Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-01-10 TranscriptionJanuary 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 1 January 10, 2005 Council Budget Work Session 6:35 PM COUNCIL PRESENT: Bailey, Champion, Elliott, Lehman, O'Donnell; Vanderhoef & Wilburn STAFF PRESENT: Atkins, Karr, Helling, O'Malley, Craig, Kopping TAPES: 05-08 Sides 1 and 2 Senior Center (pg. 73): Honohan/Mr. Mayor, members of the Council, Jay Honohan here on behalf of the Senior Center. As always, I would first start off by thanking the Council and the administration for the support that the Senior Center has received since I've been on the Commission. You have a copy, I hope, of our budget. A few high points that I'd like to point out, and then I'll respond to any questions. This year we have in fiscal 05 raised it this time approximately $25,494 that we have raised through participant registration, and the fees and donations, and the independent contractor's fees, the people who teach classes and we receive a percentage of that. We're pleased for the $20,000...almost $26,000; we wish we could raise a little more. That's below what we had hoped for, but we do have a portion of the year and so maybe we can continue to raise funds and raise the goal that we had set. One thing that I would note is the visits in the last fiscal year that we have completed, 04; from 04 over 03, we increased the participation, or visits or as I say on the intemet, the hits that we have at the Senior Center, by approximately 9%. That's approximately 12,000 more visits than we had in fiscal year 03. Currently at this time, the Commission is undergoing an evaluation of the Senior Center operations and programs. Together with the Participant Advisory Committee, we're also participating in a countywide survey to find out what the needs of senior citizens are in the county and how we may help to accommodate them. Additionally, we have increased the number of evening and weekend activities at the Center. We would like to increase them more, but at the present time I think we're straining with the current staff. We haven't asked for any increased staff. I always mention that at every budget hearing, but I think we're almost at our limit now as to what we can do in the evenings and weekends, without some either full time or part time staff. I don't want to take a lot of time of the Council. I'd be happy to respond to any questions that you have. And, as always, I bring Linda here to take care of my mistakes. Vanderhoef/What was your goal? Honohan/About $38,000. (someone speaking in audience, can't hear) By July 1st, yes. Vanderhoef/But most of that is coming from membership? Honohan/Yeah, the bulk of that...the membership has brought in about $15,300. We currently have about 878 participants. These are registered participants who have This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January I0, 2005 Council Work Session Page 2 paid the fees. In addition, we have both the, as you recall, we have a $25 fee for Iowa City residents, $40 for out of Iowa City. We also have scholarships for low- income, and that's where we've raised the $15,387. Donations, transfers, and the other things have brought up the other $10,000 that we've raised so far. Vanderhoef/How does this compare with similar timing on memberships a year ago? Honohan/I can't respond...Linda, can you help me? Kopping/Our memberships have steadily increased since we implemented the system. I think last year at this time we were around 700, and there is some variation in the number. We loose some people, some people move away; there are a few people, but not very many, a handful that had decided not to renew memberships. For the most part we've been increasing on a regular, steady basis. Lehman/But you've had 12,000 more visits than a year ago? Kopping/We had... Honohan/We had 12,000 more visits in fiscal 04 than we had in fiscal 03. We have no finish in 05. Lehman/Okay, but that's a really good trend. Kopping/Yeah, we did have somewhere around a 9% increase in the number of visits from FY03 to FY04. Bailey/That's duplicated, that's visits, not people...right? I mean, it's people returning for your programming. Kopping/That's correct, that's correct. Honohan/And that, of course, as I mentioned, does not include people that come to events that are not participants. You know, we have a lot of open events. For instance, on Veterans Day, we have the assembly room full and I can recall a lot of people that I know are, were there because of Veterans Day but they were not registered participants. So we have a lot more visits than we're showing. Kopping/That's almost true. (laughter) Sorry. We generally, when we have an event, will try to calculate the number of people who were there, and that is included. What it does not include is any of the information...participation information related to the nutrition program. And that's what's not in there. Elliott/So that would include when you had the program on school violence, and that would include the concert that you had, at least one or two concerts that I've This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 3 attended there with the band. The people who come for that? When are the bulk of your activities for the participants; are they morning, afternoon? Kopping/Most of them...well, it just depends on what it is. We have classes that are generally held in the morning. Our public community events are generally held in the afternoon. We're trying to have more events in the evening, and we've had some on weekends that have worked out well. So we're just trying to experiment so that we can make the programming available to a larger segment of the community. Elliott/I'm thinking of space usage also. When Regenia and I were there, there were some rooms that were open, and I thought have you ever had any people request to have meetings in some of your rooms? Kopping/Yes, yes, and that happens on a. regular basis. Elliott/Okay. Bailey/In this new budget, there's a breakout for contributions and donations. I know it's a new budget format. Is that anything coming through the fund that was just put at the Community Foundation, or is that just sort of business as usual? Elliott/Regenia, what page is that? Bailey/Page 73. Elliott/Page 73, thank you. Kopping/Oh, that's on the revenue section? Bailey/Yeah. But I don't know if it's a terminology change. Kopping/Yes, it would include, yeah...it would include funding from the Foundation. Bailey/The Senior .... Kopping/Right. Bailey/Whatever the fund is. Okay, thanks. Honohan/And that would be coming out of the Charitable Giving Fund, not the Endowment Fund. Bailey/Right. Champion/What is parking lot revenue? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 4 Kopping/Parking lot revenue is from the sale of parking permits. Wilburn/Can you walk us through any different outreach, in terms of membership recruitment, that you've done, or at any of the events? Or have planned coming up? Kopping/Well, what we've found to be most successful is to have large events open to the community, and do a lot of promotion and invite people in, and typically our membership will increase after those events. Also, we're doing a...we've changed the format of the Post, and we're doing a quarterly program guide, and we always have a increase in membership after those go out, also. We're trying to distribute those fairly well through the community. We find that there's just a lot of people who are not familiar with the scope of services available at the Senior Center. Honohan/One of our biggest outreach operations concerns the New Horizons Band, which goes throughout the county on a regular basis, and I don't have the exact figures here, but it's quite often that they're playing at various places, other communities, and throughout Iowa City. Wilburn/And so is that mentioned in their program that you could become a member, you know, get membership at the Senior Center if you enjoy our programming? Honohan/We promote as much as we can, Ross. Wilburn/Okay, all right. (laughter) Good. Honohan/We're also a part of the Cultural Alliance on their web site. We joined that to promote it, and we send the Post around to offices and places like that, yes. Lehman/Thank you, folks. Bailey/Oh, I have one...well, any new marketing initiatives that you're thinking about, similar to what you have been doing, or different? Honohan/That's what I mentioned, we're trying to evaluate right now to see what things we may do, and we want to look at this countywide survey to see what things we might...we're hoping that the countywide service, survey, will give us some clues as to what things might appeal to various groups, and obviously our problem is still, even though we will accept anybody from 50 on up, our problems is still that a lot of 50 to 60 or 65 people don't want to come to the Senior Center, and we're trying to figure out ways to entice them, ifI can use that word, or have them get interested. Bailey/Uh-hmm..so you're targeting that group with the survey. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 5 Honohan/That's what part of the evaluation is, yes. Bailey/Okay. Kopping/The Participant Advisory Committee has been working on promotional kinds of issues, and they are planning on doing a membership survey to find out what it is that current members find attractive about the Center, and then we would like to do focus groups in the community, and see what kind of unmet needs there are. Honohan/Thank you. Bailey/Thank you. Library Board (pg. 67): VanDusseldorp/I'm David VanDusseldorp, President of the Library Board. I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to share some comments regarding our community's budget for its library. It's been busy at the library since we opened the new building June 12. The first six months had over 2,000 children sign up for summer reading programs, and did for the first summer ever, a reading program for teens. 48% increase in library cards issued, and 15% increase in people in the building; that accounts for 318,000 in the first six months of the use of the new building. Champion/I'm sorry, I didn't hear the number. VanDusseldorp/318,000 in the first six months. Champion/Wow. VanDusseldorp/Circulation's increased 13% over last year; people have signed up for 53,000 Internet sessions; and 3,000 log-ins to our wireless network, were accounted. There have been 510 non-library meetings in the meeting rooms, and we've given 69 tours. Technology is helping us keep up with growth and usage. New self-check system is now handling 45% of all of the checkouts. New system makes check-in of materials more efficient, as well. People increasingly use on- line services to check circulation records, to reserve and renew materials, and reserve meeting rooms. The budget growth is needed to maintain the new building. More building supplies, light bulbs, paper products, furnace filters, and more expense for services, such as carpet cleaning. The modest increase in the collection budget is needed simply to keep up with increased circulation and use. As you know, our public library is part of what makes this community, excuse me, this city a community. A community that's a great place to grow up in, a great place to stay, great place to return to, or move to for the first time. The library is a big part of what makes Iowa City a special place. The new facility is This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription o£the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 6 an incredible investment. It says a lot about who we are, how we value life-long learning and quality of life. I thank you for the consideration you have for the library's budget request. It has been prepared with care to meet the needs and expectations of the community we serve. Any questions, I'll depend on Susan Craig to assist. Champion/It's a great library. VanDusseldorp/It is. (laughter and several talking at once) Bailey/I love that it's wireless upstairs. Smart. Lehman/Questions? Comments? Vanderhoef/What's the delinquent property taxes? Lehman/$361. Bailey/I bet it's an old budget (can't hear). Vanderhoef/It's lined out after 04 but it was just like... Bailey/...it went somewhere else. Atkins/I'll defer to Kevin. O'Malley/Delinquent property taxes, every now and then somebody doesn't pay their property tax bill on time, and so that is actual revenue that they had to pay the interest on their property taxes. We don't, we don't, no that's their regular bill. We don't forecast delinquent revenue. We hope everybody pays their bill on time. Lehman/Okay, that's actual in here. Okay, yeah. (several talking and laughing at once) Champion/That's terrific. Vanderhoef/And I read something in your newsletters about the 28-E agreements with other towns and the county, and so forth, and it appears that you're looking towards making some changes in services, rather than straight-out 28-E's? VanDusseldorp/Well, it depends, Dee. We completed in the last year, agreement with, new contract with Johnson County and we've joined Coralville Public Library in beginning a conversation with University Heights regarding how the public library is compensated by that community and members of the community, for services. There's a meeting tomorrow evening with their City Council. Susan and I will be attending that meeting to start that conversation. It's our hopes that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription o£the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 7 their community will pay their share for the usage, and avoid the approach of picking and choosing, and paying for particular usage and sharing that expense with households, as opposed to looking at the community, the size that they are, and paying their share for library services in the two communities. Vanderhoef/So your goal is more to get the 28-E agreement, and stop "selling" library cards to members of that community? VanDusseldorp/Yeah, I think it's...when we look at the area that we serve, and how the City budgets for services and supports to the library, how the City has a contract with the County for services to those residents, and how that was done jointly with the other libraries in the county. It seems only fair and natural that we would seek to enter a better agreement with this enclave within the City limits in supporting the library. It would be...we would expect it to increase revenues to the library with that agreement. Vanderhoef/So are you looking to approach other small towns in the same vain? VanDusseldorp/Yeah, we wanted to start some place where there seems to be the most impact, and I guess based on that, we would have to look at other communities after that. We start one at a time; each agreement is done individually. The agreement with the County was set up separately. Any agreement with University Heights would be set up separately. If we go on to look at Hills or other areas, I guess that's the next one that comes to the top of my head that could conceivably, but where we looked at who's the largest group that could, we could do anything about; whose the largest group...who's closest to those libraries that are providing the service? It seemed like University Heights was a natural place, and we're not threatening them with withholding services or anything like that. I really think that the people of that community will do the right thing and enter an agreement with us for services. Champion/And how do they get services now? They just kind of pay a fee and get a library card? VanDusseldorp/Yeah, they pay a...it's a fee card. It's per household, and then the City rebates a portion of that fee to the households. But, it's only calculated based on those households that are applying for the, applying for the cards and applying for compensation from University Heights. It's quite a bargain for the people of that community. Champion/Well it's not a bargain if they don't have a card. VanDusseldorp/Well, it's...I might argue that in a, as a citizen of the community, even if I'm not using the services, I benefit in some way, even if I'm not a card holder. O'Donnell/Great. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 1 O, 2005 Council Work Session Page 8 Lehman/Thank you. Airport Commission (pg. 107): Hartwig/Good evening, I'm Randy Hartwig, Chairman of the Airport Commission. I guess I'm here on my own tonight. First of all, I do appreciate the opportunity to meet with you. Before I discuss the budget, I guess I'd like to update you on some of the ongoing projects at the airport. The runway 725 extensions, I guess is the big one, although it doesn't look like there's a lot happening there at the moment. Most of the work by Earthtech, right now, is in the design part of it. David Hughes recently showed us some of the options they're working on, in terms of construction and things they're still getting together with the FAA on. They've been out there doing, I think, soil samples, that sort of thing. The other thing, I guess while I'm speaking of the runway project, is ! do want to take the opportunity to reiterate the desire on the Commission's part to work with the City with respect to the Mormon Trek extension down there. I know the two projects are kind of joined at the hip there, and we certainly recognize the importance of that to the City, and want to make most efficient use of work on both of those projects. The obstruction mitigation project, which has been ongoing, which is pretty close to being completed. They recently took out some trees, installed some lights on buildings around there that were identified. So that should be coming to a close. Iowa DOT...they have some vertical infrastructure grants which we're in the process of taking advantage of. These will allow us to update some roofs, hopefully put some concrete floors in some of the older hangars. Lehman/...reference the letter that we got dated the 27th. Hartwig/Right, right. That, I think along with the FAA's recent agreeing to address some pavement problems up there, I think will go together nicely to make what's really the oldest part of the physical plant down there, obviously update it and make it more desirable, hopefully generate some more income. The Strategic Plan we recently completed, and actually should formally adopt it at this month's meeting, which is Thursday, and obviously look forward to discussing that with you in the near future. I guess I'd also like, while we're talking about that a moment, to thank Jeff Davidson with the Planning Department here for his help and guidance. He did a great job helping us put on paper what our ideas and thoughts were, so we're very appreciative of his efforts. Aviation Commerce Park - as you're well aware of, there's I think definitely been an increase in activity there, and I'm confident that things are moving in a positive direction. On the budget, this is obviously my first effort in putting numbers in there. I think the main point, I guess, that comes out is a reduction in personnel expense. There, I think, we did budget in salary for an airport manager, should we decide to go that way. Obviously, if we go with an agreement with the FBO or something it should be less than what's shown in the budget there. I think, I guess it really doesn't show up. We did reduce our vehicle expense, I think getting rid of one This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January lO, 2005 Council Work Session Page 9 vehicle that we really don't I think have a need for that justified it. The revenues, I'd just say that I think I was pretty conservative in what we figured in. I don't think, I don't know if it's reflected on the one you have or not, I think that one of the t-hangar loans, we will be retiring in the coming year too. The oldest one there. The one addition there is $10,000 for park equipment, but anyway work on the park we're in the process of planning there. I guess summing it up, I believe we're making progress in reducing expenses at the airport, and I also believe that we'll begin to see the positives coming from the Airport Commerce Park to the north there. You know, I think coupled with the park area we're working on, which is granted kind of a small thing, I think it demonstrates a desire on the Commission's part to, you know, give citizens who may not have another reason to use the airport, an opportunity to benefit from, it's a good asset down there. Lehman/Randy, do you have a timetable, or an estimated timetable, for that extension on 725? Hartwig/Um, actually it's actually going to be a couple years. I think they hope yet this year to get started on some grading work down there. Lehman/Is there a (can't hear) culvert that's gotta go in there too? Hartwig/Uh, yes, and I think the last time I talked to Ross here at the City, you know, that part of the creek and then the creek down at the other end where Mormon Trek is being extended is obviously all one consideration there. Lehman/But you're looking at 07? Hartwig/Yeah, ! think that's correct, yeah. Lehman/And the other thing...this letter we got from you... Hartwig/Yeah. Lehman/The amounts in here for hangar roof repair and whatever, the amounts you listed in this letter, that is the City's share of the cost of those? Hartwig/Uh, I don't have that letter in front of me. Vanderhoef/It says local match, so I'm... Lehman/Is that in our budget? Atkins/No, it is not. Lehman/Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 10 Atkins/The attached note, those came in after the budget had been prepared, and indicated they were small enough that once you adopt a Capital Plan, we would add that to the Capital Plan. Lehman/I guess if I had read a little, I apologize. (laughter)] Atkins/You're forgiven. Hartwig/Yeah, I apologize for that. Elliott/Randy, the capital outlay shows, is there an end to that expenditure after the 06 year? Hartwig/Uh, on the $10,000 there? Elliott/Yeah, $7,000, then $10,000, then nothing. Is that something that's going away? Hartwig/Uh... Atkins/The park equipment was intended to provide a one-time appropriation for the Airport Commission to allow them to bring in some park equipment, picnicky sort of things for the park area in front of the terminal. So, now how popular that becomes, Bob, and whether there's a need for any more, I really think we're going to have to wait and see. Hartwig/Yeah, we don't anticipate .... Elliott/But at least, that's a one-time deal. Yeah. Atkins/At present it is a one-time expense. Yes. Champion/And what are you planning on doing? I think it's a good idea. Just the picnic tables, or...? Hartwig/Yeah, and hopefully some sort of educational things, you know, related to the airport. Champion/...kids can climb on an airplane and... Hartwig/...right, and it's kind of hopefully situated in an area where the activity that's going on there is easily viewed without, you know... Champion/It's a beautiful area. Hartwig/...yeah, and the fence that is along there is, needs to be replaced anyway, so we're hoping to get some help from the DOT for security issues there. (laughter) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 11 Vanderhoef/Okay, did you, did I read something in the minutes, probably, about talking to the FAA about this project, and they said they didn't fund for parks, but then you went back with a viewing .... Hartwig/It has to be a terminal viewing area, is what it is, yeah. Parks to them, I think, has a connotation that, and I think the gist of what they're getting to is that you have to agree that, in the future, should there be an aviation related function for that, that area that you can go ahead and use it for that, should the need arise, and I think when it's termed park it has different connotations. Vanderhoef/Okay, so is this park or is this... Hartwig/It's a terminal viewing area. Vanderhoef/Terminal viewing area? So (laughter) so what I'm getting at is, is the FAA going to give us the matching money to that $10,0007 Hartwig/No, but there is a hope that the state DOT is going to help because fencing is obviously one big part of that, and connecting that with security issues is how they would view using that, so... Vanderhoef/...special grant out of the state DOT, and that can be approved. Hartwig/... for the actual park things, like a shelter or whatever, no that's kind of on our effort. Vanderhoef/Have you kicked around any ideas of some of the locals who use the airport a bunch to help build... Hartwig/Yeah, we have, particularly in labor type of areas there, so I think there's a desire on a lot of folks' part to help out in that way too, so... Vanderhoef/Create their own... Hartwig/... right, uh-huh. Vanderhoef/...vision and ... Hartwig/...right, I'm kind of anxious to... Vanderhoef/I would like to see participation in that way. Hartwig/Okay, good. Anything else? Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 12 Lehman/I'm just tickled pink that you're going to have a park. (laughter and several talking at once) Bailey/Oh, I had one, Randy, this line is hangar, right? Hartwig/Ah, yes, right. Bailey/I just wanted to make sure. Champion/It'd be a lot better than that park that's there... Bailey/... (can't hear) Hartwig/Yeah, and to be honest, that's why I guess when I said about being rather conservative, I went with that number. Hopefully we'll be able to raise some rents here and there, next year. Atkins/Regenia, what we do for budget estimating is when we give this to a department head, or in Randy's case, we use our most actually and make adjustments, and that's why you'll see 04 and 06 read the same. There's a very good chance that 202 could come in closer to the 217. We've tried to make those estimates, but most of our 06 estimating is based on 04 actual. That's why it's down a tad bit. Lehman/Well, and I think it's particularly important that this be conservative, because the nicest surprises that councils get is when the subsidy is less. Hartwig/Right, I agree. Vanderhoef/Has there been any more conversation about the United terminal, and mitigation? Hartwig/Uh, to the best of my knowledge, it's, I mean, it's agreed that at the time when the project needs to go forward there that it's going to be moved or taken down, yeah, and ! think, I'm not sure, I think the historical preservation is obviously involved in that, and I think they've gotten back, you know, an agreement also, SO... Vanderhoef/So is it on the Registry, state, or national? Hartwig/Well that I can't answer as far as how it's designated, but as far as the plans and what needs to take place, if it's going to be removed, I think all that is agreed upon. In other words, the documentation and recording, I guess they call it... Vanderhoef/Uh-huh, there's a bunch. I'm curious about, there is a business running in that building at this point in time, and what future plans might appear or... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 13 Hartwig/Right, obviously when they came to us about that, that was the first thing we said. I mean, we certainly hope the business is a success, but you have to look at, as of now, that's going to probably be taken down and so I think as we left it when we went in there, that basically at that time, I think it was May or June when they went in there, you know, we're going to look at it then. Obviously, if there's a place they can move to on the airport, but yeah, I think that was certainly mentioned many times, and it's in their lease, that that's a possibility, and... Vanderhoef/And do you... Hartwig/And we certainly look forward to working with... Vanderhoef/Is there any under-utilized area within the terminal building, right now, that might be out for rent? Hartwig/Well, not right now, and in fact I guess along those lines, we're going to move the airport manager, commissioner, whatever you want to call it, office over there, and use one of the rooms that right now is like a sleep room for the pilots and stuff, and so whether that, you know, presents an opportunity in the old service hangar there or something, I'm not sure, but we'll certainly be working with them. Vanderhoef/But it could be possible to put a business into that location, even if present business decides to stay in the United building, until such time as it's out, so that's an opportunity for marketing. Hartwig/Right, yeah. Lehman/Really glad you're ...... Hartwig/I think so too. Lehman/Sounds like things are moving along for you. Thank you very much. Vanderhoef/Thank you. Parks and Recreation (pg. 69): Gustaveson/Good evening. I'm Craig Gustaveson. I'm the new manager...new manager, I wish (laughter) how about the new chairman. He's leaving. I'm the new Chair of the Park and Rec Commission. I'd like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak to you tonight about our budget. I know we're supposed to talk about things that are proposed in the budget or changes in the budget. We are suggesting, not suggesting any changes to the budget at this time, but we would like to discuss some budget-related issues with you tonight. The first thing we would like to talk about is, we would like to encourage you to adopt the City Manager proposed CIP budget for this year. Obviously, we would like to see This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 14 more of our projects funded, but we understand that with the budget constraints, there are certain projects we think are higher priority than others and we'd like to see these fulfilled. We would like you to keep in mind some other projects for some future years, and I would like to take this opportunity to discuss some of the higher priorities that we have. Number one is the Iowa River Trail Pedestrian Bridge. This is the bridge that would connect the Peninsula parkland with Rocky Shore Drive. If any of you have been down in the Peninsula area, you'll see this is really starting to grow and become a very popular area. With the Iowa River Dam, that will connect Coralville to the Peninsula area. It's also the area where the new dog park is being proposed to be built, and with the development down at the Peninsula, becoming a very popular area. One of the things, we feel like this is not only will help make that more accessible to people, but it's also an important link for the Iowa River Corridor Trail system. The second thing we'd like you to consider is the soccer park improvements. Now there are some things being budgeted for 06, in the 06 budget, for CIP, but we feel like there's more funding that needs to be for this area. Mainly the Sycamore Trail south that goes through the soccer park. This will give us an opportunity to make a trail that will be a little bit wider, and will make it more accessible for people with handicaps and disabilities. The Court Hill Trail development, this has been one of our priorities for a number of years, and this is basically connects the Creekside Park, which is in the Longfellow area, offofMuscatine. It will go out through Court Hill Park and then eventually out to Scott Park, and with the development of the Windsor Ridge trail system, we feel like this can go on past Scott Park, on the other side, and connect all of this together with the park systems out in Windsor Ridge, and for any of you who are bikers or walkers, I think one of the exciting things we're seeing in Iowa City is a lot of these trails starting to connect now, where literally we can go from the eastern part of town, almost all the way out to the western part of town on it, on safe trails, so we can keep a lot of the families and kids off the streets and on a safe trail system. On the west side of town, the Willow Creek trail west, which would kind of be right behind West High. It will go over, or under, 218, and connect with Hunter's Run Park, which is a little further west, and if any of you have been out on the other side of 218, you'll notice that this area is being developed very rapidly, so the two concerns we have out there is, you know, it's going to give a safer area for both recreation use, but really a safe place for the kids that are going to West High School to get through this area. The last thing is the Peninsula Park development, and as I said, this is where we're looking at building the dog park. It's an area that, to me, is just stunning. It's going to be more of a natural park, with a lot of natural grasses, wildflowers, and natural trails through there. So this is an area that we think is really going to be one of our premiere parks in the future, and growing in popularity. Now these are just a few things that are on our wish list. Some of the other things we'd like to talk about tonight are part of the operating budget. As I've talked before, with all these natural areas being developed into wildflowers and prairie grasslands, we've asked for, over the last few years, a natural area specialist. Now, if you'll look on the budget for this year, we did not include that on the 06 budget, mainly because we just know it's not in the cards, and it's not This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 15 something that can even be considered at this time, but it's something that we feel is very important, and we'd like it to be considered in the near future, and like I said, these natural areas are going to be growing more and more, and becoming more and more popular with the citizens of Iowa City, and it's going to be crucial that we have a specialist to help maintain these areas. The second thing is custodial help out at Scanlon Gym, Mercer Park area. Currently, we have two and a half permanent employees out there to maintain on a per person basis an area that is larger than both the Rec Center or City Hall. So we are requesting that we raise this to three full time people, just up a halfa person, if you can say a half person. We'd like to have this no later than the 07 budget, if possible. O'Donnell/Craig, where was that? Gustaveson/Scanlon Gym, Mercer. O'Donnell/I agree with that. Gustaveson/Um, last year with all the budget cuts, Parks and Rec lost one full time clerical position. We would like to see that restored when the budget tums around, and it can be afforded again. Park maintenance, I guess, has been one of my pet peeves the seven years I've been on the Park and Rec. I don't have the exact figures, but over the last eight to ten years, our park lands have increased somewhere around 400% and the amount of maintenance people we have has not kept up pace with that. Then you compound it with the way our part time employees, the amount of work that they're able to do, or the number of hours they can have, it's been reduced by 22%. To kind of show how crucial this is becoming, at our last Parks and Rec Commission meeting, we had the (TAPE ENDS) and from a developer, which we turned down. Mainly because we don't have the staff to maintain it. In the near future, if we continue to accept parkland the way we have in the past, just a few years ago we would have gladly accepted this without reservation, but we could actually become in violation of our own weed ordinance because we can't maintain the parkland we currently have. So this is something, you know, we really need staff to help maintain our parklands, and the last thing I'd like to bring up is our fees and charges. Every year Parks and Rec reviews fees and charges, and one of our main concerns as a commission is to make these fees and charges affordable, particularly for low-income people, and we are becoming concerned that they might be becoming unaffordable. As a government sponsored service organization, we feel like one of our really civic duties is to provide constructive leisure time activities at an affordable cost, and particularly to the youth of our community. In the thirty years I've lived here, we've seen Iowa City grow tremendously. It's estimated that about every five to seven years the population of Iowa City tums over, and being a downtown business person, I get to meet a lot of people who move in, or are looking to move in to Iowa City, and one of the things I hear all the time is entertainment and activities, leisure time activities, so I think this is very important to maintain our parks and rec system to be some of the finest around here, because we do get This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 16 some of the top-notch people coming in to Iowa City, and with the young families, we need to provide activities for them. So again, I'd like to thank you for your time and your considerations, and if you have any questions, Terry and I will be glad to see if we can answer your concerns and questions. Elliott/Craig, one question comes up. Have you seen a change in the types of activities, the popularity of those...one time softball was big, soccer, is rugby coming? Is it more the indoor things? Is it skateboards? Gustaveson/Well I'm going to kind of defer that to Mr. Trueblood. He's on top of it a little bit more than I am, but my immediate answer would be yeah, you know, we did the skateboard park a few years ago, and if anybody has ever driven by that thing, it's probably one of the best used parks we have in town. Trueblood/Yeah, Bob, we certainly see trends, and one of the best examples I can give you is like in the youth baseball and softball. Over the last two, three, four years, it's been down according to what it had been in previous years, but now it's just starting to come back up. And you can just about follow along exactly with the school population. As, for example, the elementary school population goes down a little bit, those activities are going to go down. As it comes back up, they're going to come back up. Same way with, and it goes on up through the high schools. Babe Ruth was down, now Babe Ruth is starting to come back up again, and there are trends, like the skateboard park, of course, and we just try our best to stay on top of whatever is popular at the time, and just keep on board with that. There's traditional activities, baseball, volleyball, softball, basketball, swimming, that are going to go on forever, and they're going to go through peaks and valleys, but other than that we try, as new things come along, we try to stay on top of them and offer them, if possible. Wilburn/Is your staff looking at any temporary adjustments, for example, like with softball coming up this summer since Edgewater's going to be out of commission? I would presume there'll be folks looking for other leagues to play and are they looking at adjustments in schedules and things like that to try and accommodate that, or capture some of that audience? Trueblood/What our philosophy is, if you will, is to try to make whatever adjustments necessary to accommodate everybody, as long as we can provide it in a safe environment. One of the things that we're concerned about is Coralville is temporarily loosing their facilities, their softball facilities, and so we're not sure at this time what impact that is going to have on us, but we're trying to gear up for it, and like adult softball is a self-supporting activity, so we're just trying to gear up for it and see what we can do...we know there's quite a bit we can do just with scheduling, you know. There's only so many facilities we have, and that's one of the reasons we were looking at, you might recall, that CIP request for soccer improvements? Remember a part of that was to develop a couple of practice This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 17 softball fields, or youth softball fields, as part of that reason is because we anticipate a pretty big demand for practices this upcoming year, as well. Wilburn/I just wanted to make sure I understood under the unfunded priorities, you said Court Hill, Rocky Shore to Peninsula pedestrian bridge, Willow Creek trail, I missed something... Trueblood/The Willow Creek trail west, there's more than one Willow Creek trail project. Wilburn/Yeah, west, okay. Vanderhoef/The Peninsula Park development. Trueblood/Peninsular Park land development, I don't think you mentioned that one. Elliott/Have you discussed for the future any multiple-use facility, indoor facility? I was surprised in talking with someone who spends a lot of time with young people, high school age, that they are really interested in roller skating and I thought roller skating was something of the distant past. He seemed to think that something with roller-skating and dancing, and other things...have you had any requests for anything like that? Gustaveson/I guess, in the number of years I've lived here, I've seen roller skating come and go, I don't know how many times. Coralville opened up, I can't even remember, it was out in the industrial park had it, we actually offered it down at the Park and Rec Center for a while, which I think it's one of those things that comes popular for a short period of time then kind of disappears, so I haven't heard a lot of interest in it. Trueblood/As Craig mentioned, the private roller-skating, the profit-making roller skating facilities, aren't hanging on very long. We still actually offer roller- skating over here at the Recreation Center, the gymnasium, every Saturday night. We have the roller skates, it's free, it's a popular enough activity that we keep offering it, but they're not beating our doors down. Champion/My kids used to roller skate at the Rec Center on Saturday mornings. 'Course that was quite a while ago. (laughter) Atkins/Ross, did you get the five activities? Wilbum/Yep, I got em. Vanderhoef/Just a...just a comInent. Back in 89, 90, thereabout, when I was on Parks and Rec, and we were getting the neighborhood open space plan written, and approved through Council and all of that, and no parks connection with trails and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 18 so forth, I'm so proud of the City and what you folks have continued to champion to get those trails in there and there was a lot of discussion at that time, do we build the small trails first or do we build the big trails first, and the big trail has taken precedence, and I have truly been pushing the Court Hill one now for two or three years, that it's time we get more connections on the east side. But let me tell you, I just about cried when I saw that you had turned down the twelve acres for a neighborhood park, and I remember at the time that the neighborhood open space plan was put into place, it was very clear from the Parks and Rec at that time that we were not going to do this if we couldn't maintain the land that we received, and I'm disappointed in one way that we're at that point. I'm very proud of what we've added and what we are taking care of, and it's a horrible position to be in. Gustaveson/Dee, I really appreciate you bringing that up, because that was one of the points I wanted to bring up, but that's one of the things where he was going to pull out duct tape and probably put across my mouth... Vanderhoef/On mine too. (laughter) Gustaveson/Yeah, well, one of the former Park and Rec commissioners came up to me and mentioned that to me a couple years ago, and emphatically said that although none of you on the City Council at that time, that if we adopt this program, it is our duty as a City to make sure we maintain and we give people enough, give the Park and Rec enough, man power to maintain it, and unfortunately that hasn't happened. And as I said, I think one of the crossroads you're at right now, is turning down this area, turning down other park lands as these developments come, just because we can't maintain them, and one of the trends right now, as Terry said, we're starting to do more and more prairie land, but it still takes, especially a specialist to maintain and do the seeding to make them into a prairie, they still need to be maintained. You know, if we can't maintain them, we can't accept them, and I think we're to that point now where as a Commission we have to start really seriously looking at these things; do we accept these lands and, unfortunately, a lot of the land that is given to us, are the ones that are hard to maintain. You know, there's not a flat piece of land that you can go over with a lawn mower very easily. It's the ones that go down the ditch and up the side of a hill, and you know, pretty tough to maintain. Vanderhoef/But that's the land that we never intended to accept in conjunction with the flat land. Gustaveson/Yeah, and this one that we just turned down would be, all of us, it was an agonizing discussion for us because we're all looking at this; there's a trail that goes through there. It's an undeveloped trail, but it was a piece of land we really would like to have and maybe at some point, may be the opportunity isn't closed, but we just didn't feel like we could accept it and expect to maintain another twelve acres of land when we just can't do it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 19 Vanderhoef/Was this one that was a composite from the various stages of that development, and now that it's being completed, I can't remember whether they've dedicated any land or whether it was put off to this point? Elliott/And where is it? Gustaveson/Village Green South, just off Scott Boulevard. This is one, actually Dee, that started up many years ago with a previous owner. Ownership has changed at least once, if not twice, in that one, and it was actually pre-neighborhood open space ordinance when it first started up. And at that time, the Commission had indicated an interest and a willingness in accepting the land once it met the conditions attached, and in the meantime, there's a new developer and development going on out there, and so forth. Those conditions were primarily met, but the language in the acceptance was such that we didn't have to accept it, and since it's been so long now, it's been going on for more than ten years, and when it came to a point of acceptance, the Commission, with staff concurrence I might add, indicated that, you know, although we'd like to have it, this is one of those areas we just can't accept, and it's an area that most of it, or a lot of it, is already in mowable condition, and that's one of the problems, we'd have to start mowing it right away. And if the developer wasn't willing to, we'd have to go in and build a trail. Rebuild a trail, right away, and so it wasn't in an area that's considered to be a high priority for neighborhood open space, so that added into the equation as well. Although it's a nice piece of land, with a pond on it, that we'd like to have. Vanderhoef/So there isn't a deficit in that neighborhood? Gustaveson/I think there's a deficit of like one acre, something like that. Vanderhoef/Okay. Gustaveson/But there's also a lot of private green space in that area, as you know, that's not taken into account in the formula. Vanderhoef/Uh-huh, okay. Lehman/Other comments? Champion/I do agree that you need a naturalist. We've been talking about it for a long time, and I don't know what the possibilities are for that, but you do need one, I agree. Bailey/So what do you do now? Gustaveson/As far as the naturalist? Areas? We muddle our way along, for the most part. And it's like, for getting things planted, we contract it out, and we used to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 20 have a naturalist that we had a small contract with each year. He left town now, and he would keep an eye on these things but then tell us what we would have to go do, to take care of the areas, but Waterworks Prairie park is just now getting developed, Peninsula Park land will be developed, and those are in the next few years, hopefully, and those will be two major areas of natural grasslands, but it goes beyond that too. Places like Hickory Hill and Rynearson's Woods that we don't think we've ever quite managed the way we really should. Elliott/The Friends of Hickory Hill do a lot of work out there, do they not? Gustaveson/They do, they do. Now we need a "Friends of Ryerson's Woods" and a "Friends of Waterworks Park" and... Elliott/We need friends. (laughter) Budget Overview Lehman/Thank you. It's raining out folks. Do we want to continue or come back tomorrow, in view of the weather, and just do it tomorrow? Atkins/Noon tomorrow. Lehman/What's your pleasure? Wilburn/Isn't it supposed to rain til noon tomorrow? Atkins/It's supposed to be bad tonight. Champion/It's not cold. Lehman/It's freezing. Elliott/It doesn't matter. Getting home from here is the least of my worries tonight. Champion/We can always sleep here. (laughter and several talking at once) Vanderhoef/I would rather do it tomorrow, actually. Atkins/Well we had not planned lunch. We had it scheduled from 12 to 7, we'd have something for dinner, correct, Marian? I'm just telling you that's what you told yourselves. Then do you want to start at noon tomorrow? Lehman/All right, we'll... Atkins/With the understanding, we'll go back over that. There's some human service funding stuff you want to talk about, I think Regenia had some handouts .... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. January 10, 2005 Council Work Session Page 21 Bailey/And I would like to bring up a Parks and Rec issue because it was on my list of policy things to bring up. Atkins/What I'd like to do then is maybe tomorrow we can start with the list, and get through those, and then add to the list by simply going around the table, and then discuss those further, such as CDB, Parks and Rec, okay. Karr/Okay, so noon tomorrow; no food; til whatever time. Munchies ..... we'll do munchies. Okay. No meals. Atkins/Okay. Be careful. (TAPE ENDS) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the January 10, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session.