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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-11-15 Transcription November 15,2004 City Council Work Session Page I November 15,2004 City Council Work Session 6:30 PM Council: Bailey, Elliott, Lehman, O'Donnell, Vanderhoef, Wilburn Staff: Atkins, Dilkes, Franklin, Helling, Karr, Severson, Davidson TAPE: 04-65 (Side One) Lehman: Okay, let's get started. We have a presentation from- Karr: Mr. Mayor, we have an addition. Lehman: Oh, we have an addition to add to the - Karr: With your approval, we have received a request to amend an earlier resolution of issuance of the bonds for Oaknoll and they would like to do it all in 2004 rather than a 2005 bond, so I have a resolution amending the earlier resolution and preceding with the sale of said bonds. Lehman: That's 15 B? Karr: That would be 15 B, yes, Sir. Lehman: Is it okay with everybody that we add that tomorrow night. O'Donnell: Yep. Lehman: It's been done. Karr: Thank you. Rape Victim Advocacy Proeram Lehman: Thank you. Okay. Karla Miller from the Rape Victim Advocacy Program. You have a minute and a half. (Laughter). Miller: I'll talk real fast. Karr: Karla, excuse me. Lehman: Over at the microphone, please. Karr: - the microphone, I'm sorry. Wilburn: Otherwise it doesn't exist. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 2 Miller: What I brought is the brochure that discusses our program and it talks about what kind of services we offer, talks about what areas we cover and it's designed for many reasons. One is to reach, first and foremost the people that we serve so that they have an understanding of what they can expect when they come to RV AP. It also talks about who funds us - on the back - some of our funders and it talks about the framework that we use to manage cases. I am pleased to be here to tonight as I have very happy news to report. Things are going very, very well for us. As you know, it's been a rebuilding time for RV AP. We've really looked both internally and externally at how we can improve services, how we can smart about business, and how we can make things works. Let me begin by saying that our infrastructure. We have an accountant who handles the business. We've cut our expenses in almost every area. We also have worked very hard to start looking both short term, in our annual funds, and also in longer term, in setting up endowments so that we can have a solid foundation for our finances. Especially given that a lot of our funds come from federal sources. As you know, there are have been a lot of cuts and that's nothing new. We also were cut. It makes the local funding that much more important. It also makes it really important for us to be able to attract other monies and we've done that and been able to show that we do have local support and that we've had local support for a long time. The staff at the Rape Victim Advocacy Program is one-hundred percent new staff as of a couple of years ago. I am pleased to report that we have together over ninety- years of experience in the field - which is pretty amazing since it's a very young field. It's been my pleasure to work with these staff members and I am continually amazed by their creativity. They were hired, in part, for their passion for the work, for working with victims, and working to improve legislation and to be able to do all the hard work when we're dealing with rape and sexual violence. They are truly a remarkable staff. They have.. . they are very good at networking, at being out there in the community, at working at lots of different levels. I think that you... I hope that you have seen some of that work and I know that some of you have personally been in on meetings that they have been working on. Our networking and collaboration has increased. We are working with the sexual assault response team, we're in the process of rewriting our memorandum of understanding -memoranda of understanding - among each other. We have built... we have worked very hard to build up a level of trust and really work as a team and really be effective in how we rely on each other, how we work together to make sure that the victim is treated sensitively, that cases are prepared in the best way they can be so that we can hold offenders accountable and that each member of the team, while they have different jobs, we appreciate what the other people are doing. The same way with the Johnson County Sexual Assault Investigation Team, working with the County Attorney's office, and really stepping up the prosecutions to the best of our ability and making sure that the victims are taken care of in the process. We ask them to do a very, very hard job and a very scary job - which is to witness to the crime that they were victims of and that's a hard thing to ask somebody to do. It's a much harder thing to do as we know when we've all watched what's happened to victims. I think that our This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15,2004 City Council Work Session Page 3 approach as a community - and by the way we've added.. .the Sexual Assault Response Team has included the University of Iowa Hospitals and it now also includes Mercy Hospital. So a victim can go to either hospital and be seen by a sexual assault nurse examiner. That's a huge, huge benchmark for that program. We've had a lot of people who call and ask about our Sexual Assault Response Team to get information, because they're trying to start them in other communities. One of the things that is very, very recent is that I was contacted by Leah Cohen on Monday, and you know, before we ran an awareness campaign in the bars about the high numbers of rapes involving date rape drugs and women being incapacitated by alcohol. What happened is that.. . I know that Leah has been working with you and that they have formed an advisory board that is really looking at how to make the community safer as it is right now. So, she called me on Monday and Thursday they were putting out posters in the bars and we have a series of eight posters that are going to be rotated through all the bars. Both targeted at reducing risk for women and asking both men and women to watch out for each other to make things safer and also to warn the offenders, or potential offenders, of the consequences oftheir behavior. Obviously we can do all the risk-reduction we can, but it's going to be offenders who are going to decide that they're not going to assault. I think between our community response with law enforcement, with the community saying 'we're not going to have this here', and really raising awareness, we have a really good chance of making a huge difference in the number of people whose lives are disrupted. We're also looking at starting a kind of a grass-roots parent and people who care about kids called Mother Grizzly's. The purpose of this group is to raise awareness about computer predation of children - which is at a phenomenal rate. It's just astounding. Kids go on the computer to just email a friend or go on a chat line to talk about their hobby - and twenty predators are there right away. It's very frightening. It's something that we want to teach parents about and be able to teach kids about so that they can be safe. Additionally, it will also deal with other kinds of child sexual abuse prevention. I think that it can be a very powerful positive thing looking at what we can do. So very often it feels like we're being overwhelmed by this stuff, but I'm seeing more and more networking and that's really giving me a great sense of hope. I've been doing this for a very long time, somewhere around twenty-five years or something, and I feel pretty hopeful. In light of some of the things that have gone on, that's saying something. I'm feeling really good about the direction that we're heading in with a lot of these efforts. We're also going to, wit h the help of the University ofIowa Student Government, improve our web site and really make it something that people will want to come back to time and again for information... to be able to interact with each other... to be able to have access to the materials that we have. We've received calls recently, for example, for information from different states, from within the state, and also from Turkey, Indian, Australia, and Mexico, requesting information on how to run our state-wide hotline, for example, how to provide local services to victims, how to do a SART team. This is what I'm saying about the difference of - or, the important of having staff that's very passionate. They're very knowledgeable. They've worked in this area and sexual assault and domestic violence. They're This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15,2004 City Council Work Session Page 4 creative. They're very, very good. I take great pride in that and I hope you do as well. Finally, I want to go back a little bit to the funding and the kind of creative ways that we're working on being able to match dollars. We're looking at going to specific areas, where there are problems, for example, with the date rape issue, with the clergy abuse issue, and being able to put other people's dollars together with ours and to really make them go a lot farther and to be able to address these problems in a positive and creative way. As you know, there's a lot of healing to be done in the spiritual community, and we're working very hard to be able to know about the resources available and be able to help people to heal, not only on an individual victim level but on a community level and now on a congregation level. So to that end, we've been contacted to do some work in that area, by one of the diocese. So, there's lots of things going on that I think, you know, it's a very hard problem. It's one that we've grappled with a for a long time, but we're getting better and better at it. I work.. .Dudley Allison is with me tonight. He is also on our board - he's the Treasurer - and he works with the department of correctional services and is a parole/probation officer. He and I have worked together for many, many years with sex offenders and so we're bringing together the victim service people and the people who are working with the offenders and - now I'm not saying that we're putting victims and offenders together at all- but what we're doing is that we're taking the knowledge from both fields. We're putting it together, we're learning a lot more about what's effective, both in healing and also in working with offenders to hopefully cut down on the rate of recidivism and also hold them more accountable. So, I could talk about more but it's just a brief update for you. I want to say that things are very exciting, our infrastructure is strong, we're doing the best that we can in terms of making sure that we're running the business end as a business end and that we're keeping that away from crisis and dealing with the crisis in a steady man. Any questions? Bailey: How many staff do you have? Miller: We have nine staff now. One that we brought on, as I said, is an accountant, and then we also have Diane Funk, who was the Director who worked with me for several years and was then the Director after I left, is back as the Assistant Director and providing supervision and also the accountant and the Assistant Director have created a new database that we're working with law enforcement to get our numbers so that we present... so that people can see how do they compare. In other words, how do we answer, when people say, 'How many have you had reported to you?' versus law enforcement and why is there such a huge difference. There are some things that we can only do so much for. People who are concerned about their parents knowing and things like that. We can address those concerns, but there are also other things that we can do to let people, for example, advocates can let victims/survivors know that law enforcement here is trained and very good at what they do, and make those kinds of assurances, and that they will be treated well medically. That goes a long ways towards people wanting to report. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15,2004 City Council Work Session Page 5 Vanderhoef: I'm more interested in the funding and where you are in how your funding is breaking out from. How many different pots of money and how much are you putting together for things like we would contribute to but for the match dollars? Miller: Ok. If you look on the back of this flyer, it will list out the majority ofthe funding sources. We also - we get a great percentage of our budget from the federal money that was comes from the Violence Against Women Act and the Victims of Crimes Act. The majority of the dollars. ..one of the things that this community is I think fortunate, is that our main office is located in Iowa City, so we have the dollars for Johnson County and Iowa City, and those stay here, and then we're also working collaboratively with two other counties, so we're able to benefit from that particular pot of money that comes in on that. We also contacted - we have funding from Johnson County United Way - I'm sorry, it's not on the back, it's on the next to.. .yeah, the next to the back. We benefit greatly from our collaboration with The University ofIowa. We get in-kind support from them in terms of space, risk management funds - they cover all of our risk management - we have access to their purchasing, they do our payroll - so their contribution to us is very, very significant and allows us to take the dollars that we get from you and use them for direct services and to use them to do the other work that we have. Another thing that we did is that we contacted - we're looking at other sources such as the Eastern Iowa United Way, to try to beef up our country work. We're doing more rural outreach, but we're also looking at people who come into Iowa City and who spend a lot of time in Iowa City for recreation or for. ..and that's one of the reasons that we're so concerned about the date-rape drug issue is that people are coming in to town to spend time and to have a good time, and we're faced with this problem. In October, for example, we went to the hospital fifteen times. Now, that's just to the hospital, and you know, very few of the calls that we get end up going to the hospital for a rape exam. Last year, for example, in the first quarter we had about fourteen or fifteen. This year, we had that in one month. So, you know, the question always is, are more people reporting, is it happening more often.. . but if you look at them qualitatively, a lot of those cases are involving women who have, just drinking very little and in some cases not or not enough for what happens to them - they lose conscientious, they have no recollection, they wake up and clearly they've been assaulted - so it's the kind of thing that we have a serious problem that we're trying to manage on lots oflevels. One of the most powerful is awareness. Letting them know that if they feel funny, if someone notices that they're acting strange to really act on that. So those dollars, to get back to your wondering about that, are really focused on almost all of our major things start here in Iowa City and then we're able to apply them elsewhere. Vanderhoef: So can you give me, briefly, the number of people that you have served and then I would be curious of approximately what does it cost to go through the process if you get the phone call and they go to the hospital and then the time for follow-up and if it goes to court, whatever it is. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15,2004 City Council Work Session Page 6 Miller: Okay. We don't charge for our services because they're paid for under the federal Vanderhoef: But what does it cost the - Miller: The cost, I think we figured it at twelve dollars per hour for the volunteers that go in and then we've got the staff. Now, when we have a call.. .our program uses volunteers a great deal. We have some forty-five volunteers. Without the volunteers - just like for a lot of agencies, we couldn't provide the level of services that we do. They take first call and spend a lot of hours on weekends and evenings. Their actual cost and they accompany people to court. For meeting in our office, we have a framework set up that's about twelve individual counseling sessions. If, in case management, we deem that they're either making progress or for some reason it's working well and they want to extend another twelve weeks, then that's fine. In unusual cases, either there's no place to refer them to or they're a specialty kind of case - in other words - there are some things that we have experience with sexual abuse that's kind of an advance thing that really isn't found in our community elsewhere, then we'll work with them. So, we have the staff time.. . and our staff is paid roughly between $26,000-$28,000 for the work that they do plus benefits. Then, we have materials that we hand out. For those materials, those are largely funded by the University ofIowa Student Government, so whatever the cost of the materials that is given to them, perhaps $3-4 per client depending upon what their needs are. We have support groups that we've been writing special grants for so.. . and those run eight weeks and it can be eight people per group for two-hours a week.. .so.. .it's hard to break it down into a dollar amount because each case - you know, sometimes we see somebody once and sometimes we them several times. By in large, if you have somebody who called on the line and we were to put a dollar amount to the advocates, it would probably $12-24 per phone call. The hospital is three-to-five hours and a lot oftimes we get crisis calls at night. You know what I'm saying? I'm trying to answer your question in terms of a per person breakdown, but it's a little harder to do that. I know that we do it pretty inexpensively, in large part again, because of our high use of volunteers. Vanderhoef: How many did you see last year? Miller: We had over nine-hundred new calls and that doesn't include the follow-up calls that we get but that would be anywhere from sexual assaults and then we get other types of things... stalking cases, attempted rapes, sexual harassment, window peekers, obscene phone calls.. . all of those types of calls that we get on the crisis line. We also get a lot of calls from people...it isn't unusual for a victim to.. . that we have a lot of activity with that victim to begin with because there is a lot of practical things that they're dealing with.. . and then to not see them for a period of time as they try to reorganize and get things back to normal. For some people, it becomes very clear that normal has changed so drastically that they end up coming back six months, maybe for some people years later. We also have a lot This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 7 of people who call us who were either sexual abused previously as children or at some other time, many times multiple victimizations and that can be years later and they'll come in for counseling at that point. Those vary. I think that we could have fifteen to twenty clients per month or more. That aspect we're building up, primarily because as people become more aware, we're looking at how do we - because generally the numbers are huge - they're big - so we look at how can we benefit people the best. One of the things that's fortunate is that with sexual abuse, having groups for people is very good for a number of reasons and it's also economically wise to do because you can see eight people at the same amount oftime. Also, there are lots of benefits. We're not cutting corners and throwing them all in a group just for fiscal reasons. It just happens to work out pretty well and we do that. Bailey: Karla, what's your total budget? What's your percentage? Miller: Our total budget is close to a half a million dollars and VOCA and VA W A count for about $220,000. It's a big chunk. Bailey: Oh boy. Vanderhoef: What was that last one that you asked? Bailey: Victims of crime. Miller: How much of the federal money coming through the state do we get... and we have our two largest pots of money come from them. We had a thirteen percent cut in VOCA and I think about a nine percent cut, I'd have to look, in the V A W A grant. I have no idea what's going to happen with it now. It's money that comes from fines that are imposed on offenders, primarily. One year we had a windfall because there was a huge, I think it was the year of the Mitsubishi sexual harassment case and they had a huge fine and that kind of trickled down to us. Elliott: No question, just an observation. I was reminded... today in the mail I received a glossy four-color publication covering a number oftopics in arts and research. One of the items related to research being done on alcohol and binge-drinking that would have related its ongoing project... would have related to a lot of the conversation we've had. You say that you work with the University, I urge you to keep in close contact because they are involved in so much research in so many areas. There may be something ongoing about which we just aren't aware, so I certainly encourage those close ties with the University. Miller: You bet. The other day.. . Peter Nathan is doing a huge study on binge drinking - Elliott: This was not Peter Nathan - this was another person. I was just surprised to learn that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15,2004 City Council Work Session Page 8 Miller: There are several actually. . . but he and several other people were involved in doing some research and I was interviewed for two hours for that... from the aspect of sexual assault. I think you're right. I think that as usual the empirical data is kind of trying to catch up with what we're seeing and I am very, very pro supporting research efforts in alcohol areas and also in looking at how common the date-rape drugs are. I think it's critical. Vanderhoef: Are you keeping statistics on those exact things? Miller: You bet. Vanderhoef: The number of people that come in for examinations, how many of them meet the legal limit of being intoxicated and... Miller: What we keep, as I said, one of the things that we've developed in the last year and a half is a database that really looks at some of those particular questions. In hose many cases is alcohol a factor, for the victim - did she ingest it willingly, was she given very, very strong drinks, how many offenders have used alcohol. It's a very high percentage. So, yes, we do keep that information, in large part because we want to be able to provide that for people who are doing research and also so that we can watch the trends. One ofthe things that you will see, for example, is that last year when we first, in the Fall, saw again, a high number of assaults that appeared to be drug related we came out and warned the public because we were looking at our stats and said there is something here that's a trend.. . and that's critical, I think, for public safety and for raising awareness. I know several years ago, for example, we had a series of cases that involved a jogger coming up behind women and flipping their coats over their heads to be able to subdue them... .so we needed to let people know that if you hear somebody running up from behind you, you need to turn around and look and respond to that. So, for that reason, for being able to respond quickly, to warn the public to be able to support our services, and then also be able to look at research. Personally, one of the things that, when I look at the vision that I have for the Rape Victim Advocacy Program over the years is to really start doing more collaborative efforts with research, in ways that are not real invasive but on the other hand that allow victim survivors to be able to - you know, we can tap into that knowledge base and really start working with people on the effects of trauma, on their risk factors, things like that. Vanderhoef: So, will you be publishing an annual report on number of victims and status of those kind of - Miller: We sure doe. In fact, we send them quarterly and a lot oftimes I like to send them to people like law enforcement, I like to send it to them monthly if we can. We do a monthly and then we do our aggregate on a quarterly basis. I like to send them to anybody who will read them because there is a lots of information in there. We break down the services that we provide, the types of assaults, the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 9 characteristics of both the victims and the offenders, locations ofassaults...and then we also print out where we have done our prevention education programming. What kinds of programming are we doing, who are we doing it with, what types of groups we're reaching. Yeah, I have that and I'd be more than happy to send that to you. Vanderhoef: I'd like to see the annual report. Bailey: I'd like to see it to. Lehman: Karla, we need to move on but thank you so much. I'm sure that if there are other questions you're available for council folks to - Miller: I am and please feel free to call anytime and come visit us too. Lehman: Thank you so much. Plannine and Zonine Franklin: We have three items tonight. A) CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR DECEMBER 7 ON AN ORDINANCE TO CHANGE THE ZONING DESIGNATION FROM MEDIUM DENSITY SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (RS-8) AND NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION RESIDENTIAL (RNC-12), TO MEDIUM DENSITY SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL/HISTORIC PRESERVATION OVERLAY (RS-8/0HP) AND NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION RESIDENTIAL/HISTORIC PRESERVATION OVERLAY (RNC-12/0HP) TO DESIGNATE THE GILBERT-LINN STREET HISTORIC DISTRICT. The first one is setting a public hearing for December 7th on an ordinance to change the zoning designation of this area to make it a local historic district. This is the Gilbert-Linn Historic District. You're just setting a public hearing. B) CHANGING THE ZONING DESIGNATION FROM MEDIUM DENSITY SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (RS-8) AND NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION RESIDENTIAL (RNC-12) TO MEDIUM DENSITY SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL/HISTORIC PRESERVATION OVERLAY (RS-8/0HP) AND NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION RESIDENTIAL/HISTORIC PRESERVATION OVERLAY (RNC-12/0HP) TO DESIGNATE THE RONALDS STREET EXTENSION OF THE BROWN STREET HISTORIC DISTRICT. The next item is a public hearing, which you will have tomorrow night, and that is on the Ronalds Historic District, which is an extension of the Brown Street Historic District. This is recommended to you by both the Planning and Zoning This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15,2004 City Council Work Session Page 10 Commission and the Historic Preservation Commission by unanimous votes of both bodies in favor ofthis designation. Any questions on it? Elliott: Karen, the 611, I think that's the little appendage at the bottom. That's the one from whom we received a letter indicating that she owned the property and would wish to be excluded. Would that be a difficult thing to exclude that little appendage? Franklin: Well, difficult? Elliott: Is it problematic? Franklin: The logic of it would be difficult since it is a key structure. That is it is one of those structures that is of the greatest import for historic preservation reasons. So any of the properties that have a star on them are key structures and frankly, that, the fact that 614 across the street is a key structure and that these properties face Johnson Street and are part of the sense of that place right there is the reason why it is included. Technically, you have the ability to exclude it, but... Lehman: What sorts of objections have we had from this area? Franklin: We've just had the one from Doris. Lehman: Okay, but we've not had significant numbers of people opposing this designation. Franklin: No. Lehman: Okay, thank you. C.) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE PRELIMINARY PLAT OF SADDLEBROOK MEADOWS, PART 1. (SUB04-00030) Franklin: Okay, I'll get back to where I was. Okay, the third item is a resolution approving the preliminary plat of Saddlebrook Meadows, Part 1. This is just south of Whispering Meadows and just west of Saddlebrook addition. You've seen it before with the rezoning. We were waiting for the wetlands determination. The determination was that there are no wetlands on the site and so the preliminary plat is recommended for approval, again by unanimous vote at the Planning and Zoning Commission. Vanderhoef: Karen, I don't remember how big a area is part of the Saddlebrook land and obviously, the one we're platting right now and it must be the one to the west of it that goes over to the greenway. . . but do that they have any more that goes south of where they are? Franklin: Yes. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page II Vanderhoef: So, it is pretty much that whole block on the side... Franklin: Let me just get to that page, Dee. It is all of the RS-8 area there on that site map as well as the RFBH to the east and the RM-20 that's north of that. That's all of. . . well and it also goes south into the 90 acres that was in a conversation easement. That's all the original Sycamore Farms. Was that your question? Vanderhoef: And that's all under one ownership? Franklin: Well, no because some ofthose the RM-20 area has been subdivided, purchased, and developed. Vanderhoef: You mean out by the highway. Franklin: Yes. But otherwise, yes, it's largely the same ownership. The undeveloped property is in the same ownership. Vanderhoef: So it's the RFBJ - both north and south of the developed area now. Franklin: Not north. That's Bon Aire. There's the Paddock- Vanderhoef: Got it. Okay, thank you. Lehman: Thank you, Karen. Elliott: Tough night. Franklin: I know. I'm trying to keep it this way. O'Donnell: You're doing well. Aeenda Items Lehman: Okay, agenda items. ITEM 10. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE 2004-2005 DEER MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR lOW A CITY. Atkins: I have one item for you, Ernie. Item 10, the Deer Management Plan. I consulted with Pat Farrant, Chair and we would like to recommend that it be deferred at the meeting for a work-session discussion on the sixth and that it would be on for legislative action on the seventh. As you probably know from press accounts, the DNR gave us some new rules and we want to make sure that we can accommodate those and a couple of other issues, and the task force is going to meet Wednesday night and that would allow them the time to recommend... so if it's okay with you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 12 Lehman: Can we have Pat here? Atkins: Pat will be here at the meeting, yes. Lehman: That's good. Vanderhoef: What date? Lehman: December 6th. Atkins: It's our 6/7 meeting, Dee. 6th for the work session and ih for legislation. Lehman: Other agenda items? Item 4(f)(4) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE DESIGN OF THE SIGNAGE FOR "KCRG 9 NEWS" AND "THE GAZETTE" ON OLD CAPITOL TOWN CENTER AT 201 S. CLINTON STREET. Elliott: I have a few things. I think they'll get taken care of quickly. The Design Review Committee that dealt with the signs on the Old Capitol Mall. Is that a federal or local regulation? Franklin: Local. Elliott: Local. Okay. Is there any reason why staff simply couldn't take care of that sort of thing and then come to us only ifthere is an impasse? Franklin: If you wish to. Lehman: We had that discussion and I was one of the few that did not want it to even come to council but council decided that they wanted it to come to us. Elliott: A commercial sign is a commercial sign. I mean... put it up. Bailey: But coming to council gives it some public notice and some public awareness and I think that's part of a good process.. .even if it's just really pro-forma review. I just think that it's a good thing. Elliott: I just hate to see this kind of... to me... the City is overreaching on attempting to control things and if they need a sign for business and if there is an impasse then come to us. But, if everyone else likes it to come to us then that's fine. Wilburn: Coming to council is.. .even if it doesn't come to council, it's still government relation dealing with staff. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 13 Elliott: Yeah, but then it would only come to council if it were in impasse and if it were an impasse, I'd probably say put up the sign. Franklin: Just to have a little bit of history on this.. .we used to have a community design review committee that was appointed by the city council. . .. we did have problems getting people to serve on that community because of conflicts. .. a lot of people in the design professions also work with the City on different projects so they had conflicts and couldn't be on the design review committee.. .at least that was one reason. A few years ago, and I don't remember exactly how long it was, we changed it from a citizen appointed - a council appointed citizen committee - to a staff committee but retained the step of review at a staff level and then coming to the city council. So we have eliminated one step in terms of a bureaucratic revIew. Lehman: Much better procedure than we used to have. Elliott: If a majority ofthe council likes to continue with it, that's fine with me. It's just an observation. Lehman: I think that by ordinance it has to come back to the council, unless we change it. Elliott: Yeah. Franklin: Right.. . and we brought that ordinance before you a few years ago and the decision was not to change it. Elliott: I would be in favor of changing it but that would take a majority. O'Donnell: I don't disagree with you, Bob. I think that it is an extra step that we really don't need to go through, and I was one that agreed wit h you a while back Ernie. Lehman: I knew you agreed with me once. (Laughter) O'Donnell: One time. Lehman: Is there sufficient interest to put it on a work session? Elliott: I'd like to talk about it some time. Vanderhoef: I'm not interested. Bailey: I'm not interested. O'Donnell: I'm interested. Vanderhoef: Karin, before you go, I forgot to ask you a question. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 14 Elliott: I would be interested in talking about it, but if others feel very strongly it's not that big of a deal with me. O'Donnell: It appears like the rest are uninterested. Lehman: Okay, other agenda items besides signs. Item 6a. CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR DECEMBER 7 ON AN ORDINANCE TO CHANGE THE ZONING DESIGNATION FROM MEDIUM DENSITY SINGLE F AMIL Y RESIDENTIAL (RS-8) AND NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION RESIDENTIAL (RNC-12), TO MEDIUM DENSITY SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL/HISTORIC PRESERVATION OVERLAY (RS-8/0HP) AND NEIGHBORHOOD CONSERVATION RESIDENTIAL/HISTORIC PRESERVATION OVERLAY (RNC-12/0HP) TO DESIGNATE THE GILBERT-LINN STREET HISTORIC DISTRICT. Vanderhoef: I forgot to ask Karin. Franklin: I'm here. Vanderhoef: About the letter from the State Historical Society, the October 11 th one was referred to in the packet in another letter from the State Historical Society. Is the letter of the II th the letter that said that they wanted to keep all of the commercial area m... Franklin: Yes. Vanderhoef: I just don't recall seeing that letter. ..so I wasn't sure. Karr: Which item are you on? Vanderhoef: It's item 6A. Elliott: And that relates to the register not to the district. Is that correct? Franklin: The October II th letter relates to the National Historic District Designation, but when they responded to the Local District Designation, where they get to review and comment, they included that letter as a rationale for extended the local district, that would have been their recommendation, which the Historic Preservation Commission and the Planning and Zoning Commission said 'Thank you respectively, we will proceed with what we have.' Dilkes: I think the October II th was the one I responded to and I gave you a copy of that in an earlier packet. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 15 Vanderhoef: I'll have to look it up. Franklin: I think that October II Ih letter was actually addressed to Shelley McCafferty, and you, Eleanor, responded to it, but I think you only included some communication that you'd had with the State before, so you may not have gotten copies of it, unless it was. . . is it in this packet? Atkins: It's not this one. I remember Eleanor writing it because you were asking for a response and you referenced that letter. I thought it was in the packets last time. Elliott: It was in one of the last two packets. Dilkes: I may not have included it as an enclosure to my letter, I probably wouldn't have since I was responding to it, so you may not have that letter, but I think it's pretty clear from my response what the letter did. Franklin: I'm certainly happy to get a copy of anyone who wants it. Vanderhoef: . . . they want to see the businesses in that district. Franklin: Yeah, and we're not. Item 4(g)(6) Correspondence Linda Flowers: Beautification Mormon Trek Blvd Plantings [Staff response included] Elliott: Under correspondence, we got a letter from Linda Flowers. I don't think.. . Jeff, I just wanted to vent just a tad...I was driving from Coralville and I thought it's a pity to have the median of Mormon Trek filled with weeds.. . and I find out it's historic weeds. Davidson: They're prairie plantings and they use to take up the entire median and now we have - Elliott: I like it better when it looks as though it's intended to be that way. Davidson: Unfortunately, with prairie plantings, they don't always look that way. Elliott: It's still weeds. Davidson: The University maintains that and... Elliott: No big deal. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Wark Session Page 16 Item 4(g)(11) Correspondence Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld: School Crosswalks Bailey: As long as we're on correspondence, can I ask about the letter from Chesca Colloredo - about the school crosswalks? O'Donnell: I was going to bring that up too. Davidson: What letter is that? O'Donnell: Chesca Colloredo. Bailey: It's regarding school crosswalks. She's sent an email before and then she sent another one saying 'Did you get it?'. Davidson: We did check that out and the official school safe-walk route, which is the route that the police, the PT A, and the school administration agree on, that is all marked and the pavement markings are in place and the signage is in place. O'Donnell: Her concern was that cars were kind of blowing through stop signs. Davidson: The concern that she expressed is a concern that is expressed all over town and unfortunately that seems to be the way of motorists these days unless you have some enforcement out there and we can't have enforcement everywhere. Bailey: Has that been communicated with her because she seemed to be saying, "Did you get my email.' Davidson: I will double-check. I believe it has but I will double-check. I believe that she and Anisa have corresponded, Regenia, but I will double check that. Item 4(g)(2) Correspondence E-Newsletter City of Atlanta - November 2, 2004 Vanderhoef: Another correspondence. The e-newsletter from the City of Atlanta. I don't know how we're getting it, but I did notice on the tail end of this time that we can unsubscribe. Karr: And I noticed that on the tail-end also and I accidentally did it. Vanderhoef: And what? Karr: I unsubscribed. Lehman: Accidentally unsubscribed. Very good. Bailey: Oh, Marian. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15,2004 City Council Work Session Page 17 Vanderhoef: Fantastic. I think that's a waste of paper. Elliott: Here, here. Somebody agrees with me. (Laughter) I like this. Bailey: I kept looking for the meaning.. . Atlanta? Atlanta? Vanderhoef: I just couldn't see how it relates to us. Item 4(g)(1) Correspondence JCCOG Traffic Engineering Planner: Change NO PARKING 8 AM to 6 PM MON-FRI to NO PARKING ANY TIME signs on the south side of Brookland Park Drive Item 4(g)(9) Correspondence David Caplan: Brookland Park Drive Parking Change Elliott: Are we going to take out the Brooklyn Park Drive letter? Davidson: Yes. If you have any questions about that prior to your discussion tomorrow, I will not be able to attend tomorrow, but I can answer any questions about that that you might have. Elliott: I think there was a request that we eliminate it from the agenda so that someone could speak to us about it and they couldn't if it were on the agenda. Davidson: If you want to reconsider it or have any discussion about it you'll need to take it off. Wilkes: No, no, just a minute. Bailey: Just from the consent agenda. Dilkes: It can still be talked about if it's on the consent agenda. If you want to vote on it separately, it has to come off. Elliott: Oh, I thought they couldn't speak if it were on the agenda. Vanderhoef: I don't understand why we are really looking at something that has been deemed not a safety issue. Davidson: It was requested by the neighborhood association. Vanderhoef: I understand that, but I am concerned about setting this kind of presidence. Bailey: Can we just send it back to the neighborhood association? Davidson: This is our standard procedure. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15,2004 City Council Work Session Page 18 Vanderhoef: It leads to a problem with. . . Lehman: We did this on Tower Court, we've done this several times in Iowa City. Vanderhoef: But they were safety issues. Lehman: Tower Court was nothing more than a parking issue. Davidson Tower court was exactly like this one. Lehman: Right, people were storing their cars there, working at the hospital, and the neighbors didn't like that. Tape 04-65 (Side Two) Davidson: Just to clarify that one. That one was where the neighborhood voted to take all of the parking off. There was one or possibly two rental property that really depended on that on-street parking so council, in that instance, went against the majority vote of the neighborhood and indicated that we are going to leave parking on one side of the street because these one or two houses really needed it. Lehman: But we also made it between nine and four. The prohibition was such that it addressed the issues that the neighbors had and still took care of the problem. Tower Court is not prohibited except during certain hours, which means I think it's prohibited before nine o'clock in the morning, which eliminated the commuters. Davidson: I have to admit, Mr. Mayor, I don't recall that just exactly, but I do recall that council took that into consideration and you're free to do that on this item. It has been expressed by a couple of residences that they really depend on the on-street parking and in spite of the neighborhood feeling otherwise, they would appreciate you taking that into consideration. Vanderhoef: Are those rental houses, do we know? Davidson: I believe at least one is. The correspondence indicated that there were three individuals who rented the property and they needed at least one space on-street to keep a vehicle. Just to give you the full scoop, it was originally brought to our attention by one individual who didn't like the fact that people, when pulling out of their driveway, there would be a car parked there. The streets are very narrow. Much to that individuals.. .well, let's just say that they disagreed with us, we did not deem that to be a safety related issue. We deemed it to be a convenience related issue. So, at that point, the individual requested a neighborhood survey and we said that we would require more than one individual to make that request. It would either have to be a petition or the neighborhood association. So, almost This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 19 immediately the neighborhood association did make that request and then we proceeded with the survey. Four to two in favor, there is one individual who indicated that he is opposed to it, did not receive a survey, was mailed one according to our records, that would have made it four to three, that still would have been a majority. Lehman: Are we going to take this one off tomorrow night? Elliott: Good. Lehman: I said are we? O'Donnell: I think we should. Elliott: Just based on the letter...I wasn't clear what the situation was. Lehman: We'll defer it to the next regular meeting at which time we can have a little more information on it. Davidson: Any other information that you'd like from us? Lehman: I don't know what it would be at this point. Davidson: Okay, just let me know. Elliott: I have a question about the cab color scheme. Dilkes: I'm sorry, can we... the one you were just talking about. You don't want to just take it off and discuss it separately tomorrow? You want to defer it? Lehman: I don't know that we have enough information to intelligently discuss this tomorrow night, do we? Dilkes: It sounds to me from some ofthese emails that people are coming to talk to you tomorrow night about it and want it taken off so they can talk about it. Lehman: Oh, we can do this, with permission of council, we can consider it separately, which means we can allow the public to speak to that issue and then either defer it to the next meeting or pass or defeat it. Dilkes: Yes. Lehman: All right, so we'll take it out and consider it separately, go ahead and take comment from the public, if we choose to approve it, fine, we can choose to defeat or defer it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 20 ITEM 8. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 5, "BUSINESS AND LICENSE REGULATIONS," CHAPTER 2, "VEHICLES FOR HIRE," SECTION 5-2-8 "VEHICLE FOR HIRE REQUIREMENTS," OF THE CITY CODE BY DELETING (B) "DISTINCTIVE COLOR SCHEME REQUIRED" AND REPLACING IT WITH A NEW (B) "DISTINCTIVE COLOR SCHEME REQUIRED" TO CLARIFY LANGUAGE. (SECOND CONSIDERATION) Elliott: I think it deserves council's consideration. Cab color scheme. People who own cabs buy a permit and they meet some restrictions. What do we do to protect them from independents, who do not? Lehman: What do you mean? Karr: Are you asking about the color scheme or are you asking about pirating licenses? Elliott: Marian, we had a call on that. Karr: Right, but those. are two different issues, Bob. The pirating had nothing to do with color schemes. Elliott: No, no, no, but I was reminded of it because of the color scheme. It's not related. I'm just saying that there are people who purchase permits, who meet our requirements, and it appears that there are others who are operating as cabs, but do not have permits and do not meet requirements. Are we allowed to conduct stings, are we allowed to do anything to protect those people who purchase the permits? Karr: I did follow up on that request, Bob, and found out that first, and foremost, every vehicle that picks up passengers and charges a fare in the city limits is required to have a license. Now, those people who chose not to get a license and chose to pirate on busy nights, it can be problematic. Our police department, I checked with Sergeant Lalla, and he has informed me that they do work on complaint basis. The more information that you can give about a pirate vehicle, taxi cab model - they have done sting operations two other times and in both situations were not able to - they were able to locate the car, followed it for days, and it did not pick up any fares. What we do need and we do encourage as we tell any company who does pay to be licensed in the city that it isn't fair that they do follow the rules and do pay the fees and other people do not and do collect the fares. We must catch them doing it and they pick a time when obviously it is the busier times but the police department does work on a complaint basis, the more information the better, as I said, make and model of car, license plate, -- they do follow up on it - but we need that information to do the follow up. Elliott: Just the one that was reported to me was that the cab picked some people up, there This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 21 were people left over, somebody else picked them up. There's nothing that says you can't be a good Samaritan and give someone a ride. You just can't charge for it. Karr: We also did ask the individual if they saw money exchange hands and no, they only saw the people get into the car. Elliott: I just hope that we do whatever we can to protect those who do meet our requirements and pay us money to do that. Karr: I understand. O'Donnell: Is this recurring problem? Is this happened over...is it just a one-time thing? Elliott: I don't know whether it's recurring once a month or whether we have it happen five times a Saturday night. I have no idea. Karr: Friday and Saturday nights we have more entrepreneurs out. Lehman: I suspect handling it on a complaint-basis is probably the only thing we can do. Vanderhoef: We're not New York. Lehman: Are there any other agenda items? ITEM 12. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AND FILE AN APPLICATION WITH THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION FOR A GRANT UNDER 49 U.S.C. 5307 AND/OR 5309, TO BE USED FOR FY05 TRANSIT OPERATING AND/OR CAPITAL ASSISTANCE FUNDING. Elliott: What have we learned about small buses? Atkins: I'm sorry, Bob, what was that again? Elliott: Isn't there something, let's see. Lehman: It was about squeaky brakes on buses. Elliott: Item 12 on buses. Lehman: Squeaky brakes. Elliott: Yeah. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15,2004 City Council Work Session Page 22 Lehman: You're going to have trouble with Eleanor if you're start getting to small buses off of squeaky brakes. Dilkes: I do remember something about squeaky brakes. Bailey: It's the grant he's talking about.. .you mean item 12? Elliott: Yes. Lehman: Oh good. Aktins: It's the annual gra~t that we apply for, for transit operating assistance. We do it every year. Elliott: I just wondered.. . have we learned anything about possible savings from using small buses and how small are they? Are they twelve-to-fifteen passenger-like vans? Atkins: I think the bus that is used in Manville Heights is about twenty-three. Does that sound right? Davidson: They're more than vans. Atkins: They're bigger than vans, I know that. O'Donnell: They're quite a bit bigger. Davidson: It's a light-duty transit bus and they're like the para-transit like SEATS uses. Elliott: Have we learned that there's some savings? Davidson: There does appear to be some, a certain niche for those, they're not going to get wide-spread use, they're not considered as heavy-duty, they don't have as long a life-span as the other vehicles, but I think that Joe and Ron do feel that there is a niche for them out there in the late-evening service and they intend to continue that. Elliott: Good, that was my question. ITEM 13. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A DEDICATION OF SCHOOL SITE AND COST SHARING AGREEMENT BETWEEN CLEAR CREEK, LLC; SOUTHGATE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, INC.; THE CITY OF IOWA CITY; AND THE CITY OF CORALVILLE This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 23 ITEM 14. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A CHAPTER 28-E AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF CORALVILLE, THE CITY OF IOWA CITY, SOUTHGATE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY AND CLEAR CREEK, LLC REGARDING CERTAIN OBLIGATIONS INVOLVING THE CONSTRUCTION OF CAMP CARDINAL ROAD FROM AN AREA SOUTH OF CLEAR CREEK IN CORALVILLE SOUTHERLY TO MELROSE A VENUE IN lOW A CITY. ITEM 15. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION RECOMMENDING THE AWARD OF A CONTRACT BY THE CITY OF CORALVILLE, FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE CAMP CARDINAL ROAD SITE PREPARATION PROJECT AlKAI CAMP CARDINAL ROAD PRELIMINARY CLEARING PROJECT. Dilkes: On items 13, 14, and 15.. .you'll have to stay tuned for tomorrow night. (Laughter). This project is...13 is the school site agreement, which has not, as I understand it, come together yet. Ifthat happens, I may revise 14 to make award of the Camp Cardinal road project contingent on a school site agreement being executed, so that we can proceed with 15. ITEM 13. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A DEDICATION OF SCHOOL SITE AND COST SHARING AGREEMENT BETWEEN CLEAR CREEK, LLC; SOUTHGATE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, INC.; THE CITY OF IOWA CITY; AND THE CITY OF CORALVILLE Lehman: You will explain all of that tomorrow night so we have some idea about.. . we also have item lIon the agenda, which is similar in some regards, I think, to an issue we dealt with last work session and it's relative to some low-income housing tax credits in the Whispering Meadows Garden. This is for twelve units. There is a memo in the packet from Steve Nasby that indicates there are additional four units, which were not included in the proposed project, that is currently being requested by council. Just heads up, think about it, we'll talk about it tomorrow night. Vanderhoef: I talked with Steve Nasby this week and he said the state guidelines that we heard at the podium at the last meeting, that they really didn't want to consider projects with less than sixteen and we still said no to combining the two-years funding and now evidently the guidelines is down to twelve but he can't apply with twelve in the proj ect. Lehman: The issue for me isn't the number of units so much as the location. 1 thought we made it pretty clear. Bailey: I'm not going to support this, but we can talk about it tomorrow. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15,2004 City Council Work Session Page 24 Elliott: Weare not constrained on our voting on this by whether or not it complies to the overall plan? Bailey: There were no constraints on that money that was awarded, right? Dilkes: Let me just summarize a little bit. We have - this is the 2004 money. We do have a signed agreement. As you know, those agreements are signed by Steve, and that was dated March 11,2004 which provides for use of the HOME funds for acquisition of the property. Unlike the situation you faced last year, remember this came up last year and there was an agreement that had been signed but that agreement identified the location ofthe properties. This agreement does not. So, in my opinion the tax credit application, which requires the approval of that specific location, gives you new information and I don't think there is anything in the agreement that requires you to support the tax credit application. Elliott: I'm opposed on the basis of location and concentration and that is a legitimate basis on which to vote? Dilkes: I think you can vote no if that's your opinion. Council Appointments Lehman: Okay, Council Appointments. Board of Adjustment, we have no application. Board of Appeal, one vacancy, we have one applicant. Douglas Du- O'Donnell: DuCharme. Vanderhoef: It's a reappointment. I think that's fine. O'Donnell: That's fine. Ellliott: Well.. . here we go. Lehman: Human Rights Commission. O'Donnell: We have three for three? Lehman: No, we have a letter tonight... O'Donnell: We have four for three. I would like to nominate Sara Baird. Lehman: Well, that's fine we have Sara as nominated but we have a letter from I believe Heather, indicting t hat a present person who serves on the commission apparently there is significant reason to be think that they would like to apply again. They have not. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 25 Bailey: I talked with Beth a couple of weeks ago and she indicated to me that she was reapplying, so I was surprised. Lehman: Well, apparently she missed it.. . so I would personally - Vanderhoef: She's out of the country is what Heather told me. . . but this is one of those cases that a lot of times when they come in... Bailey: She's just been here, what, three months? Vanderhoef: Three months for an unexpired term. Karr: No, our policy is six months and we did it in June. Bailey: Oh, okay. Lehman: I would suggest that we re-advertise and make the appointment at the next meeting. That way she would have an opportunity - Elliott: I concur. Vanderhoef: That's still less than six months. Lehman: Well, what difference does it make? She's only been appointed for three and she has to be reappointed and in order to be reappointed she has to apply. Karr: And her letter of appointment and appointment had those dates in it. Lehman: Is the next meeting okay? Karr: Just defer until December ih? Lehman: Is that enough for her to make the application. Karr: I don't know. Bailey: I haven't talked to her. Lehman: Do you know when she's coming back? Vanderhoef: No, I don't. Elliott: I would like to have her be one of the people we appointment along with Sara Baird and Elizabeth Cummings. . . but I think we need to wait until we have her application. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 26 Bailey: Or to see if she is indeed interested. Lehman: But I think we should do all of that at the same time. Can we... Karr: You can defer as long as you want to defer. Lehman: Why don't we just defer that until December 7, if that isn't enough time we'll defer it again. All right. Parks and Recreation. Wilburn: Are we going to let the people, who are waiting about this appointment, know that it's being deferred? O'Donnell: - and the reason. Wilburn: Yeah. Lehman: Parks and Recreation Commission has two vacancies and three applicants, if I'm not mistaken. O'Donnell: I think Matt Pacha and Phil Reisetter. Vanderhoef: I'll second that. Elliott: I would go with Matt Pacha. . . I think I'd like to have Drew Dillman considered. Bailey: That was my - Wilburn: and mine as well. Lehman: You know, we're going to have a little bit of a problem because this is going to be a three to three vote. O'Donnell: Where's Connie when we need her. Vanderhoef: Is she back tomorrow night? Karr: Connie called ill, so I don't know if she'll be here tomorrow night. Vanderhoef: Okay. Elliott: We all want Matt Pacha.. . and let me say, just to interject, Matt has been on the board twelve years and on that basis I would rather he not be reappointed but I'm hearing that he is just an exemplary member and has done many. . . I have to defer to those people who have better knowledge than I do and say that I would favor Matt Pacha. . . but I also like Drew Dillman. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15,2004 City Council Work Session Page 27 Vanderhoef: And why I looked at Philip was kind of looking at the Commission that I try to continue to balance those that have a bent towards the recreation part versus the parks and open space.. . and I thought perhaps Phillip filled a recreation that wasn't as well represented on the commission. Bailey: Well, I try to look at people who, uhm.. .are...I don't know, Drew seems to be very, very interested and not as active in other. . . this seems to be his focus area... the parks... so I thought that was an interesting... O'Donnell: Phil is very interested in trails and parks and is an avid outdoorsman and I still support Reisetter definitely. Elliott: Dillman? Wilburn: Dillman. Lehman: Reisetter, we got three. We don't have an appointment, I'll talk to Connie tomorrow, we'll find out and... O'Donnell: But we are okay on Matt Pacha. Lehman: Matt, right. Elliott: Are we going to go ahead with one and then defer the other one? Lehman: Well, my suspicion is, no I don't think there's going to be an issue. We'll talk to Connie prior to the meeting... .whichever one Connie chooses is the one we'll appoint. O'Donnell: Unless you'd like to change your mind right now. (Laughter) Elliott: Mike, almost anything... Lehman: Public Art Advisory Committee, we have no applications. The Senior Center Commission, we have two vacancies and three applicants. Wilburn: Four applicants. Lehman; Oh, four. Elliott: Yes, Honohan, Kelly, Ruff, and Frey. O'Donnell: I think Jay Honohan and Betty Kelly. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 28 Elliott: I like Jay Honohan and Janice Frey. Jay Honohan, I think, is very important. He's been on for six years. Janice Frey is a graduate student in social work, which brings kind of an interesting perspective to... Bailey: She is also.. . demographically, what I've heard Linda say, is they're trying to look at younger seniors and she demographically fits that. Wilburn: Right. Lehman: We routinely do not... .Betty Kelly is currently serving an unexpired term, which means she has not had a full term and we routinely give an opportunity to serve a full term. I don't have a strong feeling, except it would appear that that might not be. .. O'Donnell: That has been council policy. Lehman: Well, it's been... but there is nothing written. O'Donnell: There's nothing written, but it's been our policy... so I supported her. Lehman: Is Jay Honohan acceptable to all of us? Alright. How about Betty Kelly? How many would support Betty? Alright, Betty Kelly is second. Elliott: Fine. Bailey: It's hard to know what to do. Lehman: Yes, Sometimes it's so hard to get applicants and then you find really, really good applicants and you can't... Bailey: I kind of want to shuffle them around and put someone on Board of Adjustment. Elliott: Do we send letters to these people who apply and are not selected? Karr: Yes. We send letters and we also send vacancy notices of other - Elliott: It would certainly be nice if they received our thanks and a note of appreciation. Good. Council Time Lehman: Council Time. Mr. Steve. On my way to the council meeting this evening, I walked rrom my store as I have done the last several times and in my fancy years I forget by the time we get to council time what I was going to say. .. Atkins: That's part of the plan. (Laughter) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15,2004 City Council Work Session Page 29 Lehman: We have so many street lights burned out. Four of them burned out on the block right across from the Civic Center. Right in front of the old Press Citizen building. I don't know. I can't imagine how we can have four street lights in a row burned out.. .have had now for two weeks. Nobody notices. O'Donnell: Because they work during the day. Lehman: We do have people at night that are out. Particularly the holiday season... Atkins: Four street lights across from where, again, Ernie? Lehman: Right across the street. From this office up to the corner, there's four lights out in one block. Atkins: I forgot for a minute. (Laughter) Lehman: Oh, Steve, I'm going to walk you out after the meeting if I can remember why. Atkins: I'll see that those are taken care of. Bailey: I know that the Downtown Association is working on the alley issue. . . the alleys...I got an email about the alleys that are.. ..at Washington and Clinton and Dubuque. .. that circle back there. Atkins: Washington? Bailey: You know the little, you go off of Iowa and go back in there and it's closed. Atkins: That's a private alley. It's private ownership. McDonald Optical and those stores that back up. Bailey: So, it can just look like a mess? Atkins: We have no - it can look like a mess. Bailey: Okay. O'Donnell: That's a really difficult to get in. Vanderhoef: And only some of the properties own part of the alley, even though they- Bailey: I guess there's - Dilkes: You probably...I know that we don't currently have authority, but we probably could have some if it was a nuisance issue. There's a band and equipment she said. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 30 Atkins: It could be parked on someone's property because the property lines all meet sort of in the alley. Bailey: Oh, major trash including.. . but the other alleys don't look so perky either. Well, you know, given the holiday season... the Englert is opening, we want to get people downtown.. . they really do... Atkins: look bad. Bailey: They look bad. Vanderhoef: Isn't the alley going into the center section.... Bailey: She's really talking about the center section. Vanderhoef: And there's four property owners out of all those in that block, or something like that, that own pieces back there. I know that we don't own any of that. Elliott: Question is, is the work on the alley's.. .or the thinking about the alley's - is that moving forward? The only thing I've seen is the Art Committee, which seems to be putting the cart before the horse talking about art. Atkins: The Downtown Association, I'm afraid, I don't see much movement on that. We sort of stepped back to allow them to proceed. Ernie's shaking is head. Ijust don't see it.. ..we're going to have to weigh back in again. I just don't see... Lehman: The last I heard, they were trying to get something together on that alley next to West Bank. Bailey: I think they are going to go alley by alley. Lehman: Yeah, they were going to try to that as kind of a pilot proj ect and I understood that they kind of gotten an agreement a long time ago. Atkins: I heard just the opposite, that it fell all apart. Lehman: Well, it could have, I haven't talked to anyone in the month. Atkins: Let me find out for you. I'll get a memo off to you in the next week or so. Bailey: This is another little aesthetic downtown. Is anybody else interested in seeing a mural on the wall by. . . Vanderhoef: The Plaza Tower. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15,2004 City Council Work Session Page 31 Bailey: Ijust think with the holidays coming and we're trying to get more people downtown, it just seems a little... Atkins: Oh, the construction wall.. ..oh yeah. Bailey: Right across from our brand new public library that has all these beautiful windows that look out on just ugly... Lehman: How did we get the previous construction wall painted around the library? I think the library coordinated it. I'd love to see them do it again. Vanderhoef: I think, what's her name from Parks and Rec, got the kids- Atkins: Joyce Carroll? Vanderhoef: Yes, Joyce. Atkins: I'll find out for you. Bailey: That would be great. Lehman: I would totally agree. Elliott: I think what you need to do is pass a resolution that it should not be done and then you'll get some people to do it. (Laughter) Vanderhoef: But then you're not what you're going to get. Lehman: We never know what we're going to get. Bailey: I just want something that's sort of in the big scope of our... you know, inventive graffiti.. . Vanderhoef: A Winter Wonderland... Bailey: No, it doesn't have to...it just shouldn't be four letter words and cussing things about women. Lehman: Anything else? Wilburn: A week from tomorrow - Atkins: Hold it, Ross...I haven't walked along it in a while.. .if it is, we'll get that painted immediately, that's not graffiti. Is it pretty course? Lehman: It's not vulgar, but pretty crude. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15,2004 City Council Work Session . Page 32 Atkins: Okay. Excuse me, Ross. Wilburn: Are you done, Steve? (Laughter) Atkins: Yes, I'm sorry. Wilburn: A week from tomorrow, East Central Iowa, the League of Cities, and the Association of Counties is having the legislative forum over at the Coralville City Hall from 4:00-6:00pm and we're all invited to come. Lehman: Dee. Vanderhoef: Ahhh.. .At JCCOG we were told about the big reviews of the agencies for United Way funding and I kind of copied down those five dates... but I think that this is something that I would be interested in.. . and I hope that some of you would be too.. .of going and participating in those strategic reviews. They're only doing half ofthem this year and then half next year and there's only five this year that are being done on agencies that we have traditionally funded and I think we should have a representative or two.. .I'd love to have two or three representatives from council there to hear that. Lehman: You're interested in going. Is there another person interested in going, Regenia? Bailey; Yeah, I was interested. Lehman: Good. Bailey: But I don't know the dates, I forgot to look at that. Vanderhoef: One that I cannot attend is the Free Medical Clinic on December 4th, because I will be at National League of Cities. Bailey: Isn't that a Saturday? Vanderhoef: Uh-hum. I think it is. Lehman: I think it would be wonderful if you could go. Bailey: Oh yeah. I'll look at it. Lehman: You can get together with Dee. Elliott: I have a question about the Leadership Forum at Kirkwood later this week. I'm going. Is that... who knows what that is all about. I'm new on the council. Is that going to be legislative leadership from the state legislature? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15,2004 City Council Wark Session Page 33 Atkins: Oh, is that the one that Chambers is sponsoring? Elliott: Yeah. Atkins: And it just happens to be at Kirkwood. Elliott: We've written a letter, but I think we need to do some very concerted lobbying and I would like to see.. . Ernie, are you going to be there or are you tied to the store? Lehman: We're not going anywhere until after the first of January. Elliott: Well, ifthe legislative leaders are there, I would like for Iowa City to be able to provide them with an official notification that we're going to be coming with some very specific and very thoughtful recommendations on meaningful penalties for alcohol-related offenses. I'm hoping that we're also contacting other cities and towns throughout the states that have colleges and universities... Atkins: I have that list. Elliott: Good, so I think we need to really work on that. Vanderhoef: When is that, Bob? Elliott: I beg your pardon? Karr: When is the date on that? Bailey: The 19th. Atkins: The 19th. Lehman: That's in Cedar Rapids? Vanderhoef: Yeah, at Kirkwood. Lehman: And that is the situation that if more than three of us are there then it becomes an official meeting, so... Vanderhoef: I am. O'Donnell: There's three. Karr: Just three. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15, 2004 Iowa City Council Work Session. November 15, 2004 City Council Work Session Page 34 Vanderhoef: But, I think that I'm not sure that we'll have an opportunity to do that.. .it's a chamber thing and then they're going to address and do a second one and a dinner down at Hawkeye Arena. Lehman: Okay. Karr: Are we adjourned? Bailey: We're adjourned. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the November 15,2004 Iowa City Council Work Session.