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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-06-20 TranscriptionJune 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page I of 31 June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session 6:30 PM Council: Bailey, Champion, Elliott, Lehman, O'Donnell, Wilburn Absent: Vanderhoef UISG Liaison: Schreiber Staff: Atkins, Boothroy, Dilkes, Fowler, Karr, Trueblood Tape: 05-38, Both Sides. PROBLEM W/TAPE- NO RECORDING Additions Clerk announced addition HIS Director Boothroy present for discussion of #14d (Wilburn left conflicO PLANNING & ZONING Atkins: Emie it looks like we'll have to skip Planning & Zoning for the minute, since the staff person isn't here. Lehman: Boy that's a first. Elliott: Is there anything about... ? Bailey: Setting some kind of public hearing Lehman: She'll be here. Atkins: Karin's on vacation and Jeff's on vacation and I'm sure they assigned it to another staff person. Lehman: I mean someone will be here so we can come back to it. Atkins: Yes. Lehman: Alright, we'll come to that. We'll do Council Time. COUNCIL TIME Champion: Should we talk a little bit about the housing money. Lehman: Yes This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. Jtme 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 2 of 31 Elliott: About the what? Bailey: The investment policy. Wilbume: I have a conflict of interest and will not participate in this conversation. Karr: I'm sorry, are we to Council Time or agenda items? Bailey: We sh6uld probably do this under ( ......) Champion: Oh, I thought you were doing agenda items. Lehman: Well, I did too, Connie. I'm sorry. Karr: We can. It doesn't make any difference. I just didn't ...... Lehman: Does anyone have anything for Council Time? Bailey: I do. Lehman: Okay. Bailey: I just have a question with the North Dodge. Are we working with the State to do something about the landscaping when it's essentially done. We lost a lot of trees in that and it's looking pretty bleak out there. Atkins: I'd have to look at the plans. They're approved by the State. Bailey: Right. I know that it is a State project. So that's why I'm asking. Okay. Thanks. Lehman: Steve, there were also a number of letters and a petition from the folks who live on Court between (unclear). Are we going to meet with the neighborhood? Atkins: I'm assuming you're referring it back to... That would require traffic studies. Bailey: That's what I would like to see. Atkins: I'm assuming we'll just handle it routinely. Lehman: Anything else for Council Time? Champion: I think it is really...we're going to lose Heather Shank...that's a real loss. OAKCREST PARKING This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 3 of 31 Lehman: Oakcrest Parking. Atkins: That item is on so I can find out what you want me to do. O'Donnell: I would really like to get a definitive answer to that. We need a survey that is accurate - without anything crossed off. I'd like to know exactly how many people are there and how many it takes. I've read Bob's latest... Atkins: Bob Jett? O'Donnell: Yeah, and it seems there were about a dozen crossed-offs on it. Atkins: Yes O'Donnell: I think we need to know if it is accurate. Bailey: Is there an active neighborhood association in that area? Atkins: No, not that I recall. Lehman: Has anything happened in the last two weeks? Atkins: Nothing. No. We sent it back and everything just sort of stopped. Lehman: That's where we said we going to leave it until they could come up with some consensus among themselves. O'Donnell: There was another survey. Atkins: They did a survey of their own and it showed a majority one way...don't ask we which way it was - a majority one way. And then a number of folks said "No, that's not what I was told", and crossed their names off of the ... Champion: That's what all that crossing out was... Atkins: That's all the crossing was. They didn't agree. "I changed my mind". Elliott: My concern was that the City was leaving it, saying that since there doesn't seem to be consensus, we're leaving it with no parking. And it seems to me that if there's not a consensus, we have parking on one side of the street. Because there is no consensus to make it "unusual" is not really... Bailey: So we're leaving it as is? Elliott: Yes, but there wasn't parking there for a while and it was taken off for some reason. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 4 of 31 O'Donnell: For Oaknoll construction. Elliott: And that is now done and to say that we're going to leave it that way because there's not a consensus is not an appropriate thing to do. Bailey: Why? Elliott: To do something out of the ordinary should take, at the very least, a consensus. And taking parking completely off of a street is "out of the ordinary". Bailey: But we're leaving it as ..... Elliott: But it was in a unique situation for a unique reason. Wilburn: But it was also communicated that that was what was going to happen. Was it not? Bailey: Right. O'Donnell: But ! don't think a given period of time was specified, was it? Lehman: No, I don't think so. I think we just said "Hey you folks, get your act together and come back to us." Elliott: I just don't like...because there's not a consensus, you take parking completely off, which is a very "unusual" thing to do with the street. Lehman: Then it should take consensus to put it back on? Elliott: No. Bailey: Yes, they've been living there for a period of time. I agree with Ernie. Lehman: It takes a consensus to change it. O'Donnell: But we may have that. We don't know. Elliott: But, was it not taken off for a reason? Bailey: Can we give them a time by which they have to come with neighbors without cross-offs? O'Donnell: Or should we do one final survey? Atkins: We can do anything we want. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 5 of 31 Lehman: Mike, I think you're right. Let's have the City do the postcard survey. Are we willing to say we will abide by the results of the survey? Elliott: No. Bailey: I am. Lehman: We aren't? Elliott: No. I do not think the residents of a street have the right to dictate what happens. We will strongly consider the results of a survey. O'Donnell: But that's how it works, though. Elliott: This is a City street. It does not belong to the residents. Wilburn: What's the purpose of the survey for you then? Elliott: It provides us with an indication of how the residents feel. Bailey: We already have that. Champion: The parking was taken off. Bob is right. We took it off for a very specific purpose. In any other circumstances, we would have just put the parking back on when the project was done. So why did we ever ask for a survey? Why didn't we just put the parking back? Lehman: I think we were going to and the neighbors all raised cane. Remember that? Bailey: They wanted it, they didn't want it back, they wanted it left, they didn't, they do... O'Donnell: But I don't think we've ever had an accurate count. ! don't know where we are. Lehman: I wouldn't have a problem with doing a survey. Bailey: But if we do a survey, I think we have to have some level of understanding of what we're going to do with the results and if the survey is just for us to gauge interest and then make a decision, I think we're wasting staff's time. Lehman: I'm willing to abide by the results of the survey. O'Donnell: So am I. Bailey: So am I. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 6 of 31 Elliott: No. Bailey: You've got four who are willing to .... Champion: I will too. I just can't believe we spend more time on this than we do on important things. Lehman: Next business. O'Donnell: Any other way and this will never get done. I think parking should be on there. Bailey: Could we do a survey that publicizes...even put out a press release that we're doing this survey to have people look for it so they know it's coming so we can't have this "Oh no, I didn't see it. I threw it away. It went to the wrong address." Atkins: We mailed one to every house. Lehman: It would be okay in that letter to go to that survey to indicate that Council, at least at this point, intends to abide by the results of the survey. We intend to take some action. Elliott: I will simply say we are setting a very uneasy precedent. Lehman: We've done that for years. Champion: We do it all the time. Elliott: How about if the residents of Muscatine want something done with their street? Do the residents have control of the street? Bailey: Look at the traffic counting policies. Residents can come to the Council or come to the staff... Atkins: And the Council will take it into consideration. I certainly don't think streets belong to the residents that live on it... or they should pay for it. Schreiber: I don't know that location. Is there a reason why a number of other people from outside the neighborhood that would need to use parking? Lehman: University Hospitals. Schreiber: I can see what Bob's talking about - that makes sense. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 7 of 31 Lehman: We did it on Tower Court which is block closer to the hospital. We prohibited parking because the employees were coming and tying up the entire street for the entire day. O'Donnell: You know the problem with this though is there was a specific reason for removing parking. It was for construction. I agree with Bob and Connie. That's a first. O'Donnell: After we finished the construction, I think parking should have gone back on there. Lehman: And that's what we tried to do, but a majority of the neighbors didn't want it. O'Donnell: Then we should have done a survey. Lehman: All right. That one's done. Elliott: You've got four votes. ADOPT A PARK Lehman: Adopt-A-Park. Atkins: This is something I've been wanting to brief you on for some time and, the agenda being a little light, I asked Terry to come in and fill you in on one of our more interesting, and better, programs. Trueblood: You know it's hard to believe, or at least it's hard for me to believe, that we're now in our 14th year of our Adopt-A-Park program. We initiated it in 1992 and during this time 24 various parks have been adopted, at least once, by 38 different organizations or individuals. In your packet you can see on this tan- colored sheet, on one side it's got organizations and individuals who have adopted parks at least once over the years. On the other side are those parks which have been adopted at least once. You'll notice the footnote denoting current adopters and even one group that have adopted two parks this year. On the other the footnotes denote those parks currently adopted. We've had an average of thirteen parks every year adopted, with a low often one year and a high of fifteen another year. This year we're right on average with thirteen parks. We estimate that over 1500 volunteer hours per year have been realized through this program since its inception. The reason that is an estimate is sometimes in the early years our records weren't always as good as they could have been. Also, the fact that we ask the volunteer groups, the adopters, if you will, to report back to us the number of hours. But we know that there are more hours than what's being reported. So anyway, we estimate over 1500. Last year, the total person hours volunteered amounted to 2265 hours. These are, as I indicated, just the reported hours. Now the primary focus of the program is litter control, but This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 8 of 31 other activities are eligible for consideration, such as landscaping and landscape maintenance, facility maintenance. If an organization wants to paint a park shelter, for example. Equipment maintenance - if they want to paint playground equipment or paint or stain picnic tables, that sort of thing. Even smaller equipment installation would be considered, although that gets to be a tricky area. Procedurally, we try to keep it simple and yet complete. A group or individual submits a request. They can do that by mail or E-mail or in person or by phone. Then I respond by sending them the pamphlet which is part of your packet, like this, which explains the entire program. This was designed, by the way, by my former secretary Marilyn Cruise - with editorial privileges, of course. I also them a list of the available parks that can be adopted, and an application. The application form is this white sheet in your packet, which is a bit on the lengthy side but yet easy to complete. It's also an agreement, not just an application, but also an agreement. They return the completed application for approval. They almost always are approved. And then after it's approved, they're given this green folder, like this, that's got all the information they need in it, including business cards for both myself and Terry Robinson, our Superintendent of Parks and Forestry. It also includes the pamphlet, which I already showed you, a copy of the approved application, the proposed work plan for special projects. If they want to do something beyond the litter control, they fill this out for our approval. It also has the green sheet, which is a request for service. We do that in case our volunteers see something out there like a broken swing or a broken picnic table, or something like that. They can report it to us. More often than not, that is done by a phone call, instead of this form. We don't require a form to go out and do it. If it's something that's not an emergency they might fill this form out, like they say, "We notice there is a little washout next to the bridge" or something like that needs taking care of. And then, the work completed form, like this - what we ask them to fill out monthly, so that we can get an idea as to what it is they are doing and how many hours they're putting in to do it. Lastly, if groups want to come back to us, if they want to renew it, we just have a simple one page form that they can fill out. We don't make them go through the entire application process. The last think I included in your packet was just to show you that, yes, this is on our website and it's virtually the same information that's in the pamphlet. So we have all that information on the website. We send out news releases each year to let people know about it. We also send out letters to groups who adopted a park the previous year to ask them if they're interested in renewing. I did want, on this tan sheet, I forgot to mention. I wanted to call your attention to the fact that there are 3 organizations on this sheet that have been with us since 1992. They've been adopting a park ever since. Those three are the Telephone Pioneers of America, the Horace Mann PTO and the Iowa City Masonic Lodge. So they've been doing it for a long time. Lehman: There are two on the front page that are no longer in existence. Trueblood: We know. These are just organizations that have adopted a park at one time or another. Also, I'll call your attention to Friends o£Hickory Hill Park. That's our This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 9 of 31 largest group with the largest responsibility. They also put in the most volunteer hours. This last year it was almost 1400 hours that they either put in or coordinated with other groups for that park. So there you have all the information, including the application form, should any of you wish to apply to adopt a park. Connie, there's one at 1339 E. Davenport St. that needs mowing badly. If you could on that tonight, I'd appreciate it. Champion: I've never mowed anything in my life. Trueblood: That's my yard, by the way. Champion: I know a person who does a good job, though. Trueblood: You do? Is it Steve, by any chance. So are there any questions? O'Donnell: That's a great job. Bailey: That's an' excellent program. Schreiber: The UISG would definitely adopt a park. I'm surprised they're not on the list already. Elliott: Who's that? Schreiber: The Student Government. Bailey: Maybe we should partner with the Council and adopt Chauncy Swan. Trueblood: One thing I might just mention quickly is you might have noticed that there have been a few fraternities and/or sororities in past years who have adopted parks, but it hasn't worked out too well because they're available in the Spring and in the Fall, but then all summer long people are gone. Schreiber: We've got a good number of people in the office right now I could drag out to a park, especially if we partner with the boy's club. Trueblood: You have all the information you need - except for the list of the parks that are available. Elliott: I was just going to say, I really like this idea of volunteers. I think we're going to need to have more increasing volunteers in a lot of areas and Regenia's idea, if you're going to talk the talk, you'd better walk the walk. So, I think we'd better do something. Lehman: Do you want to fill out an application, Regenia? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 10 of 31 Bailey: I think Jerry was going to take care of that, right? Trueblood: Thank you. Champion: What about the Ped Mall? Trueblood: We need the most help about 2:00 A.M. down there - the Ped Mall. Champion: I'm still up. I could show up. Lehman: Thank you, Terry. CITY / COUNTY ASSESSOR Lehman: City/County Assessor. Atkins: Same question as Oakcrest. What it is you'd like for me to do? We discussed this about 2 years ago. Champion: I thought we thought there were some problems with that. Atkins: When you rejected it, I think it was as much for ...... Lehman: Consolidating the two. Bailey: I put this on the list. Elliott: I thought we had decided that we were in favor of it - is that what you were talking about - consolidating. Bailey: Exploring. Atkins: We did this a couple years ago and the Council at that time rejected it. Bailey: For those of you who were here, can you... I don't want to go down the same path twice. Champion: Does anyone remember? Bailey: Were there any economies of scale, any cost savings? Lehman: I'm not sure there were a lot of cost savings, but the feeling at the time, as I recall, and Steve correct me if my interpretation isn't correct, we have City Assessor, I think just has a certain level of expertise with property within the City limits. Which would not necessarily be shared with someone who is assessing rural property. On the other hand, the Johnson County Assessor, I believe does all of Coralville. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 11 of 31 Atkins: That's correct. Lehman: And I believe that their procedure there works extremely well. I don't know that there would be any issue with, if we consolidated the two, having one of their deputies be assigned to oversee assessments inside the City limits. I don't see that being an issue, as it was viewed 3 or 4 years ago. Elliott: I agree. I agree with you. Bailey: Were there other concerns? Was that the primary concern? O'Donnell: I think it was expertise. Lehman: I think that was the biggest thing, but I think that the office has shown that it can do this. Coralville is a pretty good sized city now. Bailey: It has a range of residential property. Lehman: And commercial, and industrial and apparently is doing very well. Atkins: The office simply hires the expertise that it needs to get the job done. Champion: Does that mean we give up the City Assessor? Atkins: Well the City Assessor... we know the City Assessor and the County could be merged into one Assessment Office. I am making the assumption that if you were to merge them then the assessor's responsibility would cover all of Johnson County. We just happen to be a part of Johnson County. Bailey: Would this create any problems for property owners having difficulty being served? Atkins: I can't imagine why that would happen, Regenia. The Assessor's Office is a profession requiring testing, certification and, as Ernie pointed out, the County Assessor does an urban area, that being Coralville, as I suspect some of the small communities as well. Lehman: North Liberty, Hills, and Tiffin. Atkins: I suspect he does all of those as well, as Bob pointed out. If there's some unique assessment process, they would hire outside assistance, but it only happens on a... Lehman: Do we need concurrence with the School Board? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 12 of 31 Atkins: I would suspect you would. I just didn't want to put together... I can reassemble what information we had and bring it back to you and let you take a look at it. Dilkes: The decision to create a City Assessor and the decision to eliminate a City Assessor is the City's decision. We created an ordinance at some point, I don't know when, to create a City Assessor and the way you get rid of it is you repeal the ordinance. By State Code, any city over 10,000 people can have a City Assessor. Presumably there is some history there as to why bigger entities are allowed, by Code, to have a City Assessor. ! don't know what that is. Wilburn: As long as the assessments are adjusted at a level so that...even if the State came in and forced you to do .... Atkins: The equalization factor. Wilburn: As long as it is kept up-to-date. Atkins: Our assessors would argue, and rightfully so, that they keep everything current and we have not had to have that equalization factor, because it really isn't fair. I mean, that's across the board. That's why, really virtually every two years, properties are revalued. They're kept current. So the reason is across the board increases are intended... Lehman: Steve, how much work is it to do a little background work showing what would be involved, what savings the City would or would not incur? Wilburn: And getting capacity from the County Assessor, because you're not adding Coralville, you're adding 4 or 5 times the work. Atkins: One of the arguments was put forth is that you're really not going to substantially change staff. Those people that are in the City Assessor's Office now will take that hat off and put a new hat on and essentially go to work just like they have before. I think there may be some savings in leadership. That is, the person in the head assessment position... Dilkes: There's some changes in Code. The conference board would not be the same.. obviously you wouldn't have a City conference board. You'd have a conference board that would include representatives of the unincorporated areas. The County Attorney represents the County Assessor. We currently represent the City Assessor, so that would change. I suspect there is some information you could get from the Department of Revenue about how City Assessors/County Assessors work statewide. My understanding was, because we did not seek the involvement of the City Assessor at this point, I think he should be involved, is that Steve just at this point wanted to find out what it is that you all...where do you want to go with this? Do you want us to collect some more information? Bring it back to you? What? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 13 of 31 Atkins: We can put something together for you to chew on. Lehman: Do we want to preliminarily look at this? Bailey: If we think there is some cost savings and some efficiencies, I'd be interested in exploring this. That was my interest. Wilburn: I'm willing to see what you come up with. We had the difference with the County in terms of salaries and all that, and I'm curious how that will all balance out. Whether or not there would actually be savings. Lehman: We had a little to say about it this year. Atkins: I will take that as "put something together" to at least get the discussion started. You can send us back to embellish something if you need for us to... O'Donnell: I'd also like to have a copy of our discussions. Atkins: That's what I mean. I'll try to drag that out of the file. Bailey: In fact, that would be the most helpful first document to have, because as I said, it's not the same staff. Atkins: There aren't that many City Assessors. 8 or 9 of them, I think was the number like that. Of course, there are lots of County Assessors. Dilkes: We can pull the minutes from the last discussion to help you. Lehman: OK. Metro Agenda. Atkins: Ernie, can I suggest you go to Agenda items. I'm going to take a little bit of time and Joe's here and some other folks on CDBG and stuff such as that. AGENDA ITEMS Lehman: Agenda Items - Regenia. ITEM 6. APPROVING PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT, AND ESTIMATE OF COST FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE 2005 TRAFFIC SIGNALIZATION PROJECT, ESTABLISHING AMOUNT OF BID SECURITY TO ACCOMPANY EACH BID, DIRECTING CITY CLERK TO PUBLISH ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS, AND FIXING TIME AND PLACE FOR RECEIPT OF BIDS. Bailey: On Item number 6, this traffic signalization, I'm assuming we're going to use ..... countdown, timers, for the walk lights. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 14 of 31 Atkins: I don't know that. I'll find that out for you. Lehman: It would be a mistake not to. Bailey: I think it would, given their success in other areas of the city. Elliott: I put 'Yes' with two exclamation points on that. Atkins: Is that good? Elliott: Yes, that's good. Champion: It's nice when you're driving, too. Lehman: Yes it does. Atkins: I'll check that and let you know tomorrow. Champion: You know if you need to speed up to make that light .... Bailey: But nobody around this table ever does that. Right? ITEM 7. APPROVING PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT, AND ESTIMATE OF COST FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE MISSING LINK TRAIL PROJECT, ESTABLISHING AMOUNT OF BID SECURITY TO ACCOMPANY EACH BID, DIRECTING CITY CLERK TO PUBLISH ADVERTISEMENT. FOR BIDS, AND FIXING TIME AND PLACE FOR RECEIPT OF BIDS. Elliott: Number 7 - I would definitely vote in favor of that. I think it is good, but I still think in the back of our minds we need to keep in mind that this is the Water Works Park and someday there might be something happen to that that would disallow residents' use of it - for security purposes. I don't think we stop things, but I think we need to keep that in the backs of our minds. Bailey: But now you'll be able to ride your bike from Napolean Park to the Coralville Reservoir. Atkins: We do have some security measures up now, already in place. ITEM 12. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION ADOPTION IOWA CITY'S COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) AND HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAM (HOME) INVESTMENT POLICIES. (DEFERRED FROM 6/7) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 15 of 31 Bailey: I had Item 12, which I think Connie wanted also. Champion: That's all right. Just bring it up. We both want to discuss it. ITEM 11. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CLERK TO ATTEST TO A LEASE BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND GREYHOUND LINES, INC. FOR SPACE AT THE COURT STREET TRANSPORTATION CENTER. Atkins: How about, before you go to that one, Joe's sitting here - Greyhound Lease. Are you OK on that? O'Donnell: I think that's great. Bailey: It was real clear - their contract. ITEM 10. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST THE FY2006 AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND THE CITY OF UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS FOR THE PROVISION OF TRANSIT SERVICE WITHIN TIlE CORPORATE LIMITS OF UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS. Atkins: OK, Joe can go. University Heights - that same thing. Lehman: Regarding bus service. Yes. Bailey: Clear. Champion: I just want you to know that I left the parking ramp the wrong way to get to our side the wrong way. Bailey: But apparently they're not working. Lehman: Will that be noted in the minutes? O'Donnell: Connie broke the law. ITEM 8. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE REPEALING CITY CODE TITLE 12, CHAPTER 4 ENTITLED BROADBAND TELECOMMUNICATIONS FRANCI-IISE ENABLING ORDINANCE AND ADOPTING A NEW CHAPTER 4. (SECOND CONSIDERATION) O'Donnell: Just a quick one on Number 8. I'm still really uncomfortable signing a 13-year agreement on that. I don't know what else we're going to do on it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 16 of 31 Elliott: I'll be voting against that. I, for one thing, the basic tier does not include the Weather Channel nor a 24-hour news channel. Bailey: It's still a franchise enabling ordinance. Elliott: Yes, but that's what I'm going to be concerned about. Champion: I'm going to support it. Lehman: Okay. ITEM 12. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION ADOPTION IOWA CITY'S COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT (CDBG) AND HOME INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS PROGRAM (HOME) INVESTMENT POLICIES. (DEFERRED FROM 6/7) Atkins: Now I think you can get back to, what was that 12. Wilburn: I have a conflict of interest with this item. Bailey: So, after further consideration, I mean Connie and I and Dee talked about this and brought this recommendation, but I would like us to consider making an exception for non-profit land trusts with this. Because that seems to be the group that this isn't going to work for at all. I talked with Steve Nasby about that that would work. It's a clear enough exception and we won't be back to the case-by- case waiver. Elliott: What percent of the housing activity does that involve? Bailey: It's predominantly Greater Iowa City Housing Fellowship right now, but any non-profit could do a land trust. Elliott: You're making an exception of- when these things come up - what percent is that? Bailey: I think it changes every year. Elliott: Are we talking about 50% or are we talking about 2%? Bailey: It changes any given year. Dilkes: Can you all speak up a little bit? I'm really having a hard time hearing. Champion: Well, my concern with the original policy was that the things like Habitat for Humanity and Iowa City Greater Housing Fellowship would be affected negatively in that and, as it turns out, I think they are and ....... This idea of This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 17 of 31 making non-profit land trusts exempt, will eliminate the problem of having to deal with it on a case-by-case basis. And will still keep that good organizations producing housing for us. Bailey: And a land trust also keeps affordable housing in the affordable housing pool for a longer period of time, which I think should be one of our objectives. Elliott: I do like you idea that there is an objective criteria. I think that is what is important, but I also, if I'm not mistaken, when I asked Steve at the last meeting if we can change this at any time, he indicated "Yes" we can. So what we might decide on is not something that is cut in stone. I would like to have further conversation with both the folks from the trusts and also with staff. Bailey: I would like to make a policy and live with it for a year and continue conversations, because I don't think we have a clear enough idea of what our objectives are. Elliott: Uh-huh. Lehman: One of the issues we have here too I think is we have a very short period of time. We have to have something in place by the first of July. Elliott: Right. Lehman: This is the last meeting. Is there a way we can incorporate Regenia's suggestion, Eleanor, tomorrow night? Dilkes: Sure, but I'll have to talk to Regenia, because I don't know what... Are we making an exempt from the whole policy so that there'll be case by case decision made each year? Or are we going to make them a grant as opposed to...I'm not following what... Bailey: Yes, I think it would be a grant, if it's a non-profit land trust. I talked to Steve Nasby and I think he has a sense of the direction we were going, Dilkes: Okay. Lehman: Could we get something from Steve before tomorrow night, Regenia? Could you talk with him and have him give us a ..... Bailey: We'll see him tomorrow morning. Lehman: I think we'll do that tomorrow night. I think we know the problem. Elliott: I could live with this for a year, but I'm not done discussing. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 18 of 31 Lehman: We can change it any time. Bailey: Then I would suggest that we start this conversation in the Fall or right away, so next year if things aren't working or as the process goes forward, the Council people who are providing this service HCDC and Staff. Elliott: It's just that I really like the philosophy of recycling this money as much as possible to help the maximum number of people. And that might cause some troubles or problems in the short term, but in the long term we recycle more money. Lehman: Let's ask Steve tomorrow night, too. I think Steve is kind of the resident expert on this. O'Donnell: ! talked to Steve today, too. Steve's agreeable to what Connie and Regenia have suggested. Elliott: But, I don't want to forget the people involved either. Dilkes: If there are 4 of you interested in doing that, then we'll want Steve to re-write it tomorrow. Lehman: Have him re-write it. We'll discuss this and...okay...any other agenda items? ITEM 4(d). CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE CONDITIONALLY CHANGING THE ZONING DESIGNATION OF APPROXIMATELY 54 ACRES FROM PUBLIC/INTENSIVE COMMERCIAL (P/CI-1) ZONE TO COMMUNICTY COMMERCIAL (CC-2) ZONE FOR AVIATION COMMERCE PARK. (REZ05-0004) (SECOND CONSIDERATION) (See additional discussion after appointments) Elliott: The one that caused me consternation last week was compounded by Regenia laughing at me. I guess I'll just wait until tomorrow night, but I do have some concerns about 4d - the Aviation Commerce Park. Champion: I have a lot of reservations about it. Bailey: I think you've already heard my reservations. Elliott: I have reservations about the restrictions for design. Bailey: You voted in support of those, Bob. Elliott: Yes, I know. O'Donnell: Begrudingly. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 19 of 31 Elliott: You badgered me. No - that's fine. Lehman: Okay. Dilkes: I just want to make sure we're clear on the Aviation Commerce Park. You certainly could vote if you were so inclined to rezone it without restrictions. If you do that, you have to back up to the first reading. Lehman: And start over. Dilkes: Uh-huh. Lehman: Because that would be a substantial change. Dilkes: Yes. Lehman: Can we do the two appointments before you start? Atkins: Absolutely. APPOINTMENTS Lehman: We have the Airport Commission - two applications for one vacancy. A second vacancy I think will be on the agenda for the next meeting. O'Donnell: I would like Howard Horan. Lehman: All right, is that agreeable? Howard has served prior. O'Donnell: Howard would be excellent on there again. Lehman: Okay, Telecommunications Commission Elliott: Jim Ehrmann. Bailey: Yes. Wilbum: Does a great job in government. Bailey: Good to get a younger person like that. Lehman: Okay, Steve, you're up. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 20 of 31 ITEM 4(d). CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE CONDITIONALLY CHANGING THE ZONING DESIGNATION OF APPROXIMATELY 54 ACRES FROM PUBLIC/INTENSIVE COMMERCIAL (P/CI-1) ZONE TO COMMUNITY COMMERCIAL (CC-2) ZONE FOR AVIATION COMMERCE PARK. (REZ05-00004) (SECOND CONSIDERATION) Dilkes: I need to correct myself on the Aviation Commerce Park. You not only need to back up, you need to back up, defer, and have a meeting with Planning and Zoning. Wilburn: And, wouldn't also someone who voted in the affirmative on that .......... METRO AGENDA Atkins: Okay, in your packet is a memo. I think I alerted this to you a couple months ago. I've been working on, for a number of years, I think you're all familiar with the activities of the League of Women Voters about the concept of regionalism. The 'State Legislature has also weighed in during the last legislative sessions. There were at least some indications that the sins of the world lay at the feet of local governments and we're going to have to be brought around. I mean that jokingly, but snotty at the same time. There is an indication, a strong indication, and I think rightfully so, that we need to find a way to make our public services more efficient and more effective. And, I happen to believe that we have a number of examples of things that we do now, we' re simply not making our case. And what happens is that there is a rush to judgment, and that what you need to do is restructure government and thereby restructuring you're automatically going to become more efficient. And I do not agree with that. I think we're all aware if we were going to try some sort of restructuring of government, anything that would diminish the authority of the current local government structure as we know it to be, is going to meet with a lot of conflict and, again, consternation on the part of those people who represent these local governments. You know, there is a lot of common terminology that's used. I like the term metropolitinization, but there's consolidation and merger, amalgamation, regionalization - all these cartels calling together of local governments, but I don't think it has a particularly... Bloc is another. You know the Soviets - they messed that one up. Anyway. I think we need to create an opportunity - and if we don't do it, it's going to be done to us, whereby we have to enter into a serious agenda- discussions about how we can go about providing public services in a more efficient and effective manner, while still preserving the local units of government - that political perspective that each and every government, regardless of how small it is, whether it's University Heights of 900 people or Iowa City of 63,000 - to preserve that local government interest. The State, I think if you look at the path they're leading us down, they discussed denying resources to us. You either do this or we're not going provide you funding. Well, that was just before they took away all of that money two years ago - and we now virtually have little to no State aid in our general operating budget. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 21 of 31 Machinery and equipment went away. Rollback won't be changed. I mean they're putting us in a position - almost like they're starving you into submission by denial of resources. They also have this cookie-cutter mentality that all local governments throughout the State of Iowa are similar. Well, we're not. We're all very different. And I think what we need to do is we need to rethink how we think about the delivery of public services. And above all, while doing that process, we need to record it. It needs to be recorded. Much of the work has been done by the League of Women Voters. I'm hoping that I can simply receive your approval to embellish it. We need to think more from a metropolitan standpoint. There are really two issues. One is governance and one is the delivery of public services. And how I envision this thing working, bear with me a minute...and I've laid a copy of this in front of you...what I would suggest is that we establish a policy that we become committed to a metropolitan agenda and commit to this long-term process of service review. JCCOG would be the instrument or some variation on that if you feel strongly about it. We may need a staffperson to coordinate all these activities. I don't know that just yet. I've talked with Jeff about it and I think he's willing to take this issue on with current staffing. I believe all of our 28-E's and we have a half-an-inch stack of them, I suspect there must be 50 and other inter-governmental agreements, need to reviewed, culled out, and look for any kind of common thread that run through all of those. And then, periodically, you would select a service or two and direct us to convene the providers, possibly even use a facilitator, and answer those 5 questions that I put in the memo. Why does it work well? What are its failings? Can we make it better? Does it preserve our local government? And what is the future of it going to be? We report the findings to the JCCOG and in recording those findings we have a record of what we've been up to as a local government. Des Moines has gone through an attempt to reorganize - and it seems there is this rush to do it structurally. And that just causes instant conflict. I mean there are many things, many things and services we could perform better on a metropolitan basis. Let me give you an example, and it's in this memo. We take for granted the landfill. Here you have the responsibility for a landfill, a very complex, multi-million dollar operation. There is one centralized authority - the City. You, by policy, make that service available to everybody in Johnson County. The operational rules are uniformly applied. Everybody has the same experiences. It is financed at a fee-for-service at the point of the use of the service. We provide, by choice, a number of other peripheral services. That, to me, is a metropolitan service that we currently provide. And I'll give you some more examples in a minute. What's important when you assess this is looking at what the future issues are. Just the other evening, you had to make a decision on the need for more land. Well, who is responsible? Well, the City of Iowa City's residential refuse program is about 8% of the total volume of the landfill. The other 92% belongs to other jurisdictions, governments and businesses. And yet we are responsible for sustaining that particular metropolitan service. We choose to do it. Lehman: If 8% is residential, how much of the total is Iowa City? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 22 of 31 Atkins: That I don't know. Lehman: I mean of the commercial and... Atkins: But I'm saying we choose to provide. Yes - we would have to calculate that. Lehman: But I'm saying the majority of the landfill use is Iowa City. Atkins: But the public's perception of the landfill and what goes on out there is "what you put at the curb and we dispose of'. They honestly have no concept - and I don't mean this disparagingly - they have no concept of the overall breadth of that particular service. And it is a metropolitan service. What comes to mind when I analyze this service is that we need to expand recycling. We had to buy more land simply because we're going to need more land. We're responsible for that. You - the City Council. We need to expand recycling. Who has policies and who does not? Not all the cities in the County have recycling policies. And if we could get into more comprehensive recycling as a result of this particular metropolitan service, it would seem to make sense to me the demand for more land would go down and would also give us the ability to help offset some of our growth. We bring businesses and industry to town - the first thing they do is create a demand for the landfill because they have unusable products that have to be disposed of. We would want to review the uniform ordinances and the local codes. Above all, the landfill is the repository for things we don't want. But it's basically a health and sanitation code. Do all the folks who participate in the landfill have satisfactory health and sanitation Codes? The City has long-term liability. We choose to do that - and we do that through a fee structure. So the responsible party - that is we run it - but at the same time we're also accepting liability 30 years out at the time of closure. And in doing so, as a fee for service at the point of use of the service, we generate income. And then of course, we never know from one minute to the next what might happen with the DNR. But that to me is an example of a metropolitan service that works well. Now, at one time we discussed many years ago, whether that should be a County service, because it does incorporate all the county. The County expressed no interest in participating, but you're going to find there are very few municipal landfills in Iowa. Most of them are either county-wide or multiple county-wide. Champion: Speaking of the landfill. I know that's not what you're really discussing now. What do we do to encourage the County and other communities who use the landfill to encourage recycling? Do we put any heat on them at all? Atkins: No we don't, Connie. And I think one of the things we need to discover is "what are the policies for the users of our.landfill?" You're going to find certain jurisdictions are saying "I don't care what it costs. It's just passed directly on to the consumer." This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 23 of 31 Champion: I can fill up the landfill myself. Atkins: And it's not fair to those of us that practice responsible recycling - and maybe that is policy that needs to get built into this metropolitan service thing. You've got to have a recycling policy. Champion: And what about those trash days they have? Atkins: Connie - anything you want. I mean, the point is, we've got it fixed. We can establish the rules. Everybody right now is playing by the rules. Will it cause some policy pain for some people? Possibly. But if you're going to use the landfill, you have to take responsibility for it "with us". And that is sort of the intent ofmetropolitanizing services. I think we get better policy-making. Champion: Should they have the same rules? Atkins: Absolutely. Let me give you a couple other examples -just to think about these kind of services. Here's a group of metropolitan services, in my judgment, and metropolitan means "forget corporate boundaries". Public Health - we have a very effective Public Health program nm by the County. It's not uncommon to see city public health, but they substantially take care of our restaurant inspections - do the kinds of things that are necessary. That works well. The landfill works well. The ambulance - the same service. It is unusual to have it fixed in a County government, or a regional or a metropolitan service. But we do and it seems to work fairly well. HazMat. We, the City of Iowa City, are the substantial party responsible for the vision of HazMat services and respond to those kinds of calls on a fee for service. We have a full time professional fire department. We have staff not on call, but on duty at regular times to deal with these issues. Mental Health - another County. Veteran's Affairs. Airport. Here's one we get all excited about. Here's a service WE provide at the City. One Sponsor. We pay it all. And I can assure you that more than just Iowa City residents use the Iowa City Airport. There's got to be some way to metro that particular service. Judicial System. Again, pretty straight forward. The Jail. Housing Authority - we provide. We have contracts with communities throughout Johnson County to be able to address their low and moderate income housing issues. Is this something we need to get more involvement on the part of those local governments? Well, from a metro standpoint I would think we would. Building Code. A lot of folks don't recognize that we have a Building Code that we adopt. Coralville and Johnson County adopt substantially the same Building Code. If you want to do electrical work in Iowa City, you have to come here to get a license. If you want to do it in Coralville, you go there or in North Liberty. Now, all they have done in the past is ask for 'Are you licensed in Iowa City?' and it's approved when they produce a document. It would seem to me some sort of metropolitan licensing system, where you go one place - we'll run it for you. What else did we have. Oh...we have a backflow prevention...we have...most business and industry is located in our community. It's a state law. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 24 of 31 We have a full-time staff person that deals with just that issue. We've talked to some of the surrounding governments...'Would you like for us to do it for you?'...you've got the same rule, it's the same code and we do it by contract. They then don't have to staff work. Their demand for it is a lot less. That's the kind of thinking...when we create ordinances... Champion: I don't know what you're talking about. Atkins: The backflow? O'Donnell: It's your water line. Atkins: It's a water pipe .... so it doesn't back-up in to the system...the state requires that we have to inspect - Champion: I know what you mean now. Atkins: Okay, thank you. Lehman: Anti-siphon device. Atkins: Anti-siphon device, there you go. So, the bottom line folks is that I really would like...I think the time has arrived for us to give some real serious consideration to this process of looking at our public services. I think around the table at JCCOG you can convince these folks, 'Look, we're not here to take away your City Council and it's authority.' Champion: I think you forgot got two. Atkins: Oh there's probably more. Tell me what they are, what do you got? Champion: Well, transit, which I think is a major thing, we'd save a lot of money... Atkins: Transit is an urban service not available to all of Johnson County. Now, if you characterize it as an urban service, we do okay. Can that urban service be provided...it's a three-party service right now .... Coralville, Iowa City, and the University. There are a number of issues that get in the way. Could it as an urban service? Yeah, I think so. North Liberty appears to be interested in some sort of a transit system. They're about to bite offa huge - as you know - a huge expense with substantial subsidies. I wish them the best. We'll provide them with all the information they want - but should it be incorporated into our thinking, the answer is yeah. Bailey: I don't think that's necessarily the way...they're still exploring things...so it could be incorporated....the time might be right. Connie is right that the time might be right. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 25 of 31 Elliott: I think, however, that the transit is a perfect example why some things you just kind of have to wait because certainly Coralville has a different philosophy of transit than does Iowa City. Atkins: Yes they do. They have a very much 'use-it-or-lose-it'. Elliott: And the University has yet another philosophy and it seems like a waste of money but it's not going to get fixed for a while. Bailey: I think you bring up an interesting point that we don't have to go all the way there. You used the example of libraries. Well, that might not necessarily work but we certainly should explore the possibility of having interactive catalogs among all the libraries - which we do not have right now .... so if you wanted to look up something in another library - you couldn't. Atkins: We're working on something right now called piggy-back clauses in our contracts. We're about to take advantage of one. This is even further with the City of Cedar Rapids Water Department. We need to buy lime for our water system, well, our system is small enough that the lime providers are not real interested in our business. If we're going to buy lime that way they're going to charge us a bunch. So, we're going to piggy-back on Cedar Rapids, they'll bid it, and they'll provide us the lime and then we pay for it. That's sort of the kind of thinking...and we need to record those things. We need to be able to demonstrate, particularly to the state legislature and I think to the community, that we do do this and it just needs to become very routine. We do things by law, a building code. We do things my contractual arrangement, look at Economic Development. We have nine participating local governments in economic development policy that work through ICAD. Six of them don't participate. Now, they certainly enjoy the benefit of the work of those nine. In some instances it's going to be a little...'Well, we don't want to play.' You can't really make them - but you can certainly put on the table the advantages and disadvantages of your participation. You know there's a lot of...if you read down...we have sixteen different fire-service providers. We happen to have an organization...what do you call it, Mike? O'Donnell: Emergency Management. Atkins: Yeah, and they really don't do a lot. They need, I think, add some challenges to their agenda. Sharing equipment, sharing training...I would like to see a much closer relationship with the City of Coralville and our fire service. I'd like to see something called automated responses. If there is a call on a certain geographic area on the border of the community, we both respond simultaneously. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 26 of 31 O'Donnell: Steve, I think immediately...police, fire, and I was going to bring up Emergency Management...we just recently made a tentative agreement with Cedar County to get involved there. This list, as good as it is...but you could add - Atkins: Oh there's much more. Oh, Mike, there's bunches of things. I just put this together, more so for public consumption...this is just the beginning. Lehman: Isn't there a memo tonight, too, that we have an agreement with the County relative to the consultant on our communications system? Atkins: Yes, it's in your packet. Lehman: Those are the kind - we're getting there. So how do you propose that we...I think the JCCOG forum is exactly the right one. How do we get the ball rolling? Atkins: I'd like to polish this presentation, take it to the JCCOG board, actually suggest a couple of the services that we might like to do, and go through the process. I picked the library to begin with because those folks really do work well together. I was not aware, Regenia, for example, of the catalog issue. With my conversations with Susan, operating costs .... they have a similar operating policy now in doing their negotiations apparently with the County on library service. All five of them. That's...nobody is trying to undercut anybody. I would think that if you're going to use the library, it would be nice the know that the policies are substantially the same regardless of where you are. Bailey: Well, if the State is going to step in, that would be...the libraries would be a place because one of the reasons we don't have similar catalogs is that we have an expensive sort of cataloging system and other municipalities haven't been able to purchase that level of system, I guess, is what Susan told me. Atkins: Well, there's also internal financing. 'You can not afford to do that, but maybe we can help you with the financing on that because we know full well that our library users are ultimately going to take advantage of that.' We're not giving anything away. Wilbum: I think you're right on polishing it up, developing stories that they can all relate to, because usually what happens at a JCCOG-type thing is that someone brings up, whatever buzzword you want to use, we've got 28-E agreements and then is just kind of stops there as opposed to getting to the way of looking how to work jointly. Atkins: The 20 AD is...pick them apart...are there some common threads in there. I've got to believe that there are if we're willing to do the research to discover this. Again, record them because then for prosterity purposes then they'll continue to grow. But above all, I think you can look at those local governments and say 'We're not out here to undo your community. You'll be able to grow, you'll be This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 27 of 31 able to do your own planning and zoning, annexation....we do need a good fringe-area agreement - which we have - to help protect the borders of all communities involved. O'Donnell: To keep your own identity. Atkins: Yeah, to keep your own identity. Bailey: Well, I know we have this Land-Use Group that isn't quite sure what it wants to do yet...but I think that's a nice move as well. Atkins: I did read that and I had not read that...they took off from land-use and got into all sorts of things. Bailey: They'll get back to land-use soon enough. Elliott: Steve, I thought you made an observation that I think...the landfill is a perfect example. I certainly wish that the County were doing that. There are three counties in Southeast Iowa that are talking about a joint jail system. I really like that. I guess it's the fact that if the County won't do it, then we do it and they make use of it. Certainly, where it's able, ! like the largest central entity to do it. Atkins: By virtue of us being the largest city, it's going to fall our way. I don't know how you resolve that. Could we give the keys to the County tomorrow and say, 'You're running the landfill' and could they do it? Yeah. Would things dramatically change, probably not. The public wouldn't notice a big difference. We got in this business in the 70's and we're still in the business. Elliott: I've always thought about politics as being a very interesting blend of philosophy and pragmatism and I think that's what you're talking about. The philosophy is coordinating and combining as much as you can but you have to be pragmatic about it. What is you...somebody just recently compiled a list of the 28-E Agreements within the County. Bailey: Jeff Davidson did for the land-use group. Atkins: I've got one, yeah, that the land-use group. Elliott: I think it was very surprising to a number of people how many there were. Atkins: Many of them are very (unclear). We do a really good job at transportation- related issues through JCCOG, but that's substantially the agenda...making sure the streets hook up. I just think that that agenda can be broader. I think there are lots of things that can be subject to discussion. Frankly, you can shop for whatever issues you want for discussion purposes and cut us loose, but the 28-E is a good tool. Remember the 28-E Iowa River Power Dam. A shared project with This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 28 of 31 the City of Coralville. Recently, in an editorial by one of the local papers, they gave Coralville all the credit for owning the Iowa River Power Dam. We had to explain that to them. If you don't care where the credit goes, then we're okay. Lehman: $200,000 out of two million? Atkins: Yeah. Champion: Steve, what about...another perfect example would be since Coralville is looking at building another fire station that that be coordinated with our new fire station. Atkins: They're talking about building a fire-training facility. Champion: Oh, a training center. Atkins: Now...I very much agree with you. We have converted an old warehouse storage building...have you seen in? Lehman: Down south across from the Animal Shelter? Atkins: Yes. We have training facilities built in there, we have classrooms, we have a small tower, and I would like say to Coralville, 'Before you spend any money, come and talk to us. If it's a matter of scheduling...as a volunteer fire department they have different scheduling issues than we do. We can schedule training at night if we want to. We can make those services available for a reasonable fee. Much more so than investing hundreds of thousands of dollars. O'Donnell: Coralville is talking about a very elaborate system out there. One that I think is going to bring in fire departments all over the state, possibly. Atkins: Then my question would be, have they thought about...maybe we ought to go to Coralville? I don't have any trouble with that. That would be fine. I'm just telling you that we have invested with our own labors, our own people in designing...I mean, we have crawl-space training, I mean, if you haven't been down to see it...it's... Champion: Maybe you can get us in the see it. Atkins: We can get you inside to see it. Lehman: What do you want from us? Atkins: I just want to know that you don't think I'm off base. I think we have to start thinking this way. We need to get JCCOG involved and we may have to make a commitment of staff at some time in the future. I don't know if we need to do that just yet. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 29 of 31 Lehman: Steve, what I think you're verbalizing is what Council's have been saying for the last four-to-five years, or longer, that we need to consolidate wherever we can. I think you're starting to pick it apart and make is a little simpler but I think we really need to move forward. I totally agree with you, Ross, when you say 'But we've got a 28-E here' - when no it's really deeper than that. It's broader and deeper and we really need to look at the entire issue. You know, we say transit is not a possibility...but we already provide services to University Heights. There is no reason, if things were to work out correctly, we could not provide service to North Liberty who doesn't have a bus system. But, bit by bit by bit these things come together if we work at them. Atkins: People in the private sector or the manufacturing industry where they have a variety of plants located...they do this every day. I mean, it's just part of the.., they have one centralized authority that makes.., each of it's plant is in it's own...I'm trying to be really kind about this...but they have their own local - Elliott: The difference is that they have a person at the top who said, 'Do it.' Atkins: Yeah, well, we have shared responsibility at the top so it does make it a little bit different. So, if it's okay, I'll clean this up and take it to the JCCOG. Bailey: Did you talk to Kelly about this? Atkins: I sent a copy of this to Kelly and Brian last week and I've not heard from them. I sent one to Mike Sullivan as well. Elliott: Just so they know that we're not trying to take over anything. Bailey: In fact, I think talking with them before he presents to JCCOG would be very, very helpful. Atkins: Kelly and Brian, my colleagues, I gave them and Mike Sullivan, Executive Assistant of the County, I also gave him a copy on Friday. Bailey: You should do lunch. Atkins: Do lunch. Wilburn: Again, the stories. The fire training facility is a perfect example. We don't have to own this. That sends the message...that reinforces that we're not trying to take over. Bailey: Perhaps if there was a joint presentation or multiple jurisdictions standing up and talking about that this is a good idea, they would move a little bit faster. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 30 of 31 Lehman: I think that's really true. If North Liberty and Coralville would participate in the presentation, and Sullivan, that would really... Atkins: I can talk to them about it. Lehman: I think it gives tremendous credibility if it appears that the administrative officials of these jurisdictions are committed to this sort of thing, it makes our job a lot easier. Atkins: Well, we bought in on the emergency center and that's a go project. I was surprised. It took longer to get the consultant selected than I would have hoped but we feel pretty confident about it and we got a good price on it. I was real pleased with all of that. Lehman: The best part of that is then it doesn't become Iowa City's idea...it's not Iowa City pushing it. It's Coralville, Iowa City, North Liberty, and the'County trying to do something for everybody's mutual benefit. I think it has a lot more credibility. Bailey: I agree. Atkins: Thank you. Lehman: Thank you. SCI-IEDULE OF FUTURE PENDING ITEMS Lehman: Okay, schedule of future pending items. O'DoImell: I would like to let go...move to the (unclear) session. Bailey: Which? O'Donnell: As we've been doing. Lehman: Well, we never get to them if we don't schedule them. O'Donnell: Do you have a list? Lehman: I don't. Atkins: While I'm thinking about it...for next meeting, I wouldn't plan on much because of the holiday we'll probably have to start early. I would schedule more than you have to for next week. Elliott: It's all on one night, right? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session. June 20, 2005 City Council Work Session Page 31 of 31 Lehman: Yes. Champion: What's the date? Atkins: July 5. O'Donnell: July 4th. It's Independence Day. Lehman: Why don't we try to prioritize the pending issues at the end of the work session on the 5th. We can say 'here's the ones for the next meeting'. PLANNING & ZONING ITEMS Champion: We haven't done planning and zoning yet. Lehman: Planning and Zoning. Atkins: There is one item on the agenda calling for public hearing.., setting a public hearing on July the 5th. All the remainder are second readings. I very much apologize. I probably did not send out proper instructions. Lehman: No, I don't think...it probably wasn't necessary for anyone to be here. Atkins: I like people here. Lehman: There, we just handled it. All right guys, we're done. Champion: Are we done already? I can't go home yet, I'll have to clean the kitchen. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Jun 20, 2005 Iowa City Council Work Session.