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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-05-23 Transcription #2 Page I ITEM 2 PROCLAMATION. a) Summer ofthe Arts - May 19 - September 16, 2006 Wilburn: (reads proclamation) Karr: Here to accept the proclamation is Katie Roche, Executive Director, Summer of the Arts. (applause) Roche: I just quickly wanted to thank you for the substantial funding to the Summer ofthe Arts. You are helping make these free family-friendly events happen for our community and all ofthe tourists that are going to come this summer to experience these four great events. I also wanted to let you know that we also received a grant and we're going to be having a new addition to our festivals this summer. We're going to have a showcase ofIowa filmmakers, so we're going to be serving yet another area of the arts this summer, which has been deemed underserved in this state. So, we're very excited about that. Yeah, come on down to the Arts Festival, U.S. Bank parking lot, all of the Arts Festival- June 2nd, 3'd, and 4th - and you'll be able to see a showcase of some of the great film makers from this state. This contribution has prompted lots of people to call me and write me letters, and express their surprise and excitement that the City would make a contribution like this to this organization. It seems that the City ofIowa City feels like this is their organization and that makes me very happy as the Executive Director. I promise you that I will keep my ears wide open and make sure that our programming addresses what the city, the people here, like to hear and see. So, thank you very much, and we won't let you down. It's going to be a fun summer! Thanks so much! Champion: Thank you! Wilburn: Well, it was a great kickoff with the City High and West High Jazz Band on Friday night. Roche: We had record numbers on our first Friday Night Concert Series and our first Saturday Free Movie Series, so that was a great start to the summer. Thanks for coming down! Wilburn: Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #3 Page 2 ITEM 3 SPECIAL PRESENTATION BY MIDAMERICAN ENERGY. Wilburn: We have a special presentation by MidAmerican Energy. Terry? Smith: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My name is Terry Smith. I'm from Iowa City. I'm here tonight on behalf of MidAmerican Energy, and I'm here in follow-up of the last time I was before you in talking about our commitment to the restoration efforts from the storm or tornado of just a month ago. I'm here tonight to present you with a check for $10,000, designated to the Tornado Damaged Tree Replacement Project that the City is going to administer here in the city. MidAmerican has a Trees Please Program that we fund and we issue grants for different communities across the state. These funds are from that project. A little bit of history here for Iowa City - last year the City ofIowa City was the recipient ofthe $20,000 grant from those funds. Just earlier this year, Project GREEN was also a recipient of $20,000 of funding for the Dubuque Street Project that they had planned for this year and now with this designation, I'm pleased to report that's a total of $50,000 within just a little over a year for the restoration and replacement and planting of trees, as part of our commitment to the environment. So, I would like to present this to you, Mr. Mayor. Champion: Could you come back again at every meeting? (laughter) Smith: I'll bring this back. (several talking) Vanderhoef: Thank you. Elliott: Thank you. (applause) Smith: And no offense, Mr. Mayor, but I gave the real check to the City Clerk, so she does (unable to hear; laughter). Wilburn: That's probably better anyway! Thank you, we certainly thank MidAmerican Energy for all your efforts, and connections with the City. This represents only a reasonably accnrate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. M P~3 ITEM 4 CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS PRESENTED OR AMENDED. Champion: Move adoption. Vanderhoef: Second. Wilburn: Moved by Champion; seconded by Vanderhoef. Discussion? Bailey: I just want to point out to the public that on the Consent Calendar is our attempt to enter into a lease with Habitat for Humanity Restore on the east side of Iowa City, which is a really exciting venture. Correia: I also wanted to make a note about resolution in the Consent Calendar to support application by the Housing Trust Fund in Johnson County for funds from the State Housing Trust Fund, and there's a new requirement for these Housing Trust Fund dollars - that local trust funds need resolutions of support from all jurisdictions over 10,000. Wilburn: In addition, we are also...there are three tenant to ownership homes that are being approved. Roll call. Carries 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #5 ITEM 5 Wilburn: Johnson: Wilburn: Page 4 COMMUNITY COMMENT (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA). These are for items that are not on tonight's agenda. If you wish to comment, please approach the podium, state your name, limit your comments to five minutes. My name is Andy Johnson. I'm Executive Director of the Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County and I'm joined by one of our Board members, Rebecca Neades, from the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce. The Housing Trust Fund is a private, non-profit whose mission is to provide a flexible and innovative source of funds to produce new and preserve existing, affordable rental and transitional housing, promote home ownership, and support homeless services in Johnson County. As such, we're the only entity whose mission is to address the whole continuum of housing needs countywide. I want to thank the Council for approving the resolution for our grant application, as well as the other items that were on the Consent agenda, involving sale of homes by the Housing Authority, and the Restore projectby Habitat. To date the Housing Trust Fund is awarded funds to assist with the purchase of land and/or construction of five single-family homes in Iowa City and North Liberty, and six affordable rental units in Iowa City. With ECCOG, we're administering a grant for rural home rehab and have to date assisted with projects in Lone Tree, Solon, Oxford, Hills, and Swisher. Our goal is not to compete with any existing entities for existing housing dollars, but to leverage new and additional sources of funds to direct toward housing activities. We're essentially in our organizational infancy and raising the kind of dollars to have a meaningful impact on housing is a challenge, but the grant to the State Housing Trust Fund is a big piece of our efforts in that regard, and so, again, thank you for that resolution. Having attended your work sessions reviewing the recommendations of the Scattered Site Housing Task Force, as well as the community meeting on homelessness, I know that you're giving considerable attention right now to housing. The Trust Fund appreciates the openness the Council Members have shown in these discussions and we look forward to opportunities to partner with the City and other entities to address the needs. I addressed the Joint Cities Meeting in April regarding a proposal to hold a housing summit, which would involve a discussion of housing needs across the community and a plan to begin addressing action steps. I wanted to let you know that the Sunnnit is tentatively scheduled right now for September 12th and we'll keep the Council and staff up-to-date regarding the planning ofthat event. Again, thank you for your efforts and for the resolution in support of the Housing Trust Fund. Thanks for your comments. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #5 Page 5 Assouline: Hi, I'm Joe Assouline, and I had send a letter concerning the landlord that have to pay for the entire building when one unit is to be inspected for rental unit, and I would just would like you to consider the fact that some of us are not really owning a whole big plot and all we have is a couple units, when we have to pay $600 or $700 for about 23 minutes for two units, it's a lot of money. And, you know, things have changed in Iowa City where we have very large landowners and housing units where they have over 100 or 200 units. I understand that that obviously would be fair to have a rental permit that would actually accommodate for all these things, but for somebody like me, I'm a very small time owner. I only have two units, and I still have to pay over $600 for those 23 minutes. That is being (unable to hear)...8 minutes per unit, and so I would really appreciate it if you actually think about the fairness of this endeavor. Thank you very much. Wilburn: Thanks for your comments. Richard: My name is Dell Richard, and I'm the President ofthe Board of Directors ofthe Johnson County Historical Society, and I have Margaret Wieting, our Executive Director here, as well, and we're here, of course, to thank you for the $4,000 award that was given to the Johnson County Historical Society and to just sort of remind you of what we do and what our mission is. I see that Marian is passing around the little flyer that I put together, and part of the purpose ofthat was to keep my comments under five minutes, and so everything that you need to know about what we're doing is on the back of it. On the front of the sheet, is an architect's rendering of the new Johnson County Historical Museum that's slated to open in September of this year. As probably all of you know, the City of Coralville has made a 30,000 square foot building available to the Johnson County Historical Society; the Iowa Antique Car Museum and we've also added... the Iowa City Model Train Association is going to have their exhibit there, and so we're going to have what we hope is a first-class facility where we can carry out our mission as the Historical Society, to tell the story of Johnson County. We're also going to act as a pointer to all the communities in Johnson County, including Iowa City, and we're going to incorporate exhibits that showcase the history of our county, and of course, Iowa City is central to that county's history. One of the problems that we find from time to time is we have sort of an identity gap in the sense that people have associated us with the City of Coralville because we have had our base of operations in the old Coralville Schoolhouse. But a point of fact, our roots go back to Iowa City. In 1967, we were formed as the Mormon Handcart Society and were instrumental in getting Mormon Trek Boulevard in Iowa City named as it is, and for establishing the Mormon Handcart Park in Iowa City. We manage for the State of Iowa Plum Grove, which is in Iowa City. We manage for the, for Johnson County, the Poor Farm and Asylum that are in Iowa City, and one This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #5 Page 6 of our featured exhibits will be the 1830's John Gilbert Trading Post in the new museum, which is a part of the main street in Iowa City named after him, and likewise, we serve thousands of students in the Iowa City Community School District each year through our various programs. So, Iowa City is central to what we do. We are a part of Iowa City. Iowa City obviously is a major part of Johnson County in terms of the historical significance ofthings that are going to be in the museum and we hope to be a good partner with you and put together a museum that all of Iowa City and all of Johnson County will be proud of. Thank you again for your support. Wilburn: Thank you, and I want to thank the Historical Society for your participation with the Iowa River Bridge Project, the information there, and Margaret for her comments during the dedication. Karr: Motion to accept correspondence. Champion: So moved. Bailey: Second. Wilburn: Moved by Champion; seconded by Bailey. All those in favor say "aye." Opposed same sign. Carries 7-0. Would anyone else like to address the Council on an item that does not appear on tonight's agenda? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 ITEM 6 Wilburn: Baeth: Wilburn: Page 7 PUBLIC DISCUSSION (PROPOSED TRANSIT ROUTE CHANGES) I'm not sure how many are here to address this tonight, but I will put a one-hour time limit on the changes. So, if anyone would like to come forward and address the Council on the transit route changes, please do so now. Hello, everybody. My name is Austin Baeth. I'm the still unofficial City Council Liaison from the University, and I'm here tonight to speak in favor of a late-night City bus route, and I would first like to respond to the letter from the Transit staff that's in your packets. It's in the April 18th packet...or sorry, the May 18th packet, IP-4. And, they merely say their biggest concern was that two people at the public hearing spoke out against it. Zero spoke for it. And I was actually at that hearing, and I would like to give you a little information about exactly what was said. In fact, if you look at the transcripts, you will see that, yes, there was one woman who was concerned about whether there be a supervisor on the bus to insure rider safety. And the answer to that question was "yes." The second gentleman who spoke about this, wondered if you could charge the $1.00 fare to your Fare Card. The answer to this was "yes." To my knowledge, these were the only two people who spoke on the subject and neither of them were necessarily negative towards this route, and in this letter, Transit sites only this reaction from the public hearing as to why they don't recommend this late-night City bus route, and I certainly welcome them - the staff - to give any other concerns that they have for this route so that hopefully we can address that. I think one of the biggest misconceptions of this route is that it's only for, a means for students to go to the bar and come back. I'd argue that not everybody who goes downtown at night goes to the bar. Not everybody who goes downtown at night are students. You know, whether you're going to a restaurant, whether you're going to a show at the Englert, whether you're going to a concert, there are many things that you can do with this route to enable all citizens transportation to downtown. This route is designed for convenience, and more importantly, for the safety of citizens near downtown. And, I think that you'll find by reducing the number of people walking through these neighborhoods late at night, it will also reduce incidences of vandalism, rape, and other violence, and I think it's in the City's best interest to entertain any sort of measure that could promote public safety. Thank you. Thanks for your comments, and just, other pieces of information you may not, that you may not have had. We did (unable to understand) recommendation, we did receive correspondence from University Cambus that they were not interested in some type of other alternative arrangement related to the late night. We did receive correspondence, a petition from This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 Baeth: Wilburn: Rettig: Wilburn: Page 8 the Iowa City Transit Bus drivers saying that they were not in favor of this, and Council Members have received other correspondence from the public that.. .just other pieces of information. Correct, and I am aware of that. For Cambus, I believe staff was asked to see whether Cambus would provide that service, instead of the City, and they... we've been trying to get them to do it for years, and so basically, you guys are our last hope. This is, you know, city neighborhoods and it's not only students who live in them, and so I believe that you'll be serving your constituency by placing this. As far as the Transit staff goes, I'd like to remind them that they're here to serve the citizens and though I do definitely understand their concerns for this (unable to understand) there are also other areas that needed paying attention to, such as safety, and I think it's a balance. You have to weigh what's most important. Obviously, you know that. Thanks for your comments. My name is Janelle Rettig and I live on Shrader Road on the east side, and I'm sorry I was unable to make the forum on this issue. I've had an ongoing interest in the bus routes on the east side, and if you look at the map and Scott Boulevard, the expansion of the routes on the east are not picking up areas of Scott Boulevard where there's a development of more and more elderly and disabled housing, and also a trailer park on Scott Boulevard, and just for full disclosure, my mother-in-law bought a condo on Scott Boulevard and the women out there call themselves the "Widows of Windsor" and so, she drives, or Wellington, I'm sorry. The "Widows of Wellington" - she drives and she's fine, but she might not always be able to drive and that was an issue in buying a condo there, that her condo is actually a mile from the nearest bus stop, and if you go out on that edge of town, I think Systems is in the process of building something. There's a couple of elderly housing units and the trailer court, and then regular condos that appear to be being bought by a number of older people because they're one level. And so, I just think...I understand the financial restraints of this expansion, but we have a large development coming on the east side up and down Scott Boulevard that I think that bus service would be beneficial in the near future, and so I just hope that that'll be taken into consideration, even if it can't do, can't be done at this time, sometime in the near future, and I hope that you'll get out there and see all the new development going on there, and ask around about how bus service could help those folks who live out there. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else like to address the proposed transit route changes? This represents only a reasonably accnrate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 Barnhill: Wilburn: Elliott: Barnhill: Page 9 My name is Candy Barnhill. I work at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. I have been riding on the Rochester and Court Hill routes for over 20 years, and I was also able to attend the public forum at the Library, which was very helpful. I'm here to speak tonight for an ongoing issue of when in the morning, at the 7:15 and 7:45 hour, when busses arrive downtown, there is an issue of the Rochester bus, which turns into West Winds, arriving first and it has to wait on, or frequently waits on, the Court Hill bus, and there is one person from Court Hill who transfers from Court Hill onto our bus, so that she can get over to the hospital and get around to the front door, and frequently that makes then the Rochester bus very late. When you work at the hospital and you have a designated start time, what I have noted is that if the bus I'm on, which is the Rochester turning into the West Winds, leaves three minutes late every day, in a week that's 15 minutes late; in a month it's an hour; in a year it's 12, and that's 12 hours of vacation time that I have to take. So, Mr. Logsden has been very, very helpful and has answered emails, and they have worked through it. Since two summers ago, when the bridge on Burlington Street was reconstructed and the busses were having to take alternate routes, and I have called, as have other riders, and have asked ifthere' s any guidelines or any standard operating procedures, and they said that there is not. So, my request would be at this time, when it's looking at changing and adding routes, and adding one more bus route from the very far east side downtown, ifthey could please address what would be the criteria for the busses waiting downtown. If you have 20 people on the bus waiting on one person who has the opportunity to stay on her bus, which is Court Hill, and make it across the river. It doesn't go to the front, but it does get her to the north end of the campus and it would prevent some other persons from having to use vacation. The second thing that I would like to say is that personally, I think the City bus drivers are some of the City's very best ambassadors. They watch out for all of their passengers. They look to see if people are coming late. They are well aware of things that are going on around the community for their riders, and they are some of the best people and the best employees that the City has. So, my final request would be if in the process of looking at new routes, if you could also consider establishing a standard operating procedure, more than just for bus drivers, subjective that when they arrive they wait three minutes and then they need to leave again. So, thank you. Thank you. And your last comments were music to my ears! About the bus drivers - I appreciate that. They really are great! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 Page 10 McElligott: My name is Peter McElligott. I'm the new Student Government President at the University oflowa. I've had the chance to meet a couple of you. Thank you for letting us be here tonight. I just am echoing a lot of Austin's sentiments. I've been in touch with many, many students around campus about their support for a late-night bus route. I think it, you know I'll be quick here. I think that it's going to make people feel safer in the City oflowa City. I think that we're going to feel better about getting home at night. I think that people won't have to worry about walking home alone late, and I think that we'll also see a lot of students who really appreciate what the City is doing for them. I know that you guys work very hard for us already. We really appreciate that. I think the tornado, the police.. . everyone has seen this community come together and we are very thankful for your support in previous times. So, we really hope that you'll consider this strongly and you know, keep looking out for the best interest of all the citizens oflowa City, including (unable to hear). Thank you. Wilburn: Thank you. Anyone else care to address the proposed route changes? Joe, there were a couple questions brought up by Council during our work session. If you step forward, would you be willing to answer a couple of those questions? Fowler: Certainly. Correia: I have a question, that I didn't bring up in the work session, but in the memo, you write that there will be service at night and Saturdays to ACT and Pearson? Fowler: Yes. Correia: Do Pearson and ACT have regular working hours on Saturdays? Fowler: Urn, we're not aware if they do or not, but we also have the restaurant out there. The Athletic Club. There are other businesses, but that was just kind of to summarize the area that we would be going to, that we're currently not going to. Just kind ofto give more of a geographic outline rather than specific. Bailey: So you're not doing the loop up and around ACT, you're going the regular route that you do.. . Fowler: It would come across First Avenue and then in front of the ACT driveway, and then go out to the NCS and then come back in on Dodge Street. Correia: I don't think there's regular hours at Pearson on Saturday. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 Page II Fowler: There may not be, but you know, there are other places out there and it was just.. .just a way to kind of layout where we were going to go. Not that we have a specific reason to go to one business, but more the area that we were going to cover. Vanderhoef: If that is going to be the regular schedule, then I would sayan education piece for the hotels out there would be in order, so guests could use the bus to get downtown if they choose. Fowler: We could make schedules available. It wouldn't be a problem. Vanderhoef: I think it would be a good idea. Bailey: What would be the last bus out that direction then? How late? Fowler: At night? Or Saturday? Bailey: Yeah, well, both. Fowler: Probably 6:00, roughly 6:00 on Saturday; probably around 9:00, around 9:00 at night. Wilburn: Is there one other question that came up at the work session? I thought there was one other. . . Correia: Well, I also had a question about the... .I'm glad that you're planning to leave in Forest View. There were comments at the public hearing, and I think we received some letters, as well, but I am concerned about not extending service out to the Peninsula, for a couple ofreasons. One, we do have affordable housing developments out there, and there's also a lot of new development, in terms of trying, of getting folks used to using the bus, who are moving in. I just think... Fowler: We had that in our original proposal. Correia: Right. Fowler: And, with the time constraint that we have, we can't get out to like Mackinaw and turn around and come back and still make it in our 30- minute route. Correia: Right. Fowler: And, our thought at this point was that maybe in a year from now, when we had additional funding, we were looking at route increases, that we would create a new route that would serve just north Dubuque Street, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 Correia: Fowler: Atkins: Bailey: Fowler: Page 12 Forest View, Mackinaw Village, and the Peninsula. But at this time, we were working.. . our goal was to spend, stay within our spending limit of $313,000, which was the new Federal money that was going to be available. The proposal that we originally gave you had $313,000. The new proposal, where we added back in an afternoon west side loop bus, that put us at $326,000, slightly over what we had set as kind of a self- imposed goal for this project. And so, without spending additional revenue, we didn't feel at this time that we could add a route. What we were looking at in the future would be to have a 20-minute Manville Heights route, which would go over just serve the Hospital and Manville Heights and then add a 30-minute route that would go out and do Forest View, Mackinaw, and the Peninsula. So, it's something that we talked about. We went out and looked at the amount of development currently there, and we didn't feel that we got the most return for our dollar to go out there at this point, and we didn't want to drop service to Manville Heights in order to be able to do it. Regarding the money we have in that (unable to hear), meaning a lease agreement for the Court Street Transportation.. . Building? Urn, is that revenue, revenue that we hadn't counted on? In this budget, because it hadn't been leased at the time? We haven't counted on any money from Court Street in this budget because we're waiting until we can determine for sure what that revenue stream's going to be. So, the money that's coming in from Court Street this year, we were putting into a fuel reserve. We would use to buy additional used bus if we have to buy additional busses to be able to add to the service, and to start a reserve fund that would then be used to increase service in the future, and our goal would be take the income stream from Court Street from this year, be able to accurately project what our revenues are going to be, and then add additional service next year. We deliberately took a very financially cautious approach. We want to make sure these new routes, if you approve them, work and then within a year, I suspect we'll be back and we would also have been able to track the Court Street income. I share Janelle's concern about Scott Boulevard. I think I've mentioned that as we've approved developments out there, and is that something you're also looking at in a year, or what are we going to do with those developments out there? What we've.. . (several talking at once).. . story of my life with computers! We have service that would serve the new Systems Unlimited building currently in place. We have service on Scott Boulevard from Court Street to Rochester, and what we're missing is the segment between basically This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 Correia: Fowler: Correia: Fowler: Wilburn: Fowler: Correia: Fowler: Correia: Fowler: Page 13 American Legion Road and the railroad tracks, and that will require the extension of a route in the future to be able to get that, to get out that far. We're pretty well pushed on a 30-minute route right now, to be able to get to Village Green and get back downtown. So, we would probably have to go to a 40, 45-minute route to get out a little bit further. So, it is something that we looked at. It's something that we think is expansion for hopefully next year. And how much is that, how much would that route be? It's basically $50 an hour to run a bus, and to add a route over the year is approximately $170,000, for five-day service, not counting the weekend service. Not counting the weekend service? No. (unable to hear).. . routes too long to get downtown because then you're decreasing your ridership. Right, and that's why when we added the far east service this year, we cut out the stops from Regina to Mercy Hospital so that we could make up the time and have a shorter ride. It'll be a 40 to 45-minute ride, or route, which we have on some of our other routes right now, but we need to cut out the stops in between to make that possible. Are we having a new route on the east side...is it a route based on going downtown? Isn't there... No, that's on the west side. That's only on the west side? We talked about that having an east side route that had a Sycamore Mall exchange, because that's what I'm wondering about, especially looking at neighborhoods on the east side, if there's a way to survey residents that might use the bus, on where they're wanting to go to have not be so tied to that half hour downtown and back, is there....a hub at Sycamore Mall or somewhere else on the east side that could get people downtown on another bus ifthat's where they wanted to go, and somewhere else. We looked at that idea, and (coughs) excuse me, we didn't feel at this point... we did one probably five years ago, seven years ago, we did it on an east-side loop bus and it was not successful. We ended up discontinuing service, except for morning and afternoon basically to get students to and from Southeast, City High, and Regina, and we still didn't This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 Page 14 feel that there was a potential to get the number of riders. Where we were looking at was to get the maximum number of riders that we could serve. At this point, reducing traffic, reducing parking demand - we felt the best return that we could get right now was to take the people who were in the outlying area and take them downtown. What we had seen was that people on the east side of town were driving their cars to a bus stop, parking in the neighborhood, and then taking the bus downtown from there. So, we thought if we could extend the bus out further into that neighborhood, we could get those riders and then additional riders that didn't want to drive their car part way and then take a bus the rest of the way. Vanderhoef: Have you ever looked at the possibility of sort of an east side loop that included Scott Boulevard. I know the trailer court is in the county, but that can be a potential partner with us for some transit for those residents that would both assist and make that location a more attractive place to live for families, and how we might couple in some of that, and even go further south, but to end up looping around to the industrial park for shift workers. Fowler: We've extended service to the industrial park under this route, at night, by taking the Broadway bus out there. We did not address the issue ofthe people on Scott Boulevard that live outside the city limits as it was funding coming to Iowa City and we were directing the funding at areas of Iowa City that currently didn't have service. So, goal was to expand our service within Iowa City and, no, looking at east of Scott Boulevard was not something that we considered at this point. Vanderhoef: (unable to understand) .. . right there on Scott Boulevard. Fowler: Correct. Vanderhoef: Urn, so, what I'm trying to see is if there's a possibility ofa second bus that would take in some of the Scott Boulevard folk, which would include some of those people in the county, and whether the people who own the park would be willing to partner with us a little bit to get a stop there, to help us pay for another bus, and whether we could gamer any income from the industrial area to bring workers to work in the morning, and whether that could even be worked into that early-morning loop for students. You know, a couple loops around, just on that east side, might move a lot of people. I don't know, and it would have to be a survey kind of thing. Fowler: When we did it in the past, we would have two trips in the morning and one trip in the afternoon that were heavily used and the remainder of the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 Page 15 day we basically drove an empty bus around the east side of town, and after.. . Vanderhoef: But I'm talking about just the loop for the workers and the students. Bailey: And the east side is a lot different than it was when you were running this, if you said it was seven years ago. It's a different east side. Fowler: It would depend on, you know... Bailey: We've seen a lot of development out there. Fowler: We could...that's what this is all about. We can put the bus wherever you want, I mean, it depends if you want us to stay within the revenue, or the income that we have limits, or if you want us to exceed those in anticipation of what we're going to get out of Court Street. We can add additional service. Vanderhoef: Well, I'd like to explore this in the future. Fowler: Okay. We can contact the park... Vanderhoef: We can talk about new possibilities, or new dollars for a new bus. That idea, somehow or another, I would like to be investigated. Fowler: We can contact the owners of those parks and ask if they're willing to contribute monies towards operating a bus. Vanderhoef: That would serve that area a couple times a day. Champion: I'm not interested in you going over budget this year. I think it's going to be much more fun to do it next year when you know how much money we might have. But, how late, how late do the busses run to the industrial park for shift workers? Fowler: Approximately 10:00. Champion: And what are the shift changes out there? Fowler: My guess is their second shift is going to get off at probably 11 :00. Champion: Yeah. Correia: Can we extend it to. . .. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 Page 16 Champion: You know, (unable to hear), and I don't know if it's possible to get people to have a bus that would pick those shift workers up, because they start really in the morning, right? Fowler: Right. Champion: Some ungodly hour, 6:00 or something like that. Fowler: We could, we could add additional hours at night, at well, basically, we're going to end up running two busses late in the very late part of the night. So, for probably... Champion: I'd like to see us think about trying it to see if it, if you would get people then who would take the bus to work and back, especially since gas is getting so expensive, and... Fowler: I would have to go put it all together, but I would guess it'd probably be like $500 a week to be able to extend that extra service. Champion: Do you think there's any need for it, I mean, are people...I guess you wouldn't know until you did it. Correia: I think if we found out if the shifts end at 11:00, people are either....they don't have cars. They're either calling cabs or walking, I mean. I'd like to extend it to 11:30... Fowler: There has been some interest by groups in the community to start the job access reverse commute, which would serve more than just the industrial park, and at the present time, we have some used SEATS vehicles that we haven't disposed of yet that we could make available to an organization if they wanted to start a program like this, but we have to go through a plarming stage to get to that point. So, I think the possibility's there to do it with more than just the big bus by using some of the smaller busses because I would think the loads would probably be a little bit smaller, but there are a lot of people who work out there who right now, you know, in the dead of winter, they're getting off at Lakeside Apartments, basically, and walking out there to get to work. So, I think there is a demand in that area. Champion: Could we try it maybe? Vanderhoef: I've got something else that I'd like him to inquire about while he's talking to them about funding. We have the number of hours to cover two shifts. It's just when the timing of the shift and the timing of our busses. So, what is available that the high worker industries out there of changing shift times by 30 minutes? They do that all the time in the Cities, to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 Page 17 stagger the amount of cars that are on the road, so they can get people in a little earlier, let them off a little earlier. It works both ways. So, it's... Champion: That's the people who are driving. Vanderhoef: Pardon me? Champion: Those are the people who are driving in. Vanderhoef: No, they do that, well, they do the shifts though and the busses go with the shifts. Fowler: One ofthe things we could do would be to, if you wanted us to go ahead and implement what we have at this point, then we could take the time to go out and talk to the people in the industrial park and find out if running another hour later would benefit them. Champion: That'd be great. Fowler: And then come back to you and say, "Okay, we've done this," which gets the service out there until 10:00. For this much more we can run the service tilll :00, or we talked to the people and they've decided that they could alter their shifts. So, we could, we really kind of need at some point to be able to say, 'This is the direction we're going to go,' because we would implement these changes August 14'\ which is when our fall run starts and we need to be able to have the time to get the schedules made, the maps made, to get things available to the public, to hire additional drivers, to get the drivers trained, but we could do that and then come back to you in maybe (TAPE ENDS) Bailey: ...I think it's absolutely critical that we are not only serving, I mean, we're serving the University, a large employer, but I think it's absolutely critical that you're talking to all of our large employers in the community and seeing how we can work together to get people to work and home from work. Fowler: We've worked with ACT. Bailey: Right, right, I know and... Fowler: Contacted NCS... Bailey: The whole thing about the industrial park, I agree with Connie. I think it's absolutely critical that we're getting people to and from work, and ifthat means working around their shifts, I think that's something we really should look into. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 Page 18 Wilburn: I suspect there's another piece of information here. Logsden: Yeah, we did a survey of employers out in the industrial park, and those are large employers, and we got mixed reviews. Some of them said their employees are required to have cars because they come and go at different times and they're not interested, and others said... but, most of the shifts do about 11 :00 is the time that they have the changing of the shifts. Champion: But, would it be the employers that were taking the bus home? I don't think so. I would like to do some kind of survey ofthe employees. Logsden: Right, some wouldn't let us in to talk. We tried to talk to the HR people, but that was pretty much.. . about 50% were willing. We talked to the temp agencies, as well. Vanderhoef: Well, maybe the question to ask them is how much flexed-shift, how many shift-shift workers do they have? Because if a worker has the opportunity of saying, 'I'm going to come in a half hour earlier and go home a half hour earlier,' so I get the bus schedule. (several talking at once) Correia: . . . there are certain employees that have opportunity for flex time, and there's your employees who work on shift work, and I don't think we can go to those businesses. If someone came to the City ofIowa City and said, 'End your shifts at a different time,' I don't necessarily.. . exactly. If we know they end at 11 :00, we should have, and we want to service the work force needs and economic development, we should have busses that accommodate an 11 :00 shift change, that are targeting that area. O'Donnell: How many more hours a week did you say that would take, Joe? Fowler: We would probably have to run another hour later at night. It'd probably be $500 a week, to be able to do that. Wilburn: I think Joe has already stated that they will come back... some type of numbers related to that. (several talking at once) I think another piece, I remember when I was on Economic Development Committee having that conversation with some ofthe employers out there, and there was some slight deviations amongst their shift release time out there. Going beyond that, we've already heard there's been an attempt to at least try and contact some folks out there. Beyond that, I think...I don't want us to get in the position to set our staff up to try to negotiate something that really is going to be kind of a political question and try to work and negotiate with employers who are going to come from a wide variety of different things. Maybe it might be more appropriate to try to work through the Chamber or one of the Chamber groups to talk about that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 Page 19 Champion: I don't want to make a big deal out of it. I would just like to try the 11 :00 bus down there to see if (several talking at once). Wilburn: I understand that, but, and I see consensus with that, but then someone's got one other thing and one other thing and I just want to make sure that our staff knows what that one other thing is that.. . whether it's appropriate or not. Elliott: I agree. I would like to see us work with the Chamber and see if we could have a sit-down with the major employers in town and see what kind of interest they have, ask them what we can do that would help them, what they can do that would help us, and we could let Joe and his people have some idea of what the priorities are. Wilburn: And I'm not saying not, I'm not saying not to do some ofthe other things that Council's suggesting. In fact, I would be glad...! think there's a Chamber meeting this Thursday? Bailey: I think that they've done that, to a degree. You talked to the people in the industrial park. I think it's direction from us that we need to move forward. I mean, it doesn't mean that they can't continue to talk, but they have the information about when the shifts generally end, and we're not meeting those needs. Elliott: But I'm thinking of a sit-down, give and take. I just, I think that when we do something unilaterally up here and then you talk to an employer here and another employer there and maybe a survey - I'd like to have a sit- down at a table and say, 'How can we do this better?' And we've been talking about budget, Steve, tell me ifI'm wrong - I believe we subsidized the bus system at somewhere between $2, $3 million a year, is that correct? Champion: No. Is it? I don't think we need to have sit-down. I think we just need to think about trying this. I wouldn't want the staff to have more meetings. They're probably sick of meetings. I just wondered if people wanted to try it to see ifit's successful. Ifit's not, drop it. Wilburn: And again, again I will state that I believe there is a consensus for that, and Ron, or... Joe, excuse me, Joe has said that they will do that for us, but other ideas kept coming forward. All I'm saying is, given that he's going to do just what you asked, Connie and Amy. . . Correia: What is he going to do? Champion: He's going to bring up the (several talking at once) 11:00 shift. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. ~ p.w Wilburn: I'm just suggesting that these other ideas that are coming out, maybe there's another route to go, not to put a pun on that. . . Fowler: Basically what, what I do so that I'm not just throwing numbers out, is I could go back, look at what busses we would run, how late we would run them, the cost, and then send that to you and you can say, 'Yeah, go ahead,' or 'No, don't do it.' Champion: Thank you. O'Donnell: We can ask for nothing more. Correia: I have another question on another area. Are we done with the industrial park? (laughter) Atkins: Can you hold that, because I'm not done with the industrial park. We're going to have a meeting on the lih. Joe.. . and we're going to discuss transit routes. I'd really appreciate it if you would jot down...! mean, I heard, I'm trying to keep tabs on the four, five, or six or seven... they're flying all over the place, and pretty soon when Joe goes to calculate, they're going to run into each other. So, if you could just kind of make it a point to give it a name and what your idea is, so that Joe can go back and prepare this reasonably comprehensibly for the 12th so we know. Ijust get uncomfortable with $500 here, $1,000 there, and inevitably gets us into trouble. So, if you just think about how to jot that down for us, and two reminders - the Federal money is good for five years. After five years, it could go away. Court Street money, we feel much stronger about. But that's a flow of income that should be with us for a long time. Wilburn: Thank you. Regenia? Bailey: Kirkwood Community College, what routes, what did you learn about - they struggle with parking, and so, I don't know, you can't make their students or faculty necessarily ride the bus, but what route services and what's the frequency and how does that... Fowler: The mall bus, we have half hour service during the morning and afternoon rush. Then hourly service during the day. And then the night, Broadway bus will service it at night. Bailey: TillO:OO? Fowler: Uh-huh. Elliott: Are we looking at any kind of change in street pattern around Kirkwood? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 Page 21 Atkins: We're looking at...yeah, at a street program of widening and turn lanes and... Elliott: Well, especially there, I think it's critical if you could have some place where the bus could pull off and let traffic go by, because that becomes a bottleneck, if a bus did stop all traffic. Wilburn: Thank you, Joe. (unable to hear male speaking) Atkins: I guess I would, before you sit down, what you heard - is that dramatically different than what you heard at the meeting ofthe 18th? That was our opportunity for the folks to look at things. Ifwe're going to dramatically alter that. . . we need to think about how to put that back out. Fowler: Basically the comments from the 18t\ there were large number of people who spoke in favor of continuing service to Forest View, which we included in our plan. There were quite a few people who spoke to the west side loop bus, in that the afternoon schedule didn't line up with school release, so we added back in an afternoon west side loop bus to service the school. Other than that, I don't think we had, we had a lot of support in favor of going to Chatham Oaks. So, I think basically everything that came up in that public comment, we were able to, we changed what we had proposed to fit what we heard from the public. Champion: I was going to ask ifthere was any interest on our review of the late-night bus service, is anybody else interested in reviewing that again? Elliott: Yes. (several responding with "yes) Correia: At one work session we were talking about the late-night bus service and an issue came up about the para-transit, and we had discussion about whether the University operates para-transit at that same time because they're operating their regular bus service, and whether we could rely on their para-transit to cover that requirement, if we had this late-night. Have we found out ifthat would meet the requirements for para-transit? Fowler: We didn't talk specifically about para-transit, when I talked with the University. The reason, you know, part ofthe, the main reason for us is the cost of that service, which is almost $76,000 to add that service during the school year. So, talking to the University, they said they weren't interested in doing it because they had tried it in the past, the east side loop, and it didn't work. What the para-transit, I'm not sure what their current demand is on their system and I couldn't answer whether or not they would have to add another vehicle, to be able to meet that need. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 Correia: Fowler: Correia: Fowler: Correia: Fowler: Correia: Fowler: Correia: Elliott: Fowler: Page 22 Right, because I think that $70,000 estimate included our cost for providing the para-transit? Yes. And ifI'm remembering, I thought Jeremy may have asked and gotten some (unable to understand) para-transit, just that portion of it. I can't remember. 1 never did hear that concern raised so I didn't bring (unable to hear). Okay, because I think that would be.. .ifthe University could absorb that, because they do go all over the city in their para-transit. They're not constrained to one particular area of town. If they could absorb that cost, that would decrease the amount. Ron just said they don't run late on Thursdays. So, there would at least be that expense, but... the Friday, Saturday, I couldn't answer. Okay. Cambus doesn't run late on Thursday? So if we mirrored the Cambus times... Yeah, then it would, right. ... then it would be less expensive. I'm disappointed that the University isn't interested in partnering with us. Now maybe, Joe, you and Ron have talked extensively with them and they said maybe they might be willing to do this or do that, but all I've heard is they're just not interested, and that's disappointing, because Austin has said it's not just students, but when you get to late night, it's going to be predominantly students and I'd like to see the University be a little more interested in this, as a major for safety as much as anything. (several talking at once) I hate to speak for them, but you know, my kind of summarizing my conversation was that they had attempted this in the past and had not been successful, that they had gone out basically to the sororities and different areas and tried to sell their service to get people to ride. They said that probably on an average night they had seven people riding, and sometimes they would get as high as 30 people that would ride. They said that they had been approached. They have a Committee made up of students, I believe students, faculty, and staff, that reviews requests that they had been approached in the recent years about this service and they had said, their committee had said they didn't want to do it. They said that the best way to do it now, to get them to do it, or to even consider it, would be to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #6 Page 23 have someone come back and make the request to their committee again and let them evaluate and determine whether it was something they wanted to do. Wilburn: That was what their letter had alluded to, that if the students wanted the service.. ..(unable to hear) approach them to do so in the fall. Bailey: Well, I certainly don't view late-night bus services as just a student service. I mean, it wasn't necessarily my idea to just do it for the weekends. I mean, there are people downtown. I think Austin makes a good point. I mean, we want people to be downtown and if, and if they're enjoying themselves and having a few adult beverages, we don't want them driving. So, bus service, I think, is a good idea, and you pointed out there are lots f employees and I think that that's accurate. So, I'm interested in seeing what the possibilities are. Fowler: Yeah, you know, basically it really just comes down to money. Yeah, I know, and so...I guess that put us outside of our self-imposed limit. Bailey: Is it something that you're going to look at again next year? I mean, with continuing costs at the University and continuing efforts, perhaps, to get the kind of service you all want, you know, or is this just something that won't remain on your list? Fowler: Urn, no, I think that what we would probably look at would be more like you were talking about - the industrial park would be a system-wide expansion of night service, rather than a specific one area. Bailey: Okay, and do you see our busses then running, what's the last route coming in and... Fowler: We're talking now probably around midnight. Bailey: Okay. Champion: That'd be great. Fowler: You know, things that we've kicked around, that we need to look at and come back and address, you know, do we run all the busses later? Do we run a Sunday service? Do we run Saturday night service later? There's just, there's all kinds of possibilities out there that we still haven't explored. Bailey: What have you heard about Sunday service? Because I have gotten some calls supportive of Sunday service. Once again, to cover people who have to work on Sundays to get to work, who typically use the bus. This represents only a reasonably accnrate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. ~ ~M Fowler: We don't get a lot of requests, but I think that's basically because people know that we don't operate on Sundays. Vanderhoef: Is that something to explore with (unable to understand)? Fowler: It's a possibility. One of the areas that we've seen an increase is percentage-wise, and I'm not saying gross numbers, but percentage-wise is on our Saturday routes, and I would assume the same number of people would ride on Sunday that ride on Saturday. Vanderhoef: Vh, tell me just for rules and regs, if.. .does JARC require the opposing para-transit or not? Logsden: Ifwe ran it ourselves, we would, but if we had a private not-for-profit, like they do in Cedar Rapids run it, then it would not. Vanderhoef: Okay. That's what I needed to know. Thank you. Wilburn: Thank you, Joe. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. m h~~ ITEM 7 PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS. a) CONDITIONALLY REZONING 11.36 ACRES OF LAND LOCATED EAST OF SOUTH RIVERSIDE DRIVE FROM GENERAL INDUSTRIAL (1-1) TO HEAVY INDUSTRIAL (1-2) (REZOS-OOOOS) Karr: Will you accept correspondence? Champion: So moved. Wilburn: Moved by Champion. Vanderhoef: Second. Wilburn: Seconded by Vanderhoef to accept correspondence. All those in favor say "aye." Opposed same sign. Carries 7-0. 1. PUBLIC HEARING Wilburn: (pounds gavel) Public hearing is open. Public hearing is closed. 2. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE (FIRST CONSIDERATION) O'Dounell: Move first consideration. Wilburn: Moved by O'Donnell. Champion: Second. Wilburn: Seconded by Champion. Discussion? Vanderhoef: I would like to propose for the CZA that this particular property that is along a waterway that. . . Dilkes: Dee, we just closed the public hearing. Can't make any changes to the CZA now. Vanderhoef: Okay. Wilburn: Discussion? Bailey: In order for me to be supportive ofthis, I would like the understanding and to direct staff to make sure that the business and the City are on the same page with the CZA compliance that we have inspections six months past the building permit, 12 and 18 months past the building permit. There has This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #7 Page 26 been a history of not complying with some of the requirements and Ijust want to make sure that we're all clear if we're going to move forward with compliance. Champion: I agree with you. I (unable to hear) vote for it under that condition. Bailey: And I think it helps hold the business and the City accountable for what we've agreed to, and so it's not, I don't think it's putting anything extra on the business that we wouldn't be putting on the City, as well. There's accountability on both sides. Wilburn: Other discussion? Roll call. Item carries 6-1; Vanderhoef in the negative. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #7 ITEM 7 Wilburn: Page 27 PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS. b) REZONING PROPERTIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA TO INSTITUTIONAL PUBLIC (P2) [THESE PROPERTIES INCLUDE: 511 SOUTH MADISON STREET AND 620 AND 624 SOUTH MADISON STREET FROM INTENSIVE COMMERCIAL (CI-I) TO INSTITUTIONAL PUBLIC (P2); LOTS 14 AND 15IN GRAND AVENUE COURT ADDITION AND 320 MELROSE AVENUE FROM MEDIUM DENSITY SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (RS-8) TO INSTITUTIONAL PUBLIC (P2); LOT 4 IN MELROSE CURT ADDITION, 223 LUCON DRIVE, 609 MELROSE AVENUE, AND 3 OAK PARK COURT, FROM LOW DENSITY SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (RS-5) TO INSTITUTIONAL PUBLIC (P2); 322 NORTH CLINTON FROM PLANNED HIGH DENSITY MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (PRM) TO INSTITUTIONAL PUBLIC (P2); 430 AND 530 NORTH CLINTON FROM HIGH DENSITY MULTI- FAMILY RESIDENTIAL (RM-44) TO INSTITUTIONAL PUBLIC (P2); AND OLD CAPITOL MALL FROM CENTRAL BUSINESS (CB-10) TO INSTITUTIONAL PUBLIC/CENTRAL BUSINESS (P2- CB-I0)] (REZ06-00008) 1. PUBLIC HEARING (pounds gavel) Public hearing is open. Public hearing is closed. 2. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE (FIRST CONSIDERATION) O'Donnell: Move. Wilburn: Moved by O'Donnell. Correia: Second. Wilburn: Seconded by Correia. Discussion? Correia: So this is basically housekeeping, just for the public, that these are items that were already associated with the University and we're getting them up to our zoning code. Wilburn: Roll call. Carries 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #7 ITEM 7 Wilburn: Chappell: Wilburn: Page 28 PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS. d. VACATING THE ALLEY LOCATED NORTH OF BENTON STREET BETWEEN CLINTON STREET AND DUBUQUE STREET. (V AC06-00001) 1. PUBLIC HEARING (CONTINUED FROM 5/2) This public hearing is continued. Good evening; Andy Chappell from the County Attorney's office. Just to recap, these items were continued from three weeks ago. The County is requesting vacation of a 20' -wide alley, as you noted, bordered to the south by Benton, to the north by Lafayette, to the west by Clinton, to the east by Dubuque Street, that block there. This is directly north of the County's Administration Building. The plan is to use this block ultimately for a combined health and human services' building. This would replace space we rent on north Dodge Street and a small, inadequate building on Court, is the goal. The conveyance, the vacation and the ultimate conveyance ofthe alley, I think, there are several benefits. Certainly, for the County it allows us significant flexibility in citing the building. It's not exactly sized yet. We're not sure how high up we're going to go, what the footprint is going to be. Obviously, we'd like to maximize the parking opportunities, we'd like to maximize, you know, just not squeeze it in to wherever we can. The alley, as you might imagine, cuts through the middle of the property. The only properties that use the alley right now, to the extent that they do at all, are the adj acent properties. The County is in the process of acquiring those properties. There are only two properties that at this point we do not own. We will own them within, I suspect, a matter of days - 30 days, that sort of thing. In fact, we will...while we're going to condemnation on sounds like a couple ofthe properties. It's a relatively friendly condemnation. I think we've already paid their relocation costs. So, we're in contact with the owners. The benefit for the City is this is an alley that no one's using, at least other than the adjacent property owners. It's only accessible because ofthe railroad from the south, and quite frankly, you won't have to maintain it. There's strong tradition of cooperation in these sorts of things, but we appreciate the City giving serious consideration to our request. I know that it was deferred to allow some questions to be answered, just some conversations to be had, and some correspondence, I know, has been forwarded to the City Council. I hope that at this point the majority of your questions have been answered. Ifthere are any questions that I can attempt to answer for you, I would certainly try to do so. Otherwise, I appreciate your consideration on this matter. Thank you. Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. m ~~ Vanderhoef: Okay, before you close it. Urn, I was hoping that this would stir conversation of having a Shelter House that was to be used for all of us. Holding up the vacation, it wasn't my intent, certainly, to change our policies, but I wanted some time for everybody to have a chance in the community to talk about this, and recognizing land-use plans in Iowa City are difficult on the south side, to say the least. We have three governmental bodies that are working in that area. Knowing that we each have our own special interests, it's helpful if we get together and talk about these things in advance, and certainly we had a nice conversation with the supervisors about their campus plan down there, because I asked for one and went down and was afforded that conversation. However, we still have a need, and I think this area some place south of Burlington is the area where we ought to be working to find a location for the Shelter House that would be acceptable to the people who use it, the people who work there, and for the surroundinglbusiness or governmental entities, and we certainly don't know what will happen with a lawsuit for that organization, but ifit comes back in the negative, we're going to be coming back to the County and to the University, trying to find some space in that area where we can still serve the people who live in the area. So, if people took this as a change of plan, I apologize; however, I still think we all need to have a conversation about where we can put this Shelter House. I will be supporting this tonight. Wilburn: Anyone else from the public here to address this item? (pounds gavel) Public hearing is closed. 2. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE (FIRST CONSIDERATION) (DEFERRED FROM 5/2) O'Donnell: Move consideration. Karr: Motion to accept correspondence. (several talking at once) Wilburn: Moved by Vanderhoef; seconded by O'Donnell to accept correspondence. All those in favor say "aye." Opposed same sign. Carries 7-0. O'Donnell: Move first consideration. Elliott: Second. Wilburn: Moved by O'Donnell; seconded by...1 think Bob beat you there.. . Elliott. Discussion? Elliott: I believe I was the person who asked for this to be deferred, and I will second Dee's thoughts on this. As I told Pat White that I did not have a problem with it, but because there are concerns involving the Federal This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #7 Page 30 government, the State government, the School Board, the Board of Supervisors, and City I wanted time for at least myself to take a comprehensive look. I have. I think that I want very much to move this as quickly as possible for the County. I think I want us to be as cooperative as possible. I was looking at this piece of property, and I had no idea it was an alley. It looked like it belonged to those businesses around there, so I don't see that there's any problems with this. I hope that we sail through it. Wilburn: Further discussion? Roll call. Dilkes: For the record, that's an abstention for a conflict of interest. Wilburn: Item carries 6-0 with one abstention due to conflict of interest by Correia. We've been asked to take a break. We'll be back at 8:30. (TAPE OFF) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #8 ITEM 8 Wilburn: Atkins: . Bailey: Atkins: Bailey: Atkins: Wilburn: Atkins: Wilburn: Champion: Bailey: Wilburn: Page 31 AMENDING THE FY2006 OPERATING BUDGET. a. PUBLIC HEARING (pounds gavel) Public hearing is open. Just to give you.. . these are normally very routine. It's a matter of State law. This year it's a little different in that we had to amend the budget for the expenses associated with storm cleanup.. . (unable to understand) you're in effect granting the authorization to.. . what we just spent, and just.. .it'll be six weeks on Thursday. We still have not heard about any kind of a declaration, and the other point I wanted to make to you is that it's about $1.1 million in amendments. That comes directly from our Working Capital reserves. So, if we don't receive the declaration, we don't get it back. Can you higWight some of those expenses. I'm sure people... Well, the biggest thing.. . yeah, the biggest things that you'll see are employee overtime, police, fire - that was a biggie. We had to rent lots of heavy equipment for debris cleanup. We had other jurisdictions who were assisting us. Landfill charges, for example, we waived the landfill charges, I believe, for almost two weeks and I remember the number they gave me during that period of time was about 2,300 tons of material were deposited. So that's $80,000 in lost revenue. When you put it all together, again, it's over a million dollars. And we're still in contact with our delegates and .... We're doing all those things. Yes. I received contact from Senator Harkins's staff and Congressman Leach's staff yesterday, and they're still talking with the President's office, and... Yeah. (several talking and laughter) (pounds gavel) Public hearing is closed. b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION Move the resolution. Second. Moved by Champion; seconded by Bailey. Discussion? All those in favor say "aye." I'm sorry...roll call. Carries 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. @ p.n ITEM 9 CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 8, ENTITLED "POLICE REGULATIONS," CHAPTER 4, ENTITLED "ANIMAL CONTROL" AND TITLE 10, ENTITLED "PUBLIC WAYS AND PROPERTY," CHAPTER 9, ENTITLED "PARKS AND RECREATION REGULATIONS," TO ALLOW DOGS TO BE OFF LEASH IN THORNBERRY OFF-LEASH DOG PARK. (FIRST CONSIDERATION) Bailey: Move first consideration. Wilburn: Moved by Bailey. O'Donnell: Second. Wilburn: Seconded by O'Donnell. Discussion? Bailey: I just wondered when permits go on sale. After we pass this? Okay. Dilkes: This doesn't really have anything to do with the permits... Bailey: . . . in place and when they take them off leash, that it's all good. Dilkes: Right. Wilburn: Roll call. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #12 Page 33 ITEM 12 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR TEMPORARY USE OF PUBLIC RIGHT-OF- WAY BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY, LANDOWNER UNIVERSITY VIEW PARTNERS, AND TENANT DA WIT'S RESTAURANT, INC., D/B/A DAVID'S PLACE, FOR A SInEW ALK CAFE. Champion: Move the resolution. Correia: Second. Wilburn: Moved by Champion; seconded by Correia. Discussion? Bailey: I didn't see, and maybe I read this and forgot, which street this is going to be on, because that's a corner business. Dilkes: I think it's going to be on both corners. Bailey: Okay, thanks. Dilkes: I think they have doors on both sides. Wilburn: That's right.. .good food too! Roll call. Item carries 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #13 Page 34 ITEM 13 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING DISTRIBUTION OF THE "PROGRAM FOR IMPROVING NEIGHBORHOODS" (PIN) GRANTS FUNDS. O'Donnell: Move the resolution. Wilburn: Moved by O'Donnell. Correia: Second. Wilburn: Seconded by Correia. Discussion? Champion: We have a lot of people from the neighborhoods here. Bailey: Ijust have a question about last year's PIN grants, if we're going to get some follow-up about those, the results of those, sometime in the next couple months because most ofthose should be concluding, right, Marsha? Wilburn: Marsha nodded her head yes, for the public's.. ..(laughter). Bailey: Because that would be exciting to see where they've gone with it. Wright: Good evening. I'm Michael Wright from the Longfellow Neighborhood. I'm here to introduce the PIN grants to Council once again this year, and to express thanks from the neighborhoods and the Neighborhood Council ofIowa City, to the City Council for extending the PIN grant opportunities to us. The creativity and the energy and the ideas that come out of the neighborhoods every year for programs that the PIN grants might be able to fund never cease to amaze me. This year we have everything from a plaque to composters to park improvements and playgrounds, so it's a fairly impressive list. Start off here briefly, from the Longfellow Neighborhood Association, composting bins for backyard conservation; Galway Hills Neighborhood on a memorial plaque for Mary Reiman; Oak Grove Neighborhood Association on Oak Grove Park updating; Washington Hills on playground equipment; College Green Neighborhood Association for movie night; Longfellow Neighborhood Association for home weatherizing, safety improvements; Melrose Neighborhood Association for improvements to Brooklyn Park; and Wetherby Friends and Neighbors for the Grant Wood playground, and this is a pretty diverse, and I think a pretty fun list. So, if you have any questions, the representatives from each neighborhood association will come down and speak briefly. Carter: I'm Jeanette Carter from the Longfellow Neighborhood, and we're asking for $800 to obtain compo sting bins for use of the residents in the This represents only a reasonably accnrate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #13 Page 35 neighborhood. We received a grant, a PIN grant, in 98/99 for the same thing, and at that time we had 50 that we were able to distribute, and people have been asking for more and we figured that since a lot of people moved into the neighborhood, it would be a good idea to try it again because it's very helpful to keep so much out of the landfill and it's also a nice way for people who can't take things to the landfill to compost and so we're sure it's going to be a very popular program. We'll buy 40 bins and ask each person who gets one to contribute $20 to it so each person will pay $20 and get a $20 part, you know from the grant, they'll get $20. Any questions? Thank you. Wilburn: Thank you. Nicholson: My name is Anita Nicholson and I'm representing Galway Hills and the Mary Reiman commemorative plaque. The plaque is to honor Mary Reiman who was formerly of28 Galway Place who was tragically killed in an automobile accident December 26, 2005, and she was a very dedicated community leader and very instrumental in developing the Galway Hills Neighborhood Association, and Mary also advocated very strongly for many years for a safe pedestrian- friendly path from Galway Hills to West High School and this commemorative plaque is to be placed near the sidewalk by Dublin and West High School, which again is the pathway from the Galway Hills neighborhood to West High School, and again, in commemoration of Mary, and we have support from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in which the location of this path is located, and again, it's in memory of Mary and the leadership that she has provided to the neighborhood and to the community. Any questions? Wilburn: Thank you. Lekin: My name is Shirley Lekin. I'm from the Oak Grove Neighborhood Association. Last fall, Astrid Bennett, one of our neighbors, got us together to organize an association and we had a meeting to discuss concerns or ideas for the neighborhood, and out of that meeting it came up that our number one priority was playground equipment for Oak Grove Park because at that time, there was just some swings and they were later taken out because of all the equipment is so old there were safety reasons they had to take it out. So, we met with the City, met with Marsha and the Parks Department and they said they would get us this equipment; asked us what equipment we preferred, and out ofthat meeting there was, we found out about tire swings and kids love them. So, anyway about the time the PIN grants came up we found out that he couldn't get as much equipment as he originally thought because it had gone up so much. So, we're applying for $2,260 to buy a tire swing for the park and our neighborhood is getting a lot of kids because it's an older neighborhood and the younger kids are moving in. So, appreciate your consideration. This represents only a reasonably accnrate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #13 Page 36 Vanderhoef: So how much money do you have other than this to put together? Lekin: We don't have any money. I mean, the City is going to give us, is giving us some equipment, but they didn't have money for the tire swing, and so this is the cost of the tire swing. The City is going to install it. Vanderhoef: So this is in addition to what Parks. . . Lekin: He originally thought he could get it, all of it, this and the other, but it turned out he couldn't. Champion: Now you're going to get it! Vanderhoef: That's fine, thanks! Highshoe: Hi, I'm Tracy Highshoe with the Washington Hills Neighborhood Association. I'm here on behalf of the neighborhood. With us is Janelle Retting, Robin Butler, Kit Gerkin, and Christy Zerky. We are a relatively new association. We formed in 2000 for the debate of the First Avenue extension. Took a long break. Reformed back in, last year. We've had three movie nights. We've bid collectively on sidewalk repair, replacements - part of the City's replacement program. We host our first, the Rec Center, the Park and Rec Department, will host our first family fun night at Pheasant Hill Park this July. We applied for the PIN grant for neighborhood improvements. A lot of kids play at the Lemme playground. To us, Lemme's more like a park space because out of a 500- acre quadrant, the only public space that we have is Pheasant Hill and like the name suggests, it's on a hill so you can't do.. .you can't practice soccer, you can't do softball, you can't.. . anything that requires a level surface. So, we do view Lemme and the open area behind Lemme as our neighborhood open space. So we applied for two soccer goals, nets, and two benches, I think. It was a large request - it was for $5,000. With any source of public funds, it's limited, so we were funded for the soccer benches and we greatly appreciate that. The Neighborhood Council recommended that, and so we thank the Neighborhood Council for their time in doing the applications and for your consideration tonight. Any questions? Wilburn: There's a wonderful spider net at Lemme Elementary too, I must say. Thank you. Carlson: Hi, I'm Nancy Carlson. I'm from the College Green Neighborhood Association, and first of all, I would like to welcome you to our neighborhood (laughter) because our neighborhood starts at Gilbert Street. It's bounded on the south by Burlington. To the north, by Jefferson, and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription ofthe Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #13 Page37 then past Governor. It goes up to Market and then over to Rochester, and to Ralston Creek. Our neighborhood has a lot of short-term residents that appear in August. Elliott: We're going to be very short... Carlson: And so basically, we are doing this to attempt to introduce ourselves to the young people who come in to our neighborhood each year, to let them know there is a neighborhood. To let them know that there are opportunities there, and to do it in a person-to-person basis, rather than through a letter. Any questions? Champion: Great idea! Carlson: Thank you. Wilburn: Thank you. Weitzel: Hi, I'm Tim Weitzel. I'm with the Longfellow Neighborhood Association. I did the grant proposal for a weatherization workshop, a winter weatherization kits, and for some safety brochures to be distributed for that, related to that. Any time you're replacing window glass or working with windows, you have a chance of lead risk, so we're going to distribute the HUD Lead Safety brochures with this program. Basically, with the recommendation of the Neighborhood Council we're asking for $1,485, which would cover mostly for weatherization kits and distribution of the materials. Again, the weatherization kits are basically just a few components to help people clean up their (TAPE ENDS). Wilburn: Thank you. Walker: I'm Jean Walker and I represent the Melrose Neighborhood and we have requested a total of$I,300 for a project that is the celebration of the renovation of Brooklyn Park, and the celebration is similar to the Benton Hill Park dedication celebration held last August by the Miller Orchard Neighborhood Association, and they received a PIN grant for a similar amount. One goal of this is to bring the Melrose neighborhood together to celebrate the completion ofthe Brooklyn Park renovation that the neighborhood worked to plan in the master plan concept stage, and we've already started to do the final planning for the park for this year, and we're really excited about that, and we wanted to thank the City for facilitating this renovation. It's really going to be wonderful. The park hasn't been renovated for many years, and so this will be just terrific. Another goal of this celebration is to foster good neighbor relations by facilitating neighbors getting to know one another better, especially the long-term residents and the renters, which include quite a few University of Iowa This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #13 Correia: Walker: Wilburn: Edwards: Wilburn: Wright: Champion: Wright: Page 38 students, so we want to get this to be a good melting pot so we get to know each other, and the celebration will also highlight the historic park and the neighboring historic district, so that it will highlight it to all the citizens of Iowa City. So, any questions? When do you anticipate the park completion? Well, optimistically we would hope at the end of this year, like October, but it could spill over to spring, so we would want to have this celebration, I think, realistically it would be in the spring, but it would be during the University semester so we would have as many students as we could get. Thanks. Thank you. I'm Marla Edwards and I'm with the Wetherby Friends and Neighbors Neighborhood Association. We applied for a $5,000 grant for the southeast playground at Grant Wood Elementary and we want to thank you for supporting the PIN program. It's very important for the neighborhoods, and in particular, we want to stress how important playground is to our neighborhood. Until the Grant Wood gym addition was completed, there were no public meeting places in our area. With the addition ofthe southeast Grant Wood playground, we will have an excellent resource to complement the gym and community activities that will be used for years to come. We're currently in the process of establishing volunteers for the delivery and installation ofthe playground in July. I'd like to invite all of you to attend our ribbon-cutting ceremony that's scheduled to coincide with the Grant Wood back-to-school ice cream social August 17th. Any questions? Thank you. Thank you. Just briefly. Does anyone on the Council have questions for any of the neighborhood representatives? PIN grants are fun! (laughter) PIN grants are fun. This is actually one of my favorite things to do! (laughter and several talking) I think all of the neighborhoods in Iowa City join me in thanking the Council for your support of PIN grants in the past. The investment is relatively small, but time after time, the pay back from this program has just been phenomenal, so we really appreciate that and we hope we'll have your support again this year. Thank you very much. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #13 Page 39 Wilburn: Thank you, and for the benefit of the viewing public, Council allocated $15,000 for the FY2007 budget for the PIN grant program to improve neighborhoods and this is so that neighborhood associations can make recommendations to the Council on items that they feel would be a benefit to their neighborhoods. Any discussion? Elliott: I like especially the neighborhood that made it in essence a matching grant. I think when the residents also buy into it, it creates greater interest. Wilburn: Roll call. Item carries 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #16 Page 40 ITEM 16 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AWARDING CONTRACT AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A CONTRACT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE ROBERT A. LEE RECREATION CENTER EXTERIOR GLAZING AND PANEL REPLACEMENT PROJECT. Wilburn: The Public Works and Engineering recommended the award to REEP, Inc., of Baxter, Iowa. I'm smiling because a friend of mine was from Baxter, Iowa. That's why I'm smiling! It's the home of Rod Husson. I'll have to send him a tape of this. Urn, for $654,960, which was the lowest responsible bid. Champion: And I'd like to move to add the replacement of the privacy fence by the pool because it's (unable to hear). Vanderhoef: I will second that. That was, that figure was given to us earlier this evening by staff that it's $17,500 for that fence. (several talking at once) Wilburn: ...the amendment? Dilkes: No, I think we can just make the motion to include that alternate. Is that what you did, Connie? And that's what Dee seconded. Wilburn: That's what I thought you did. Roll call. Item carries 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #17 Page 41 ITEM 17 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST TO AN AGREEMENT WITH RIVERSIDE THEATRE THAT ALLOWS THE SALE OF WINE AND BEER UNDER LIMITED CIRCUMSTANCES IN CITY PARK FROM JUNE 12, 2006 THROUGH JULY 10, 2006. Bailey: Move the resolution. Correia: Second. Wilburn: Moved by Bailey; seconded by Correia. Discussion? Bailey: This means that Summer Shakespeare Festival.. . (several talking). Champion: And when we voted on this last year we said this year would be contingent on whether there were problems. So I'm assuming there weren't any problems at the Riverside Theatre Summer Festival. Vanderhoef: I'm not aware of any. Wilburn: I've heard no reports. No. Vanderhoef: ...and when I attended I saw nothing that indicated that.. . (laughter and several talking). Elliott: When we voted on this initially, one of the speakers said, 'What kind of example is this setting for the younger people,' and I can remember at the time thinking perhaps it will set a good example. That mature people can handle things in a mature way! Wilburn: Roll call. Item carries 7-0. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #21 Page 42 ITEM 21 CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION. Wilburn: Amy? Correia: First, I want to thank the Historic Preservation Commission. They've been meeting weekly instead of monthly, trying to respond quickly to historic home and historic conservation districts affected by the tornado, and I appreciate their service and that's a volunteer Commission and they're working overtime, so I want to thank them for that. I want to say congratulations to the Johnson County AARP and the consortium on "Successful Aging," for a successful event this afternoon. The AARP President, National President, who came to speak about livable communities and Ross gave the welcome and Regenia spoke for JCCOG. So, that was a good event, and I also wanted to provide an announcement, sort of wearing my County hat, that the County is providing drug cards to provide savings for all Johnson County residents who don't have prescriptions to help cover the costs, to provide 20% savings on the cost of prescriptions. Cards are available at most pharmacies, including Hy- V ee pharmacies, Walgreens, Osco, or by calling the County Attorney's office. Pat White is doing a roll-out of the card. Anybody is eligible for those cards, so... Vanderhoef: Is that in addition to insurance that you might have? Correia: It will if your insurance doesn't cover the cost of prescriptions. It could supplement that. Yep. Wilburn: Connie? Champion: Nothing. Wilburn: Mike? O'Donnell: Nothing this evening. Wilburn: Dee? Vanderhoef: Not a thing, except wonderful day! Champion: Yeah, it's beautiful! Bailey: I want to congratulate all of the performers in the vaudeville show for "Older Americans Month" on Sunday - that includes you, Bob! Elliott: I was sensational! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcriptiou of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #21 Bailey: Wilburn: Elliott: Atkins: Elliott: Atkins: Elliott: Wilburn: Dilkes: Elliott: Dilkes: Elliott: Wilburn: Page 43 It was a tremendous show. It was a lot of fun to work with that group, and it raised funds for Hospice ofIowa City, and I also want to mention that this is our last meeting before the Arts Festival. So, I think it's appropriate to announce the Arts Festival starting June 2nd in downtown Iowa City. It looks like...the lineup looks great. It looks like it'll be a lot of fun. So make sure you get that on your calendar to attend. It's a weekend of great family festivities. Bob? Steve, I had a friend contact me about a stoplight on Burlington Street, and I am sorry...she designated the intersection, but I've...! think it's halfway up the hill or so. She said shortly after the storm, that the timing was off, which makes it very dangerous, and she thought it was fixed and now several weeks later, she thought she encountered it not having the proper timing again. As I understood, it was a little bubblegum bailing wire. I mean, we've got the lights activated after the storm - got them back up, but there was some.. .!'ll check tomorrow. Okay. It will be resolved before long. I think it's very understandable how there are problems. Eleanor, tell me if this out ofline, but I would like to have a report.. .how much the continuing litigation over Wal-Mart is costing the City. Not now, but could we have a report some time? I think the people deserve to know. If there are three other people who agree with me. She can get that. . . .. .my office is handling it in-house, so we don't have any attorney's fees. Haven't really had any expert witness fees yet, so there hasn't really been a big out-of-pocket cost. Mainly staff time? Staff time. Thank you. That it? On behalf of the Crisis Center, want to thank the AARP for gathering over 3,000 pounds in food for the Crisis Center, and Bob had quite a bit to do organizing that, so thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006. #21 Page 44 Elliott: 1t didn't all corne from our cupboard though. Wilburn: The City was...I accepted on behalf ofthe City, so I don't know if there's a place to display this, but the Johnson County Fair Association... the Johnson County Agricultural Association is looking forward to the first in a series of collector baskets, prepared by the American Traditions Basket Company. This is sort of a little friendship basket and they will be available for purchase for helping support Fair activities for $45. The Johnson County Fair will be from July 24th to July 28th at the Johnson County Fair Grounds. So... Elliott: That's the County, that's not the group fair. That's not the group fair. Wilburn: No, no, the Johnson County Fair -livestock, all that good stuff, 4H stuff. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council meeting of May 23, 2006.