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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-05-04 Bd Comm minutesANIMAL CONTROL ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES, FEBRUARY 18,1999 MEETING 4b(1) ATTENDING: Ursula Delworth, Shawn Lockhart, Marty Shafer, Nadia Vandergast ABSENT; Diana Lundell (Excused) STAFF: Misha Goodman-Herbst, Terry Koehn Minutes of the November 12, 1998 meeting were approved as written. OLD BUSINESS 1. The 28E meeting report was postponed due to absence of Lundell. 2.Goodman-Herbst reported that the outdoor cat room is completed and looks good. NEW BUSINESS 1. Two groups that are forming non-profit foundations to aid animals presented plans. Holly Hotchkiss is forming Friends of the Animal Shelter Foundation to raise funds for the Shelter. Elizabeth Hospodarsky's group will foster Shelter animals in times of excess or with animals that are too young or need some training. 2. Goodman-Herbst reported generally on special accounts. There is little left in the account to build the new building (from early '90s).There is perhaps $25,000-$30,000 in the donations account. She will prepare an exact report for the next meeting. 3. Goodman-Herbst presented a plan to microchip all animals adopted from the Shelter and all repeat "offenders"(animals who are brought in to the Shelter more than once or twice). She will present policy and ordinance changes to the Board for their approval at the next meeting. 4. Goodman-Herbst announced that two new animal control officers, Denise Cassady and Vicky DiBona, have been hired in Iowa City. Koehn stated that Coralville has not yet hired an officer to replace Ramona Paulin. 5. Goodman-Herbst passed out Shelter statistics for 1998 plus a summary sheet of Shelter activities. 6. Goodman-Herbst noted that she has had no response so far on off-site adoption locations. She will continue to work on this. 7o Officers for 1999 were elected as follows: Chair - Shafer; Vice-chair Lockhart; Secretary Delworth. 8. Vandergast submitted her resignation given a conflict-of-interest ruling by hte city attorney because her clinic does business with the Shelter. The Board agreed to consider rural Johnson County vets for the At-Large position. Vandergast will follow up with contacts. 9. In reviewing plans for 1999, Goodman-Herbst agreed to present ideas for one goal, contracting for vet services at the Shelter, during the next meeting. 10. Shafer requested that reports be sent out with the Agenda and Minutes, so that the Board will have time to review. Goodman-Herbst agreed to do this. CITIZEN COMMENTS: None NEXT MEETING: Thursday, April 22, 1998 6:30pm Shelter AGENDA OLD BUSINESS: 1. Shelter statistics 2, Report on 28E meeting 3. Report on special accounts 4. Policy and ordinance for microchipping. 5. Off-site adoption NEW BUSINESS: 1. Appointment of new Board member 2. Contracting for vet services at Shelter. ANIMAL CONTROL ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES OF APRIL 22, 1999 MEETING ATTENDING; Ursula Delworth, Shawn Lockhart, Diana Lundell ABSENT: Marty Shafer STAFF: Misha Goodman-Herbst Minutes of the February 18, 1999 meeting were approved as written. In the absence of Shafer, the meeting was chaired by Lockhart. OLD BUSINESS 1.28E. Lundell reported that the subcommittee does not recommend any changes (ie licensing) to the 28E agree ment at this time. 2. STATISTICS Goodman-Herbst answered several questions on Shelter statistics (sent with Minutes). 3. SPECIAL ACCOUNTS Goodman-Herbst reported approximate amounts as follows: Shelter gifts - $19,000 (specific bequests); Shelter donations - $12,000 (general animal care): Spay/Neuter fund - $600.00. Lundell moved and Delworth seconded that lapsed spay/neuter deposits and donated adoption fees be added to the Spay/Neuter fund; to be revisited in six months. Passed. 4. MICROCHIPPING The Board voiced support for the policy, fee, and ordinance changes regarding microchipping and the policy change regarding fencing as detailed by Goodman-Herbst. 5.OFF-SITE ADOPTION Goodman-Herbst reported that staff is still exploring options. NEW BUSINESS 1. PET MEMORIES Staff from Pet Memories Cemetary in Tipton and Goodman-Herbst presented a contract for pick-up, cremation, and disposal of euthanized animals. The Board voiced support for this contract. 2. ADOPTATHON This annual event is scheduled for June 5-6 at the Shelter. Board members are urged to attend. 3. NEW BOARD MEMBER Goodman-Herbst will work with Vandergast to find a willing and able county vet, or if not, a qualified and interested animal professional (eg, groomer, trainer) prior to the next meeting. 4. CONTRACT FOR VET SERVICES Postponed until next meeting. CITIZEN COMMENTS: None NEXT MEETING Thursday, June 24 6:30 pm Transit Bldg AGENDA OLD BUSINESS 1. SHELTER STATISTICS 2. REPORT ON ADOPTATHON 3. REPORT ON OFF-SITE ADOPTION 4. UPDATE ON MICROCHIPPING ORDINANCE NEW BUSINESS 1. APPOINTMENT OF NEW BOARD MEMBER 2. REPORT ON NEW CORALVILLE ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER 3. REPORT AND DISCUSSION OF CONTRACT FOR VET SERVICES 4. REPORT ON EACH OF 1999 GOALS AND DISCUSSION OF POSSIBLE GOALS FOR 2000. Respectfully Submitted, Ursula Delworth Secretary E-Mail Addresses martin-shafer @ uiowa.edu shawn-lockhart@ uiowa.edu diana-lundell @ uiowa.edu udelworth @ uiowa.campuscwix.net MINUTES HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION SENIOR CENTER - LOWER LEVEL CLASSROOM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 1999 - 6:30 P.M. iOO MEMBERS PRESENT: Dan Coleman, Bob Elliott, Jayne Moraski, Lucia-Mai Page, Kathleen Renquist, Gretchen Schmuch, Bill Stewart MEMBERS ABSENT: Denita Gadson, Rick House STAFF PRESENT: Maurice Head, Steve Long, Steve Nasby OTHERS PRESENT: Bob Jackson, Teresa Kopatich, AI Axeen, Chuck Coulter, Ginny new, Maryann Dennis, Jessie Burns Recommendations: CALl MFFTING TO ORDFR & APPROVAL OF THI= MINUTFS FROM MARCH 4. 1999: Chairperson Schmuch called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m. MOTION: Stewart moved to approve the March 4, 1999, meeting minutes as submitted. Moraski seconded the motion. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. PUBLIC/MEMBER DISCUSSION OF ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA: There was none. MOTION: Renquist moved to discuss Old Business until Gadson ardved. Page seconded the motion. Commission members agreed to do that. OLD BUSINESS: Long said staff went out to the site that Liz Swenson acquired, and said it is staked. Moraski noted that lots could be staked for three or four years without being developed. She said she was not excited about the lack of progress with the project. Long said that Swenson was supposed to start excavation today. Head said he and Nasby went out to the site and did not see any excavation. Page asked what scenarios were available for the situation. Head said one option is to have an agency take over the site and complete the project. Long said the CDBGIHOME funds were used to purchase the lots. Moraski asked if staff had any suggestions. Head said that the Commission could reprogram the remaining $7,000-$8,000. Nasby said that the City could recapture the lots or give Swenson the option of repaying the value of the lots plus any of the funding that remained. Head said the Commission could also allow Swenson to continue to develop the site, and if that is not done within a certain time period they could notify her that they would pursue one of the options already discussed. Page asked how many extensions Swenson had already received. Nasby said multiple. Stewart asked if staff knew if Swenson had a signed contract with a builder to complete the project. Head said Swenson said she talked to Ben Moore, but staff is not aware of any signed contracts with builders. Stewart suggested that the Commission offer Swenson an extension based upon City staff's review within the next two weeks of a signed contract she has with a builder. In response to a question, Nasby said the units were supposed to be completed last December, and staff was going to give Swenson an extension to July 1999 thinking that she would have ground broken by February 1999, which has not happened. Stewart suggested making the extension to October 1, 1999, for the project to be completed if Swenson presents a signed contract with a Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes March 24, 1999 Page 2 builder to City staff before April 8, 1999. Elliott asked if staff needed an alternative if that deadline is not met. Head said staff would report their findings about the builder contract to the Commission at their April 15 meeting, and they can decide what they want to do then. DISCUSSION ON FY00 CDBG/HOME FUNDING: Head said Scenario I is based on the composite result of individual Commission members funding of each project. He said it funds the most projects of the four scenarios. He said Scenario II is reduced funding allocation for high, medium and low projects, so the projects Commission members classified as being high would receive 80% of their funding request, the projects falling into the medium category would receive 70% and the low projects would receive 50%. He said Scenario III has allocations based on project categories of Economic Development, Public Facilities, Public Service and Housing and Planning. He noted the Public Service cap and that there was only one Economic Development project submitted, so the remaining funding in the Economic Development category would be used to fund the other high priority projects. Nasby said the title line should read, "All or nothing by category" instead of "Average allocation by category." Head said Scenario IV allocates funding based on the Commission members' top ranked projects, so the highest ranked projects would receive full funding until the funding is exhausted. He said this scenario would fund the least amount of projects. MOTION: Elliott moved to accept Scenario I as a guide/outline for the Commission to follow during the allocation process. Renquist seconded the motion. Schmuch noted that Scenarios II, III and IV were flawed in that the second ranked project was not funded by any of the Commission members. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. Moraski said last year's allocation process led to a mixing of Scenarios I, III and IV, and she suggested that they use the average allocations as their guides for funding this year. Coleman said they could start with projects that members want to lower the funding allocation from the average. Stewart suggested removing projects that did not receive 60 points from consideration first. MOTION: Coleman moved to not fund the Evert Conner Center for downtown accessibility improvements and the City of Iowa City downtown evaluation study because they did not receive 60 points on the average or the median. Moraski seconded the motion. Coleman noted that Hannah's Blessing Day Care Center facility acquisition received 57 points on the median and 60.1 on the average. Elliott said he was concerned about not funding the downtown survey. He said he thought it should be at least partially funded by the downtown merchants, and he thought a significant part of Iowa City's future lies with having a vibrant downtown. He said he did not want to see the project eliminated by a technicality, but he did have questions about it. Moraski asked if it was a technicality because the Commission's policy has been to not fund projects that did not receive 60 points, and this project did not receive 60 points on either the median or the average. Elliott said he thought that was fine, but he thought the survey had some significance for the downtown. Schmuch said the Commission could incorporate that into their rationale when they present this budget to the Council, and make a recommendation that the survey be funded by another source. Renquist said she agreed with Elliott. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes March 24, 1999 Page 3 MOTION: Stewart moved to not fund Hannah's Blessing Day Care Center for facility acquisition. Coleman seconded the motion. Elliott said he thought there was a significant need for infant childcare, and that the unemployment in Iowa City is very low. Moraski said she agreed, but said she thought the project was about one year from being ready to get going. She said she thought they needed that time for more planning to decide if they are going to rent or purchase, find a location, assess the zoning and parking issues, etc. Schmuch said she thought Hannah's Blessing could pull it off, but she did not think they could proceed without full funding and it was not likely that the lowest ranked project would receive that. Elliott said he would like the Commission to meet before next year's funding round to discuss priority needs for funding. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. MOTION: Coleman moved to allocate $65,000 to the Miller-Orchard Neighborhood for parkland acquisition. Renquist seconded the motion. Stewart said this project has received a lot of press, it is a hot topic and the park land is great, but he felt there were some more urgent needs above it. EIliott said he allocated enough funding to purchase the land. Renquist said there is a need to preserve some of the land, and this is an unusual opportunity to do that within the City. She said that low-income people need to eat and have shelter, and they also need a place to have some peace. Coleman said there is the issue of how long this need has been unmet for this neighborhood and the time-sensitive nature of the opportunity to purchase the land. He noted the Commission's ranking sheets do not reflect those kinds of time considerations. Page said the neighborhood has the chance to get extra land donated, but only if they purchase this piece of land. The motion carried by a vote of 6-1, with Stewart voting no. MOTION: Stewart moved to allocate $275,000 to Iowa City IHA Senior Housing Phase I for rental housing, and no funding for Iowa City IHA Senior Housing Phase III. Page seconded the motion. Head said the project was awarded $700,000 in State HOME funds, and with the idea of local funds being $1 of every $3 of State funds, the project needs $233,334 of local money to leverage the State funds. Moraski said that Riverview Place returned to the Commission for funds because they miscalculated the match they needed, and she wanted to make sure that this match was in line. Head said yes. Schmuch asked why Riverview was able to build about the same thing with $150,000. Burns said all of their units would be rented at Fair Market Rent, which would require more subsidy. He said the $275,000 is required to make the project feasible, even though it is more than what is required for the State funding match. He said all the costs are documented and set, so if the funding from one source is lowered they would have to cut from another area of the project or they would have to borrow more money at a high expense. Head said that the State funding match may be a different than project feasibility. Moraski said the project has a timeline, and they may return to the Commission for more funding to fit that timeline because timing is a major issue. Schmuch said that staff reviewed some of the fees in the proforma and had some questions about them. Head noted that some of the fees in Phase III could be lower, such as drawing the architectural plans, because that would only have to be done in the first phase. Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes March 24, 1999 Page 4 Elliott asked if $235,000 or $240,000 would inhibit the viability project and if the Commission cannot say for sure, he would be in favor of allocating $275,000. Coleman said he would support the motion with the knowledge that they have some wiggle room with this project if they are looking for a few extra thousand dollars for another project later on in the allocation process. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. Stewart noted that there are six zeros for the Old Brick project, and said he was not sure that the average allocation of $13,333 would do the project any good. Coulter said that the $70,000 requested is partial funding because the entire project would cost about $1 million. Coleman read from the application that stated if partial funds were awarded the project would continue, and because of its top priority the elevator would be installed using other funds raised for rehabilitation and renovation as necessary. Coulter said any partial funding would help the pFoject. Elliott and Renquist said they would like to hold off on allocating funds for Old Brick until later in the meeting. MOTION: Coleman moved to allocate $275,000 to the Greater Iowa City Housing Fellowship for acquisition and rehab. Stewart seconded the motion. Stewart asked if the project could work with $275,000. Dennis said they could still do the project; they would either have to raise the rents for some of the units or renegotiate the number of units. Renquist said that the Commission funded GICHF last year and that money has not been used yet. Dennis said that is because they were waiting to hear from the State, and they did receive the State portion of the money for that project. She said that project is ready to go, and due to a newspaper article by 8:15 a.m. she had received three calls from people wanting GICHF to purchase their houses. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. MOTION: Elliott moved to allocate $28,000 to Elderly Services Agency for their small repair program. The motion failed for lack of a second. MOTION: Page moved to allocate $65,395 to the Salvation Army for facility improvements. The motion died for lack of a second. Moraski suggested they discuss the Salvation Army funding request and their priorities. Elliott said that $42,000 would cover their project priorities. MOTION: Elliott moved to allocate $42,000 to the Salvation Army for facility improvements. Coleman seconded the motion. Coleman said on p. 90 of the Salvation Army's application, the kitchen and washroom are listed as high priorities. Page said that she also had the heating and air conditioning and furnishings and equipment for the large meeting room and the dining room listed as priorities. Coleman and Renquist said they both only had the kitchen and washroom listed as priorities. MOTION: Elliott moved to amend the funding allocation to $42,920. Coleman seconded the amendment. The amendment was carried by a vote of 7-0. The amended motion was carried by a vote of 7-0. MOTION: Stewart moved to not fund the City of Iowa City Affordable Housing Funding Design for lot acquisition. Moraski seconded the motion. Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes March 24, 1999 Page 5 Elliott said he thought for years in Iowa City the single highest priority was to find a way for more affordable housing, and while there is some concern that this competition would not do that, staff feels that it is viable. He said he would like to allocate at least $20,000 to get an affordable housing design. Coleman said the funding request is for the purchase of a lot, and he was concerned about funding the project at less than $25,000 for that. He asked if staff had any other source of funds for this project. Head said no. Moraski suggested using a lot from the Peninsula Development for the project because she thought the project was a good idea, but that it could wait. Coleman said the entire Peninsula Development is being designed by one firm as an integrated development, so that area could be limiting. Moraski said part of the competition would require that the design fit into that development. Elliott said he liked the idea of the competition. Moraski said she thought Coleman had a point in that it would be difficult to find a lot to purchase for less than $25,000. The motion carried by a vote of 5-2, with Coleman and Schmuch voting no. Elliott said that he hoped staff would keep this idea on the table and come up with something because this is the first glimmer that could produce something more affordable. MOTION: Renquist moved to allocate $7,500 to the Free Lunch Program for kitchen improvements. Page seconded the motion. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. MOTION: Stewart moved to not fund the Mid-America Housing Partnership for their homebuyer counseling program. Moraski seconded the motion. Elliott said he thought that homebuyer counseling was a good idea, and he proposed funding it at $3,000. He said of the proposed $12,000 budget, over $9,000 would go for salaries and administration. He said he thought the homebuilders would benefit from this and they should take part in the funding. He said he thought homebuyer counseling was very important when they are talking about making a lot of units available to persons who could benefit from the counseling at the time of the purchase. Page asked if a potential homebuyer could get counseling through their bank or realtor. Stewart said that there are some counseling programs, but the problem is getting low-income individuals to attend them. He said that Mid-America is an organization that may have alternative motives because they could produce buyers from the program. EIliott said he thought there was some interest from the City in doing a program like this, but it should be funded primarily by the realtors and builders. Head said that the proposed funding is to get the program started, and then their strategy is to explore other funding sources that would benefit from the program. Coleman said he would support the motion, even though he thought the project should get partial funding because the application states that the project would not proceed with partial funding and he thought the project was ranked too low to receive full funding. He noted that the application also states that the project cannot continue without continued funding. The motion carried by a vote of 5-2, with Renquist and Elliott voting no. Page suggested they discuss the City of Iowa City Housing Rehabilitation Program's funding request. Moraski agreed. Renquist noted that if the project does not receive full funding they would not be able to rehab as many units. Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes March 24, 1999 Page 6 MOTION: Stewart moved to allocate $250,000 to the City of Iowa City Housing Rehabilitation Program. Renquist seconded the motion. Moraski noted that figure is close to the average allocation. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. MOTION: Stewart moved to allocate $14,395 to Successful Living, Inc. for SRO rehabilitation. Elliott seconded the motion. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. MOTION: Moraski moved to allocate $12,500 to Successful Living, Inc. for transitional housing support services. Stewart seconded the motion. Stewart noted that funding would be for salaries. Schmuch said that this is the highest ranked public service project. The motion carried by a vote of 5-2, with Schmuch and Renquist voting no. Coleman asked if the HUD award HACAP received was contingent on receiving local funding. Axeen said it matches that. MOTION: Coleman moved to allocate $190,000 to HACAP for acquisition. Page seconded the motion. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. MOTION: Elliott moved to allocate $49,565 to the Community Mental Health Center for facility rehab. Stewart seconded the motion. Moraski noted that the project has a lower rank to be fully funded. Renquist said that the Commission could fund part of the project this year, and CMHC could reapply next year to fund the rest of the rehab. Elliott said the project's highest priorities need to be done quickly. Stewart said CMHC serves a lot of people. Renquist said the Commission could allocate $28,000 for the roof and storm doors, and they could return for funding for the painting. Elliott noted that the current paint is lead-based, so they need the eaves, windows and paint. Coleman said the reroofing is a pressing need. Moraski said she thought they needed the roofing and windows more than the paint, which would make the allocation $28,889. The motion carried by a vote of 4-3, with Coleman, Moraski and Renquist voting no. MOTION: Stewart moved to not fund Old Brick for accessibility. The motion died for lack of a second. EIliott said that he would like to wait on discussing Old Brick because he thought funding food and homelessness was more important, but if the Commission has sufficient funds remaining after those things are funded he thought accessibility for the disabled was also important. MOTION: Moraski moved to allocate $14,411 to the Mayor's Youth Employment Program for job training. Page seconded the motion. Elliott said that this is one of four funding requests to provide employment training, and he thought those services were duplicated. Renquist said each of the four is serving a different population. Elliott said he thought employment training should be able to be covered in one area. Page said in her line of work she sees a lot of people that could benefit from something like this, and if the program could possibly receive some funding they could look to some other Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes March 24, 1999 Page 7 agencies for help. Elliott said he thought four agencies providing specialized job training was duplication. Moraski said she did not think there was duplication because of the distinct populations each of the four programs requesting funds would serve. Schmuch asked if the proposed figure in the motion was a meaningful amount for the program. Moraski noted that $4,500 covered fringe benefits. The motion carried by a vote of 6-1, with Stewart voting no. MOTION: Elliott moved to allocate $10,000 to DVIP for the furniture project. Coleman seconded the motion. Elliott said he thought this was a great project, but they have clients coming from other communities and counties who should also participate in the funding the project. Renquist said the County Board of Supervisors should support the project since it involves the landfill. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. MOTION: Stewart moved to allocate $6,000 to the Coldren Retirement Residence for rehab. Renquist seconded the motion. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. MOTION: Elliott moved to allocate $28,000 to Elderly Services Agency for their small repair program. Stewart seconded the motion. Moraski said the project could survive with partial funding; they would just be able to less projects. The motion carried by a vote of 5-2, with Coleman and Moraski voting no. MOTION: Coleman moved to allocate $50,000 to the City of Iowa City Affordable Housing Pool. Moraski seconded the motion. Moraski said she thought the project was a good idea, and the Commission should put in a little funding now to see if the demand is there. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. MOTION: Stewart moved to allocate $14,539 to the Community Corrections Improvement Association for their youth leadership program. Moraski seconded the motion. Elliott said that $10,000 would provide transportation for the project. Coleman said every number on the sheet is lower than what was moved, so he supported a lower figure. Stewart said he thought this was a unique project, and it is an area in which some good could be done. MOTION: Stewart moved to amend the allocation figure to $10,000. Elliott seconded the motion. The amendment carried by a vote of 7-0. The amended motion carried by a vote of 7-0. MOTION: Stewart moved to allocate $34,000 to the Institute for Social and Economic Development for microenterprise training. Renquist seconded the motion. Moraski said she had a hard time fully funding something ranked as low as this project, and because the project does not utilize their funding per person as well as they could. Coleman Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes March 24, 1999 Page 8 said he agreed with Moraski, but ISED is the only one in the Economic Development category and this is a minimal amount for the Commission to be putting in for those kinds of needs. Renquist noted that the City Council likes this project. Elliott said he allocated $25,000 on his sheet. Schmuch said she agreed because SBDC, who withdrew their application, was offering to serve the same number of people as ISED with $20,000. She said they are also offering the class free to people whom cannot afford it. Stewart said the only problem with SBDC is that a lot of low-income people would be more intimidated going into the Pappajohn Business Building than they would going to ISED's office. The motion failed by a vote of 3-4, with Elliott, Schmuch, Page and Moraski voting no. MOTION: Elliott moved to allocate $25,000 to ISED for microenterprise training. Page seconded the motion. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. MOTION: Renquist moved to allocate $41,109 to Old Brick for accessibility. Moraski seconded the motion. Elliott said he was in favor of that if that would help them. Coulter said yes. Coleman said he would support giving Old Brick some money, but he thought it was ranked too low for the proposed amount. He acknowledged that the Old Brick group is already going to try to get funding from the community, and that there is an incredible ability to raise funds from the community for this facility. He said there are some higher-ranked projects that the Commission could give more money to. The motion failed by a vote of 3-4, with Moraski, Coleman, Stewart and Page voting no. MOTION: Coleman moved to allocate $20,000 to Old Brick for accessibility. Moraski seconded the motion. Stewart said this is a landmark, sort of like the Miller-Orchard parkland, which he didn't want to fund because he thought there were other needs, but it might fit into the category. Elliott said he had a personal bias against Old Brick, but he thought that it served a specific need in the community and accessibility for disabled persons needed to be provided. He said this funding would show some amount of support for that. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. MOTION: Moraski moved to allocate $2,500 more to Successful Living, Inc., to fully fund the transitional housing support services. Coleman seconded the motion. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. MOTION: Coleman moved to allocate $1,000 more to the Mayor's Youth Program for job training and $1,000 more to DVIP for their furniture project. Page seconded the motion. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. MOTION: Stewart moved to allocate $16,609 more to the Salvation Army for facility improvements. Page seconded the motion. Coleman suggested dividing that money between the Salvation Army, Greater Iowa City Housing Fellowship and City of Iowa City Housing Rehab. Schmuch said the Salvation Army proportionately took the greatest hit of those three projects. Stewart withdrew his motion. Housing and Community Development Commission Minutes March 24, 1999 Page 9 MOTION: Coleman moved to allocate $5,000 to the City of Iowa City Housing Rehab, $5,000 to the Salvation Army for facility improvements and $6,609 to the Greater Iowa City Housing Fellowship for acquisition and rehab. Renquist seconded the motion. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0. Head said that the Commission is scheduled to present their funding allocation recommendations and justifications to the City Council on April 5. Schmuch, Moraski and Elliott agreed to work on the justification rationales. NEW BUSINESS: Long handed out the proposed Board and Commission Absence Policy from the City Council. He said the proposed policy is that if a member misses more than 20% of the meetings in a 12- month period, which would mean 3 meetings for this Commission, they would be notified by mail and have to go before the City Council, who would decide if the member should be retained or terminated from their Commission or Board position. Stewart said that sometimes members have reasons, such as illnesses, for missing meetings. Long said that the proposed policy would allow members to appeal to the Council in those cases. He said the Council would like input on this proposed policy before April 30. Moraski noted that most Commission and Board members were volunteers, and she thought the current absence policy was working fine. Elliott said he was not in favor of the proposed policy, and said the Council appoints Commission and Board members so they should be able to remove them if they feel the need to do so. Nasby said that he would call Commission members to let them know where the allocation discussion was on the Council's work session agenda. Schmuch asked Commission members if they wanted to set the loan terms and rates for the funding allocations, or if they wanted to have staff do it. Members agreed to have staff do it. ADJOURNMENT: MOTION: Coleman moved to adjourn the meeting. Page seconded the motion. The motion carried by a vote of 7-0, and the meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m. Minutes submitted by Traci Wagner. ppdcdbg/min/hcdc3-24.doc Iowa City Human Rights Commission March 29, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. Iowa City Civic Center, Lobby Conference Room MEMBERS PRESENT: Mary Larew, Charles Major, Diane Martin, Jane Nelson-Kuhn, Janice Simmons-Welburn, Mettle Thomopulos, Jan Warren MEMBERS ABSENT: Joan Jehle STAFF PRESENT: Heather Shank, Laz Pittman OTHERS PRESENT: 1. CALL TO ORDER: Chairperson Martin called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. 2. APPROVALOFTHE MINUTES: Martin asked that the minutes show that the Commission voted unanimously (6-0) to have Diane Finnerty speak at the Human Rights Breakfast. Warren said that she did not wish to make any other changes to the minutes but did want to state that she was absent from the last meeting because her father passed away. MOTION: Warren moved to approve the minutes from the February 22, 1999 meeting as amended. Larew seconded the motion. The motion was carried by a vote of 7-0. 3. RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: None 4. OLD BUSINESS: Attendance Policy · Martin said that a copy of the attendance policy proposed by the City Council is included in members' packets. She said the Commission is asked to discuss the policy and offer feedback to Council. Martin said she noticed that there is no distinction between excused and unexcused absences. She added that this policy seems very strict if only 20 percent of the meetings in any successive 12 month period can be missed. This means a commissioner can only miss 2.4 meetings. Simmons-Welburn said that she also believes this policy is too strict. She said she sometimes cannot attend because of work demands and would be disappointed to see other good candidates shy away from sewing on the Commission because of the strict policy. Iowa City Human Rights Commission March 29, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. Page 2 Warren asked Shank if potential members ask about the amount of meetings they will be required to attend. Shank said that they do and she now includes in press releases a minimum commitment of 10 hours per month. Thomopulos added that this may be too strict for someone such as a student who has an evening class. Simmons-Welburn commented that she does not want to have to miss a conference she is interested in for fear of missing a meeting. She said that although she makes an effort, there are events that come up. Larew agreed and said that any one of the commissioners could have things come up that they did not anticipate. Martin noted that the Commission has the option of moving meetings to another evening to accommodate everyone. Warren read from the policy that a commissioner is to receive a letter after missing one half of the required meetings. This means that a commissioner will receive a letter after missing 1.2 meetings. Simmons- Welburn asked how the ".2" fits in and why a percentage is being used rather than a set number of meetings. Commissioners double-checked the math and agreed that 20 percent of 12 is 2.4. Martin commented that sending letters will keep a City staff person quite busy. Major asked whether other Commission activities would be counted. Shank explained that other participation and events do not count as meetings and stated that she really does not have time to send out attendance letters. Martin summarized that the Commission would like clarification of the math, and the Commission would like to know why a percentage was chosen rather than a specific number of meetings, particularly if most commissions meet once a month. Major said that one thing he does like is the idea of notifying people when they have missed half of the allowed number of meetings. Other commissioners agreed. Martin and Warren questioned the wording of "just cause." They question what constitutes "just cause" and whether the removal of a commissioner is automatic when just cause'is found. They asked whose decision this is and whether there is an appeals process. Thomopulos asked if the Council intended to leave out the words "excused" and "unexcused." Martin replied that this was intentional. Iowa City Human Rights Commission March 29, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. Page 3 Warren asked if the Council realizes the amount of work this will create for City staff if letters need to be issued for all of the boards and commissions. Martin said she believes the Council's intent is to remove this burden from the boards and commissions because the members are dealing with colleagues. On the other hand, some Commissions want to have control over their policy. Major noted that if this policy is implemented, it is unlikely that the policy will ever be reversed. Nelson-Kuhn said that it is an honor to be on the Commission; however, no one on the Commission is paid and the policy seems too punitive. Simmons-Welburn added that she understands the need for attendance in a volunteer organization; however, they need to be realistic and remember the human factor. She said most workplaces, including the University, do not have such a strict policy. An employee has the opportunity to explain his or her absence. Warren said that this is why the opportunity for absences to be excused or unexcused is so important. Simmons-Welburn said the policy also does not take into consideration those members who may be actively participating in other board or commission activities aside from the meetings. Warren said perhaps because this particular commission has been dealing with this very issue, the Council should look at their policy. The Commission's revised policy was the HRC's best effort after several discussions and meetings. Larew said that perhaps the Council could adopt the Commission's policy. Warren added that it seems like they are starting the whole process over again because the HRC just finished working on this issue. Shank commented that the Council has seen the revisions the HRC has made. Commissioners discussed whether they wished to make a recommendation to Council. Martin said the discussion will appear in the minutes and should satisfy the requirement for feedback. Warren said she wants to make sure that the Commission is responsive. Simmons- Welburn suggested that all comments from the discussion be included in a memo to Council. Shank said she will do this. Human Rights Breakfast Martin said that Diane Finnerty's message accepting the Commission's invitation to speak at the Human Rights Breakfast was included in their packets. Martin added that Jehle will return in April and the Commission should start discussing subcommittees at the April monthly meeting. Iowa City Human Rights Commission March 29, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. Page 4 Housing Discrimination Speaker Nelson-Kuhn said that she had not read the materials Shank had given her. She said that she will read the materials and make a recommendation about Jan Alderton, a housing specialist in Cedar Rapids, at the next monthly meeting. Shank said the reason that this is important is because she is supposed to have a decision on March 31 as to whether the Iowa City ordinance is substantially equivalent to the Fair Housing Amendments Act. Martin asked if the HUD funds for this are still available considering the fact that the Commission started this process in 1993. Shank said that the funds apparently are still available. Martin and Shank agreed that funding will be needed in order for the City to be able to administer the housing discrimination cases themselves. Warren asked if Shank would provide further explanation for the new members. Shank explained that before the City can investigate housing discrimination cases in any other category besides sexual orientation and gender identity, the City's ordinance must be substantially equivalent to the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1989. If not, HUD will throw out the City's investigations and do them over again, costing the complainant and the respondent. She said HUD apparently does not think a city can complete an adequate investigation unless the ordinance is exactly like the federal law. Currently, all housing discrimination cases go to the State unless the discrimination is because of sexual orientation or gender identity. As Shank explained in the previous meeting, the ordinance has been revised several times, yet the legal opinion returned from HUD continues to state that it is not right. Because she has been told during telephone conversations that the ordinance is fine, Shank has requested that the City receive a written response from HUD as to whether the ordinance is acceptable before this issue is again brought before City Council. Town Meetings Although not on the agenda, Warren said that she wanted to bring this up because Diverse Cities was supposed to take this over but not much has happened. She said that if Diverse Cities is not going to pick this up as a project, she would like to talk about bringing it back to the Commission. She said it is probably too late for this year, but they could discuss it in late summer and make plans for fall. She said the last time they held a town meeting was on MLK day in 1998. Thomopulos commented that it is too bad that the meetings lost momentum. Simmons-Welburn said the meetings were so popular one couldn't even get in. Warren said that this tells them there is a lot of interest and they should not forget about it. Iowa City Human Rights Commission March 29, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. Page 5 Poetry Essay Contest Shank reported that the deadline for the contest is April 5; however, she has only received one poem. She said that Joyce Carmen was going to call the language arts teachers. Shank also stated that she received a call from one student who said that her teacher did not want to give her an application because it was the last one. Shank sent the student an application and noted that Carmen was going to call West High to find out what was going on. Shank said that an ad has been in the newspaper, and she asked WSUI to announce the contest from the press release. Simmons-Welburn said that although too late for this contest, the Commission should remember to advertise in the high school newspaper next time. Warren said that she thinks the key to receiving a good response is to get teachers excited about the contest; they know which students may be interested. Larew said that she thinks kids definitely pay attention to posters, especially when there's money involved. Simmons- Welburn noted that she had given applications to her daughter to take to some of her teachers and the guidance counselor. Larew reported that she also gave some applications to her daughter who is a teacher. Warren suggested that they contact Marian Karr? Simmons-Welburn said that she would call her. Norman Kunc Presentation Nelson-Kuhn stated that because the Commission agreed to cosponsor this event, she wanted the Commission to know that Kunc has been scheduled to speak an extra day because the response was so favorable. 5. NEW BUSINESS: Vacancy on Commission Martin said that there is a vacancy on the Commission that has been posted. Shank said that she is not sure when the deadline will be. Warren asked if old applications may be used. Shank said that old applications cannot be used because the new application specifies that a commissioner will spend a minimum of 10 hours per month on Commission business and describes all of the duties and responsibilities of the commissioner. Shank said applications less than six months old may also be pulled for review if the applicant contacts the City. Martin said that if commissioners know of a person who would be a good candidate, they could make them aware of the vacancy. She said commissioners should remember that the person has to live in Iowa City. Iowa City Human Rights Commission March 29, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. Page 6 Solomon Amendment II Warren explained that the University of Iowa College of Law has had a long-standing policy of not allowing the U.S. military to recruit on the premises because of the military's practice of discriminating against gays and lesbians. However, recent legislation, called the Solomon Amendment, requires that any school receiving federal money allow military recruiting on site. Since the legislation has passed, the College has been unable to prevent recruiting. Lois Cox has since provided Warren with information about how a group plans to work at repealing the amendment. The group has asked for the Commission's help in writing letters requesting the repeal of the amendment. Warren said that individuals on the Commission could write a letter if they wished. She asked if Shank would make sure commissioners received a copy of the information with the appropriate address and wording..Alternatively, the Commission could write a letter. Martin asked why this is affecting law schools. Simmons-Welburn said that as she understands it, any institution of higher learning that receives federal money cannot stop the recruiting. Warren said that the effort to have this repealed seems to be an organized effort by law schools. She added that the irony of this is the University must violate its own nondiscrimination policy because of the legislation. Simmons-Welburn said that she would be in support of the Commission sending a letter. Major said that he had nothing against the Commission letter, but believed individual letters would have more impact because of the volume. Motion: Simmons-Welburn moved that the Iowa City Human Rights Commission write a letter to their congressperson in support of repealing the Solomon Amendment. The Commission letter will be drafted and presented at the April meeting for commissioners' signatures. In addition, each commissioner is encouraged to write an individual letter with the wording suggested by the Committee to Repeal the Solomon Amendment. Thomopulos seconded the motion. The motion was carried by a vote of 7- 0. 6. REPORTS OF COMMISSIONERS: Larew stated that all dietary workers and people in the dishroom at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) are being subjected to a new policy. They previously had protection from contagious patients when working with food trays and the like. Because all former policies have been repealed, no masks, gowns, or gloves are being provided to the workers. In addition, disposable trays commonly used for people with Iowa City Human Rights Commission March 29, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. Page 7 communicable diseases are now used only for prisoners and people who are considered suicidal. She reported that it is quite traumatic for workers who were trained to use precautions. Nelson-Kuhn said that she knew some of the history of this. She said that there was one person in charge of training on preventing cross- contamination, encouraging sterilization, etc. However, during the layoffs, the position was cut. The policies are no longer in place. Thomopulos said that perhaps lack of understanding of the changes in policies are leading to misconceptions and someone needs to explain the changes to the workers. Larew said that has been suggested; however, until that happens the workers are viewing this as a life and death situation. Nelson-Kuhn added that this appears to be a class issue. Major stated later in the meeting that he believes the reason the UIHC is no longer using some of the procedures is because most viruses die much quicker than was once thought. Nelson-Kuhn said that last month she reported the concerns surrounding the policy changes for people who ride SEATS. She said that Lisa Dewey, the new director of SEATS, did not show up for the meeting scheduled for March 1 to discuss the new no-show policy. However, the meeting was well attended and the person who attended in Dewey's place assured the crowd that the changes would not be implemented. Nelson-Kuhn said that Dewey then changed her mind and said there would be 30 days for public comment on the no-show policy. Two additional meetings were scheduled; however, Dewey did not attend. Nelson-Kuhn said that the people in the disability community are concerned that Dewey will write a policy and not take public comment. Warren said that Traevena Potter-Hall, the wife of former commission member Dereck Hall, has just been appointed by Governor Viisack to be the director of the Commission on the status of African-Americans for the state of Iowa. Simmons-Welburn said that it will be nice to have a friend in that office and that Potter-Hall has been very active with the University since she came to Iowa. Warren also said that she wanted to make sure everyone knew that Dave Leshtz has been appointed to the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. Warren also mentioned an event that was to be held the next day called "Celebration of Excellence and Achievement Among Women" at the Iowa Memorial Union. She said that there would be an awards ceremony and all commissioners were invited to attend. Iowa City Human Rights Commission March 29, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. Page 8 Thomopulos commented that the Commission's Discrimination Law Public Forum was very informative. Shank noted that the forum was not well attended because a large invitation-only event was held at Hancher Auditorium the same night. Martin asked how the Commission might reach more people because the handout from the forum could be quite useful. Shank said that Julie Pulkrabek is already involved with the Chamber of Commerce's Human Resources Committee. Simmons- Welburn suggested that they also contact the University's Human Resources group. She said that perhaps the Commission could work with other groups to have meetings that are educational. Warren suggested that they could perhaps invite people from commissions in other cities. Laz Pittman, the human rights investigator was introduced to the new Commission members. Major said he wanted to let everyone know that the viewing of "Yidl in the Middle" on March 22 that the Commission cosponsored went quite well. Martin said she thought that approximately 65-70 people attended. Major added that there was a wide range of people, no one left when the film ended, and people asked questions. Major also said that David Dukes was on "Meet the Press" because he is running for Congress in Louisiana. Major said that his comments were extremely racist. Martin said that she has a copy of House File 171 that has been introduced by 10 state representatives. It is the bill to add sexual orientation to the state law. She said that they are hoping this will receive more attention this time. Warren asked if the Commission should write a letter of thanks to the state legislators that are supporting this. Motion: Warren moved to send a letter to Dick Myers, Minnette Doderer, and Mary Mascher on behalf of the Commission to thank them for their support of the bill to add sexual orientation to the state law. Larew seconded the motion. The motion was carried by a vote of 7-0. Because there was not enough time to review the Discrimination Complaint Process included in the meeting packets, Martin requested that the Commission review this item at the next monthly meeting. Iowa City Human Rights Commission March 29, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. Page 9 Martin also asked if the next monthly meeting could be rescheduled to April 19th because she will not be able to attend. Nelson-Kuhn said that she would need to attend another meeting but could arrive late to the HRC meeting. Simmons-Welburn noted that she will not be able to attend the June meeting; however the meeting was not rescheduled because another acceptable date could not be determined. 7. STATUS OF CASES: Shank said that they have three new cases this week. Pittman said that within the next 45-60 days she hopes to have 5 cases for the Commission to review. She said that she has written one decision and will likely have another decision written this week. Shank said that she has two cases that are almost complete. Larew asked if there are any limits on the length of time a case could be investigated. Shank said that there are not any time limits for the City; however, once the case is in the hands of the Commission, the Commission has 30 days to make a decision. Shank also stated that she is hiring a transcriptionist to help speed up the process. 8. ADJOURNMENT: Warren moved to adjourn the meeting. Simmons-Welburn seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m. HRC032999.doc Iowa City Human Rights Commission April 19, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. Iowa City Civic Center- Lobby Conference Room MEMBERS PRESENT: Joan Jehle, Mary Larew, Charles Major, Jane Nelson- Kuhn, Janice Simmons-Welburn, Mettle Thomopulos, Jan Warren MEMBERS ABSENT: Diane Martin STAFFPRESENT: Heather Shank, Laz Pittman OTHERS PRESENT: 1. CALLTO ORDER: Vice-Chairperson Warren called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Warren explained that Chairperson Martin was required to travel to Dallas, Texas for work. 2. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: MOTION: Larew moved to approve the minutes from the March 29, 1999 meeting. Simmons-Welburn seconded the motion. The motion was carried by a vote of 7-0. 3. RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: None 4. OLD BUSINESS: Human Rights Complaint Process Shank asked commissioners to look at the copy included in the previous month's meeting packet. She handed out additional copies as needed. She said that Martin thought it would be a good idea to review the process with commissioners. Shank explained that when someone comes into their office, they must look at whether the complaint fits the criteria that will allow the person to file a complaint of discrimination. The criteria include: · The complainant's situation had to occur in the Iowa City area; · The complainant has to state that they were discriminated against for a particular protected category; and · The complainant has to state a claim that is enforceable in the Human Rights office. Shank said that if all criteria are met, staff will assist the complainant in drafting a complaint. Shank and Pittman then send our questionnaires to Iowa City Human Rights Commission April 19, 1999 - 7:00 p.m. Page 2 both parties in order to document the situation. Interviews of the complainant and witnesses are conducted. Shank and Pittman then draft a summary. The file and investigative summary are forwarded to the Assistant City Attorney. The Assistant City Attorney will read the case and forward it to the appropriate Human Rights Commission team of three members. The team makes the third probable cause determination. Warren asked if the Human Rights Investigators discuss the cases. Shank said that they will sometimes ask for each other's opinion. Major asked if an incident that happened a year ago could be investigated. Shank explained that a complaint must be filed within 180 days of the last discriminatory act. The investigation can still be completed even after a year as long as the 180 day requirement for the complainant was met. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) allows a longer period of time before a complaint must be filed. Warren asked how smooth the process is and if the Assistant City Attorney has ever disagreed with the Human Rights Investigator's determination. Shank said that has not happened since she has been there. Pittman said that is probably because they discuss the cases beforehand if there is any question. Warren also asked if a group complaint can be filed because she has noticed that there is a group of individuals on one of the cases the Human Rights office is working on. Shank said that there were several individuals who filed against the same respondent. Each individual investigation must be completed separately. The EEOC can take class action lawsuits. The Iowa City office cannot. Major asked if they have ever encountered difficulty understanding someone. Shank said that the investigation just takes longer in these cases. Shank said that at any time during the investigation process, mediation is an option. She added that Pittman suggested that they send out a letter reminding the complainant of this before commencing an investigation. Warren asked what happens when people refuse to cooperate. Shank said that they can subpoena them. Major asked if a person could change their mind during mediation. Shank said that they could and the case would go back to investigation. She said that an outside mediator does not give the investigators any details of what happens during mediation. The mediator will only provide them with the final agreement if the mediation is successful. The complainant may tell the investigators what happened if they want to. Shank said that if the Commission makes a probable cause determination, there will be a conciliation. The Commission team will meet with one or both parties in order to try to make an agreement acceptable to both parties. In the past, the Assistant City Attorney has attended. She conducts any negotiations unless the commissioners are comfortable doing this. Shank said that possible damages and the like are determined before the conciliation. In addition, the Human Rights office encourages the complainant to retain a lawyer. If the conciliation is not successful, the case can go to a public hearing or to district court. Jehle asked if the outside mediator is funded by the City. Shank said yes. Major asked if a complainant needs a Right to Sue letter if they choose to go to district court. Shank said that they do and she will prepare the letter if they meet certain criteria. Human Rights Breakfast Subcommittee Jehle handed out a task list and asked for input on any tasks that she might have missed. Commissioners and staff could not think of any. She said that commissioners could take the list home and think about what they might like to help with. Warren stated that the Commission will discuss this next month. Shank asked if the Commission would' like the ticket order forms sent out separately from the nomination form. Jehle and other Commissioners thought that separate mailings would help minimize any confusion. Solomon Amendment I/ Warren said that Martin drafted letters to Representative Leach, Senator Grassley and Senator Harkin and passed them around for commissioners to sign. Warren noted that commissioners are also welcome to write individual letters to elected officials. Housing Discrimination Speaker Nelson-Kuhn said that she read the materials Shank had given her on Jan Alderton, a housing specialist from Cedar Rapids. She said that the handouts and other materials show that Alderton could speak about or provide training to the Iowa City community on a number of topics. Shank said that she thought Alderton could give a talk about housing discrimination. This would be at a public forum. Warren asked if there would be a fee involved. Shank said that Alderton is only asking for mileage. Nelson-Kuhn said that she thought fall would be a good time to have her speak. Warren asked if this could work as part of a town meeting. Shank said that she thought it could if Alderton were part of the panel and the Commission structured it in a way that works for Alderton. Warren asked if Shank would talk with Alderton to see if she would be interested in being part of a panel for a town meeting. Shank said that she would talk with Alderton. Major asked if Shank had heard anything about whether the City's ordinance was deemed substantially equivalent to the Fair Housing Amendments Act. Shank said that HUD 10st the application. She said that she was advised by other City staff to contact Representative Jim Leach in order to get this resolved. Shank noted that the Council will discuss the proposed attendance policy at the May 3rd work session. Shank said that the clerk's office told her that a memo from the Commission would not be necessary because the Council always reads the minutes. Warren said that she would like to make sure that they see the Commission's comments. Shank said that she would write a memo. Simmons-Welburn asked about the number of entries received for the essay contest. As of the last meeting, only one entry had been received. Shank said that 42 entries were received at the last minute. Jehle noted that the awards will be given at the May 4th Council meeting. Jehle said that she would be there and many of the other commissioners said that they would try to be there as well. Larew asked about the vacancy on the Commission. Shank said that the press release has gone out. She encouraged commissioners to mention the opening to anyone that they would like to see apply. NEW BUSINESS: Shank said that Diann Tomlinson-Sorenson, chairperson of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, will be at the Iowa City Public Library at 7 p.m. on May 19, 1999. Shank said that the Commission cosponsored the event and strongly encouraged commissioners to attend. REPORTS OF COMMISSIONERS: Jehle presented mailings from the Southern Poverty Law Center and invited commissioners to review any of the material. In addition, she brought some clippings from Arizona. She said that there was one thing that she wanted to ask commissioners to think about. She said that a 13- year-old girl in Mesa, Arizona died of a ruptured appendix. The parents only spoke Spanish and there was some concern about whether she was covered by insurance, Jehle said that this has everyone talking about health care as it relates to human rights. She said that the father had insurance and that few doctors in the area are bilingual. Nelson-Kuhn commented that Public Law 504 deals with providing an interpreter for people in hospitals and those types of settings and that this should never have happened. Jehle said that she had previously mentioned that a young filmmaker produced a film of her Jewish grandmother's history before the war. The film aired on PBS. She brought the videotape for commissioners to view if they wished. Major commented that the English as the only language bill is up for debate. He said that as Minnette Doderer has stated, the bill goes against diversity and there is no point to have this since all of Iowa's documents are in English already. Warren added that another part of this is that a large percentage of the signs at your business have to be in English. Simmons-Welburn said that she believes as minorities move into areas across the country, there seems to be a backlash from the right wing and this is why the bill has come about. Warren said that she was trying to think of what the Commission could do about this and thought that a letter or letters may be appropriate. Major said that there. would be no point in writing to the local representatives because they are going to vote against it. Warren and other commissioners agreed that they could write a letter to Governor Viisack which cc's the local representatives. Warren said that she would talk to Martin about who would be responsible for composing the letter. Major said that he also found a millennium poll about what different nationalities think about the likelihood of a president of another race, etc. Warren had mentioned the same poll in January. Shank said that she could make a copy of it for the commissioners. Warren said that there was an article in the newspaper about MIT. Women faculty at MIT completed a report that showed women faculty members of comparable rank and tenure has less space, lower salaries, less access to resources, etc. than the male faculty members. The President of MIT endorsed the report, agreed that there was a problem, re-allocated space, provided back benefits, etc. Warren said that she thought this was a good illustration of how it only takes one or two people to make a difference. Warren said that she will make a copy for anyone who wishes to see it. Simmons-Welburn commented that this is very interesting and she will watch for follow-up studies because studies show that where women are discriminated against, other groups are also discriminated against. Warren also said that the Clothesline Project for Johnson County was on display that day on the Pentacrest. Victims of abuse or families of victims make shirts to hang on the clothesline. Larew said that she is concerned about the amount of money spent on the salaries of the men's team at the UI and the inequity between men's facilities vs. women's facilities, etc. Shank commented that there have been heated discussions about Title IX and whether it was meant to create equal dollars and facilities for both men and women. She said that the law really has not come down on the side of equality. Larew said that she has to take into consideration that men's sports brings in a lot of money; however, she believes there should be equalization of that money in order to upgrade the women's program. Warren added that there is never an argument that the liberal arts program should not receive funding because it does not bring in much money. Simmons-Welburn said that this problem also exists at the professional level. She added that she is uncomfortable discussing the University because she is employed by the UI and is not sure of the role of the Commission in that respect. Shank said that the Commission has no jurisdiction over the UI. Warren added that this part of the meeting is just an FYI discussion. Larew said that it usually comes up because the University is such a large part of the community. Major commented that he would argue Title IX has helped and that some progress is being made. Warren commented that not many laws have to wait so long to be implemented. Nelson-Kuhn said that she has received some information about how eight states supported the removal of the "least restrictive environment" portion of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This means that people with disabilities would have no recourse to get out of nursing homes or institutions. She said that contrary to this, two cities in Texas wrote letters to their city councils stating that they were totally supporting least restrictive environments and that their cities supported the ADA and the integration of people with disabilities into their cities. Nelson-Kuhn said that she would like to present this information at the next meeting so that the Commission could consider making a recommendation to the City Council about being supportive of the spirit of the ADA. She said that the spirit of the law is civil rights and human rights. Jehle asked that the June meeting be re-scheduled in light of the Council's proposed attendance policy. After some discussion, commissioners agreed that the meeting on June 21st could start at 7:30 to accommodate Jehle and Nelson-Kuhn. However, Nelson-Kuhn noted that she does not want to be counted late because she will be at another meeting just before this. Larew asked if the new attendance policy will be mandatory. Other commissioners and Shank said that is their understanding. 7. STATUS OF CASES: Shank said that they have several more complaints and several more cases done. She said that a case will soon go to Team C for review. Warren asked how many complaints there are for Case #32. Shank said that there are nine, but when she wrote the summary, the ninth complaint had not come in yet. Thomopulos said that she would like to read the English as the only language bill. Shank said that she will send a copy of the bill to all of the commissioners. 8. ADJOURNMENT: Thomopulos moved to adjourn the meeting. Simmons-Welburn seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m. HRC041999.doc Agenda item 3B IOWA CITY PUBLIC BOARD OF TRU$...T Ea!i$i::i::i~!!~:' SPECIAL MEE'i~:~(; 2':::::i:i:i:iiiiiiiii .... APRIL 7, 1999 at 5:00 "~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~?~:~::.. M 1.311{ERS I'RF. SEN"F: Barclay, Dellsperger, Greenleaf, McMurray, Martin, Parker, Singerman, Spencer, Swaim S' I. ~k ..FI .' I.} R. E S E .N '1' Craig, Clark, Eckholt, Hiett, Lauritzen, Logsden, Lubaroff, Nichols ()'FHERS: Adam Lowenstein, The Crazette, Trevor Maxwell, Press Citizen, Carol de Prosse Sin~:e~ man called the meeting to order at 5:00 pm ~ihc :laled that the purpose of the special meeting was to discuss plans for the building project since the sales tax proposal had failed. She initiated discussion with a suggestion that we make a specific request to City Council, in writing that 64 1A be reserved as a possible site for a new library. Barclay stated that as an organization, the library did not take a position as to the funding of this project. Part of our message needs to be that the library's space needs, which have been acknowledged, have not diminished. The question of funding remains. Swaim agreed that we needed to communicate that our space needs haven't changed; and have in fact grown and this fact has been acknowledged by City Council. Our space needs have reached a crisis situation and building costs have increased since our original assessment in 1993. Our first choice is 64 1A and our second choice is the old plan to expand to the west. Greenleaf agrees that those two options are the most appropriate. Further, he believes that a decision needs to be made promptly and put on the November ballot. There is no reason for this not to happen. We have a large amount of information about sites that have been considered as well as branches. During the campaign, many of the anti-sales tax messages supported the library. Dellsperger has some concem about going to Council this soon without doing some type of town meeting to gain public input. Her concern is that if we want a referendum to pass then we need to hear from the public. She would like this to happen before we go to the Council with a plan. Swaim responded that over the last couple of years we've done that; we have held town meetings, hired consultants, held focus groups; although by now perhaps somewhat dated. Singerman suggested that we separate the process by asking Council to hold lot 64 1A and on a parallel track explore a method to gather public input. Martin recommended we state clearly in our letter to Council that we are disconnected from the Community Events Center and are moving Agenda item 3B 2 along as a standalone structure. Singerman summarized a history of the project. She described that we were asked to work with the original Center Space concept. She stated that Events Center supporters worked very hard for the library too. Martin said that he felt that the specific needs of the library were buried in the sales tax ballot. The consensus of the Board is that we should go with the stand-alone project. Trustees feel that the concept of the arts facility was good and if there was a way to get it done, they would be happy to work for it. However, they feel their responsibility is for the needs of the library. Singerman suggested that we say in any letter that a sales tax is not the way to fund the library; it needs to be a bond issue not tied in with a tax. We would recommend a different method of funding the expansion, probably property tax. The process was then discussed. There was agreement that public education is ongoing. It is clear that some people do not understand that the operating costs of a branch library are the issue there. At the same time, we need to realize that perhaps some people do not feel like we are listening. Greenleaf stated we have been involved in this project since '1993 and heard and looked at a lot of ideas. He believes we need to continue to take an active leadership role in educating the public and agreed that one potential problem that continues is the notion of branches. It is an outstanding issue that will be dominant and we need to address it. McMurray said that another issue that comes up is whether the library should remain downtown. She agrees that we do need more input from the public. Parking is a perceived problem. Swaim says he appreciates the need for public input however does not want the process to sidetrack our project. These issues are the same that were here six years ago. Trustees need to proceed. Spencer stated that the process could be used to answer questions about what information the public would need in order to support a bond issue. Her suggestion is that we identify more informational issues. Martin has a different perspective. He feels that we were missing was a strong group of informed advocates. Developing such a group requires that people be part of a process where they think they are heard and have a stake. He does not feel we have to go back to square one, however find a way to bring people in to talk about issues, allow them to become a group of informed advocates who can speak in the community. He would like to see it on the ballot in November and move quickly. Parker recommends face to face education. Providing an opportunity to communicate gives us momentum. She suggested some informational community forums during which we can make it clear that we have real constraints in our decision making. This does not have to occur before we communicate with the Council. If we decide that public input is important, it doesn't have to happen before we meet with Council. Council work sessions for May are on the 3rd and 17th; then not again until mid June. Singerman suggested aiming for the 17th. Agenda item 3B 3 Dellsperger raised two concerns. One was parking. Although there is parking downtown, people seem to want to get free parking for the free public library. Secondly, it seems reasonable to ask the Council to set parameters as to what they will agree too. Trustees believe strongly that we needed to go to council with what we want. Singerman said she heard general agreement about what we want to say to Council. She suggested forming a small work group to flesh out the public input portion. She will draft a letter and ask to come to City Council on the 17th. When Singerman asked, Craig responded that she agreed to moving ahead quickly and meeting with Council. She said we need to obtain financial costs from the City since operating costs remain a problem. Standing alone will not reduce library operating costs although they will be less than with a combined facility. Eckholt reported that the Foundation has been waiting patiently and recently the Executive Committee approved a recommendation to take to the Foundation Board to proceed with an assessment study for an integrated campaign that would address capitol as well as other needs. This will begin in May. Dellsperger, Martin, Parker volunteered to serve on the Work Group to discuss public input. Singerman will draet a letter. She will attempt to reflect what was said today. If the opportunity arises to support a survey, would the Board be interested in that? Parker will bring more information regarding such a possibility to the next Board meeting. We need to talk about the development of the physical nature of such a project. A building on 64 1A will be different from expansion to the west. Craig agrees that that could take time and money however we've already worked with two architects and have two proosals. Either one would probably be eager to put something together quickly. If it is anything but 64 1A it will take more time. Craig will find out about the timing for a November ballot. There was some discussion on the length of the campaign, but trustees feel that a foundation has been laid so a campaign would not be starting from scratch. Barclay volunteered to review the letter as did Dellsperger and Greenleaf. Craig spoke of the timing and that information from the city goes to the Council on Fridays. We will need to get it to the city in a timely fashion. Meeting adjourned at 6:05 Minutes taken and transcribed Martha Lubaroff MINUTES IOWA CITY TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION MONDAY, MARCH 22, 1999 - 5:30 PM CIVIC CENTER LOBBY CONFERENCE ROOM MEMBERS PRESENT: Steve Hoch, Betty McKray, Cathy Weingeist, Jim Pusack, Terry Smith STAFF PRESENT: Drew Shaffer (by telephone), Dale Helling, Bob Hardy, Andy Matthews, Keri Stokstad, Mike Brau OTHERS PRESENT: Beth Fisher, Rene Paine, Miriam Bennett, Denis Martel, Kara Logsden RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL None. SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION Paine reported PATV will conduct a two-part workshop April 10 and 17 as part of a grant received from the University of Iowa Hospital Schools. Another workshop focusing on how non- profit agencies can utilize PATV to market their services will be held April 14 in Library Meeting Room A. The library will be taping a number of poetry-related events in April. Bennett reported much of SCTV's April programming would focus on wellness. Martel reported that the TCI name will be phased out in two to three months. The cable modem service @Home has had a large demand. Matthews reported a meeting was held with McLeod officials regarding some issues McLeod has with their franchise. Additional meetings will be held in the near future. Hardy reported the City Cable TV Office turned down several requests for programs on the local option sales tax due to concems with state law requiring that no public funds be used in advocating a position on ballot issues. Those turned down were referred to PATV. Several forums with balanced presentations have been cablecast. Instantaneous election results from the County Auditor's computer were again made available through efforts of the Cable TV Office. Shaffer reported three bills have been introduced in the state legislature proposing video coverage of legislative activities, much like C-Span. InfoVision completed the Nation Jobs project with the Chamber of Commerce and Leepfrog Technologies. Four hundred jobs. updated daily. are listed in the "Community" section of InfoVision. Hardy distributed a draft memo outlining proposed language to establish criteria the CTG members would use for developing and evaluating proposals for funding. Work is still needed on the details. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Hoch nominated McKray for Chair and Weingeist seconded. McKray was unanimously elected Chair. Pusack nominated Weingeist for Vice-Chair and Hoch seconded. Weingeist nominated Pusack and Smith seconded. Weingeist was elected Vice-Chair with McKray, Smith, Pusack and Hoch voting for Weingeist and Weingeist abstaining. APPROVAL OF MINUTES It was moved by Pusack and seconded Weingeist to approve the February 22, 1999 minutes. The motion passed unanimously. ANNOUNCEMENTS OF COMMISSIONERS None. SHORT PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS None. PATVREPORT Paine reported PATV will conduct a two-part workshop April 10 and 17 as part of a grant received from the University of Iowa Hospital Schools. The workshops are entitled "Workshop to Develop Choices for People with Disabilities". Press releases and flyers have been prepared. A workshop focusing on how non-profit agencies can utilize PATV to market their services will be held April 14 in Library Meeting Room A. Notices have been mailed to area non-profit agencies. Copies of PATV's newsletter were made available. Two SVHS camcorders were recently purchased. A donation of $700 from an inactive organization, Access Iowa City, will be acknowledged by a small plate attached to one of the cameras. That camera will be dedicated for use by children. PATV's annual report will be finished soon. LIBRARY REPORT Fisher reported Christie Vilsack, wife of the Governor, recently toured the library. While at the library, Vilsack taped a public service announcement (PSA) for the library. Of the twelve "Storytime" programs shot in March, four were special one-hour "School's Out Specials" coinciding with spring break. A live Johnson County Historical Society program on the history of mental health care and a program by the Johnson County Soil and Water Conservation District were recently cablecast. The library will be closed for two days late in April to accommodate the installation of a new web-based card catalog system. Programs and PSA's about the new system will be produced. April is poetry month and a number of related events will be held. Two adult poetry-writing workshops will be held and a live program of the participants reading their poems will be cablecast. April 6 the annual "Poetry for Lunch" program will bring in poets from the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop. A childrens' poetry workshop will be held and taped for replay. On April 25, a reading will be held at the Sanctuary and on April 29, a reading by a Cambodian poet will be held. On April 2, two actors from the University Theater Department will perform a poem entitled "A Bridge Close to My Home". The performance .will be cablecast live. Logsden will provide the Commission additional information on the new catalog system. ECC REPORT No ECC representative was present. SENIOR CENTER REPORT Bennett reported much of SCTV's April programming would focus on wellness. Last month's Mature Focus was about the history and mission of SCTV. SCTV promotional videos are planned and will be utilized in conjunction with the CTG outreach campaign. Promotional videos highlighting some of the Senior Center programs will also be produced. SCTV will cover the town meeting that will be held in the Senior Center. TCI REPORT Martel reported that the TCI name will be phased out in two to three months. The cable modem service ~Home has had a large demand. The system uses the DOCSIS standard, which permits subscribers to purchase their own modems from third party vendors. The modems are not yet available, however. There have been problems with some of the @Home equipment not meeting specifications. Those problems are being addressed. MCLEOD REPORT Matthews said Kevin Rice informed him that a representative from McLeod would not be able to attend the meeting but he intends to attend future meetings. LEGAL REPORT Matthews reported a meeting was held with McLeod officials regarding some issues McLeod has with their franchise. Additional meetings will be held in the near future. Shaffer said one or two representatives from the Commission may wish to participate in those discussions. Pusack nominated Hoch and Smith participate in those discussions. Weingeist seconded and the motion was approved unanimously. Matthews reminded Commissioners that they should feel flee to contact Shaffer, Helling or himself individually if they wish further information. CABLE TV OFFICE REPORT Hardy reported the Media Unit and the Community Television Service have been moderately busy. Several requests for programs on the local option sales tax had to be turned down due to concerns with state law requiring that no public funds be used in advocating a position on ballot issues. Those turned down were referred to PATV. Several forums with balanced presentations have been cablecast. Hardy reported that Kevin Crawley, the coordinator of InfoVision, was informed that nearly all applicants for homes available through the Iowa City Housing Authority had made use of the virtual tours on InfoVision. Instantaneous election results from the County Auditor's computer were again made available through efforts of the Cable TV Office. Because of a City Council meeting on election night, the results were displayed on the library channel. Shaffer reported three bills have been introduced in the state legislature proposing video coverage of legislative activities, much like C-Span. InfoVision has completed the Nation Jobs project with the Chamber of Commerce and Leepfrog Technologies. Four hundred jobs, updated daily are listed in the "Community" section of InfoVision. Hardy noted the Community News ran a front-page article on Keri Stokstad and the Community Television Service. Pusack asked about participation of the University of Iowa in local access television activities. Hardy said they have been invited in the past, but have not participated. Helling clarified that the City's franchise agreement requires a channel for the University. Hoch said University participation in the Community Television Group could be beneficial. Hardy said he would extend an invitation to the appropriate person. THREE-YEAR FUNDING PROPOSALS FROM THE CTG Hardy distributed a draft memo outlining proposed language to establish criteria for the CTG members to use in developing and evaluating proposals for funding. The Group wanted to present the goals for the funds and the method the Group has been using to the Commission. Work is still needed on the details. A set of materials will be forwarded to the Commission for the next meeting. Hardy said that in the past the funds have been used primarily to improve technical quality. Hoch said there is some interest in the Commission to use less of the funds for equipment purchases and more to promote a particular type of programming. Hardy said the CTG understands that concern and part of the remaining work the CTG needs to complete is how to broaden the stated goals for the use of the funds. The process of reviewing the proposal criteria has been constructive for all the members. Pusack requested that in addition to the consensus recommendation from the CTG that the proposals not funded or those withdrawn also be forwarded to help the Commission better understand the direction the CTG is taking. TELECOMMUNICATIONS ORDINANCE Matthews reported that the City ad hoc committee working on the ordinance met and expects to have a draft in the near future dealing primarily with the regulation of the public right-of-way. The ordinance will include fight-of-way management fees and a position in the Public Works Department. ADJOURNMENT Pusack moved to adjoum and Weingeist seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Adjournment was at 6:32 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Wm.XDl-ev,~haffer Cable TV Administrator POLICE CITIZENS REVIEW BOARD MINUTES - April 13, 1999 Lobby Conference Room CALL TO ORDER Chair L. Cohen called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. ATTENDANCE CONSENT CALENDAR Board members present: L. Cohen, P. Farrant, P. Hoffey, and M. Raymond. Board member absent: J. Watson. Staff present: Interim Legal Counsel Catherine Pugh, and City Clerk Marjan Karr. Motion by M. Raymond and seconded by P. Hoffey to adopt the Consent Calendar. Motion carried, 4/0, Watson absent. RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL None COMPLAINT FORMS P. Farrant distributed a revision draft (4/9/99) of the information cover sheet to be attached to the Police Department complaint form and the PCRB complaint form, utilizing "a" through "f" of City Atty. Dilkes correspondence of 3/23/99. Chair stated City Atty. Dilkes had indicated previously that officers are compelled to comply with the interviewing process, but the officer doesn't have to agree to allowing those interviews to be seen by the PCRB. M. Raymond requested that besides consulting the statute for further information, that the telephone number and address of the City Clerk's office be provided on the form. In response to whether formal investigations are considered as non-public confidential records, Farrant replied that the investigation, meaning the whole process, not just the outcome, is considered a non-public confidential record. Motion by P. Hoffey and seconded by M. Raymond to approve the Information Sheet, as amended, and send it to the City Attorney for review. Motion carried, 4/0, Watson absent. COMMUNITY FORUM STATUS RE NEW LEGAL COUNSEL ANNUAL REPORT PLANNING A final draft of the notice for the Broadway Neighborhood Community Forum was approved by the Board. Notice distribution will include: · 100 notices to the Neighborhood Center · City buildings · Media mailboxes · JC News · Internet Staff was directed to prepare a press release for distribution to media on Friday, April 23, with release on Monday, April 26. Board members requested that each receive 12 copies of the notice in their next meeting packet. M. Karr explained the room setup procedures and recommended that staff hire a City crew to accommodate this; the Board agreed. Take-down will be done by City staff prior to 9:00 a.m. the next day. Board members will sit at a table in the front of the room; a small table-top podium will be provided for speakers. Sign-up sheets will be provided at the door and at the podium. The Chair will encourage speakers to limit their remarks to five minutes. Chair directed staff to prepare a followup letter to Chief Winkelhake confirming his participation at the forum. To-date, one application has been received. Deadline for receipt of applications is April 19, 1999. Initial information regarding the annual report was discussed by the subcommittee, L. Cohen and P. Farrant. Discussion followed regarding the two draft letters to the Chief. Cohen directed staff to amend the two draft letters to the Chief: 3 1. To obtain the unique identifiers in PCRB Complaints //98-18,//98-19 and//98-20 2. To receive a copy of the Police Department's investigative logs, as discussed and agreed with the City Council. This letter should include dates of the board's annual report beginning October 1, 1998 through June 30, 1999. Both letters shall reflect a deadline of May 1, 1999 to receive the information. POLICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATIVE INTERVIEWS Committee member Raymond stated that the general topics related to Police Department investigative interviews are not confidential, but the references to specific materials in case files is confidential and will be discussed in executive session. Committee members M. Raymond and P. Hoffey agreed to review actual interview reports received by the Board and point out those places where they thought matters arose that raised some issues that some constructive discussions could be had. From here, they would go from particular examples to some more general categories of some of the things that they see happening. They would both talk about the kinds of issues that they see in these interviews and, assuming the Board agreed, they would then meet with the Chief, raise some of the issues and talk about why the Board is concerned about them and start some dialogue about these issues. The Board's concern derived from the manner in which some of the interviews are being conducted by the investigators. The Board felt this is an issue that should be studied by the Board and subsequently that task was given to the committee. The end result is that the Committee should take the information and arrange a meeting with the Chief and call these to his attention so that he is aware of concerns and hopefully will make the necessary corrections in futute interviews. The categories of concern include: 4 · Instances in which the witnesses or complainants are led by the interviewer; · There's some asymmetry in the adversarial nature of the questioning - the complainants are questioned more critically, but the officers are not. · Lack of consistency. The reason for the interview should remain the same from the beginning to the end. · There were some motives divulged that were not consistent with the purpose of the interview, which is suppose to be whether or not there was misconduct on behalf of a police officer; · What do department investigators perceive as their role in these investigations; is this a different role than the usual role of investigating criminal activity. · Tone of interviews and the manner in which complainants and witnesses are addressed. After Board discussion, the committee was directed to move forward to meet with the Chief, with the goal being consciousness-raising about these concerns, and explaining that the Board has to see some consistency in the interviewing process. To assure the Board that the investigative techniques are proper, it will request the opportunity to review all the investigative interviews for all the complaints that are put before the Board in the future. The committee will report back to the Board with the results of their meeting with the Chief. FORM LETTERS FOR UNTIMELY COMPLAINTS Motion by P. Farrant and seconded by P. Hoffey to accept the form letters and PCRB Final Report for untimely complaints, as amended. Motion carried, 4/0, Watson absent. M. Raymond requested that the form letters for mediation be put on the next agenda for review. MEETING SCHEDULE · Special Meeting April 27, 1999, 7:00 P.M. · Community Forum at Broadway Neighborhood Center, April 28, 1999, 7:00 P.M. · Regular Meeting May 11, 1999, 7:00 P.M. · Special Meeting May 25, 1999, 7:00 P.M. · Regular Meeting June 8, 1999, 7:00 P.M. · Special Meeting June 22, 1999, 7:00 P.M. PRIORITY SETTING GOALS M. Raymond requested that all correspondence from the Board remain formal; first names should never be used. P. Hoffey noted the need to prioritize the list of priority setting goals. Under the three categories listed, a number of objectives are listed, but the Board cannot accomplish all of those objectives in one year. The board needs to put them in order and see what we want to accomplish by the end of this year. Chair directed that this item appear on the agenda for the next meeting and each Board member should come with their list of priorities. Chair directed staff to provide another copy of the Preliminary PCRB Priority Setting Goals in the next meeting packet. PUBLIC DISCUSSION None BOARD INFORMATION L. Cohen - stated M. Raymond's resignation letter went to Council; resignation is effective June 1. A new appointment will be made by Council on May 18. Raymond noted that this is an appointment to fill the remainder of her term. Cohen also confirmed that the Board's SOP's have passed. The ordinance will have it's final reading April 20 and it will be published the 2Bth, which will be the effective date. STAFF INFORMATION M. Karr - reported on one call to the PCRB office. C. Pugh - She had to an inquiry from a Board member where the question was raised whether that member should participate in this evening's discussion in executive session since some of those specific examples related to a complaint where she recused herself for conflict of interest. It is Ms. Pugh's opinion that a person with a former conflict on a specific complaint can participate in an executive session discussion regarding policy, procedure or practice (PPP) where there is no action pending on a particular report. She further stated that information doesn't need to be shielded from board members, even if they were not present for discussions of the complaint where that information was discussed, as long as we're talking about a general policy rather than a particular complaint. Unless you're talking about recommendations for action, that person would not have to be kept away from the examples you're discussing in executive session. POLICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATIVE INTERVIEWS Motion by P. Hoffey and seconded by M. Raymond to adjourn to executive session based on Section 21.5(a) of the Code of Iowa to review or discuss records which are required or authorized by state or federal law to be kept confidential or to be kept confidential as a condition for that government body's possession or continued receipt of federal funds, and 22.7(11) personal information in confidential personnel records of public bodies including but not limited to cities, boards of supervisors and school districts, and 22-7(5) police officer investigative reports, except where disclosure is authorized elsewhere in the Code; and 22.7(18) Communications not required by law, rule or procedure that are made to a government body or to any of its employees by identified persons outside of government, to the extent that the government body receiving those communications from such persons outside of government could reasonably believe that those persons would be discouraged from making them to that government body if they were available for general public examination. Motion carried, 4/0, Watson absent. Open meeting adjourned at 8:15 P.M. ,_- Regular meeting resumed at 8:45 P.M. 7 ADJOURNMENT Motion for adjournment by P. Hoffey and seconded by M. Raymond. Motion carried, 4/0, Watson absent. Meeting adjourned at 8:45 P.M. MINUTES RIVERFRONT AND NATURAL AREAS COMMISSION WEDNESDAY. MARCH 17, 1999- 5:30 P.M. IOWA CITY CIVIC CENTER - LOBBY CONFERENCE ROOM MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: ALTERNATE: STAFFPRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT: CALLTO ORDER: Russell Bennett, Cortney Daniels, Mark Graham, Gretchen Grimm, Lynn Rose, Larry Wilson Jeff Gillitzer, Joe Kral, David Thayer, Dan Mascal Brad Neumann Rose called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m. PUBLIC DISCUSSION OF ANY ITEM NOT ON THE AGENDA: Rose stated that Daniels is assisting her with a letter to the Parks and Recreation Commission concerning allowing a member of the RNAC to have input on the Parks and Recreation Commission. She said that she will send the letter and wait for feedback. Rose also said that she contacted Mascal concerning his noticeable absence at Commission meetings. Mascal said that he is overcommitted and wished to voluntarily withdraw from the. Commission. Neumann stated that he would call Mascal and ask him to write a letter officially stating his resignation from the RNAC. Daniels said she received a letter from the Johnson County Board of Supervisors regarding a countywide trails planning meeting on March 25. Neumann said he would send a copy of the letter to all commissioners. CONSIDERATION OF THE MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 17, 1999 MEETING: MOTION: Daniels moved to approve the February 17, 1999 meeting minutes as submitted. Grimm seconded the motion. The motion was carried by a vote of 6-0. COMMISSION REPORTS: Report from the JCCOG Regional Trails and Bicycling Committee (RTBC) Representative Daniels stated that she was unable to attend the last meeting. She said that when she volunteered, she did not realize that the RTBC meetings were at 4 p.m. She suggested that someone else be appointed as the representative. Grimm was appointed to serve as the JCCOG RTBC representative in her place. COMMISSION DISCUSSION: Discuss FY2000-2002 JCCOG Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) Neumann said this information was provided for commissioners to make comments if they wished. He explained that the document included in commissioners' packets illustrates how the Riverfront and Natural Areas Commission March 17. 1999 Page 2 TIP funding is proposed to be spent. Wilson stated that he was involved with this because he serves on the JCCOG Transportation Technical Advisory Committee. He said that the proposed projects were approved without any dissention. Report from the Special Events Committee Rose noted that Daniels, Gillitzer, Graham, and Grimm met as a subcommittee to discuss possible special events for the year. Neumann first explained that he talked with New Pioneer Coop. The Coop is planning to clean up Willow Creek Park and Kiwanis Park on April 25 rather than clean up Ralston Creek this year. The Commission is more than welcome to participate. RNAC could be named as a co-sponsor, and members could participate by giving away trees if they wished. Wilson added that FIRST, along with Hospice, is promoting a contemplation park on Benton Street where Willow Creek Park joins Kiwanis Park. He suggested that the Commission plant a tree at the same time as the park cleanup. As a result, the RNAC would contribute to the memodal being proposed by Hospice and FIRST, participate in the park cleanup, and hold an Arbor Day event all at the same time. Daniels stated she would ask New Pi how many volunteers they have for the cleanup. The RNAC could give away a tree to each volunteer as a token of appreciation. Daniels said she would contact the event coordinators from FIRST and New Pi to notify them of the Commission's intent to participate, Daniels said the committee also discussed a ribbon cutting for a trail with FIRST and coordinating an event for River Month focusing on creeks. Wilson said the Commission should let FIRST know that the RNAC is willing to cosponsor an event. Neumann let commissioners know that an article in the Press-Citizen has prompted two calls concaming the Creek Maintenance Program grant. Regarding River Month and creeks, Commissioners agreed that because the grant funds will likely be used up, the Commission will organize small events throughout this year that focus on creeks. At the end of the year, the RNAC would have photographs and examples of what the Commission, and the creek maintenance program, is about. Daniels said this could serve as an archive for people. In June 2000, the Commission could organize a kick-off event introducing the Commission and the creek maintenance program. Bennett suggested that the Commission make sure that their focus on the creeks does not cause them to neglect the needs of the dver. Daniels said the focus on the creeks is simply an angle. Bennett added that restructudng the banks, removing trees from the creek bed, and planting trees in a section of a creek are all ways to make a difference and generate positive publicity. Bennett suggested that perhaps the Commission should pick an area of a creek to work on each year. Wilson agreed and said it was discouraging go back to Ralston Creek and find more garbage than the year before. He agreed that by creating visibility, the RNAC may be able to encourage a neighborhood association to take responsibility for keeping an area clean. Grimm asked what the Commission could do about people who throw junk and appliances in the river. Wilson said that some people simply have that mindset and that a lot of the junk from years ago is being uncovered as the rivers and creeks erode. Rose stated that the Commission cannot change the mindset of people who do not understand the proper disposal of junk; however, they can provide an opportunity to take care of some of these things. Rose also said she likes the idea of having a storm damage cleanup of the creeks on June 29. This would give the Commission positive publicity and clean up the creeks and rivers at the same time. Riverfront and Natural Areas Commission March 17. 1999 Page 3 Neumann showed commissioners some photographs of the creeks taken by a City intern. He said City staff could take the photographs for the Commission's events. He also noted that he checked with the attorney's office about surveying property. A photographer can take pictures of creek banks on private property if the photographer stays within the waterway. Rose asked if the Special Events Committee should meet again. Daniels, Graham, and Gdmm said they would be available to meet again to discuss and organize these ideas. The committee will contact Gillitzer and set a date. Graham reminded everyone that Arbor Day is only a couple of days after the next RNAC meeting. Wilson said if the Commission wishes to have an event, they should be sure to have the Special Events Committee work on organizing this ahead of time. Motion: Wilson moved to authorize the Special Events Committee to use their discretion in organizing and planning the details of an Arbor Day event. Grimm seconded the motion. The motion was carried by a vote of 6-0. Discuss the Development of the Iowa City Creek Maintenance Program Rose said that at the special meeting of the RNAC on March 4, they discussed desired objectives of the City Creek Maintenance Program. Each member stated his or her goals for the program. Rose said that from this exercise, common themes could be identified. The themes included: 1. Conveyance of water 2. Erosion Control 3. Community amenities and recreation 4. Implementation, design, and administration 5. Education and community development 6. Ecological integrity/environmental soundness Rose stated that she believed these themes could help the Commission in determining the goals of the program. Commission members agreed and brainstormed specific goal statements from the themes. The goal statements were: 1. Provide adequate management of channel flow. 2. Control erosion and sedimentation of the stream corridor. 3. Enhance recreational potential and community amenities associated with the streams. 4. Design, implement, and administer a user-friendly creek maintenance program. 5. Create opportunities for community education and involvement. 6. EnhanCe environmental quality and the natural habitat of the stream. 7. Promote stewardship and environmental responsibility in the urban stream corridor. Neumann said that the other desired objectives mentioned at the special planning meeting could be typed up by City staff. Rose and the commissioners agreed that they would review the typed list of objectives at the next meeting. The specific objectives would then be placed under the corresponding goal. Strategies for completing objectives will then be developed. Riverfront and Natural Areas Commission March 17. 1999 Page 4 OTHER BUSINESS: Neumann stated that the City Council will be holding a public hearing about the Iowa River Power dam (peninsula) on March 30. Some groups are concerned about having a trail go across the dam because it may disturb the eagles. Bennett said that in his opinion, bicycles will not bother the eagles because the eagles are always in transit anyway. The eagles may leave for a short time but will come back. Grimm said that she thinks this is a ridiculous concern because the eagles will adapt to humans and will not be disturbed. Bennett said that he would be glad to attend the Council meeting and speak on behalf of the RNAC. Wilson asked if they knew of an eagle expert who could explain that the eagles will not be harmed. Bennett said he would look into it. ADJOURNMENT: MOTION: Rose moved to adjourn the meeting. Grimm seconded the moUon: The motion carried by a vote of 6-0. The meeting was adjoumed at 7:20 p.m. Minutes submitted by Wendy Larive. jccogsw/mk't/macO31~'99.~(x: City of Iowa City MEMORANDUM DATE: TO: FROM: RE: April 20, 1999 City Council Marian K. Karr, City Clerk Rules Committee Report on Riverfront & Natural Areas Commission Individually the City Council Rules Committee Members (Lehman & Norton) have reviewed the Riverfront & Natural Areas Commission by-laws recommended to Council on February 23, 1998 (attached). The Rules Committee Members did not see a need to meet on this request, and recommend approval of the amended by-laws approved by Riverfront & Natural Areas Commission on January 20 and presented to Council on February 23. cc: Brad Neumann ARTICLE I MEETINGS Section 1. Section 2. Section 3. Section 4. Section 5. Section 6. Section 7. ARTICLF II MEMBERSHIP Section 1. BY-LAWS IOWA CITY RIVERFRONT AND NATURAL AREAS COMMISSION Regular Meetings. Regular meetings of this Commission shall be held once each month. Special Meetings. Special meetings of the members may be called by the Chairperson and shall be called by the Chairperson at the request of members of the Commission and as needed to meet development deadlines. Place of Meetings. All meetings shall be held in a City accessible facility. Notice of Meeting. Notice and agenda for all regular meetings shall be distributed to all members of the Commission and the press, Special meetings may be called upon notice to Commission members and members of the media at least 24 hours before a special meeting is held. All provisions of the State Open Meetings Law shall be followed. C~uorum, A majority of the members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum at any meeting and the majority of votes cast at any meeting at which a quorum is present shall be decisive of any motion or election. Proxies. There shall be no vote by proxy. Public Discussion. Time shall be made available during all regular meetings for open public discussion. Membership. The Riverfront and Natural Areas Commission of the City of Iowa City, Iowa, shall consist of olovon (11) ten I10) members or Commissioners. Six (6) Five (5) of the members or Commissioners must be eligible electors of the City of Iowa City, Iowa; three (3) must be an eligible elector of Johnson County, Iowa, excluding residents of Iowa City and Coralville, and shall be recommended to the Iowa City City Council by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, one (I) member must be an eligible elector of the City of Coralville, Iowa, and shall be recommended to the Iowa City City Council by the City of Coralville City Council, and one (I) member shall be a representative of the University of Iowa. The Commission members shall be appointed in the following manner: all.ten (10) eft-ha-members or Commissioners shall be appointed by the City Council of the City of Iowa City. Ono (I) mornbar of tho P3rks and Rocroation Commicsion sh311 bo appointod by tho City Council of tho City of low3 City, Iowa, upon tho rocommondation of tho Parks and Rocroation Commission. All members of the Commission shall serve without compensation but shall be 2 Section 2. Section 3. Section 4. ARTICLF III OFFICERS Section 1. Section 2. Section 3. Section 4. Section 5. Section 6. entitled to the necessary expenses, including travel expenses, incurred in the discharge of their duties. Terms. All terms shall be three years, oxcopt tho Parks and RooFoation ~ Commission reprosentativo shall bo ono yoar. All terms begin January 1. If a position/appointment becomes vacant by reason of resignation or otherwise and results in an unexpired term, the Council may choose to fill the unexpired term in such a manner that the appointee shall continue in the position not only through the unexpired term but also through the subsequent regular term. Absences. Three absences of a Commission member without notification within the period of one (1) calendar year may result in a recommendation to the Council from the Commission to discharge said member and appoint a new Commission member. Orientation for New Members. New members shall be provided with copies of the pertinent portions of the City Code, Riverfront and Natural Areas Commission By-Laws, and other documents that would be useful to Commission members in carrying out their duties. An orientation session will also be required within sixty (60) days following the member's appointment. Attendance at meetings prior to a member's official appointment is encouraged. The orientation session will take place at a City facility. Number. The officers of this Commission shall be a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson, each of whom shall be elected by members of the Commission. Election and Term of Office. The Officers of this Commission shall be elected for one year terms at the regular meeting in January. Vacancies. A vacancy in either office shall be filled by the members for the unexpired portion of the term. Chairperson. The Chairperson shall, when present, preside at all meetings of the members, appoint committees, call special meetings and in general, perform all duties of a Chairperson and such other duties as may be prescribed by the members from time to time. Vice Chairperson. In the absence of the Chairperson or in the event of death, inability or refusal to act, the Vice Chairperson shall perform the duties of the Chairperson and when so acting shall have all the powers of and be subject to all the restrictions upon the Chairperson. Nominating Committee: A nominating committee of three (3) Commission Members shall be appointed by the Chair at the regular meeting in December. One nominee for Chair and one nominee for Vice Chair shall be recommended to the commission at the regular meeting in January. 3 ARTICLE IV CONDUCT OF COMMISSION AFFAIRS Section 1. Agenda. The Chairperson, or designated representative, together with appropriate members of the City staff, shall prepare an agenda for all regular Commission meetings. Agendas are to be sent to Commission members and the media at least three days prior to the regular meeting. Section 2. Minutetaker. A minutetaker, not to be a Commission member, shall be provided for all regular and special meetings. Section 3. Minutes. Minutes of all regular and special meetings are to be prepared and distributed to Commission members in the manner prescribed by the Council. Specific recommendations for the Council are to be set off from the main body of the minutes, and appropriately identified. Section 4. Policies and Programs. Periodically, the Commission shall review the policies and programs of the City relating to the river and riverfront, and to other natural waterways, and to woodlands and wetlands, and make such recommendations to the City Council as are deemed appropriate. Section 5. Referrals from Council. From time to time, letters, requests for information, requests for recommendations, and other matters are referred to the Commission by the City Council. The Commission shall initiate consideration of such items at the next regular meeting following receipt and shall notify Council of its disposition. Section 6. Attendance at Council Meetings. The Commission Chairperson or designated representatives are to be in attendance at all City Council meetings, including informal sessions, at which matters pertaining to the domain of the Commission's responsibilities are to be discussed or action taken. The Commission Chairperson is to receive Council agendas prior to each Council meeting and is to be otherwise notified of meetings involving Commission business. Section 7. Annual Report. An annual report, detailing the activities of the Commission, shall be prepared by the Chairperson, approved by the Commission, and submitted to the City Council. Section 8. Liaison with Planning and 7oning Commission. At such time as the Commission undertakes any business which is deemed pertinent to the activities of the Planning and Zoning Commission, the Planning and Zoning Commission shall be so notified, and may send a representative to the next meeting of the Riverfront and Natural Areas Commission to act as a liaison between the two Commissions. 4 ARTICLE V AMENDMENTS Section 1. By-laws may be amended by a majority of all Members of the Commission at any regular or special meeting called for that purpose. All by-laws must be considered at two meetings of the Commission prior to submission to Council. Amendments must be approved by the City Council to become effective. ppdadmin\rnac.byl MINUTES SENIOR CENTER COMMISSION TUESDAY, MARCH 16,1999 MEMBERS PRESENT Bebe Ballantyne, Jay Honohan, Joanne Hora William Kelly, Terri Miller, Allan Monsanto, Larry Pugh, Deborah Schoenfelder, and M. Kathryn Wallace. MEMBERS ABSENT None STAFF PRESENT Michelle Buhman, rinda Kopping, Julie Seal and Susan Rogusky. GUESTS PRESENT Harold Stager, Mike Foster, Jean Mann, Richard Thomas, and Joyce Thomas CALL TO ORDER Miller called the meeting to order at 3:00. MINUTES Motion: To approve February minutes as distributed. The motion carried on a vote of 9-0.WallacelBallantyne IN-HOUSE AGENCY PRESENTATIONS Senior Dining - Foster Foster stated the Senior Dining program is a program of the Senior Center, not an "in- house agency". The co-location intent of the 28E Agreement has deteriorated throughout the years and this terminology demonstrates how the true intent of the co- location has been lost. Senior Dining would be very interested in working with the Senior Center in developing plans for space usage in the existing facility and/or Iowa Avenue Parking Ramp. Senior Dining provides a total of 300 to 400 meals daily, seven days a week. Of this total amount, they satellite food to Solon five days a week, Swisher and Hills three days a week, and, as part of a pilot project, North Liberty twice monthly. They also serve 150 home delivered meals each weekday and about 75 on Saturdays and Sundays. Home Delivered meals are labor intensive because they require a lot of storage and personnel time to package, fix, and distribute. Currently, Senior Dining has two full-time and thirteen part-time employees, as well as approximately 125 volunteers. Forty to fifty of the volunteers are home delivered meal drivers and the rest prepare, assemble, and serve meals. There are three paid drivers for the home delivery program. At the Senior Center between 100 and 160 meals are served each day between 11:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Reservations are not required. On Tuesday and Thursdays Senior Dining provides a heart healthy soup and salad in addition to the regular meal. MINUTES SENIOR CENTER COMMISSION TUESDAY, MARCH 16,1999 2 Funding for Senior Dining is provided by the Heritage Area Agency on Aging and Johnson County. Participant donations are accepted, but not required. Age sixty is the participant eligibility requirement, although guests are encouraged. There is a $3.25 charge for guests. Senior Dining appreciates the opportunity to meet with the Commission's Space Review Committee. The program's need for more office and storage space has been a long- standing issue and we are glad these requests are being addressed. Senior Dining will seek to address this issue in a cooperative fashion and will provide the subcommittee specific data in the coming weeks. Senior Dining recognizes that with the advent of the parking ramp and an aging population the decisions of today will affect generations to come. A question and 'answer session followed. AARP - Harold Stager The AARP office, which is open to all people and not just AARP members, answers many questions about tax relief, finances, and active retirement. There are one hundred eight AARP members locally. Local AARP leadership would like to have the office open from 9:30 AM to 2:30 PM Monday through Friday but volunteers to staff the office are unavailable. Volunteer and participant parking is a problem on Tuesday and Thursday. A question and answer session followed. ELDERLY SERVICES AGENCY - Mann Eldedy Services Agency (ESA) has been located in the Senior Center since the day it opened. The City of Iowa City, City of Coralville, Johnson County, United Way, and private donations provide funding. ESA's mission is simple; we do whatever we need to do in order to help elderly people stay safely in their homes for as long as possible. Another role of ESA is to get information related to such things as Case Management and elderly housing options to the public. ESA had over 1700 clients last year that participated in ESA's Case Management, Chore Services, and Shared Housing programs. Mann expressed interest in having parking in the Iowa Avenue ramp reserved for people with disabilities who need to be closer to the Center. She also supported the idea of a skywalk connecting the parking facility and the Center. Elderly Services has seven staff members who are all located in room 208. Not only is the room crowded, client con~dentiality is often jeopardized by a lack of private office space. ESA would like to share space currently used by Police Review Board. A question and answer session followed. PUBLIC DISCUSSION None SENIOR CENTER EXPANSION - Miller Commissioners reviewed the letter from the Board of Supervisors that supports the Commission's request for additional space in the Iowa Avenue Parking Facility. Options for financing Senior Center expansion were discussed. MINUTES SENIOR CENTER COMMISSION TUESDAY, MARCH 16,1999 3 28E AGREEMENT COMMITTEE STATUS The 28E Agreement Committee will include two members of the City Council, two members of the Board of Supervisors, one member of the Senior Center Commission, Pat White and the Senior Center Coordinator. Terri Miller was selected to represent the Senior Center Commission on the committee. SPACE REVIEW COMMITTEE REPORT- Kelly Kelly reported that the committee has met with representatives of the Senior Dining program. Kelly suggested the Senior Center should become a satellite voting location with voting booths located in the lobby of the Senior Center. Kopping expressed reservations about this suggestion. Motion: Authorize Kelly to talk to Tom Slocket and arrange to have the Senior Center lobby used as a satellite-voting site, Commission discussion The commission deferred this item for further discussion at a future meeting. SENIOR CENTER UPDATE Operations - Kopping Kopping is in the process of retaining a consultant to work with a committee of Senior Center Commissioners, staff and participants who will select of furniture for the lobby, mezzanine, and Washington Street entrance. The sprinkler, ceiling tile, and replastedng project is underway. Senior Center computers are now networked with the City so all employees have Internet access and new e-mail addresses. Staff members appreciate being connected with other City departments and feel the system facilitates their work. Programs - Seal April events were reviewed. Volunteers - Rogusky An update of volunteer programs and opportunities was given. COUNCIL OF ELDERS -Thomas A report from the Council of Elders was given. MINUTES SENIOR CENTER COMMISSION TUESDAY, MARCH 16,1999 4 COMMISSION VISITS City Council - A report of the City Council meeting was given. COMMISSION DISCUSSION A review of the Commission absentee policy was discussed. Motion: To adjourn. Motion was carried on a vote of 9-0. Wallace/Hora. The meeting adjourned at 5:05. i TOWN MEETING SENIOR CENTER ASSEMBLY ROOM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 1999 PRESIDING City of Iowa Ci - Steve Atkins, City Manager City of Iowa City ayor- Ernie Lehman Johnson County Bo d of Supervisors - Sally Stutsman and Jordal Senior Center Commi ion - Terri Miller Senior Center Council o Iders - Charity Rowley and Hess Senior Center Staff- Lin Kopping Parking and Transit Directo Joe Fowler CALL TO ORDER/INTRODUC ONS - Rowley / ' Rowley called the meeting to orde at 2:00 p.m. !s members were introduced. . OPENING S y Purpose of the meeting: To discuss the and philosophy of the Senior Center. Interested persons may speak ree minutes write their questions on a sheet of paper. A member of the C~ Elders will read written questions. COMMENTS/QUESTIONS · Dale Bingham -Thanked the staff with a dozen long stem · Bob Welsh - Supports the for doing ,ses. uest for 7, 700 s~ job and presented ire feet of additional space in the Iowa Avenue facility. · Iva Sagert - Supports request for additional:,, the space with other CiDepartments. · Jay Honohan - Su statements made by Bob everyone have an o ~n mind when thinking about square feet reque,, in the parking facility. This is the Senior Center wil to expand. · June Braverma Suggested the Center open on nights also we bring younger people to the Center intergenerati ~al mix. The Center needs to reassess number of the center think about changing the hours to 7:30-4:30. use the g room when not in use. · Charles avidson - Stated he was from Eldedy Services Agency. !ave an of the programs. The need for space is critical to the mission help elded safely in their home. · Horton - Supported the request for a skywalk connecting the new pa facility and the Senior Center. · rothy Rogers - The Senior Center needs room to grow. The center is a ~ntastic asset to Iowa City. and suggested sharing ~h. He asked that e uses for the 7700 opportunity the s. She ing an ~le using to TOWN MEETING SENIOR CENTER ASSEMBLY ROOM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 1999 · Lee McGovem - The Center needs to open later for the seniors that are still ~g- i · Jean Questioned where people would park during the cor n phase of parking facility. · Joe Fowler Two locations have been discussed. One Iocatio~ the 200 block of permit holders Chauncey Swat Construction sho~ Martha van At that time they She supports the with the Senior Dining Rachel Dennis - Has she wondered what we parking could block off 30 spaces for second location is to increase current A shuttle bus passes the ramp thr last sixteen to eighteen months. Stated she has been a memb~ ~nly 25 members, now that ,st for additional space so ram. here since the o Jld do with all the ,nior Center in the times an hour. band since 1993. has over 65 members. band will not interfere of the Center. At that time in the Senior Center. Look at it now. · Joan Cantor- Stated she so a great activities of all kinds. Sin th~ to expand the use of the bulk weekends. · Dwayne Means - Believes both addressed. · Dale Bingham - Questioned using the center and if there weekends. · Glenn Jablonski - The V~ of band. The Center has g is a real problem. Would like like it to be open nights and and space issues need to be :he survey. The percentages of people any ,erit to serving people nights and ~ce are also a growing group. They have a need for more · Bob Welsh - The shl A fifteen minute ride · Jay Honohan - Th, there is still som~ · Dee Norton- space as service will not m go one half block is reement has The current concern that only County have ;en to the center and 14% once. Dwayne Dave Fu~ contact~ youn! ~11 as a new piano. the needs of the Senior Center. good enough. very successful. Although is based on goodwill the seniors in Johnson attended the Center · - Parking is the reason people did · - Worked on the survey and the reason during the survey do not come to the still work during the day. · - Responded that 43% of the population is pe< It is higher than the library. · AI Ostrander - The first Post only had two pages. It is have great meals. People like me need that Center for · / Kathryn Wallace - Has been a Commissioner since participant. Suggested renaming the center to "Center for Cre~ Retirement" return to the Center. many people that were is because they were reat number of reat paper and ~anionship. as well as a TOWN MEETING SENIOR CENTER ASSEMBLY ROOM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 1999 · Haugenjorde - Joining the Senior Center the most valuable thing she h; ever done. Young people have no idea it feels to be lonely. The Senior has many wonderful programs. · Chades D~ - The survey showed man' with incomes less than $500.00 per ~onth. · Ed Wells is a real problem at the Invited people to visit the Center over the ~n hour and see the p~ situation. · Joe Fowler - Expla ~d proposed ways ~e Senior Center would have parking in the new Parking ~. · Melvin Devorksy - will people at live in Ecumenical Towers park during the construction ~e · Richard Martin -One probl misconception of the Senior · Dorothy Rogers - what will the facility? · Response - The City wi the 'ramp. · Connie Champion- If the Io~ center a block away the bar :ing people to the Senior Center is the as a form of welfare. Council do with the space in the parking the space like condos to offset the cost of sales passes there will be a community could Operations Report April 20, 1999 By Linda Kopping Iowa Skywalk Last week l had Transit Director the Neumann The purpose of this connecting the made related to the Parking Facility meeting with several City Fowler and Assistant PCD ~ architects designing the ;eting was to discuss :enter and parking dk. 1. The skywalk must which space would 2. In order to propedy mezzanine or second elevated about five feet providing stairs and a approximately five foot ch; that the elevator lift woul, walkers or canes who an elevator was incor costs $10,000 and 3. Connecting the would take open office s reached the Because there mezzanine wo unacceptable the ramp located if including Parking and Jeff Davidson, as well as Avenue Parking Facility. design of the proposed skywalk /. Several important points were dk at the participants of and deskto would take no Senior Center be completely risk. the second level. This is the level on ocated to the Senior Center. the Senior Center at either the skywalk will need to be lowered or ~er end. Neumann Monson suggested lift to help individuals navigate this After some discussion, it was decided ;afely accommodate individuals with to use the stairs. For this reason, the proposed design plans. The lift ~nd $100,000. tnine level is unacceptable. This Senior Dining program through an ,g area before they 'n to the first floor meal site. 9eople here on weekends, the This presents an 4. Connecting ~e skywalk at the second level uld disrupt the cornice on Based upon/this information, a proposed design plan's going to be developed that will incorp~brate a mezzanine level connection to the I:$ ilding. The plan will also incorpor :re an elevator that will be available for use seen days a week. This elevatorWill provide access to the mezzanine, first and reet levels on weekdays, Emd the first and street levels on w. ee. kends. Th!s a. proa. ch. will . Program'. \~, rI Handicapped Parking Joe Fowler and the parking facility architects have informed ml parking will be located on the third level of the ramp. Due to ram the second level, where the requested ,cted, does not meet ADA specifications for locating A the third level location is the only option. It provide access to the skywalk as well a~ ility. Projects for the fire sprinkle~ d are being reviewed, The next Commission elevato parking Capitol Im The been drawn up Green will attend project. The Furniture the designer. Design Chamber of Commerce This month's Commission the Commission to consider volunteer program with the has met a couple ~s are being ect person taking primary responsibil and will report her findings to the handicapped grade of the would be pped parking. s noted that the ramp levels of the ceiling tile project have engineer from HR give an overview of the and shared their ideas with con a memo from Steve Atkins asking ~ter participation in a cooperative of Commerce. Julie Seal, who is the staff for this project, has begun looking into this ,remission in May. Senior Center Memorandum To: Steve City Manager From: Terri Miller Center Commission Chair; Center Re: Senior Center sdraising Project Date: 15 April 1999 ~da Kopping, Senior Over the past several Commission has been programming space in the week the committee members Group, Inc., to discuss the campaign· Hoeksema, who assisted Terry in their recent fundraising project, su,~ conducting what he referred to as a process that facilitates planning assessment of the potential for the potential for success exists,actual campaign could be initiated. If Hoeksema were to assessment for the Senior expenses. The fundraising additional fee. We and miscellaneous ex program totaled $16,19; At this point the and conduct a pre-ca~ the feasibility of a a subcom: to discuss fur Pa~ with of the Senior Center possibilities for Senior Center Facility. On Wednesday of this F. Hoeksema, Renaissance a countywide fundraising ,ueblood and the Recreation Department the Commission consider ~mpaign" effort. This is a multi-step ment of the project and includes an of proposed fundraising campaign. If · ' component of the hired to facilitate the fee for his of the cam that Recreation Depa~ e for the pre-campaign $16,474 respectively. .enior Center Commission would rn effort. Not only would this Center fundraising project, it pre-campaign planning and would be $12,000 plus n would involve an professional fees and fundraising to hire Hoeksema for an evaluation of Iso foster long- range planning and .. promotion of the Senior Center within County. The probl m is, of course, that funding to support this been i .... . proposed fundraising project some consideration and help us source. Are there any possibilities? ~e City and ect has not give this funding 28 South Linn Street . Iowa City, Iowa 52240 (319) 356-5220 Fax (319) 356-5226 Steve Dowd, Director Lantern Park Nursing and habilitation 915 20th Avenue Coralville, Iowa 52241 the Iowa City/Johnson County the Center's computer lab now SCanner. This new equipment, which has Center's computer enthusiasts speed and user-friendly Moreover, it is a lot of fun to us~ Everyone here; staff, students :eachers, and appreciative of your generou~ support of Senior Thanks again. Sincerely, Linda J. Kopping, Ph.D Coordinator 31 March 1999 sl Care Initiative's $1,650.00 grant to Because of this generous support, new iMac computer, printer, and ected to the Internet, has delighted the rs. Without question, the iMac's both teaching and learning. the net"! ~uter lab users, are very ~nter programming. Morning Star Associates Geery S. Howe, M.A. Consultant, Speaker, Trainer in Leadership. Management & Strategic Development P.O. Box 869 West Branch, IA 52358 (319)643-2257 (319)643-2185/Fax Monday: March 29, 1999 Linda Kopping Iowa City/.Joh on County Senior Center Dear Linda ', "If you focus on principles," notes Stephen Cove~ ~thor of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and ',Principled Centered Leadershi empower everyone who understands those principles to a~t without constant evaluating, correcting, or controlling. Principles have universal application, and when are internalized into habits, they empower people to cream a wide variety of practices to deal t different situations." The work we did Saturday during the retreat building between the commi,ssion and the well as developing specific strategic them{ concrete work of brainstorming and to redesigning the Iowa City/Johnson twofold. First, we continued the journey of team Through defining new ideas and perspectives as the future, we set a clear course of action. The our best ideas was a crucial first step in the journey Senior Center. Nevertheless, we simultaneously the heart and soul of effective chan we began the vital process of dev and change in feel were initiated. on articulating the core principles of the Center which is service. By working on the concrete and the intangibles, new habits and new relationships. Thus, change in fact Now is the time to be patient w' h yourself and others during the days and weeks that follow the retreat. Organizational chang is delicate work and the greatest of investments. Please remind others to: · be a circle of strengt or each other · speak the language team · seek excellence · not let fear contro their thinking · ips ..... , concentration on the goals, we can yield a bountiful harvest / Furthermore, we ' ust remind others and ourself that we ~n not fake a crop. As Covey notes, "We ~nnot dr m up haystack. A fa~ is governed by natural law, from which cause and Recognizin that all world-class athletes and other peak ~rformers are visualizers. You ~ the leader of t is level of change, must continue to refine your internal image of success. ~learly vividly a relentles~y, you must create the new internal image and share it passionately with thd your tea and with the whole of the Commission. The ~ople you are working with must ~ able to s no~ ~t if they are going to cr~te and own ~t Linda Kopping Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center page 2 Additionally, James Stayer write in Flight of · Transfer ownership ~ork to those who execute · Create the ownership where each his/her own performance · Paint a clear picture of for These "seeds" have all been the retreat. engine of successful change, is in the Teach Buffalo, a leader must: wants to be responsible for and the person the power of change, the talk them; focus on them every day. Thanks for the opportunity to work with ,u this past it was exciting and fun. Keep in touch during I enjoyed "plowing new ground"; coming weeks. My best, Enc: Bill