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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-11-16 TranscriptionNovember 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 1 Council Present: Bailey, Champion, Correia, Hayek, O'Donnell, Wilburn, Wright Staff: Helling, Dilkes, Karr, Davidson, Boothroy, Moran, Cate, Hargadine, J. Bailey, Bollinger, Rackis, Fortmann, Fosse Others Present: Shipley, UISG Planning and Zoning Items: Davidson/ Am I on? Bailey/ I can hear you. (several talking) Davidson/ Shall I just hold the microphone? (laughter) Is that better? My voice must not pick up. I usually have to do this. For your consideration tonight under Planning and Zoning Items we have five proposed amendments to the zoning code. So no...no pictures tonight. I will do my best to verbalize these to you. Uh, in case I forget, because I usually do, all five of these proposed amendments are recommended for approval by the Planning and Zoning Commission. Four of them unanimously and the one pertaining to flexibility in standards in salvage yards on a 5 to 1 vote. I think...I think I saw...I was not at the Planning and Zoning Commission. I thought I saw Wally somewhere. Maybe he's not here yet. Bailey/ He's out in the lobby. c) AMENDING TITLE 14, ZONING CODE, TO ALLOW SPECIALIZED EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES IN THE INTENSIVE COMMERCIAL (CI-1) ZONE BY SPECIAL EXCEPTION. Davidson/ Okay. If Wally comes in he must be representing Planning and Zoning tonight. Uh, the first one, uh, what we did with these, the reason you have five before you all at once is we kind of save these up. Uh, we had four of them saved up and then we received one in behalf of a...decided to do on behalf of a private individual, so we decided to bring them all to you at that time. That's why you're getting all five right now. Uh, the first one is a request to amend, uh, the commercial-intensive zone, the CI-1 zone, to allow specialized education facilities. Uh, this was, um, brought, uh, forth because of a request, uh, from an individual to establish a fencing school on Highland Avenue, near Gilbert Street in the CI-1 zone, and you have a letter in your packet describing that request. When the zoning code was, uh, rewritten in 2005, one of the things we tried to do at that time, uh, was...well, the way it's phrased in Karen Howard's memo here is clean-up the CI-1 zone, and eliminate uses that were not felt to be compatible with the general purposes of the zone. Uh, the CI-1 zone, uh, is kind of a...a zone with some externalities associated with it. Uh, for example, you can have autobody shops, uh, exterior, uh, storage, outdoor storage. Um, you know, it's a little bit of a...has a little bit of a rougher character to it than for example the CC-2 zone,-which is more commercial, retail. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 2 Um... at that time, the uses removed included grocery stores, restaurants, medical offices, residential apartments, and specialized educational facilities. So, uh, when this was brought, uh, brought back to us for consideration and the case was made for basically re- amending the zone to allow these. Um, we...we took a look and did determine that there did seem to be other uses still allowed in the CI-1 zone that did not seem that dissimilar to schoolized... schools with specialized instruction. Uh, these include an indoor commercial recreational uses, community service uses, office uses, and even childcare centers. So, uh, based on that we did take under consideration essentially, uh, putting back allowing specialized education facilities. The...the debate then became should they be allowed, uh, by right or require a special exception to the Board of Adjustment, and there was a lot of discussion, uh, if you read the Planning and Zoning Commission minutes there were a lot of discussion of that. It was determined that it should be, uh, should require a special exception to allow these, uh, by the Board of Adjustment. Um, Michael, of course, was on the Board of Adjustment and knows the criteria that, um, that you step through to evaluate those, and basically, uh, if you approve what's proposed tonight, schools of specialized instruction would be allowed by special exception. The approval criteria that the Board would consider would include whether or not the proposed use was detrimental to or endanger the public health, safety, comfort or welfare, uh, injurious to the use and enjoyment of other property, uh, impede the normal orderly development. You know, the standard things that are evaluated on a case-by-case basis when the Board of Adjustment considers these things. So, uh, if you decide to approve this action, uh, this would allow schools of specialized instruction, which would include drama schools, dance studios, martial arts studios, language schools, civil service, uh, a, you know, a test examination prep school, these sorts of things, so...any questions over what's being proposed? Let's move on then, shall we? Bailey/ (mumbled) d) AMENDING TITLE 14, ZONING CODE, TO ALLOW FLEXIBILITY IN THE TYPE OF FENCE SCREENING REQUIRED FOR SALVAGE YARDS. Davidson/ Item d...is to allow flexibility in the types of fences allowed, uh, in salvage yards. As you might imagine, salvage yards are quite tightly regulated in the zoning ordinance, even though they are allowed only in industrial zone, which is, uh, obviously where there are a lot of uses with, uh, with a lot of externalities associated with them. In-spite of that, there are some...very tight regulations regarding...very strict requirements for buffering and fencing in outdoor storage areas, uh, associated with salvage operations, and the specific requirement is for a solid fence that is six to eight feet tall. Um, in considering a couple of issues, it's been determined that this might...this really doesn't leave any leeway for the Board of Adjustment to consider things on a case-by-case basis, and uh, my understanding is that recently there was a situation where a salvage yard was being required to install this relatively expensive fencing to buffer itself from another salvage yard, which didn't really seem to make much sense, and so what this will do is it may very well still require these, but it'll allow the Board of Adjustment to consider them on a case-by-case basis, and where there are, uh, cases, and there are a couple, uh, listed here, um, where flexibility is warranted, uh, then a different type of fencing, such as chain link This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 3 or semi-opaque, which my understanding is is a less expensive type of fencing, could be allowed by the Board of Adjustment. Correia/ But when we say...public, visible from public streets or from public view, would visible from the river constitute as a public view? Davidson/ I think that would be taken into consideration, the view from the river. Correia/ Well, I would hope that the river (mumbled) Davidson/ Sure. Correia/ As long as that... Davidson/ Right. Champion/ And then, what if that use changes? Like if that one salvage yard, the example you gave...if the one salvage yard goes away, and then somebody puts some other small industry there. Davidson/ I think the notion there, Connie, was that the new use being established would see, would be able to observe what type of fencing was in place and make their decision on whether or not to locate there accordingly. It would not require the original person to establish new fencing. It would not do that. But remember, this is only in industrial zones. Bailey/ And there's flexibility by the Board of Adjustment, right? Davidson/ Yes. This would basically give the Board of Adjustment flexibility that they do not currently have. Wright/ Although in the case Connie is talking about, the Board of Adjustment would probably not even come into play, is that correct? Champion/ No, they wouldn't... Davidson/ Hypothetically it would not necessarily. If it was a use it could be established by right. That's right. Bailey/ Even if they were there first there would be that understanding that they were getting a location next to a salvage yard, which (both talking) Davidson/ That had perhaps semi-opaque or chain link fencing in lieu of the solid fencing. So, by...by approving this action, you are giving the Board of Adjustment flexibility that they do not currently have in considering fencing around salvage yards. Any questions? Did you have something? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 4 Correia/ Well, I mean (mumbled) because I... if... if it's in there specified not visible from public streets, I guess I'm wondering if we want to add or visible from public waterways? Just so, I mean, I don't want to see a chain link fence or something along the Iowa River. Davidson/ Let's see... Correia/ You know? Bailey/ Uh-huh. Correia/ I don't want that to be a special, you know, for (mumbled) Davidson/ Streets or other public rights-of--way. The river, I don't believe...is...is, I mean, I don't think river's included under either street or a public right-of--way. So it... Correia/ Right, so could we add without it being a major change requiring to go back or whatever. Davidson/ Eleanor? Dilkes/ Yes. Correia/ Yes what? Dilkes/ You can add it. (several talking) Bailey/ I think that's really smart actually. Wright/ Very good idea! Champion/ The other thing, and I hate to belabor this point, if the junk yard, salvage yard -sorry - goes away and there's train tracks in a lot of industrial areas, I mean, they want trains. Davidson/ Many. Champion/ I mean, what if Amtrak is going through there? Davidson/ That's actually the, well... Bailey/ Amtrak goes through...that Amtrak line to Rock Island sees a lot of backsides of things. Champion/ Yeah, and it's awful when you take the train across America it all goes through the backyards of everything. Davidson/ You do see a lot of backyards on the train, that's for sure. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Champion/ Well, in my backyard it'd be okay! (laughter) I don't think I can support this. Hayek/ Do we...is the...it looks like, to use the term highway...is highway inclusive of a reference to water? (mumbled) Champion/ We're adding water. Bailey/ We're adding river. Hayek/ But, I know, but I'm asking... Bailey/ You're adding river, right? Waterways. Champion/ Yeah, could be Ralston Creek. Davidson/ So you'll just do that by amendment tomorrow night then? (several talking) Wright/ I don't think it would hurt to make that explicit. Bailey/ Okay. Page 5 Hayek/ I think that the odds are greater that we can assist some businesses in avoidance of unnecessary expense than...the unlikely circumstance of a salvage yard being turned over into something different and causing some sort of problem for a new owner, who by the way would come in knowledgeable of what the (several talking) Correial Put their own screening in. Hayek/ They can (several talking) Bailey/ Well, yeah, and...and you know the Board of Adjustment, I mean, in reading those minutes they're very thorough about these kinds of discussions. This just gives the flexibility to avoid a ridiculous situation of fencing between salvage yards, I mean...that becomes the ridiculous level, that we want to avoid. Okay? e) AMENDING TITLE 14, ZONING CODE, TO CORRECT LANGUAGE IN THE CODE TO ALLOW WHEELCHAIR RAMPS AND STOOPS TO EXTEND INTO REQUIRED SETBACK AREAS FOR ALL TYPES OF BUILDINGS. Davidson/ Any other questions? All right, let's move on then to Item e, which is clarification of provisions in Article 14.3.A., planned development overlay zone. Um, and I'll confess to you that this was a difficult one for me to understand, and I have tried to understand it, and I will try and impart that knowledge to you, as well. If there are...questions or clarifications that I cannot provide, I will get with, uh, staff tomorrow and bring those tomorrow night to you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 6 Bailey/ Did we skip e? Davidson/ I'm sorry, didn't I... Bailey/ I'm sorry. Davidson/ I even had my little pages tagged here. Correia/ Yes you did. Davidson/ Oh, I'm sorry. In that case... Correia/ ...wheelchair ramp. Davidson/ There we go! Okay. This one's much easier (laughter and several talking). This is a zoning code amendment to standardize set-back standards for wheelchair ramps, and this is basically then, uh, presented as a, um, correcting an error. Uh, where the...the term 'dwelling unit' was used and it should be 'building,' that basically the...the ability to allow stoops and wheelchair ramps on a'building' rather than just a'dwelling unit' because there are some buildings, obviously, that are not dwelling units, so basically it allows those things to be, um, it would standardize the language in all base zones to allow stoops and wheelchair ramps on all types of buildings to extend and to the required set-backs, according to the existing rules for doing that. Hayek/ And the, uh, three-feet minimum could itself be further narrowed in special (mumbled) Davidson/ Uh, I'm not sure the three-feet can't...is that...isn't that a fire code thing? Not sure. You want me to find out for tomorrow, Matt? Hayek/ I'm talking about the language in the (several talking) right here. (several talking and laughing) Boothroy/ I was grabbing for your tie actually! (laughter) Uh, is it the side... Davidson/ Yeah, side yard set-back, can it be decreased beyond three-feet? Boothroy/ Uh, no. Davidson/ Okay, that's what I thought. Hayek/ Well, it refers to minor modification in the event the topography and other site characteristics can't meet the standard. A minor modification can be requested. Davidson/ Right (both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 7 Boothroy/ A minor modification is if the...if the required yard is...is, uh, I can go down to three feet as I recall (mumbled) but it may not be relevant. Hayek/ Okay. ~ AMENDING TITLE 14, ZONING CODE, TO CLARIFY STANDARDS THAT APPLY TO DUPLEXES AND SINGLE-FAMILY ATTACHED DWELLINGS IN PLANNED DEVELOPMENT OVERLAY (OPD) ZONES. Davidson/ As I said, none of the rules are changing. The only thing that changes here, if you approve this, is the word 'building' instead of'dwelling unit.' Okay, any other questions about that? Let's move on then to item f, which I had begun my presentation of, and this is clarification and provisions in the planned development overlay zone, and it, um...relates to the standards for two-unit buildings. Um...you know, just real quickly, the...the, I think most of you...the planned development process is to allow variations, uh, to the standards of underlying base zones in certain instances, and we use these where there is a development project that for one reason or another requires flexibility, uh, beyond what is allowed in the...in the base zone for whatever zone is...is under consideration, and we need to, uh, do some modifications pertaining to allowing duplexes in planned developments. Um...the...the issue here is when there are...standards needed to allow duplexes in a base zone that does not have any duplex regulations, such as the single-family residential zone, the RS-5 zone. Um, because there are no standards, right now duplexes are lumped in with multi-family buildings in the planned development standards and...in a lot of cases this doesn't make any sense because for example large multi-family buildings have...are required to have large parking lots, and duplexes aren't, so using the same set of standards doesn't make a lot of sense in a lot of instances. So what...what the action you're being asked to consider does is create duplex standards, uh, for the planned development that are basically the same standards that apply to duplexes in zones where they are allowed. Okay? Um...in many instances the planned developments are condominium regimes. We had one of these recently with the Lytham Condominium development adjacent to University Heights, and um, there were a number of two-unit buildings, I'm going to use that term 'two-unit buildings' because they weren't technically duplexes because they weren't on a single lot. They weren't two units on a single lot like a...a duplex. They also weren't zero-lot lines where there's a property line running down the middle. They...there are instances where development is proposed that has several duplexes on a single lot as part of a condominium development. What this action will do is bring the standards that we use for duplexes where they are allowed into a... into that situation, so that the planned development process has essentially the same sets of standards, and if you read the standards, I won't go into them in detail unless for some reason you want me to, it pertains to where entrances are located and certainly, uh, required side yards. Um, and so these...these are the types of standards that we're talking about and I guess the key thing is, it's the same...basically the same set of standards, um, that...that are used where duplexes are allowed. Um, so the standards will apply for two- unit buildings on a...on a larger common...common lot. Um, the other thing that it does is it clarifies, uh, that...the standards which limit duplexes to just corner lots, for example in the RS-8 zone, that those can be modified to the planned development process. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 8 Apparently this was not clear. It has not been clear when we've undertaken this...this will clarify that that is allowable. Doesn't...doesn't mean it has to be approved. That's under your discretion when the planned development is considered. So, um, any questions on what's being proposed, in terms of establishing these standards for duplex development in planned...duplexes in planned developments? Hayek/ Has, uh, the Home Builder's or any other constituent groups had a...had input on this? Davidson/ I assume yes, but I will find out for sure, Matt. Home Builder's, and what was the other group, Matt? Hayek/ The, uh, any other constituents group. Davidson/ Okay (laughter) Bailey/ Oh, the other 63,000...okay, great! Hayek/ I'd start with them. (laughter) That's probably enough! Davidson/ I mean...I mean, they...they certainly, there's always public comment, but whether or not they were contacted directly, I'll try and find out. Hayek/ Be good to know. Thanks! Bailey/ Any other questions about that? Okay. Wilburn/ Wouldn't make sense to make them consistent. (several talking) Bailey/ Yeah, I thought the consistency made a lot of sense, and actually they probably would welcome that. That's what we hear a lot, but... good idea to check. Okay. g) AMENDING ARTICLE 14-7B-7, "DEVELOPMENT FEES", TO SPECIFY THAT THE AMOUNT OF THE NEAR SOUTHSIDE NEIGHBORHOOD PARKING FACILITY DISTRICT IMPACT FEE SHALL BE ADJUSTED ANNUALLY BASED ON THE NATIONAL HISTORICAL COST INDEXES CONTAINED IN THE MOST RECENT EDITION OF THE ENGINEERING NEWS RECORD RATHER THAN THE MEANS SQUARE FOOT COSTS MANUAL AND TO HOLD ANY NEGATIVE CHANGES TO THE COST INDEX OF THE PRECEDING YEAR. Davidson/ The final one then is the near-southside parking facility impact fee. I think most of you are aware that in the near southside, uh, redevelopment area there is a parking impact fee district, uh, established for that area, uh, and for the various zoning classifications, primarily CB-5 and PRM, uh, there is a parking impact fee that is calculated for development projects, uh, for example in the CB-5 zone, to generalize, for resident...I don't believe there's any requirement for commercial; for residential you're allowed to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 9 provide up to 50% on site, and then you pay a fee per space for the required, the other 50% that's required. And, uh, you know there's...there's, you know, a little bit of grumbling about this, but by and large I think developers know that it's cheaper for them to provide the parking through the fee than it is to provide it on site. We've deliberately set the...the, uh, rate fairly low. Uh, what this action tonight does is it changes the reference that we use annually to increase the fee. If there's a...if there's an increase, uh, in, uh, annual increase in construction costs, that, uh, amount is calculated and then the...the impact fee is ratcheted up. Uh, the way this is proposed that if there's...if it declines or stays the same, then the fee will stay the same. But otherwise it's calculated annually. We have been...the ordinance has specifically referred to the means square foot cost manual. This is not a reference that we have readily available. The Public Works Department uses, uh, the engineering news record for exactly the same purpose, and so we are proposing being able to use the engineer... engineering news record, and that's the ordinance change that you'll be asked to consider. Wright/ In terms of calculating this fee, will it be coming out roughly the same? Davidson/ Uh, yeah, the way the fee's calculated will not change. Only the...the fee will change, uh, on an annual basis, based on this reference. Yeah. Any questions? Thank you. Council Appointments: Bailey/ Thank you. All right, next is Council appointments. Board of Adjustments, two applicants for one vacancy. Champion/ I think it's a true toss-up. They're both... Wright/ Two very good applicants! (several talking) Bailey/ Yes! Hayek/ I don't know the...Miss Gilchrist, but Le Ann Tyson I do know, um, and I put my hat in for her. She's professional, a very professional person to work with, um, pretty level- headed Iwould say and would bring a good perspective to this group, would be my pitch. Bailey/ Okay. Champion/ I can support her without any trouble. Bailey/ All right. Others for Le Ann? Wright/ I can do that. Bailey/ Do we have another? Okay. So...Le Ann Tyson. All right, let's move on to agenda items. Anything? Matt? Do you have something? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 10 Agenda Items: ITEM 15. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 12, ENTITLED "FRANCHISES", OF THE CITY CODE TO ADD A CHAPTER IMPOSING A FRANCHISE FEE ON THE GROSS REVENUE OF FRANCHISEE MIDAMERICAN ENERGY COMPANY DERIVED FROM THE DISTRIBUTION AND RETAIL SALE OF ELECTRICITY AND THE DISTRIBUTION, DELIVERY AND RETAIL SALE OF NATURAL GAS BY MIDAMERICAN, OR OTHER NATURAL GAS PROVIDERS UTILIZING THE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM OF MIDAMERICAN, TO CUSTOMERS WITHIN THE CURRENT OR FUTURE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY OF IOWA CITY, AND ON A REVENUE PURPOSE STATEMENT SPECIFYING THE PURPOSE OR PURPOSES FOR WHICH THE REVENUE COLLECTED FROM THE FRANCHISE FEE WILL BE EXPENDED (SECOND CONSIDERATION). Hayek/ I...on the, on the franchise fee, um...keep going around in circles, uh, I've had some contact with... Chamber and ICAD as they relayed an interest of (mumbled) constituents they represent, um, with a view toward some sort of relief for those most affected by a franchise fee, uh, but I'm not coming up with a viable means of addressing it. And, uh, not going to spend a lot of time or capital pushing this if there's not much interest in that anyway. Champion/ Well, I'm very interested as you know. Hayek/ I mean...it's...it's fraught with risk if we go down that road. Um, and...and that's something that gives me pause, in terms of getting a break to certain groups, not others, um, even if you're within a group, um...that doesn't necessarily mean you get some sort of relief. You might not get it and your identical but slightly larger peer might, um, I don't know. O'Donnell/ (mumbled) so that it would work and appear to be fair. I guess I don't see how you could do that. Hayek/ One option that I think has been used. elsewhere is to, uh...earmark some funds towards economic development that then can make their way into some sort of grants to parties that apply. Wright/ Grants be used for... Bailey/ Yeah. Hayek/ I mean, indirectly relief, but...but some form of economic development, based on benefit to the community and the job force, etc. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 11 Bailey/ Part of the challenge with this is I don't think we're going to come up with anything as this moves forward, but...and I know people view this concept with skepticism, but I don't...I want to revisit this on a fairly regular basis, the fact that we have a franchise fee with percentages, and...and other possibilities of revenue sources. So, I understand the concerns, especially in this economic climate. I think that, um, you know, I addressed some of those concerns from a large employer today, um...just the fact that we have limitations on the revenue, but as things change, as our economic climate changes, there might be opportunities to pursue something like this, what other cities are doing, and explore this. So I think...I think there are possibilities if we don't view this as a kind of a done deal to not be reexamined. I don't know what we're going to think about in the next couple of days or the next couple of weeks, however. Hayek/ I...realistically once the door is open on this fee, I don't see it as being shut. Theoretically and legally we...we could revisit it. We could, uh, modify it or get rid of it down the road. I don't see that happening. Champion/ I don't see that happening at all. I don't know if that could possibly happen actually, unless there's some...my concern as I voiced at the last meeting is, because of the economy, there are small industries, or large industries, working on very minimum...I don't mean profit, what I mean...margins, very low margins, and I don't want us to impose this fee if we're going to lose...a business because of it. That puts us right back to ground zero again. I mean, the one that's threatening to leave has 250 employees. That's a lot...that's a lot of people without a job! (several talking) That's what I've heard anyway. Wilburn/ Well, just a couple of comments come to mind. Um, as certainly (mumbled) um...is, um...looking forward to do...doing, um, but you know, um, we have had a history of trying to manage our way through some fiscal constraints; um, the public's going through it, the businesses are going through it; and this is a business that's going through it too, and has gone through it too, so we've been making adjustments in terms of, um...organization-wide, uh, reducing costs, looking for efficiencies, uh, reacting, responding to cuts to our sources of revenue, uh, and our limited source of revenue, um, the primary one being property tax. Um, some of those employers that are saying that, uh, you know, they'll relocate, uh, are some of the same ones that said we want to have a fire station, uh, so...um, to oversimplify the argument we want the service but you've got to figure out how else to pay for it besides raising, you know, raising a fee or generating a tax, uh, and had we not had a history of both, trying to manage our way through, uh, not only this current fiscal situation, but uh, from some significant cuts that we've received from the state in the past, you know, five...five to six years. Um, we also have, I think Council has had a history, a solid history, of looking at different sources of revenue of taxes and fees that we are able to collect, and modifying those, adjusting them. We continue to revisit water fees, refuse fees, um, you know, those in some cases have been lowered, reduced, uh, the levies that we are allowed to assess on, um, you know, at budget time, um, there are certain years where we have decreased the amount of particular item that we have, that we have taxed. So, um, I don't see that (coughing, unable to hear) ending, um, that um, the Council takes a look at the different revenue This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 12 sources, does it make sense that we are, you know, if there's one area where we are, uh, where things are paid and we're able to invest in future infrastructure, we've made a...we've made some adjustments to decrease those...those taxes. I don't see that, um, that ending. Hayek/ And I'm not...I'm not making, I'm not changing my vote on the...on the franchise fee itself, I mean, I've stated before why I'm supportive of it. I... if we weren't in the economic, uh, situation we find ourselves in, I'm not sure I would support it, but the fact that we've made significant cuts to date, I mean, we'll undoubtedly make significant cuts in the upcoming budget cycle, um, we have lost millions of dollars in...in valuation increases and...and interest income, and this is information we've seen from staff time and again, but my...my only lingering question is, is there some means of structuring something to mitigate the impact on those hit hardest. I'm not coming up with something that is consistently fair and that wouldn't lead to finger-pointing about why did this group get a break and I didn't. Um...but it is a concern in the business community. It's a valid one. Bailey/ Uh-huh. Wilburn/ And the concern in the, uh, those who do not own a business, but just residential (mumbled) why do, uh, why do businesses get the break and we don't. Hayek/ Oh, yeah, let alone other classes we're not even talking about. Bailey/ Right. Hayek/ Even within a commercial or an industrial class. Bailey/ Right. Okay. Hayek/ I mean, I'm interested in exploring something. What it looks like exactly, I don't know, and I've spoken to staff and...and it's...the options are nebulous and they seem...so many of them seem to run into dead ends, but... Wilburn/ Well, the more breaks that are given, the less revenue that comes in from the tax, and then we're back in the same situation with trying to...trying to fund firefighters and police with... Hayek/ Definitely waters it down! Wilburn/ Yeah. Bailey/ Okay, anything else on this item? Okay. Other agenda items? Nothing? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 13 ITEM 7. RENEWAL OF CLASS C LIQUOR LICENSE FOR SUMMIT RESTAURANT & BAR INC. DBA THE SUMMIT, 10 S. CLINTON STREET. Wilburn/ Just a quick question for, uh, Eleanor... (mumbled) recall the number here. Had it... it's after P&Z...oh, item number 7, and I guess this is just a...still no word from the, uh, State Alcohol? Okay. Dilkes/ Uh, no, the reply briefs were submitted on Friday, um, we expect a decision by the Administrative Law Judge within maybe 30 days, although that is her typical period and this is not a typical case. Uh, and then that's a decision that then goes, uh, to Lynn Walding, so it's going to be a few months. Yeah. Wilburn/ Okay. ITEM 4. CONSENT CALENDAR. e6) Correspondence -Marshal Poe: 225 E Fairchild/Northside Hayek/ Oh, I had one thing from correspondence. It was a letter about a rental property, um, on, uh, Fairchild and (several talking) not that that particular situation I think, uh, is something we want to talk about tonight, but it goes to, uh, the placement of nuisance ordinance on our work agenda, our work list, and I don't think that's got a date associated with it, and it's just out there waiting for us to decide...to, uh, take it up. Bailey/ What? About nuisance ordinance? Hayek/ I...I thought nuisance was, uh... Helling/ Oh, on your pending list? Hayek/ On the pending list, without a (several talking) Helling/ That was just a question about, I think (several talking) Bailey/ Nuisance enforcement, yeah. Hayek/ Yeah, I mean, this letter goes to that issue. Bailey/ Right. That's a good point. Helling/ Now this particular property, I have some information on my desk that...that H.I.S. (mumbled) and we'll get back to the property owner, uh, but on the pending list, I think has more...brought up in connection with the whole southeast side area and some of that is in the information you got and we need to talk about that a little bit (mumbled) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 14 Bailey/ Well, and it sounds like in this letter that...that some of the nuisance ordinance should come into play, but I don't know if, you know, the criteria has been met. Helling/ Uh... Bailey/ Complaints and...and involving the owner. Helling/ Yeah, it's...it's, my understanding is that it's not a rental property, per se, it's asingle- family dwelling, uh, and as long as the occupancy is, uh, within the zoning limits, then that would fall under the nuisance ordinance category. Maybe that's a question (mumbled) nuisance ordinance (several talking) Bailey/ ...something we should look at. Wright/ Kind of a hole in our nuisance ordinance, because this...this property, and some others like it, are nuisances. There's no getting around it. Bailey/ Yeah. Wright/ And...you know, between all the various, the police calls...the noise, occasional condition of the yard on some of these properties, they're constituting a nuisance, but they're sliding under the wire of our ordinance. Helling/ The ordinance that we're talking about does address more rental properties because it goes to the rental permit and so forth, which, uh, (mumbled) Wright/ I think this one does have a... it does not have a (several talking) Bailey/ It's owner occupied. Helling/ Yeah. Wright/ Really? We know that now? He's back? (laughter) Bailey/ So... Helling/ If you want to talk about it, have to come up to... Bailey/ Yeah, you'll have to use the mic. Hayek/ I don't think we talk about that property tonight. I'm just suggesting that...that agenda, or that item be discussed by us without a whole lot of delay. Now bringing it up in January probably unrealistic, given the budget cycle, but...I'd like a full year not to pass before we get to it. Bailey/ So first quarter's basically what you're saying. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 15 Hayek/ If we can do that. Bailey/ Okay. I had some questions about some of these, um, the code changes that we're going through, because some of them are rather extensive. Let's see, item number...uh, item number 8, I guess, but I would rather go through them tomorrow if somebody's going to be able to be here. I don't have any specific questions, although, um, we are really looking at accessibility and visibility for, uh, construction that's not only public...publicly funded, so...yeah, that would be good, Doug, I mean...and this is on...page 5 of that particular ordinance. ITEM 8. AMENDING TITLE 17, CHAPTER 1, BUILDING CODE, BY ADOPTING THE INTERNATIONAL BUILDING CODE, 2009 EDITION, AND THE INTERNATIONAL RESIDENTIAL CODE, INCLUDING APPENDIX F RADON CONTROL METHODS, 2009 EDITION, PUBLISHED BY THE INTERNATIONAL CODE COUNCIL AND PROVIDING FOR CERTAIN AMENDMENTS THEREOF; TO PROVIDE FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE HEALTH, WELFARE AND SAFETY OF THE CITIZENS OF IOWA CITY, IOWA (FIRST CONSIDERATION). Boothroy/ Well, first...the first thing, uh, you should know is that these are supported by the Home Builder's Association, uh, as, um, changes that they think are good for the building code, and they do, uh, promote adaptability of... for issues of accessibility, uh... some, the way...and I worked with the Home Builder's and Glenn Siders and...and uh, came up with these standards. The way we crafted them was that we felt that it was important to have...inexpensive or non-cost related items that would be built into new construction that at such a point in time somebody needed to make modifications, they had the capability of making those modifications without, uh, extreme costs or high costs, and so, uh, the...the idea of the doorways being built with a header, which is a...a support system across the top of the doorway, that would accommodate a 30 door at some future point in time, uh, is one of the requirements that's being put in, uh, what this also does is it, in designing it that way it doesn't cost any additional, or very little additional money cause all the materials are there, but it does...it will require you to locate your switches and outlets such that you don't have to relocate them at such time as you might want to, uh, widen that door, uh, the...the thing about the bathroom, uh, what it says is that, uh, you have to design the bathroom, uh, on the first floor that's accessible so that you have a space available at such point in time that you need to put a shower in. You don't have to put that shower in at this time. You just have to make some kind of plan that...that shows that you can accommodate that, uh, either within the existing powder room, if you will, if it's big enough, or in an adjoining room next to it. Uh, with regard to the handicap or the accessible route, you can do zero-step, but if you don't want to do zero-step, in Iowa City we only require one parking space, uh, per single-family house, so what it says is that you need to take into account how you're going to get that access into the house, but you don't need to install it at this time. So, you'll show it on your plans, so all of this is about preparing for the future, if you will, or you can do it now, and it's...it's all at little or now additional cost, little or no additional design, except in the plans, and uh, and I...I This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 16 think it's very positive that the Home Builder's Association uh, supports these...these changes. So the professionals in the field support the changes. The last time we...we talked about this, which was three years ago, uh, those proposes were not...or proposals were not, uh, supported by the Home Builder's and they were much, uh, more restrictive. They required more things to be implemented at this point in time, such as 30 door actually had to be installed. This is a...this is a change that they were comfortable with and I think is a really good change, cause it's a step in the right direction. So I hope...hope you can support it. Bailey/ And then, you didn't include new townhouses in this. Can you talk a little bit about that? That just jumped out at me and... Boothroy/ Well, that... Bailey/ ...I wondered why. Boothroy/ Yeah. That...under federal requirements, townhouses are exempt anyway. And, uh, and so...townhouse is a very narrow designed structure that has a very specific architectural style, and we thought that, uh, it...that it's a type of architecture that there's some precedent for exempting under the federal requirements, and...and uh, we decided not to try to make them accessible through this process. Bailey/ Okay. Thanks. Any other questions... Boothroy/ Anything else? Bailey/ I mean, we have quite a string of these code changes... Boothroy/ They're all supported by the Home Builder's. I think a couple...I'll point out a couple things that...that, just for your information, is that for the first time carbon dioxide detectors will be required in residential construction. Uh, presently they're not. It's the smoke detectors, so that's a little bit different. That's a new thing. Um, we did not, uh, require the new code has written into it the requirement for sprinkler systems in residential homes, uh, it was our recommendation, uh, with the support again of the Home Builder's that we not require residential sprinkler systems at this time, but we did require that where you have floor systems in houses that are built of engineered material, which is light-weight material, that they be protected and, uh, the importance of that is that, uh, that protects the firefighters when they go into a structure, because those systems will burn through very quickly and they can collapse and hurt people in the process. So, uh, everybody felt that that was a really good thing to deal... deal with in terms of protecting, uh, firefighters when they go into the home and we're waiting on sprinkler systems. I think that's all...you should also know that the state has decided to wait until 2000, or 2013, excuse me, is it two thousand thirteen or twenty-thirteen, but anyway...2013, uh, to consider it again. We will be looking at a new code in 2013 so that's why we didn't decide to put that same provision in at this time. Uh, the other thing is that I think there's a very strong likelihood that in the 2003...13 code, uh, the sprinkler This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 17 systems will no longer be required. So, I think it's premature to go that direction until we've gotten to, uh, 2013 when the state is actually thinking about, uh, having that as a part of the requirement. So that's kind of...as far as some of the other notable changes. Bailey/ I want to jump back to the visitability, um, because there is, uh, an ability for the building official to waive that requirement, if strict compliance is financially impractical. What criteria will you use for that? Broadly, I mean... Boothroy/ Well, I...I think that if you got into a situation where you had a, uh, a property that had a really severe topographical constraints and stuff like that, uh, we might look at that as an issue for...for compliance. The other thing, you know, they're making...the issues may not come up as much, uh, in the future because they're doing some...you can get some pretty nice inexpensive lifts now, uh, so, uh, there's some...there's some engineering that's coming out on board where you can get affordable lifts to...to accommodate some of that...that kind of problem. But, but I...we've got some bluffs around here and some steep slopes and that could be an area where you might have that... that accommodation. Bailey/ Okay. Any other questions about this item? All right. Thanks, Doug. Any other agenda items? ITEM 17. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE PROCUREMENT POLICY FOR THE IOWA CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY AND RESCINDING RESOLUTION N0.91-155. Correia/ I just had a quick question on item number 17. Just wondered the rationale...kind of a big jump to go (mumbled) to $10,000. I just wondered why. Bailey/ I think Steve's here, so he can address that. Rackis/ Our existing, um, procurement policy was, uh, based on a HUD template, uh, approved by Council in 1991. Uh, this policy is also a HUD template, but as I understand from Sue Dulek, state law would not allow us to do $100,000 small item purchase. So... it is restricted by, uh, state and other...other law. So we're basically just taking the HUD template, uh, Sue made some very minor changes. It's HUD's money. It's their language. It's what they want to see, and uh, that's what we're going to go with. Bailey/ Any other agenda items? Consent Calendar Addition Karr/ Madame Mayor? We did receive the abstract from the November election today in the mail, so I added it to the Consent Calendar, just so we could work in a timely fashion to accept that abstract tomorrow evening. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 18 Bailey/ Okay, thanks for pointing that out. Great! Anything else? Okay, let's move on to neighborhood safety and crime related issues from our Information Packet. Neighborhood Safety & Crime Related Issues (IP2 of 11/12): Helling/ This is, uh... an item that includes, um, the report on the visit to the Davenport, uh, Police Department. Uh, but also in your packet then I've...I've tried to summarize, at least...many of the things that are happening, uh, that City staff are involved with working with either internally with other departments or with other agencies, or service groups in the community, and some...in some cases, the neighbors themselves. Um, and so I hope you had a chance to review that. There are a number of staff persons here that were involved in... in that, or are involved in various initiatives, and also were very helpful in getting information to me to put this, uh, memorandum, the summary, together. So, Council's indicated that you want to talk about issues that...that perhaps are...we are doing or not doing in... in the southeast area. Uh and also you wanted a report on the visit to Davenport, uh, I assume maybe you'd like to have the report first on the Davenport visit? Bailey/ Yeah. Amy, why don't you go ahead. (several talking) Staff come...yeah, I think staff should come sit up here. At least so they have access to a microphone. (several talking) Helling/ Come on up, Marcia, since you were there too. Wright/ And I'm going to have a question for you a little bit later anyway so...(laughter) Helling/ I don't know if many of you know Officer Steve Fortmann from the Police Department. Bailey/ Thanks for being here. Helling/ And Marcia and Steve were the two representatives, along with Amy, from...from this area that...were there. Correia/ (mumbled) helped to coordinate the trip so thanks to Rebecca Neades and the Chamber for...for coordinating that (mumbled) from Iowa City and we had, uh, representatives from North Liberty and Coralville, as well. Uh, Tracey Mulkayhe and Barry Bedford. Um, I thought it was a very informative visit. Um (mumbled) the...who oversees the crime prevention unit primarily their housing for (mumbled) family crime-free housing program that I guess is a national program. They call it the landlord education assistance program (mumbled) talked a lot about that, so that is designed to provide landlords with, um, education on how to be a good landlord, essentially, um, it had been a voluntary program. Now there is an ordinance in Davenport that requires all landlords, um, either the landlord themselves or a representative from a management company to go through a one-day training, 8-hour training, um, he does that training and we'd have a copy of...we have a copy of the manual, they shared that with us, um... Fortmann/ (mumbled) fee. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 19 Correia/ Right. Bailey/ Are you mica up? Karr/ Steve, you'll have to...yeah. Fortmann/ I said that was also available through their community college, for a lesser fee. Correia/ ... do it in person or... or, yeah, enroll. That's a new collaboration that they have with their community college. Um, and then they also offer, um, free... criminal background checks for landlords for perspective tenants. So, there's no requirement to landlords with what they do with the information, but they do offer that, um, I think it is now required in their ordinance that landlords have been...a service that they provide (mumbled) require landlords to do criminal background checks, and it doesn't require private landlords what they do with the information, but that they have the information, um, and that they have volunteers that do the background checks (mumbled) Bollinger/ They also, um, they do, um, phone calls to the previous landlords and previous employers, as well. Correia/ They do arrest...records, um... Bailey/ Can you hear her, Marian? Okay. Correia/ Yeah, they do arrest records, Iowa courts check. They check, uh, in Illinois, Rock Island. They call employers and current landlord, um...25 volunteers I think that do that, do those, and provide the information via fax to the landlords. (mumbled) Fortmann/ Those would be the criminal background checks that the public would have access to, they're not special law enforcement types of background checks. Correia/ And then they talked about the crime prevention, um, that program they have that includes community...neighborhood watch program, um, and then other community presentations for the homes and businesses on further prevention. They have a graffiti hotline, um, so that folks can call in when they see graffiti and they have, um, certainly if it's on public property. Then they go out and...their public works department mitigates that and then they also have a...they're working with acommunity-based agency that goes out and then, um, does the graffiti mitigation on private property.. (mumbled) Um, do you remember that part of it? The graffiti... Bailey/ Rebecca, you're going to have to use the microphone. (laughter) Neades/ We'll share...me and hop-a-long here (laughter) uh...they do two things. One if the, uh, public works department will go out and cover up, and then they also have a crime This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 20 prevent...or a graffiti...hotline that they'll come out and paint over on private property. Is that what you were asking? Yeah, they do. Correia/ (mumbled) agency to...maybe it was the (mumbled) Fortmann/ And they go t through the community through the (several talking) Neades/ Yeah, absolutely. Correia/ And then the big program that they have is the NETS unit, the Neighborhoods Energize to Succeed, so that's the community policing, um, that they started in one neighborhood, maybe six years ago, um, that one of the things that they... one of the things that I was struck by that they talked about was the, um, increase in the inner, um, city communication between departments, so that you know officers were in neighborhoods. They are forming relationships with, um, folks in the neighborhood, but then they were also doing things that, um, currently in Iowa City are really more of a complaint basis that, you know, if a neighbor sees a nuisance they call in, but in this...in these neighborhoods if a police officer sees, oh, there's lights out, they'll call in and make that call or other types of nuisance, um, that weeds or something that, um...other neighborhoods it's complaint basis. Somebody needs to call it in and (mumbled) care of that police are, you know, identifying issues, um, that might be in violation of current city code and calling those in to those departments to try and get those...taken care of, um, before...in advance of a complaint, so in case a complaint wouldn't be made (mumbled) that they really...open communication between departments and less of a silo-type of a system. Um...they have cell phones. They're accessible to the neighborhood, um, I don't.. . Fortmann/ I was just going to add to that, Amy, that the, a lot of the things that's listed there on the second page, that are listed on the second page...while they have this unit that takes care of those issues, I see these things as issues that our police department and our officers deal with on a daily basis, that they...we don't need a special unit to do these type of things. This is just the way we do business. Um, that they are involved in recognizing some of the more community-based problems and referring those to, uh, specific agencies within the city. We can always do a better job of that and education of the officers is definitely a part of that. Correia/ So some of those strategies could be implemented without a whole new program, right? (mumbled) So I don't know... Bailey/ Are there any questions about the visit specifically? Correia/ Or about that specific part of it. Bailey/ Or that specific part of it, I guess...and that's sort of crime prevention unit. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 21 Hayek/ I guess just as a general matter, I mean, I appreciate both memos, I appreciate the trip, uh, and those who took the time to make it, um...I guess two general thoughts. One is...we are, uh, there's a lot of programming, um, and a lot of work being done by a variety of City departments to address these problems, and I'm heartened to see that and I'm heartened to see strengthening of neighborhood associations, which is by and large an organic phenomenon, but aided by, uh, the City and... and that's important, and I think those...those will continue. Um...I...I guess I'd be curious to know from those who attended, what things are being done elsewhere that, uh, that aren't being done here, or at least aren't being done in the same way here, that strike you as things we ought to take a closer look at, and perhaps pursue. Not necessarily adopting a new structure, but...but, uh, increasing a certain focus, for example. Correia/ Well, I would say...from my opinion is that...that what they're doing there and in other communities around have specific dedicated juvenile officers. I mean, I think that...they have a juvenile detective bureau, I mean, I think because a lot of the issues that we've been talking about and struggling with are...are the way to juvenile crime, um...that this is one strategy for responding to juvenile crime, and I think iri some instances having, um, well, and in just talking to some police officers, juvenile crime takes up a lot of time, if there's lots of different officers having to utilize their hours, um, having one officer or a bureau that specializes in that and knows the system and knows everybody that they have to...rather than having it spread out and so having, um (mumbled) benefits, pros and cons to both systems, um, but you know in talking to folks, um, from communities that have those bureaus that then worked (mumbled) that there are some benefits, um, so they do have the juvenile detective bureau, they have a community liaison, um, that I guess was a position, so it's not a police, not a sworn officer, not even a community service officer, but they're called the community liaison that works with the community and...and um, and juveniles that come into contact with the police, to try and you know mitigate, bring down, uh, juvenile crimes. I think that's...that's something that I...in unique. Not unique to any department, but unique that we don't have...we don't have currently, um, where the other... some of the other things that they're doing that I think we are doing and maybe could take lessons in strengthening, um, you know, some of the community policing orientation, um, maybe some of the...what they're doing with the graffiti removal (mumbled) a lot of, um, new resources, um, but I think the...having a juvenile detective or juvenile officer, I don't know. Champion/ I think the group that's working on the situation on the east side are going to ask us for that very thing. So we'll probably hear from them soon. Bailey/ Why don't you go up to that microphone over there? (several talking) join us at the table. Neades/ I would say the two takeaways I had is...one would be that they used ordinances a lot to empower landlords, um, to get into, um, to homes and understand who's living there and really enforce, um, that and I think that's something that we could do inexpensively, and fairly easily, to empower our officers and our housing department. So, I mean, you two...you three can respond to that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 22 Fortmann/ Definitely as a police officer, I see it, uh, as a benefit because... if you... if you create an ordinance that says that a landlord has to go to this class and has to do a background check, um, and you have to, um, answer these nuisance abatement letters and things like that, um, it's not them saying that, uh, well, you as a tenant you have to behave, and you have to do the right thing. It's, well, you know, I'm sorry, the City has said you have to get out because you're not acting properly. It's not on the landlord, um, it's...it's the law! Um, so I think that does empower landlords a lot to take care of problems that they may not feel that they have the right or ability to, um, some of the other issues that, to answer your question, um, Mark, is the, um, there's...there's some software involved with, um, and I don't know that you guys got to look at at, um, but when I went into the police department, some software that is available for their computer systems, which actually allows them to keep track of visits to rental properties, and the reason I like that is not, you know, just per se the southeast side. It's city-wide, um, you know, we're not picking on anybody. It's everybody in the city, and specific problems become much more evident, uh, when this software is used because you're able to track where you've been, uh, the officers need to take a few minutes of their time to enter exactly what happened at this rental unit, and uh, and then these abatement, nuisance abatement letters go out to those particular problem areas. And I don't know how much this software costs, uh, I haven't pursued any additional information with, uh, the Corporal that we spoke to there, but it might be an inexpensive way to keep track of some of these problems. Wright/ Tracking some of this stuff has been a problem in the past, and we have not found a way to do it, so I was really kind of excited to see that in here. Bailey/ Well, and to me the landlord education was a real compelling piece...given we have a range of challenges with landlords in Iowa City, as most college towns do, and I thought this requiring that landlords have this...this full day, 8-hour course as a requirement for maintaining their rental license, I don't know, I think it's something worth considering or looking into. What are the benefits, what are the challenges, what could it do for us, I mean...I found that very interesting and kind of...kind of basic. You know, just to be able to have a rental license in the community. Wilburn/ Well it also...for some of the concerns for, um, property owners, land owners, that have been, uh, that aren't local... Bailey/ Yes! Wilburn/ ... it will... it would force them to have some type of local accountability. They or someone will need to, that they, you know, somebody who's the manager or that type of thing, so... Bailey/ And I think it provides, I mean, once again this opportunity of a two-way street, a better understanding of what exactly you can do, what exactly we expect you to do, what's legal, um, and what's possible, I mean, it gets that nuisance ordinance that we have out there and a better understanding of that, because we have some tools in place, but if we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 23 aren't using them or they aren't understood, I think that they're not as useful as they could be. Fortmann/ I was going to add that that's some of the issues that we deal with, uh, in calls for service are...are civil and of being civil complaints actually between landlord and tenants, and sometimes those are based on the fact that the landlord just doesn't know what his rights are, what he can do and what he can't do, and I think that education is very...would be a very positive step. Bailey/ I think it would be interesting to explore with, um, apartment renter's...the associations here, um, how that could be useful and what the possibilities are. I mean, I've spoke with Rebecca about that and...and maybe that's something the Chamber can help us do. I'd be interested in at least exploring that concept. Um...I don't know how others feel about that or how compelling that is. Fortmann/ One of the things to consider about that too is the high turnover that we have here, you know, if you're going to look at, um, doing background checks and things like that, and one of the reasons they aren't done is because the turnover is so large here, with the student population. Hayek/ What would it take to...to implement that here...in a community like this? Fortmann/ Well, they use...they use volunteers to do that process, if you're talking about the...the background checks? Um, 25 was the number that was thrown out there, but actually those 25 volunteers don't just do that. They're volunteers throughout the police department. They do a lot of other work, um, and not ever having done one, um, I don't know what the time...uh... Bollinger/ Well, and I think Davenport has a little bit different rental market, simply because they don't turn all over at the same (mumbled) here so, um, it makes it a little bit more manageable on their end to be working through all those. Bailey/ Sure. Neades/ One last thing I'd like to say, and the other takeaway for me was that we've got a community that's very transient, and it's easy to move from Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty and back, and so I really encourage you all to continue to communicate with Coralville and North Liberty because it really... it's helpful for Iowa City if we move people out, but it's, you know, Coralville will just inherit our problem, and...and vice versa, so... Bailey/ And there were people from North Liberty and Coralville here, so if we would pursue some landlord education or even some background checks I think that...that's a really good point. Makes...makes sense to do it in a regional sort of approach. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 24 Fortmann/ And we have Kirkwood right here too. I don't know if that would be...to work with, is their community college, but I would pursue it still. O'Donnell/ What kind of checks do we do in the city? Do we do the background checks and so forth? Bailey/ For Housing Authority? Yeah. Helling/ Just to clarify that, Steve'll be talking about what we do at the Housing Authority. Beyond that we don't...we don't mandate or have any background checks. Bailey/ We have no requirements, beyond what we do for our own.... Rackis/ Yeah, it's only what we do, and um, the...what's similar for both public housing and the housing choice voucher program is the family comes to the top of the waiting list. We're doing a national criminal background check on every adult, uh, member of that household, and what that entails is, uh, we send a faxed release to the Department of Criminal Investigation, uh, they review for the Iowa, um, any Iowa charges. If there are any Iowa charges, they send us that report. They then go to the, um, National Crime Information Center, NCIC, and if there is a hit out there, um, now it could just be, you know, there's a million Bill Smiths, um, but they will recommend, or it could be that they've actually seen a... a charge in say Alabama, uh, then they send the form back to us, recommending fingerprints. At that point we require that the person who they recommend to have fingerprints get fingerprints so we can sort it out to see if there is a charge or...or not a charge. Um, we're looking back five years and that's uh, primarily for drug related, criminal activity, violent criminal activity, and then last year we added, um, instances of fraud, theft that, you know, like forgery. The basic tenant of our program, what makes our program work, is people giving us true and complete information. So if people are committing fraud, you know, forgery, those type of crimes, uh, it stands to reason that they're not going to report income or that they're not going to report a family member who has committed a crime, or maybe a family member that has...has, uh, a criminal background. So that's for everybody, and uh, somebody does not get on the program, uh, unless they can, you know, clear that criminal background check. Now for public housing, we are doing, because we are the landlord, we are doing...we have more suitability criteria, uh, so in...in that sense we're acting...well, not like any other landlord because there are many landlords that do nothing, but we are checking prior landlords, uh, we are not really checking credit. Some landlords will check credit. We don't. We're dealing with populations that are below 30% of the median income. Chances are they're not going to have a good credit rating, but we are, you know, again, what...you know, what type of tenant were they, you know, what type of housekeeping, did they pay their rent on time, uh, were they a good tenant, would you rent to them again. So we have that suitability criteria built in to, uh, the public housing, and then on the other end, um, when somebody does violate the lease or violate the program, we are enforcing, uh, the lease and our leases are covered by Iowa Tenant- Landlord law. There are some HUD provisions, as well. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 25 Bailey/ Questions or clarifications for Steve? Did that address what you needed, Mike? Anything else on this topic? Wilburn/ The notion of the...go ahead, Eleanor. Dilkes/ I just wanted to say one thing just so there's no misunderstanding. The NCIC that Steve mentioned is something that's available to the Housing Authority. It is not available...and it's available to our Police Department, but it would not be available to us to search on behalf of, um, private landlords. Bailey/ It's more... it's (both talking) it's a deeper background check than they're using in Davenport, which...you made a distinction on, right? Okay, thank you for clarifying that. Rackis/ According to Iowa State Code, uh, it is only the Department of Criminal Investigation that can provide, uh, a criminal background history to non-law enforcement agencies, like the Housing Authority, like say Principal Financial Group, Mercy Hospital, um, as...as a result of that, they have, Sam and Jorie and Steve, they have their own NCIC computer, uh, but we can't walk down the hallway and get access to that information, cause they can't give it to us. So we have an agreement that HUD and the FBI made that allows us to have, um, access, but then again, we cannot... even HACAP has asked us for that, and...and we can't share it with anybody. We use it for our purpose, then we destroy it. Fortmann/ And that definitely would not be available to any volunteers that were doing...background checks for (several talking) Bailey/ That's an important...thank you for that important clarification. Okay. Ross, you wanted to say something? Wilburn/ Uh, the notion of some sort of juvenile, uh, officer or bureau, um, you know, I guess this gets in the direction of where, um, as we are able to budget forward and allow new officers, uh, this is a particular area, and I don't know if it needs to be a separate bureau, but uh, in terms of staffing, um, I would see that, um, working...working with juveniles does require a special skill set, um, and so um, that's not (mumbled) any of our officers, I mean, it's just some people have, uh, a knack, a talent for that particular area and that's, um, that's something I would have interest in... Bailey/ The Chief is here. So let's let him speak to what kind of resources that might entail, just so we all... Wilburn/ Any time you have a particular...but I mean, I don't know what your preface would be to have people and make sure that they were trained and assigned, uh, but um...my, uh, my personal background on the town I came from, you know, they had, um, they had specific juvenile, uh, bureau, and like I said, it takes a special person, certain personality and skills but... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 26 Hargadine/ Sure like the sound of bureau, because it sounds like multiple (laughter) Wilburn/ I thought you might! (laughter) Hargadine/ But uh, one of the things that you've seen in past budget requests is, uh, that would be one of the positions that we would fill is a juvenile detective slot. So I would see it as being a specialty position, um, enveloped with our investigative unit. Just like we have a domestic violence investigator, he's assigned to that unit, so um, and then that person would liaison with schools and the juvenile justice system and...and attend a lot of the meetings that, um, go on, specifically in the juvenile realm. Bailey/ Are there collaborative opportunities with the County to approach something like this? mean, I know that the juvenile officers are County, um, predominantly or juvenile court is through the County, so how...how would that work, or are there opportunities that we could look at? Hargadine/ County law enforcement? Bailey/ Perhaps, I don't know. Hargadine/ There's not been any discussions, um, with uh, the Johnson County, um...but certainly since we have a school system that... Bailey/ Right. Hargadine/ ...goes throughout multiple jurisdictions, um, that's a conversation that probably should occur with our... our neighbors. Bailey/ Well, once again I mean I think this is an area with the School District, and looking at regional, that it just makes sense, um, to do it more broadly, um, in whatever way is possible. Um, with 28Es or collaborative or shared or whatever. Correial(mumbled) Hargadine/ Um, sure, especially because, uh, typically when you're working juvenile related crime, somebody goes to one school in this particular area and a friend that was involved goes to another school, so it's going to (both talking) yeah, it would, uh, take them throughout multiple jurisdictions, similar to what...um, investigators go through in the adult realm, they don't stay just within Iowa City. Correia/ Right. Champion/ Is there any...possibility with the new justice center in the near future, 100 years from now, whenever... (several talking) Bailey/ Somebody's life time. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 27 Champion/ Um, of police departments sharing facilities? Will that save money? Hargadine/ Um, that's been discussed, um, with (mumbled) but it's also been discussed with Andy. Um, a joint fire and police operation. So, uh, whichever one gets the nod first, I'm going to be shaking hands with'em, so...(laughter) Bailey/ Good! Let's nod away! (laughter) Wilburn/ I...I, certainly in terms of the collaboration and the networking that would be necessary, because of those close relationships, close ties, that...that young people and families would have, um, I mean, that makes sense. I don't know that you...necessarily...Ithfnk it's something you have to look at that you can't short change because, um, because there are lots of kids and, I mean, not all of'em are locked up with the juvenile court system, but I remember when I was a...I was a, uh, substance abuse prevention and intervention staff member for five counties and there was one of me, and uh, you know...yeah, it's a whole lot of kids and...you can...if you go at it with the...idea of saving money, overall there may be some administrative savings that way, but if you go at it that way, you may do it on the cheap and not have an effective, uh, program (mumbled). Bailey/ Well, my approach was just thinking functionally about dealing with the issues broadly, and...and it's a lot of talk about regionalism and economic development, but this is another area that we have to think about broadly and regionally. So... Wright/ Particularly with a consolidated school district. Bailey/ Exactly! Wright/ With Coralville and Iowa City and North Liberty, it just makes a lot of sense if we could coordinate in some way with those...those other communities. Hargadine/ Well, that same model is going on with Jorie's position. He works with the University, um, we're the last player to bring that position to the table, so um, the citizens police academy, uh, we do that with all the other jurisdictions, and um, you know, on a daily basis Jorie interacts with the other officers from the other departments that are putting on the same program. Bailey/ Any other comments about this, um, any direction or next steps that you feel, I mean, there's some interest expressed in this juvenile crime position, bureau, whatever, um, I heard that, is that something we should continue to talk about as we move into budget and explore this? Champion/ I...I think so, yes. I have, um, I'm going to talk a little bit about the landlord education. I'm not against it, don't misunderstand me. But, we have a lot of landlords... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 28 Bailey/ Right. Champion/ ...I mean, if a land... if a landlord owns a duplex and he lives in one half and rents the other half, does he have to go to eight hours of training? Bailey/ To get a rental permit. Champion/ I mean, that... Bailey/ I mean, that's...how this would be structured it looks like. Correia/ That could be a question to ask. There could be a minimum number of... Wright/ Of units? Correia/ Of units, but I can't remember if we talked about that, but it is... Bailey/ Well, and our program wouldn't necessarily have to look like their program, I mean, if we had a program, we could structure it...what we saw the most efficient way. Correia/ Right, and I guess I would say that, just to let you know, and...when we were there in terms of a staffing that they have, Corporal Burger spends his whole, essentially his job is the landlord education and coordinating the...I mean, it's not like a, oh, we have this ordinance for landlord education and we don't have to staff anything. So... Champion/ Well, they have a (mumbled) 1 % sales tax. Correia/ No, I'm not saying that...that we don't have challenges for staffing something. I'm saying that...that it requires significant, or not insignificant staff time to manage it. I mean.. . Wright/ Not something we can just...enact (several talking) Correia/ Right, and I mean, and I think that there...potentially lessons to learn from them, from starting something that's more voluntary than mandatory. I mean, I think they've been doing the program for ten years or more than five years, voluntary, having this education and, uh, and the...but it hasn't been mandatory until maybe this last year, when they created this ordinance, so especially since they now have this opportunity to have the class online with the community college, if there's a way to bring that here, maybe a landlord that agrees to go through this online class gets a break on their landlord certificate, you know... Bailey/ The rental permit. Correia/ Rental permit, I don't know what it might be, but...I mean, there could be some (mumbled) incentives for getting this education voluntarily through online and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 29 documentation of that...that gives you a break. And potentially seeing if there's a way to get volunteers to do background checks, just voluntarily if landlords want to get that information, but don't have... Hayek/ I think the...most efficient route for us to take is to decide a laundry list of things we're...we're interested in or conversely anything we're not interested in from these two memos, give staff a chance to look at them internally, at least those departments that are affected by this, and come back to us with a sense of what's realistic and what they would recommend. I mean, I'd like to pursue the education. I'd like to look at the background checks, the juvenile component, I think the onsite police and the nuisance, uh, work that is being done in Davenport...I don't know if that ties into it, our pending discussion on the...on the nuisance code, but those sorts of things, if we can give staff a little bit of time to digest this and see what they think will work, in this community. (several responding) And signals to the...to the, uh, entire community that something is flowing from that visit. Bailey/ Well, so shall we prepare a list? Let's make it a short one. Wright/ Landlord education for sure. Bailey/ yeah, I'm really interested in landlord education. I don't know what it would take, but as Matt said, I mean, staff would have a better idea of what that could look like or how we could approach it, mandatory or voluntary. And, I really honestly don't even know how many rental permits we have in Iowa City, and how many...how many people we might be looking at, so that might be a good reality check if...yeah? Fortmann/ I would just add, Amy was talking about staffing, um, and I mentioned the software that was available, I will tell you that they have one corporal that that is all he does is deal with this software, um, coming in from the officers and then sending out the nuisance ordinances, so that's...yeah... Bailey/ ..could look like here. Fortmann/ Yeah, that would be something to consider. Cate/ Question was how many rental permits. Bailey/ Yes. Cate/ Approximately 3,800. Bailey/ Okay. So that's a big class of landlords. O'Donnell/ How many property... Bailey/ How many property owners do you think that is? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Cate/ I can't really answer that. Bailey/ Okay. Cate/ I don't know. Fortmann/ That could also be a potential income source there. Bailey/ Right, because they do charge. I saw that. Okay. So that's good to know. Page 30 Wilburn/ About 2% of the permits? Or, 2% of the rentals, are we, the City...what we own? Like 2%? Larger? A tenth of a percent? Rackis/ Yeah, like 81 divided by 16,600 units (several talking) yeah, 1/10th of 1%....00 (mumbled) Bailey/ This might be a challenge, but...um, I also heard information, or interested in this juvenile crime bureau. Hayek/ Yeah, and what...what Davenport does may or may not work here, but I think this...merits a closer look. Bailey/ Yeah, filtering it through out staff and what...what might work, what challenges we have, what challenges Davenport has, where they overlap, you know, so...what else here? Hayek/ Background checks. If that's not already on the list. Bailey/ Are others interested in pursuing the possibility of providing background checks for these land... for landlords? Wright/ Yeah. Champion/ I am, but I'm...again, I think that could be very complicated, since we have a tremendous amount of young students that are coming to the University, and do they really need a background check? I mean... Hayek/ It may be way too cumbersome, but.. . Wright/ It'd be nice to have staff bat that around and see what they might be able to come up with. Bailey/ And they might just come up with...forget about it! Wright/ Yeah, it might be too complicated. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Bailey/ Yeah. Wright/ I don't want to write it off yet. Bailey/ Okay. Champion/ I mean, if I was the landlord I'd want a background check. Bailey/ And... Helling/ Well, I suspect... Page 31 Bailey/ How many are doing them, that's another question, a credit check or a background check. I can't imagine that many landlords aren't already doing that. Correia/ And that might be a good conversation to have with the landlord association and maybe do a survey of the land, you know, and just ask... Bailey/ Yeah, that might be a good place to start (several talking) Fortmann/ ...create an ordinance requiring them to do it. Bailey/ Well, and that's...I mean, that would be part of the discussion with staff is, if you want to require this, this is the carrot, this is the stick, this'll probably get more compliance. That's, I mean, I don't know. Other things? On this list? Wright/ since we're just laying these things out, I really would like to be able to look at that, that tracking software that they're using in Davenport. Bailey/ And what it tracks? Wright/ What it tracks and how much it costs, again, would that be something we could use here? Bailey/ And, yeah. Fortmann/ I can pass around just a couple of, uh, examples (mumbled) Helling/ Or we can (several talking) Bailey/ Yeah, yeah. Helling/ (mumbled) Bailey/ Kind of (several talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 32 Champion/ ... is really important. That's really important. Wilburn/ Which one's that, Connie? Champion/ The graffiti part. Wilburn/ Oh. Champion/ On City property I don't think it's a problem. We generally take care of it pretty quickly, um... Correia/ Yeah, I think it would be...to have a hotline, people can...people can report it and then if it's on private property, there's some collaboration, with corrections or whoever, to try and get it... Bailey/ Well, we do try to address it quickly, but I don't know that that's...working. Helling/ We have a policy (several talking) Bailey/ No, on private property we ask...we demand that people remove it. Helling/ ...addresses both, but it doesn't expedite, and I think that's what... sounds like what they're talking about, is they get it in and get it out immediately. So we'd have to modify that somewhat, but...um, certainly I think we have an effective policy. Bailey/ So are others interested? I heard two people...(several responding) okay, all right. Anything else? On this wish list of ours? Wilburn/ Corporal Burger, was that a Mark Burger? Oh, okay. I know him! Bailey/ Okay, anything else? I think that's a pretty, um, substantial list. Hayek/ It is! There's no doubt about it. Bailey/ Um, and perhaps...well, Dale, you'll have a good idea of when this can come back to us, but you'll let us know. Helling/ Yeah, uh, it'll take a little time. Bailey/ Uh-huh. Okay. Helling/ (mumbled) Bailey/ Few other things the City is doing, just a few! Okay. Thank you so much, and thanks for making the visit. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 33 Wright/ I do have one quick question for Marcia on, uh, going back to Dale's summary report. That there, uh, it says you've been working with the Human Rights Coordinator to assist a conciliation specialist with the US Department of Justice. Bollinger/ That's still ongoing. Wright/ That's still ongoing. Bollinger/ No decisions have been made as to whether we're going to pursue that option, um, it's basically another entity coming from another part of the country who wants to come in and assist in... in coordinating all these efforts and so we haven't made any real decisions on that. And I think he's had conversations with the Police Chief, and Dale, if you're involved.... Helling/ It's a small... it's a small section of the Department of Justice and... and they essentially come in...it's to assist where they can and to attempt to, um, that they can play the role of a mediator, perhaps, whatever they (mumbled) and in this case the neighborhood and see what's going on. I, at this point, I'm not even sure that, um, they've made an assessment of whether they can really provide any benefit (mumbled) that's kind of an ongoing thing, um, we'll just have to see how that (mumbled) Wright/ How did we come to their attention, or how did they come to ours? Bollinger/ I do not know. Helling/ We came to theirs, but I don't know how. (several talking) Hargadine/ They scan the newspapers and are looking for business. Wright/ Okay. (laughter) Hayek/ I could have said that for ya! Bailey/ Okay, anything else? Thank you. Thanks for being here. Appreciate it. All right, let's um, good to move along? Champion/No, I want to talk about the, uh, the assisted housing. I thought we were going to talk some more about this. Wright/ About what? Champion/ Denial of (mumbled) of assisted housing as part of the memo. Correia/ Part of the memo. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 34 Bailey/ Oh, okay. We're not ready to move on to the next topic. Okay. Champion/ One of the criteria... Bailey/ Steve? Sorry! Glad they didn't get out the door! Champion/ It says one of the criteria for termination is any member of the family commits violent criminal activity at a subsidized unit or elsewhere. So how do we handle juveniles on this? Do we have repeat juveniles? Tell me how you handle juveniles. Rackis/ Well, um, we had a meeting some months ago. Juveniles we just started handling, well, not just, um, back in January, February, uh, started a collaboration with Mediation Services so when...when juveniles are charged with, um, violent criminal activity, we've been setting up, uh, facilitated sessions, based upon, uh, what the Sixth Judicial District calls, uh, family circles. So it's really...it's not really a mediation, but it's sort of a facilitated discussion, and the primary purpose of that is to, uh, make sure that the juveniles, uh, clearly understand that their actions can affect the entire household. HUD does not make a distinction on...on age when it comes to, uh, denying or terminating, uh, of assistance. So what we're trying to do is, you know, the adult is signing the family responsibilities, the adult that's signing a lease. They're acknowledging that they understand, um, but the juveniles are not, so this is an attempt on ours to make them very much aware that, you know, that their activities can affect the household, and what we're looking at is to try to, um, you know, change that behavior, provide the parent with some tools to help change that behavior, uh, to provide some other community resources that...that can help them out, but letting the family clearly understand that, uh, that that...if that behavior continues that there is a possibility that the housing assistance will be terminated. One of the things we also take a look at is the age of the juvenile and the severity of the crime. Uh, for example, um, there was one, uh, and I forgot the age of the juvenile, but um, was arrested, um, I think was operating a vehicle, and uh, under...was impaired upon searching the vehicle, this, uh, juvenile had drugs that were prepared for distribution and I believe they might have also had a weapon in the car. Um, when I saw that police report and those three factors, uh, and I believe the kid might have been 16, 17, uh, I did not take that to a family circle, cause I felt that was, um, sort of egregious enough of an activity, and I think they might have even took a swing at...at the officer, so there was, uh, drug charge, weapon charge, and an assault, with intent to commit bodily harm. So, we did not mediate that one, and the family did not, um, appeal the termination decision. So we take a lot of factors into consideration. Champion/ what about, uh, what about um...there's been a lot of vandalism on the southeast side. How is vandalism. handled? Rackis/ Well, uh, again... Champion/ It's not a violent criminal activity, I guess it's violent against an object. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 35 Rackis/ Yeah, we, um, again, according to the HUD, um, regulations, we can't terminate a family for... for vandalism. Now, uh, there is the notion of certain criminal activity on or near the premises, so we...we would have to make a determination in some cases, um, was the criminal activity, you know, sort of falls into the definition of near the premises, where, um, and the peaceful enjoyment of...of the rest of the neighborhood. Now, is, you know, clearly if that's next door that's on or near the premises. Six, seven blocks away, you know, it's, you know, HUD doesn't give you any distinction of what they mean by on or near the premises. So, but vandalism in and of itself would not be, uh, a crime that we would...that's covered under the HUD, uh, regulations for termination. Bailey/ So you wouldn't go into a family circle regarding vandalism... Rackis/ We'd...we might go to a family circle. Bailey/Okay. Rackis/ Just to... Bailey/ Address some potentially escalating behavior (both talking) Champion/ So HUD thinks it's okay that somebody can break windows and stomp all over cars six blocks away, that that's...that's okay, but they can't do it on or near where they're actually living. Rackis/ Well, again, um, the HUD regulations, um, for termination, uh, because we explored that in 2008 when we made changes, um, for denials and terminations, and what Sue Dulek felt was that we can only terminate a family for specifically what is written in the HUD regulations. There is a Supreme Court case that allowed us much greater leeway in the denial of assistance, but in the case of termination, it's only what the HUD regs will support. And...and I don't believe vandalism, uh, is going to be supported in the HUD regs as...as um, a...again, it's not violent criminal activity. It's not drug related activity. While it comes under the, uh, the umbrella of other, uh, related criminal activity, this other related criminal activity is then tied to on or near the premises, and how it affects the peaceful enjoyment. Drugs and violent criminal activity can happen anywhere. Somebody is arrested in Cedar Rapids for assault, we can terminate their assistance. It doesn't... it doesn't have to be on or near the premises. Correia/ based on my knowledge of Iowa's landlord law, I wouldn't think that... someone could be evicted for vandalism that happens six blocks or wherever, even (both talking) clear and present danger... Rackis/ Probably only...only if the landlord included vandalism in the lease, would I think that...if the landlord included it in the lease, then they probably could take action, but I don't...I don't think I've ever seen a lease that talked to vandalism. Most landlords will put criminal activity in the lease, or tying it to violent or, you know, repeated, on the premises type of acts. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 36 Correia/ Well, and the Iowa Tenant-Landlord law would allow that anyway, for... if it's a clear and present danger. Rackis/ Yes. Helling/ I think it's important to keep the distinction between termination and...or assistance versus conviction, because termination may well result in eviction, but it may not. But eviction is a...is a civil process. Rackis/ Typically what we've seen is terminated families, um, tend to stay in...in the unit that...that they were in when we were assisting them. Uh, that, there isn't a lot of movement, uh, you know, many times they find a way to pay the rent, and continue to pay the rent. So we've seen families that, you know, three years after termination their names are still popping up on, in newspaper, on the arrest docket, and they're at the same address that they were in, uh, which sort of goes to your prior discussion regarding more landlord involvement. O'Donnell/ Steve, uh, the...the one case you cited, the young guy that had the weapon, that had the drugs, and swung at an officer, would...would any of the three of those been enough for termination? Rackis/ Oh, we did terminate! O'Donnell/ I...I mean, standing alone, any one of the three? Rackis/ Any single one could...could result in a termination. But it was just the fact that they were all together, uh, that I really didn't want to entertain the facilitated discussion about, you know, what that young man did. O'Donnell/ Do you have any idea how many we've terminated? Rackis/ Uh, this year? Uh, I'd have to look at the data. I think we're, um, probably in the neighborhood...we've had maybe 50, 60 hearings. Uh, well, actually I think between denial hearings and terminations, we're probably around 80, and there are still, uh, hearings being scheduled. But I... Correia/ ...not only for criminal activity. Rackis/ No... Correia/ Terminations are for (mumbled) household or... Rackis/ Unauthorized persons, didn't report income, uh, didn't provide true and complete information, uh, didn't provide the Housing Authority with information that was requested, which we just had one where there was a family, had unauthorized persons, we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 37 requested information, we asked for that information three times, they provided nothing, uh, we terminated, and they also didn't report, um, that they owned two cars on their tenant information packet, so it was a combination of not providing information, and not providing true and complete, so there's a lot of...the family responsibilities can cover a lot more things than drugs and violent criminal activity. O'Donnell/ Would you have any idea what percentage, um, were related to criminal activity? Rackis/ Um, probably half. Half... Doug's our hearing officer. Boothroy/ I think probably half the terminations are due to criminal activity. O'Donnell/ Thank you. Bailey/ Any other questions for Steve or Doug on this memo? Champion/ So there...go ahead. Hayek/ Well, just one last one...uh, and it has to do with the definition of family and non-family members occupying the house and violation of the lease. What kind of verification goes on, after the lease up and during the tenancy, as to occupancy and... only those who are on the lease are in occupation of the premises? Rackis/ Well, again, uh, in the case of the housing choice voucher program, we're not the landlord, and um, therefore, uh, we don't have any...any right to access the property, I mean, even the landlord would have to provide 24 hour notification, um, what, you know, again, what we do on a daily basis is we're screening, uh, the arrest blotter, uh, we're looking at the newspaper, we're cross-matching addresses, we're cross-matching names, so a lot of times, uh, we're finding unauthorized persons because they have been arrested, uh, they've committed a crime, they've reported an assisted unit as their address, uh, we follow up with the police, we follow up with all of our sources, to conduct an investigation, um, to determine where that individual is living. And if we determine that they're...in the unit, and again, our hearing process is preponderance of the evidence, so in many cases an unauthorized person, uh, could be viewed as heresy type of evidence, but you know, when somebody tells Iowa Work Force Development that's where they live, uh, if they tell their employer that's where they live, um, you know, that...that starts putting a lot of weight to...to our case that it's an unauthorized person. Uh, you know, again going back to your prior discussion, I would say the landlord is probably the least likely person to identify an unauthorized person, unless they have a family they want to get rid of and they will use us and hearing process to do it for them. Boothroy/ We...there's an annual financial review, and there's...as part of that there's also annual housing inspection, so and when the housing inspector's in there, uh, if there's any sign of, um, problems with over-occupancy or unauthorized individuals, uh, it would be reported to Steve, so at least annually somebody's inside the unit, uh, otherwise it's up to the landlord. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 38 Hayek/ Is there any requirement imposing on the landlord some heightened responsibility to...to check in on occupancy during the term of that lease? That you're aware of? (several talking) Rackis/ No, again, the relationship between the landlord and the tenant is covered by Iowa Tenant-Landlord law, uh, our relationship with a client is, again, the family responsibilities, paying a portion of the rent, and our relationship to the landlord is a...is a contract to pay a portion of the rent. So it is up to the landlord to enforce, uh, the lease and to manage their property, and some are better than others. Boothroy/ Some of the, uh, termination hearings on unauthorized individuals, the landlord has provided information in terms of those, I mean, that's part of the evidence that's presented, uh, and so you do get cooperation in some situations. Not in every situation, but uh, just like even with, you know, we talked about nuisance property ordinance, uh, you know, we've had a great response from landlords, once they understood what those...those, what that's all about. It's not 100%, but it's certainly very good. So... Bailey/ Other questions, discussion points? Thank you. Anything else on this item? Thanks for being here. Let's...do you want to move on or take a break? Wright/ I'd like a quick break. Bailey/ Yeah, let's re, uh, reconvene at 8:15. (BREAK) Okay, next up is legislative priorities, information packet #3. Dale, did you...I noticed that we have a couple of additions...on this. Legislative Priorities (IP3 of 11/12): Helling/ Yes, um...the increase in, uh, possible increase in fees for liquor and beer licenses, as well as, uh, items...that's S.c., and then 6 is increase in fees for cigarette licenses. Those haven't been increased in over 20 years. I don't know when the last time the liquor license were...I think Marian... Karr/ Well, it's tough because they've added different types and broken it apart, so it's a little different type of configuration than the basic...cigarette, but it's been several decades. It's over a decade. Bailey/ Okay. Helling/ And then it was my understanding that, um, when we talked a little bit about the road use tax and time-21, we just wanted to add a note, uh, supporting the legislative priorities of the League (mumbled). Bailey/ Uh-huh. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 39 Helling/ (mumbled) Karr/ Now, if I may, I do want to just note that...that on the liquor, the City has added fees to liquor licenses since the state. Bailey/ Okay. Champion/ Oh, good! Karr/ Such as the DCI checks or any of those other ones that are required to get a liquor...they're cost based, but to the, yeah. Bailey/ Okay? Helling/ So, if...if that looked like what you want, then we'll put that in the form of a resolution like we have the past few years, and have it on your agenda for the first. Bailey/ Okay. I...I think that this looks good. Hayek/ Yeah, I mean, S.b., you know, the cover charge, uh, I've not looked into that. I...I mean, I assume that there is considerable local. concern. I... it's not been something I've talked about or...or heard a whole lot about. It came up at our recent meeting... Karr/ Right, I believe the Mayor...that wasn't one of mine. That was one of Regenia's. Bailey/ I have talked to people that have some concern about it. I don't know if it's, you know, overwhelming or consuming. I did talk to, um, actually I talked to the State Auditor about it, who also talked to some other departments, that they believe that they have sufficient measures in place to account for that cash...cash only business, um, I'm not...(several talking). Um, rarely talk to Mr. Vaught like that, but I could. Wilburn/ It's something that, um, in the past ten years as...as the Council has discussed regulations related to the liquor permits, has...has come up, from um, some members of the public, uh, I believe it was subject of some conversations with the former, um, stepping up coalition. Bailey/ Yes. Wilburn/ I believe...I've also heard the cities of Des Moines and Dubuque talk about that, where there's some, you know, large campus and the games too. Bailey/ And...and Des Moines has seen increased...increasing number of using cover charges for similar sorts of approaches to supplement below drink...below cost drink specials. Wilburn/ Right. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 40 Bailey/ And I mean, that really is what we're talking about, is how they supplement income. Correia/ That encourages over-consumption. Bailey/ Yes. It enables it, yeah. Wright/ I've heard concerns from people that thought this wasn't being handled appropriately at some institutions. Champion/ It certainly brings in a tremendous amount of money. Hayek/ Does the, uh, does the order of these priorities matter in terms of perception or reception? We've got, you know, requests for $120 million in I-Jobs funding below drink specials, and it's shorter...it...it maybe semantics, but it's how you read this (both talking) Bailey/ I think that that's really a valid thing, I mean, for example, tax increment finances - we want no changes or further restrictions. That seems like a defensive sort of comment can go at the...near the end, as well. Hayek/ That'd be the kind of thing I wonder whether presentation matters on something like this - I don't know. Bailey/ I think presentation always matters when you're looking at a short...a short list, um... Correia/ Is there any...thought to presenting it as these are requests that are non-budgetary in that...you know, have no budgetary impact versus...funding matters? Do you know what I'm saying? (several responding) ask them to do something, that isn't asking for dollars. Hayek/ Although I think you can look at this, only the alcoholic beverages item is non- budgetary. Bailey/ Right. Correia/ Well, no (several talking) about money, but it's not requiring them to give us money. Hayek/ Well, but, some government entities getting it. I guess... Correia/ Yes, I know, but it's not impacting the state. I guess it's... Bailey/ It's not requiring them to...(several talking) Hayek/ Oh, I see where you're going with that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 41 Bailey/ Well...whereas potentially the examination of cover charges would have a positive impact on this, if we believe that there's underreporting going on. Could have a positive impact on the state budget. Insofar as they could collect additional taxes. Correia/ Yes, I guess I was thinking more about... Bailey/ Right! I...I agree. I think we need to sort of order these in a more...I don't know if priority is the right...level of importance, and I would put I-Jobs a little bit closer to the top, for sure. Other thoughts? Hayek/ Yeah, I don't have a problem with moving it up, it just kind of screams college town to me when I read this, and...and we are (several talking) Bailey/ Have you met our community? Welcome to (laughter) Hayek/ Campus, I don't...um, but I...something doesn't strike me as convincing, at least as to the other items, which are of incredible significance. Bailey/ Well, I mean, one of the things I think the alcohol beverages, particularly, is it reflects an on-going discussion in our community, and I think that that's significant...because we have the ear of our legislators, um, maybe more than others feel that they do, although I think that they're very accessible. I think it makes sense to pass on what we have been hearing regarding that on-going discussion in the community. Which, you know, we are asked to address...a lot. So with just moving I-Jobs up, any other... Hayek/ Why don't under S.b. the...the, why don't you just take out the language after the long dash. I mean, because it, that provides the explanation for the first part of it. Bailey/ Yeah, and that could be (both talking) Hayek/ And the other...the other line items don't really have explanations either. Bailey/ And that's one thing...yeah, I think that that makes... Wright/ Actually a good point. Helling/ So you're saying just take that language out? Champion/ Uh-huh. Bailey/ State examination of the cash only business of cover charges, period. Correct? Is that... Helling/ But keep all the alcohol... issues together? Hayek/ Sure. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 42 Bailey/ Yes. Helling/ Just in terms of moving something up...you've moved two things up, but I don't know which one to move up higher (both talking) Bailey/ I would just move....I-Jobs up ahead, um, tax increment financing. Correia/ I mean, but the thing about that is, I mean...we know the state of the state budget, I mean, and... Wilburn/ There could be...there could be merit to grouping them in terms of revenue. Correia/ Yeah, I mean... Wilburn/ ...and non-revenue costing. Correia/ Right! And in terms of thinking about things that would have the most positive...that's correctly grammatical, impact on our budget would be things like taxing non-owner occupied condominiums. This municipal fire. Bailey/ Hotel/motel. Correia/ And the hotel/motel. Those are things that's not asking them for money. It's just asking them to allow us to...raise, you know, get more money on our own, essentially. The municipal police-fire is to contain costs, that there are other things, and then the tax, you know, what are things that...I mean, I think that... in this budgetary climate, I think it...makes us feel, you know, more positive towards us that we're not just got our hand out. Wright/ Some of those, yeah, separate out the things (both talking) Correia/ Help us help ourselves kind of things, you know. Hayek/ Don't disagree, and we had even talked about the wisdom of including I-Jobs in a climate like this. Correia/ Right, right. Bailey/ I still think that we need to advocate, though, for ongoing flood recovery. Correia/ No, no, I agree. I'm not saying that shouldn't be there, but I...I just wonder if there is a way to group that says, you know, these are things that you can do that... Bailey/ So, okay, so what' I'm hearing you say is group item number 2, condominiums, hotel/motel tax, um, let's see...municipal fire and police retirement, and then tax increment financing, help us help ourselves sort of thing. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 43 Correia/ Right. Bailey/ Those are the...those are...that group. And then the others...and cigarettes. Okay, oh yeah, I have (mumbled) and then, um, another group would be passenger rail, and I-Jobs, and then...uh, that would be the other group, and then alcoholic beverages and number 9, at...to close it up. Did I get all of them? Hayek/ I'd put number 5, alcoholic beverages, at the bottom just above League of Cities. Bailey/ I would too. Correia/ Yep! Bailey/ I agree with that. (both talking) Yeah, that's... Helling/ Put it just above... Bailey/ So, group number 1, lead with 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8. Is that what you guys have? Helling/ In that order or? Bailey/ I don't... Helling/ You don't care, as long as they're just grouped. Hayek/ Yeah, those are fine. Helling/ Okay, that's fine. Bailey/ Yeah, and then next...next section is I and 7, and then alcoholic beverages, and then number 9. Is that what everybody else? Hayek/ Yeah. Bailey/ Okay! Hayek/ On I-Jobs, do we want to...is, do we say that the next round should be at least as much as the last round, when the state's situation has deteriorated significantly. Or is it better to say, support another round, consistent with...reality, you know, the state's budget reality. Correia/ Yeah, I know... Bailey/ Given the number of cities that were denied I-Jobs funding, a second round will be even more competitive, because the economic climate also has changed for cities, as well, so, I mean...I mean...we can...we can... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 44 Hayek/ If I'm a state legislator and you come to me and say, uh, your...you had ten dollars, uh, the last round and now you've got six dollars, but I want your allocation on this particular program to not change, I'm going to get...I'm going to feel kind of defensive about it. Bailey/ Sure... Correia/ I also think there's the big picture here that these state budget cuts are...are not, maybe not negatively impacting Iowa City, but the community was cutting, um, juvenile court services, and the courts, you know, and like public safety things and other, you know, human services. If this competes with that, I don't think that that... Bailey/ It doesn't, because it's bonding. This is like a capital improvement program and one of the things that we know about the state is they rarely bond. I mean, to bond for I-Jobs was an unusual move, and so what we're asking them for is to do another bold move to bond for the future of the state. It will enable us, even as some of these other jobs are being lost locally, to...to provide some level of economic stimulus to address flood recovery issues. And, um, it's...it's borrowing, admittedly, and that's a difficult thing to wrap your head around, but it's not the same "pot of money." And I know that people resent talking about that, but it isn't. Correia/ But how does the state pay back their bonds? Bailey/ Some through gambling revenue. I don't know how.. . Correia/ ...these other things. Bailey/ How...how...how are the I-Jobs being paid back? Some through gambling...I thought a lot through gambling revenue. Helling/ I think...I think all of it through gambling, as I understand it (mumbled) Bailey/ They use a lot of gambling revenue for paybacks. Correia/ But gambling revenue has been...has gone to other general fund state activities, so I mean, it's... Bailey/ Gambling revenue goes to a lot of vertical infrastructure (both talking) projects. Yep, gambling revenue helps support CAT and RECAT and Vision Iowa. Correia/ So it's taking money from there? Bailey/ Um, no. Correia/ Oh! It's got to take money from somewhere! (laughter) I don't know. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 45 Champion/ ...put in a few more gambling boats just to pick up that fund! Correial Oh, great! Wilburn/ Actually they are. (several talking) Bailey/ Actually, maybe we could get our bid in. So are we...do we agree that we want to leave the I-Jobs, I mean... Champion/ Yes. Bailey/ I made the case for putting the dollar amount. Matt, is uncomfortable about that. I don't really...I want to support a bold, I know it's extreme, but... Wilburn/ Well, I think it's, uh, I see where you're going, Matt, but it's also challenging to, um, there may be some legislators out there that are...are thinking that's something they want to do, and if they see justifications from some cities saying...then that may be...they may ignore the rest of the list, but if... if that fits their agenda, then they may (mumbled) Bailey/ Well, and there are cities out there who didn't get those grants, um, and I think that there might be pressure for another round for that very reason. They want theirs. Davenport. Helling/ Just for clarification, the...the first grouping was one that I think you characterized it as things that don't have a direct impact or a cost to the state budget. Bailey/ Well, we don't even need headers. Necessarily. Helling/ I just think number 5 falls into that group, as well. (several talking) If you don't want a header, then that's fine. It doesn't... Bailey/ I just think we could put them in those different groups, without necessarily headers and... and lead with that introduction, broadly these are enabling for the city, broadly these will cost the state, broadly these are some concerns we have with the, in our community about alcoholic beverages and of course, as a member of the League of Cities, we support their legislative priorities. Correia/ I think that first group was more about help us raise revenue through these (both talking) Helling/ Okay, we'll just put'em in that order and then you can...you can characterize (mumbled) Bailey/ Yeah. Hayek/ That sounds good. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 46 Bailey/ Sounds good. Thanks. Anything else on legislative priorities? Okay. Information packet discussions. Information packets from the fifth and the twelfth. Information Packet Discussion (IP 11/5 and 11/12): Correial I just wondered why this one didn't...wasn't double-sided. (laughter) Bailey/ I did too! What happened? In our green, green city. Correia/ It wasn't double-sided. Karr/ We did it in-house I think this time. Bailey/ Okay. Correia/ Oh, so we don't have double-sided... Karr/ No, I think we forgot. Correia/ Oh, okay. Wright/ I didn't even notice. Bailey/ Oh, I did. I thought it was like, what's wrong with...oh! (laughter) Any other (several talking) Hayek/ I'm going to start with, uh, info packet for November 12, which...because we were just talking about legislative priorities, it's a couple pages past that, and IPS on the naming policy. I...um, no, I...I...the section two...um, it may be a...difference, anuance difference, but I don't...I think what the consensus we reached was a little bit different. This says that both facilities, uh, may be named after an individual in honor of, I'm sorry, in honor of their service or contribution that is of historic significance. As I recall, what we decided was that...persons of historic significance could be honored. Champion/ Oh, sure! Bailey/ I think that that's... Hayek/ There's a distinction. Bailey/ I think that's what I recall from the discussion, as well. Hayek/ Okay, and so I came up with (both talking) Bailey/ ...the individual is of historic, yeah. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 47 Hayek/ What I would do to correct that, if there's support, is that...that first line in section two is fine. So public facilities with the exception of buildings may be named after an individual of historic significance ten years or more after the individual's death. Period. Champion/ Uh-huh. I think that's exactly what we meant. Hayek/ Yep. Bailey/ Okay. Hayek/ It avoids that trap that we talked about. Bailey/ Good. Correia/ And what's...how did we talk about accepting buildings? I don't...what's the difference between a public facility... Bailey/ A park, or a room within a building or a structure (mumbled) Correia/ Okay. So like there would never be a rec center named after a person? Champion/ There is one! Correia/ Well, there is now, but I mean a new one. Wright/ Under this policy, no. Bailey/ No. Correia/ Okay, never a public building. Bailey/ But...but the Scanlon Gymnasium, a gymnasium, a pool within could be. Correia/ Right, right. Champion/ We have a lot of buildings named after (several talking) Mercer, yes, named after Mercer. Exactly. We have a lot of buildings named after people. (laughter) Wilburn/ Chauncey Swan. Correia/ I'm just talking about buildings. Champion/ Mercer. Helling/ So, I wasn't sure that you wanted to totally accept buildings. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 48 Correia/ Right. I remember doing that. Bailey/ I'm comfortable doing that. I thought this was a really good direction (several talking) Helling/ I do need some clarification, again, on number 2 though. Um...but you want to talk about of historical significance, and then ten years or more after death, but you want to leave in the part about in honor or recognition of somebody's service or contribution. Bailey/ No. Helling/ No, you want to take that out? Hayek/ Take it out. Champion/ But, if they have an extraordinary service, they're going to be historic in some way. Helling/ Okay, so you... okay. Bailey/ The historic significance is covering that, is what you're indicating. Champion/ Yes, definitely. Wilburn/ (several talking) change anyone's mind, but um, I saw on the public access not too long ago, uh, one of the schools was named after Weber and it was neat to see them present for the (several talking) Champion/ I was actually President of the School Board when that happened. Wilburn/ Yeah. Champion/ Um...yeah, it was neat to have him there. Wilburn/ So, anyway, just thought I'd throw that out. Bailey/ So...are you...the next step for this is to... Champion/ And that happens at, um, another school. Yeah, we...I don't know. Wilburn/ Weber and Van Allen, wasn't it? Champion/ Van Allen, and somebody else. Wilburn/ Wasn't Weber there? Champion/ Weber was there, yeah, definitely. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 49 Wilburn/ (several talking) but the point being that they are public buildings. Bailey/ Yes. Wilburn/ And my other point was in terms of... Bailey/ And they were alive! Wilburn/ They were alive, and there was some meaning for the...young people and the adults (several talking) Champion/ And it was a celebration for the Lemme family too. Wilburn/ Oh, yeah! Correia/ Well, generally you think of schools as being named after people, so...I mean, it is a whole different area of (several talking) Wilburn/ They're still public buildings, and my point was about the meaning and the potential...potential education purpose with the public. Bailey/ And schools should be educating...yes! Good! Good schools go educate. So, the next step for this is to, um, take this policy to boards and commissions and get some feedback. Is that...what is your proposal, Dale? Helling/ I'm sorry, I was... Bailey/ You were still writing! Helling/ Working on the language, I'm sorry. Bailey/ The next step, um, is sort of, we should probably present these to boards and commissions for feedback, as well. Helling/ Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that would be a good idea, um, and then they can give you some feedback in terms of how that... sort of, uh, corresponds to their policies, uh, I think it's open enough that...hopefully it would cover it, but... Bailey/ And then...Eleanor will give us some information about how this will apply to Library Board and Airport, right? Dilkes/ Yeah, I've pretty much concluded that it would be the authority of the City to name, like name the Library building, um, and the Library, Airport, since you own those properties. Um...it's a lot hazier when you get into the internal rooms, and I think that is more operational. That's probably where I would draw the line. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 50 Bailey/ Okay. Okay. So, um, if we are comfortable with these two, with the change made to number two. The next is to send out a memo...Dale, you'll take care of sending out a memo to our boards and commissions, and we'll just go from there, um...and perhaps give them a deadline for some feedback so we can get this on... an agenda. Okay, any other comments on this? All right, other information packet items? You have another one? Champion/ Well, I don't know if I should bring this up at Council time or, um, because the minutes of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee. Bailey/ Why don't we just bring it up now, because they're in the information packet. Champion/ Uh, we did talk at my last, uh, special meeting, not with the whole coordinating committee, with the Facilities Committee, uh, the possibility, and I think, um, Steve Atkins was involved in some preliminary discussions, and I don't know, Dale, if you've been discussing it or not, about combining the Sheriff s... station and the police station, our police station, whether that would be a practical solution to not duplicating facilities. I mean, you would still have your independence kind of thing, but I'm not so sure how it could be done, but the Sheriff was very interested in it, and it sounds like Chief Hargadine was very interested in looking at it anyway. Helling/ Um, no, I'm not...not been involved in any of those discussions. Champion/ Well, there haven't really been any. It was just merely mentioned. Helling/ Yeah, um, certainly there are joint law enforcement centers (mumbled) would have shared space, uh, obviously the cost, but that's not in our capital improvement program now to construct a police station, and would essentially we would be doing that...as part of that facility. Champion/ Well, it's not going to happen next year, Dale. Helling/ Doesn't look like it (laughter) Champion/ But I mean, I...I think it's something we should bring up at a joint meeting, uh, when we meet with Coralville and North Liberty and, I mean, we have the joint communication center now, uh... Correia/ So it'd be either moving Iowa City Police Department out somewhere. Champion/ You move it into the criminal justice system, I mean, the criminal justice center. Correia/ So sort of thinking about space needs...here to see if that would be, that's like in a five- year...the new criminal justice center isn't going to be online in five years even. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 51 Bailey/ And last year we talked about some kind of facilities plan and study, and...and I mean, how far away are we from needing to look at that? Helling/ Um... . Bailey/ And I know there would be some costs associated... Helling/ ...that probably would address more in terms of, if we were going with the Police Department, for instance, since that's what we're talking about, were going to remain a part of the City's facilities. If you pursue a joint, uh, facility, that just takes that out of the picture of the overall study, I think. Um...I think probably what I would like to do first is maybe have the Sheriff and the Chief talk about this a little bit, and uh, obviously...if the, uh, justice center's going to be located in the central area... Champion/ It will be! Helling/ ...lot more feasible, yeah, but..and they've apparently talked about it, but I...I'm not privy to that. I think that's probably the first step, uh, just to (mumbled) about how that might come together and how they could work together. That could happen, I think, fairly quickly, and we could get back to... Bailey/ Well, and the important consideration is the additional square footage, I think, obviously. I mean....(several talking) yeah sure, but I mean, if you're getting a new facility you'll want to expand. I mean, it's not going to be the same square footage as we have probably. Helling/ Well (several talking) element would be missing would be the communications center, that's now removed, both from the Sheriff s Department as well as from here. Bailey/ Yeah, I think bringing...having them talk about it and bringing us some information before we plop it down in a joint meeting would make sense. Hayek/ Yeah, but for what it's worth, I think right now, given...given the climate, that...that talking about large new City facilities, in combination with others or not, is kind of risky business. I don't know how much support there is... Bailey/ Although to seize the opportunity, and to explore the opportunity of whether this...because we're building what, a 50-year building here? With the justice center, to see if it in the long-range would make sense to plan and to consider that, as this moves forward, seems prudent actually. Wright/ I don't think there's harm in having some conversations about it, and I...it...it's not the type of thing that's...at a conversation stage is going to come back to bite anybody. I think I agree with Regenia, it's...it's prudent to look at what may be a good opportunity, or maybe something that we're not even interested in. But we won't know (several talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 52 Hayek/ ...discussions fine, I'm just saying... Bailey/ ...build a new police station in seven years or share, I mean, we're not saying that at all. We don't even know...yes, proceed carefully. Hayek/ Yeah, I mean, I'm just not convinced the appetite is there, and every now and then people talk about, you know, moving City Hall or rebuilding City Hall, and those are the things that can set people off, when they're already strapped as it is, and...and unless the need is super-urgent, those are dangerous conversations. Bailey/ But I also think as...as governmental entities are...are looking at capital, are looking at building facilities, it just makes sense to say is there an opportunity here that would make sense, um, that wouldn't, you know, jack this up, you know, double the price, or, I mean, is there an opportunity here that we should be exploring. Champion/ There must be some savings in doing it. Bailey/ There are, I mean, there are these once in a lifetime, or once in a generation opportunities that should at least be examined, even if they're later dismissed. Hayek/ But...but this justice center, I mean, the bond hasn't even been...there hasn't even been a vote. Champion/ The amount hasn't even been discovered yet. Hayek/ So we've got... Champion/ Believe you me, this is not going to (several talking) Bailey/ I think you're also indicating to participate in a potentially $70 million bond (mumbled) I hear what you're saying. Wright/ Having read the minutes for the justice center coordinating committee, I don't think we have much to worry about in terms of speed. (laughter) Champion/ I don't think so! Bailey/ Maybe not in our lifetimes? Champion/ Not in mine, for sure! Bailey/ (laughter) Optimist! Okay, anything else from the information packet? Really? Hayek/ One minor thing. I feel like I've been talking all night long, but (several talking) um, I got a call from a land owner, uh, south of Burlington Street, he owns quite a bit of This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 53 property, and he wasn't happy about the Riverfront Crossings district meetings, uh, from last week. He says he wasn't invited. I don't know if he was or not. What I got out of that thing I saw lots of people of different flavors, you know, going in and out of those meetings. I think the message is, as we go forward with preliminary planning for that district, you know, we need to be mindful of people who feel left out from the conversations. Bailey/ Well, and I think that they could do a follow-up call with Karen Howard and just give, I mean, I think this is still an input taking time, so I don't think giving them Karen's number would be a bad...a bad thing. I mean, right? I mean, because this is so preliminary. Talk about not in our lifetimes, or maybe yours. Not mine! Helling/ I don't know what sort of (mumbled) will come from that, but certainly whatever we get should be available. Hayek/ And I gave him the same message, that this was very preliminary, etc. Bailey/ And always, you know, I think we're going to have many more meetings. Anything else information packets? Really? Moving on. Council time? Tick, tick, tick, moving on. Anything for budget priorities? (laughter and several talking) Schedule of pending discussion items? Schedule of Pending Discussion Items: Correia/ I just wondered...I was looking at this that we have City STEPS presentation on December 14th. Isn't December 14th a... combination meeting? Is that.. . Helling/ Yeah, that will be on the agenda. Routinely we (both talking) on the regular agenda. Correia/ Oh, the formal agenda! Bailey/ But we'll get the report...earlier. Helling/ Right. What I've asked them to do is actually get the report... and the Thursday packet, 10, 11 days, whatever it is, ahead of the meeting... Correial Oh, that would be good. Yes. Okay. Bailey/ Cause it's a big... CorreialIt is! It's huge! Yeah. Okay. Bailey/ Any other Council... or schedule of pending discussion? Helling/ Just...just one item I wanted to, uh, you...assume recall that the extension for the curfew was until December 1st, that's when it was requested. So what we'll try to do is This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 54 determine what kind of information, uh, the coalition or whatever is planning to get to you, if they are. Um, prior to that, so that...but the item has to go back on your December 1st agenda, so we'll probably have time scheduled at the work session, uh, assuming you're going to get some material to talk about that in terms of status report or whatever. Champion/ I think we will. Bailey/ And if we...and if there is a presentation from that group, my preference would be to have it at the formal meeting with information...written information in our packet. So...it's, everybody has the benefit. Wright/ I think it might be nice if we could actually have them...if there's enough of a written, uh, portion for the work session, it might be nice to have somebody here to be able to answer questions. Bailey/ Right, but...but a formal presentation at the formal meeting I think is going to be significant. Okay. Helling/ we can do that. Bailey/ Other thoughts about how to proceed with that? Okay. Any other schedule, pending discussion items? Correia/ And so in that packet...when do folks need to have (mumbled) for that work session, cause of Thanksgiving... Karr/ Well...it'll be out the 24th, the packet will come out Wednesday instead of Thursday. So it'd be 9:00 Tuesday. (several talking) 9:00 Wednesday, because we go to print Wednesday, I'm sorry, 9:00 Wednesday. It'll come out at 3:00 Wednesday. Correia/ So you just need it that... Karr/ Well, any, yeah, it's Thanksgiving so it'll be Wednesday. No later than 9:00 A.M. Community Events: Bailey/ Okay. Other pending? Upcoming community events, Council invitations. I do, um, want to remind you all of the, um, the dedication, the massive dedication for St. Pat's Church is on Sunday, November 29th. I think you all received invitations. It starts at 2:OO...okay. I'll say that slower. The massive dedication, um, at the new St. Pat's is Sunday November 29th, that's the Sunday following Thanksgiving, at 2:00 P.M., and um, there's a reception as well, and I had Marian call to see what time the reception starts if people wanted to attend the reception only, and that starts about 3:30, so if you attend...if you would like to attend, and, um, we can provide them with an RSVP, let Marian know if you're attending the mass or the reception, or both. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Wright/ Or neither. Bailey/ Or neither. Karr/ Well, going to church to socialize, or going to church to dedicate. (laughter) Helling/ But you can't discuss City matters during church! (laughter) Correia/ Hopefully not! Page 55 Bailey/ But you can pray for the City (several talking) um (several talking) um, also just a note that the Police, the community forum for the Citizen...Police Citizen Review Board is Wednesday night at 7:00. Any other items that...um...coming up? Okay. Do we need to discuss meeting schedules? Meeting Schedule: Karr/ Only one thing. Uh, Council-Member Elect, uh, Mr. Dickens was in today, and he wanted to clarify something before the agenda on the schedule comes out, based on the Thursday night discussion. Um, and I'm doing this from recall and I apologize, on January 25th and 26th, I believe you combined the two, I'm sorry, January 25th and 26th, you combined your work session and your formal into the 26th. He will be out of town the 21st through the 25th. And you rescheduled the work session to, uh, to accommodate his schedule. His flight does not arrive...it is January and he's coming through Chicago. His flight does not arrive until very late in the day, so he wanted you to know that if you would prefer going back to the regular schedule, which would allow, uh, Council Member Wilburn to attend, cause, Ross, you'll miss the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday meeting, right? Wilburn/ That's correct. Karr/ His concern, after thinking about it, was that you rescheduled for him, and that if he doesn't make either one you'll be short two people for both work session and formal. And he just wanted you to be aware of that, because Ross would be here for the work session potentially, but not here for the formal. On Tuesday night. If you combine them into Tuesday, we know Ross will... Bailey/ On the 25th? Karr/ No, he arrives the 26th. Bailey/ Okay. Late. Karr/ Later in the day. So he just wanted you to know that (several talking) so right now you've got the 26th tentatively as a combined one. Ross will miss both of those. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Page 56 Champion/ I suggested that we do that because I thought it was important (mumbled) Karr/ Right, and he appreciates that, but he... Champion/ ...miss it, and I'd rather have Ross here for one of them, so I'd rather go back to the... Karr/ That's entirely up to you, but he wanted you to know, and he totally would understand, and he was looking at that. Bailey/ Think Ross is really, I mean...if we had the Monday night meeting and combined that then you would be able to attend. Wilburn/ I would be able to attend that, yeah. Karr/ And there's a chance he would attend, perhaps the formal, but there's a very good chance he won't attend the combined work session. At best. Wright/ This is an eeny-meeny miney almost. Hayek/ Let's go back to Monday/Tuesday. Bailey/ That would mean potentially two missing for a formal. Wilburn/ (several talking) travel difficulties? Bailey/ If he can't get in, we would potentially have two missing, cause Ross is absolutely missing the formal on Tuesday. Wright/ But if we combine it on Monday.. . Bailey/ Monday...then we will (several talking) Karr/ Oh, so you're going back to, instead of combining it on Tuesday, combining it on Monday and not having a Tuesday. Hayek/ Then you're looking at a formal on a Monday. Bailey/ Right. But...but as Matt says, we're looking at a formal on a Monday, which is also something we've tried to avoid. Karr/ Well, you're doing it December 14th. Bailey/ Right. Champion/ We've done it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009. November 16, 2009 City Council Work Session Hayek/ I don't care what we do. Bailey/ I want as... Karr/ That was the plan, I'd wear you down and (laughter and several talking) Bailey/ ... as many people as can attend the meeting, so what are our odds? Karr/ I just wanted you to know before I put out the schedule, that's all. Wright/ ...as many people as possible for the formal, then it needs to be on Monday. Bailey/ I think Monday are the better odds. Do it. Karr/ So we're combining it to the...Monday the 25th. Bailey/ Yes. Champion/ And you will definitely be here, Ross? Wilburn/ I will def...barring illness or (laughter and several talking) Page 57 Bailey/ Yeah, but it still wouldn't be the maximum possible at the meeting (several talking) Karr/ I'll make that change then. Bailey/ Okay, any other meeting schedule. All right. See you tomorrow night. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular work session meeting of November 16, 2009.