HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-08-30 TranscriptionAugust 30, 2010 City Council Special Work Session Page 1
Council Present:
Staff Present:
Others Present:
Agenda:
Bailey, Champion, Dickens, Hayek, Mims, Wilburn, Wright
Helling, Holecek, Knoche, Karr, Fosse, Boothroy, Davidson, J. Grier,
Jensen, O'Brien, Rummel
Higgins, UISG
Hayek/ Okay! Why don't we get started. This is the work session, uh, for August 30.
First...bullet point is "Agenda Items." Short and sweet! Does anybody have any
questions about what's on the agenda?
ITEM 11. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE POLICE CHIEF'S
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS FOR
INITIAL AND RENEWAL LIQUOR LICENSES, BEER PERMITS, AND
WINE PERMITS AND THE POLICE ON-PREMISES RENEWAL FORM
AND RESCINDING RESOLUTION 09-38.
Higgins/ Uh, I do have a question about Item 11, um...I see that they're, uh, not allowed to do
the PAULA ratio anymore. Are you guys just going to fall back on the other criteria, and
um, just leave the PAULA ratio out or are...is there going to be a new criteria for...for
liquor license renewal?
Hayek/ Well, I...and I don't know if, Sarah, you want to, uh, jump in on this, I mean, (mumbled)
if there is a...if you look at the agenda, or the uh...the packet, Item 11.
Holecek/ It's no longer a `shall,' meaning that the...it's not a requirement Police Chief
recommend denial based on the PAULA ratio, but that is one of the things that can be
considered.
Higgins/ Okay.
Bailey/ It's a `may' rather than a `shall,' right?
Holecek/ Correct, and there's no...I don't think we've got the...an actual ratio in it. It...it goes
more to, uh, indicia that would show that there is not appropriate measures in place to
make sure that there is a maintenance of appropriate age guidelines.
Hayek/ Did that answer your question?
Higgins/ Yes, it did!
Hayek/ Okay.
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Dickens/ One question on the, uh, Item 2.
Hayek/ Anything else on 11?
Wright/ Actually I do have another question (several talking). Just wait your turn! (laughter)
Um...I meant to check over the weekend and I didn't. Sarah, was there any substantial
change to the ordinance, other than changing from `shall' to `may' in that, for the
PAULA ratio?
Holecek/ I don't believe so...Michael.
Wright/ Okay. Thank you.
Hayek/ It makes it one of a number of criteria.
Holecek/ Correct. Instead of being a sole factor that requires that there be a recommendation of
denial.
Champion/ I...I had a question about it too. Oh, here it is (mumbled) I'm sorry! I can't find
my...
Wright/ It's almost at the very end of the packet.
Champion/ Oh, here I've got it tagged right here (laughter and several talking)
Wright/ Now that's recycling! (laughter)
Champion/ There was one in here...that said, um...maybe it's on a different thing...about
employees being charged with an alcohol violation when they're not working. Was that
in this thing?
Holecek/ I didn't see that, Connie.
Champion/ Okay, I'm not sure where I read it, but I read it in something. Okay, I'll find it and
get back to you.
Hayek/ Sales by employees, but that's not what you're talking about.
Champion/ No, uh-huh, uh-huh. Okay. I' 11 find it and then I' 11.. .
Helling/ That was originally in the, like the definitions of...of who could be in there and
who...the exceptions for 21, like employees, but then the question came up of whether or
not employees who were not on duty could be in there. (both talking)
Champion/ Right, right, right! Right, that's right. You're right! Okay.
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Helling/ I don't think that's...that's included in the guidelines for the initial review of...
Champion/ Okay! Thank you.
Hayek/ Anything else on 11?
ITEM 2. CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS
PRESENTED OR AMENDED.
Dickens/ Just a question on the new permit for Class C license on aka White. Do we...since he's
not...
Karr/ The Stadium Club.
Dickens/ Yeah!
Hayek/ So you're looking at the Consent...
Karr/ Or are you talking about the Summit?
Dickens/ The Summit, yeah.
Bailey/ The Summit, doing business as.
Karr/ I'm sorry! I just am not hearing.
Dickens/ It's the new person that's looking at buying it...would we vote on that as...does he
have to do that before...pursues purchasing that.
Karr/ Okay. What...this is pretty typical whenever we have a purchase, uh, or a change of
ownership. The Council considers it based on the information we have. The State will
not issue it without a signed lease. But you certainly would consider it, with the
information you have, and then um...it's not uncommon for a new establishment to go so
far as to secure the license as a contingency for closing the deal one way or the other.
Helling/ But everything's in place, Marian? All the papers and...
Karr/ Yes!
c) Permit Motions and Resolutions as Recommended by the City Clerk.
3. Outdoor Service area for South End Zone Ventures, LLC, dba Stadium
Club, 817 Melrose Ave. (Six Month) Staff is recommending denial. See
previous item.
Hayek/ Uh, while we're on 2 I just want to, uh, remind Council that under, um, 2.c.3., this is the,
uh, service area for Stadium Club. I, uh, given the... one of the attorneys in my office has
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done some work for somebody associated with Stadium Club (coughing) not for the
Stadium Club in the past. As I said before, I'm not...I'm just not comfortable
participating in that, uh, deliberation or vote, so I' d appreciate it if we could pull that out
of the Consent Calendar and you guys can move on it...
Champion/ Sure!
Hayek/ ...and then (noise on mic, unable to hear).
Mims/ Number 2 and 3?
Hayek/ No, just 3. Just, uh, 2.c.3.
Mims/ Just 2.c.3.? Okay.
Hayek/ At the top of the second page there.
Bailey/ But not the liquor license?
Karr/ We will delete for separate consideration 2.c.2 and 3
Champion/ Oh, okay.
Hayek/ Oh, I'm sorry! I...I was looking at one. Yes, so 2 and 3 (several talking) right, right!
My bad, sorry about that!
Champion/ Guess you and I aren't making it very well tonight!
Hayek/ Anything else on the agenda?
e) Resolutions.
3. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO
SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST DOCUMENTATION
FOR THE RELEASE OF A SCHOOL SITE COVENANT
Bailey/ I just have a question about 2.e.3., which is this, um, documentation of a release of a
school site covenant, just because I've never voted on one of those before. What's the
procedure, um...
Helling/ ...timeframe's expired, but Jeff can explain it.
Bailey/ Okay. Great!
Davidson/ Okay, your specific question, Regenia, had to do with (both talking)
Bailey/ The procedure and we notify the District I'm assuming and all that?
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Davidson/ Yeah, this is actually something I can't remember us doing before. I mean, we've had
these. We also had one of these within the last ten years at, uh, Windsor Ridge. Um, and
it's just a matter of the...the term expires under which the School District has to commit
to the elementary school site. In the case of Saddlebrook, it was about a year and a half
ago and we notified the School District. They informed us that they were not able to
commit to the site, and so it just kind of went away. I...I imagine what's happened now
is they want to try and transact the property if something like that and the purchaser
perhaps is requiring the official release to show that we don't have any claim to it any
more. So it's...it's something that the applicant or the, uh, the developer has requested,
not the City. It's not for the City's benefit.
Bailey/ Okay. So...the School's involved and...and...they're proceeding.
Davidson/ Oh, yeah. When we start getting within, you know, six to twelve months of the
expiration of these, we always notify the School District just to make sure that they're not
willing to commit...
Bailey/ Okay.
Davidson/ ... cause I mean it's a substantial, uh, amount of money for the property. It's usually
around...well, it depends on if it's an elementary school site or...or something else, but
you know, it's usually in the vicinity of four to ten acres, something like that.
Bailey/ Thank you.
Champion/ (mumbled)
Hayek/ Other agenda items?
ITEM 7. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 5, ENTITLED
"BUSINESS AND LICENSE REGULATIONS," CHAPTER 1, ENTITLED
"GENERAL LICENSING PROVISIONS" AND CHAPTER 2, ENTITLED
"TAXICABS" TO CLARIFY REVOCATION PROCEDURES, RATE
PROVISIONS AND DRIVER BADGE. PROVISIONS TO PLACE
RESPONSIBILITY FOR ISSUANCE OF AN IDENTIFICATION CARD
AND DRIVER LIABILITY INSURANCE ON THE TAXICAB BUSINESS.
(SECOND CONSIDERATION
Karr/ Mr. Mayor, if I may, um, just a clarification, uh, we'll certainly be prepared to discuss this
further tomorrow night, but on the taxi cabs, the, uh...very first one dealing with,
um...the driver liability insurance and identification card...and the rates, that's the one
that you amended on the floor to encourage, uh, to include, uh, package rates. After
review with our City Attorney's office, um, our taxi ordinance deals with carrying
passengers, and is silent on carrying other things, such as packages. So, because it was
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amended on the floor, I'd like you to reconsider deleting package rates, and staying with
what we do regulate, and that's the carrying of passengers.
Champion/ And so they can do anything they want with package rates.
Karr/ That's correct.
Champion/ Okay.
Karr/ Yes.
Hayek/ So, amend it back to what it originally was, and then vote on it.
Karr/ Proceed, uh-huh.
Hayek/ Other agenda items? (coughing) Going once, going twice...okay. Move onto Sunday
bus service.
Sunday Bus Service:
O'Brien/ Good evening. I've actually included and passed around a copy in case you want to
make notes next to the slides. Um, there's not a lot of slides, just a brief, uh, summary of
the memo that I included in last week's packet, um, I'll just go through that briefly. Um,.
as I'm, uh, it's pretty much the same information that was in there before, and then if
there are any questions at the end, um, we can just cover those at that point, so, um, the
first thing...a couple things I just want to clarify at the beginning. This isn't a proposal
by any means. This was, uh, with the information I was given, um, if we were to provide
the same service on Sundays that we do on Saturdays. This is what it might look like, so
um, if there's any alternations that you would like to make, things like that, we can
certainly run those numbers as well. Um...but for example, the service that we would
propose, or not propose but that we would, uh, to mirror the Saturday service, uh, go 6:00
A.M. to 7:40 P.M. with one bus per hour, and that's five buses we have running all day
long, uh, for a total...it's just under 66 hours of service, about 65.7, uh, are the hours of
service, and these are the routes that are included in that, uh, Lakeside, West Winds,
Rochester, North Dodge, uh, the Broadway, Manville Heights, Court Hill, Oakcrest and
Towncrest, and that's what we run on Saturdays currently. First bus is in the morning at
6:00, last bus leaves downtown roughly around 7:00 P.M., uh, service termination's at
about 7:40 P.M. Uh, cost, and once again I summarized this in the memo that I included
as well, uh, for those 66 hours of service, um, we have operational costs that would cover
those 66 hours, uh, the hiring of additional staff. We would have to add drivers.
Maintenance staff to...to clean the vehicles at the end of the night and fuel those. Um,
and possibly mechanics. I'm not sure, but that's something we might possibly have to
add, or at least, uh, we'd have some on staff in the morning to make sure all the buses
were ready to go out. Uh, there would be additional SEATS service. That's part of the
ADA. We're required to provide the exact coverage, uh, with our paratransit services we
have with our fixed route service, so in addition we would have to make sure we...we
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have SEATS service during that time as well. Uh, there'd be some increased
maintenance costs, and once again, this is just an estimate. We estimated costs to be
around $350,000, and some questions came - is that net? Is that...we do not take any
revenues into account. This is just strictly cost. Um...and the revenues, it was tough
because the ridership's tough to gauge, um, at this point. Um...until we can get further
into it...so...uh, those costs, like I said, are...no revenues were taken into account, um,
and I think some of the reason why is we anticipate a lot of the riders on Sunday would
probably be pass holders as well. So the revenues are already accounted for. Uh, would
we look at a fare increase? Would we not? Um, and then the last thing is that, um,
with...with the rides that we estimated, you know, we're not sure if that was an accurate
amount or not, but that wouldn't...it wasn't a large number as far as revenue, so...uh, the
ridership, um, the weekday and the Saturday are actual figures, um, as is the total
ridership and the Saturday ridership. Sunday I made sure to note that that's just an
estimate of the rides. Um, and that estimate was based, as I noted at the bottom, there
was a study done by the American Public Transit Association, showing, uh, that Saturday
rides equaled roughly about 50% of your weekday service, um, and that's per week day,
not...not for the whole week, and that Sunday rides equal about 25%. So using those
figures, um, and as you can see the weekday, for 7,800 rides, it's 45.6 per revenue hour.
That's per hour of service that you provide. Um... Saturday's drops to roughly about
half, which is what they...they thought it would be, and that's accurate considering the
amount of hours of service we put on the street, and so the Sunday, using those same
figures, we came up with a 10.5 per hour, which came up to be about 690 rides per
Sunday. Um, our total ridership for the year last year was just shy of 1.9 million, uh,
with Saturday ridership being just shy of 80,000 total rides. Um, what this is is...is for
other opportunities. Uh, there's several things we've been discussing internally,
um...with...with revenues from the Court Street Transportation...Court Street
Transportation Center coming in. Um...as well as some budget...as well as, I'm sorry!
As well as receiving funding for new buses, um, you know, fuel costs coming down
some, um...revenues as far as in our reserve have increased. So some things we're
looking at doing, we're providing service to increase our headways. Currently we are at
half-hour service during peak. One hour during off-peak on nights and weekends. And
we are looking at ways to maybe increase that during the day to provide a more, uh,
efficient and a more, uh, user-friendly service by having, uh, half-hour service throughout
the day, um, looking at some of the night routes, uh, for areas that are...that are high
traffic areas, uh, looking at areas that we could add new route additions, um, there...as
Iowa City has expanded, the transit service has remained roughly...roughly the same,
with some minor tweaks, a few additions here and there, uh, but there are some areas of
town that we're not servicing, um...replacing of our aging fleet, uh, as you guys know,
uh, funding is becoming more and more difficult. Uh, we did receive some stimulus
funds this year, uh, but about ten of our fleet vehicles we had to send up to Cedar Rapids
to get frame rebuilds, uh, the frames had to be completely rebuilt, um, as they had rusted
through. So, I mean, we do have an aging fleet, um, and then to build reserve for a new
facility, uh, our facility was...has hit its over 20-year mark, as far as...how long it's been
in service, um, and with the Landfill below it, we just have started to kind of pack money
away, uh, in case funds became available for a new facility. So...um, these are just other
options. I don't have full proposals on these. These are things we've been discussing
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internally, um, it hadn't got to the point of a full proposal yet. Um, so that's just a brief
summary of the things that were in the memo, and now I'd like to just open it up for
questions and... and dialogue.
Wilburn/ Is that study a national, regional, state study?
O'Brien/ Uh, it was a state. It was a national (mumbled) national organization. I actually
brought it with me.
Bailey/ How old is it?
O'Brien/ Uh, 2004, 2005.
Wilburn/ And was it overall, was it for cities of a certain size...
O'Brien/ There was no definition of the, um...their best estimate as it says of the number of
people using public transportation on a day is about 45%. The number of trips reported
Saturday ridership is often about 50% of weekday ridership. Sunday ridership may be
only 25, and this was done for the Research and Innovative Technology Administration,
Bureau of Transportation statistics.
Wilburn/ Okay.
Mims/ And you're saying our weekday and Saturday fit with what they're saying.
O'Brien/ Right, it was, uh, 20...45 point...I want to say 45.6 and 21.3, somewhere in there. So
just shy of...it was in the ballpark though.
Bailey/ And our information is like this past year, I mean, it's pretty...this is...
O'Brien/ Correct, that was FY10...
Bailey/ Okay.
O'Brien/ ...numbers is what those are. And once again, I...I cannot tell you what Sunday rides
will be. It may be the same as Saturday. Um, it may be in that ballpark, but we're just
going by the estimates that...
Wilburn/ Thank you.
O'Brien/ Uh-huh.
Champion/ I'm interested to see if you've explored where you might build a new facility. You
weren't planning on building it where it's at?
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O'Brien/ No. I think if we chose to build a facility somewhere else, I...I think the intent has
been to, uh, actually look into possibly developing that corner, um...so we would...we
would...we don't have a site selection. That's something we're in the process of working
with the...with, uh, Planning...the Planning group.
Champion/ Okay... cause I think you need a new.. .
O'Brien/ It's in the very early stages. That's a long project to go through, and funding, once
again, is very tight and to get a project funded, uh, with an earmark now is...is difficult
so...
Bailey/ So, the letter from the Transit Advisory group suggests that before we move into Sunday
service we concentrate on, um, getting more of our service on time, and I'm...I'm just
wondering about your thoughts about that, and what do we do about tracking on-time
statistics, what are our goals...those sorts of things, um, when was the last time we did a
comprehensive route review. I think I remember something that...
O'Brien/ I think they've had periodic route reviews. We haven't done one in the two years that
I've been there yet.
Bailey/ Right.
O'Brien/ I know when I first started at Transit initially, when I was an Operations Supervisor,
uh, we looked at the entire system at that point and ended up making just some minor
tweaks. I think that was done periodically throughout, um, between 97 and...and now.
Um...
Bailey/ But what about this sort of discussion about let's focus on this other issue before Sunday
service, I mean, what are your thoughts about that?
O'Brien/ I think they can, I mean, I would almost say they're mutually exclusive of each other.
I....I think that you can look at Sunday service...um, and still make your modifications
and... and your corrections that you need to your current, existing service, uh, which is
something that we've been working, um, fairly diligently on as far as trying to identify
places, um, do we have too many bus stops in an area that are closing slow-downs, um,
do we need to extend some routes, um, and pair them differently. Those are things that
we've...we've started to look at, um, over the last few months, so, um, but I think you
can look at these at the same time.
Bailey/ Well, that's kind of what I thought, and I was wondering if there was any, you know,
Transit sort of professional reason that it couldn't be explored in that way, but okay.
(mumbled)
Helling/ If I may, I, you know, I think we would...we would, if you want to throw that in with
everything else in the hopper, we certainly would...would look at that and, as Chris said,
you know, there's...there's still the ability fund some other things, but I think you need to
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be very careful, and we need to look (mumbled) closer too, because if you add Sunday
service, that has to be sustainable, I mean, you're not going to be able (several talking)
away.
Wright/ ...would this be sustainable.
Helling/ Once...once it's in there, you're probably committed to, I mean, I...you could eliminate
it in the future if you had budgetary problems, but it would be very difficult decision for
the Council to do that.
Bailey/ Well, and does Sunday service, I mean, you...you jumped right away to Saturday
service, making it similar, and I understand why you would do that, but does it
necessarily need to...do we have a sense of what people are really looking for, um,
or... or does it need to be that comprehensive for it to be successful?
O'Brien/ No. I think a comprehensive study of that...of the Sunday...and I think the whole
system as a whole, um, I think some points that were in there is that really since 1971,
1972 the same basic system's in place with...with some modifications and some
additions. Um, and I think there's certainly room to...to look at all those, and...and to be
fair I think any addition of Transit service is a good addition, uh, with Sundays, whether
it's increasing your headways, whether it's evenings, um...but I think when you're
starting to look at limited funding, and...um...you know, are you affecting the most
people that you can with the dollars that you're spending, um, and I think that's
something we would...we would certainly need to look at as we do a study of this, um,
you know, and obviously we have some things internally to look at as well. Um, you
know, we want to make sure people hit their transfers on time. We want to make sure
that people get to their jobs on time during the week, um, so those are...those are all
things we certainly want to look at as well, as we look into, uh, additional Sunday
service, um, you know...the overhead costs during the week are already in place. Your
supervisor on staff, your mechanics are on staff, your maintenance staff is there every
night. Sundays you're bringing everybody in, so the...a lot of your overhead costs, um,
are what...are what jack those rates up, as far as the amount that you spend. SEATS
service is already in place. You wouldn't have to make any additions there. Um, those
are some reasons that when you start looking at those Sunday numbers they...they jump
out at you as a...as a big number, um...
Dickens/ When was our last rate change?
O'Brien/ It was fifteen years ago.
Dickens/ Is that a possibility that (several talking)
O'Brien/ Yeah, I think what we saw was that now's maybe...when people are transit-dependent
and the economy is the way it is, that it's tough to really raise the Transit rates, um...you
know, and...and actually we've built into our reserves so, um, and I think having Court
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Street Transportation Center there as a Transit asset has been a great benefit in that, uh, as
those funds go into the Transit system to...to provide other services.
Wilburn/ (mumbled) we received a memo from the Youth Advisory Commission, they weren't
comfortable without any information making a recommendation, but they, um, wanted to
highlight that youth might be a user on Sundays, given some of their, um...mobility
issues and concerns, so I think they would encourage the Council just at least to look at it
(mumbled) follow along with whatever information the Council receives.
O'Brien/ And there are options, you know, one of the questions was is there grant funding out
there. Usually the grant funding for something like this is for the initial start-up, so once
again you get back to three years from now, maybe two years from now, three years, four
years, when it falls completely in the City's lap to...to fund, can we keep that going,
um... as far as from funding levels.
Champion/ Well, I'd like to see us explore this a little bit more. I don't know how you can
exactly find out how many riders would be using it. Um...but I don't want to raise rates.
I absolutely...I'muery much against that. I don't care how long it's been. Um...I mean,
can a study help you decide how many people would actually use it?
O'Brien/ I think that's a difficult thing to, I mean, I think a lot of times if someone gets a survey
and says would you ever, would you frequently...it's tough to really gauge would
somebody really ever, um, and unfortunately it's one of those things that, I mean, you
could do it and you might get some data that's somewhat useful, but I'm not sure you
would ever fully get the...the realm of is it going to be a big success or is it going to be
low ridership, um...with high costs per ride, um, and that's why it's one of those difficult
decisions and probably why it hasn't been done...
Champion/ Right!
O'Brien/ ...up to this point.
Champion/ And does Coralville have Sunday service?
O'Brien/ They do not, and that's one of the things I also documented, uh, the who does and who
doesn't, uh, Ames and Des Moines do, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo don't, Coralville doesn't,
Sioux City doesn't, um...in looking at those, but once again, that's not...neither here nor
there as far as the decisions that we make and to whether we do that service or not.
Um... some of them have had it and cut it. Some of them have... and that's what you
worry about. You'd hate to put a service out there that three years down the road you
have to turn around and...and remove because of funding levels. Um, and you know, the
peak hour service and the off-peak, um, you know, I think that was something, if I
remember right, it used to be half hour for the majority of the day. It is something that's
been cut back. Um...not since I've been with the City, not since (mumbled) but I think
that was something prior too that they looked at. Um, and then also they go back to your
fare increase question. The last time we raised fares I think we took a 13 or 15% hit in
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ridership at that point. So...and that was going from 50-cents to 75. I think it took
us... seven years to get that back. I want to say.
Wright/ Have we had any discussions with Coralville to see if they would be interested in... in
having Sunday service, cause if we had the two services going on Sunday, that might
make more sense than just one...
Champion/ Yeah!
Wright/ ...half of the equation. And I...as much as I want Sunday service, this is really
expensive and I'd like to see us, uh...get as much out of it as we can, if we're going to go
for this. I mean, it's what? $6,700 a Sunday!
O'Brien/ Yeah, that's...that's certainly something that we...I have not engaged in the
conversations with Vickie on that. Um...
Wright/ That's something I'd be interested in finding out, and also I think...well, we're actually
starting from the letter from the...the (noise on mic) group (mumbled) really to think
about...just an examination of our mass transit in general and where do we need
additions and... are there any areas that we don't need to focus on anymore, and I think
this maybe needs to be part of that...a broader discussion, not just Sunday service.
O'Brien/ Well and...
Wright/ ...routes that need to be added, parts of the community aren't being served, as you said,
um...so I'm wondering if maybe what we haven't come to is the point where we need to
examine top to bottom the services that we're getting for our public transit.
O'Brien/ And that's one of the processes that we're...we're in the beginning stages of is...is
looking at, okay, where...where are the people riding from and where are they wanting to
go to, uh, what times are they looking to do that, um, you know, there are certain routes
that we ask to provide a helper bus, right behind it, because the buses are so full; you
don't want to leave people behind. Um...and when you're...when you have that many
passengers and when you have that... as many stops as we do, I think during
our...um...next bus system that we're...we're implementing, we've 587-ish bus stops
that we have. Um, I think Cambus is at 80-ish, 90. Coralville's in the 145 range. It's a
lot of stops when, you know, you're averaging about 4 miles per gallon on buses. It's
stop, go, stop, go, and that's during peak. That's just...that's what we stop at just during
peak times; off-peak you include intersections, things like that, um...
Wright/ So, you're starting to...to look at it, a top to bottom analysis of the service, how long do
you expect that that might take you to complete?
O'Brien/ Well, we did it in 97 and, you know, if you sit down and focus...what we were
focusing on initially was how can we alleviate the pressures on those routes right
now..until we can get a study done. Um, you know, the study we would hope to have
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done, I mean, if we...if we really push forward, um...you know, to have
recommendations hopefully to go into effect in the fall of... of the next year. Um... if you
do a full-blown study of, you know, you might...you need assistance, um...you know,
and that would be probably an aggressive way because you're looking at publications,
getting information out, um...you know, we'd have to redo all of our...our next bus data
that we've...we've given to them this last couple months if we're going to change all of
our routes, so there'd be a lot of stuff that we'd have to change moving forward to, you
know, I think aggressively we'd...obviously shoot for the fall, that's what you always
shoot for, um...to make wholesale top to bottom changes.
Hayek/ Is that what you think we should do?
O'Brien/ Um, I think there's certain...I think as far as transit goes, if you...the more frequently
you provide service, the more apt there's going to be a service that everybody can use.
Once you get into hour headways, um...hours between buses, it makes it difficult, um,
you know, if you have a family, if something happens, to have to...what are you going to
do at that point? You're looking at a cab. You're looking at...um, trying to get a ride
from someone. I, um...
Wright/ I can attest to that!
O'Brien/ It is. It's a difficult, um...you know, but yet we're not at the point we can...we have
enough funds to...to throw out 15-minute service. For other routes that are heavily used,
if we could provide half-hour service during the day, um, and I'm not saying that
Sundays are any less important than...than headways, but when you're looking at the
amount of passengers you might carry, um, for the dollars that you spend, you know,
those are the things that we look at in trying to, you know, before the Sunday thing came
up, that's what we were looking into is, you know, your Plaen Views, your Lakesides,
um, we were looking into a route that circle...that circled just on the east side of...of
Iowa City providing service from those neighborhoods to...to grocery, to Sycamore Mall,
without ever going downtown, but just to circulate in that eastern side of the...of Iowa
City, um...to provide service just to that area.
Mims/ I mean, I'd love to see us offer Sunday service, but as you say, the dollars just, I mean,
with the numbers that you gave us, based on 50 weeks a year, what I crunch is we're
looking at $10 a ride. I mean...I would think we could be looking at a voucher system
somehow that...that people could do that would be cheaper than running the buses and
costing us basically $10... if the numbers are accurate. Of course (both talking) you don't
know until you do it.
O'Brien/ And once again, I based that on a study.
Mims/ I know.
O'Brien/ I have no empirical data that I've taken internally other than the Saturdays fit with what
they said they were going to, so...
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Mims/ Right, and so...I mean, it would almost seem like if we tried to do anything on Sunday, I
have no idea how a voucher system would work or if it's even feasible, but starting
something in that direction and seeing what kind of demand we have...that way first
before we commit to, like you say, a service like this where once you get it in place it's
really, really hard to pull back. Um...
Wright/ Are you thinking vouchers for a cab?
Mims/ Yeah (several talking)
Wright/ I was wondering about the same thing.
Mims/ I mean, cause basically it...it's 690 rides a week, say 50 Sundays of the year, you're at
under 35,OOO...you're at $10 a ride based on your estimates and so...I mean, you could
do vouchers depending on where people are going from and to... for a lot less than $ I 0 a
ride probably. Um... it might help alleviate some of those needs without... and kind of
get an idea of what the real demand is, and obviously qualifications, etc., for it, I mean...I
don't know how feasible it is. I'm just throwing it out as a...
O'Brien/ Well, and there's just a lot of options once you start opening up...and I think looking at
the, you know, you put a large bus out there that you may see only three or four heads
on... it might not be the best utilization of those services, but if you... if you do a voucher,
if you do deviated fixed routes with smaller buses, there's...there's different options you
can start to look at, um...and that would be certainly something we would, obviously
would entertain moving forward, because like I said, any additional services we...
Mims/ But I do like the idea of, if it's feasible, doing a comprehensive study of our services and
what...you know, what kind of changes we need to make overall as populations and
stores and religious institutions have located in different places over the last fifteen years,
you know, what changes maybe we need to make in those routes to be as efficient as
possible.
Hayek/ How...the process you started a few months ago, um, by how much would that have to
expand to be a more comprehensive...
O'Brien/ We did it as an internal group that we, you know, you hope to meet bi-weekly. At
times it's...it's less than that. At times it's more than that. It just depends, um...you'd
have to...you might have to get consultants involved. You'd obviously have to get
Planning involved, um...if you're talking about a full top to bottom, um...to aggressively
get it done and...in, you know, a short amount of time.
Hayek/ Yep. Okay.
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Bailey/ I'd like to move in that direction, I mean, I'd like some movement and direction, as you
said, a comprehensive study and then looking at some of the feasibilities to address some
of our gaps in services on Sunday, and as you...
Wright/ ...into it.
Bailey/ Right, and roll that into the study, but also...addressing some of those gaps as you...as
you indicated, would give us some information about potential ridership (coughing,
unable to hear). So, I don't know what that looks like, but I'd like to move a little
bit...we've been talking about Sunday service for a long, long time. I'd like to begin to
move in a direction that says we're going...we have a demand, we're going to meet it, or
we can't afford it.
Dickens/ (mumbled) figures like at night...nighttime ridership I know I did ask one time.
Marian got me the information like 100,000 after (both talking)
O'Brien/ Yeah, we can break down...like after a certain amount of time what our ridership
figures are, so we could certainly look at that for you. Um, we can't (mumbled) stop yet.
That's something that we'll be able to do, um...once our new system's up and going as
we have passenger counters that document per stop who gets on, how many get on, how
many get off. Not who, how many (laughter)
Champion/ That's great!
Bailey/ Who, that's interesting!
Champion/ Well, I like the idea of doing this comprehensively. At this point I'm not willing to
just go forward with Sunday service, even as an experiment. It's very expensive.
Mims/ Yeah, very expensive!
Champion/ And I think there's some other gaps that could really be filled, and now (mumbled)
opportunity with the Transportation Center. I think we should be cautious and do what
we think is going to really be the best.
Bailey/ But looking at some of those smaller buses, vouchers, what...that would be and of course
talking to Coralville because, I mean, it seems awful to think of we'll stop here and then
you can't get any farther is the challenge. (several talking)
Wilburn/ ...from a study will help the Council too decide what, uh, philosophy in terms of what
do we hope to accomplish with transportation, because in the past part of the
conversation in terms of other jurisdictions has been just a different philosophy about...
Bailey/ Exactly!
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O'Brien/ Well, and I think before we went to Coralville we wanted to see what the framework of
this discussion was, you know, are we talking fu116:00 to 7:00, are we talking noon to
5:00, noon to 6:00, you know, what type of... before we went to them with any... any
questions.
Hayek/ Well, and Ross' point is...is well taken. My understanding of our transit system is that
we have committed to, uh, fixed routes that, uh, we generally maintain, even...without
requiring some sort of threshold ridership to...to maintain, whereas other communities
sometimes send the buses where the people are, which means you have areas that...that
may not get service because their numbers are too low.
O'Brien/ That's correct.
Hayek/ And that may be just a policy decision we need to look at, um, or just...or confirm, you
know, whatever that is, but...
O'Brien/ Sure.
Hayek/ But, you know, that's the kind of (mumbled) policy, uh, decision-making we...we need
to engage in.
O'Brien/ One of the consultants for River...River Crossings, the way explained it was peanut
butter approach, where you spread it across the entire piece (coughing) that's how some
people look at their transit system, versus some who just put a blob here and a blob there
to...to take care of the ridership in those areas, so...and...um, I thought that was a pretty
good, uh (several talking and laughing)
Hayek/ Okay, so...do we want to proceed in this direction? Do you need more input from us?
O'Brien/ No, it sounds like move ahead with a comprehensive study and...make sure we
incorporate, obviously, Cambus and Coralville in that... in those discussions.
Helling/ We'll put it together...as...as aconcept and then we should be able to get you some...a
pretty good estimate of what it'll cost to do that study, as well (mumbled) before we...
Mims/ And...and even the shorter term at least I'd be interested in, if it doesn't take a
tremendous amount of time and effort to figure out if any kind of a voucher system for
Sundays is at all feasible. You know, what it would take to put something like that
(several talking)
Champion/ ...talked about that, but we've never implemented it.
Bailey/ Yeah, and...
Mims/ ...suggestions in terms of requirements, you know, how people have to apply and.. .
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Helling/ I would guess that would be being done somewhere. We can go out and see if we can
find out where...where it is being done and how it...
O'Brien/ A lot of smaller communities utilize that for the majority of their...evenings and...and
weekend service.
Hayek/ Okay. Thanks, Chris.
O'Brien/ Thank you for your time.
Mims/ Thank you (several talking)
Future Review of Development/Permitting Process (IP3 of 8/26):
Hayek/ Next item is, uh, future review of development/permitting process. IP3 from, uh, the
26`".
Helling/ You have, uh, obviously...in the packet the information that was provided to, uh,
Council Member Mims by the, uh, Techsolve group, and along with that we've also
included, Jeff had dug up, and I had forgotten about it until he mentioned it, but we did
this study with Duncan and Associates back in...in 2001, and he provided kind of a
summary, about seventeen points, of that study, what the recommendations and how we
responded to that, uh, so I hope you had a chance to review that. Um...just, if I can
maybe help frame, you know, what the questions might be that you want to look at as
you're going through your discussion. I think, and it's very simple, I think the first thing
you want to decide is...is do we want, need, whatever to do this type of review, um,
and... and if you believe we do, I think there's a couple questions then to answer and one
would be whether we do it internally or whether we hire a consultant, um, and if... if
we're going to do either one of those, then what's the appropriate time to do it and...we
could do it now, we could do it after we have a City Manager, new City Manager on
board, um...it could be in conjunction with other kind of lean analysis. I think if you
look closely at the materials that we received, uh, there's...this is just one part of a larger
concept of lean government that...that I think Techsolve is involved with, um, and again,
I don't know whether...whether there are other areas that...that a new City Manager
might look at and say we should roll some of this into it as well, um, versus to do
this...separately. Uh, I don't really, you know, I don't...I don't think there's any magic
to when it gets done. Uh, we talked about it earlier and...about the possibility of starting,
uh, on it even before we had a new City Manager on board, um, and we can still do that,
uh, on the other hand it's gotten to where we're now (mumbled) a short period of time
of...of at least making a decision hopefully on that. So, uh, those are the kinds of things I
think you want to look at. Basically if we're going to do something. If so, what's
the...what's the timing that...that works best.
Mims/ It...I had kind of brought this forward, I mean, it had kind of come out of some of the
discussions that I had when, uh, when we were talking with, um, Bob Slavin and Paul
Wenberg when they were here, um, in terms of getting ready to do the search, and just
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talking about some of the things that I had heard, uh, you know, over the years being in
Iowa City and also particularly during the campaign process, and some of the issues and
concerns that people had and it all seemed to come, really come back to process, um, and
in terms of maybe some changes and improvements, uh, I think also there's some
communication issues, um, that can help everybody from, you know, from both sides in
terms of making sure things work smoothly, but I think as we've all talked, you know,
one of the big issues, I think, seems like this whole Council is committed to, is a good
strong economic development process. Um, and the importance of that in terms of
improving our tax, increasing and improving our tax base, uh, you know, revenues for the
City so we can do things like Sunday bus service, etc., and the...any improvements that
we can make in that development process that make it, um, easier, faster, cheaper for
developers, within guidelines. I'm not saying we want Las Vegas strip here. Um
(laughter) but you know, making it easier, cheaper, faster, um, a more known quantity,
yet within the guidelines that we as a city are comfortable with can only enhance our
opportunities to do good, strong economic development, and encourage people to come
here. If they know that, you know, it's easy to do business with Iowa City, um, it's...it's
easy to, not that, again, not that we don't have standards, but they know what to expect
and timings and things like that, and I just think there's a lot of things in...in our process
that in talking to those people that could be, uh, tweaked and improved, um, so that we
can strengthen our economic development.
Champion/ Well, I think you're right. I think there's always a perception out there that the City
is hard to deal with, and there might be ways to lessen that perception. Um, do you think
we should wait (mumbled) waiting till we have the new City Manager in place before we
delve into this.
Mims/ I'm open on that. Um...
Dickens/ Start the process (both talking)
Mims/ Yeah, I mean...I think a lot of the work...one thing I guess I would say, I think we need
to bring somebody outside in.
Champion/ Oh, I agree! I totally agree with that.
Mims/ I...I think that you need an external group who really...who does this for a living, and
really sees different ways of doing things, different places, you know, can look at things
from outside of our box to bring us some different ideas, um, so I think that's important.
The timing of it, I mean, I think there's probably a lot they could do to get started that
wouldn't make a difference whether the City Manager was here or not. Um, maybe once
we decide who we were going to use we talk to and say, you know, we're within X
number of weeks of having a new City Manager on staff...in place, what do you think
makes sense from your experience with things. I'm really...I'm not committed one way
or the other on that.
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Wright/ Also need to think about what sort of an analysis...might be of interest, whether it's a
lean process, which I think might actually be a good thing to apply (both talking)
um...I...we've done some lean analysis at the University and...and I found it to be pretty
useful!
Bailey/ Yeah, I'm not...I don't know if I fully agree. I think some changes have been made in
some of our processes that have been...benefitted and I think...I don't hear it so much as
I used to. I think...I think people get into a rhetorical grind sometimes in this
community, that they've been saying it for years and they continue to say it, regardless of
what changes around them. Same with parking. You know, we'll always hear that. It
doesn't matter. I mean, it's just a rhetorical grind, but when it goes to sort of the broad
overall, looking at how we provide customer service broadly in a lean and efficient
manner, I'm very interested in pursuing that, um, organizationally. Um, I mean...there
are lots of interactions we have with the public and...all those interactions affect that
rhetorical grind in our community, whether it is really from developers or somebody had
a bad experience paying their water bill, and then it...it spins into this other thing. So I
would be more interested in looking..:and I...I'm not that familiar with how that would
work or...or how that looks because I've never been through it, but more throughout the
organization, not just...cause you focus on one process and you still have these other
issues over here. I don't think that addresses what we're trying to address, which is a
perception, and um, an attitude. And, um, some of it's accurate, some of it's based upon
those perceptions that spin out, so I would...I would rather do it more broadly with the
organization. Timing of it, I would be more inclined to see who we get on board, see
what their experience has been, um, and use their expertise and then if we find
it...they're just willing to jump in with us because, you know, they don't know, you
know, they haven't been through such a thing then...then we go forward quickly after we
have them on board, but I would...I would be inclined to wait and use the expertise we're
bringing on board.
Hayek/ I...I would too. I mean, I'm supportive of this, uh, conceptually, but I think...I think we
should wait until the new person's on board. I mean, you know, a core function of any
city manager is this economic development and customer service and process
and...um...and, I...you know, those will be key attributes and they are this far in the
search process and uh...we...we anticipate that the person taking the job will...will bring
those with him or her to...to the position, and...this is such an important thing, I want the
new person to have, uh, input into and involve...ownership of, uh, what we're doing
here, and we're so close, um...you know...
Dickens/ They may have already gone through a process (several talking)
Hayek/ And they may know (several talking)
Bailey/ They may have some great contacts. I want to take advantage of that.
Wright/ ...something they actually enjoy working on.
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Hayek/ If this were six months ago, I'd probably said there's no need, but we're so close. My
preference would be, um...wait another couple months and get the person on board.
Bailey/ But put it at the top of the list! For sure, and I would say organizationally, and then see
how they want to sort of approach it.
Champion/ And I think the word ownership, I think that really swung my...my vote to when we
do this. Um, yeah, I think...and I like your idea of doing the overall instead of just
looking at one department.
Bailey/ Yeah, because (mumbled) you get a great hair cut, but you still need (mumbled)
(laughter)
Helling/ I...I should have mentioned-that staff was here if you had any questions (mumbled)
memo so I'm assuming (mumbled). I...and I think the broader this...this gets, the more
important it is that you wait until (mumbled) (several talking)
Hayek/ If staff wants to weigh in on this, certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from addressing
us. (both talking)
Helling/ ...talked about it, and uh, you know, I guess I'll share with you. I think there was a
general consensus among the staff that probably they might be more comfortable if... if
this is, you know, done under the direction of the new manager as well.
Wright/ I think that makes the most sense (several talking)
Helling/ Yeah, and it is one of the things that...that you've indicated in your...in your
advertisement too for the manager (several commenting) expect (mumbled)
Wright/ And I think this is...when we're starting to think about questions for the candidates
when we get them, this might be an area to hone in on.
Bailey/ Their experience, yeah (mumbled)
Hayek/ Sound good? (several commenting)
Helling/ We have other things on the agenda but...thank you!
Champion/ Thanks!
Information Packets:
Hayek/ Okay! Uh, info packet. August 19tH
Champion/ Oh, uh, Dale, I should have asked this earlier, but I'm glad to hear about the
possibility of new elevators coming into the Dubuque Street Ramp. Uh, but it mentions
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in here that they're going to...do you really use a consultant to design an elevator? Why
wouldn't you just call an elevator company? That's what I do when my stove needs
fixed! I just call the stove fixer!
Helling/ Yeah, but I think this is more of a technical design. Yeah, this is not an architectural
kind of thing. But the elevator shafts are in place, but they're going to replace the cars
and everything, and that takes some...will probably take some alteration. I...I don't
know that much about it. I've never installed an elevator in my life! (laughter)
Champion/ ...but I'm happy to hear they're going to be done, um...they're not only slow,
they're uncomfortable. (laughter)
Helling/ And they'll replace some of the flooring in the...in the stair tower, or the, uh (mumbled)
particularly (mumbled)
Champion/ And Dubuque Street!
Helling/ And Dubuque, yes!
Champion/ Um, well, okay. Thanks...anyway, thanks for finding that information out for me. I
did, uh, use the elevator at...Dubuque Street last week and a little boy got stuck on it. He
ran in ahead of his mother and then pushed the buttons, and the door...was about 3-years-
old. He was so scared. Poor little thing! (mumbled) had my button pushed so it just
came up to me and I said, "Where's your mother? We'll find your mother!" (laughter)
Wright/ Good thing Grandma Connie was there!
Champion/ I know it!
Bailey/ Iowa City's grandma! (laughter)
Hayek/ Anything else on the August 19th packet?
Mims/ That was the 26th, but that's okay.
Hayek/ Right. Yeah, why don't we just take (laughter) Council Member Champion jumped
again there!
Champion/ Sorry!
Mims/ Um, I would just...on the 26th, Marian had on here on the...the Council laptop computer
policies.
Karr/ Got that later on tonight (several talking)
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Mims/ I wasn't looking at my... sorry about that! I would just comment on, uh, IP8, Dale's
memo on the neighborhood safety and enforcement activities, um...a great celebration,
um, last week...I think it was last week. The weeks fly by here (mumbled) um... and I
guess Doug's gone, but thanks to Doug and his group in terms of the work they're doing
in terms of enforcement activities and, um, and to everybody in the community that just
really pitched in this summer in terms of mentoring and tutoring and all the activities that
went on, uh, in the neighborhoods this summer to make it a nice, quiet, safe summer!
Helling/ And if there's other information that you want, we can certainly get it for you. Uh, one
of the things I do want to get for you is...is more comprehensive report from the Police
Department about statistics in terms, but they're going from one software system to
another right now and having trouble doing comparative data, and so that...they'll work
that out and then I think we can get you a lot more information, uh, everything from the
curfew and... and the enforcement of that since... since the beginning of the year, and all
of the other kinds of arrests (mumbled) you want up-to-date stuff. You don't want stuff
that ended in June. That's not (mumbled)
Hayek/ It...it's interesting we had a discussion about, um, proactive, uh, sweeps where staff go
out without waiting for a complaint to look for...long grass or garbage in the yard, those
sorts of things, and it looks like we are doing that in some targeted areas and...that have
met with considerable success. I...I think we ought to just tuck that away because it still
appeals to me to...to, um, to have that be part of our operations, the proactive sweeps,
without waiting for complaints and...if and where possible to even expand that. Sounds
like what we're doing...this essentially is an experiment and it's paid dividends.
Mims/ Well, and hopefully you get to the point that people realize that's happening and the need
for it in certain areas starts to diminish because people start making it a habit to take
(several talking)
Hayek/ Right. Anything else in the Info Packets?
Higgins/ Uh, in packet, uh, from the 26th, IP...number 8. Um, under B, 13.c., um, I just want to
commend the Housing Inspection Services for distributing the, uh, the "Be Sure You Are
Ready to Party" fliers to all rental units. I think that is a, um, realistic and pragmatic
approach. So I...I think that's fantastic. And also, um, it says something in here about
the, um, registration of parties, and I just want to say I strongly support that. I think it's a
fantastic idea.
Champion/ They get the reprieve if they...
Higgins/ Yeah, if they...if they put their name on the list, they have, you know, the police would
notify them, if they need to shut it down, and I think...I just want to say that I think that's
a great idea and it has my full support.
Hayek/ Is that your personal support or is that UISG? (laughter)
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Higgins/ Ah! Well, it's definitely personal, and I...actually I just talked to the President and
he...he supported it as well, so I think, uh, I think all of UISG is behind it!
Wright/ After last weekend I'm not so sure I think it's a good idea any more, but...(laughter)
Bailey/ I'm sure we'll have an opportunity to talk about it. I hope!
Hayek/ Okay. Anything else on the Info Packets? Okay. Uh...laptop computer policies.
City Council Laptop Computer Policies:
Karr! There's a memo in your packet (laughter).
Mims/ Really?
Karr/ You may have seen it! (laughter) IP4 of the 8/26 packet. And it basically provided
background on how we got started, what practice we are doing, and also, uh, gives us an
opportunity to possibly take a look at where we are, and if we'd like to make any
changes.
Champion/ I think you should only order City laptops for people who want them.
Bailey/ I agree! (several responding)
Wright/ Related to this, um...is there a tutorial that you can give folks on using the...
Karr/ The new one?
Wright/ Whatever that software is?
Karr/ Laserfiche?
Wright/ Laserfiche. I find that just foul to use!
Champion/ It is foul!
Bailey/ I tried to use it for (both talking)
Wright/ That's the reason I don't use a laptop.
Mims/ I find it easy as can be!
Champion/ Well you (several talking)
Wright/ Okay, you just got a job!
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Mims/ Okay (laughter and several talking) Give me a call!
Wright/ You have to have an Apple to make it work well?
Mims/ I don't think so!
Dickens/ I had (several talking)
Bailey/ You toss it into a PDF?
Mims/ Yeah!
Karr/ I think that's the key is, and many machines you toss it into PDF...
Bailey/ It depends on how quickly it does it.
Karr/ Because of the size of it, it does bog it down. There's no doubt about it.
Wright/ You probably have to have Adobe Pro to do that.
Bailey/ No, you don't. It just takes...it just...sometimes can take a long time, but...
Mims/ And I know with mine, it breaks it up if the packet's over 200 pages, the maximum it'll
do is 200 and then I have to go back in and do the second block as a separate package,
and I just label `em package 1, package 2.
Karr/ I...right, and you do come through web link, through the City's web link to do it?
Mims/ Yep.
Bailey/ It just takes a long time. It's just...I think your computer's (mumbled) than mine so I
don't like schlepping a computer (both talking)
Karr/ And I think that's one thing about...you know, you get used to your own computer,
some...they do work differently on some computers, so even though we may explain it
the way our computers are set up, you may find that yours...uh, may not cooperate as
well. Um, but I'm glad to know that...that Susan's not finding...
Mims/ I'm not finding any problems at all.
Karr/ I think it does help to use it a lot, but I...I personally, at home, I do have to download to
PDF because it just bogs down, takes (several talking)
Bailey/ That's the only way I ever used it, but it still was kind of...hard. I just found it
inconvenient.
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Karr/ We'll make those...we'll make those changes, and we'll also take a look, there are some
additional features coming out with Laserfiche, um, that I think will also help on the
issues that you raised, Mike.
Bailey/ (mumbled) when it's in PDF (several talking) unless you have...
Mims/ ...and you can do notes and I, I mean, I just go through...I'll print out the IP page and I
just put the page numbers on it so I know exactly in the packet what page I need to go to
(both talking)
Bailey/ ...establishing asystem to work with the...the electronic version, not so much as it is
(laughter)
Wright/ So we'll call Susan for tutorials!
Mims/ That's fine. I'd be glad to help.
Wright/ I would dearly love to not get all this paper every week, but that...I tried that once and
threw up my hands in despair.
Bailey/ Yeah, I just don't take my computer with me that much, but..anyway...
Budget Priorities:
Hayek/ Okay. Budget priorities, anything on budget?
Helling/ Going up! (laughter)
Summary of Pending Work Session Issues:
Hayek/ Pending work session issues, that's IPS.
Dickens/ Where are we at... as far as the location of affordable housing? (mumbled) there was
some legal issue with...the whole housing.
Holecek/ Um, I know that Eric...Eleanor's going to be out this week.
responding to the letter that had come from Washington, D.C.
at with that.
Dickens/ So we should push that off maybe still or.. .
Holecek/ I would say at least a couple of weeks.
Bailey/ It probably won't be in September.
Dickens/ Maybe move it to October then.
I know that she was
I'm not sure where she's
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Helling/ I think you also have, uh, some recommendations coming (mumbled) familiar with.
(several talking) JCCOG.
Hayek/ Oh!
Bailey/ JCCOG...
Wright/ JCCOG recommendations for affordable housing.
Helling/ So that's...I don't have a specific, you know, timeframe on there, um...
Dickens/ October really doesn't have anything (both talking)
Helling/ Yeah, September and October, and it may go to October just because of what you have
on your plate in September.
Wright/ That's fine!
Helling/ We're still looking at the 20th and trying to keep that as (mumbled)
Wright/ Are...are we, I'm sorry, go ahead.
Hayek/ We may end up with a...a joint, or a combined on...on Tuesday the 21St
Champion/ Of September?
Hayek/ We're trying to avoid that, but it may happen. I'm talking to Marian about scheduling
(several talking) less time for (several talking) double-header!
Wright/ Are we going to actually get to the alley inventory this year? It's been floating for a
long time.
Bailey/ It's been floating for three years! (laughter) Right? Three, four, five? Since I've been
on Council.
Wright/ I...I'd like to...to strike out on that one if we can.
Fosse/ We put a couple interns on that this summer and they cranked out a report, and I've got to
review it and see...hopefully it's suitable to pass on to you all and we can digest that a
little bit. It's a hard thing to get your arms around!
Wright/ I'm sure!
Fosse/ There's a lot of them out there!
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Helling/ We wanted to combine that with the...with the brick street (several talking) and we
have...we'll have some numbers now on, uh, or Bowery Street, so we'll kind of put those
two together. Some of the alleys...I don't know if very many of them have bricks in
them, but, um...
Champion/ I don't...I can't remember (both talking)
Helling/ ...underneath there somewhere (mumbled)
Bailey/ All of the (several talking) That's good!
Wright/ We just don't talk about street construction right now!
Bailey/ I got sworn at by one of them today!
Upcoming Community Events/Council Invitations:
Hayek/ Okay, um...upcoming community events, Council invitations.
Bailey/ I wanted to ask about the Iowa League of Cities, which is in Coralville, um, who...is
anybody going. I...
Mims/ Yeah, when was the date? I... (several talking)
Karr/ No one has registered yet.
Bailey/ Okay. So we're going to (several talking)
Karr/ It's... it starts the 22"d. You've got your City Manager interviews Monday the 20t".
You've got a formal meeting the 21St, and I think Wednesday the 22"d through that
Friday.
Bailey/ But you guys are out there from Metro Coalition, right, you guys (several talking)
Wilburn/ Wednesday.
Karr/ Wednesday.
Bailey/ Well, there are a couple of receptions, there are a couple of luncheons, and...and I was
just wondering who might be out there and...I know that (several talking)
Karr/ I can certainly pass...I can certainly give it out tomorrow night again, if you'd like to take
a look at it.
Bailey/ I think I was going to go...I was thinking of going to the opening night reception, but
yeah, that would be great if we could see the schedule (several talking)
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Karr/ ...and we could pick it...I think we could still get into some of those events.
Bailey/ I think so too!
Champion/ Well, you probably should try to make some of them since it's our neighboring
community (several talking)
Bailey/ Yeah, and they'll have a strong presence there; I think we should as well. (several
talking) And then, um, I think the Economic Development Committee, Jeff sent
something out about the commercial real estate, the business, the Corridor Business
Journal, on the 21St. Did you get that, Susan? It was an email. (several talking) I
thought I saw...yeah, commercial trends in real estate.
Mims/ I haven't checked my City email lately.
Bailey/ It's in Cedar Rapids, and I thought I might go (both talking)
Mims/ ...yeah, I couldn't go I don't think (mumbled)
Hayek/ Jeff's going.
Bailey/ And I think I'm going to go just because I'm there that day and I wanted to go
(mumbled)
Meeting Schedules:
Hayek/ Anything else? Meeting schedules. Got a lot coming up! Okay. Think that's it!
Karr/ Just wanted to confirm we'll keep...we're going to keep open (noise on mic) we'll have
the...the, um, 20th will be all day, and the 27t", 28th, and 29th, as soon as we can get back
to you on that, but please keep those...
Bailey/ Do we have any idea of what we're thinking on those days?
Karr/ No. I' 11... I' 11.. .
Bailey/ Any time of day, targets?
Karr/ No.
Bailey/ Okay!
Karr/ We won't...we will hopefully know soon after we package some unknowns right now.
Bailey/ Okay.
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Hayek/ All right. Anything else for the good of the order? See you tomorrow!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Counctl special
work session meeting of August 30, 2010.