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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-07-19 Transcription#1 Page 1 ITEM 1 CALL TO ORDER. ROLL CALL. PROCLAMATION a. 35th Anniversary Crisis Center Lehman: Although it's not on the agenda, we have a proclamation tonight. It's, I think, a particularly important one. I'm just really sorry that the person who should be receiving it is unable to be with us tonight. (READS PROCLAMATION). And, as all of you are aware, our Councilperson, Ross Wilburn, is the Executive Director of the Crisis Center. He's unable to be with us tonight. So... Champion: I think it'd be nice if we reminded people that they can drop food off at the Crisis Center, and they're always in need of things like diapers. It's a major need. So, take up some diapers. Lehman: Okay, thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #2 Page 2 ITEM 2 CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS PRESENTED OR AMENDED. O'Donnell: Move adoption. Lehman: Moved by Mike; seconded...O'Donnell...seconded by Elliott. Discussion? Elliott: I'd like to remove Item 7 having to do with Oakcrest Street and handle that separately. Lehman: Okay, okay. Other discussion? Roll call. Motion carries. Would someone like to move to consider Item 7? Bailey: Oh yes, I'll move F. 7. Lehman: We have a motion to approve Item 7, by Bailey; seconded by... Bailey: I actually would like to amend that to removal of"no parking" and... Champion: We have to vote on the other one. Lehman: We voted. Champion: We did? Oh my gosh. Lehman: I'm sorry, Regenia, go ahead. Bailey: The parking hours is from 10 to 4, rather than 8 to 5, so it would be no parking from 10-4 on that street. This recognizes the neighborhood's compromise that they agreed to earlier. Lehman: So the motion is to change the parking restriction from 10 to 5 and leave the signs. Or, 10 to 4, is that correct? Is there a second to that amendment? Vanderhoef: Yes. Lehman: We have a motion by Bailey; a second by Vanderhoef. Discussion? Elliott: I was in favor of removing them entirely, but I'm certainly willing to go for this compromise. Lehman: Is there discussion? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #2 Page 3 Audience: I'd just like to thank the Council for getting into the matter, and I agree, even though originally it was not biased, I agree and respect your decision to accept the compromise, even though (can't understand). I think it's... Lehman: Thank you. Bailey: The neighborhood worked really hard to getting to a compromise, and I think we should recognize that. Lehman: This is just a voice vote? All in favor of the amendment, indicate by saying "aye." Opposed? Amendment carries. All in favor of the motion as amended, signify by saying "aye." Opposed? Motion carries. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #3 Page 4 ITEM 3 COMMUNITY COMMENT. Lehman: This is a time reserved on the agenda for persons to address the Council on items that do not otherwise appear on tonight's agenda. If you wish to address the Council, sign in, give your name, address, and limit your comments to five minutes or less. Horton: Good evening. My name is LaVonn Horton. I'm here tonight, joined with other citizens, as an advocate for public power in Iowa City. I lived in Osage, Iowa, which is one of 136 other municipally-owed utilities in the State, and in response to my request, the General Manager at the Osage Utility emailed me yesterday about the services they provide to the city. These services include street lighting and maintenance, lighting of all baseball fields, energy to heat the community swimming pool, tree work, and traffic light repair; and they dig graves for the cemetery, have free or reduced internet service for local government entities, and they install and remove Christmas lighting, which I know is done here. They provide in- kind services, and more. The combined value of cash transfers to the City's General Fund, and in-kind services, amount to 4.5% of total operating expenses of the utility, which reduces the City's operating expenses, and thus, tax assessment. This is done with an electric rate to customers of 6.1 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to 9.3 cents per kilowatt-hour here in Iowa City. Industrial customers pay around 5 cents or less for a kilowatt-hour, compared with 8.3 cents per kilowatt-hour in Iowa City. They have gone on to have cable TV, as well as Internet and broadband. Iowa City had an opportunity to have cable TV a few years back, and it was rejected by the Council then. My hope is that our City Council, after the election, if authorized by a "yes" vote November 8th, to do so, would move on to a business plan. Though they would not be required to proceed after that, they could then forward the plan to the Iowa Utilities Board, which, if the plan is not in the best interest of Iowa Citians, they would reject it, and so would I. Myself and a growing number of supporters would like to see this issue fully explored and carefully considered, and I thank you for.this hearing. Lehman: Thank you. Rowley: My name is Charity Rowley. I'm here to tell you about what the Senior Center Commission decided and discussed this afternoon. We finished the fiscal year with 900 or so registered members, and we're planning a September street party to thank these members. Last month we had a volunteer recognition breakfast that was enjoyed by probably over 130 of our volunteers. We're looking at how to expand and staff more evening and weekend programs at the Center, and this fall we'll have more program instruction in art, music, and spoken Spanish. Our Parking Committee has approved the proposal to make...that the Traffic and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. Page 5 Parking Department from the City sent us, to make all day, overnight parking fees the same in all three downtown parking ramps. We hope this will make it easier for us who are a little bit older to find parking places in the Clocktower Parking Ramp, and we're having a goal-setting and strategic planning, two-day meeting late in August. In preparation, the Participation Committee has surveyed people who use the Center, and the Commission has been conducting focus groups of people who do not use the Center, and we're going to get that material together, and use it in our planning, in our strategic goal planning. Any questions? Vanderhoef: I'd just like to comment that I went over the survey over the past weekend, and it's very interesting to see some of the outcomes in there. Many of them you would expect, but a couple of surprises in there. Rowley: And then we'll have the other survey that does people who don't participate, so be interesting to see where they cross and where they don't cross. Vanderhoe~ Uh-huh. Rowley: Thank you, Dee. Bailey: How are you finding the people who don't participate in the Senior Center? Rowley: That material hasn't been collected and processed so... Bailey: I mean, how did you know to whom to send the survey? Rowley: Oh, every Commission member formed a focus group, from people who do not participate at the Center, and we asked the questions, you know, 'what do you know about it, and what would bring you there, etc., etc.' It all had the same format. Bailey: all right, great. Thank you. Lehman: Thank you. Purdy: Hi, my name is David Purdy, 1434 E. Bloomington Street. I'm the Executive Director of Elder Services and I'm coming tonight in my role as a member of the Johnson County Consortium on Successful Aging. I'd like to thank the City Council for adopting the senior friendly resolution during tonight's Consent Calendar. The last sentence of the resolution states, 'Now therefore be it resolved that the Iowa City City Council will endeavor to make Iowa City a friendly place for our seniors and encourage participation by all generations, in the effort to create a senior-friendly This represents only a reasonably accarate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #3 Page 6 community.' Also like to give thanks to Steve Atkins who three and a half years ago jump-started our effort. From that jump-start, a broad array of people, not only providers, but also older adults, representatives from the City, from the County, from (can't hear) on aging, and etc., formed the Johnson County Consortium on Successful Aging. We endeavored to send our a survey to 2,000 older adults, with a return rate of over 50%. We sent out a survey to over 450 providers, and we held 12 focus groups, and from all of that information, this document is called the "Successful Aging in Johnson County," a market analysis was created in June of 2005. For people at home, they can view this document at the Iowa City Senior Center website, www.icgov.org/senior. This 61-page document is just the start. It found as no surprise that Johnson County is indeed a friendly place for senior citizens, but it also realizes there are gaps and things that we still need to do. So it proposed four initial recommendations. The first recommendation was to request that the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, the Cities, the Chamber of Commerce, and the public and private organizations, number one, adopt resolutions to be a senior- friendly community; b) ask their Department's committees to recommend ways their entity can be more senior-friendly; and c) appoint representatives, all generations, to the boards and committees; and so far, after tonight's Iowa City passing their resolution, Johnson County Board of Supervisors has also passed a resolution, and the City of North Liberty has passed a resolution. The second recommendation was, there's four follow-up studies on specific areas: health and supportive services, transportation, housing, and successful aging. They'll be completed this fall, and their goal is to identify best practices and viable responses for the future. The third recommendation is to create a highly, high quality, independent, current, and comprehensive repository of program services and policies that pertain to older adults in Johnson County; and the fourth recommendation was to recruit through a collaborative effort, a professional staff person to help implement the recommendations. So those, that is kind of where we're going, but I would like to make two final points. The Consortium believes that by making Johnson County a senior-friendly place, it will benefit people of all ages, number one; and number two, the Consortium and the people it encompasses, and especially myself, want the community to recognize the many, many benefits that older adults provide to the community. Not only the financial impact from Social Security checks, but the countless hours of volunteering, and last but not least, the general knowledge and experience provided by these citizens. So, again, we'd like to thank the City Council for passing the resolution tonight, and we'd like to thank the City staff for all of their efforts in the past three years, and we look forward to working with you to make Iowa...to make Johnson County an even friendlier place for older adults. Lehman: Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #3 Page 7 Bailey: And thanks to the Consortium for their very hard work. That's quite an expensive process that you went through. Glass: Hi, I'm Jennifer Glass. I live at 1133 E. Court Street, and I understand that last night at a work session the City Council discussed the possibility of traffic calming measures on Court Street, between Summit and Muscatine Avenue, on the eastside of Iowa City. In 1997, I started a petition campaign with someone who was then working on what was called the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program, and we had a petition that was signed by almost all the members of the street, asking that we be considered for traffic calming. At that point, I think the program was about to go (can't hear), and we were reassured that with the opening of the First Avenue extension that traffic counts would go down on that section of Court Street. Unfortunately that didn't happen, and the increasing number of cars and trucks, and the speed at which the cars are going down the street, we believe, are making it a serious hazard, as well as eroding the quality of life and the family-friendly atmosphere of the neighborhood. My good friend and neighbor, Jim Haze across the street, has resurrected our neighborhood campaign, and I believe the City Council received a petition with our signatures on it, as well as a personal letter from myself, and I'm just here to urge the City Council to think about a number of possible traffic calming measures that could be implemented on that section of the street, in the hopes that with the new designation of the street as part of the Longfellow Historic District, we would be able to maintain the neighborhood character of the street, and reduce the hazards. I can tell you a little bit more about the hazards quite briefly. Most of the curbs on the south side of the street are completely eroded. There's very little difference between the street, the parkway, and the sidewalk. It's increasingly difficult to mow or garden on the parkway, between the sidewalk and the street because the traffic comes by so fast and so frequently. There are a number of families with young children on the block, but we're afraid that the increasing traffic and the entire neighborhood is going to be a deterrent to families staying in the neighborhood, and in other neighborhoods close in to Iowa City. So, anyway, thank you for your time, and I look forward to working with you in the future on some way to address this problem. Lehman: Jennifer, last night we did discuss this, and the consensus was to ban truck traffic, trucks over 16,000 pounds, and also to increase enforcement, and we are looking at it. So, thank you for your comments. Glass: Thank you. Fuortes: Good evening. I'm Laurence Fuortes; I'm Jennifer's next-door neighbor at 1119 E. Court Street, and I want to thank you very much for your This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #3 Page 8 thought put into this and the decision you made last night, or the recommendation you made last night. When Jennifer started this I believe you actually did a traffic survey of that segment of Court Street. We're talking the segment between Summit and Muscatine, which apparently people tend to use as a by-pass of Burlington to Muscatine. I don't understand why that would be, but just from years of driving there and living in the neighborhood. Driving there, it's obvious that people going east or west on Court Street seem to prefer, it's an avenue of preference, to continue on Court Street to Summit and then turn north or south. As a response to Jennifer's petition at that time, you did a traffic survey, but unfortunately you did it, to my knowledge, when City High wasn't in session, and obviously a lot of people who are going to be using that segment of Court Street are City High students who are coming their ways to and from school, are likely to be in a hurry to get to school, or get away from school, and they tend to speed, as Jennifer was saying, and it is unsafe. I can only give you some anecdotes. John Irving just came out with a new book. You probably read "The World According to Garp," and there's a scene where he runs down some speeding traffic perpetrator, and he slept everywhere in Iowa City, but we think it's that house on Court Street that Jim Hayes tore down, that he used to live in. Other things, driving...I was told, you know, I was told we should all drive the speed limit. If I drive the speed limit on Court Street, I tend to have people right on my bumper, and I've actually had people pass me unsafely on Court Street, in a no-passing zone, because I'm driving the speed limit. People get upset that we're driving the speed limit on Court Street. Also, a couple of years after that petition, I got called across the street, I'm a physician, I got called across the street because a child got hit on a bicycle by a kid driving on Court Street. So we have events that we can document, at least by anecdote, of this hazard being real and some attempts to curb the traffic would be really helpful. We would love to have a stop sign or two added to the street, or a speed bump, so a sign saying "no truck traffic" above so many pounds would be great, but if we could do some other traffic calming maneuvers that would also be quite helpful. Thank you very much. Lehman: Thank you. Crane: I'm Bob Crane. I live at 1154 E. Court, addressing the same issue as Jennifer and the gentleman have brought up. You have the City of Iowa City memorandum. Now, Ernie, you said, what was that you addressed about recommendations? Lehman: We discussed this last night, and we will, there will be an ordinance coming to us, prohibiting truck traffic on trucks in excess of 16,000 pounds. There will also be an attempt for increased enforcement on that stretch of road, by the Police Department. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. //3 Page 9 Crane: Okay. This memorandum comes from Jeff Davidson of your staff, and I think, is it true you all have it or have seen it? Lehman: Right. Crane: So we're on the same page. The issue of traffic calming is paramount with us, all of us, and there's about a halfa dozen residents here this evening, and I hope they can all speak briefly on it. I'll try not to take to long. Jim Hayes has worked with us on this a great deal, but he's in Chicago on depositions and can't be here. The six suggestions that were recommended earlier, at a house meeting that we had, admittedly, Item 1 is extreme, and Item 6 is probably extreme, returning it back to brick surface. The others, we believe, have considerable credence: installing devices such as speed humps, turn-arounds, and traffic circles. I've noticed, I manage a property over on south Summit and Washington Street. There's a turn-around there that seems to work rather well. There's one on College Street that seems to be quite effective. I think our issue here is to try to get this traffic, if not minimized, and I agree with the gentleman, a neighbor over here who doesn't understand why they don't use Burlington Street. You know, Burlington Street was Highway 6 forever and ever, and I don't, it's just amazing to us why all of this traffic has to come up Court Street from Muscatine, and seems to go down Court Street from Summit. Restrict truck and commercial vehicle use; well, limiting your tonnage to 7 ½ tons is, it's a step. I'm going to challenge the amount of truck use that Jeff's survey, which apparently was taken, had to have been taken the last half of June, as I tie together the original petition and the answer sheet. Well, that's pretty quite time of year, when you consider City High is not in session. Things have closed down. It's an advantageous time of survey if you don't want many cars to show up, and I would strongly suggest that we try to revisit that, reverse it, retake it, whatever, to get a more accurate indication. There's one item on there we severely disagree with, and I will leave these copies with you, ifI may, or a couple of them. I've just labeled it the "Hayes Study." It was done by Jim Hayes' nephew and a friend, honest young lads. I believe, and if someone else knows different here, Correct me, approximately October of 04, last fall. Is that right? (person talking in audience; laughter) A little humor doesn't hurt anything, does it? Whatever. We have this sophisticated traffic survey that the, and it was taken from 6:00 A.M., until 10:00 P.M. This survey showed 462 trucks during that time period, and an overall traffic count of 3,023. That's consistent with, reasonably consistent, with Jeff' s study, but the percentages of trucks is much different than 2%. Lehman: Well, we're taking care of that anyway. We already have. We're prohibiting tkucks. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #3 Page 10 Crane: All right. Lowering the speed limit... Lehman: And you need to wrap it up. Crane: Pardon? Lehman: You need to wrap it up - your time. Crane: All right, I will. Give us all the consideration you can. We'd appreciate it, and that's really very necessary. Lehman: Thank you, Bob. Karr: Did you want to file that, Bob? Did you want copies on file? Crane: Sure. Fuortes: Hello, my name is Sue Fuortes. I'm Jennifer's Glass' neighbor. I live at 1119 E. Court. I too would love to see any kind of traffic calming measures that we could have for our neighborhood. One of the significant things that I'm very concerned about is, is the Longfellow School is right in our neighborhood. It is about not even two blocks from Court Street, and a lot of the children who live on the north side use Court Street as their means of getting...they cross Court Street to get to Longfellow School. Our neighbor right across from us has a child in Longfellow, and she just commented just recently that she is really scared every time that child goes across the street to go to school, and you know, that is really sad. We want our neighborhood to be child-friendly. We want it to be attractive to new people who want to relocate to our neighborhood. Basically, we just want your consideration. We've been...I went with Jennifer walking the neighborhood to get those petitions when we did it. How long ago was that? 97, and it was an overwhelming agreement that 'yes, please let's have any kind of calming measures that we can get.' We got absolutely nothing. Absolutely nothing, and this time around we have more people involved. We have Jim Hayes. We have Mr. Crane, and we want something from you guys. We're happy to have those trucks out of here, thrilled with that. Absolutely thrilled, but we have too many cars, they go too fast, there is one stop sign that is at Oakland and Court. Many times we're coming up Court Street, people won't stop there. They hardly ever stop there. They look around like 'huh, what was that?' So another stop sign would be good. That could be at Clark and Court. That would be great. Flowers in the median, I mean, in the little circle. That would be wonderful, but really, something needs to be done. Thank you very much. Lehman: Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #3 Page 11 Bailey: Steve, are there still bricks on that street, below? It was an original brick surface? (woman speaking from audience) Atkins: I've been here awhile; I don't think I can remember that one. Bailey: Yes, you see brick. Vanderhoef: Well, the brick substance came out of where Trader Field is, and the brick was right there. I lived on Seymour. McKean: Excuse me, I'm Jim McKean. I live at 1164 E. Court, and I hadn't planned on speaking tonight, but I think this matter is very important to me and my family. I raised a daughter on Court Street, and we've had numerous training sessions on how to cross at Court and Oakland. She went to Longfellow School. I watch cars turn left onto Court Street from Summit, and they see that the light at Muscatine is green, and they try to make it. That's a long ways, and it's a lot of speed, and I think the issue is that it's very important to have fewer cars on Court Street, but I think the important and dangerous thing is the fact that cars go on that street very, very quickly, and very, very fast, and I realize that enforcement would help, but I can't see that enforcement's going to stop the speeding on Court Street. It's a long, long straight stretch Summit to Muscatine, and visa versa, and we can hear it, and so...my daughter and I have sat in the front yard, just for kind of entertainment to watch how many cars, either come to a screeching halt at the stop sign at Oakland, or miss it all together, or come to an incomplete stop, or a variety of gymnastics just to get to that stop sign. So I guess what I'm asking is for maybe further consideration about ways to control the speed on Court Street, and thank you very much. Lehman: Thank you. Can we have a motion to accept correspondence? Vanderhoef: So moved. Bailey: So moved. Lehman: Second? All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #6 Page 12 ITEM 6 DECLARING THE CITY'S INTENT TO PROCEED WITH AND AUTHORIZING THE ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY RIGHTS FOR THE HIGHWAY 6 IMPROVEMENT PROJECT. a) Public Hearing Lehman: Public hearing is open. This is for Highway 6, from Lakeside Drive to just beyond 420th Street. Public hearing is closed. b) Consider a Resolution Bailey: Move the resolution. Champion: Move the resolution. Lehman: Moved by Bailey; seconded by Champion. Discussion? Elliott: I've had a couple people contact me today, asking about the easements and could you give us...somebody give us 30 seconds on what easements are, how much, this is a State project... Lehman: Here comes the engineer. Elliott: Okay. Scott: Certainly, I'm one of the Project Engineers, so I can just let you know this is widening of the existing Highway 6, located on the southeast side of Iowa City. It's from Lakeside Drive, just a little bit beyond 420th Street. The original goal of the project was to do everything within the existing right-of-way, but as we got farther along in the process, we've realized that we do need just a little bit of more property, of a couple of parcels along that corridor. So, it's just a few little small pieces out by the highway. Elliott: A few feet? Scott: Yeah, yeah. O'Donnell: I guess for clarification too, where's 420th? How far out does that go? Scott: It's just about where Fareway is. Yeah, where that convenience store is. Lehman: Right. Okay? Thank you. Other discussion? Roll call. Motion carries. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #7 Page 13 ITEM 7 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE BUDGETED POSITIONS IN THE TRANSPORTATION PLANNING DIVISION OF THE PLANNING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT BY THE ADDITION OF ONE HALF-TIME ASSOCIATE PLANER POSITION. Champion: Move the resolution. Lehman: Moved by Champion. O'Donnell: Second. Lehman: Seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion? Elliott: We talked about this last night, and I just think it's important to point out that this is the addition of neither a half time nor a full-time position to the City staff. It's transferring a half-time position from the City staff to the JCCOG Staff, Johnson County Council of Government. Is that correct? Lehman: There will be...we currently have a person working half-time with JCCOG, who will go with JCCOG full time. We are replacing that half- time position. So, there is an increase in one half-time position, but it is with JCCOG. Elliott: With JCCOG...my..personally, that's John Yap, and ! am sorry to see him leave. Every...all the feedback I've had, he's a very knowledgeable person. Works very well with the City's customers, and that'll be a good addition to JCCOG. O'Donnell: Yes. Lehman: Okay, further discussion? Roll call. Motion carries. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #13 Page 14 ITEM 13 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AWARDING CONTRACT AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A CONTRACT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE 2005 TRAFFIC SIGNALIZATION PROJECT. Champion: Move the resolution. Lehman: There is...well, there are four bids. Champion: Yeah, I see. Lehman: The Engineer's estimate was $370,000. The low bid was $401,958 from Advanced Electrical Services. Public Works and Engineering are recommending we award the contract to those folks. And Connie just moved. Do we have a second? O'Donnell: Second. Lehman: Seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion? For the public's information, those are two intersections, this includes two intersections, which we've had a great deal of interest in getting signalized. One being Court and Scott Boulevard, and the other being at the Mormon Trek on the west side. Both, we've had a lot of requests for a long time, and hopefully, is this construction work...we're hoping to get it done this construction season? Knoche: Correct. The contract says a start date of August 1st, and it gives them two months to get the work done. Lehman: Two important projects. The Scott Boulevard project includes turn lanes, as well as signalization. Knoche: That's correct. Elliott: I've had more calls and expressions of concerns about Court and Scott than probably anything else since I've been on the Council. Lehman: Right, right, we all have. Elliott: And those concerns have been very valid, I believe. Lehman: Other discussion? Roll call. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #14 Page 15 ITEM 14 REVIEW OF CITY CLERK'S CERTIFICATE OF INSUFFICIENCY RE: MEDICAL MARIJUANA INITIATIVE. Bailey: I move to approve this Certificate of Insufficiency. O'Donnell: I second that. Lehman: We have a motion and a second to approve. Discussion? Pappas: Hi everyone; how's everyone doing? Lehman: Good. Pappas: My name is George Pappas. I live at 532 S. Dubuque Street, apartment number 8. I've been in correspondence with all of you, actually, at one time or another. So, a couple of points about this. First, I'd like to offer my thanks and appreciation to City Clerk, Marian Karr, for all the help that she gave us. Her office was, her entire staffwas great in helping us out, and answering any questions we had at any time. So, as you are all probably aware, we're unsure exactly what action will be taken by the Council, if you should decide to review the Certificate, but with that in mind, we came to the decision to file the request because our insufficiency took us completely by surprise. The percentage of valid signatures that we obtained in our second petitioning effort, that's after we fired, or excuse me, filed with the Clerk to resubmit, was at least 5% less than our initial effort. This seemed to us a illogical, given that our strategy during that first effort, excuse me, was to get just as many signatures as possible, without regard to whether they're qualified electors of Iowa City. We just wanted to get as many names as possible. So, while our strategy during the second effort explicitly changed the focus only on getting signatures from qualified Iowa City electors, and obviously, we obtained a higher percentage of valid signatures during our first effort than our second is just...we can't explain it, you know. So, we were informed by the City Clerk that a large number of duplicates, or excuse me, a large number of duplicate signers we achieved on the second petition, the second time around. So, people had signed the petition after they had already signed the first time. You know, but you know this is a problem that we had anticipated to some extent, but the fact that literally hundreds of people would sign a petition that they had knowingly signed a month earlier, you know, without telling us or anything, it's just confusing to us. So, I just wanted to let you guys know our reasoning behind submitting the request to Council, and I'm open to questions if you guys have them. Lehman: Thank you. Pappas: Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #14 Page l6 Elliott: George, I responded to your letter, I think, to at least respond to your questions, and I hope that provided you some information about how I felt. Pappas: Yes, yes, definitely, and it was appreciated, and we can start like a further dialog. Lehman: The motion is to accept the Certification as presented to the Council by the City Clerk's office. Dilkes: And find the petition insufficient. Lehman: And find the petition insufficient, which is concurrent with the finding of the Clerk. Is there other discussion? Is that a voice vote? All in favor of the motion, indicate by saying "aye." Opposed? Motion carries. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #15 Page 17 ITEM 15 COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS. Lehman: The Housing and Community Development has three appointments. At last night's work session, the following folks were selected for the Housing and Community Development: Jerry Anthony, Kelly Mellecker, and Thomas Niblock. Police Citizens Review Board: Greg Roth. Telecommunications Commission: Michael Christians. Do we have a motion to approve those folks? Bailey: So moved. Vanderhoefi So moved. Lehman: We have a motion by Bailey; seconded by Vanderhoef. All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. We had an outstanding group of folks to choose from. Really a difficult task. Elliott: And the University people, as represented by an article in the D-I, were very pleased that a student has been one of those people appointed to a commission. I think that's another good move. (TAPE ENDS) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #18 Page 18 ITEM 18 CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION. Lehman: As we're doing this, the Economic Development Committee of the Council has selected a group of major employers in the community, and we are going to be, either one of our committee or a Council person, is going to be visiting each of these folks and discuss how they interact with the City; if there's something we aren't doing or we should and we aren't, or whatever, and this has been a very, we've done this in the past, and it's been a really good exercise on the part of the City staff and this committee. Now the committee, which is comprised of Regenia, Bob Elliott, and myself, have signed up for a number of these. There are a number of folks, or businesses, that we have not assigned a Councilperson to visit. So, I'd like, Connie, to start with you. You can look them over. If there's any... Champion: You can give me anybody. Lehman: No, no, no. You just, put your name on anyone you'd like to visit, and we'll try to utilize the entire Council. Champion: Are you asking for a visitor to Wal-Mart? Lehman: Wherever you'd like to go. (laughter and several talking) Okay, Council time. Mr. Elliott? Elliott: Friend LaVonn Horton talked about the upcoming municipal power referendum. I think this past week, one of our local papers had an editorial indicating that they did a little bit of checking and found that there are an unusually large number of people who had very little information about the referendum in November, and some who didn't know anything about it. I would encourage people to inform themselves about that referendum, however they feel, they need to be informed and they need to vote, and equally important, our Planning and Zoning Commission and Planning staff have worked for literally months, working on proposed changes to the Zoning Code, and this will be important for how our City looks and how our City acts and everything about our City for years ahead, and I would encourage people to make sure that they inform themselves about the proposed changes and let the Commission or the staff or the Council know, because this is going to be an important decision for us. No matter how you feel, I would encourage residents to inform themselves about it, and as Monty Python would have said, now for something completely different. Tomorrow morning my grandson Matt and I leave for St. Louis, and you can't beat fun at the old ballpark. (laughter) Champion: That'll be fun. I hope it's 110. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #18 Page 19 Elliott: It will be! (laughter) Lehman: Okay. All right, Connie? Champion: I have a, just a little presentation for the Council tonight. It's kind of a minority report. And I'm doing it good-naturedly. Lehman: You always do, Connie. Champion: Because ! really do respect all of your opinions and decisions, but I'm also trying to educate you a little bit. So, for Dee and Ernie, who have both been involved in retail all their life, I have "Nickel and Dimed in America," which I hope you'll read and pass on to someone else to read. Lehman: Okay. Champion: It's very worthwhile, and for the rest of all you people who did not vote the way I did, I have for you "How Wal-Mart is Destroying America and the World." (laughter) And I hope you'll pass that on to other people, too. Lehman: This is our contribution to Economic Development. (laughter) Okay, Connie, anything else? Champion: Would you see that Ross gets that from me? Anyway, read it, enjoy, and educate yourself. Lehman: Okay. Vanderhoef: Thank you. Lehman: Mike? O'Donnell: This is so exciting. Connie, God bless you; never say die. (laughter) One thing, last night we made, we talked about Court Street and traffic calming, we talked about banning trucks over 16 tons, and increasing patrol. Did we put a time period on that for our checking speeding? Atkins: The speeding thing I intend to do immediately. I assume embargoes for car and ordinance, I mean, it's a pretty routine ordinance. We would hope to get that to you fairly quickly, but the speeding thing I intend, after tonight's meeting, is to talk to the Police tomorrow and we'll get something scheduled right away. O'Donnell: I'd like to review that, after like 30 days. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #18 Page 20 Atkins: See what the results would be? Want us (several talking at once) O'Donnell: I'd also like to put this back on a work session. What's that? Vanderhoef: Let's wait until after school starts. (several talking at once) O'Donnell: I want it to come back in front of us, and... Champion: The other thing I might add to that, Mike, because that's a really good idea, is if there's some way we can poll people why they're using that street, because traffic calming, obviously, is important because of the number of cars, but if cars are just using that to avoid going on Burlington and using the stop light, then if we did do some traffic calming, they wouldn't be using like other neighborhood streets. Bailey: Well, if we do consistent enforcement at the beginning of the school year, when I was a 17-year-old driver, I would have probably chosen a different route, so that might be a good timeliness. Atkins: Say that again. Bailey: If we do enforcement around the beginning of the school year... Atkins: Oh yeah. Bailey: ...visible and active enforcement, that might cause people to... Atkins: I want to contact a couple of the neighbors, or have the Police contact, just to make sure, time of day is everything. (several talking at once) Vanderhoefi But while we're thinking about all this, having lived in that neighborhood for a number of years, I'm well aware of some traffic patterns there, and the other arterial, or collector street, excuse me, in that area is Sheridan Avenue, so we need to keep track of Sheridan at the same time as we're doing Court Street because I think we'll just end up diverting everything... (several talking at once) Atkins: That makes sense. Lehman: Okay, Dee, anything else? Vanderhoefi Nothing else, thank you. Lehman: Regenia? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #18 Page 21 Bailey: As many of you know, I'm involved in the Great Places Initiative, our invitation and application for the corridor, and our invitation is called the Creative Corridor Connections, and we're having a joint public meeting and this is a corridor initiative, next Thursday, July 28th, from 5:15 to 7:00 P.M., Iowa Room of Iowa Hall at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. Everybody is invited. You can bring your family because we'll have activities that will solicit ideas from young and old, and we promise to get people out by 7:00, and what we want are ideas that will continue to make this a great place to live and work and raise a family and retire. And we're looking for, as Mark put it, no matter...any ideas, no matter how wacky! So, if you have ideas, come and join us. It's a really fun group, and you'll meet people from throughout the corridor, which has expanded, I think, north and east, so we have a lot of people involved. I'd also like to... Elliott: Regenia, may I just point out that I've done al of the above. I have lived, worked, raised a family, and retired. I qualify. Bailey: So you should have some interesting ideas, Bob, so you should join us. That would be great. I want to thank Ashley and Danielle for attending. They're involved with the group from UAY who's interested in seeing more youth involvement with Council. We're going to be talking about some other things that we can do with the City to get more young people involved. So thanks for sitting through tonight's meeting, and actually, we had a prep session on the agenda last week, so thanks for doing that, as well. So they've worked, they've done their homework, as well. And I'd also like to recognize Prairie Lights Books for being open at midnight on Friday night for all the Potter fans. It's a really generous thing...they were open for two hours in the middle of the night for anywhere from 7-year- olds to college students who are interested in Harry Potter, and the employees were great and it was really fun, and I just appreciate their dedication to the book-reading public in Iowa City. So thank you Prairie Lights. Vanderhoef: I forgot one thing. This past week I had my first committee meeting with the State League of Cities, looking at legislative policies to be put forward for this coming year, for the January session, so it's not too late to put in ideas. I'd be happy to hear from the public if they have something that they think the State Legislature should address, and certainly Council members keep me informed of anything that you have. You're welcome to read the policy book that I have, and see what we talked about earlier. It's quite an extensive one, and certain issues might be of special interest to you. Champion: Dee, do you have the list of the ones we recommended last year? It might be helpful... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005. #18 Page 22 Vanderhoef: Many of those that we talked about last year were specific little pieces of property tax. What we are looking to do is find more allies, shall we say, in the bill that was put forward by the Iowa League of Cities and ISAC, the State Counties Association, and it's sort of a complete bill on property tax. So, many of those things fall into the big picture. So, no we have not forgotten those things, and there's quite an extensive list that I have that I'd be willing to share with any of you, things that we might consider putting into a revised bill, and work real hard to get our Legislature to look at these things for next year. Bailey: And that means also we should be thinking about our meeting in the late fall with our Legislative delegation, as well, and do our resolution. Vanderhoef: Good idea to set a date in here. The second policy meeting will be in September, and the League's priorities will be voted on late September, at the League convention in Des Moines, so I will also encourage all of you to get your reservations in and go to the League's convention in Des Moines. Lehman: Okay, a couple three things. Next week, I believe, is the 4-H Fair. That's one of the best fairs in the entire state. It always amazes me how huge that fair is and how well attended it is by people throughout the county. So I would certainly encourage folks to go. Saturday the 23rd is the ADA celebration at the Ped Mall. It's at 10:00. You know, Iowa City prides itself on being probably the most accessible community in the State of Iowa. I think we make efforts every year to continue working on accessibility issues, trying to be very sensitive of these things, and we have that celebration on Saturday. It's a lot of fun. I would encourage folks, if they're able, can make it, 10:00 Saturday on the Ped Mall. And, just to mention again, Saturday the 30th, City Park, I think it's from 11:00 to...I have that written down someplace. Lower City Park, noon, that'll get you there. Crisis Center celebrating 35 years in Iowa City. We certainly, a wonderful organization staffed by hundreds and hundreds of volunteers, so try to make that if you can. Steve? Atkins: Nothing, sir. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of July 19, 2005.