
Bailey/ But if we're going to have to make tradeoffs, we have to have a better
understanding of what these impacts are besides this will cost us X number,
right?
Atkins/ And if! sound argumentative, I don't mean to be.
Bailey/ You can argue---
(Laughter)
Atkins/ The Council in doing this is taking a different direction in what we have
traditionally. And so I need to prepare for that.
Bailey/ Right.
Atkins/ And part of it is you want something more substantive in the form of program
measurements--we've already chatted about that. I haven't quite figured out how
to do that, particularly to get Andy and R.I. and Rick and everybody to be able to
do those sorts of things. And there are some operating departments that don't
lend themselves to program measurement.
Bailey/ Right and I realize our timeframenthe budget is a big deal for preparation--and I
realize our timeframe is short. But is there anybody else who would be interested
in seeing something like that for some departments?
Elliott! I hadn't really thought about it. As a matter of fact, just to digress for a minute, I
was talking with Karin Franklin the other day and I said, Karin, you know,
sometimes Karin and I agree and sometimes we disagree, but I am fully aware
that staff is here for years and years and Councils come and go. And those
Councils can vary extremely widely as to what their priorities are. But I do agree
with what Regenia said that I find itnI'm not sure that I would find departmental
goals and objectives so important, but in the back of my mind, I'm concerned.
What if say the Planning Department or the Police Department has a set of
priorities and objectives that I think are just whacko? I mean, what if they just
are totally foreign to what I think most of our Council people are--so I would
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certainly like to look into what departmental goals and objectives are, even if it's
only on an informal basis.
Atkins/ The biggest difficulty is one starting it and sustaining it to make sure the (can't
hear) remains.
Bailey/ Sure.
Atkins/ And secondly is the mechanism of recording it. Let me just speak to one that's
almost kind of simple. Andy who is in the audience tonight did a very
comprehensive review of response times, all the issues associated with why do
we want the fourth station. Karin Franklin was involved. Let's locate it in a spot
where growth is going to occur in the future. In other words, let's get our public
assets fixed early in the process. You know, that's one of the frustrating things
about the fourth station issue is that we've probably met most of the important
goals, we just don't have the money to fulfill them. But being able to record
those things in a fashion that you can measure a particular program of service,
that we can do some selectivenat least initially I believe we cannwe can do some
selective goal setting for you. And as you say, hopefully, we communicated with
the Council and the staff, if we're doing something really whacko, we're going
to hear about it a lot sooner than budget time. Whacko, being his word, not mine.
I truly understand your point and as well as yours, Regenia, and I just--how do
we get at it.
Elliott/ Mm-hmm.
Wilburn! I think the other part and maybe this gets to what you're saying that well, not
even so much that certain departments don't lend themselves, but as Bob was
saying, Councils come and go as we have priorities that requires a certain, that
requires different levels of response from staff and staff time. You know, if it's a
year of heavy growth and heavy capital expenditures building, then that will
require a different set of goals and objectives than two years later when there's
another Council.
Atkins/ And remember it's, the Council has traditionally spent a lot of time on the capital
projects. As you know we go over those things in detail. But I must--again being
candid with you, it's not often we get to put together a project that has really
profound long-term implications. A couple of them I can think of were First
A venue, Scott Boulevard Extended. I mean, by opening that area, that was, yeah,
yeah, the water plant. I mean, it was 100 years coming from the old one to the
new one. Mormon Trek Extended coming around the airport. I mean where you
actually do something that will dramatically alter the landscape and I,
landscaping, being the broadest definition oflandscape, of this community, the
operational services traditionally will follow those. And as Regenia was pointing
out, we keep building more trails, yet we have difficulty maintaining what we
have. Now I've talked to Terry and one of the things we might do in the very
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near term is we won't plow the snow anymore on the trails. We just simply can't
do that.
Bailey/ What's the citizen, you know, sort of the service side of that, I mean, you know,
we prioritize.
Atkins/ It's denying the use of a particular public asset.
Bailey/ Right, and so.
Atkins/ And we don't like to do that.
Bailey/ Right.
Elliott! That's one reason why I would think for you for us to provide you with our idea
of what our priorities are would be very helpful and beneficial to you.
Atkins/ It's always easier going in knowing what you're interested in doing and
particularly ifthere's a clear majority support for it.
Wilburn! My question is do we need to have two different, potentially two different
conversations or sets of ideas which I would expect a one-time expense is
different then that staffing---
Atkins/ Absolutely.
Wilburn! ...and so do we and is easier to do than the staffing, so do we need to have two
different lists of ideas for them? Things and one that involves people?
Lehman! You know, I think that there are two different lists obviously. One of those we
are faced with every time we do budget. We know, we look at the outstanding
debt; we look at the debt levy; and we look at what we'd like to do and then we
reduce it to a level that stays within or as close as we can to that percentage of
our tax bill that's utilized to retire the p.o. debt. I mean, that one we wrestle with
every year. What I sense I'm hearing from you, Bob, and I think you, Regenia, is
the other portion of our budget which is the general fund and how--now I have a
little different perspective. I believe, Steve, that we hold you accountable for the
efficiencies of police, fire, planning, housing inspection, that sort of thing.
Atkins/ And well you should.
Lehman! But I do believe that you need to, if we have a priority that is different from the
way we're doing it, then it's our job to let you know that we believe that law
enforcement is more important than something else or whatever. I mean, from
my perspective, there are certain priorities that we as a Council need to express
to the City Manager as far as the operations of the City, I think we hold Steve
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responsible for the efficiencies of departments. I mean, that's your job. That's
what we pay you for.
Elliott! The efficiencies but we are the ones who need to provide him with our thoughts
about what the priorities and the directions of the departmentsm
Lehman! Thank you.
Bailey/ Well, and I also think that that needs to be considered from citizen priorities
because I think that thatnI mean we always have a challenge engaging citizens in
the budget discussions, and I think if we began to understand what the goals of
various departments or what are objectives with this money are, I think it would
be easier to engage discussion. And I'm just going to say one last thing about this
priorities and goals thing. I think this would, this level of approaching a budget
would alter the landscape in a great long-term way because we cannot continue
to start with last year's budget and increase it by some incremental percentage
and try to balance everything out. You know, 20 years down the road we're
going to get, some time we're going to get in trouble, and so even though
Councils come and go, I think this Council could set sort of a different tone when
it comes to how important and the long-term effects of how we approach a
budget (can't hear) the City is. But we could make a difference.
O'Donnell/ But we budget five years out and you know I think everybody's concern in
Iowa City and particularly on this Council is community safety. And we just
went through a fairly hard time. We've dwindled the number of policemen and
firemen, and I think it's important that we do look at that fire station over there
when we can afford it. I think it's important, you know, that should be one of our
top priorities.
Champion! Oh, I think it is.
O'Donnell! And it is and I know that, but it's when you can afford it.
Bailey/ And the question, too, is what is safety? I don't want to get into a long
philosophical, safety, you know, across the board and for different citizens would
look different. I mean, I didn't feel particularly safe this weekend. I'm sure other
people did. In my neighborhood I didn't feel particularly safe--I mean I know it
was but it was pretty rowdy and uncomfortable. And so, you know, where are
our priorities with that, I guess, too?
Atkins/ One of the other things, one of the techniques we use in budget preparation, that's
the incrementalism that you're talking about. Please remember that we, much of
what we do, we are responding to the state.
Bailey/ Right.
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Atkins/ And that it's difficult to take risk in your operating budget when the state is still
in session at the time you adopt the budget. And we know and it's happened five
or six times in the years that I've been here, that just undoes everything nand I
think that fourth station is a perfect example. We had started to hire people; we
are buying land; we're doing design. We're doing all the things tracking and the
state changed the rules.
Bailey/ Mm-hmm.
Atkins/ And I will admit to you that my approach to budgeting under these
circumstances, the incremental approach, is safe. We don't get in ajam on it. I
mean, our financial condition is sound; we have a good credit rating; and I am
not going to recommend risky financial moves. I think you all know me well
enough to know that I'm not going to do that. But that does damage your ability
to take initiative.
Lehman! Regenia's point---
Atkins/ I know that you meant suggesting riskm
Lehman! No, but if! heard what you said--ifyou always do what you always did you'll
always get what you always got.
Bailey/ Yeah.
Lehman! We always go---
Atkins/ What'd he say?
Lehman! No, no, because I think what Regenia's saying is if we are funding the same
things we did last year and the year before and the year before, and that's all
well, good, if these are exactly what we think we should be funding. But if we
choose to look at a little different direction, a little different priority, then we
have to go back and take a look and oh, no, we're not going to fund everything
the same as we did before with the incremental increases. I think what we're
looking at are basically our priorities. What should we be telling Steve that we
expect or that we would like to see different than what we're doing because
when you start doing the budget, then you start looking at those things that
you've always done and if they're not, obviously, what you say--ifwe're going
to change something, we're going to do this, then we're going to not be able to
do something over here.
Bailey/ Right.
Elliott/ I would like for us, I would like for Steve to get the impression from this Council
that as he starts into this budget that one of the first things he does is figure how
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much time will it take us to put that fire station on the north side?
Champion! He has no way of knowing that.
Elliott/ Whether it's three years or five years, Ijust think, to me, that's the number one
priority. Whatever it takes. Now perhaps others on the Council don't agree with
me. But when we were asked when we were going to be Council persons, what
are your priorities, it always came down to fire and police safety, clean water,
good sewers, good streets to handle transportation, and economic development
because the gist of what you said, unless we get economic development, we
don't get any increase in funds to do all those things we really want to do. So, I
just, I think now's the time for us to make it clear to Steve what we think are
vitally important, what is more important.
Wilburn! Bob, when you said, when you make, when you're talking about Steve making
those projections, are you talking in terms of new money, is that your priority?
Or are you talking about and are you willing to make a recommendation in terms
oflayoffs in other departments, if whatever it takes at all costs, fire is your
number one priority, which is what you're saying.
Elliott! Fire as new---
Wilburn! Fire as new money becomes available---
Elliott/ Mm-hmm.
Wilburn! Or here's some departments that need to take reductions, which one ofthose?
Elliott/ I want a plan that says as we can do it right now, we can have a fire station, we
will have a fire station in three years, in five years, whatever it takes. And if it
takes layoffs elsewhere, then that's what it will have to be. Police and fire
protection have to be the two single most important aspects of the City.
Champion! I'm going to just argue with you a little bit on that.
Elliott! Good.
Champion! Because we do not have bad police and fire protection right now.
Elliott! Oh, absolutely not. We have very good.
Champion! You've got to start on that basis. Is it a priority for us? Yes, we've asked
Steve to get the land, get the plans, get things ready to go, and if there's an
increase in money, my point right now, if there's an increase in money, general
fund monies, it should go to police and fire. I'm not at the stage where I'm
willing to take it away from another department yet. Now, maybe if the state
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economic times get worse in three years, we may have looked at this and say,
we're going to have to cut somewhere because we're going to--the east side
builds out more. Then we're going to maybe have to look at cutting other
departments and staff that fire station. But I don't think we're at that point yet. I
mean, you know, the fire department is important to me. It's important to all of
us. To say the expansion ofit is the most important thing on my mind at the
expense of other things (can't hear). Not right now. Will it be ever? It could be,
but I'm hoping not. To me the priority is economic development. That's the best
way to get that fire station going.
Elliott/ Absolutely.
Champion! And I'm not willing to cut up a department. We're not unsafe. And Regenia
might have felt unsafe in her neighborhood on the Iowa State-Iowa football
game. We all probably if! lived where she lived I would wonder what was going
on, too. I get enough of that on Summit Street.
Elliott! Think of how those people who live next to Mike feel.
O'Donnell/ What's that?
Lehman! It's that way all the time.
(Laughter)
Vanderhoef/ One of the things that I am hearing and I've just been listening and trying to
figure out how to put it in words, what I think one of the things I'm hearing
Regenia say is what services that are general fund expenses are we most
interested in doing. So, are we looking at beefing up economic development and
planning in that area? Are we looking at services in the way of parks and
recreation and keeping costs down so that our citizenship is all able to participate
in the majority ofthe activities? Are we looking at a planner for historic
preservation? You heard my question tonight on how much staff time is used on
historic preservation. Well, that's a Council resolution that says half-time for
historic preservationnso is that one of the things we want to emphasize or de-
emphasize? I don't know but there are shifts that will get at what I think Regenia
was talking about and what our priorities are within the staffing that we presently
have.
Bailey/ Right. And I think that, thank you, that's one of the things that I was trying to get
at but I also think that it would help for me to have an understanding of what we
get for our dollar. That is, to say, looking at--ifwe look at Parks and Rec usage
and then does it warrant plowing those trails? And I intuitively believe that it
probably does but I don't have any data to support that.
Vanderhoef/ But is it a higher priority than---
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Bailey/ Thank this program at them
Vanderhoef/ ...than mowing and expanding our parks and developing our parks with
general fund monies?
Bailey/ OK.
Vanderhoef/ So, there is a piece of this of putting those priorities in place that would give
head's up to Steve on shifting of emphasis within staffing without any new
staffing.
Bailey/ Well, and I would like to know and with this Parks and Rec discussion because
I've seen it enough in the minutes, I would like to know that the impact, that
we're doing almost an unfunded (can't hear) to that department. And I think our
trails are one of the best things that we do in this city because it doesn't matter
how much money you have, you can use our trails. I mean, you can ride the
nicest bike or walk or whatever. And I think that those are a good thing. So I
would be interested in seeing, in having some more information in that area. And
when they say that, what does that really mean? I mean I know that we both feel
stressed about doing more with less, but---
Vanderhoef/ OK. So that's one piece, but I also am interested in looking at shifting of
what my priorities are. Ifwe're making our most money and we made planning
time for economic development, then I would choose to put planning time
toward economic development and expanding our resources and marketing our
resources and certainly historic preservation is important but is it important
enough to have a half-time staff person? It used to always be a fourth-time
person, and in the early '90s when the plan was put into place, it was by Council
resolution.
Bailey/ But once again what we've done with how we set that up is it does require a
certain amount of, quite a bit of citizen interface, to actually accomplish historic
preservation goals.
Vanderhoef/ Yeah.
Bailey/ And once again, are we setting up something in our community--and historic
preservation does seem to be a priority, at least with people I run with--but are
we setting something up and then cutting back and making citizens frustrated?
Vanderhoef/ Or putting it on the hold line in maintaining what we've got there rather than
expanding it more at this particular time, given the amount of staffing that we
have in there. And this is just within what we have right now. Then there's that
whole other list that I have always felt like we ought to have a priority list set by
Council for new hires when money becomes available for new hires. And that is
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also a statement to the community and to departments of how we see it. So if our
priorities are to get up to that total of nine new firefighters for station number 4,
then do we put however many we need now--I think it's five still?
Atkins/ Yes.
Vanderhoef/ I think we've got four of them hired right now. So, a new hire, five, six,
seven, eight, nine, have to come at the top of the list before we look at any
others. If the fire station is our goal. And I think it is.
Wilburn! When you say that, do you mean priorities that would come out of general
fund?
Vanderhoef/ Out of new monies.
Wilburn! OK.
Vanderhoe£l Just new monies, notn-
Bailey/ As money become available.
Vanderhoef/ As money becomes available, what is our priority list for these things?
Therefore, then of the ones, the present people we have on staff, the amount of
time that each get, there could be shifts in numbers of people on different staffs if
we gave a priority to, say, Parks and Recreation. Or to economic development or
to one of those activities.
Elliott! One of the problems when we toss around these words tonight is there are gray
areas. Economic development means more than just talking to people. It does
mean trails, it does mean parks, it does mean streets, it does mean Rec centers, it
does mean fire safety, all ofthat--so you're into so many gray areas with
everything. And I just want to take just a minute to clarify the exchange that
Connie and I had, I'm hoping that we don't ever have to come down to say it's
this or that. But I would say if we can't have a fire station up there within ten
years, then it comes to that.
Champion! I agree.
Elliott/ But I would hope that you can work some magic so you can say I have an outline
that will provide that within five years. I would just like to see that plan.
Atkins/ OK.
Elliott! Whether three years or six years or--I'd like to see that plan moving forward.
Atkins/ The trouble with five years is that's two City Councils---
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Elliott! Right.
Champion! Right.
Atkins/ ...and there's just too much of an opportunity for things to change with two
elections. One election you can usually--momentum stays with an issue. It's
when you go to another one that it begins to sort ofm
Elliott/ But I'm not sure that it's fair to tell you you have to do it within two years; I'm
not sure you can do it.
Atkins/ You tell me I have to do it, it'll be done. The consequences of which can be
dramatic. And you'lljust--I'm not so sure you're already to say you'll do this.
Lehman! You know, I thinkm
Atkins/ And by the way, we are spending most of our discussion--we made an underlying
philosophical decision--that is, we will rely on the property tax. There will be no
gambling; there will be no sales; there will be no franchise.
Elliott! No.
Atkins/ Well--my point is that it's all spending priorities. You've not talked about new
Income.
Elliott! I'm not willing to dismiss those.
Atkins/ OK.
Champion! Well, I'm willing to dismiss the gambling boat.
(Laughter)
Elliott! We'll leave that to Washington County.
Atkins/ All right.
Lehman! Unless the Council is willing tOnand we all have--it's a great word, priorities,
but until we're willing to say that this is not a priority, this department is not a
priority, and this is where we think that we could perhaps spend less money,
we're not going anywhere. See, we all believenI think we all believe in police
protection and fire protection. We have to have housing inspection services. We
all believe in economic development. Historic preservation is an issue that if we
don't keep up with it, we defeat the whole concept of historic preservation was
intended to accomplish when it was first put in place. So, I mean, where do,
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where are we willing to tell the City Manager that we do not feel that this is a
priority or is a lesser priority? I don't know what those areas are. I can
understand, Bob, but I don't disagree with you, as new money becomes
available, at this point, you know, on September 13, 2004, a new fire station is a
very high priority for us. One year from today there may be something occur that
is a higher priority than that--I can't imagine what it would be. But I'm just, you
know, I don't know how we do this. I think you're right, I think the fire station is
a very high priority with the Council. It's a high priority with the community,
and I think it'd be fair to say, Steve, we'd like to work out somehow--and I'm
sure you haven't pulled as much hair out as I have, but, no I'm serious. If and
when you can put this together, we'll be the first to know. And I think in order to
do that any quicker requires us to say, OK, we don't want as many people in this
department or that, and I don't think any of us are willing to say we don't want
as many people in Parks and Rec, or we don't want as many policemen, or we
don't want as many folks at Public Works.
Elliott! I think if we're responsible we have to look, we may have to look at that.
Champion! Not now.
Lehman! Well, no, no---
Elliott! Yeah.
Lehman! ...look.
Bailey/ Well.
Lehman! That's what we're here for, right?
Bailey/ Do you have an idea?
Elliott/ No.
Bailey/ OK. I thought somebody would have an idea.
Vanderhoef/ So what you could say to get at what you're trying to do is if we take this as
though there were no new money this year and we directed Steve to say, we want
two new firefighters, you find where we can cut the time in various departments
to come up with two FTEs, to hire to new firefighters this year. And that next
year, for instance, then we will hire two more likewise. And if there's new
money, one of those might be from new money. But that's the only way we're
going to get to that goal of five new firefighters and a station is to direct the City
Manager to find in his best judgment to cut awaynunless you're willing to say
we're not going to fund the library this year.
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Elliott/ No, but I think there would be a time--I won't be here with the next Council--
Champion! All right.
Lehmani Yes, you will.
Elliott/ But we don't have--no, I mean after three and a halfyears--but I don't want the
City to be looking at a new fire station in five years the same way we are now,
saying if we can afford it, we'll have it. We have to have it. And I would say
there will come a time for me when I'll say, OK, we've been planning and
planning and planning, we're going to have to do whatever it takes to do it. And
obviously the Council's not ready to say that now, I'm not either. But that's
certainly right up there. I also put the strongest possible emphasis on economic
development. Because we have to have so many of the nice things that make
economic development feasible, and we can't do that without Parks and Rec, and
we can't do Parks and Rec without economic development.
Champion! And I'm willing--we can look for other forms of money if what Steve tells
menI'm not sure what the franchise, I'm not sure what he means by that--but I
don't think the city is going to support a sales tax, even though we're one of the
few in the state not to have one.
Elliott/ I disagree.
Champion! You do?
Atkins/ Sounding twice.
Elliott! Ifit's for the right thing, I think it would go.
Wilburn! Police and fire were part of that.
Atkins/ It still got beat.
Wilburn! And human services were part of that.
Atkins/ It all got beat.
Lehman! It was poorly conceived and it was (can't hear) poorly put out. We thought we
were---
Atkins/ I think the difficulty was that we thought we were going to appeal to everybody's
interests---
Lehman! And got nobody.
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Atkins/ ...and got nobody's.
Champion! You could do it maybe if you were going to use it for a total reduction on
property tax; I think that--but that won't help the budget.
Bailey/ But (can't hear) fundamentally, you needed that.
Champion! Well, I know, it is playing with a shell game--but on the other hand, when
you reduce property taxes with the sales tax, which I think is actually a pretty fair
tax, you also reduce rents, you reduce the cost ofliving in the town; it's going to
benefit low-income people a lot more than not having an extra 1 percent sales
tax.
Elliott/ We believe that. The voters may not.
Champion! I know.
Elliott/ Yeah.
Champion! I mean, you know, there are people without money who pay dearly to live in
Iowa City. And even moderate income people.
Elliott/ We've talked for several minutes and I don't think we've given Steve any---
Bailey/ I have a question.
Champion! But he knows our priority is the fire station. He knows we want to keep our
triple aid; he knows the routine things we're going to want to save. We don't
want people laid off.
Atkins/ Yes.
Bailey/ Well, I also said Parks and Rec. I really do want-n
Champion! Parks and Rec is a priority.
Bailey/ I know. And I mean I really want to understand--it's not a priority across the
board. Ijust want to understand jfwhat's been said in these Commission
meetings is actual and what the impact is as we increase the miles and miles of
trails and other things that we're trying to do. And it seems like our goals are to
have attractions like that. So, I think that we might need to make that a priority.
Do we have any idea about the impact of the new building, the library.
Atkins/ You mean as far as the expense side?
Bailey/ Yeah. Do we get revenue? Besides my fine?
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Atkins/ No.
Bailey/ Dramatic, it's like $20.
Atkins/ This will come outnit'll be a cost drag, there's no doubt. There will be heat, light.
I've asked that some of that information be prepared because---
Elliott! Are you talking about the library?
Bailey/ Yeah.
Atkins/ I mean, you know, (can't hear), he explained to me. He said you took a city
block, you've got to heat it and light it and staff it. I think the staff issue is
generally resolved. They played ball at the last reduction. Now whether they're
going to ask for some additional staff, I don't know.
O'Donnell/ Do you not think that we can--when we sit down at our first budget meeting,
each of us maybe bring a couple budget priorities?
Lehman! Well, but I think now is the time if we have an idea to tell Steve before he gets a
budget in front of us.
Bailey/ So if there's any tracking of numbers of use of Rec Department services for the
summer, I know that the pool and (can't hear) was down, I'd like to see that for
budget. I'd also like to see if as we've discussed, some usage, Senior Center
usage numbers and figures; I don't believe that that's necessarily the best
tracking, but it's at least some information. You know, I'd really be interested, I
mean, I know that we occasionally get library reports, but I would like to see that
now that we have probably about half a year ofthe library open before we go
into the new---
Atkins/ You do understand that ultimately the library could say that's all well and good---
Bailey/ Yeah, I do.
Atkins/ OK.
Bailey/ I think the library is one of our most popularly used City services. And it does
give us a sense of maybe what enthusiastic citizen participation in one of the
services we provide looks like. So, for a benchmark, I think---
Vanderhoef/ Did you notice that the new 28E Agreement with the County on the library
now has an escape clause in it?
Bailey/ Mm-hmm.
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Atkins/ Yeah.
Vanderhoef/ Which concerns me a lot.
Atkins/ So many things beyond our control.
Bailey/ There are so many things in those minutes---
Elliott/ I would be interested, Steve, what would--do you have any questions of us?
O'Donnell/ What the heck are your priorities?
Elliott/ I mean, we sit and talk and you've seen. We're kind of spinning our wheels. We
all have good ideas.
Atkins/ I have traditionally devoted most of my time when it comes to budgeting kind of
two things: one is preserving our--you could have nothing of quantity or quality
without a good financial foundation. I've devoted my time to that. I defer to my
department directors to run their show. And then the second, that was one, and
the second thing is capital projects. Altering the landscape has a lot to do with
how successful we're going to be, not only in the character and the quality of our
community. I mean, I was pleased that the staff figured out how to get the
missing link. Yeah, we were going to go for grants, we're going to do this--well,
the planners, to their credit, said, heck, let's negotiate into this new subdivision
and we're going to get it now that way, and I think those are very positive things-
-I don't know how you measure the benefit of that because there's no real out-of-
pocket from our perspective. But I think capital projects are very critical to
altering the landscape. But it's also--altering the landscape also has a great deal
to do with the demand for public services, ergo, why are we pursuing the fourth
station? Because it's an area we're going to grow in, etc., etc., etc. And that's
generally how I devote my time. Councils that I've--in all the years that I've
been here--generally experienced have been very much status quo folks. Let's
not make things--why do we get a parade to the microphone when it comes to
budget? Other than spend more. Rarely do we get somebody who says cut my
taxes. I can't remember the last time that that's happened.
Vanderhoef/ Mm-hmm.
Atkins/ And I think folks are pleased with their package of public services. They're going
grouse at us and they're going to wish you would have done this and wish you
would have done that. But the real bottom line is I go home at night and I'm safe;
the streets are clean; the snow is plowed; the water's clear. Things are OK. And
by the way, we need a fourth fire station.
(Laughter)
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Atkins/ And the person will say, hell, we do. It doesn't register. Andy knows because of
response times, call volume---
Lehman! You really said a mouthful. No, no, they grouse about this; they grouse about
that. But overall the City does, I think, a remarkably good job when it comes to
most of what we do. I would say all but "all" is a really bad word, I don't know
what we don't do well--but by and large, we don't have to pay our taxes, our
taxes are too high, but nobody has ever complained about us doing our work too
well. And I think that's true. One of the reasons, well, the biggest reason we
don't get people at budget time is nobody can understand that budget. And no
one wants to get up and make a fool ofthemself, and I think it's very, very
common. People come and ask us for various things. I think overall folks are
pretty happy with the services the City provides.
Elliott! I wonder what would happen if as Regenia suggested we had a public hearing on
priorities, if people would feel more comfortable saying, here are the things I'd
like to see Iowa have and do or be as opposed to, well, you have $17.3 thousand
or million for this--I don't know.
Atkins/ Personally, I'd be surprised if anybody showed up. I don't mean to be harsh but--
Elliott! Unfortunately I wouldn't be surprised ifno one showed up.
Atkins/ Here is a community that cherishes education and nobody runs for the School
Board.
Elliott/ Two spots, two people.
Atkins/ I mean, they're fine people.
Elliott! Yeah.
Atkins/ But we're thinking on it--educationm
TAPE 04-55, SIDE ONE
Wilburn! ...away from the staffing issue for a minute, at our recent JCCOG meeting, this
would be like a one-time expense dealing, the discussion about---
Elliott! Dealing?
Bailey/ Mmm.
Wilburn! Dealing.
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Atkins/ Dealing, Bob.
Wilburn! The consultant for the communicationm
Atkins/ Right.
Wilburn! ...would seem to be that would be---
Bailey/ There was an NPR piece on that probability (can't hear)
Atkins/ Andy already has the go to go out and get the advice he needs to put together the
communication center. We're going to have to upgrade our system--ifthe other
guys don't want to play, that's up to them. We're going to try to give you
something thatnthat's a one-time expense.
Elliott/ I think our Council---
Bailey/ I think the other guys might want to play consulting-wise.
Vanderhoef/ Mm-hmm.
Atkins/ And we, Andy, nod your headnwe're pursuing that. He's already counseled those
folks.
Bailey/ Kind of like going into a really cold pool though, I think it's going to go very
slowly.
Atkins/ But Andy knows that. So does R.J.
Wilburn! Ijust didn't want it to get to another meeting where it's like, well, we should do
this, we should do this and---
Bailey/ I agree. You're right. You're absolutely right.
Wilburn! Yeah. Let's do something so we can say, here it is--are you in or not?
Atkins/ (can't hear) is on its way.
Wilburn! OK.
Elliott! Any cooperation, any coordination, any combination of government services and
activities that we can work with other entities, I think, is going to be beneficial.
Atkins/ But our history has not been good. We did that with the County government in
the operation ofthe Senior Center for 20 years; we had a good agreement, and in
one budget year we used to get $140,000; now we get $70,000. And the library
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gets $200,000 and somenand as Dee points out--that's going to be tenuous.
Bailey/ Mm-hmm.
Elliott! All I'm saying is the more that we can coordinate and combine and cooperate and
work together, the better off we're all going to be.
Atkins/ I don't think you have any trouble with the staff feeling that way. And I don't
think there's any trouble with any of you feeling that way.
Elliott/ Well---
Atkins/ But the implications are often, you take me down the path and then abandon me
later on, it gets very frustrating.
Champion! Right, very frustrating.
Atkins/ And in fact people get angry about it. There's some sense and I think that's,
Regenia, where our incremental approach both supports us and fails us at the
same time. We had an expectation the County would provide us 20 percent of the
budget; we prepared it; we did it--oh, by the way, we've changed our minds.
Bailey/ Well, and that's why I think the incremental approach can sometimes get you in
trouble.
Atkins/ Yes, it can.
Bailey/ I don't have a problem paying my taxes. I mean I don't dance all the way to pay
them--but as long as I know what I'm buying, I'm a person that always just likes
to know what services I'm buying and I want to be happy with the services I'm
getting. And I think most citizens probably feel that way. And so by setting not
only priorities, but having a sense of what kind of service goals we have, I think
that's helpful.
Atkins/ And that's also where the media fails us. Because the media spends a good bit of
time reporting on the politics of issues and not the substance ofthem. That's not-
-the reporters, that's what they do. Where's the debate, where's the conflict,
where's the friction? And the issue becomes secondary.
Bailey/ We could stage some of those for the---
Atkins/ It's lecture 101 I'll give you guys some day.
Vanderhoef/ And truthfully, no one at the podium is probably good news because they
seem to be satisfied with what we're providing at this point.
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Bailey/ But the frustrating thing is right after we approve a budget, somebody's there
asking for more money. It's like, you missed---
Vanderhoef/ Where were you last week?
Bailey/ Exactly. And I'm not sayingnI'mjust saying we're not communicating the
process maybe if people are-n
VanderhoeU And yes it is frustrating so if we can encourage the press to look in the
community and see what people are saying about the services that we have, what
things that they would like to see that they aren't seeing, what things do they see
unnecessary, and get some public conversation about it at least.
Bailey/ Mm-hmm.
Atkins/ Well, clearly, I've heard you say you want some program measurements.
Bailey/ Yes.
Atkins/ We won't be able to do it comprehensively with everybody, but we'll get you
some to allow you to react. I'm going to take Andy's previous work and package
that in a fashion that you can say, OK, now I understand why the fire chief thinks
a fourth fire station's so important. Now, will the public buy that? I don't know.
Elliott! I think one ofthe things that's not often mentioned, they talk about response time
and everything, but one of the things that doesn't often get mentioned in the need
for a fourth fire station is the fact that there's a railroad crossing at South East
Junior High, I mean---
Atkins/ Well, that's part of the response issues.
Elliott/ Yeah, that's it. I just wanted to bring up one thing and I think I'm probably in the
minority but as long as we're talking about priorities, I'd like to see how the rest
of the Council feels. I think I know your answer but I'll ask it anyway. I drive
down Scott and I see traffic backed up for a half mile because it's two-lane. I'm
just awfully tired ofIowa City building arterial streets that are two-lane streets. I
think they ought to be three-lane at least ifnot four-lane.
Champion! Where do you see traffic backed up?
Elliott! On Scott.
Lehman! Where though?
Champion! I've never seen it.
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Elliott! Yeah, Scott Boulevard. When 5:00 o'clock or somethingn-
Lehman! American Legion Road?
Elliott/ No, coming off of North Dodge Street and turning up there. I've seen it backed up
past the old ACT entrance, clear to the stop sign. And it's just, it's unbelievable
and it's going to get worse. And that's because there's only one, whether you
want to go straight, whether you want to turn right, whether you want to turn left
(can't hear)
Atkins/ Don't forget, we're redoing Dodge Street. We're going to spend about 7 million
bucks; hopefully, it will clear some of this up for you.
Elliott/ But we got a two-lane freeway. It doesn't make sense to have a two-lane freeway
and I don't hear anybody jumping and so I'll try to bring this up every so---
Bailey/ Traffic though--a priority that I would have--I won't share that priority because I
don't have it. But as we build places, I think that we need to consider pedestrian
and bike traffic as well, because if you build bigger roads, they will be used. And
I'm not a fan of that kind of transportation, and I think that we have a city that's
easily accessible for alternative transportation so when we look at those things,
that's a priority for me. And I think that we do a good job with that but I just
want to put it out there that (can't hear)
Elliott! I think if you just try to go from east to west at 5 :00 0' clock, it's just impossible.
Bailey/ Then don'tnyou're retired, Bob. You don't have to drive.
(Laughter)
Champion! That's how long it lasts.
Vanderhoef/ Well, when you mention up transportation and use of buses, we constantly, I
shouldn't say constantly, we get every time we request one, an update of the
usage of our bus system and that is one of our huge, huge subsidies out of our
general fund. And if we were looking to prioritize, that's another place that is our
philosophy that has been in place for a number of years or as long as I can
remember, in fact, is that we have blanket coverage. And is that good use of our
tax dollars or should we be looking at a recommendation from our transportation
planners that says I could use this many more and I would have this many more
buses, routes, and this many more riders if I would concentrate on the areas of
the city where the people use the bus?
Bailey/ Mm-hmm.
Vanderhoef/ Versus the ones, twos and threes that get on for a whole route in some cases.
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Bailey/ But I've always wondered why we don't do loop routes.
Atkins/ We do.
Bailey/ Well, but I mean---
Atkins/ That's a figure 8.
Bailey/ I once hopped on a bus to go to work more frequently that looped up and it didn't
go through downtown.
Atkins/ Oh.
Bailey/ OK. I'll just put it out there. I mean, because by the time I go downtown---
Atkins/ Well, we have east side and west side so---
O'Donnell/ East side and west side schools.
Bailey/ Yeah.
Elliott! We're about $3 1/2 to $4 million on subsidies, subsidizing that, are we?
Lehman! No, no.
Champion! Well, now that's going to be a source of revenue for our general fund is when
we get the Transportation Center open.
Atkins/ You get $250,000 of new money coming into the budget.
Champion! We can use that money for the buses---
Lehman! For the buses, and use the bus moneYm
Vanderhoef/ And free up the general fund money.
Atkins/ Now, I've got some gyrations that you have to go through before you get there so
don't rush to---
(Laughter)
Bailey/ We're confident that you can gyratem
Champion! You've got to get it open, you mean?
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Lehman! Don't cash the check.
Atkins/ Don't cash the check, justn-
Bailey/ He's got to gyrate first.
Atkins/ $2.3 million.
Lehman! $2.3?
Atkins/ That's for the City for transit.
Vanderhoetì' Above and beyond the 95-cent levy.
Atkins/ No, that is the 95-cent levy.
Lehman! No, that is.
Vanderhoef/ OK.
Atkins/ That includesm
Vanderhoetì' How much of that is notm
Atkins/ About $500,000.
Lehman! Half of it.
Vanderhoef/ So, that---
Atkins/ Which is about 3 1/2 percent of your general fund.
Vanderhoef/ So a half million dollars---
Atkins/ General fund taxes. Oh, it's a lot.
Vanderhoef/ It's a huge---
Atkins/ We went through several years ago and what did we do? Didn't change a thing.
Champion! It's too hard.
(Laughter)
Atkins/ Now, remember public services that have clear constituencies, transit has a
constituency. Try to change--remember when we went through all the recycling
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things, we were going to change all of that? I'm not putting that at my curb? For
a year we fiddled around with that. People who use those public services
directly, they'll show up at the microphone. The guy worrying whether he's
going to get adequate fire response or not doesn't really worry about it. He just
figures he picks up the phone and calls.
Bailey/ But the guy worrying about getting to work on the bus-n
Elliott/ That's why we have to worry for him.
Atkins/ Oh, I understand that. Absolutely. I'm not diminishing that, Bob, whatsoever. I
know what you mean.
Champion! But I think the bus thingnwhat's the total subsidy?
Atkins/ $2.3 million.
Champion! $2.3 million?
Atkins/ Mm-hmm.
Vanderhoetì' A half a million from general fund monies, the other is tax levy.
Champion! It might be interesting is how many actual people rode the bus last year and
how much we're paying for rides.
Atkins/ We do that every year. It's about $1. 75--the transit patron puts 75 cents in, the tax
payer throws a buck in behind him or more.
Lehman! I think more than that.
Elliott/ But you're talking about the number of people as opposed to the number of rides.
Atkins/ We call them boardings.
Elliott! You might have one person rides it twice a day.
Atkins/ Oh, we know that. We have those numbers.
Bailey/ We should see them then.
Champion! We should see them.
Lehman! Well, we get them every year.
Champion! I'm not counting different people; how many rides?
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Atkins/ We prepare a report every year for you.
Champion! Because I think that might be really interesting.
Atkins/ No, I say we do prepare one for you.
Champion! I know you do.
Vanderhoe£' And how many rides are we talking about after 6:00 o'clock at night? We
look at that.
Champion! (can't hear) and only three people rode it and we didn't discontinue it
becausen-
Lehmani They were all bigger than we are.
Champion! And then there was this poor little guy that couldn't get to work on Saturday
mornings, they changed that bus route.
Bailey/ Right.
Champion! It is a problem.
Bailey/ That is the constituency that typically uses the bus.
Vanderhoef/ But there's another constituency out there.
O'Donnell/ How much do we save when we use the smaller buses? We tried that, too.
Atkins/ Oh, that's, I can't tell you the number because we haven't really done it long
enough. Oh, there is a savings though.
Elliott! On my Council time I had intended to say how I'm extremely pleased that we're
experimenting and looking at that.
Champion! Right.
Lehman! But the savings is not significant.
Atkins/ Savings--your biggest expense is your drive up (can't hear). Because remember
the bus itself gets 80 percent federal funding.
Lehman! Right.
Elliott/ But since r was told that a few years ago, the cost of fuel has doubled and tripled.
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Champion! Mm-hmm.
Atkins/ Yeah, well in our last year's budget we accommodated a dramatic increase; we
knew that was going to happen. Our suppliers had given us a head's up.
Elliott! I've had my say. I appreciate it. Thanks, Steve.
Lehman! Is there anything else that we would like to (can't hear) wisdom for Mr. Atkins?
O'Donnell/ Thank you.
Atkins/ Steve, I hope you recorded all this.
(Laughter)
Helling! If you could give us a synopsis of what we said, we would all appreciate it.
Atkins/ A memo to follow.
Elliott! Yeah.
COUNCIL TIME
Lehman! All right. Council time.
Vanderhoef/ I appreciate the amount of information we got in the packet on historic
preservation but there were still some things missing and with a new person
coming on and lots of changes happening in there, I wonder if we'd like to just
schedule a work session when the new one, person is hired and so we're all up to
speed at the same time on what that Neighborhood Plan is and the schedule that
they talk about in the materials that we got for moving in and along with new
districts and so forth.
Elliott/ I would be in favor of that, Dee, except I would like to wait until this most recent
situation is all taken care of and put to bed.
Vanderhoef/ Well, that's what I saidulater this fall. Do it before budget time or in that.
Champion! Well, if you're talking about reducing the staffing of Historic Preservation,
I'm not willing to do that.
Vanderhoef/ That isn't what I'm talking about.
Lehman! I would like to see a memo from Karin. You know, kind of in the language I can
understand, relatively.
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(Laughter)
Lehman! No, I'm serious. I don't know anything about it. A memo and then if we have
issues, set it for a work session.
Atkins/ What kind of memo are you interested in, Ernie? What do you want, a discussion
of what?
Lehman! I think, first of all, we need to know what things the City can do, what things
the City can't do, what regulations, whatnyou know, it seems to me in some
cases if we support Historic Preservation we start the process, it's kind oflike
jumping off a cliff. We're not going to stop going down. I don't think we're used
to that. We're used to being able to say yes and messing around and say no. I
think there are federal regulations and there are state regulations. I don't think we
understand---
Atkins/ Didn't we write a memo, it seems, like during the initial hullabaloo on, excuse
me, the initial discussion and debatem
Vanderhoef/ Yes, there was. The original planm
Atkins/ I'm sorry.
Vanderhoefi' ...we got pieces of it in here, but I don't have the big picture of what it is and
for us all to get the same information from the same planner that tells us what we
can and cannot do in and review the things that are in that plans. I just thought
maybe it was time for all of us to talk about it and have a presentation.
Dilkes/ Well, there's lots of different processes in that Historic Preservation. You've got
the plan, you've got the register that we just went through, you've got the local
districts, you've got the certificates of appropriateness, I mean, there's all sorts
of different aspects of the Historic Preservation process so I think for your
memo, Steve, you're going to need to have a little more detail than what they
want a memo on.
Vanderhoef/ Well, I think this is the kind of stuff that we need to just go over with the
planner at a work meeting rather than try to stuff it all into a memo.
Atkins/ I sense you want to have a discussion about it. Let me just think about the memo.
Maybe I can write a memo to you. Just let me think about it. I'll get back to you.
Bailey/ We had a pretty good flow chart last time.
Atkins/ I thought we did, too.
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Vanderhoef/ Well, for the one process we had a good flow chart.
Atkins/ Yeah.
Vanderhoef/ But the work ofthe Commission and how these are scheduled, how the
grants fit in, tie in, all that kind of stuff---
Atkins/ You need some history on this.
Vanderhoef/ Mm-hmm.
Atkins/ Yeah. OK.
Elliott/ I have---
Atkins/ Let me just think about it. I'll prepare something for you.
O'Donnell/ Lack of notification there just started that whole problem and that's why I
asked tonight, of the 25 letters I wanted to make certain that each one had been
contacted. And before I have that assurance, I can't--! don't want to have another
20 letters saying, hey, I didn't know anything about this.
Lehman! That would be nice.
Elliott! I have a few items when other people are done.
Lehman! Go.
Elliott! Dog park. There was something in our materials about looking at, Public Works
was going to look at the road and the parking lot, and my understanding when we
approved that preliminarily that that would be done very informally. With a
gravel path and---
Atkins/ Yes.
Elliott! And OK, fine.
Atkins/ When we get changed on that, when we do our capital plan, you'll have a cost of
the road.
Elliott! The other item, the Benton Hill Park, they're talking about an artistic sign--is it
now normal, usual to spend money for artistic signs for neighborhood parks, and
if---
Atkins/ I think this will be our first.
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Elliott! I'm not sure that I like that. I mean it's a neighborhood park, why do you need a
big sign?
Lehman! It was already approved.
Elliott! Ijust don't like the precedent. But if it is, then the newly improved park at
Wetherby needs something.
4. g. (9) Correspondence - Bob Saunders operation of construction equipment
Elliot/ The letter from Bob Saunders, construction hours--have we looked at that?
Atkins/ As far as I know, we contacted him to let him know. I thought we took care of
that.
Elliott! Seven to 10:00. Does the Council think that's appropriate? Heavy equipment
working in a residential area till 10:00 at night?
O'Donnell/ I didn't know it was 10:00 o'clock. I thought it was 7:00 o'clock.
Atkins/ Seven o'clock in the morning you start. You can work till 10:00 at night.
Elliott! If anybody else is interested in evaluating that, I would certainly, 1---
Atkins/ I would be very careful about taking that one on.
Lehman! We're looking at big, big problems for contractors. They have to work when the
weather's good enough.
Atkins/ Often they'll make a pourm
Lehman! Ifit's going to be noisy for a few nights because the weather's good, so be it. I
think they have to do that.
Atkins/ They will make a concrete pour in the afternoon and they have to cut it. I'm
surprised I know thisnthey have to cut it when it's still green.
Elliott! That's what I thought that my construction friends would be unhappy with that
. but there are also just hundreds, I would assume, of parents of children and
people whose working hours who think they can't use their porches.
Lehman! They're not, Bob, they're not hundreds. You're talking about a couple dozen
folks.
Atkins/ Yeah.
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Elliott/ Well, no, over a period of years.
Atkins/ Oh, yeah.
Elliott/ Well, no, over a period of years.
Lehman! Over a period of years, it could be thousands.
Atkins/ It's a little bit like the red lights and sirens.
Elliott! I certainly would like if we can do something to alleviate the problem on North
Dodge Street.
Atkins/ Yes, we're aware.
Elliott/ Whether it's a police person out there or a temporary light or something.
Atkins/ I'll check with Rick tomorrow.
Elliott/ OK.
Atkins/ You've obviously been thinking about that.
Elliott/ Well, I was stuck out there, too.
Champion! If you just stick your car keys away, you won't even-n
Bailey/ You won't even know, Bob, if you just sit on your screen porch and just relax.
Elliott! Can I eliminate all the people on the (can't hear)?
(Laughter)
Vanderhoef/ You just want to take over?
Elliott! Yeah.
Vanderhoef/ Oh, OK!
Champion! You know what--it only adds 10 minutes to your day.
O'Donnell/ Read a book.
Lehman! Anybody else for Council time?
Karr/ Mr. Mayor? Heather wanted me just to remind if any of you want tickets to the
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Human Rights breakfast, please let me know. If you let me know tonight I can
bring them tomorrow morning.
Lehman! A week from Thursday?
Karr/ A week from Thursday at 7:30 in the morning.
Champion! Oh, I will not be there. I've got 33 people at my house.
Lehman! Why don't we all go to yours?
Champion! I'm truly sorry that I can't go because one of my neighbors is to get an award,
and she really, truly deserves it. Probably more than that one award for human
services.
Elliott! Fellow Council members, it has been a true joy interacting with you tonight.
O'Donnell/ Speak for yourself.
Bailey/ Oh, I have something.
Lehman! Yes.
Bailey/ Self-check at the library---
O'Donnell/ Who?
Bailey/ Every time I've been there---
Champion! It's not working?
Bailey/ It's out of order.
O'Donnell/ What is?
Lehman! Talk to the library.
Champion! It's never worked right.
Lehman! They're autonomous.
Atkins/ What is it again called, self-tech?
Bailey/ Self-check.
Atkins/ Self-check.
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Lehman! Hey, I checked out at the grocery store the other night.
Bailey/ Well, how?
Lehman! Fumbling. I did it, run this stupid thing through---
(Several talk)
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