HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-02-28 TranscriptionFebruary 28, 2011 City Council Work Session Page ~
Council Present: Bailey, Champion, Dickens, Hayek, Mims, Wilburn, Wright
Staff Present: Markus, Helling, Dulek, Dilkes, Karr, Morris, Davidson, Jordan, Yapp, Fosse,
Tharp, O'Malley, Hargadine, Moran, Neumann
Others Present: Higgins, UISG
Agenda Items:
Hayek/ The first bullet point is agenda items. I note that several of the agenda items are on the,
uh, work session tonight. Is there anything anyone wants to discuss, uh, from our
agenda? Hearing none, I will move on. Next bullet point is Sanctuary City.
Sanctuary City (IP3 of 2/24 Info Packet):
Dilkes/ Okay, you all got the memo from me, um...I can just briefly review my conclusions, and
then answer any questions you've got. Um...the Human Rights Commission's
recommendation for a Sanctuary City policy, the language that was recommended is
included in the attachment to the memo. In reading those minutes, I took them to mean
that they were providing that as a sample ordinance or a...an example. Um, and they
didn't delve into the details of what they were...what actual components of the Sanctuary
City policy they were looking at. Um...and so when you gave the issue to me, I decided
the best thing forme to do would be to look at the major components of the Sanctuary
City policies, give you my opinion on those components, um, see what your policy
position is with respect to, um, Sanctuary City ordinances in general, and then go from
there. Um... so, using the language of one of the commentator's in this area, um...I've
divided them...those components into DON'T TELL, DON'T ASK, and DON'T
ENFORCE, and as is set there on the first... set there on the first page of the memo, I
think the DON'T TELL component, uh, which is, uh, a prohibition...prohibiting City
employees from...from providing information about immigration status to ICE, or to the
federal government. I think that's problematic in light of the federal statutes, which are
set forth later in the memo, um, as a result of the supremacy clause. With respect to the
DON'T ASK and the DON'T ENFORCE components, um...I don't think that there is
anything legally that says you can't do that, and...but as I put...put out in the memo, I
think you need to give some considerable thought if you're going to do that to the
Sanctuary...to the Secure Communities, uh, program that ICE has started in the last
couple years, and um...most of the Sanctuary City policies that are in place today were
adopted prior to Secure Communities. And so you can't look at others...in my view, you
cannot just take those policies and adopt them. Um, I think the risk you run if you do that
is providing representations to the community that you're not in the position to make as a
result of Secure Communities. Um, and I don't...I don't think we want to do that! So I
can answer any questions you have about those conclusions. The questions I think you
all need to answer are as follows, uh, does the City Council wish to adopt a Sanctuary
City policy of some sort within the constraints noted in the memo? And if so,
recognizing those limits, uh, what "sanctuary" does the Council wish to provide? Um,
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such a sanctuary policy can take any number of forms from something as simple as
saying with respect to City services they are provided on an equal basis to, uh,
undocumented persons, um, assuming there is no, um...assuming the services are not
contingent on federal funding that requires, uh, certain immigrant status. Um...or they
could...they could do the DON'T ASK, the DON'T ENFORCE, uh, type of policy, but I
would urge you to explain then, in that policy, what, um, what we don't have any control
over with...given the Secure Communities.
Bailey/ So a policy with exceptions is what that would be.
Dilkes/ Well, it really...it would be...I see it more as a policy with an explanation as to what we
cannot.. .
Bailey/ Okay.
Dilkes/ I mean...here...here's an example for you with respect to secure communities.
And...and part of the thing that I think you're going to have to struggle with is, I don't
really know what the entity that brought, you know, the folks that brought you this policy
want in terms of specifics. Um...I know the general concept, but I don't know...know
what...what specifics they're asking for. Um, I haven't been...we...I haven't seen a lot
of information that suggests that Iowa City employees, or the Iowa City Police
Department, are doing something that peop...folks would prefer they not do. Um...I
have been told anecdotally that they're doing...people are not satisfied with the way, for
instance, that the Police Department approaches these issues. For instance, when it
comes to victims...of crime. But here...here's my concern...if the City has a policy that
says we do not actively participate in the enforcement...or we do not participate in the
enforcement of, uh, of immigration law, and that's the message that is sent to a victim,
for instance. Let's say a victim is being encouraged, you know, don`t worry about
immigration status if you're reporting the crime. Let's say the crime was committed by a
member of her family, and... she in my view needs to know that if that member of her
family who is undocumented is arrested and fingerprinted, those fingerprints will go to
ICE, and presumably that has ramifications for her family, and that's information that she
needs to know, and I don't think that we want to provide information that does not make
that very clear. So, I'll take your questions.
Champion/ Eleanor, the City doesn't in any way though ask about immigration stat, uh, status
when we're providing City services. I've never heard that question asked of anybody.
Dilkes/ There are times when we...we, when we fill out an I-9, when we have employees, we
have to require...we provide immigration status. Um, there are certain programs, I think
that I noted in the memo, that require (both talking) status. Yes, in those situations we
will ask.
Champion/ But not if you're going to get water connected to your apartment or...those kind of
services, I'm not talking about being an employee of the City (both talking)
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Dilkes/ But that...your question really illustrates the whole problem with this issue, and that is
there's not specificity as to what...what is being asked for. No, I don't believe we do in
connection with water. No, I don't think we do at the Library. You know, but...but
that's the question. What are we...what...what's the request?
Hayek/ The, um...the example you gave of a domestic abuse situation...making sure that the
victim understands what we can and cannot do. How does the City communicate...if we
adopt such a policy, how does the City communicate that caveat to somebody in
those...in that position?
Dilkes/ Well, I think your policy...your policy certainly could include that. Your written policy
could include that. Um...and there would have to be...you know, obviously people don't
get...wouldn't...that policy would be communicated by employees of the City, for
instance the Police Department. Um...and we'd have to be clear that that message was
being sent when the Police Department was dealing with...folks.
Wright/ So we could in theory say that the policy is not TO ASK, but then it has to be somehow
communicated (mumbled)that other people may ask or just simply find out through the
Secure Communities program or some other source.
Champion/ I have a real problem. If you have a DON'T ASK policy, I mean, how many
people...including myself, read a policy or...ordinance or a resolution from beginning to
end and fully understand it? So if you have this policy of DON'T ASK, then this
situation, that you gave, the girl goes to the Police Department. Well, they might not ask,
but when they pick up this abuser or the...the criminal, they're going to be fingerprinted.
I think that's a little too late to tell this young lady that that might affect her family, cause
it will! Isn't that what you were saying? Did I get that straight?
Dilkes/ I think that's an issue that has to be addressed (both talking)
Champion/ And I don't know how you address that. Um...I have some...I think there's a lot of
confusion because of this...the difference now than when these programs, or policies,
were first...were first written. I think if there's a DON'T ASK policy, the community of
immigrants is going to think that's exactly what it is. Do you know what I'm saying?
And I think that can create even more problems.
Wilburn/ Well part of...what Eleanor was saying gets specifically at that, the challenge of the
specificity and what exactly, um, putting aside (mumbled) people are understanding, but
just taking the time to know what's included in it, because you know, when some of the,
um, folks advocating for this have come forward, and some of the things I've seen, uh,
just in the community in some of the Human Service agencies and the School District is
concern about whether folks have, um, status or not, or they're...they've got green cards,
just concern and fear, uh, about reaching out for help, whether that's uh, with law
enforcement; whether that's just, um, you know, contacting or responding to requests
from school officials about information about their children and, uh, a lot of health issues,
uh, the domestic violence situation, that, uh, it's not, uh, not saying that our staff aren't
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doing their jobs, it's just helping, assisting people get through that barrier of even
reaching out for help and assistance. And those were some of the...things that I've heard
and seen, but even just the fact that the Council, you know, some of the... some of the
correspondence that we were seeing, and some of the phone calls, uh, over the week and
uh... one gentleman hadn't, you know, hadn't taken a look at what was in the packet, but
said, uh, you're taking away jobs from Americans, and I said, tell me which job I'm
taking away from an American, you know, and (mumbled) you know, um, some of your
community members are the ones that brought us this, some members of the faith
community, and so just both that if something were to be put into place, education for,
uh, someone, so, uh, someone who does not have citizenship status, so that they
understand truly what it is, um...is or is not going to be enforced, and then conversely,
for those who do not support this to know, uh, this...there's nothing mentioned in here
about giving jobs to non-citizens, etc., etc., so that balance of what exactly it does, and
we have that challenge a lot of times with many of the ordinances that we have. I was,
um...unaware the Secure Communities, uh, information and that agreement that Iowa
has, uh, participated in, so it was very helpful to have that information. One of the issues
that I had, uh, concerns that I had (noises on mic) to some advocates...um...you know, in
some parts of the country where there's...there have been in the past some efforts in
Congress to, uh, enact a penalty against cities that adopt a, um, a Century City policy, uh,
not get into specifically what the policy says or... or it does or does not do, uh, so I had
said, you know, my... a concern that I would have to be addressed would be, you know,
that we're not going to lose any federal funding. You know, thus far those efforts have
not been successful, but after seeing Secure Communities information...before I go on to
that, so, you know, okay maybe there has been no ground or no traction to taking actions,
so it's like, well, then maybe this would be something that we could do, depending on
what it would be defined for Iowa City. However, seeing some of the stuff about Secure,
uh, Communities, um, if we...if we don't comply with the requirement then denied
access to criminal history record information is a real tangible negative, and a real
specific consequence, um...potentially, which would raise a concern, uh, for me. So that
was helpful information to have. Um, could you tell a little bit more about, uh, under the
Civil Liability issues, Eleanor? I'm reading, uh, page 6 of that...of that memo.
Um... about crime victims, um... if... if we fail to detain someone, you said that
uh....(mumbled) to detain a person known to be undocumented has not been decided, and
then there's more, and it says, however liability is unlikely. Can you tell a little bit more
about this, cause the areas where I'm presuming crime victims you're talking about like
the, uh, rape victim, domestic violence, that type of thing, that...
Dilkes/ Yeah, I...I think I mention the civil liability issue because it came up in San Francisco.
Wilburn/ Uh-huh.
Dilkes/ Um...I...I think the risk of that is...is slim, um, just because of the way the...the, um,
public duty doctrine has developed in Iowa.
Wilburn/ It's a state statute?
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Dilkes/ It's state, judge-made law.
Wilburn/ Great, yeah, okay. All right. You know, I think another thing too, um...and I had
pointed this out to some, uh, at least a year ago when some of the advocates had brought
this forward, um...at least in the aspect related to law enforcement, what they could or
could not be doing, uh, and some of the concerns related to, um...potential racial
profiling. I did mention that, uh, you know, on, uh, in 2001, February 20 of 2001, the
City Council did adopt a resolution, uh, law enforcement non-discrimination resolution
and there were some real efforts. In fact, Iowa City led the state in aself-examination of
law enforcement practice and policy. There was a study done at the time, several other
cities took a look at the policy. I know that the department, and I'm...I'm not sure,
um...how recent, but I know that the department, uh, at least, uh, through their
(mumbled) training had some training related to, um, cultural sensitivity, and I know that,
uh, there's an officer that's participating with, uh, some of the...the School District, the
County Attorney's office, Human Services, the Juvenile Court in terms of, um...issues
related to, uh, open representation and culture, uh, cultural impact education, uh, training
for all of those entities so um...I think there's something in place that um...Iowa City has
tried to be sensitive to, uh, in terms of, uh, culture, cultural issues, discrimination, uh,
profiling, those type of things, um...and I don't know if maybe we could hear from the
Chief a little later about any future plans about, um, about that, but um...I...I just put that
out as, you know, the...we do have a history at least paying attention to, um, some of
the... some of these, uh, issues and concerns, at least related to the concern about profile
or, you know, Matt, when you and I were talking about some of the things that are going
on, have occurred in Arizona where, uh...how they locally, um...enforce and interpret
immigration law.
Hayek/ Well, let me...let me offer my thoughts just to...break some ice here. You know, I...I
come from this, uh, come at this from the perspective as...as someone who is...who has
worked with immigrant populations for more than two decades, uh, as a volunteer in
Mexico, was a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia, and then as an attorney who does, um, a
fair amount of pro bono work with an immigrant population locally. I, you know, I think
our...our federal immigration policies are in dire need of reform, um...uh...and I think a
lot of this speech surrounding, uh, the issue of immigration is...is filled with hate. Um,
but, you know, I read this memo from our City Attorney and I think the legal
implications, uh, the legal impediments rather are...are, to a meaningful policy, are
significant. Um, you know, the...it's clear to me that...that law enforcement was the
primary impetus, uh, to this movement and that is one area that is clearly off limits in
terms of a policy we might adopt. Um, by virtue of these federal statutes! Um...and...so
the question becomes, well, if...if the primary reason behind such a policy can't be
touched by a municipality like ours, you know, what can we do, uh, legally, um, and I
have concerns as we just start this conversation about, you know, ways we might craft a
policy and...and the exceptions or...or at least the things it can...can and cannot do for
people are...are considered, um, you know, and I think about the...the population who
would be served, uh, and...and affected by...by a policy, and the fact that you have
varying levels of literacy, you have language barriers, uh, and...and cultural barriers. Uh,
you know...what...what do we do? What...what can we come up with, and...and I fear
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that we would come up with, uh, a watered down policy that would be, uh...riddled with
caveats, um...and exceptions, and, uh, I think that would create an administrative
problem for us within City Hall, in terms of instructing employees, uh, in the
departments, and I... and I fear that it would serve to confuse the very population it would
be intended to benefit. So I...I've got some real discomfort with, uh, anything we might
consider that would comport with the limitations in this memo.
Bailey/ But it did seem like some things are possible, and perhaps...and I...I share your
concerns, and I think that you stated them very clearly about the challenges that we're
facing. I think there's an opportunity here though for, um, a little bit more community
dialogue. When this was brought forth, yes, I...I think that it was focused on law
enforcement. Indeed it was, but we didn't have the advantage of seeing this memo, and
now the community's seen it. The people who are interested in Sanctuary City ordinance
have seen it. Let's talk a little bit more about what we would like to see in our
community, how, I mean, I would like to see something, um, that isn't riddled with
challenges, that doesn't put, um, people in this particular population that we're trying to
serve at...at risk and in a confusing sort of state of what are the exceptions, what...what
must we do, um, in law enforcement. So, I think that there's an opportunity for a greater
discussion here, what would we like to see, what is possible. Um, given these
constraints.
Wilburn/ Well, and if you....to add onto that, kind of the direction we're seeing where the
conversation is going, if there's a set of issues and concerns out there... should we be
prescribing...a Sanctuary City ordinance as a solution, and, you know, what...if...
language barriers, what...what are ways that the City can, um, work with others to
address that particular issue? Um, you know, if it's, um, if it's...outreach and concerns
related to domestic violence (mumbled) given, um...that it's important to make sure that
people are aware of the risks, if you come forward and certain (mumbled) assistance or
help, but also to educate, uh, folks that, uh, if you get help and I guess just to make
people have an informed choice as to what services they come forward, um...with, you
know, what might be the...maybe that larger dialogue might get at some of the other
issues and constraints, and perhaps something...helpful could come out of that, given the
constraints that we have about some of the issues with a national policy.
Bailey/ Because if...yeah. I...I think that that makes sense, because if people don't seem
dissatisfied, or if we don't believe people are dissatisfied with the way services are being
delivered now, is that accurate? I mean, getting a sense of what's going on out there, you
both seem to have a better sense of what's going on in our community regarding this
particular population. I do not...quite frankly, um, about getting services and what the
challenges are.
Hayek/ Well, no, and I...I don't purport to know what...what the sense of that community is in
terms of the provision of City services. I just...I see a potential for serious confusion and
potentially a disservice, um, if we are attempting to say something, um...
Wilburn/ That's not true!
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Hayek/ That's not true, or has severe limitations that aren't affectively communicated! You
know, and I'm not sure that they can be communicated. Uh, when once you...once you
send a broad message, um...you know, by and large that's what's...that's what's
received, and the...any attempt to water that down or...or have carve-outs is not...not as
heard.
Champion/ Well I think...go ahead!
Wright/ I suggest is that...following areading of Eleanor's memo, I do see some real limitations
on what we could and couldn't do. Uh, and...over the weekend my reflections came
down to well, I'm afraid maybe all we can do is some kind of a little `feel good'
ordinance or `feel good' resolution. That's not really going to accomplish very much.
I'm wondering if maybe the thing to do isn't to try to engage the, um, Human Rights
Commission in discussion about this. This idea came from them, whether we could have
another work session with the Human Rights Commission and have a conversation,
see...here's what we see, uh, you've got the same memorandum, what can we do that
might have any meaning? Because there are tremendous constraints.
Champion/ And...and that's what I was saying before, and Matt said a lot better. I'm really
afraid of the confusion that will arise from an ordinance. I think it would be very
damaging. But I am willing to meet with the Human Rights Commission, if they have
other ideas, but I'm not willing to support this right now. (mumbled)
Wright/ Right now I think it's a tough thing to try and support. I'd like to have a little more
dialogue about it.
Bailey/ Well it would be (noise on mic) for us to try to craft anything that was helpful, well, to
anybody! And...and so I think having a little bit more dialogue of what is our intent,
what are we trying to do, what is the situation that we're trying to address.
Wright/ And the Secure Communities program (both talking) is a game changer for this.
Bailey/ ...really quite...
Mims/ Well, and I would agree kind of where it sounds like the conversation is going. I've got
some real concerns, and again, I would thank Matt for...I think he expressed them very
well, um, this is a federal, I mean, it comes from the federal government, and does it need
major changes? Yes! I would agree entirely that our immigration policy has major
problems (mumbled) um...I'm really concerned about any...ordinance, resolution,
whatever that we could end up passing that has the word sanctuary associated with it,
because I don't care how much explaining you do, I think there's going to be some
serious misperceptions based on what other cities have meant by sanctuary cities.
Wright/ It's a loaded term!
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Mims/ It...it's a very loaded term, and I agree that in...in many ways, if that isn't...if what we
are trying to do isn't able to be communicated very clearly to the population we're trying
to help, we could potentially do more disservice than allowing things to proceed the way
they are, when at least our perception is that they're not incredibly dissatisfied. Now,
that's where I think additional conversation and input, um, could be very helpful to us in
terms of, you know, maybe there are some narrower things that are of issue out there that
we could try to address that, you know, don't bring us into a problem with the Secure
Communities law or other, you know, federal laws. I don't really want to see us going
down a path that's going to end up with...potentially with the City in court, um, you
know, trying to fight the federal government on something. Not to say we shouldn't
stand up and do certain things that we believe are right, but let's pick and choose very
carefully how we're going to start down that kind of a path, and so I'm not comfortable
with it as it is, but I'm willing to have further dialogue, but let me tell ya, I really like to
see that word sanctuary just gone, because I don't care how much you explain it, I don't
think it's going to be understood.
Dilkes/ Let me just make one comment on that, um, I'm looking at the Minneapolis,
Minnesota...policy. It doesn't use the word sanctuary. But if you Google, if you look at
any list...(several talking) if you look at any list of sanctuary city policies, Minneapolis is
on it. I think it's going to be...and...and it's been suggested that that's really a
misno...that's really not the term that should be used for a lot of these, but that's the term
that's out there and I'm...it's going to be difficult to...to change that.
Dickens/ I guess the reason I brought it to the Council is I did meet with the, uh, Sanctuary City
committee, and with the Chief, and uh, our discussions there were fairly personal as far as
why they wanted to bring this, and it was a lot of the...lot of it was that, uh, people are
victims of crime and they're afraid to come forward with it, and I...I guess I feel that if
you're a victim of a crime that you should be able to come and report it. After reading all
this, we do need to try to follow the federal law as much as we can. I know Sanctuary
City, the term Sanctuary, really gets people going. Most of the calls that I got after I had
met with the Chief were...were pretty negative, and some were outright awful (laughter)
but I still think it's very important that we continue trying to see what we can do. The
term sanctuary bothers me even. I understand the idea behind it, but I think all people
should be treated at least with human dignity. And I think we're losing a little bit of that,
so I...I do think that we need to do some more work. I'm willing to work with the
Sanctuary Committee and the Human Rights Committee, if they would all get together,
I'd love to see what we can...we can (mumbled)
Champion/ My understanding is that the Police did not ask about immigration status when
somebody reports a crime, but (mumbled) Could you address that for us?
Hargadine/ I'm sorry, Connie. I was way back in the corner. So...would you repeat that,
please?
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Champion/ Um, I thought you told us at one time when somebody reports a crime...um, either
against themselves or against somebody else, you do not ask about, it's not your
policy... it's not your policy to ask about immigration status.
Hargadine/ That's correct. It's not unusual to identify a victim. Um, it's fairly frequently that,
um, or fairly common that we need to...to locate a victim later on. So, if...if you're not
in the Iowa system, you may be in Illinois. We need to know that you're from Illinois, so
that we can find you six months from now. Um, if you're from another country, we need
to be able to find you. That's a little different than asking what is your immigration
status, but if you're from Mexico or from Columbia or Venezuela, we need to know that.
So there are times...I guess I would be against a policy that flat out wouldn't allow us to
ask where a person resides, um...but it's...it's not our policy to ask what their
immigration status is, because we need to be able to find somebody.
Champion/ Well, that's different than asking where they're living or where...where they can,
where you can contact them.
Hargadine/ Very close though.
Champion/ Is it? Okay. You would know better than me.
Hargadine/ We just don't ask what is...are you legally here.
Champion/ Right.
Hargadine/ That...that is typically not part o£..it's not anything we need to know, as part of a
criminal investigation. You know, some other things that, uh, that we have not
really...there are a lot of victims that we do help. Um, from at least the last four or five
years, there are domestic violence, um, victims that, most of the times when we're
investigating and we're taking action, we don't even know that they're undocumented.
However, the federal forms come through six months, a year, sometimes two years after
the fact, and they need us to verify that this person was a victim of a crime, and that's
what they're going through the process to, um, legally stay in the country. So, uh, from a
routine basis, um, we don't always know whether the victim is, um, documented or not,
and we don't...one thing we haven't been tracking is the perpetrator, are they, you know,
we...we make an arrest and we do it just like we do a citizen, but we don't track really
what their...their status is, so if you're looking for data, how many...how often does this
happen, it's not really something that we...that we track.
Champion/ Right.
Hargadine/ Some of the things that we do that we've never really publicized, you know, uh, one
of the things that, um, back when Dale was the City Manager, um, we um.,.I asked for
$5,000 for college tuition for sending people to, um, college Spanish, and one of the
things that we're providing now, if an officer has the...the desire and the aptitude is we'll
send them to either U or Kirkwood to learn Spanish. Um, until that money runs out, I
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mean, it's there for free. It's for any officer to ask for. We've had a few take us up on it.
One is even in Spanish II right now. So, as long as that money's there and when...and
when it dries up I'm going to come back and ask for some more (laughter) so...um...but
it's one of those things that we don't toot our own horn very well, but it...it's just things
that...it's small things that, um, if we can get a couple more Spanish speakers, we already
have a few already, but we seem to lose `em as quick as we get `em so...
Champion/ Thank you!
Wilburn /In terms of a small thing, uh, and may...and this is an example at least just for
community awareness and more dialogue, just the fact of support...supporting anofficer
that's willing to do that. Now there's going to be...that may not be enough for folks who
were wanting the Sanctuary City, but for the person who's going to call and say that
you're giving away jobs, uh, etc., etc., they're going to be angry that you're using tax
money to do that. That person's going to be upset that we use the language line, uh, the
City uses the language (mumbled) they don't want their tax dollars going for that, so,
um...but it gets at, you know, some of those, what are some of those barriers and things,
um, that people who are living here, whether they're documented or not, they are
spending, um, they are using, uh, City services, some...they're paying for buses. They're
shopping at...stores and they're contributing to the economy so...um...and then maybe
out of that larger...maybe out of ongoing community dialogue about it, uh, that would
motivate those who are concerned and care to put pressure on, uh, federal officials to
come up with a more comprehensive, uh, immigration policy.
Hayek/ Anything else you need to add, Chief? (mumbled) Okay. So what would the
group...like to do?
Bailey/ So...sitting down and talking with the Human Rights Commission?
Wright/ Yeah, I think so.
Bailey/ And I would like to keep some forward momentum, I mean, I would like to do that
sooner rather than later. I don't know. What do you think, Terry?
Dickens/ Yeah (mumbled) (several talking)
(male)/ ...identify specific problems where we can alleviate, I mean (mumbled) (several talking)
Bailey/ ...within these constraints, what can we address, would be my question.
Champion/ Yeah, and does it have to be addressed, is there a need out there? We don't know
that. And I don't know if they know that either.
Wright/ But given their concerns, there was something out there, but we don't know exactly
what. We don't know what the genesis of the conversation is, really. That would be
helpful to just start at the very beginning and work our way up.
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Champion/ There's been a lot of things in the news about immigration in different areas of the
country, and I think it does frighten people that we might start to act that way. I mean,
there has been a lot of news about immigration, and we (mumbled) we need immigration!
I mean, my family were immigrants. Uh, but, yeah, I'm totally willing to...but I think we
should give them time to go over this and discuss it, I mean...there's a lot here!
Hayek/ Are you proposing like a...a joint meeting, or are you suggesting they come back, uh, to
the Council in light of (several talking)
Bailey/ ...little bit easier than these, you know, the memos back and forth. (several talking)
Wright/ ... at a work session... schedule another work session with this and try to get the Human
Rights Commission to attend for that discussion.
Hayek/ Eleanor?
Dilkes/ Make one comment. In reading the minutes of the Human Rights Commission, I think...
I'm not sure that just a joint meeting with the Human Rights Commission and the
Council is where it needs...I think you're going to...maybe you need to back up a little
further to the group, I think the Consultation of Religious Communities that brought that
to the Human Rights Commission, and what are their specific concerns, and what do they
identify as the issues, and in light of this memo, what are their recommendations, the
Human Rights Commission, because I think you're going to be missing a player around
the table if you just get together with Human Rights Commission.
Bailey/ But I under...I understand that, but that would give...that group an opportunity to meet
with us, to meet with members of the Human Rights Commission, and...and keep
that...that meeting and that discussion small, rather than the larger group. I mean, there
are ways for that to happen. The...the Consultation of Religious Communities, if they
approach the Human Rights Commiss...Commission initially, we can have those...those
conversations. They can have those conversations with the Human Rights Commission,
and then we can meet with the Human Rights Commission.
Dilkes/ Right (both talking)
Bailey/ Instead (both talking)
Dilkes/ ...yes, I mean, in that I think you would need...but what we were talking about was just
a joint meeting with Council and Human Rights Commission, and I think that's not...it
needs to back up a little bit (mumbled) You're not going to have the detail you need
(both talking)
Bailey/ Well I'm assuming...I guess I'm assuming if we put this in motion that that detail would
occur, because people would realize that we have some more time and there would be
some more community dialogue that needs to occur before we move forward.
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Dilkes/ That wasn't clear to me (mumbled) conversation, and I think it should be clear when you
put that out there.
Mims/ I think we need to direct the Human Rights Commission, before they come to us, you
know, we want that input from...that they've gotten (several talking) and...from the
Consultation of Religious Communities, because, yeah, we need to know what the real
impetus is before we can see what, if anything, we can do to, um, address those issues,
yet stay within some of these guidelines that we have to deal with.
Hayek/ I mean, if this is going to occur, I think, uh, whatever message we get from the
Commission needs to be vetted to some degree legally, I mean, uh, because the...that is
what this is about -federal and state law and...and the intersection of that with, uh, local
policy, and it's a veritable minefield, and...and uh, this memo, you know, hits...hits that
sort of in broad brush, uh, but what I think would not be efficient is sort of a laundry list
of what we'd like to do...these five or ten things, um, without some commentary,
whether it's having gone through Eleanor's office or...or having some memo from you
that is attached to the wish list. I mean (both talking)
Bailey/ ...you and the City Manager script how this is all going to play out, and then put it on the
pending list, I mean, I think your concerns are absolutely valid, but I think it's a clear
message from the Mayor about what the next steps are from the Human Rights
Commission, I think would...would be fine. As long as we get to this before August.
You know, keep the momentum going. I don't know what that timeline looks like, cause
I don't know what their meeting schedule is.
Hayek/ And that's fine. I just...I think there's, you know, I'm legally trained, and I had to read
this memo several times because these...the legal issues are dense, and...and hard to
comprehend, and even harder to apply to basic scenarios, like the one you gave at the
beginning of your talk, Eleanor. And so I think, you know, we just want to make sure
that those who are interested in this issue are fully cognizant of the strict limitations on
local government.
Bailey/ So we're going to have to allow enough time for whatever the Human Rights
Commission brings forward, to go through another...I mean...
Dilkes/ I don't think, I mean, I certainly can look at a list of proposals, um, that come from, you
know, the CRC to the Human Rights Commission, and then...before they come to
Council. I...I (several talking) I can do that.
Hayek/ Well, and I guess my point is not that it necessarily happen before we take it up, but we
were going to...to take up anything, whether it's before or at a meeting, this is a legal
issue, and we need (several talking) we need, uh, guidance.
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Bailey/ Well, and I think it makes sense to vet it before we take it up, because then we can know
what direction we can give, rather than yet another, well, let's review this now. I mean
(mumbled) makes sense.
Hayek/ Okay. Sounds like that's the, uh, interest of...
Champion/ Right. Eleanor has to review that before it comes back to us, because...
Wilburn/ Well, and still by (mumbled)
Champion/ No, I'm done. I just (mumbled) by the legal staff.
Wilburn/ And, but even us just talking about it (mumbled) few other parties, I mean, it gives a
little profile (mumbled) all the news buzz, etc., etc., um, well maybe that...at future
community dialogues not sponsored by us that gets more attention, more coverage, and
gets the...keeps the conversation and opportunity for education about what issues are out
there, or as future federal elections come up (mumbled) few more people interested again
to, um, have a grassroots call for national immigration reform.
Bailey/ Well (both talking)
Wilburn/ It's not (both talking)
Bailey/ ...community dialogue is important. I mean, because if we wanted to actually address
this in any kind of meaningful way, we have to understand what our constraints are, but
what's also out there in our community and what our community wants. So...
Hayek/ Okay! (several talking) All right, we'll move on to the joint meeting with the Airport
Commission. (several talking away from mic; noises)
Joint Meeting With Airport Commission/Funding of Hangars (IP4):
Dilkes/ I'm sorry, are we having a meeting or...(several talking)
Hayek/ I don't think we've started yet. I think you guys are just chatting, but why don't we
move on to that, and we all need to mic up here so that we're, uh, going into the record.
Welcome the Airport Commission, we're glad to have you with us tonight! Uh,
Councilors, uh...
Karr/ Mr. Mayor, I'm sorry, could we just have introductions for the...
Hayek/ Yeah, Councilors, this is (mumbled) memo at IP4 in the, uh, February 24th Info Packet.
Let's just go around the table and introduce ourselves, uh, I'm Matt Hayek on the City
Council.
Champion/ Connie Champion, City Council.
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Bailey/ Regenia Bailey.
Higgins/ Elliott Higgins, student, uh, University of Iowa Student Government.
Mascari/ Rick Mascari, Iowa City Airport Commission.
Assouline/ Joe Assouline, Airport Commission.
Horan/ Howard Horan, Airport Commission.
Gardinier/ Minnetta Gardinier, Airport Commission.
Wilburn/ Ross Wilburn, City Council.
Dickens/ Terry Dickens, City Council.
Mims/ Susan Mims, City Council.
Wright/ Mike Wright, City Council.
Hayek/ All right. Well, uh, is Michael here? (several talking) Uh...walk us through this, uh,
chart.
Horan/ Well, uh, let me, uh, start just a little bit. Um...we, like you, are concerned about what
we are thinking of as our regular debt, and we have, uh, gotten City support in order to
develop our north commercial area, and to uh, build, uh, those four projects that are listed
there. Um, we would like, as Kevin O'Malley would like us to do, to make any
obligations that we take on with you folks to get them in the 12-year range. Uh, but, uh,
it's pretty difficult to rent hangars at a competitive price if we try to get it to, uh, 12 years,
so...we appreciate this support. Um, we have, uh, I think our oldest there is probably, uh,
the, uh, the big hangar, um, and we'd certainly like to get rid of that one the first. I think
that's, what's that, 541? (mumbled)
Hayek/ The FBO hangar?
Horan/ Yes. Thank you very much, uh, yeah, the current balance on:..on FBO building F541,
um, two other hangars, K and I, uh, 264,814 for K, 287 for uh, I, uh...are hangars that are
fully leased to, uh, individuals, um...I think K is a 9-unit T-hangar. So, we...at this point
get all the cash flow we possibly can out of those. Uh, Building H, that expansion
project, uh, is financed by the rents. It's paid by the University as the Operative
Performance Laboratory. If you haven't been out there for a tour and understanding of
what they do, it is well worth an hour. It's a lot of fun! It's great! Very interesting what
they do. Uh, but that's uh...we feel like that's a pretty solid, um, pretty solid tenant in
that situation. Um... so we have a total, uh, outstanding current balance of, um, about a
million five, um...we would like to, uh, we would like to take our, uh...um...sales from
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our north commercial area and uh...commit to a minimum of 50% of all of those land
seal...land sale proceeds to pay down this debt, as fast as possible. Within that...within
those land sales, we'd first like to establish a contingency reserve fund, uh, for...mostly
for infrastructure. Uh, projects like Willow Creek brush clearing to eliminate habitat,
masonry repairs on the terminal, uh, wildlife mitigation, storm damage to, uh, roof... and
roof repairs on the T-hangars, um, hangar doors, hangar door motors, perhaps reskin the
hangars, uh...Building A, which is the oldest of our ten-unit T-hangars, which I think
dates from the 60s, uh, still uses, uh, hand chains to open and close the, uh, the airplane
doors. And, uh, in time we'd like to, uh, we'd like to see that those get, uh, with an
electric motor. Uh, so that's what we would like to use this $100,000 for, um...when we
sell something, and uh...we...we don't...and our...our contingency reserve fund is still
at $100,000, and we don't have any, uh, we don't have any, uh, grants that we need to
match. We can't see anything coming, anything unforeseen, then we'd like to, uh, be as
aggressive as possible to pay down, uh, to pay down this debt. Um...looks like our five
least expensive lots, uh, and I assume these would be the easiest and soonest to sell, uh,
come to, uh, $955,000, uh, and that's 87% of our oldest debt, which is, uh, about a
million 93,000. Um...even if we add, uh, $300,000, uh, of new debt for our Building L,
corporate hangar, which we're in the process of working on, uh, our total debt is,
um... about $1.8 million. The remaining 11 lots that we have for sale in our north
commercial area are worth, uh, listed at $2,705,000. Um, that's a...that's a debt to asset
ratio of about 67%. So, uh, I would say that's reasonably, uh, reasonably conservative.
Um, now how soon will the...will the lots sell? Well, I'm optimistic about the next
years, and I think we've seen the worst of the last, uh, three or four years. So, um,
hopefully uh, sooner rather than better. We'd like to see all of this, uh, land get on the,
uh, tax rolls, um...for land value alone I think we can estimate Iowa City's share of
property taxes for the entire area pretty close to $100,000 a year. So, uh, we wanted to
make sure that we were here and saw you face-to-face to kind of say it this way. Uh, we
acknowledge this obligation and we have changed our attitude and are going to be more
aggressive, and we're serious about getting it paid down.
Hayek/ Um, again, the...the proposed carve out or hold back of sales toward debt reduction and
these other things, can you give me those numbers again or have those numbers been
proposed to the City Manager?
Horan/ Uh, we've had some general discussions. Um... $100,000 for a contingency reserve fund.
Hayek/ Out of the sale proceeds?
Horan/ Uh, out of the next sale proceeds.
Hayek/ Right.
Horan/ All right...um...and then, uh, we would commit to 50% of, uh, subsequent sales, at this
point. Trying to reserve opportunities for any grants...matching funds that are
unforeseen. Now, if there are no grants and we don't hear rumors of anything coming,
and we sell a lot, we'd be crazy not to use the whole proceeds to pay down on this debt.
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Gardinier/ Just, uh, if I can interject in here (both talking)
Horan/ Certainly!
Gardinier/ One of the reasons why I think we're proposing this too is that just by example I think
I've been on the Commission for a couple of years now, and one of the things we ran
across is that we have...we had to turn back a quarter of a million dollar grant, because
we didn't have available funds to match it, and move forward with the project. Um, and
that just had to do with basically we had obtained the grant. I think it was a State grant?
Or was it federal? State grant...and...uh, the bids came in higher than anticipated, I
think, and so unfortunately we didn't have funds available to move the project forward,
and I guess my background...I come from the University, and so you know it's pretty
much (mumbled) to turn back a grant...of any kind! (laughter) So, you know, the loss
of, you know, the ability to move a project forward, and having to turn back a quarter of a
million dollars, that's...that's abig loss to me. So, in terms of I think trying to look at
how we move forward, um, I think having a little bit of... a little bit more flexibility, but
also with the clear intention of paying debt down on an accelerated, uh, scale, um...to me
makes sense, in that, um, the $100,000 reserve is just to provide sort of a...a fund to go to
when we have a large expense or expense that comes up in a given year that's not
ordinarily in the budget.
Champion/ But that fund is already in place. Is it not?
Gardinier/ Uh, I don't believe so, no.
Hayek/ You're probably referring to the operating subsidy.
Gardinier/ Yeah. And, um, you know, and again, so the other...the other portion to it is if
we...if we have a sale, and we've got a grant pending, then it might be nice to have a
little bit of flexibility so we can kick in more funds to ensure that a project goes forward.
So that the Airport can grow, and can move forward, uh, effectively, you know, and
again, if a sale goes through and there's no grant pending and you know, then...then I
think what we're looking at is paying it down even faster than what we're already
talk...what we're already proposing here.
Champion/ (several talking) Go ahead.
Bailey/ Go ahead.
Champion/ If... so that you want to save, I mean, as the property sells, you want $100,000 in this
contingency fund for just what you're talking about.
Gardinier/ And that's, yeah, and I guess...we're not...we're not talking about $100,000 for every
lot. What we're talking about is just having a contingency fund (both talking) and let's
say we pull $20,000 out for something (both talking) replenish it.
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Champion/ The next lot that was sold, 50% of that would go to paying down the debt...
Gardinier/ Minimum.
Champion/ And 50% would go to this contingency fund, is that...am I interpreting this whole
thing correctly?
Hayek/ No.
Gardinier/ No, I think I'm looking at the...I think we're...we're talking about the contingency
fund as sort of a separate issue from...
Horan/ Staying at the $100,000 (both talking)
Champion/ Staying at $100,000, okay. Um... so then...what will happen with the other 50% on
the next lot?
Mims/ That's a third pot of money.
Gardinier/ That...that (both talking)
Mims/ Is my understanding; just depending on what you're seeing coming forward possibly
(both talking)
Horan/ Right, if we need it for a matching grant, we would like to reserve it for that.
Champion/ Sure!
Horan/ If we don't need it for matching, then we'd be crazy not to pay...pay down on our debt
(several talking)
Champion/ Okay. Um...
Gardinier/ (mumbled) big loss to turn a quarter of a million dollars back!
Champion/ Oh yeah! That's...that's sad!
Gardinier/ That's something I don't think the City really wants to do either, I mean...
Champion/ I don't have any problems with all that, but um, how many...all these hangars that
are in debt, so to speak, except the one that the University is leasing the whole thing,
right? (several responding) Um...are those all full?
Horan/ Yeah!
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Champion/ Oh, okay, great!
Gardinier/ And a wait list!
Horan/ They're full; wait list, yeah, there's...there's clear established demand for those, and we
charge the highest possible rents we can.
Bailey/ Wouldn't the demand suggest that you could charge a little bit higher rent then?
Horan/ Well, yes and...yes and no, uh, we feel like we're at the top of the demand...demand
curve, um, and you know if you lived in North Liberty would you want to keep your
plane at Iowa City? Yes, because it's a little lighter and easier airport to use, but if Cedar
Rapids costs $30 less, you'd probably go to Cedar Rapids.
Gardinier/ I think most of the airports around are less.
Bailey/ Oh, okay, so hangar rentals are very price sensitive, which surprises me (both talking)
Horan/ Very, yes!
Gardinier/ (both talking) ...actually by example, when they had the runways closed down a
couple of years, one or two years ago, we actually had to take our plane off the field and
move it up to Cedar Rapids, and...and you know, a hangar up there that we put it in,
which you know was...it was a separate hanger, but it didn't have dividing walls in it, if
you will, but it's still a separate space, you know, that was well under $100, so it was
substantially less than what the hangars (both talking)
Bailey/ So...right now your rent for the hangars covers the monthly payments, but that's why the
loan payoff horizon is so long, correct? Because...
Horan/ That's right (several talking)
Bailey/ ...well no, but I mean, it's also because they're keeping the rents extremely low, or
competitive. I mean, if they...
Horan/ I think you...I don't think that's a wrong conclusion. I think (mumbled)
Bailey/ I mean, given all the moving parts of this, that's...that's how you're amortizing these
loans.
Horan/ Uh-huh.
Hayek/ I assume as a Council, you know, we're going to want Tom and Kevin, Jeff and the
others to..to take a look at it, because otherwise, you know, without any action I assume
that the proceeds we would receive would just go back to the General Fund, uh, absence
some specific action.
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Wright/ Kevin's hiding back in the corner.
Hayek/ Is he? (laughter) Okay, back to the Airport, um...but, nevertheless, aren't we going to
want some input, or some...some, a recommendation on (several talking) I mean, this
may be a great idea. I just...I don't know. I'll need their, uh, input on it.
Champion/ Is this...
Dilkes/ The rule we're operating with is the money has to be used by the Airport...
Champion/ Right.
Dilkes/ ...in some way.
Hayek/ Right.
Champion/ Now is this separate, um, is this debt separate than the debt the Airport owes the
City?
Horan/ No, uh, I think we're talking about, uh (several talking)
Champion/ Perfect! Just wanted to make sure I understood that!
Horan/ And our development costs for the north commercial-area are paid off! That debt is gone.
Champion/ Good!
Bailey/ So this is the entirety of the Airport debt (several responding) that we're looking for...all
for hangars. Okay.
Hayek/ Okay.
Mims/ I agree with Matt. I'd like to hear what staff has to say, but I like the idea of the Airport
Commission making a firm commitment to really put some money towards this debt, and
you know get that paid down, which hopefully then just gives you a little more flexibility
going forward too, I mean, if the demand is that high, then getting to the point you can
put up another hangar maybe, so...uh, getting that debt paid down would be good.
Wright/ Yeah, you gotta look at payoffs but 2043, 2035, uh, be nice to pay those down a little
sooner (several talking)
Horan/ Uh, yeah, when I saw those numbers that way, uh...um, I was, uh, a little embarrassed,
and I...I certainly understand why the City wants a 12...wants really things to be paid off
in a 12-year schedule. I understand that exactly, and I appreciate the forbearance to
stretch it to 20, but I don't know what happened to...
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Gardinier/ Well, I mean that...those were set up on...on 30, as I understood it from when we
were talking to Mike...
Horan/ I think the big hangar got pushed again (both talking)
Gardinier/ No, but I mean the reason that they were set at 30 was that was the point at which the
old FBO operation moved out in the middle of the night and.. .
Horan/ Yeah! Yeah...
Gardinier/ So I mean that's...that's what we're...recouping from, for some that are...might be
(mumbled)
Hayek/ Just out of curiosity, what was the local match required for that quarter million that we
lost? (several talking)
Gardinier/ I think we...it was discussed, wasn't it?
Tharp/ That was part of a State grant, and all together it was about an $800,000 project, so we
were still having to come up with about a half million dollars.
Hayek/ Oh!
Gardinier/ It was a chunk! (laughter)
Hayek/ Okay. Are there any other questions for the Commission? (several talking) Yeah,
appreciate your work on this and we'll take it up! (several talking) All right, why don't
we take a quick break while Rick fires up the computer, and we'll resume. (BREAD
Curbside Recycling:
Hayek/ All right, let's...start up again. Next is curbside recycling.
Fosse/ Thank you!
Hayek/ Thank you, Jennifer.
Fosse/ Thank you for getting us on the agenda tonight. Uh, what we want to do is continue our
conversation that we started back on November 29t", talking about recycling. We're
really looking at it on two fronts, the curbside recycling and then also the...the multi-
family recycling, getting at that market that we haven't been able to get at yet. Our
discussion in November, uh, with regard to curbside hinged around two items -one is
going single-stream versus, uh, source separated, and staff's recommendation was to
continue with source separated for a couple reasons; one is to maintain our rates where
they are, and secondly is to preserve our maximum flexibility for going with a MRF at
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some future date. And you all, uh, agreed with some reluctance, uh, but... and wanted to
see some measure of improvement during that first year, and then with regard to multi-
family, we were looking at...at new structures, from this point forward, where...where
it's a fairly straightforward thing of regulating and...and specifying that the recycling be
provided, and then also looking at all of those existing structures and have a variety of
obstacles and would require a variety of solutions. Uh, so what we're here for tonight is
to give you an update on where we are, and then also, uh, seek your concurrence before
we move forward on a couple items. So with that, I'll turn it over to Jennifer Jordan, our
Recycling Coordinator, and take it away, Jen!
Jordan/ Thanks, Rick. Good evening, Council! Okay, so, um, one of the things that I...I left you
with last time was where our recycling rates are. Actually I started with this last time,
where our recycling rates have been in the past decade or so, um, they've been pretty
stagnant. Um, as Rick mentioned, the two major things that came out of improving our
rates, um, that we would like to do is to streamline the recycling, the curbside program,
and to add an education program, which we haven't really done comprehensively,
and...in a good many years, um, and then look at expanding to more multi-family
recycling, as well. So, the...I guess from my perspective, one of the main questions that
we wanted to ask tonight is how much do you want to simplify the streams, um, and I'll
get to that in a little bit longer... in a little bit, but basically what we wanted to look at was
looking at how we can simplify the streams that we do have. Right now we pick up six
streams at the curb. We've been talking with City Carton and internally with staff, in
both Waste Water, Landfill, and Streets and Refuse, cause obviously they're the ones that
pick it up, and get the revenue from the curbside. Um, we started talking about how we
can set up an education program, and you have in front of you a sheet that, uh, is about
the second or third draft of what we're looking at doing, and I'll, again, get to that in a
minute. Um, just give you a little teaser there! So, um, we can utilize Eco Iowa City if
the brand is appropriate and we're starting to work on other plans for outreach, based on
the conversation tonight. Um, we will continue measuring the monthly tonnages for
improvement. Um, they're down a little bit this month, but it's a short month, so...I
won't share those numbers at this point, and then the...the key kind of is to develop a
long-range curbside education plan. So that we're not just doing this once and then we
have the same problem in six or seven years, that we're back to square one where we
started. So what we would like to consider is moving to, uh, not asingle-stream, which is
what we had talked about initially, but move to athree-stream sort. And this would
basically be fiber, so...and I'll have it spelled out further in the next slide. Fiber
containers and cardboard, which would be (mumbled) bin which is really the only reason
it's separated from the fiber is because it doesn't fit in the bin well. Um, residents could
get a second bin, or they could just sort in the one big that they have. Um, the main thing
is that we really want to get the bags out of the system. People...as we've asked them to
do for many years, they sort pretty well, um, they sort it into either plastic or paper bags
at the curb, and that really slows down staff in getting stuff out of those bins and getting
it into the truck. Um, the key for this to work is that staff would then be sorting further at
the curb. And this is a conversation that's come up over the course of the last six months,
um, because of the presentation that we'd be giving Council, and this was something that
the Streets and Refuse division came forward with and said we'd be willing to do this.
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We have some time that we're willing to allocate and this is probably the best
compromise between the current system moving to a single stream. So basically this is
what it would look like. Um, the public would sort into the three categories in red here,
fiber and paper, so that would include newspapers, magazines, catalogs, mixed and chip
board, um, office paper also, um, plastics and metals then would either be in a separate
container, if they wanted another container, which they could purchase as they can now
for $12.00, or they could just separate it kind of within their bin, um, so we're basically
asking residents to organize within their bin if they have without, again, without using
bags, and the cardboard would go underneath. And then staff would sort further, would
sort out the newspapers and magazines, and the cardboard, um, which we also would
continue to see revenue for, and then the plastic and the metal, and aluminum actually
comes back out of there. Idouble-checked with City Carton today on that. So again,
staff is, uh, City, excuse me, Refuse and um, Recycling staff is willing to take the time
and effort to sort, and they do have a little bit of spare time to do that at this point. Um,
the concern I think moving forward is if this is really successful, that they're going to be
doing a lot of sorting. So we'11...I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but
I'm fairly confident this will help people recycle more, and uh, make it easier for staff,
and taking the bags out of the system. So the benefits of this, number one is that it would
be easier for the public, which is bottom line going to increase the recycling rates. It
would not incur the tonnage charge for the single-stream, and that's, again, I think is the
best of both worlds in that we're making it a much easier system for the public. It's not
quite as easy as it could be in single-stream, but we're also not encouraging...excuse me,
incurring that tonnage charge for single-stream.
Fosse/ And...and that's really an important thing for us, because uh...the...the feedback we're
getting from the public on...on our rates of our various services is they tend to look at
them in aggregate, and an example I'll use is the storm water fee that we have in the
budget, of increasing, although the storm water fee, uh, by itself is quite competitive
compared to many other communities, they still look at it together with the property
taxes, water and sewer rates, and all that, so we're...we're trying to stay tight on all of
our fees as best we can.
Jordan/ The other benefits of moving to athree-stream program essentially would be that we
could continue using the existing equipment, bins, and staff. We could see an increase in
demand for bins, but we do have...they've either been ordered or we have additional on
hand. So we would have that covered, and we would also be able to maintain the revenue
from sorted streams and as we're starting to see us come out of the recession, we're
starting to see those, uh, revenue...that revenue come up as well.
Hayek/ I guess where I'm lost is, what is this proposed three-stream approach, how is that
different from current policy, and maybe I'm already doing it personally, throwing it into
separate boxes, bins, and have three of them (mumbled) um...I mean I...how is that
different from what we do now?
Jordan/ Right now we ask people to sort into five streams...six streams actually, so they're
sorting newspapers, magazines, um, basically the rest of the paper, so there's three.
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Cardboard, plastics, and metal. So it's...it's getting at what single-stream is trying to do
(both talking) we're trying to make it simpler by having fewer divisions about what can
go in.
Hayek/ Got it!
Markus/ So the third stream is just cardboard?
Jordan/ It is, and it actually could go in the fiber bin, but the way that the system is set up now, it
goes under the bin just because the corrugated cardboard is bulky and...we ask people to
cut it down to 4 X 4 right now, and to cut it down small enough to fit into their bin, which
is really cumbersome.
Markus/ But they can use one bin to do this.
Jordan/ So in theory, if someone was not organizing well within their bin, it would essentially be
single-stream, quite frankly.
Wright/ I was going to ask about that (both talking) maybe not always doing a very good job
about keeping...metal and plastic (several talking)
Markus/ Or call it a dual stream and just let `em go fiber and then the others. And, it seems like
it gets a simpler message out to everybody.
Jordan/ Rather than the three stream with the cardboard underneath? That...there's not...that's
not really much different from (several talking) make that change pretty easily.
Nothing's gone out yet, obviously. We're waiting (both talking)
Hayek/ What you're saying is newspapers equal cardboard...
Markus/ It's all fiber!
Hayek/ (several talking) everything else! (several talking)
Mims/ But I think it's important that they still understand, like with cardboard, that they don't
have to break it down so small that it has to go in the bin, that they could stick it
underneath if they want, I mean, if somebody gets that big exercise bike or refrigerator or
something, you know (several talking)
Markus/ ...but that's part of our education program. We can do that part.
Wright/ ...break it down, yeah.
Markus/ And because they're source...they're still going to continue to source separate when
they get...at the truck they'll be doing that so...I just...it just, to me it sounds better to
call it a dual stream instead of a triple stream.
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Jordan/ (several talking) what it is, yeah (laughter)
Champion/ I'm going to ask a question, um, with newspapers and magazines, which I have a ton
of, and I just take `em to City Carton, or whatever it's called, um...don't you want people
to separate those, I mean, it's easy to pick up a load of magazines. The newspaper is
what's so easily recycled. Are you asking...they can mix the magazines in the
newspapers?
Jordan/ That was one of the things that came out of this conversation. We've been talking with
City Carton and we can mix those at City Carton and maintain revenue. So, that was
very positive (both talking)
Champion/ Wow!
Wright/ That's great!
Jordan/ Yep! Has something to do with the clay content of the magazines versus the newspaper,
and it just...it ends up being the right mix for what they need so...um, that being said, if
people are interested in continuing to sort, we certainly wouldn't discourage that. So if
they wanted to have several bins, and they're just doing the work for the staff then.
Wright/ Say if somebody wanted to have more than one bin, do they have to buy a... a City bin,
or can we just have a plastic bin that says `recycling' on it?
Jordan/ They can just have a plastic bin. Um, what we've done in the past is we've required a
recycling sticker. They won't have to do that. The caveat is, if someone buys a second
bin from the City and the lid blows away, we'll replace it. If someone buys six
Rubbermaid bins and it gets run over on the street or the lid flies away, the City will not
replace that. So, we'll certainly make it clear to people that they can use any bin they
want to use, but we'll only replace City bins.
Champion/ I think this sounds great! I might even start using curbside!
Jordan/ Great! (laughter) (several talking)
Champion/ I know! I...I fill up my Jeep every week, seriously!
Fosse/ And...and how those bins are ultimately sorted at the truck will depend a little bit on the
commodity markets, and how our employees will cherry pick the good materials and put
them aside where we can get good revenue stream for it. So, our...our folks, our citizens
are putting it out in a dual stream. Our staff is sorting it based on commodity prices.
Dickens/ What's the average lice...life of those blue bins, cause mine's startin' to...take the
wear and tear.
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Jordan/ I think we order them every (several talking) yeah we...
Dickens/ You can just bring `em in if you want (mumbled)
Jordan/ Yep, you can bring `em to City Hall or out to the...to the Streets and Refuse Building on
Napoleon. I would say the average lifespan is probably four to five years with those, so
much longer than a typical Rubbermaid that's not going to hold up in the
weather... especially given the last few weeks. (laughter)
Higgins/ So, Jen, uh, the plastic goes in with the cans, right?
Jordan/ Yep.
Higgins/ So if...if they were brought up to the curb and got mixed, and they...the City employee
put like a metal, a tin, in with the plastic, would that mess up the whole...would that
contaminate that whole truck or...
Jordan/ That's a good question! There's...we have a little room for contamination, but really, I
mean, with the City staff handling pretty much each item that comes out, there's...there's
going to be very, very low contamination. I think our contract says we have, we're
allowed an upper limit of 1.5% contamination, which if you think about 2,000 tons a
year, that's a pretty significant amount. We don't get anywhere near that so...and that's
because staff now does some sorting as necessary. Okay, so I think I'm moving on to
family, multi-family. Do you have any more questions on the...
Mims/ I have one question that always comes back to me, and I think I know the answer, but on
mixed paper, can you put in envelopes with plastic...
Jordan/ Yes!
Mims/ Okay.
Jordan/ And I' 11 make sure to include that in the (both talking)
Mims/ yeah, I think that's...important, because I think lots of times people see paper and they
get all these envelopes that have the plastic window in them, and they're not sure if
they've got to rip it out or if they have to just throw that in the trash instead of recycle.
was pretty sure it could go in, but I think to emphasize that, and maybe also it would be
education part being prepared to, um, have flyers like this, even after you do your initial
education, that if...if the City staff sees somebody repeatedly that's doing a really poor
job sorting, to kind of stick one of these in their bin.
Jordan/ We have a system for that now. They use a tagging system, um, but I think the...the
experience that I've heard from...from many residents is that they...they get a tag and
they don't understand why it's wrong, even if it pretty explicitly says it sometimes. So
they give up and you know, take their stuff to the drop-off site instead, so...in order to
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increase our curbside members, I think it's important to go back to the education, and you
know, going back to, um, the envelopes, that...that's...had we an education program in
place for the last ten years, that would have been information that (mumbled)
Wright/ As somebody who's actually just nosy enough to actually go and look at the tag when I
see one on a recycling bin (mumbled) it's not always clear what the problem is.
Jordan/ Right, and...and it might make sense to the staff person who's standing there sorting it,
but that doesn't mean it makes sense to the public cause that, you know, it's a tiny
portion of their day versus eight hours of their day. So...it's understandable! Okay, any
more questions on the sorting aspect of it?
Wright/ That's a nice (several talking)
Jordan/ Okay, so where we're at with the multi-family code amendment, um, we have been
working with the Legal department to draft an amendment, and um, it's actually still
in...at Legal. I talked to her today, and she's making progress on it and has a bunch more
questions for me after our conversation today. So, we'll continue working on that, and
then we'll vet it through the various departments, I'm guessing probably through joint
staff and then bring it to Council for a public hearing and uh, Council adoption
(mumbled).
Hayek/ Where did we leave things with existing multi-family?
Jordan/ What alead-in? (laughter) (several talking) The pilot, yeah! So we're working with
property owners and Housing Inspection Services to develop a range of solutions. Um,
the...the problem, and the beauty of this, is that there are so many different types of
apartments in Iowa City that we can't just put out one or two solutions and expect them
to work for anybody, or necessarily anyone. But we have gotten some great input from
the Greater Iowa City Area Apartment Owners Association, um, and they had some great
ideas of what might work in different apartment...different types of apartments, um, so
with that in mind, we're working on developing the...a different, uh, set of...of pilot
projects, or a set of options, basically. Um, I've done some research, and have my intern
working on some research, as well, for what's going on in other communities across the
country, and there's a ton of really neat possibilities. So, part of the problem is there's so
much that we could do. How do we narrow it down to maybe a half dozen or dozen
solutions that might work for...for us here in Iowa City.
Fosse/ Jen was brave enough to attend one of the Apartment Owners Association meetings, and
uh, really, uh, got somewhat of an enthusiastic response, and I think they're hearing from
their customers that this is a service they want, and they want some help figuring out
how...how to provide that. So, we...it's a good environment that we're working...
Jordan/ Yeah, yep. The hope or the goal is to eventually require all recycling services for all
apartment buildings, and we're moving towards that, um, with the...the amendment that
we're looking at, and with increased, or excuse me, improving the services that we
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already have at the curb, um, but there's still that gap that we just need to get filled. So I
think the pilot project will get us a step closer to that, and then I think the next logical
step in...in that progression is to make that requirement, and that might be three to five
years down the road, but I think we're moving...I hope we're moving that direction.
Wright/ You said three to five years?
Jordan/ Possibly (several talking)
Wright/ I almost thought I heard 35 (laughter).
Jordan/ (several talking) 1992, so...
Markus/ It was the hangar debt (laughter)
Hayek/ No, that was 50!
Jordan/ Okay, so the next steps then, with Council's concurrence, is we would like to move
forward with the streamlined program. We can make the change so it is a more official,
um, dual stream, and just make the caveat that you can put the cardboard under the bin.
You don't have to break it down to get in the bin. Um, we can start rolling this out
probably in the next week, as soon as we can get the flyers printed. Um, we have...we
have some money in Streets and Refuse for this. We have some money from the Landfill
(mumbled) and we also have a...a solid waste alternatives program grant through the
Department of Natural Resources that is explicitly for the drop-off bins around town,
which is why if you turn your flyer over, this is included, so we can actually use some of
that grant funding to pay for the printing of this, as well. So we tried to be creative to pay
for the printing of these, and the outreach as well. Um, but the...basically the backside
just, as a quick aside, has a listing of the drop-off sites and then kind of a really brief
overview about some of the other questions that we get a lot in the recycling, both at the
Landfill and Streets and Refuse. So this is a...an at-a-glance where you can take stuff
and then at-a-glance who to call. So I think this'll be really helpful in answering the
public's questions about not only the curbside program, but every other recycling
program in the city.
Mims/ Having this, Jen, makes me think also, um, as part of the education process, um, improved
signage at those drop-off spots. I mean, I drop off sometimes when I don't get it out to
the curb or have an overabundance, uh, I'll drop off at the Hy-Vee on North Dodge, right
near me, and I have gone up to those sometimes and thought, okay, now wait a minute,
you know, and so I think really, you know, kind of doing what you've done on the side,
and somehow structuring it so it could go. on those big containers, to make it clear would
be really helpful as well.
Jordan/ That's actually exactly what this last grant was for...was to repaint those and to resign
them. Um, so I would love to have your feedback on that. Some of them have been
signed, some have not, and...and I'm hoping that what we have up is more explicit
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and...and enough information, but if people are finding that it's still not enough
information, um, instead of painting the...the information directly on the bins as we've
done in the past, we've actually put it on metal signs, cause we can change those signs
out relatively easily and relatively inexpensively. So...
Mims/ Okay.
Bailey/ I never use paper for any information from anything. I always go to the web, so I'm
assuming that this will be in the web, but I'm also assuming that it will be easy to find?
Our City site sometimes is, uh, sometimes difficult to find information.
Jordan/ We will make it as easy as possible within the confines of the...of the existing City web
site. I've heard that before as well.
Bailey/ Well, I mean, for a while having it on the home page might...as we're rolling it out,
might make sense.
Jordan/ Yep, and really part of, you know, I didn't...I wasn't real explicit on what we're
planning to do for the, kind of the roll-out...the flyers will be a huge part of that for
existing customers, but we're hoping to get some other press coverage and you know get
a Facebook page started and all the different ways that we can think about to get the word
out that things have been changed and...
Bailey/ And we have a TV station.
Jordan/ Right, and the TV station, we talked (mumbled)
Hayek/ This is a, uh, self-interested question, but why...why, is there a reason why the, uh, Hy-
Vee Drug on North First Avenue does not have the same recycling options that the Hy-
Vee on North Dodge does. Hy-Vee on South First Avenue, I mean, is there...and I guess
the same goes for Eastdale, in looking at this list, that also has very limited recycling.
Jordan/ I would suspect it's space, um, those have been there for a long time, so I don't know the
answer to that. Uh, there's actually been talk about some Eastdale and Drug Town only
have one bin each, to really consolidate the sites and actually remove those sites, if...I
haven't heard from the public (mumbled)
Wright/ Now I have the stupid question of the night. Um, what's aslick-coated frozen food box?
Jordan/ (mumbled) garbage.
Wright/ (laughter)
Jordan/ Um, for instance, uh, a container that you get frozen spinach in that has a paper coating
on the inside and a plastic on the outside. There's actually two different materials there.
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It's a composite, and unless you are willing to separate those two materials, it's garbage.
(several talking)
Wright/ I didn't know there were such packages, that's why I asked about it. I didn't know what
they (mumbled)
Jordan/ Uh-huh.
Wright/ So like aveggie-burger box or something is trash.
Jordan/ Nope, that's find. That's actually just paper, so um...
Wright/ Oh, okay.
Jordan/ Basically if you can't tear the box really easily...if you can tear it, it's chipboard, you
can put it in with the cardboard or the mixed paper.
Wright/Oh, okay!
Jordan/ If you can't tear it easily, it's garbage.
Wright/ Thank you, I really didn't know what the difference was so...
Jordan/ Yep! (several talking) Okay, so, um we would like to roll this out very...very soon for
existing customers, in two stages. One with people who recycle now, which is about
60% of the residents who have curbside. We'll just start getting those out on the bins.
The next step would then be reaching out to customers who are paying for curbside, but
not using the program, and that's going to be a little bit harder, obviously, cause they're
not putting their bins out, but we have pretty high hopes that we can get some volunteers
who would be willing to ride along on the trucks with the staff which...we've checked
with legal and that's all right to do, but basically the staff would be recycling and the
volunteers would be then going to the doors that did not have their bins out, so we could
cover blocks at a time pretty quickly. (mumbled) process again will be finalizing that and
vetting through joint staff to bring to Council, hopefully this summer, and uh, working on
developing the pilot, uh, program and I'd really like to be able to solicit (mumbled) for
the fall. That might be a little ambitious with everything else going on, but I'll put that
out here for... for now.
Champion/ And...what about batteries and light bulbs?
Jordan/ Alkaline batteries are the only ones that we don't have a recycling program for now, um,
there's nothing hazardous in them. They can go in your regular trash. It's on my `to do'
list, but it's not real near the top. Um, light bulbs, we can take complex...compact
fluorescents through our hazardous waste facility. The Ace Hardware on the east side of
town also takes them for a fee, and we're working on, through Eco Iowa City, we had
some funding, we're working on getting some other containers out around the community
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for residents to use so they don't have to take their one compact fluorescent bulb to the
Landfill.
Champion/ Right, cause they don't! (several talking)
Fosse/ So, any questions or...does this align with...with what your expectations are and...
Champion/ It sounds great (several talking) Sounds great, seriously!
Fosse/ Well, we'll be back, uh, in late fall, early winter and let you know how it's going.
(several responding) Thank you!
Champion/ I just tell you that, um, in...my, I have a daughter in Salt Lake City who when she
comes home brings all of her batteries cause there's nowhere to recycle them there. So
she brings them all home to me! (laughter)
Jordan/ You can hold on to `em. I'm hoping in the next year (mumbled) an alkaline program,
again, it's not been...because there's nothing hazardous, and it's not been a huge priority,
so...
Hayek/ Thanks, guys! (several talking) Okay, next is, uh, facilities naming policy, which is
Item 11 on the agenda.
Facilities Naming Policy (Agenda #11):
Moran/ Nice to see everybody again! Um, as you know, you directed Dale at the time to put
together an ad hoc committee to come up with a naming policy. We didn't have one or
we didn't have one that we could at least have any teeth into, so there were eight
members of the...of the City staff. Uh, five members of City staff, three members of
commission...met and came up with the naming policy. We tried to make it short, sweet,
simple, to the point, and uh, it's a beginning place for us, uh, if we need to add to it or
take away or find that it has some problems with it, we would certainly go back and
revisit it. I don't know whether you want to go by it...through it bit by bit, or just answer
questions. Whatever would be easiest.
Hayek/ Right. Did anyone bring questions?
Mims/ I thought it looked pretty good!
Wright/ I did too.
Mims/ (mumbled) further concerns about...
Hayek/ Um...I had one question about, I guess it's paragraph B, the... sort of the catchall other
property and the City department head.
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Moran/ Yeah, we didn't think that you wanted to, I mean, we certainly could, but we didn't think
that, for example, the animal shelter came up in this, and if we get people that want to
buy a... a pen or a cage, uh, and the Parks and Recreation people that want to buy a tree
or a bench, we didn't think you wanted to run that through Council all the time. We
wanted to look at entire facilities and large money donations, but we didn't think you
wanted to be burdened with individual gifts like that. Procter and Gamble Room at
Scanlon, for example, you know, things within the facility that (mumbled)
Hayek/ That makes sense.
Mims/ Should there be a limit on the dollar amount though maybe? I mean, does that...is that
kind of where you're coming from, I mean...
Hayek/ I...I don't know. I mean, I was...kind of `owly' about this issue, you know, early on and
I'm kind of (laughter) less sanctimonious than I used to be (laughter). Um, so...uh...I'm
helping myself move on, and um, but...this is just so open-ended, but I see your point.
You know, you (both talking)
Moran/ ...put a dollar figure on it, then you're still back to what's good, what's bad, I mean, we
had several discussions about this in our...in our meetings, as well, and we just decided
to keep it open-ended, because it's much better to reel it in later, we thought, than to be
real restrictive and then it... it curtails some of our fundraising activities.
Hayek/ Well...what do you think?
Champion/ It's good!
Mims/ (several talking) always come back if we have a problem.
Hayek/ Yeah.
Dickens/ (mumbled)
Hayek/ Okay.
Bailey/ Let's just not name everything in sight. (several responding)
Wright/ I'd like to see the Hayek Cage at the Animal Shelter (laughter)
Bailey/ Are we going to have cages and benches, that's the thing. I don't want everything, I
mean, they've already got names. They don't need additional names, but...let's see how
it works, I mean...I don't know.
Hayek/ Yeah.
Bailey/ Let's get some money through the door. Let's...let's go from that perspective.
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Hayek/ So it's okay if there's cash attached?
Bailey/ Cash is always a good naming policy (several talking)
Wright/ Somebody wants to buy new benches for every park and have a badge on it, I'm fine
with it.
Bailey/ Yeah, I mean, I...because I come from anon-profit background and that naming policy
is very clear to me. The rest of it is a little squishy! So...
Hayek/ All right. (several talking) You know, I appreciate, I really do. (several talking and
laughing)
Moran/ We'll get the money! (laughter) Thank you!
Hayek/ Thanks, Mike! (several talking) Appreciate it! Okay, next up is the, uh, County
proposal regarding JECC.
Karr/ Mr. Mayor, there's a revised item.
Bailey/ What about the Chicago to Iowa City...
Karr/ Update and discussion.
Markus/ We were going to talk about the railroad.
Hayek/ Oh, yeah! I'm looking at the old, uh, so whatever they said!
Update/Discussion: Chicago to Iowa City High-Speed Rail Funding:
Markus/John, why don't you come on up. (several talking) We had a meeting with Nancy
Richardson, and I've asked John to give us kind of an update.
Yapp/ Good evening. Uh, John Yapp and Brad Neumann. Last, uh, Thursday, Brad and I
and...Tom and Matt attended a, uh, DOT-sponsored meeting regarding the potential
future Amtrak service between Chicago the Quad Cities, Iowa City and Des Moines. Uh,
and there was also a representative there from Dubuque for the potential service between
Chicago and Dubuque. And, one of the things the DOT was...uh, explaining is that
they're preparing a business plan for the Governor's office for the operations costs for
future Amtrak service. And, one of the things they're requesting from local communities
is a commitment to assist with the operations costs, uh, for that Amtrak service, when it's
implemented in the future. And there's a...there's a lot of discussion with communities, I
think, struggling with that, uh, for a couple reasons. One is that the service won't start,
best-case scenario, four to five years from now and...and it's difficult to make a
commitment for something that...that is that far into the future. Uh, and secondly, there
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was some discussion of how much do local communities benefit from the Amtrak
service, versus the state as a whole. Uh, and I think everybody agreed that there's
certainly some benefit to the local community hosting the, uh, railroad depot, particularly
for the properties around the depot. And for Iowa City, that fits in real nicely with the
Riverfront Crossings neighborhood, and the redevelopment plans proposed for that
neighborhood, and I think there is a relationship between the provision of the passenger
rail service and attracting investment to that Riverfront Crossings neighborhood. Uh, and
so what we'd like to, uh, discuss with you tonight is...is a authorizing, uh, a letter of
support for the Amtrak service, uh, and authorizing that letter to say something to the
effect of a commitment to pursue whether it's a tax increment financing district in
Riverfront Crossings or another mechanism, uh, to pursue local funding support for
Amtrak operations. Any formal commitment would come later. Uh, I don't think we are
prepared as staff to, uh, ask for any formal commitment, certainly with a lot... a lot more
information about (both talking)
Champion/ I'm...personally happy with it, I mean, I think we've put a lot of tax dollars into
roads, a lot! Um...and I don't have any problems with...like you said, I actually would
not be willing to commit money at this time, but at the time I'd probably try to find some.
I mean, we put a huge amount of money into roads and sidewalks.
Dickens/ What are they looking at for year right now? Is it... statewide? Or in the state.. .
Yapp/ Uh, statewide would be about $3 million a year. For, uh...between Quad Cities and Iowa
City.
Hayek/ Initially that was to be paid at the state level (several talking) presently they're looking
for some help.
Dickens/ Locally.
Hayek/ But what we don't know is of that $3 million, what is the State's share, what is locality
share (several talking)
Yapp/ We did receive a little information today, late this afternoon, from the State, um, and
they're looking at the range of $300,000 to $400,000...for...this city/county, however
you want to put it.
Wright/ For the local share?
Yapp/ Yes.
Markus/ Connie, that's a...that's a good thing!
Bailey/ Yeah!
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Mims/ I was going to say, I thought you were going to say that was what the State was going to
contribute (several talking and laughing)
Hayek/ Yeah.
Markus/ We've been waiting on this information to come out of the State. That's actually a very
good number... compared to what it could have been.
Bailey/ (mumbled) at the number.
Yapp/ Internally we've talked about the, uh, potential for tax increment financing being a very
logical use, uh, means of generating that local support.
Champion/ No, I'm totally for local, I mean, I'm not for local support, but if that's what I have to
do to get the train, I'm totally for it! Uh, I just think the State has a lot of things that they
subsidize, um, and we do too, so no, I...I think any letter you can write that might
encourage them to continue with it would be great.
Hayek/ And that...that range is for the...the Johnson County area essentially. I mean, that's...I
assume they divided it, as they were talking about the other day, into Quad City area, our
area.
Yapp/ We didn't get the details. Haven't got the details yet (several talking)
Hayek /Okay.
Markus/ Do we know who the partners are yet? (several talking) Cause we were talking Des
Moines as well. (mumbled) to step up somewhat to.
Yapp/ They did at the...at the discussion last week.
Champion/And um...what about the University?
Yapp/ I think that's something we need to pursue, as well.
Champion/ I mean, they really want this train also. Go for it!
Hayek/ Our goal would be, uh, if that's the range, to...to bring in as many (mumbled) as
possible.
Wright/ Absolutely!
Mims/ Definitely (several talking)
Hayek/ And that's the part we would commit to figuring out.
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Wright/ Yeah.
Mims/ Spread it out.
Markus/ And that's why John was asked to be here on behalf of the MPO. (mumbled)
Champion/ And...
Yapp/ ...support for a letter generally stating that there's commitment to pursue these options?
Mims/ Yes, definitely (several talking)
Champion/ Definitely! I mean, when you think about the price of gas now, I mean...
Wright/ Look at how much that's subsidized (several talking)
Markus/ I think at this point we need to keep this moving.
Champion/ Oh, absolutely! (several responding)
Yapp/ The handout that we just...Brad, do you want to go over the handout real quickly?
Neumann/ Yeah, this is a fact sheet that was produced by the DOT. Um, to hand out, uh, for
support, uh, this probably will answer most of your questions, uh, that you have about the
proposed rail system. Are there any questions on the system? It does do a lot of
comparison with roads and air and things like that, so it's kind of nice information to
have (several talking) Thank you!
Hayek/ Thank you.
Champion/ Thank you!
Hayek/ All right. Next, uh, JECC. We got a memo from our esteemed representatives to this
board, Mike and Regenia.
County Proposals: Joint Emergency Communication Center (IP5):
Wright/ This refers to the letter that we all got in December from the Board of Supervisors.
Um...with some points of concern, uh, regarding both some of JECC's policies, and the
28E agreement that JECC operates under. Um...as your representatives, we talked to and
received, uh, some input from City staff, who I think has (mumbled) you coordinated
those, and our recommendations essentially are to...no changes. JECC's as an entity has
only been operating fully since the 27th of June of last year. We don't even have a full
year's, uh, operation in under the current 28E agreement. And, it seems wise to see how
things work. We didn't even have an Executive Director for the first six months of full
operation. The Executive Director has just been hired, uh, on January the 3rd. So, uh, our
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recommendation is to leave things as they are, um, there are certainly some points that
the County raised up that the JECC's board may wish to consider as part of their
operating procedures, whether that would be bonding, uh, for future large, uh, purchases
rather than taking it entirely out of the reserve fund, I mean, that's the board's purview,
as I'm sure, uh, and I...I think that's where it belongs, uh, rather than...trying to make
any structural changes in that. The other communities seem to be falling about the same,
uh, as ours, which is to recommend no...no basic changes in the operating of JECC.
Mims/ I would agree, give it some time. I mean, there may be changes that are needed, and I
mean, I think there were some valid points or concerns brought up, but um, I guess then
the question is, you know, how procedurally are we going to do it, I mean, through our
own representatives on the JECC board or are we going to, you know, keep coming back
to every City Council, Board of Supervisors, and have them try (mumbled) so I think
that's an issue too.
Bailey/ Well, and the intent was for the representatives to speak for the entity, or...yeah, the
entity that they represent, and to have a truly joint board taking care of the operations. So
if there are concerns, those come through those representatives. And any of these
changes would involve opening up...up the 28E, which...requires involve, or agreement
of.. .
Wright/ Four of the five entities...would have to agree to make any specific change in the 28E
agreement.
Bailey/ ...so it seems like, if others (both talking) are not concerned, there just doesn't seem to
be significant concern at this time.
Hayek/ Would we need to revisit the 28E to look at bonding?
Wright/ That's the purview of the (both talking)
Hayek/ Okay, but everything else would require...
Bailey/ Um, the representation...um...
Hayek/ Yeah.
Bailey/ Yeah.
Wright/ Representation, well, one other thing it would not require a change to the 28E agreement
if the County's request for a nonbinding vote (both talking)
Bailey/ ...how budgets are, how the (both talking)
Wright/ ...and that's why you have representatives, frankly.
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Champion/ Yeah! Right!
Wright/ That's kind of a...a burdensome thing to have to implement, any time any of the
organizations has questions about JECC or the budget, we can have the Executive
Director come to a meeting, discuss something with the Council (both talking)
Bailey/ (mumbled)
Wright/ Um, North Liberty just did that and I think it went pretty well. But to require...besides,
that's a nonbinding vote, so really what's the point of it?
Hayek/ I think, uh, I mean, I think the bonding thing is...is of interest in that it would allow
taxation on TIF property. (several responding) But if... if JECC says the board can take
that up internally, then we can communicate that through you folks, you know, if it's a
good idea.
Bailey/ Right, and the challenge, of course, is that it has to be City bond, or County bonding, and
that was a challenge the last time we did it, and I think that that was part of their
discussions. And...but, you know, those are details.
Wright/ And this is certainly something that the board has talked about! (several responding) Is
that there are some really desirable aspects to bonding, as opposed to just...(both talking)
Bailey/ Yeah, it's not lost on any of us! (laughter)
Wright/ No!
Bailey/ Those desirable aspects!
Champion/ (several talking) desirable if you have the money. I don't think it's ever good to
borrow money if you don't need to.
Bailey/ But, I guess...I guess what they're getting at is don't...don't carry, don't have the intent
of having a reserve with the anticipation of this is how you buy large purchases (both
talking)
Champion/ Right, I see, right.
Bailey/ ...like, you know.
Wright/ There aren't any large purchases in the immediate future!
Champion/ I would hope not! (several talking and laughing) That's why I think this might be
good to have kind of a reserve, if everything falls apart at once, you...I don't know
anything about the equipment.
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Wright/ JECC does have a good reserve fund.
Bailey/ There is general agreement to that, but when it comes to the larger, you know, the
replacement, the eventual replacement of things. Bonding seems to make sense, but it'll
probably...it'll be a long...it'll be a while.
Wright/ It'll be a few years.
Champion/ I mean, you two really understand what's going on there. Thank you for doing that!
It's a lot of knowledge.
Wright/ It's actually been fascinating!
Hayek/ Well, this has been an experiment with, and is an experiment, with uh, with regionalism.
(several responding) When you...when you do that, each member entity subordinates
some control to the created entity, and then you dispatch your representatives and then
they do their work. We should let it play out a little (several talking) Okay.
Wright/ So that said, we...the County has requested a formal letter. Um...
Champion/ Well...
Wright/ I think basically this could be...it's essentially been written.
Bailey/ yeah! The Mayor can sign it, and we're done!
Champion/ I think this is...yeah! (laughter)
Hayek/ Well, okay, we'll handle that.
Dickens/ Change it to Mayor (several talking and laughing)
Helling/ The...the letter was to the Council, so they were expecting a response from the Council,
I assume a letter from the Mayor, and I owe you an apology because it was my job to
make sure that the copy of that original letter got attached to this, and I didn't do that
apparently because it's not here.
Mims/ Not a problem!
Champion/ That's all right.
Wright/ (mumbled) at the joint meeting anyways, so...
Bailey/ I'm sorry (mumbled)
Hayek /Well thank you for your ongoing service to that (mumbled)
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Champion/ Right!
Hayek/ Okay. Um...info packets? February 17tH
Information Packets:
Higgins/ Uh, I do have one thing I'd like to mention. IP9. Um, it's the light bulb exchange, that
UISU is a part o£ I was able to join in, um, on this particular endeavor, and so we went
around, any energy efficient light bulbs to, um, less fortunate citizens, and it was really a
great experience for everyone involved, the people giving the light bulbs, the people
receiving the light bulbs. One thing that I thought was interesting is, the first thing
people ask when we knocked on the door is, you know, how much are they. People don't
expect unsolicited generosity, so it was really...it was a lot of fun, and I want to give a
special thanks to Marcia Bollinger, uh, who's the Neighborhood Services Coordinator
and Chris Paige, who was the UI, um, Sustainability Director.
Hayek/ Great! (several talking)
Champion/ That would be fun (several talking)
Mims/ Was interested to see the, uh, Bloomberg News that, uh, Tom Markus included in the
packet, how some of us, uh, Iowans, Indiana, kind of going through the same thing as the
census numbers are coming out. Our...our small towns are, uh, really hurting and losing
a lot of population in...and we have to...for all of our issues and problems here in Iowa
City, I think we have to count ourselves incredibly fortunate that we are growing and not
shrinking, I mean, when it comes to what that means to those communities, school
districts, um, you know, just having stores or places of worship and all those kinds of
things, it's...there's going to be some of these are going to be ghost towns! Um, they
really are, and so we are really fortunate that we are a university community and people
want to come here and we need to keep working to make that possible.
Hayek/ Yep! Yeah, what, two-thirds of Iowa counties lost population? (several commenting)
Champion/ We could probably do away with two-thirds of the counties.
Mims/ Well, we had the largest percentage drop in the nation in terms of how it impacted our
representation to Congress.
Hayek/ Yeah. (unable to hear person away from mic)
Mims/ Yeah.
Hayek/ Right. (unable to hear person away from mic) (laughter) All right, anything else on the
February 17tn~
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Mims/ Uh, just, I would also add, just appreciate the response from Housing Inspection Services
on the question about reducing rental permit fees. I thought that was explained real well,
and um, I mean, I'm comfortable with how they came back and, I mean, actually I kind
of read it and said the fees are only covering 90% of the costs then...maybe at some point
we need to be looking at upping those a little bit to cover 100%. (several talking and
laughing) People will love me! (laughter) But um, I just was appreciated the thorough
review of what they do and how they do it, and justifying what's not having changed.
Appreciate that!
Hayek/ Can we make sure we send a copy of that to the woman who addressed us? (several
talking) ...make that a practice, to... she gave a very compelling statement and (several
talking). Thank you.
Wright/ I think she'd appreciate the follow-up.
Hayek/ Okay. Um...24th? Most of that (several talking) yeah! When will we, the memo on the,
um, Taft levee and the information we've been requested to provide, do we have...any
sense on when that would reach a point of (mumbled)
Davidson/ Yeah, we're...we're going to be doing an actually fairly elaborate study to make sure
that we are producing the information that we've been requested to produce, um...I
mean, we're actually going to run an RFP, go through a consultant selection process,
complete the study, uh, and then uh, have a public meeting...on the results of the study,
and that'll basically all be before we commence the engineering and the project. The
other two levees are moving ahead. The westside levee is moving the furthest ahead
because, uh, that was the one that we did the preliminary design on, uh, the eastside levee
has just started the very preliminary, um, aspects of that. So, we had anticipated the Taft
Speedway levee would be the third one done anyway because it was more complex
project, but this'll just take a little bit longer. We're basically being required to step
through, but I think the key thing is that...the letter that the federal government received
was specifically to rescind the grant, and they did not rescind the grant. They are asking
us instead to take these steps, and we will be taking them.
Hayek/ Okay. Thank you, Jeff. Okay. Council time.
Council Time:
Champion/ Well, I want everyone to know that I went to a SEATS committee meeting finally.
How long have I been on that committee, a year? It was very interesting. Um, it's a very
quick committee. I wasn't there very long. But last year they had 6,000 more rides in
Iowa City than they did the year before. I think that's pretty impressive.
Hayek/ What do they attribute that to?
Champion/ Nobody knows! More people.
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Mims/ Do you know what percentage increase that was? Or...
Champion/ Uh, no. I...no, I don't. I didn't ask the gory details. I was impressed by the number.
It's a...it's quite a bit though, I think. And the (can't hear) committee does meet again
this Wednesday. Anybody's interested...
Wright/ The what committee?
Mims/ (Can't hear) committee (laughter) (several talking)
Hayek/ Yeah.
Champion/I mean... (several talking)
Hayek/ ...washing my hair and reading the 25 pages of single-spaced minutes from the last
meeting.
Champion/ I know! I know! Well, I'm...we're going to talk about this some time when it's not
so late, um...because I don't see much movement going on. And...after 12 years...
Wright/ What's it going to take?
Champion/ I don't know, another 12 years? And...I might see if there's any definite thing going
on this week. Otherwise I may do what I did before, and tell them I'm not coming back
until they make a decision. You know? That I'm willing to help them! Cause we really
need a new jail! But making the decision...that's the only decision they've made, is that
we need a new jail! After 12 years! Maybe 13.
Hayek/ Well, it's an incredibly important issue.
Champion/I know. I'll probably stick with it but...
Hayek/ No, I appreciate your frustration. I mean, it's...I get a sense that these four-hour
meetings, you know, and quarter after quarter or however often (both talking)
Champion/ Well we meet once a month! I didn't go to the four-hour marathon.
Hayek/ Yeah.
Champion/ That's the day we had our long meeting and I thought I can't go to that!
Hayek/ Other Council...
Champion/ I just want you all to know that if anybody is interested, I'd be glad to give you a 14-
year summary (laughter). On one piece of paper! (laughter)
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Wright/ One line?
Hayek/ Any other Council items?
Karr/ Uh, real quickly, uh, Lucas Elementary has contacted us regarding slots for the Read
Across American project. And I believe I contacted each of you individually, uh, this is
for March 2°d, which is Wednesday. If any of you are interested in times or participating
in the project, please let me know.
Budget:
Hayek/ Thank you. (several talking) Okay, any other Council time items? Uh, budget? We're
up for a vote tomorrow.
Dickens/ (mumbled)
Hayek/ Yeah. Okay, pending work session issues? IP7.
Pending Work Session Issues (IP7):
Dickens/ (mumbled) the downtown planning is set for April (mumbled)
Hayek/ Right.
Bailey/ We're going to have to put Sanctuary Cities back, or whatever we're calling it.
Dickens/ I would say least till May.
Bailey/ But we're going to have to (both talking) as a placeholder, I mean, just to track. (both
talking)
Dickens/ (mumbled)
Champion/ Yeah, it will.
Bailey/ Let's try to move ahead as quickly as possible.
Hayek/ Anything else on this? Okay. Uh, upcoming events, Council invitations.
Council Invitations:
Mims/ Just would remind people that, uh, this Thursday the 3`d is that first kind of open house,
what they're calling the Gateway project, which is Dubuque Street, Taft levee, Park Road
bridge, um, at Parkview Church from 4:30 to 7:00, with a presentation at 5:30. Do I have
that right? Dale's frowning at me. (several talking and laughing) Right, yeah, 4:30 to
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7:00, presentation at 5:30, Thursday March 3`a, Parkview Church on Foster Road. So...if
anybody can...
Bailey/ Is anybody going?
Mims/ I think I can make it (several talking)
Hayek/ And then just, uh, keep you guys abreast of what's going on with the Metro Coalition,
there's a meeting with Governor Branstad in a week's time roughly.
Helling/ March Stn
Hayek/ So...
Helling/ March Stn
Hayek/ Okay. Anything else? Last, uh, is meeting schedules.
Meeting Schedule (IP6):
Karr/ I put this back on because a number of you expressed, um, after the meeting last time you
had not a chance to really look at your July and August, uh, calendars. We know that,
um, the second week in July, we have one Council Member gone, and the first week in
July is the combined meeting because of the holiday. Um, this is just one last opportunity
before I release the schedule for July and August, on whether there was any interest to
make any changes.
Champion/ That was in here, I just saw it!
Bailey/ It's...
Wright/ IP6.
Bailey/ Right next to pending.
Champion/ Thank you.
Hayek/ Okay. Um...looks good?
Champion/ I just have a comment, and I mean the schedule's fine. But, do we usually combine
one of those meetings in August? Isn't August pretty light?
Karr/ It's either July or August, we've done it...we've combined, uh, in the past...uh, sometimes
we've gone down to one meeting in July or August, um...I looked back in response to
that, Connie, and I... sometimes it occurred in July and because there were a number of
Tuesdays in August we switched the dates and staggered them. Remember you're
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starting September with another holiday. So that's entirely up to you, and we can plan
(both talking)
Champion/ It's fine with me; I just wondered.
Karr/ And that was one thing I mentioned about the 18th and 19th, because we know we'll have
one Council Member gone; however, the 12th doesn't work for, I believe Regenia it
doesn't work for the 12th, but I just didn't know...
Hayek/ Can we...can we see how heavy our workload is as we get into summer and...
Karr/ I can...sure, if you want me to wait I just won't re...I don't like to put out as much as we
can, the schedule, if we know we're not...if you will, satisfied with it. If we want to wait
another month and just see.
Hayek/ Well, I'm just suggesting that...that, apropos the idea, you know, the custom of going
light on one of t hose months, you know, we'd maybe hold these but...but if in fact we
are light, we can dump one of the meetings, can't we? \
Karr/ We might be able to wait till the first part of May and then take a look at July. And if
anything comes up in any of your schedules as it gets closer, please let me know and
we'll take that into consideration and then we can take a look at that schedule, as well.
Okay?
Wilburn/ March 21St and 22°d meetings, I will be in Des Moines helping to conduct their five-
year school accreditation review. If our electronic joining is available, I will try that. I...
Karr/ For the formal and the work session? Or just the formal?
Wilburn/ Yeah, I...it's all week, um...
Karr/ Right. I just didn't know if you wanted to try the participation with the work session, as
well.
Wilburn/ I tentatively would like to try both.
Karr/ Okay.
Wilburn/ Uh, if it's not possible (both talking)
Karr/ I'll take a look at that.
Wilburn/ And I will know...I won't know the schedule for another...week and a half. The last
time I did one of these, we went ti11...10:00 at night (mumbled) but I'll...
Karr/ So it may not...but we certainly can find out. Okay.
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Hayek/ Sounds good. All right. Unless there's anything else...we'll see you tomorrow night.
Good meeting!
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