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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-04-26 Work Session MINUTES OF THE JOINT MEETING OF THE CORALVILLE CITY COUNCIL, IOWA CITY CITY COUNCIL, IOWA CITY SCHOOL BOARD, AND JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS APRIL 26, 2000 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Discussion: School District Boundaries ...........................................................................................1 Discussran: Mobile Home Tax ........................................................................................................2 Discussran: Sioux Avenue ...............................................................................................................3 Discussran: County-Wide Transportation. .......................................................................................5 Discussran: Alcohol Issues ..............................................................................................................6 Discussran: Human Services Inventory ...........................................................................................6 Discussion: Dam Program ...............................................................................................................8 Discussion: Community Centers ......................................................................................................8 Iowa City Mayor Emie Lehman called the joint meeting to order in Iowa City Council Chambers, Iowa City Civic Center, at 4:07 p.m. Coralville City Council members present were: Dave Jacoby, Diana Lundell, Jean Schnake, John Weihe. Also present: Coralville Mayor Jim Fausett. Iowa City City Council members present were: Connie Champion, Steven Kanner, Emie Lehman, Mike O'Donnell, Irvin Pfab, Dee Vanderhoef, and Ross Wilburn. Iowa City School Board members present: Don Jackson, Dale Shultz, and Peter Wallace. Johnson County Board of Supervisors members present were: Charles Duffy, Jonathan Jordahl, Mike Lehman, and Carol Thompson. Other city and county officials and staff present were: Coralville City Manager Kelly Hayworth, Coralville City Engineer Dan Holderness, Iowa City Manager Steve Atkins, Iowa City' Attorney Eleanor Dilkes, Iowa City Clerk Marian Karr, Iowa City School District Superintendent Lane Plugge, Iowa City School District Associate Superintendent Jerald Palmer, Johnson County Board of Supervisors Administrative Assistant Carol Peters, Johnson County Council of Governments Transportation Planner Jeff Davidson, Johnson County Human Services Coordinator and County Auditor's Recording Secretary Casie Parkins. DISCUSSION: SCHOOL DISTRICT BOUNDARIES Iowa City School Board Member Don Jackson said that the School Board just went through a process to come up with a short-term solution to alleviate the overcrowding at Wickham. He said the solution will take care of needs for the next year, but with all of the shifts in population from the east side of Iowa City, Coralville and Noah Liberty, to the west side, it will only last for a year. Jackson said they need to be looking at a longer- term solution, which will very likely have significant implications. He said they have to do something different than what currently exists in terms of the split between the west and the east. Jackson said the School Board has got to bear around what their expectations are in terms of how that process will work and then the Superintendent is Informal Minutes: April 26, 2000/page 2 responsible for executing the work to determine what that long term solution to boundaries looks like. Jackson said the current plan is to review literature and over the summer convene a committee that will go through the work of figuring out what is the long term boundary solution for the shift in population over the past several years. Jackson said they expect it to be an interactive process. Jackson said he hopes by next school year they will have direction in terms of the changes they'll be planning for the future. Iowa City City Council Member Connie Champion asked Jackson if he knows how many empty seats are in the schools. Jackson said that West High School and City High don't have any empty seats. He said the eastside of the community has approximately 300, but they aren't in a single building, they're scattered throughout. He said there are very few available seats on the west side. Coralville City Council Member Dave Jacoby asked what the top 2 or 3 options are that they are thinking about. Jackson said that there isn't a top 2 or 3, because they're at the beginning stages. He said that if they look at some of the solutions, one is how to redistrict in order to be able to use existing facilities. He said that the Board clearly said that this is one of the options that, at a minimum, has to be looked at, not necessarily the option that has to be chosen. He said that once you go past that option, you're into either some kind of expansion or building option. He said that to go down that path, there has to be an understanding of that financially and why with either level or declining enrollment, you wouldn't shift and use the existing buildings. He said it's really going to be looking at using redistricting as the solution or looking at some sort of building plan to be able to solve the problem. Champion asked Iowa City School District Associate Superintendent Jerald Palmer if high school enrollments can also expect to start falling. Palmer said yes, but there is still going to be a short period of increase. He said the bigger problem will be in a shift of more west side students. DISCUSSION: MOBILE HOME TAX Iowa City City Council Member Dee Vanderhoef said that the Mobile Home Tax is an old law that has been on the books since 1970. She said that at that time legislature looked at mobile homes as metal sided. She said that now everything is modular and component homes and they are considered the same for taxation as mobile homes and sit on leased land. She said that in 1970, the legislature put forward that it would be $. 10 per square foot to do the property tax for a mobile home and that was twice a year, so it became $.20 a year. She said it is still the same and that this is an equity kind of tax situation that the Iowa League of Cities Legislative Committee looked at last summer and decided this is a bigger issue for more than just cities and also includes schools and counties. She said it wasn't chosen as a priority issue for lobbyists to work on this past legislative year. She said she would like everyone present to consider this in their legislative bodies. She said she thinks this is something that they could all support next year. She said her commitment from this legislative committee was to be sure to bring it to the attention of all those in Johnson County to see how they might take it out and disseminate the information to each one's respective legislative groups. Informal Minutes: April 26, 2000/page 3 E. Lehman said that more and more are choosing to live in manufactured homes. He said that from a tax standpoint, looking at the figures after 10 years, a 1,550 square foot manufactured home is spending less than half that the average homeowner spends. He said he thinks it needs to be updated. Vanderhoef said it has been declining because in 1970, these mobile homes were decreasing in value and therefore a declining tax was put on them. She said that, due to depreciating value, after 10 years it was down to 90% and then down to 80% of value. She said that now these homes are seen as appreciated value and if they are bought and put on a lot that you own, then they are taxed like regular property. Jacoby asked how much the estimation is for missing revenue. Vanderhoef said that hasn't been compiled. She said the sample shows what it is for one house, but how that would impact each of the governing bodies is unknown, but statistics can be retrieved from each one's own goveming body. Coralville City Council Member Diana Lundell asked if the League's recommendation addresses anything about the 90 and 80% issue. Vanderhoef said they would recommend to drop that. She said that because people purchased homes expecting a lower tax, the suggestion was made that it might not be able to be taken up to just today's value if one had gone with the inflation, let alone any appreciation on it. She said it might have to increase the value in more than one step. Iowa City City Council Member Irvin Pfab asked if there is a difference in the quality or way these units are constructed. Vanderhoef said they are constructed now just like the stick-built house in many cases. She said that because they are moved in and set on leased land they have this exception and are thus taxed differently. Pfab asked about those with the older style still being in existence and if they are then this probably is an appropriate tax, whereas a modular home, well-constructed, well-designed is laxly taxed. E. Lehman said that all that is being asked is for groups to have their legislative bodies look at it. Johnson County Supervisor Jonathan Jordahl said he thinks the question of rollbacks should be discussed if they are talking about taxing things on a square foot basis and looking at inflation. He said they do need to insert the notion of the rollback here and how this compares to what percentage will be taxed compared to a residential home. Vanderhoef said that if there is enough interest, a bill probably could be formed to take to the legislature next year. DISCUSSION: SIOUX AVENUE Johnson County Supervisor Mike Lehman said this is a topic discussed 3 or 4 months ago concerning the heavy soccer traffic on Sioux Avenue that is generated, especially on the weekends. He said it concerns the whole joint body because it is City property and there are a lot of school aged kids involved in it. He said the northern half of Sioux generates about 250 cars per day and 230 on the southern half, both on weekdays. He said there is more traffic on the weekends. He said he doesn't know what the City has in mind for that but that there are some buildings being built and there are going to be more Informal Minutes: April 26, 2000/page 4 activities that will generate more traffic during the week in the future. He said that right now the southem part of Sioux Avenue is calcium chloride. He said that the conditions this spring are similar to last fall in that it is dry and there is a lot of dust. He said there is concem with farm machinery on the road with the width and slow moving traffic. Lehman said that some using that road may not be aware of what is ahead of them. He said they are looking at a possible joint venture on improving Sioux Avenue for safety reasons and for the residents because of the causing. E. Lehman said he doesn't recall this being discussed in Capitol Improvements Projects and the City doing anything with Sioux Avenue. Iowa City City Manager Steve Atkins agreed. Pfab asked if there is any signage to alert people of slow moving traffic. E. Lehman said that if there isn't, there certainly should be. Iowa City City Council Member Mike O'Donnell said that there is substantial usage on weekends and it's almost to the point where there has to be some alleviation on this road. He said he drove Sioux Avenue isn't pleasant because it is really cloudy. Johnson County Supervisor Carol Thompson said that at one point there was discussion of closing the northern entrance to the soccer fields, which would encourage people to go down Sand Road and over to the southern road to get in. Vanderhoef said she thinks that was something they negotiated that it had to go in the north road. Thompson said the agreement she saw from the original plan was that it had to go in the south. E. Lehman said he recalls concern that there is a lane next to Mr. Kroeze's home that he did not want people using to access the soccer fields. E. Lehman said that his understanding is that people were expected to come in from the south and then the north entrance was added, which is much handier for people going to the fields. Atkins said that road is called Nursery Lane and part of the arrangements with the Kroeze family is that the use of the lane be avoided into and out of the soccer field. He said that he understood the agreement to mean he wanted the traffic to come in from the noah and not from the south. M. Lehman said there are basically 3 routes, one from Sycamore Road, one from Sand Road coming in from the west, or one from Sioux Avenue coming in from the east at the southern entrance. He said that occasionally there are sludge trucks that are supposed to be using Sand Road and come into the soccer complex where the Wastewater Treatment Plant is and once in awhile they use Sioux. Atkins asked if Lehman is sure that they are sludge trucks. Lehman said they may be private and he doesn't know if they need to be reminded of any restrictions they are under. Atkins said they can certainly be directed to the north. M. Lehman said the games are primarily Saturdays and Sundays and there are some practices going on during weekdays. Champion said that her ordinary inclination would be for the County to fix their own road, but since a lot of the traffic is Iowa City traffic caused by the Iowa City Kickers, she would be willing to discuss it further. M. Lehman said that what they are doing now is applying calcium chloride around Memorial Day and around Labor Day, but in dry conditions that doesn't hold. O'Donnell said that part of this is Coralville's traffic, too, because there are kids from there that play soccer. M. Lehman said Secondary Roads won't compromise their design standards to surface Informal Minutes: April 26, 2000/page 5 treatment roads. He said their feeling now is that they would have to widen the mad or re-grade it if they're going to change the surface. E. Lehman said he thinks this is the kind of issue that should be looked at by someone like Jeff Davidson from Johnson County Council of Governments. E. Lehman said obviously if the City is going to consider doing something then their staff should look at it and make recommendations. Jordahl said that an aspect to keep in mind is long range planning and how that area will grow in the future. He said there is a need to consider how the planning of Noah Liberty and Coralville affect the need for schools and their locations in the west and how the Fringe Area Agreement with Iowa City and their annexation plans affect possible future road extensions in the area. He said a lot of the long-term questions have a play in what the answer is to how everyone should share in the cost. Vanderhoef asked what the County's long range plan is at this point for Sioux Avenue. Jordahl said there is a new road management policy that is in the process of being adopted. He said they also just adopted a policy on dust control, where rather than treating the entire road, they will treat in front of homes, at intersections and on significant comers and hilltops on roads with more than 150 cars per day. Jordahl said that as far as upgrading to a hard surface road, there is a higher vehicle count per day of 1,000 as a threshold. M. Lehman said the County is not looking to add more chip seal, and would rather see Sioux Avenue improved to concrete or asphalt. Jordahl said that people look at chip seal and think it's blacktop, but there are no shoulders, it's narrow, maybe blind-tight comers. He said they want to go in and re-grade it, put shoulders in, take care of the tighter comers, steep hills and sight distance, then the road is better able to handle higher speeds more safely. E. Lehman asked if it is fair to assume that the County is interested in sharing the cost of the Prairie DuChien/Dodge Street Improvements, because of all the traffic coming in from the County. Vanderhoef said it is something they will have to definitely discuss. DISCUSSION: COUNTY-WIDE TRANSPORTATION Jordahl said that Iowa City and Coralville are doing well in their transportation systems. He said that North Liberty doesn't have a public transportation system but they do have the SEATS system that serves there and throughout the County. He said that the SEATS system doesn't have to be restricted to elderly and disabled in the County, it can be a public transportation system with limitations on how much can be managed and how it should be done. Jordahl said there are people living in the rural area who may have problems with transportation, which could begin to be addressed. He said he is reaching towards some sort of metropolitan integration transportation planning that could happen and could begin to incorporate the growth potential of SEATS into the overall plan of Social Services and transportation that might somehow better integrate things. Vanderhoef said she sees some of the things that Jordahl is alluding to, and this is something that should come from the East Central Iowa Council of Governments. She said it might be more appropriate to work with a larger area from that angle than from the City angle. Jordahl said that this makes sense in terms of the rural Johnson County service. Vanderhoef said that North Liberty is part of this and out of that they might come and request to Coralville or to Iowa City for some sort of an extension, whether it Informal Minutes: April 26, 2000/page 6 be a commuter or whatever, but to put together a transportation system of their own first. She said Jordahl should discuss this with ECICOG and see what kind of interest there is in the broader picture. Pfab asked if it's possible for the individual transportation systems to sit down and work together on this. Jacoby said that the Workforce Development Center just did a survey and one of the questions asked on the survey asked if transportation is a barrier in either finding employment or moving up the ladder, so they can be a source of information. DISCUSSION: ALCOHOL ISSUES E. Lehman said the Council is in the process of scheduling a meeting with the bar owners in Iowa City. He said that if Iowa City chooses to do something concerning the bars, it will have an effect on surrounding communities, and that neighboring comn~unities should be aware of the Iowa City City Council discussions. He said they will meet next month with the bar owners and then following that there will be a public meeting where anybody can speak to the issue. Vanderhoef said she would be happy to have somebody from Coralville come. Coralville Mayor Jim Fausett said that Coralville is concerned with what Iowa City does. Lehman said that everyone should be kept up with what is occurring. Pfab asked what the best way to do this is. E. Lehman said the newspaper is good. O'Donnell said that he doesn't think anything Iowa City does will be effective unless it's area wide. He said there has to be some workable solution because they can't legislate drinking without help from the surrounding communities. Vanderhoef asked if it would be appropriate to have a task force that included everyone rather than just Iowa City struggling through this. She said this is a Countywide problem and there is no reason why Iowa City should be trying to solve it solo when there are people with input whose help they could use. E. Lehman said he will keep everyone informed of the meetings and solutions. Fausett said they don't want the problems of downtown iowa City moved to the motels of Coralville. Lundell said that if a task force is the way they go, then any reasonable council would want a representatives on it from the local areas. Thompson asked if this will have an impact on the Jail. E. Lehman said it depends on what regulations get passed. Jordahl said one of the big concerns about this is the number of arrests that occur. He said this has a direct impact on the Jail and the Jail is a big question right now. Iowa City City Council Member Steve Kanner said that if this is looked at as a public health issue there might be other ways to deal with it long-term, besides arresting, then this means including the school systems, the County and the other municipalities. He said a task force seems appropriate. E. Lehman said the first meeting with the bar owners will determine a lot of where to go from there. He said that every person who has a liquor license in Iowa City will probably get an invite and eventually everyone will be involved, but the problem at hand is limited to the downtown establishments. DISCUSSION: HUMAN SERVICES INVENTORY Informal Minutes: April 26, 2000/page 7 Thompson said that when the Strategic Planning was done, they looked at the contributions made to Human Services Agencies, in terms of why some are funded and others not. She said it appears that this is mostly historical and no longer related to any good rhyme or reason. She said she knows there is an inventory going on of Human Services in the County and is wondering if anyone else is interested in joining the Board of Supervisors in terms of determining what the contribution in a year will be. She said that United Way and Linda Severson are working on the inventory. Severson said they would be glad to also include the municipalities. E. Lehman asked Thompson to tell them exactly what the County is asking. Thompson said that the County largely bears the responsibility of the care of the poor and the needy in the Iowa Code. She said the County funds a lot of things like the Free Medical Clinic and the Crisis Center for statutory reasons and these are large expenditures. She said there are also other Human Service contributions they make that may have gotten in there because somebody lobbied them once or because maybe United Way didn't have enough money one year. Jacoby asked Thompson how this differs from people sitting in on United Way presentations for funding. Thompson said it usually starts with last year's contribution and then a little more is asked for each year. Vanderhoef asked Thompson if she wants a listing of what each community contributes why. Thompson said it would be good to have a dialogue about what is done and why it's done. Jordahl said that if Juvenile Crime Prevention works and is shown to be cheaper than Law Enforcement, then rationally more money should go into Juvenile Crime Prevention. Thompson said that agencies are now coming to them outside of the United Way Joint Hearings wanting to be funded. She said they have funded some, but who else should they fund and why. E. Lehman asked Severson if she can come up with the funding by source and who all in Johnson County it goes to. Severson said she can. Pfab said that government organizations aren't the only funding source contributors. Thompson said there are foundations, United Way and other private fundraisers. Pfab said an inventory of all options should be looked at because there is an amazing amount of 2nd and 3rd tier funding taking place. Jacoby said the Department of Human Services can demystify how some of the funding comes from the County and State, how much is spent in Johnson County, where it's going and who decides where it is going. He said it doesn't make sense to look at the pockets of small funding streams without looking at the major funding streams. Jordahl said there is also other governmental funding coming in from a national level that goes directly to agencies. He said the whole budget needs to be looked at. Champion said it's all in a book. Kanner said they are also looking to see what a cities per capita amount is and what can be done differently with that to make it fit with the whole puzzle more effectively. Thompson said the County looked at theirs differently this year in terms of what percentage of their dollar goes where. She said they looked at it about 5 different ways and none of them made any sense in terms of per capita, which made them think of looking further into this. E. Lehman asked what will be done with the information found. Thompson said it will give everyone a chance to consider what they do and whether it meets their strategic goals. Informal Minutes: April 26, 2000/page 8 DISCUSSION: DARE PROGRAM E. Lehman said they discussed the DARE Program at a recent School Board meeting. O'Donnell said the paper had interesting positive comments from 2 youths this moming, which is what the program is about. Pfab said in speaking with people he has yet to find a negative comment about DARE. DISCUSSION: COMMUNITY CENTERS Jordahl said his hope is that the communities of the county and the Board of Supervisors can sit down together and look at ways to put community enhancement resources into one set of facilities that will give the communities a focus. He said he hopes the communities will propose what it is that they would like to see grow in their own areas. He said that North Liberty came to the County for a match of $15,000, which the County matched, and it's a step in the right direction. He said one area may want a community center that differs from another area's center, in that they want it for an auditorium or intergenerational activities rather than physical activities. Iowa City City Council Member Ross Wilbum said an analogy of this is like that of a barn raising. He said that when a barn needs to go up, people come and do what needs to be done to get it up and see what goes into it. Jordahl said the County wants to support doing these kinds of things and they don't have to be County buildings but can be joint buildings. Champion said this is a great idea for the small towns. Kanner said that the school board is wondering if anybody wants to expand the preschools that are now in 3 of the schools. Palmer said there is a preschool program at Mann Elementary School that serves children of the faculty. He said there is preschool at Coralville Central and Shimek for children with special needs and one of those will be moved to Hoover next year. He said that Lemme will have a program that will serve students with regular needs and those with special needs. He said they received one at Mark Twain through a grant this year. He said that childcare from 0-5 is very much needed throughout the entire community. He said that all of the programs, other than those with special needs, are totally enterprise funds and paid for by the participants. Palmer said that those with special needs are handled through special education funding. Vanderhoef asked if they are charging rent for the use of the building or are they donating. Palmer said they donate the facility space. Pete Wallace said the parent groups have boards and they set their own charges and hire their own staff. Palmer said before and after school programs are also badly needed. He said that they provide for students attending those schools. He said that every school has waiting lists. Jordahl said that in many communities the school is the community center, the center of social activity. He said they can serve a purpose or preschool and daycare. He said that one of the questions in the Juvenile Crime Prevention Policy Grant is that when looking at summer activities for youths, the school is still there as a building even though school is not is session. He said the Governor is talking about the importance of Informal Minutes: April 26, 2000/page 9 education from age 0-3. Jordahl said the question of which 13 years should be funded was posed and the answer seems to be 0-13. He said that perhaps money should directly be put in childcare as education and social service money. Jordahl said that maybe they will have to pay a larger bill now but if they save later then it is a good investment. Kanner asked if Jordahl sees this tying in with Carol's proposal. Jordahl said very much so. He said to look where the need is and try to figure out what the most effective thing to do for the development of communities in the County. He said that communities are a sense of belonging. Thompson said that a few years ago there was talk of what it would take to have a full Head Start program in Johnson County. She said Johnson could be one of the first counties to have full Head Start coverage. She said it was a small amount of money, like maybe only one classroom of Head Start that would cover all of the eligible children in the County. She said she phoned HACAP and now there isn't a waiting list for traditional Head Start, but instead there is a waiting list for full daycare and the current need is for a full day daycare wrap around for Head Start. She said the County could actually draw more Head Start money if there is a source for the before and after Head Start dollars. Champion said Head Start doesn't begin till children are 3 or 4. Thompson said it's either depending on the funding. Kanner said that once they get figures from Severson they can discuss concrete proposals for the cities, County and communities in general. E. Lehman said the date and time of the next meeting will be the 3rd or 4th Wednesday in July, depending on North Liberty's schedule. He thanked the group. Adjoumed at 5:15 p.m. Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor By Casie Parkins, Recording Secretary