HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-10-04 Transcription#2 Page 1
ITEM 2 PROCLAMATION.
a. Fire Prevention Week- October 9-15, 2005
Lehman: (reads proclamation)
Karr: Here to accept the proclamation is Iowa City Firefighter, Marc Reyhons.
(applause)
Reyhons: Just a couple of quick words here. Thank you very much, Council, Staff
for this, and I just want to remind everybody that although Fire Prevention
Week is upon us, and we start Thursday going to the schools and meeting
with the 3rd and 4th graders. Fire prevention is a year-round activity, and
the Staff in the Fire Department is dedicated to doing so in reducing fires
in Iowa City. Thank you very much.
Lehman: Thank you.
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ITEM 3 OUTSTANDING STUDENT CITIZENSHIP AWARD -
ROOSEVELT ELEMENTARY
Lehman: We now have our Outstanding Student Citizenship Awards, first one this
fall. So, folks from Roosevelt, if you'd come forward, please. Now,
Roosevelt is really kind of special. I go by there every single day. My
kids went to Roosevelt and it's kind of nice that the first Citizenship
Awards of the year go to Roosevelt. So, if you guys would like to tell us
who you are, first of all, and then why you were nominated.
Rogers: Hi, my name is Charles Rogers. We represent the 5th/6th grade Science
classes at Roosevelt Elementary School. Mr. Saunders is our teacher.
Class (can't understand) America and (can't understand) possible,
deforestation. (can't understand) do what we could to protect our rain
forest. (applause)
Sparks: My name is Abby Sparks. We looked at different web sites to research
what we could do. One group, Rain Forest Alliance, offered a program
called "Adopt a Rain Forest." Through donations, we could contribute to
conservation groups in Columbia, E1 Salvador, Belize, Nicaragua,
Ecuador, Brazil, and Honduras. These conservation groups are working to
stop local rain forest destruction. (applause)
Goerdt: Hi, my name is Clare Goerdt. We researched the products that we use
every day, such as chocolate, bananas, and vanilla that come from the rain
forest. We then found recipes using these ingredients and made many
items in Science class. We held an all-school bake sale to sell our food
items. It was a big success. We raised $346, which we contributed to the
"Adopt a Rain Forest" program. (applause)
Lehman: This is one of the things that Council really, really likes to do. We get all
this work stuff that we have to do later, and some of it isn't fun, and some
of it is really not fun at all, but this is all fun, and we're very proud of you.
I'd like to read what one of these says. Are your grandparents here? And
your parents? Yeah! Right, I know about grandparents. 'For outstanding
qualities of leadership within Roosevelt Elementary, as well as the
community, and for sense of responsibility and helpfulness to others, we
recognize these Outstanding Student Citizens. Your community is proud
of you. Presented by the Iowa City City Council October 2005.' Let's
hear it for them! (applause)
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ITEM 4 CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS
PRESENTED OR AMENDED.
Vanderhoef: Move adoption.
O'Donnell: Move adoption.
Lehman: Moved by Vanderhoef; seconded by O'Donnell.
Bailey: Mr. Mayor, I'd like to have (e)(1) pulled out and considered separately.
Lehman: Okay. Other discussion? Roll call. Do we have a motion for (e)(1)?
O'Donnell: Move adoption (e)(1).
Vanderhoef: Second.
Lehman: Motion and a second; discussion? Roll call. The motion carries 5 to 2;
Bailey and Champion voting in the negative.
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ITEM 5 COMMUNITY COMMENT.
Lehman: This is the time reserved on the agenda for folks who would like to
address the Council on items that do not otherwise appear on our agenda.
If you wish to address the Council, sign in, give your name, and limit your
comments to five minutes or less.
Honohan: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, my name is Jay Honohan. I'm a
member of the Senior Center Commission and I would like to give you a
short report from the Commission tonight. A few highlights that I think
are worth mentioning at this time: our membership continues to increase
in the Senior Center. We now have over 975 participants who are
registered members and have paid the fee, and that also includes the
Scholarships that we give to people that are low-income. My goal is to
have 1,000 at the end of the year, and we started with 600 to 700. So,
we're doing very well. A year ago, thanks to the City Council, when you
approved the Iowa City Senior Center funding, the initial funding, thanks
to Councilman Vanderhoef, was $150,000. Today, we have $463,000 and
change in the Center, in the Endowment and the Charitable Giving, and
we anticipate, because of a couple of estates, between $20,000 to $30,000
more before the end of the year. We have appointed a three-member
committee of the Commission. They have met and they are going to make
recommendations to the Commission as a whole, to spend some of the
monies from the Charitable Giving account for some program facility
equipment in the Center, and what that final decision will be, will be up to
the Commission as a whole, but hopefully those recommendations will be
approved. Just for informational purposes, the Endowment Fund, and
don't hold me to the exact number here, but I believe was...showed an
increase in investments of 5.83% for the year ending June 30th, and the
Charitable Giving account was something to the extent of 3.8, 3.85,
something in that neighborhood. So, we're very pleased with the progress
of the Senior Center funding, Endowment and Charitable Giving, and we
know that that will enhance the facilities at the Senior Center, depending
on what we choose to do. Finally, for tonight, I'll just close by, we are
completing our goal setting session, hopefully October 14th. We were
supposed to have two, but we talk too much so now we're having three,
but in any event, we're hopeful that we set our long-term and short-term
goals, and one little item that I want to toss out to you. The facilitator was
so impressed with the programs that we have at the Senior Center, he
bought a membership for him and his wife. (laughter)
Champion: Jay? Jay?
Honohan: Yes?
Champion: Could you just explain the difference between the two funds?
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Honohan: The Endowment Fund is long-term investments, and that, you don't draw
that out, except in an extended period of time. The Charitable Giving
Fund is short-term investments, and you can, it's not quite like a checking
account, but we can draw on that. We started out with a very small, well,
$50,000 in the Charitable Giving account because we didn't know what
we might need. Well, it turned out we didn't need to draw out of it and we
haven't, to date, never drawn a dime out of either fund, but now we're
planning to use some of that money for, like some television equipment,
some other equipment in the Center.
Champion: Thank you.
Honohan: Thank you very much.
Madden: My name is Henry D. Madden, and I live at 428 South Summit Street. I
wanted to bring a greeting to you tonight from the oldest living ex-mayor
of Iowa City. He was visiting our house, and maybe you know the name
right off hand? Bill Hubbard? He was, he tells me, the youngest mayor
when he was elected. So, he brings his greetings to you, and he wanted
me to say that to you. The reason I came tonight is, it may.., you may not
be aware and certainly I think the citizens of Iowa City are not aware, of a
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission letter, a news release, and it
should be of interest, it was as of 9/29/05, and it should be of interest to all
citizens, particular at this time when we're making up our minds whether
we should authorize the City Council to draw up a business plan to
determine the benefits to the citizens of Iowa City to own our own
electrical distribution system. I want to quote directly from this news
release. "The FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) staff
conducted an operational audit of MidAmerican's compliance with the
provisions of its Open Access Transmission Tariff for inner-connection
and transmission services. The audit found three primary areas of non-
compliance. Number one, MidAmerican allowed its wholesale merchant
function to use network transmission service to import power to make
possible off-system sales. Number two, MidAmerican provided
transmission services to its wholesale merchant function that were not
transparently available to unaffiliated companies. Number three,
MidAmerican did not require its wholesale merchant function to comply
with applicable tariff provisions, regarding the designation of network
resources. Des Moines, Iowa,-based Mid-American Energy will build
$9.2 million in unplanned transportation system upgrades and accelerate
another $14.7 million in planned transmission improvements to resolve
these findings of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff
compliance audit accepted by the Commission. In addition to the
transmission improvements, Mid-American agreed to implement a
compliance plan...' Oh, their own! '...to insure Mid-American remains
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compliant on the perspective basis with its Open Access Transmission
Tariffs, Standards of Conduct and OAISIS Requirements.' Now, as MEC
has stated in its news release on 9/30 concerning the same subject, 'MEC
has agreed to spend $23.9 million on electricity transmission
improvements to settle issues raised in a recent audit by Federal
Regulators.' For those who may believe that MEC is obeying all the rules
of Federal Regulation, this information should raise some questions. One
wonders what will happen to compliance with Federal Regulations when,
and if, MEC owns 30 to 50% of the generation and distribution networks
in the country. It's coming! You know, that about a month ago, our
Congress repealed the PUHCA, Public Utilities Holding Company Act,
which allows them to buy, and they just did buy, the Pacific Power
Corporation, and it's...in another ten or fifteen years, we may have three
or four generation and distribution, electric generation and distribution
facilities in the nation. What will happen when this...if they can't obey
the rules today, who's going to make them obey the rules in the future?
Our best protection against additional negative effects on Iowa Citians, is
to own our own distribution system, and I would advise, and hope,
encourage, the citizens of Iowa City to vote "yes" on November 8th. So,
maybe we could make a business plan, and maybe we could have our own
utility company here in Iowa City. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Neades: Good evening, Councilors, Mayor, my name is Rebecca Neades and I'm a
representative of the citizens group Coalition to Preserve Safe and
Reliable Energy, the group that's promoting vote "no" on the municipal
electric referendum. This coalition has been formed with representatives
from the Chamber of Commerce, myself, our members, and organized
labor. Terry Horra, the representative from Labor, from the IBEW. Jim
Lame, the leader of the Citizens for Public Power, has been quoted to say
'A yes vote for the referendum only authorizes the Council to further
study on a municipal issue.' This is far from the truth. The Council has
already had the opportunity and has the opportunity now to do further
study, without a vote of the public. In fact, if you were to read the ballot
language, what a "yes" vote really does is to authorize any future Council,
by a majority vote, spend whatever it takes to petition the Iowa Utilities
Board with no further public input, to spend whatever it takes to get
further approval from the Iowa Utilities Board. So, four out of seven of
you, in the future, could take the City down a potentially risky and
expensive path with no availability of the public to stop it. No city has
petitioned the Iowa Utilities Board since Sheldon did unsuccessfully in
1990. What CPP does, what the CPP thinks is so smart to rush this
process, to be the first ones to petition the Iowa Utilities Board in over
fifteen years. Why not let other communities, like Wellman, smaller
communities, take this risk first, when they have a much better case than
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we do to go through this expensive process and get the decision from the
Iowa Utilities Board before we spend $500,000 and a failed attempt
ourselves. A "no" vote is the only truly informed vote you can make.
Vote "no" on November 8th. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Zumwalt: Good evening, Mr. Mayor, City Manager, Members of the Iowa City City
Council. My name is Gordon Zumwalt. I reside at Regency Heights
Senior Apartments, 1010 Scott Park Drive, Iowa City. Last month I stood
here before you with two petitions to help get access for our senior
citizens at Regency Heights Senior Apartments, to gain access to the Iowa
City transportation buses. You sent back a solution to this that far
exceeded our request; however, and we agreed, and I personally have
agreed with you, that $63,000 to solve this problem was out of the
question. What we have here now, I have done some research, and many
of the residents are handicapped here at the Regency, that they cannot
drive, or such as in my case, we cannot drive at night, or we cannot, they
cannot drive in heavy traffic. They don't feel comfortable in heavy traffic.
So, that leaves them no alternative for doctor appointments, transportation
to doctors or to the store or their appointments. Also, Iowa City offers the
ultimate in bus service, making it easy to attend these functions that Iowa
City offers for us senior citizens. However, for we cannot gain access to
the bus service at night, then we cannot go to the movies, we cannot go to
the plays at Carver, or anything. As I told you before and the last time I
started, the very phrase was, "Councilmen and Mayor, we are land-
locked" after sundown. We can't go anywhere. There's some that can,
yes, but I know that you yourself, when you get to be in that area there
where you cannot drive or something, you feel put out having to ask
somebody to take you somewhere. I know I do. This can be, this can be
solved very easily. I've taken a survey, in fact, I've actually done it. Wife
and I got in the car, and we drove, started at the comer of Amherst and
Washington, drove, and we was on the clock, we drove left up to Scott
Boulevard, took a right down to Court. In the center turn lane of Court,
we had a stop sign there, a light. When it was go, we went on up to Scott
Park Drive, made a right, and we went u to Edgewood. I stopped the car
and I waited 12 seconds. That's what it takes time for a person to board a
bus. I continued on down to the comer of Scott Boulevard and Scott Park.
There, I figured we might have three or four people, or someone with a
walker, so we allowed 20 seconds for that. Don't sound like much but
that's plenty of time. The total amount of time from the time that we left
Amherst and got back, made the loop, and got back to Amherst, pointing
in the direction that the bus will be pointing in to continue the route, 3 and
a half minutes. That's all that is standing between our freedom, folks, at
night to go where we want to or anytime during the day. It's just, well, the
people feel it's not fair that they be deprived of all these functions and the
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service that you allow us. That you have here. Believe me, from another
town and just recently moved here. I mean it, I tell everybody, 'You do
have the best bus service in the area, including Cedar Rapids and all
those.' You have the best for us seniors and the handicapped. So, tonight
I'm here to ask, petition you, to help us solve this problem and give it your
utmost attention to this problem that is so important to us. In closing, I've
been speaking about for the drivers, or the non-drivers, and for the
handicapped, now I will speak for the senior citizens at the Regency
Heights Apartments, and I have one of the property owners in the
adjoining area with me, and I want to convey their thanks to the Iowa City
Council and the Iowa City Street Department, traffic and all that, for the
stop signal you put in at Court. So, I guess that's about it. So, in gracious
thanks, I thank you for allotting me this time. I thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Smith: Good evening. My name is Terry Smith, 2220 Balsam Court, Iowa City,
and this sticker does not want to cooperate. I guess I probably want to
thank Henry Madden for explaining to you what a complex and volatile
and expensive environment the utility sector is these days. I can assure
you that the FERC findings were in cooperation with MidAmerican. The
issues found were over matters of interpretation of new rules and
regulations. MidAmerican did the right thing. We did not argue over
interpretation. We accepted FERC's interpretation and have committed to
making sure that those perceived issues do not exist as we go forward.
But that's not why I'm here tonight. I recently gained a great appreciation
for all of you and the time that you've put in and efforts that you do to
serve the community, and I guess as an Iowa City citizen, I'd like to thank
you for your time and commitment to our community. We very much
appreciate that. As you know, there is a November 8th ballot issue with
regards to establishing a municipal utility. We've been working with the
citizens of Iowa City very hard and very diligently, trying to provide them
with facts and information, and educate them with regards to what this
ballot issue is about, and what the economics of the situation would really
be. I have a letter that I would like to share with you tonight, and I'll pass
it out. The letter is from Todd Raba, President for MidAmerican Energy
Company, and it's to Robert Latham, from Latham & Associates in Cedar
Rapids. As you all are aware, Dr. Latham performed the initial
preliminary feasibility study here for Iowa City. That was in 2003. There
has been no update to that study since that time. A lot of the discussions
and arguments in the community have been about pursuing additional
information and taking a closer look at a business case and proving
whether this is viable or not to move forward with the establishment of a
municipal utility. We are unaware of anybody's effort to hire Latham to
perform an update to his model, so we've taken it upon ourselves to make
just the most current update to the assumptions that he provided, using the
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same exact assumptions that he used. We did not change his assumed
costs of acquisition of ownership of the facilities. We did not change his
assumed start-up costs or ongoing operating or maintenance costs. The
only thing that we changed in the model was to update the model for the
current cost of electric purchases on the open market today. There has
been a dramatic increase in those costs since 2003, since that study was
initially produced. So, we have attached to that letter the study and in the
letter to Dr. Latham we have provided him with the information that we
did. Because of the changes in the wholesale market, we have updated his
model with just those regards. We used a very conservative approach in
that we updated the model for electric costs just through 2007, for just the
first three years. We then used Dr. Latham's assumption for the, any
changes or increased costs going forward, approximately 2% per year. To
further be conservative in our assumptions and estimations of what the
model would return, we discounted the current energy costs today by 15%.
So we only used 85% of the fair market value today of the costs of energy,
and plug in the model. The result of this effort has shown that there will
be no savings for the citizens of Iowa City. In fact, it will result in a $188
million loss over the term of the Latham study as proposed. Attached to
this letter we have included the full three-page detailed analysis, our
reproduction of Latham's study. Looks like a complex document, but it's
really line number five. I would just like to point out line number five is
that line where the purchase power is referenced, and then line number
nineteen is the net result, and you'll clearly see that that net result is $188
million loss. To further support that data, the final four pages of the
document that I have included with you, are the pages from Latham's
study directly so you can compare line by line, if you so choose, and
confirm the adjustment that we made on line five to the current costs of
energy on the open market. MidAmerican takes many exceptions still to
the assumptions within the Latham study. We do not support his
assumptions on rates. We do not support his assumptions on the
evaluation of facilities, but nonetheless, disregarding our differences on
those issues, updating the study merely on the cost of electricity purchases
today to the current market rates from the 2003 value will result in a $188
million loss for the citizens of Iowa City. Rates would have to be
increased to make up for those losses. We encourage citizens of Iowa City
to vote "no" on November 8th. Thank you.
Lehman: Thank you.
Myer: My name is Joyce Myer. I live at 1711 Muscatine, and I'm here just to
urge your support for item number 8, regarding the speed humps in the
alley between 7th Avenue and Bradley. I'm the person that initiated this
request. I have...
Lehman: You'll have to wait 'til that item comes up on the agenda.
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Myer: Oh, I'm sorry.
Lehman: That's okay, but as soon as it comes up, you certainly are welcome to
speak.
Myer: Okay.
Lehman: Is there anything else under public comments? Okay, moving on to...
Karr: Motion to accept correspondence.
O'Donnell: So moved.
Wilburn: Second.
Lehman: Motion and a second to accept correspondence. All in favor? Opposed?
Motion carries.
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ITEM 6 PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS.
j. APPROVING THE VOLUNTARY ANNEXATION OF
APPROXIMATELY 51.9 ACRES LOCATED ON AMERICAN
LEGION ROAD (ANN05-00002).
1. PUBLIC HEARING
Lehman: Public hearing is open.
Franklin: I'd like to request that on this item and the next item, which is the
rezoning on this property, that the public hearings be continued. The
resolution on the annexation be deferred, and the first consideration of the
rezoning be deferred.
Lehman: To the 18th?
Franklin: To the 18th. Yes, we need to...the property transaction, they need to work
out some things that aren't done yet.
Lehman: Okay.
Elliott: So moved.
Wilburn: Is there someone here to speak on it though?
Lehman: Is anyone here to speak to it? Okay, we have a motion to defer by Mr.
Elliott.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Seconded by O'Donnell. All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. Do we
have a motion to...
Karr: Motion to accept correspondence.
Vanderhoef: So moved.
Wilbum: Second.
Lehman: Motion and a second to accept correspondence. All in favor? Opposed?
Motion carries. Do we have a motion to defer the resolution to the 18th of
October?
Vanderhoefi So moved.
Wilbum: Second.
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Lehman: Moved by Vanderhoef; seconded by Wilbum. Discussion? All in favor?
Opposed? Motion carries.
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ITEM 8 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE
INSTALLATION OF SPEED HUMPS IN THE ALLEY
BETWEEN 7TM AVENUE AND BRADLEY STREET.
Wilburn: Move adoption of the resolution.
O'Donnell: Second.
Lehman: Moved by Wilburn; seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion?
Myer: Thank you, sorry about that. Well, I was the person that initiated this
request and I just wanted to let the Council know that we've had really
good cooperation with the City. They came out right away. They did a
traffic count, and our alley has a lot of traffic and the speed is way over
the speed limit for an alley. 100% of the cars that were measured during
this couple of days that the sensors were down were all over the speed
limit, and people use our alley as a street. They cut through it, and it's just
not safe anymore. So, I would just request that you support this
resolution. Thanks.
Lehman: Thank you. Council discussion? Roll call.
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ITEM 14 CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION.
Elliott: Couple items; I think it's good every so often to take a look around and
see what we have here in Iowa City. This noon I had a kind of a semi-
business lunch downtown. I afterwards, I walked through the Ped Mall,
and I stopped and watched little kids playing in the fountain, and what an
absolute joy to see the kids down there, just ecstatic and having a great
time running through the water. The Ped Mall had people moving around,
having lunch, talking. I stopped and on one of the benches was a
candidate for City Council and a member of the Board of Supervisors. We
stopped and talked. Candidate for City Council and I disagree on several
very key issues. We feel strongly about it. We had a nice discussion, and
it's just a pleasure to live in Iowa City where things like this can take
place. Secondly, Mayor, you had a proclamation and I have proclaimed
October as "St. Louis Cardinal Baseball Month." The Cardinals played
their first post-season game today and won! (laughter) So, this is
officially "St. Louis Baseball Cardinal Month!"
Lehman: It's "unofficially!" (laughter) Thank you, Robert.
O'Donnell: We can talk later!
Champion: Well, I think tonight we had an interesting commentary. We do have a lot
of elderly housing now in Iowa City, and it's becoming a place where a lot
of retired people like to live, and I think we should try to make sure our
bus service meets their needs, and I'm hoping we do some bus routes and
we take care of some of these places that are not downtown, but in
outlying areas, so people can get around easily. When are we going to get
the bus report?
Atkins: With the budget.
Champion: Oh.
Atkins: It's being prepared.
Vanderhoef: Has there been any discussion with the folks out there about the use of the
paratransit buses? Certainly...
Atkins: Dee, I was surprised that Gordon, I believe his name was, didn't indicate
that, because they certainly would be eligible to receive service, and that's
virtually door-to-door, and it's used not to do that. I don't know...
Vanderhoefi Well, maybe we need to do a education piece out there for them?
Champion: Are they eligible if they're within a block of a bus station and they...
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Vanderhoef: If they cannot reach it safely.
Champion: Oh, that's, well that's good.
Atkins: And that's clearly the argument that they're maintaining.
Vanderhoef: You know, the walkers and wheelchair people...
Champion: Well, I could see that.
Atkins: I'm sorry Gordon's not here. I didn't want to argue with him, but we did
do a review, and it's much more complex than just making a few quick
changes to get the bus to switch over. Yeah. It will be dealt with when
we do the other review with you.
Vanderhoef: Let's see if we can help them out with paratransit in the interim, because
we'd love to have them ride the regular bus, if we can do it safely.
Bailey: And I think also, as we look at that annexation too, we've got to be very
cognizant of what our transit routes are in that direction of town because
we are expanding out east, and I don't...(TAPE ENDS)...the increase.
Lehman: Mike?
O'Donnell: I was just going to say, Dee, as you and I are members of the Paratransit
Advisory Committee, maybe we can run out there and talk to those folks,
set up an appointment, and see everybody tomorrow night at 7:00 P.M.
Should be interesting.
Lehman: Dee?
Vanderhoefi Just a couple of things. First, I'd like the Council and citizens alike to put
a date on their calendar of Wednesday, November 9th. Iowa League of
Cities is inviting all of the Legislators in a, about a five-county region
here, and Iowa City will be host as far as providing the Iowa City Public
Library and this will be a forum with the Legislators and specifically the
topic will be "Property Tax" for this coming session and things that we
want to see in the bill; see what they have that they're offering; and just a
good discussion time for all of us, I would hope; and number two, week
and half ago I hosted this group of national members through the
Transportation Infrastructure and Service Committee, and I can't tell you
how many times they told me what a neat city we have, and they were out
early in the morning because meetings started at 8:00, and they were out in
the evenings. They walked around; they saw what we had to offer; they
just thought it was fantastic. Kudos to the Library; they had great facilities
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that met all of our needs and then some, and we certainly appreciated that
possibility. Dr. Chen, the Director of the NADS, National Advanced
Driving Simulator, personally gave them commentary on the driving
simulator and then walked with us through the facility. Tim Walsh, our
Director of Hoover Library, was there...he was invited for dinner; chose
not to, but came and spoke and walked through the Library with these
people and gave history about Iowa and President Hoover. So, our
community came together, and certainly a lot of thanks to the CVB for
their assistance in putting a few things together for us, and my staff,
Marian Karr did yeoman's work on lots of things; and, Steve, thank you
for rounding up the NADS and the transit for these folks to get us where
we needed to go, but we can be proud of our city. Thank you.
Wilburn: Monday, October l0th will be University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
United Way in-house campaign. I want to thank the University of Iowa
Hospitals and Clinics Director for her leadership, and kudos to them for
their leadership giving to the United Way.
Bailey: Nothing.
Lehman: Couple things; I just...reiterate that first public hearing on the new Zoning
Code is tomorrow night at 7:00 P.M. Steve, are we making any progress
with bicycles on sidewalks? Downtown? No, no, I had a person stop
me...
Atkins: I don't know what the progress is.
Lehman: ...well, this guy said he almost hit, six out of seven times he went to the..
Atkins: You know, maybe those two guys sitting in the front row can do
something for us, because you know, quite frankly, it gets very, very
frustrating.
Lehman: Oh, no, I'm sure it does.
Atkins: And maybe if we get Student Government folks to make it a more high
profile issue, and realize how dangerous it really is. If they can help us
out...
Elliott: I had a good friend, a former City employee, who was hit by a bicycle on a
sidewalk down there.
Atkins: You understand where the major problems...Washington Street is one
way, the wrong way, because everybody's heading towards class, and they
ride on the sidewalk because you can't ride in the street.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of October 4, 2005.
#14 Page 17
Lehman: Not legal.
Atkins: I understand that, Sir.
Vanderhoef: Any more than it's legal to go against traffic.
Lehman: Okay. Several of us were at the Human Rights' breakfast last Wednesday
morning, and it was a very moving breakfast. I was certainly happy to be
there. Dale Helling made some remarks about Heather Shanks, who had
been our Director for a number of years. A remarkable, remarkable young
woman who has had to retire for health reasons, but, Dale, I thought your
comments were as, almost as remarkable as Heather's. It was a delightful,
delightful breakfast and I was very pleased to be there, and also a nice
crowd.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of October 4, 2005.
#15 Page 18
ITEM 15 REPORT ON ITEMS FROM CITY STAFF.
Lehman: Steve?
Atkins: Nothing, Sir.
Lehman: Eleanor? Marian?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of October 4, 2005.
#16 Page 19
ITEM 16 ADJOURNMENT.
Lehman: Do we have a motion to adjourn?
Elliott: You bet.
Vanderhoef: Second.
Lehman: Okay, all in favor? We are adjourned. Thank you.
This represe~ts only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City
Council meeting of October 4, 2005.