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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-03-21 TranscriptionMarch 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page ~ Council Present: Bailey, Champion, Dickens, Hayek, Mims, Wright Council Absent: Wilburn Staff Present: Markus, Craig, Hargadine, Dilkes, Karr, Morris, Moran, Fosse, Rackis, Yapp Others Present: Higgins, UISG Council Appointments: Hayek/ Okay, why don't we get started with the work session. Welcome everyone! Uh, Ross will not be here tonight or tomorrow night as I understand it. Dickens/ That's right. Hayek/ Uh, first up is Council appointments. Uh, and the first commission is Historic Preservation. Need to appoint folks to Longfellow at-large and Northside spots. Champion/ Well, David is currently serving an unexpired term and he certainly does a great job, and Tom Baldridge is serving his first term. Hayek/ Right. Champion/ Generally like to see people at least (mumbled). And... Hayek/ Do you have your mic on? Champion/ Oh! And uh... Hayek/ You're a newcomer, we'll... Champion/ I know! And uh...yeah, Andrew is currently serving, uh, an unexpired term. And so I'd like to nominate those, and Dana Thomann, uh, is also serving an unexpired term. So I think the people who are currently on that commission should be reappointed. Wright/ Yeah, I agree, um, although I was kind of wrestling with Mark Hartstack because I thought his perspective might be very important on that commission. Champion/ Yeah, there's always another appointment. Wright/ Yeah. Champion/ And they're always looking for good people for that commission. So I would encourage him to keep track of it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 2 Hayek/ Okay, so the proposed was, uh, McMahon, Baldridge, Litton, and Thomann. Are there, uh, three others? Mims/ That's fine. (several responding) Hayek/ Yep? Okay. Next is, uh, Metropolitan Planning Organization. Wright/ The former Cool Cities. Hayek/ Right. Bailey/ I was glad to see Tom reapply (several talking) continuing to serve. He's well qualified (several talking). Champion/ ...to do that. Wright/ Yep. Champion/ Cause he's good at it! Hayek/ Sounds like there's a consensus on him. And then Telecom we can't, uh...yeah, we've got a gender balance requirement, so we...not make a selection, uh, that commission, and I think that's it! Okay, uh, agenda (noise on mic) agenda items. Agenda Items• ITEM 10. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING, AUTHORIZING, AND DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY AND RDG IA INC. D/B/A RDG PLANNING AND DESIGN, TO PROVIDE THE ARCHITECTURAL CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR THE CITY OF IOWA CITY SPACE NEEDS PLANNING AND MASTERPLAN PROJECT. Dickens/ Just had a question on...I believe it's number 10 on space needs. Hayek/ That's...that'll be tonight, in a couple more bullet points. Dickens/ Oh, is it? Hayek/ (both talking) facilities masterplan. ITEM 8. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING, AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE MAYOR TO EXECUTE AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN AGREEMENT BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF IOWA CITY This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 3 AND THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY TO PERMIT EXCAVATIONS IN HICKORY HILL PARK. Bailey/ I have a question on 8, and I see that Mike is here. Just a little bit embarrassed to say that I really don't know where this is in the park, because the maps aren't really anything (mumbled) Dickens/ Which one are you referring to? Bailey/ The Hickory Hill. Champion/ 8! Bailey/ Um... Moran/ If you...if you look at the northend of the first map, there's that green dot up there that shows where they want a stage and... and hold equipment, and then if you were to walk past the arboretum on the north side of Hickory Hill, and keep going past the...the, I call it the first bridge, and there's a little prairie area. It's a very isolated area of Hickory Hill that not very many people get into. Bailey/ Okay. Moran/ And then down south, they may not have time, but they want to get into a little bit of the prairie area, as you walk in from down south, and you walk in past the Norton wayside, and the other big bridge, and there's that prairie area in there. Bailey/ That's what I wondered. Okay. Moran/ They want to do a little bit in there as well. Bailey/ Okay. All right, and...I mean, obviously you've talked with them about use of the park and disturbing and balancing interests, I mean, I feel comfortable with that. I just wanted to make sure I understood where we could expect to see them. Moran/ Yeah, we've limited the size of the holes that they can drill and the size of the plots and... Dickens/ Is this the same area they did before? Moran/ Right, right. It's that same 1960's historic village or campsite that they found. Bailey/ Will we be letting people know that this will be going on in the park, so there... Moran/ Yeah, I've contacted Friends of Hickory Hill and then we'll post it at the two entrances, north and south. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page a Bailey/ Okay. Thank you! Hayek/ Other agenda items? Going once, going twice...okay. Let's move onto traffic enforcement cameras. Traffic Enforcement Cameras (IP2 of 3/17/11): Hayek/ Welcome, Chiefs, plural! (laughter) Hargadine/ Get more bang for your buck tonight! I would like to introduce Chief Greg Graham, he's a colleague of mine from Cedar Rapids. John you should know - we both collaborated on this report, and what we have is a proposal, uh, to take a look at the concept of, uh, using technology to fill in some gaps, uh, that currently exist. As you're aware, um, we can't be everywhere at once, and...and especially in times where, uh, you know, as you're aware we had recently cut back a position, um, that makes it even more tougher to be everywhere at once, and one of the things we're looking at is, um, ways to minimize and free up, for example, officer time. We were able to calculate out how much time we actually spend working crashes, uh, for paperwork to, um, getting the report filed, and if we were able to minimize the amount of time, uh, if we minimized or reduced the number of crashes, that obviously is going to free up officer time, which allows them to do other things, such as community policing. The other things, um, that go with reducing crashes, um, there's the possibility of saving a life, and the, um, the, um...um, the saving of dollars as well that comes from that. Every, you know, you can't crash a car and not get out of at least a $1,000 you know paint job, so when you...when you bang one up, um, there's a...that property damage that...that goes with the crash. The savings to us though is in the amount of time, and us being the police, the amount of time it takes to work those. (mumbled) invited Greg along, um, they're about two years ahead, and...into their project, and even talking to him today, I've learned more things. For example, what do you do with rental cars that go through the red light? And, uh, they...just the fact that they've been through that, uh, two years, um, they've got that experience, so I thought he'd be, uh, a good ringer to bring in and answer any questions you have on Cedar Rapids' experience. John, anything you want to throw out? Yapp/ Well, some of the data we've collected, which was summarized in the memo, is that there clearly are costs, both in terms of property damage, personal injuries, and police time in these types of crashes. Uh, and that's why the technology was developed. Uh, I think we want to acknowledge right away some of the criticism of these cameras, which includes, uh, a perception that they are only put in for revenue. Uh, and the so-called `big brother' criticism, that it is giving a fine, not necessarily a traffic violation, but a fine, uh, based on a camera seeing something, not based on a human officer seeing something. Uh, and Chief Graham can get into this a little more, but all the visuals that the cameras take are all double-checked, uh, by, excuse me, an administrative person, uh, in the office before an actual fine is given. Um...there's a savings in time. There are other savings that we were unable to quantify, such as insurance costs, insurance premiums, uh, ambulance This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page s response time and costs, and those types of things, but we did want to quantify what we could, uh, for the discussion tonight. Dickens/ You have in here when it first starts up to, there's a period of time when warnings are issued. How long...how much time did you give people warnings before the tickets actually started? Graham/ Um, a month. Um, when we...we started our...our, just to back up a little bit, if that's okay. Um, when we first started talking about putting in, uh, traffic cameras in Cedar Rapids, we went through a public participation process too, where we had community meetings where we, uh, presented what the system could do and...and the capabilities of the system, where we most likely were going to put them, and we got feedback from the community on them, and based on some of the feedback that we got, we tweaked our system so that we addressed some of the concerns that...that citizens had. When we identified the intersections, we were as transparent with everyone as we could be as to where we were going to put the cameras up. Uh, once we got them up, uh, we even prior to them going into the warning phase, uh, so that we collected true data, the camera went up, it went live, and we collected data for a week, uh, and we partnered with Iowa State University to do, to help us with the study, so we collected data for a week without the community knowing that the, the system was up and operational. We weren't issuing tickets, we weren't issuing violations, uh, warnings, we issued nothing, just collecting the data. Then, uh, we announced the cameras were, uh, live and operational and we went into aone-month warning, uh, period, and at the end of the one month, about a week before the one-month (mumbled) we again told everybody the date's coming, you're going to start getting tickets, and then the, uh, then they went into the citation phase. And...and the interesting thing about the one-week window, the first camera that we put up on 380 was at and 380 northbound. The week that it was up, that no one knew it was there, we were recording violations at a rate of about, uh, litter over 400 a day. Okay? And that's not at 55 or above. That's at 11 over 55, so it's 66 or above, over 400 violations a day. Bailey/ That's a speed camera, right, not a red light? Graham/ Yes, Ma'am. Um, the day we told the community that, okay, this...this system is up and is operational on the interstate, those violations dropped overnight from over 400 violations a day to just over 100 violations a day, and since that time, uh, since we started issuing the tickets, violations at that specific camera location are down 50%. So we're averaging around 50 a day. So, I mean, instant feedback, uh, as it relates to (mumbled) changing driver behavior. Dickens/ How many red light... cameras do you have? Graham/ Uh, we have 19 different cameras, uh, at eight intersections, uh, at the eight intersections there's 15 cameras. So every...every approach is a different camera. It's completely, basically a completely different system. And then we have four on the interstate, uh, two northbound, two southbound. And they're right before the curves on This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 6 the south, and right after the curves on the north. They were put there for a specific reason, because that...the system that we have has the...the ability of not only capturing, uh, speed at the...at the loc...at the camera location, but can also do in-between the two cameras. So if you enter the curves and slow down for the camera and then speed up and then get to the other camera and slow down, and go...there's a way, although we don't have that turned on yet, uh, where we could do time over distance, uh... so that's why we put them there, and then they... and then we did the same thing, uh, it looks like that you guys have done, we did traffic crash analysis of all of our intersections, uh, the...the, we excluded intersections that we knew were going to be reconstructed, uh, within a certain time period, because we knew the reconstruction would...would cause the crashes to go down, and we excluded intersections that had a high incident rate of, uh, you know, year- end crashes or crashes that didn't have anything to do with the cameras. Cameras, uh, help reduce right-angle crashes, so where we've got `em up now are the high right-angle crash intersections. And we've seen, since they've been up, uh, we've seen a 40% reduction in crashes at those monitored intersections. Bailey/ John, in the data, did, um, Kris look at trends? Are these trend...are these violations, or problems, trending up, trending down, what...what is the trend, I mean, we've got a decade's worth of data to get to... Yapp/ Did not specifically...look at trends (both talking) Bailey/ ...million dollars of property damage. Yapp/ We did not specifically prepare any trend lines from my review of the data. It's...every year's a little different. I didn't notice any significant trend (both talking) Bailey/ ...you didn't notice any significant... Yapp/ No. I didn't. Bailey/ Okay. Dickens/ Do you go with a $50 fine or do you do something different for speeding and red-light or... Graham/ No, Sir. We...we set up our fine structure differently. We...we did, um, red-light violations at $100. Speeding violations, depends on how fast you're going. Uh, if you're between 11 and...basically 11 and 20 over, it's a $75 fine. From 21 to 30, uh, it's $100, and then anything over 30's a $500 fine. Or, I'm sorry, 20 to 25 is $100. 25 to 30 is $250, and then over 30 is $500. Bailey/ What brought Cedar Rapids to the point of doing red-light cameras? Graham/ Uh, we work about 5,000 crashes a year inside the city. Uh, average about an hour per crash, so we're at 5,000 hours of, uh, of officer time. Our first year, and although, I This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page ~ mean, you can't hold these numbers, you know, because it's the first year you're not really sure whether the trend is going to continue this way or not, but we saved 334 man hours, uh, last year, and the reduction of crashes that (mumbled) and that's from January through December, the end of December, because our crashes were down citywide 8% and like I said previously, at the monitored intersections, they were down 40%. Uh, our injury crashes inside the city were down 16%, um, the crashes on the interstate, the entire interstate, not just in the curves, were down 54%. Injury crashes, uh, where the fire department responded and when they respond to, uh, a crash on the interstate, they send two fire trucks, they're about 600 bucks an hour, uh, they're down 48%. Um, we averaged two fatalities in the curves a year over the past seven or eight years. And we didn't spill a drop of blood in the curves last year, not a single injury crash in the curves. Um, you know, one of the big things that people said was, well, you know, wintertime's going to come and these cameras aren't going to mean anything at all. In 2008 we worked 66 crashes, uh, in a 24-hour period during a winter storm. Winter storm, 2008, 66 crashes. In 2009, we, uh, winter storm, 24-hour period, 37 crashes. 2010 winter storm, 34 crashes. 2011 storm, which was worse than any of the other ones, we worked eight. That's over an 80% reduction in crashes. Eight crashes! Bailey/ Those are the red-light cameras, though, or I mean (both talking) Graham/ That's citywide. It has changed driver behavior (both talking) Bailey/ ...it would be helpful for me if we would talk about red-light cameras and speeding cameras separately, because I think they're different considerations, cause we don't have data really for speeding... Champion/ But the only place you have speeding cameras is on the interstate. Bailey/ On the interstate, is that correct? Graham/ Well, all the...all the intersection cameras have the ability to do speed also. Bailey/ Do you do that? Graham/ Yes! Um, and...just in January, I mean, when we talk about saving officer time, this is citywide, just in January alone we saved 147 hours, uh, officer hours, uh, just because of the reduction in crashes citywide, and...and what, if you look at the studies across the nation, what these things do is they'll...they will, uh, reduce crashes certainly at the monitored intersections, but they also have the tendency to reduce crashes citywide. And that's why I threw out the 8% reduction, which is almost 500 crashes per year in, uh, Cedar Rapids, which is, you know, typically two people involved in the crash. That's a thou...a thousand citizens, and whatever the average crash is, is how much money you're saving them. Um... Wright/ ...you mentioned that the intersection cameras reduce speed observation as well. Do you have them all set up to do that? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page s Graham/ Yes, Sir. Uh, our camera system has the ability to do speed on green, or red, um, red- light and amber alert. So that if you have a, um, if you have a kidnapping, robbery, rape, homicide, and you get a tag number, you can shut the system off where it won't issue any violations, well, the system doesn't issue `em, a cop does, but it doesn't, uh, capture violations, but it searched for that tag number, and once it sees it, it automatically sends a text or email to whoever you want it to send it to, hey, the car you're looking for just went north on...on the interstate, or just went through a...the intersection on ls` and 10`". And so you're able to look at, to know where that car is at that point in time, and that's why we went with the vendor we went with, because it had the ability to do in one camera system it had the ability to do all that. And you can even turn `em on or turn `em off, you don't have to...to do speed if you don't want to, um, turn the red-light cameras off, or you can just set it on amber alert (mumbled) Hayek/ What kind of impact have you had on speeding off, not on the interstate but elsewhere in the community? Graham/ Our citations or our violations are trending down now. As of January, our speeding citations, um, for the quarter, were down 37%. Our red-light trend was down 9%. The total violation for entire city for that quarter was 36% down. So, driver behavior is changing. People are speeding less and they're paying attention to red lights, and we're reducing the crashes. Wright/ That shows on 380 when you drive through. Graham/ Oh, absolutely! You know, it just, I don't know if I said this, but I want to make sure that I do. Just in January alone...January alone for crashes in Cedar Rapids, uh, we saved 147 man-hours. That's significant. So what are those officers doing? They're in the neighborhood, they're in the businesses...doing everything we can to...to prevent crime, which is what they should be doing. Not working traffic crashes. Higgins/ Chief, Councilor Wilburn, who's not here today, raised the concern last time that...that these red...red-light cameras have a tendency to, er, potential to create more accidents, people stopping short to avoid a ticket. Have you...have you noticed that at all? Graham/ Not at all. Our crashes are down. We haven't seen a...an increase in rear-end crashes, uh, the bottom line is...that if you're abiding by the law and you're driving in a safe distance, in a safe speed, these cameras mean nothing to anybody, because they'll never catch you not violating the law. It's not...it's not anything anybody should worry about. 99% of...we average about 1.3 million cars that drive through Cedar Rapids on 380 a month, 1.3 million a month, um, and 99% of the people that drive through Cedar Rapids are going 55.3 miles an hour. 1 % is going 69.67 miles per hour. That's 1 % of the population that's causing most of the problems that we have. Um, and you get the criticism, you guys, hey, I'm not coming to Cedar Rapids anymore, you know, I'm not shopping there, I'm not going to spend a dime. Our traffic counts are going up, not This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 9 down! I mean, we're still averaging 1.3, 1.4 a month. So it's...it's having no impact on anyone refusing to come to Cedar Rapids (mumbled) Dickens/ What is the cost of each camera or, did you just do the whole system or... Graham/ Great question! (laughter) The camera system cost the City of Cedar Rapids nothing. Uh, in the contract negotiation with the company, uh, they get $30 per paid citation, not per citation, but per paid citation, and for that 30 bucks we get...they...they, uh, got the permits to, uh, put the cameras up. They pay for the camera system. They installed it. They pay for the power. Um, we set our business rules, what violations we want to see and what we don't want to see, um, they collect all the data. They shift through it. They send us whatever they believe are the violations based on our business rules, and an officer sits and either approves or uh, or not approves the violation. It takes an officer about 15 seconds to do that, per violation. We send the information back to the camera company. Um, they mail out the notice of violations. They collect the money for the violation, and then every two weeks they deposit that money into an account for the City. Um, so it...it's cost...basically it's cost...and then they maintain, if the camera goes down, uh, or it needs to be replaced, they maintain it. They pay for it. The City of Cedar Rapids doesn't do anything. Dickens/ Do they do upgrades then? Graham/ Yes, Sir. In fact, we're uh...the camera that we put up at 2°a and 10th, uh, southeast, has to come down because the...of the Councils' closing 2°d Avenue to put in the Medical Mall. We're going to move that camera and the camera company, um, is responsible to move it, at their cost. We may end up splitting some costs with `em because it really wasn't their fault that it's being moved, but it's not within the contract for them to...for us to have to pay for anything. Dickens/ What kind of a field process is there? Graham/ Another great question! Uh, one of the big arguments is lack of due process. Um, the only, uh, you only get a citation, uh, when an officer actually issues it. So the officer reviews the, uh, violation information, either the video or the photograph. If you're just doing red-light cameras, you'll get a video. Uh, the officer makes sure that there is actually a...a violation, uh, red-light violation to make sure that the tag number that is displayed is the correct tag number on the car and that the registration information matches that tag number, and the vehicle description matches that car. Um, so then the violation gets approved; it gets sent to the, uh, to the owner of the car; and then they have an option of either paying the ticket clearly, or... or, uh, appealing it. The first line of appeal is a, um...is a...a volunteer traffic hearing officer. We ask people, citizens in the community to become traffic hearing officers. They come in, uh, whatever, you know, reason you have for not wanting the ticket, you come in, you present to the, uh, to the hearing officer. The officer that issue the ticket is there. The video is there. You can cross-examine, confront your accuser, which is that officer, not the camera, uh, the camera is evidence that the officer is using to...to, uh, to uh, accuse you of doing This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page io something wrong, much like a... a video in a... in a convenience store where you can go in there and shoplift, or a video in a... in a grocery store or any store where you go in and steal something. Um, then the hearing officer will make a...make a ruling of either they're liable or not liable for the...for the ticket. If they rule liable, then you have an option of either paying the ticket at that point or requesting a municipal infraction, uh, if we issue the municipal infraction, it goes to court, and then once again you have another opportunity to confront and cross-examine your accuser, who is the officer, not the camera, and uh, then the judge makes a decision. We have had, uh, a total of 17 people that have gone through the process and wanted to go to court. Uh, of those 17 cases, four are still pending, 12 have been ruled in our favor on all the issues, constitutionality, big brother, all that stuff, uh, one was dismissed because the person paid the fine before they got to court, which is actually kind of a funny story, cause it was an engineer from Rockwell, who had...who had calculated that our system was wrong, and uh, when he went to the traffic hearing officer, uh, the whole system was explained to him. He went back, recalculated it, and uh, he actually calculated that he was going .O1 miles an hour less than what the camera system said he was, so he went ahead and paid the fine. Um... that was a long answer (laughter). That's our due process (both talking) and if...if you get ruled against in court, then you've got the appellate right, all the way up to the supreme court. And we haven't had anybody do that yet! Champion/ I'm, um, I want to ask a question, um...Chief Graham, a follow up on what Elliott said. Did you say earlier something about you didn't have `em where there's a high count of rear-end accidents? Graham/ Right. Champion/ Didn't you say that? So...do you actually think they would cause more rear-end accidents than... Graham/ No, I don't think that they necessarily would cause more, I mean, the...there's certainly a potential for them to, but the...but what these camera systems, uh, reduce, crashes, are right-angle crashes. Champion/ Right. Graham/ So...and...and truthfully, aright-angle crash, uh, is more...you're more likely to be injured in a right-angle crash than you are in a rear-end crash, and that's what you want to prevent. We have one intersection in town that is one of our high, uh...crash intersections, but when you analyze what the crashes actually are, a lot of `em are rear- ender...rear-end crashes, not right-angle. So we didn't want to, uh, put a camera system up at places we didn't have right-angle crashes. Yapp/ Uh, that question was studied by the Center for Transportation Research and Education at Iowa State, uh, for Iowa, and the attached...the, uh, study is attached to your memo tonight, but the...any increase in rear-end collisions was not found in any Iowa community, that has implemented these cameras. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page ~ t Hayek/ I suspect, uh, our discussion will look at this in terms of, uh...maybe starting with red- light, uh, cameras and then considering, uh, adding speeding element. Did Cedar Rapids look at these separately, did it just decide to jump in on both? Um, is there anything you can offer in terms of delineating between the two, and what we might think of as we...as we approach this? Graham/ We, um...we're in a different spot than you guys are, I think, mainly because of 380. Hayek/ Right. Graham/ And, you know, the primary purpose of the ones on 380 clearly was...it was virtually impossible to do enforcement of the curves. Uh, and we were killing two people a year in the curves, uh...(noises on mic)...uh, trucks hanging over the rail, uh, you know, you put a cop up there to...any time you have a crash there, you got, you know, five to ten police officers directing traffic. You got a couple big fire trucks up there. It's just a nightmare. In fact I've had, uh, I've had officers' spouses, uh, comment to me how much safer they feel their spouses are because they're not out there working those crashes. So we were kind of in a different spot, and we looked at the system, uh, with all those capabilities from day one. Uh, speed, red-light, and um, amber alert. The amber alert thing was really what...what sold us on this system that we...that we ended up going with, because, uh, I mean...I mean, I know what all the revenue numbers are. The only reason I know what the revenue numbers are is because the media asked me what they are, but the numbers I just, uh, told you guys are the ones that I care about. Crashes are down, injuries are down, fatalities are down, our responses are down, we're saving officers' hours, and that's what...as far as I'm concerned, that's what's important for this system. By-product is revenue. No question about it! Uh, and we've made a lot of revenue, I mean, no doubt about that either, but I...I'm not...now, my budget director and my city manager (mumbled, laughter) but I'm not concerned about revenue. Dickens/ How much money did you raise? Is it split up? Just total or is it, the red-lights and your... your speeding? Graham/ It all goes (mumbled) uh, now I can tell you the difference between, uh, the speeding, number of speeding tickets as opposed to red-light tickets. For the month...of January... uh, speeding citations were 6,500; red-light running citations were 241. Bailey/ So, tell me how Iowa City got here, I mean, why you're interested, because um...because our numbers just aren't even anything close to Cedar Rapids, and our personnel hours aren't even close. So...can you talk us through why this is compelling or...or why you believe we have a problem at this point, and...and this is the answer to it, at this point. Hargadine/ We...I'd say it's fair to say that John and I wrote this with intersection cameras as the priority. Bailey/ Uh-huh. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 12 Hargadine/ Uh, wouldn't turn down the ability to do speed as well, but clearly our... our priority and our focus when we wrote it was busy intersections. Um...you know, one of the things, whether it's emails that I get, emails that I see that you all get, uh, letters to the editor, blogging, uh, I hate to admit but I read blogs, but (laughter) um...we've got a lot of pedestrians. We've got a lot of, uh, bicyclics...bicyclists in this community, and um, no matter how much enforcement we do, we're always accused of not doing enough. And, um, especially in... in some of these intersections that are in this immediate area, uh, that are also dense with pedestrian traffic when classes let out. Um, you know where those intersections are as well, especially down by the new gymnasium, um, they, um...the people, if they're running a light or any kind of violations, the potential there is for someone to get hit, and we've had people hit, so uh, it...we are. We're not the dense community. We don't have the...a million, you know, plus coming through, but we still have quite a bit of traffic, and it's a different type of problem, but it's a problem, nonetheless. Yapp/ The most common concern my office gets is with the Burlington Street corridor. Bailey/ Right, I can see that. Yapp/ And when we... Bailey/ Yeah. Yapp/ ...uh, looked at the statistics, that's four of the top ten (both talking) uh, red-light running locations are in the Burlington Street corridor. That corridor's also very difficult for the police to do enforcement on. Bailey/ Well I was surprised that Gilbert, the Gilbert Street corridor wasn't on here more frequently, I mean, because this intersection out here is the one that I notice the most. Um...so...insofar as traffic concerns and injuries in Iowa City, running red lights, how... how does it weigh out, I mean, is this one of the higher of concerns? I mean, I hear a lot about speeding through neighborhoods, of course. But.. Hargadine/ We hear those as well. And, those are tough as well because we can put a radar trailer out. It's good for a couple of days. It...it doesn't permanently, um, change behavior. You've got...when it comes to traffic, you've got the three E's...engineering, education, enforcement. And it's a sliding scale. Um, you can only engineer it so far. You can only educate so far, and the remainder of that's enforcement. Um...I'm not sure if I answered your question. Bailey/ Well, I'm just wondering in the...in the, sort of the scope of traffic violations and injuries that we're seeing, where does...where does running red lights sort of come into creating the...creating a priority problem? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page t3 Hargadine/ You know, my...my city car's an unmarked car. I, and because of that, I see almost daily people running red lights. That doesn't show up in statistics anywhere, and if I... Bailey/ Right. I mean that's what I said on...was surprised that the Gilbert Street corridor isn't, because that's where I see it frequently too. Champion/ Can you, um, just define for me what you mean by running a red light? Are you talking about people actually going through a red light, or speeding up on a yellow light? Hargadine/ Running a red light. Champion/ Wow. Hargadine/ And sometimes there's three, four, five cars behind `em! (laughter) Or I'll run the yellow light, and there's ten cars behind me! (laughter) Yapp/ There is a flock of geese factor that comes into play! Um...especially near a couple of the high schools. Graham/ And if I can add, the one thing about having speed on green with the red-light system is it does catch those people that floor it to get through a yellow light. Um, and the purpose of it is, you know, even if you run the red light, if you're going at a slow rate of speed the chance of an injury is less than if you run a red light at a high rate of speed. Um, and that's where we've seen a dramatic reduction. Not only in the injuries and stuff, but also with red lights, cause I too have an unmarked car, and when I first came to Cedar Rapids in 2008, and a day wouldn't go by I'd see, you know, ten or more, and I'd stop `em and write `em tickets for it. Uh, as many as I could, and now it's, you know, I don't see nearly as much as I used to. Bailey/ When we think about this in Iowa City, are we thinking about going with the same approach that Cedar Rapids, sort of outsourcing the whole deal, I mean, is that the way it's done? Hargadine/ That's the way it's done. Wright/ Are there any communities at all that run their own independent systems? Hargadine/ I'm not aware of any. (several talking) Wright/ ...two or three companies that do this, I think. Bailey/ But...okay. Now I'm thinking about the cost model, because if we...if we...if we set it up with citations as Eleanor suggested, reflecting the House study bill, is what was suggested. House File bill, $50, municipal... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page t4 Dilkes/ Well I'm not sure you'd want to actually do the ordinance until we got through the session to see how that ended up. Bailey/ Okay. Yapp/ Yeah, I think what we're asking from you tonight is whether there's interest from a majority of Council to proceed with, uh, starting to develop a request for proposal, um... starting to look at some of these specific questions, uh, contact some of the companies, find out a little more information, or not, and then we'll end it right here. Bailey/ Would we treat citations differently if they were red-light citations versus if an officer gives `em? Do you treat them differently in Cedar Rapids? Graham/ Uh, what do you mean by treating differently? (several talking) Bailey/ The cost. Graham/ Uh, the fine is different. Uh... Bailey/ ...it's a moving violation when, if you stop me, right? Graham/ Exactly. Bailey/ And if the camera catches me, it's not a moving violation. It's a municipal infraction. Graham/ Right, it's a civil infraction. Bailey/ Civil infraction. Graham/ It doesn't go against your driver's record, doesn't go against... Hayek/ That's because it goes against the owner of the car, and the instance of the camera, and against the driver in the instance of a (several talking) Graham/ Just like a parking ticket. Just like a parking ticket. Hayek/ Yeah. Champion/ So, these statistics we have are based on a ten-year period. And, when you were talking about red, running traffic signals, is that the percentage that was involved in the accidents, like the 117 accidents in ten years at Burlington and Clinton, nine of these have run a red light, or are those tickets that were issued (both talking). Okay. Okay. Bailey/ And have we had any fatalities (both talking) ten years? I mean, you would list fatalities in a separate column, wouldn't you? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page is Yapp/ Yes. Bailey/ Okay, so no fatalities. Yapp/Not at these locations. Bailey/ Have we had any red-light running fatalities? In ten years? Yapp/ (several talking) There's been at least one green-light related fatality. Hargadine/ The University's worked one as well. Bailey/ Okay. And, when you talk about, you know, the three E's, I mean, there is potentially some engineering that we will be doing on Burlington Street. Do we anticipate that... Yapp/ The Burlington Street median? Bailey/ Yeah. Yapp/ Project? Bailey/ Yeah. So, I mean...do we have any idea how that might affect these sorts of numbers or... Yapp/Not running the traffic signal. I do not have a sense of how that...how the median project would affect that. Because that's a driver behavior type issue. Bailey/ Uh-huh. Yapp/ It's...largely unrelated to the design of the (both talking) intersection. Bailey/ ...pedestrian. Okay. Wright/ Do any of these figures, uh, that we've got, John, reflect pedestrians being struck? Yapp/ I can't answer that right now, but I can get you that. I can get you that. Hayek/ We know there was a fatality at Burlington and (several talking) pedestrian fatality. (several talking) Bailey/ ...it was a (several talking) Hayek/ No, but...but if (several talking) the impact goes well beyond compliance with the red lights (several talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page ~6 Yapp/ There have been pedestrians...uh, hit on Burlington Street. I'm not sure if those are reflected in the numbers here. But I can find out. Hayek/ Do you need us to decide, uh, as...as between red lights and speeding? Or just give you a broader authorization if there's a...a consensus to do so, to...to pursue this further? Yapp/ That's up to you. I guess I would prefer any...if there is broader consensus to proceed, to let us know that, and to also let us know what other questions, what other information would you like to have before any actual decision making on this topic. Um, would you like to know more about the differences between red-light running and speed cameras and how they work, more information on, uh, the citation process, uh, are there more locations that you'd like more data on, uh, would you like more data on speeds? Just reflecting a little bit of what your conversation was tonight. Bailey/ Yeah, I'd like...I'd like more data on the Gilbert Street corridor, I mean, does anybody else feel intuitively that they're surprised they don't see that? Given that it's a series of lights. Wright/ Yeah, well of course I think what all of us have seen are people, I see people running the Clinton and Washington Street light almost every day. Uh, but there are never any crashes there so that's not reflected in the data. Bailey/ Right, right! But, I mean, that doesn't mean (mumbled) okay, so... Wright/ So even though we experience people running the lights, apparently there aren't as many crashes (mumbled). But it might be interesting to have some more numbers. Bailey/ Well, I don't want to get numbers just for the sake of numbers. Champion/ No, I don't (mumbled) Bailey/ I mean, I (mumbled) but clearly you identified the ten locations based upon property damage and injury, right? Yapp/ Correct. Bailey/ And so nothing else (both talking) can we see the top 20? Do you have the top 20? Yapp/ Sure! Bailey/ That...okay, let's go with that. Champion/ Well, I think we should decide whether we're even interested in pursuing this before we ask for the top 20. Bailey/ Yeah, okay, I'm good with that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page Mims/ I am. Wright/ I am too. Mims/ I'm willing to look at it further, I mean, I don't have a firm decision made, but I certainly would like to see more information. Um...and I...I think the idea, if we got to the point of doing it, I would seriously like to look at both the speeding and red-light, I mean, I think that whole issue of people speeding up to go through intersections, um, is really important from a safety standpoint, especially if you look at intersections where we've got a lot of pedestrians. Um, I think that becomes really important, and I...I mean, I think that Madison, Burlington intersection, I mean, we've got to do something more with that. I kind of chuckle on the Highway 6, Boyrum, because let me tell you, I've sat at that intersection on Boyrum for over two minutes waiting for that light to turn green, and I can understand why people run it! (laughter) So we have an engineering issue there, I think! Champion/ Two minutes? That's not very long! Mims/ To sit for a full two minutes at say 8:00 or 9:00 at night, and there's no traffic on Highway 6, and the light doesn't change, and it doesn't change, I can understand...I understand it, it's legal, but I can understand why people get impatient and have run that. Now, why they ended up getting hit, I don't know, but (both talking). No, I don't (laughter) because I'm afraid I'll get caught! (laughter) I'll go ahead and make that right turn and go the long way around, if I have to, but and so I think we need, maybe at some of these intersections, also look at the engineering as we're...as we're doing some of these, but um...I'm willing to move forward and get more information. Hayek/ L ..I am too, and um, I would suggest we move forward and look at both, uh, in terms of...if you're going through the exercise, let's get all the information and then we'll (mumbled) decision. We...we don't, you know, we don't have, uh...an Interstate 380 running through the heart of this community, and...and.. . Mims/ Can we put these on 80? Hayek/ ...and Interstate 80...we11, maybe that's something (several talking) although Interstate 80 is not, you know, it's different from 380 (laughter, several talking) but what we do... Bailey/ (mumbled) commute! (laughter) Hayek/ ...but what we do have is...is a substantial, uh, student population in a relatively dense area with high pedestrian and bicycle traffic, um, and uh...it's a concern. Wright/ I agree with you and uh...I...the one issue that I keep seeing pop up in various conversations and discussions is of course the big brother issue and it...I'm a card- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page is carrying member of the ACLU and I absolutely do not see a privacy issue, especially not a privacy issue when you're essentially driving a 3,000-pound bullet. Hayek/ And what is a radar gun? Wright/ Yeah. (both talking) A radar gun is technology, absolutely! Champion/ I don't like it! Bailey/ I don't either! But... Champion/ I just don't like it! Um, L.. Wright/ Can you say why? Champion/ (laughter) I...you know, I don't want to use the old cliche, I mean, I didn't want cameras on the pedestrian mall. I don't want `em at our intersections. I feel like we're going to a...to a dictatorship. We're going to watch you no matter what you're doing. I don't like the fact that the person who is...the ticket's given to the car, and um...that bothers me. Um... Wright/ (mumbled) Champion/ I love parking tickets! (laughter) Wright/ But those are given to the car! (several talking) Champion/ We hire other people to do that. I mean, they're making a living. Hayek/ But you understand that...that the reason the red-light or the speeding ticket is given to the owner of the car is to address the privacy concerns, because otherwise you would have to peer into the car with a camera to see who's (both talking) Champion/ ...sure they're not? (laughter) No, just joking! (laughter) Hayek/ (several talking) Champion/ ...James Bond! Bailey/ ...objection is that they're not, um, if I'm doing something wrong, I want an immediate ticket, you know. I want somebody to catch me and tell me, I mean, it'll correct behavior immediately. Because... Mims/ You know, that's a good question, what is the delay between... Bailey/ Yeah, what is the delay? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page t9 Mims/ Cause I've read some things. Graham/ ...good question. Um... Bailey/ That is my biggest problem with this. Champion/ (several talking) Graham/ When we first, uh, had this system up and operational, uh, the delay was lengthy. Um, six weeks or more. Now...now it's less than a month. Uh, we, uh...and that...there are...there are legitimate, uh, complaints about the system, but the...the counterpoint to that is, uh, if you live inside the city of Cedar Rapids, or anywhere near Cedar Rapids, you know as long as you haven't been living under a rock, you know exactly where everyone of these cameras are. Prior to going into any intersection or when you're coming up 380 or down 380, big signs with flags, photo enforced, every major thoroughfare that comes into the city of Cedar Rapids, there's a sign that says traffic laws photo enforced. We have been as transparent as possible. Our mobile speed camera has its own Facebook page. We...we post (laughter) a picture of it, and...and people Tweet about where it's at. We post a picture of it on our web site. We put where it's going to be a week in advance. The purpose of this system is not to catch people doing anything wrong. The purpose of this system is to get people to slow down. I got asked a question the other day, how do I like those GPS angels or whatever they're, you know, called where they tell people where these cameras are. I love `em, because if everybody that drives through Cedar Rapids, especially on the interstate, drives through at the rate of speed that they're supposed to go through, then we don't work the crash, we don't have the facility, awesome! Now I can save everybody the 100 bucks, uh, by just telling you to drive the speed limit and obey...and obey the laws and you don't get `em, but...but you're right, but the...the flipside of it is, is once everybody knows where they're at, you know, if you get a ticket in Cedar Rapids... Bailey/ You deserve it! Graham/ You deserve it! (several talking) Especially the tolerance that we've got this camera set at. Bailey/ Is there any way though to, I mean, because if you, for example, wanted to defend yourself, you would have to go back to, I mean, as Connie said, and figure out where you were that day, if I indeed was on that route. That seems unfair! Graham/ Something else too about the Cedar Rapids' system. Last year we issued almost 66,000 tickets. That's a lot! Now I'm not sure what the traffic would be here, but the fewer tickets you have to issue, the quicker those get turned around. Uh, because it's... Bailey/ That would be a huge consideration that I would have before we would move forward on it, because...it's... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 20 Wright/ (mumbled) get from a vendor (both talking) Bailey/ Yeah, exactly. And I'm still pretty (mumbled). 1 don't see the extent of the problem and... Champion/ Well I liked your point. I like my punishment quick. I mean I (laughter) got a...I got a speeding ticket (several talking) and I said, `Fine, give it to me.' I deserved it. I've been speeding for years. Just give me the ticket; I'll pay it! (laughter, several talking) Bailey/ Well no, I don't want my (several talking) a month later! Champion/ I, um, you know, I've never liked this kind of thing, and I don't have any other reasons, except that I don't like it, and I have to vote the way I feel and I don't like it. Hayek/ Well, there are... Bailey/ I'm willing to get more information, but I'm absolutely lukewarm about this, because I don't see the extent of the problem, that...I mean, I understand why Cedar Rapids went this direction. I don't fully understand why we would go this direction at this point. Champion/ And I...must agree. I was willing to discuss it because, and I read the information on Cedar Rapids about decreasing those fatalities on 380. That's a very valid reason to have those cameras there because that is...when you're traveling fast through Cedar Rapids, those curves can really be...not...not handled very well by the person next to you. I always (laughter) Wright/ It's never about you! Champion/ No, oh no, I'm always willing to take the blame. I don't... Hargadine/ ...Connie, is armchair quarterbacking a decision that's successful. At some point the Council had to take the risk in Cedar Rapids, because it was a risk for them as well. Bailey/ But they had...but obviously they had data that indicated there was, I mean, more of a problem, rather than as Matt said, a potential problem. Um, and you know, some of us are more risk averse than others, I guess. Um, but I would like some...if we're going to move ahead, if you've got the top 20 data, I would like that, um...because it's going to take a little bit more information to convince me to...to spend, well, not to spend the money, but to sign, to vote on a contract. Champion/ These...this is not a new thing. This has been going on in other countries for years and years. Why all of a sudden it's become so important here...I mean... Graham/ Uh, budgets, uh... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 21 Champion/ Oh, so it is part of the budget. Graham/ But being able to use, uh, your resources better, because well, limited budget is, I don't get as many cops, uh, so what am I gonna do with those cops? Am I gonna have them sitting on the interstate or working traffic crashes, which you know, unless you're driving drunk or without a license, isn't a crime. It's a civil infraction. Um, you know, so...what better to use t hose resources than in the neighborhoods or in the businesses, and if there's technology out there that can reduce those crashes, that can reduce the amount of time that my officers have to spend working that stuff, then I'm all for it, especially if it's at no cost to the city! Bailey/ So, is this the best place to get the person hours though, for you? I mean, I see 13, almost 1,400 hours working, um, vehicle collisions, I mean, where...I mean, what other time consuming tasks could we address that might better get our officers to community policing? Or is this the best one? Hargadine/ I think this is the one that's um...where technology can...can fill in those... Bailey/ What would be number two? I mean, not with technology. What would be number two of person hours that is keeping people away from community policing, just so I...I want to understand the full, why we're doing this. Hargadine/ They run from call to call to call, for a variety of different reasons. They may be domestics one day, it may be bar fights the next. Bailey/ But the...I guess the other kinds of things that you say...see are occupying their time that would better be freed up. Because that's how...that's how this is being addressed is that working crashes, if we can free this up, it's a...it's a good thing. What else should we be freeing up? Mims/ How can you free anything up that is basically...a result of somebody doing something they shouldn't do, you know, that has caused an officer to be called... Bailey/ I mean, if there's technology that can address report filing or those kinds of things too, I mean, have we maximized those kinds of, the uses of technology, I guess is where I'm going. You see? Mims/ Yeah, I was... Bailey/ I mean, yeah, I didn't state it very clearly, but... Mims/ You gotta answer the call if the call comes, and so (both talking) Bailey/ But I mean...but we all know that every job has components of, you know, this is what I was trying to do, this is what I should be doing, this is...is the maximum safety for everybody and this...this is tacked on to it because it's, you know, it's part of (both This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 22 talking) yeah. So that's kind of, thank you for helping me clarify that, but...that's where I'm going here. Hargadine/ I don't know that I have a...a number two attack plan, um...to free up officer time. Bailey/ Because if we're concerned about officer time, I think we should be looking at all ways of technology to make sure we're using that as effectively and efficiently as possible in the department, to address these kinds of issues. Champion/ And I think this...it's innovative of the company that started this, cause they're obviously making a lot of money selling this to people like Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, and I think that's the reason it's become popular... is (mumbled) Bailey/ Entrepreneurship...at work! Champion/ Right, it is entrepreneurship at work. Mims/ Well, I think, I mean, to me also...and I...I would agree that we don't have as big a problem here as Cedar Rapids had, and I think Cedar Rapids has found, you know, a great way to address a very, very serious problem up there, particularly on the interstate. Um, like you say, without it costing the city any money, because yes, you've got entrepreneurs out there who started these companies who, yeah, they front all the costs and they get, uh, either a percentage or a flat rate for... for every paid ticket, and they obviously are negotiating in ways that they are making a profit, um, the community hopefully is a lot safer. It's freeing up police time. It's, uh, impacting people's behavior so that they are driving safer. Um, to me in a situation like that, it's...it's absolutely win- win. The question is, is...are the problems in Iowa City significant enough for us to go down that same path. I'm not absolutely convinced, but I am convinced enough that I want more information, and certainly want to look at it in more detail. Bailey/ In Cedar Rapids, do you see people, I mean, maybe you know this, maybe you don't. Okay, if I knew where the traffic cameras were, and I knew you know that I could avoid them or whatever, do you see people using oth...alternative routes cutting through neighborhoods and there's become a speeding problem in other areas that don't have red- light enforcement cameras? Graham/ Uh, no we haven't seen that at all. In fact, we've mapped out alternative routes for people, and they're actually pretty funny, because where they're at, they're in the core of our city. There's a couple on the outskirts, but they're in the core of the city and there's really no, I mean (both talking) quick way to get around the cameras. The easiest way to get around the cameras is to abide by the law. One of the things you've got to look at too, because this was, uh, this was a by-product of it, uh, of our camera system and the changing of our driver behavior, uh, the blizzard we had in January, uh, the Public Works department was able to clear the streets in record time, and one of the Public Works supervisor commented that, uh, it was nice to have more cops available because we weren't out working crashes and people were driving better. Uh, even when they were This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 23 out and it was easier for them to plow the streets because they weren't going around these crashes and...and having to deal with people that are driving crazy, and they...they clearly attributed part of their ability to clear the streets faster because of the way, uh, driver behavior had been changed. So there's...there's all kinds of benefits to it, not just, you know, reduced crashes. Bailey/ Do we have routes in Iowa City like that, that you...you could easily cut through? I mean, that would be something that we would have to look at, but...we can... Hayek/ Why don't we...give the, I think we've got enough people to give the green light to staff to move forward and look at this stuff. Bailey/ The green light, not the amber! (laughter) Hayek/ Pardon? (both talking) I didn't even (several talking) the signal...to go forward and get this information, and then there are a lot of questions, obviously, um...but I think you've got what you need from us. Yapp/ Thank you. Graham/ But we'd also, uh, offer the invite of any Council Member that wanted to come down and actually see the way our system works, behind the scenes, you guys are more than welcome to come down there and (several talking) Hayek/ Appreciate that! Hargadine/ (mumbled) (laughter) Bailey/ I'm probably waiting to get a ticket, but (laughter) I always forget to slow down. Graham/ If you search through the database, you' 11 see my name in there when my kid got a ticket, driving my car, so...he paid the ticket though! (laughter) Hayek/ Chief, thank you for coming down (several talking) Bailey/ Appreciate it! (several talking) Hayek/ Need to take a break? Okay, we're going to take a four minute break. (PROBLEM RECORDING.) Facilities Master Plan (Agenda #10): Fosse/ Alright? Hayek/ Yep! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 24 Fosse/ Thanks for getting this on your agenda tonight, uh, to talk about the space needs study and the facilities master plan. If you recall from the budget process, this is one of the things that was listed in the capital program as being a project that we'd complete this year. So it, uh, tomorrow night is the award of the contract. It'll be on your agenda for consideration. So I want to talk about it a little with you tonight. Uh, three things that are driving this study. The first is that it really hasn't been completed in a long time. We haven't taken a comprehensive look at this, and just like with goal setting and strategic planning for operations, these types of things are important for your facilities as well. Um, second thing that's driving it is this lot just to our south here, and that's that area where we've got the Wilson Building, the U-Smash-Em building, and the old bus depot. There's a lot of interest in that site there, and...and we really can't make any sort of a decision about what to do with that until we have along-term view of what our needs are as the City, as we've acquired those properties. And then the third is...is also that the timing is good for our new city manager to get a handle on all the things that we have and what our needs are, and to help create a vision for our future. So with that I'll turn it over to Kumi Morris who is our Architectural Services Coordinator, and she'll walk you through the, uh, the work that we have ahead of us. Morris/ I'm here to present the goals and objectives of the space needs study (mumbled) Karr/ Kumi, can we, excuse me, can you move up the mic a little bit? Are you wearing one? Morris/ No, I'm not. Karr/ Then let's put on one first (laughter). No wonder I can't hear! Great! (several talking) Morris/ Want me to start over? Karr/ No. I got it. Morris/ All right, um, also to discuss the scope and the consultant agreement attached to Item 10 and the resolution in the Council packets. The agreement will allow RDG Planning and Design Group to review the...our organization's vast group of buildings, structures, and property assets and to work with our departments to create a cohesive record of our facility needs. What are our goals and objectives of this study? It's to create along-term comprehensive strategic plan for all City facilities. To illustrate how a systematic strategic plan is important, I would like to show the type of expansion a department makes (mumbled). When I started working with the City's fire station projects in 2002, the objective at that time was to expand the City's services and to add a fourth substation in the northeast quadrant of town. Due to operational costs, the fire station four project had been tabled. However, our current fire facilities were outdated and stretched to capacity. We hadn't renovated or expanded any of the three fire stations in nearly 40 years. However, safety equipment...changed and required additional and larger storage. Due to the increase in building heights, ladder trucks were no longer...were longer and safety vehicles much larger, thus existing garage spaces were tight and difficult to maneuver. Mechanical systems had evolved and changed to protect, um, fire staff from This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 25 carbon monoxide, and telecommunications had advanced considerably since the 60s and the simple task of finding room for computers, expanding radio systems and associated equipment were challenges. Standards and requirements have changed and the decontamination was a challenge in those facilities, and further, the fire stations were also designed to accommodate all male, anall-male force, and that had also evolved. They were running a 20th century operation out of facilities designed and constructed in the 1960s. The first change occurred in 2003 with fire station number three, and had a minor expansion adding to the west side of the station. You can see that in the, um, in the image above. In 2007, fire station two constructed in 1968 was at capacity, and at the end of its structural life, and was in need of an expansion. It was demolished and replaced with a facility four times its former size on the same site. It was our first new fire facility since 1972. In 2010, the fire station four plans were taken off the shelf due to an I-Jobs grant. It will be online this summer, our first expansion of fire services in decades. We had been operating with three facilities for 40 years, without renovation or additions. But within a period of seven years, the Fire Department went through an incredible change in facilities. From this illustration of sudden growth and expansion, there are two facts to know about public facilities. The first is that the City buildings serve a very long life. Um, fire stations as illustrations with running for 40 years, and also the Senior Center, it's depicted here, originally the, um, the City Post Office, constructed in 1904, and still under operation, under the City, as the Senior Center. The second fact is it takes great impetus to initiate change. Fire station four with an I-Jobs grant had been on the table, um, off and on since 2002, and finally is under construction now. And then, the Animal Shelter will be leasing a new facility, due to the flood of 2008. T12e...the Fire Department situation is an example of how facility planning can be an important...for the future, to the success of the City. The space needs study will involve four steps. Um, the first step is an evaluation of all City buildings. The evaluation will include reviews and creating an updated inventory. The inventory will include review of all...all building plans, a record of building sizes and typology, the age of the shell construction, and defined how the space is dedicated or the principle interior use. The inventory of finishes of each facility will take in such as the paint, flooring, and condition. There will be a site review, including private and public utilities. The inventory will identify deficiencies in existing systems, as well as remaining useful life of systems. There will be a review of the status of the buildings' emergency power systems and we will look at the, um, demographics of primary users. Public, staff, volunteers is an example. As part of the study, the evaluation will include a review of the environmental considerations. Such as storm water assessments, structural...a structure's relationship to the flood plain. For example, the lower level of City Hall has been at risk, um, during the recent flood incidences. Population growth, storm resistance to tornados, floods, and lightning, and security. Finally, as part of the inventory there will be an evaluation of energy efficiency opportunities. The consultant will review the recent energy audit on some of our larger facilities, and will review the remaining facilities for energy savings opportunities. This will include interior lighting...interior and exterior lighting, heating controls, and HVC systems. Green possibilities, such as green roofs, solar, wind generation, and geothermal, and LEED potential in renovations or new construction will also be considered. (mumbled) the consultant will work with the departments to develop programming needs. With each department or division, there will This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 26 be a comprehensive, on-site building evaluation. We will review the most recent master strategic plan or annual reports. We currently have all of the, um, current reports assembled, in preparation for this study. The consultant will draft, distribute, and analyze program questionnaires for the departments, and will work with departments for public input, such as public surveys, um, we'll probably be doing that online. Um, the Library is currently embarking on an operational study. We will work with them to not overlap, um, the...the labor, but will focus strictly on their structural needs. So, we are aware that there are other, um, facility studies occurring presently. The consultant will also establish a scorecard system for documenting and ranking the findings. And will conduct interviews with department staff, and will have a team approach with the City to set priorities. The third step will be providing solutions and analysis. For any identified problems in buildings, we'll have recommendations, such as remodel, relocate, build new, or perhaps nothing. The study will examine pros and cons of opinion, of options, and examine the inter-relationships of these options with other programming. For existing facilities, we'll prioritize program elements by greatest need, and provide an opinion of probable cost. For any new proposed buildings, we'll have detailed descriptions of key design considerations that will be outlined, and overall building dimensions, programming of the uses of the interior spaces will be defined, and interior spaces and their dimensions will be described in detail. For new buildings, a proposed building site, including information on appropriate sized parcels, and building and parking requirements will be stated. And preliminary estimates of overall costs will be provided in this study. Finally, a review of existing City-owned land and under-utilized sites will...and, um, will evaluate for future needs. Above, um, what is seen there is, um, an image of the John Wilson Building, which is, um, and a view of the larger um, City site that it...that it's in. The study will look at the, um, City current-owned facilities, and as Rick mentioned, um, reviewing this site and neighboring structures will be a priority. The last step is to develop the working master plan. The end product will be a working document that will guide the City as a decision making tool, provide explicit guidance on restoration, prioritize by need and useful life, direct and use...and use management of our facilities, and give the City an inclusive picture of facilities five, ten, and fifteen years down the line. It will also identify locations as part of the development, the long-term plan of 20 to 25 years, and help guide operating and capital plans, operating costs and capital plans. Some questions: how long will it take? The study will take approximately nine, um, nine months to complete, um, upon notice to proceed. And, it will involve many facilities, and all departments and divisions. Um, what will be our end product? A working document that will be both in electronic form and in binders. It will contain current facility review with detailed program reports, with identified needs. Um, interview findings. There will be final report with an executive summary, alternative, um, alternatives analysis, and a range of opinion and probable cost, and will prioritize program elements for each facility. Lastly, and hopefully it will be a working document and an instrument for the City's futures use. Will, um, all facilities be reviewed? And don't we already have this information? That's why I'm guessing that, you know, some of you are, um, wondering, um, this will be the most detailed, um, facilities study that we have ever completed, and will include an inclusive picture of not only the building typology and condition, but will also include operating costs, and growth needs, and capital plans. Um, we do not have this comprehensively, but only in parts and pieces. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 27 When people think of City structures, this is a general list, um, that most people have in mind. There are... there are approximately 143 structures that will be reviewed, and some of those are multiple buildings, that are cataloged as single structures, um, what I have here is a list that, um, is our, from our Risk Manager. It's our insurance list of, um, don't try to read it, it's too small, but there's...there's pages and pages of buildings that we have that are part of our assets. Um, there are about a...approximately 143 structures, but some are actually cataloged as under one, like for example the south waste water plant which has five buildings that it encompasses, but that's listed as one facility. So there's...there are a vast number of structures that will be under this review. And, um...I'm now open to questions! Dickens/ You say it's been a long time since we've done one of these. Do you know exactly how long it's been or... Fosse/ Dale would probably be the best one to answer that question. (several talking) Not at this level. I don't believe that we have. Dickens/ And is it something that we need to do on a five year or, you know, I'm looking at it from the budget standpoint, whether you put money aside each year to pay for it the next time or, you take it all at once, or... Fosse/ Well, this...this is, uh, similar to facilities plans that we do for...for individual facilities, and once you get one of those in place, you do like to refresh that about every five years so that you aren't starting over again, and you can build on what you've done before. Wright/ The cost for this is pretty substantial, so I assume if we...were to refresh it every few years we're talking about a significantly lower cost? Bailey/ Kumi, on that asset list I saw some park shelters. Would that...is that really included in this review, or kind of lumped together as park (both talking) Morris/ ...there are facilities within our park shelter system, for example, the, um, City Park's maintenance facility that would be under that category, and that's a...that's a building that is, you know, has walls and systems and HVAC and...so... Bailey/ So it really drills down. Okay. Hayek/ So let me play devil's advocate here, because this is...there is a big price tag to this. And we...we haven't had one in a long time and maybe we've never had one to this...as comprehensive as this, you know, and yet we...we build the new water treatment facility; we build the new library, we build fire station number four, and when things bubble up and we, you know, either staff or the Council or a combination typically, you know, decides that we gotta replace such-and-such or plan out in advance for such-and-such, uh, whether it's, uh, utilities or... or uh, or some other part of the operation, we tackle it. And, and um...I mean, I can certainly look at...I see a real advantage in looking at some of our underutilized assets, whether it's the stuff across the street, um, as you mentioned This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 28 at the...at the offset, um, but you really...do you think we're really going to get something, uh, that we...we don't get now just by looking at the status of our waste water treatment, uh, capacity, you know, which comes about periodically, sometimes because of floods, sometimes because pipes break down. Fosse/ Uh-huh. I...I think that the real benefit of this is the long-term view, and...and trying to get a handle on what our long-term needs are, because as...as we become a denser city, real estate becomes more expensive, and uh, if we chose to give up real estate or...or parts of real estate and then find out later that we need it, it's a very expensive proposition, and I can just think back to intersection improvement projects, for instance, where we...we have, uh, 80-feet ofright-of--way, for instance, and we decide we need just 10 feet more on either side. We will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to get that, whereas had we...had we acquired 90 to 100 feet of right-of--way originally, with the long-term view in mind, we'd been much better off financially. Hayek/ Okay. Champion/ And I...I do agree, it's very expensive, and I think about the flood has actually made us determine a lot of this, as far as the...the water, the sewer treatment place, the Animal Shelter, um...what...the bridges, I mean, so in some ways we're doing this because we're being forced to. And, we've talked for years about moving all of our maintenance out on Sand Road, so we've kind of taken care of that project on our own, I hope. So, I mean, I don't know how necessary this is. I'm not an engineer, and I...I don't like constant consultants, but...I'm not trying to talk everybody out of it. I have to just think about it. Bailey/ Well, and how does a facilities plan, I mean...I mean obviously some of these are assets that are used to provide public service, well, I mean, they're all used in that way, but some of them overlay the needs for staff, and so how...how do you look at that, because that's a whole other look at the organization, that won't be contained in the facilities plan. Is that... Markus/ I'd say that's accurate, and uh, you're going to have to get into individual architectural plans for each one of these facilities once you decide what you're going to do. So...this is a very broad brush. Bailey/ Okay. Dickens/ I didn't see anything, um, City-owned housing. Is that not going to be looked at, cause we had all those properties (several talking) that'd be separate? Fosse/ I like to think of it as...as, uh, having a plan for a jigsaw puzzle, and...and as you pick...pick up a piece you have the opportunity to put it down. You put it down on the table in the right place, and you don't have to move it again later. And...and that's what this helps us to do, is understand what our needs are so that as each opportunity comes along, we...we can make the best of the decisions associated with that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 29 Wright/ I... Bailey/ Doesn't it...go ahead. Wright/ I completely understand the why for this. Fosse/ Uh-huh. Wright/ I think it is pretty important to take a good look at our facilities, but I really am startled by the bottom line. Fosse/ Oh, the cost? Wright/ Yeah. Bailey/ Oh! (both talking) I mean, really, I mean, it's a pretty decent...a look at this list of assets. I mean that's...but...I hope that we don't expect it to be something that it's not, because you said it's going to tell us about our needs...that's true and it's not true. It's basically going to tell us the shape of our assets and what we might need to do to address those, right? It's not going to (both talking) yeah! Fosse/ Yes. Bailey/ But it's not going to (both talking) tell us what we might need in 20 years insofar as... Morris/ We'll be looking at population growth, and it will be (both talking) and there are certain things for example one of the...I know that one of the objectives is to take situations that we have here at the city that are in risk, for example, um, our IT department is in the lower level, um, certain things like that, that are, you know (mumbled) we have had issues with flood plain considerations of certain, you know, departments that are in certain locations that have to be examined and what is the, you know, what are our best proposals for looking at those situations for the future. Bailey/ Okay. That...that helps (several talking) Hayek/ Well, it's essentially long-range planning for the CIP side of our operations. Mims/ Yeah, which, I mean, which I think we have to do. It's expensive, and same time...you know... if you don't' have a good plan, how can you be efficient if you don't know what you've got or what you're going to need, I mean, you know, like Rick has said, we've heard this certainly, I mean, I've heard it since I've been on the Council. There's been a lot of interest in this property over here. And...you know, how do we make a decision on whether we want to go ahead and sell that piece of property, you know, prime downtown Iowa City property if we don't really know what our needs are, I mean, we may sell it and turn around in say five, ten years down, that was a really stupid thing to do, or we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page so might say, you now what? That's really expensive prime real estate. Let's sell it and we'll put what we need somewhere else that's a whole lot cheaper. Bailey/ Right, we've got other places we can go. Yeah. Mims/ Yeah, that are a whole lot cheaper, but without doing, you know, a thorough analysis of what we've got, what shape it's in, what...what major renovations or maintenance are coming, um, and what the projected needs for the City are, to me then...then your planning is...it's hit and miss. It's reacting to things rather than being proactive, because you don't really, you don't have that plan and you don't have that data (several talking) Bailey/ We've had that experience of reacting with the Senior Center, I mean, how expensive has that been, you know, had we been able to sort of be more planful with those repairs. Hayek/ All right, I think what you're seeing is just a little sticker shock. Um, but (several talking) Any more with, uh, state of municipal budgets being what it is, I...I guess par for the course so...yeah. Mims/ I mean I looked at it as hopefully saving us money in the long-run, because... Hayek/ Yeah. Mims/ ...we're doing a better job of planning. It's... Hayek/ Well, you're right. I mean, one...unfortunate decision to not take a wide enough right- of-way, you know (several talking) you know, for planning a corridor or, uh, a route, and we...and we pay for it. So if...it's something like that, if that kind of example is...is avoided, uh, by virtue of this, that in and of itself pays for it. I think this is one of those decisions where, uh, deference to staff I think is important. Mims/ Don't like the cost! Hayek/ Okay. Fosse/ Well, thank you! Hayek/ Yeah, thank you for the presentation. That was good. Mims/ Yeah, helpful! Champion/ I think I heard on NPR that the biggest growth in Iowa, job-wise, is consultants. Bailey/ It is! (laughter) Champion/ Cause that's what people are doing now when they lose their jobs, they're turning into consultants. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 31 Mims/ Well...but I...but I would also say, Connie, there's two pieces to that too! I mean...I think a lot of companies and probably even public entities are saying why have people on staff as full-time permanent employees with all the benefits that they have to pay, when instead we can bring people in for specific projects. Champion/ Oh, yes, I agree! Mims/ And pay `em, and then we've got no obligation after that. So I think there's certain cases where businesses and public entities are looking at it as...as cost savings too. Champion/ You're right about that. (several talking) Mims/ Plus then theoretically you can get people who are really experts...in that (several talking) right, exactly! So... Bailey/ Well, and they can focus on a project rather than if something comes up, of course, they would have to respond to that if they were staff. Hayek/ Okay. Enough on that. Thank you, Rick and Kumi. Let's move on to amusement machines, uh, alcoholic gaming device prizes. Eleanor, do you want to...the gaming issue, do you want to talk about this, do you want to recap why it's on here. Amusement Machines -Alcoholic Gaming Device Prizes (IP3): Dilkes/ Sure. Hayek/ Thank you! It's in your Info Packet, uh, from March 17tH Dilkes/ Well, I think the Council's talked about this issue before, um, and I just gave you the last memo I had done, a little blurb at the bottom of a bigger memo. Um...the issue, uh, is...I think it was raised this time by, uh, by Regal Amusement that sells these devices or places them in establishments. Um, the problem is that we have a city ordinance that prohibits the awarding of alcohol as a prize. Um, these machines issue tickets and are redeemed then for, um, can be redeemed at these establishments. If they are redeemed for alcohol, they violate our ordinance. Um...that's the issue. And the question is, do you want to do something about that? Dickens/ (mumbled) from the State? Dilkes/ No, it doesn't differ...it doesn't differ from the State. It's...it's, the City has...I don't see it as a preemption issue. I think the City has the authority to be more restrictive, and that's what it's doing in this case. There are...is a whole set of State regulations that govern these machines. Um...one of `em is that, um, the ticket can't be worth more than $5.00. You know, it seems to me that your options are to keep the ordinance as it is, um, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 32 to amend the ordinance to exclude, uh, State registered gaming devices, um...the...you guys have to decide what you want to do. (laughter) Hayek/ Well and the context behind this is that...you know, we heard from places like the American Legion...who are impacted by this, because our ordinance applies to all establishments throughout the City, even though it was directed at downtown establishments. Uh, or at least the intent behind it was...was that. Champion/ And I think you're right about that, and the reason I was willing to look at this again is because we have a 21-ordinance in permanent effect now. Higgins/ Well, I think high-risk drinking, you know, it can be a problem no matter the age. So I mean...I don't think that it...I mean, I'm not saying suggesting to enforce downtown, not enforce American Legion, but I mean I think that we need to apply the law in uniformity. Champion/ Yeah, I agree. Hayek/ Well, and I don't think there's interest in not doing that. It's whether we have this or don't have this. Or have this and somehow modify it, but it would apply citywide. Higgins/ Sure, well, in that instance I'd be supportive of keeping it and just...applying it across the board. Bailey/ (mumbled) I mean, I think if we were, I mean (mumbled) on record consistently trying to address irresponsible drinking. How is this...I mean, this ordinance is there for that very purpose. I mean...just makes sense. Wright/ Yeah, the idea of rewarding somebody with a drink, and I'm certainly not wanting to come off as here but, um, there are other prizes you can get if you want to have a gaming device. You can give a t-shirt, you can... food, what have you. Um...there are ways to, to people who play the games and get something that doesn't involve alcohol. Bailey/ Right. Wright/ And we've been on record for a long time in saying let's not promote it any more than it promotes itself. Bailey/ Right. Wright/ So I'd just as soon keep it. Bailey/ I'm fine with (mumbled) I think...it's consistent. Mims/ Yeah, I'm fine with keeping it. Like you say, there's other ways...if they're creative, there's other ways of coming up with prizes that people will want, food, things like that that are not alcohol that...work. If not then...so be it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 33 Champion/ Well...(laughter) I'm on the bad end of everything tonight! (laughter, several talking) I just get one night, one night a year, okay? (laughter) Um...I...I think these alcohol rules that we have, they're not like prohibition, but they are because we were having such horrible problems downtown, let's face it. That's the reason we came up with, you know, all these regulating the specials, price fixing, I mean, we had, we went through tons of stuff. Eleanor can tell you, pages and pages and pages of things that she had to write for us that how are we going to help control the abuse of alcohol downtown by minors, um...I think if I'm 70, which I am, and I win this game at the Eagles club, I might want a free drink. I mean, I'm going to be on a fixed income soon (laughter) and I just...I think...I think we're getting too, um...what am I...too...into, yeah, I mean, is it really up to us to restrict this, I mean, is it necessary? Um...it's legal by the State, um... I think we've solved a lot of our abuse of alcohol problems downtown. That doesn't mean they aren't still going on, but it's the kind of people who abuse alcohol are probably going to abuse it no matter what...what we do. Um, and I don't think because someone gets a free drink at the Moose Lodge or whatever it is, or even at...if this is at Bo James or Atlas or wherever, that that's going to turn them to total alcoholics. They're going to be driving drunk and killing (mumbled) and maiming people. I mean, I just think we're being too moralistic, we're making it a moral issue. And that...that's what bothers me. It's becoming...what word am I looking for? Help me out! (mumbled) (laughter). Hayek/ Well, I wouldn't put it in the same way you did exactly, Connie, uh, but I...I do, I mean, I do think that the 21-ordinance has solved, has had a significant impact downtown, and I...I some...I do question how much we gain from an ordinance like this, and I am somewhat sympathetic to, uh, what...the message that we've received from places like the American Legion, um...that's the only reason I have some willingness to...to look at this. We also have this state law on amusement devices only, which has...which as Eleanor said caps at 5 bucks, and that's on the books, uh, as a state law. Bailey/ When we do things like that, I mean...when we're inconsistent about addressing irresponsible drinking, it feels to me that we pile that all on people who are under 21, that that, you know, we've addressed the problem with...with not having, you know, with having the 21-ordinance. So, we no longer have the..the kind of irresponsible drinking, well, maybe we do, maybe we don't, but it seems inconsistent. It seems like it...it directs the problem with an age-specific problem, and I don't believe it is in this community, and I think...I think we search and other people have indicated it's not. That was only one facet...of an issue, and... Champion/ But it was a facet we were trying to control in some way, I mean, the amount of fighting downtown, the amount of violence (both talking), the amount of... Bailey/ ...violence and fighting are linked to irresponsible (both talking) not linked to age! Champion/ No, of course not! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 3a Bailey/ Right, so if you...if you, and sure, I'm sympathetic to places that haven't seen those kinds of problems of course. It would be very...it would be very frustrating to be a business owner or run an establishment that didn't have those kinds of problems and...and these kinds of things hit you, but...I think consistency, um... Champion/ Well we would be consistent. We would just remove that part. Bailey/ No, consistency with addressing an issue that I think we have all identified as a concern for the community, which is irresponsible drinking. I mean, even when I did not agree with the 21, I agree that there is a problem with irresponsible drinking in this community, and that's what I thought we were trying to address, and one facet of it has been addressed. But to use alcohol as a...as a prize, I mean, once again, there's so many other things...it's a game! I mean, it's a game (laughter) Hayek/ Well, but it...I know, but...but these machines are actually...they're not insignificant in terms of revenue for these little mom and pop shops. Bailey/ Well sure... Hayek/ I'm not...and I'm not willing to try to (both talking) federal case, and it only sounds like there're two people who have any interest in even considering it, uh, and I think it came up, I don't know, was it you who threw this out here a few weeks or months ago? Champion/ I thought we should look at it again. Um, since we do have the 21-ordinance into effect. Um...I...I guess I'm not very moralistic about alcohol, I mean, I'm really not. Dilkes/ I just want to clarify a couple things, just so we're clear about the history of this whole thing. Um, this...this provision that we're talking about, this ordinance, is part of what we refer to as the specials' restrictions that we put in place back when. They also prohibit two-for-ones and all you can drinks, that kind of thing. When we put the one about not awarding alcohol as a prize, it...it was not in response to these gaming devices. I mean, this issue has arisen since the adoption of that ordinance. It, and it was one of those, one of those measures among all the other things that we were looking at to try and address the concerns that we had downtown. Um... Hayek/ And it...and it caught up in that (mumbled) machines, right? I mean, wasn't...(both talking) Champion/ ...part of the issue at the time. Dilkes/ No. They... (several talking) Hayek/ The issue was more, uh, contests and things like that, whether it was Halloween... Dilkes/ Right, you know. Dress up in the best Halloween costume and you'd get $100 bar tab, I mean, that was the kind of thing that was being addressed. So I...it wasn't that we were This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 3s addressing these particular devices when we put that in place. And..and there...there is regulation that goes along with these devices that is not...in place when you're talking about the other kind of games that we...that we were addressing. Hayek/ Well... Champion/ ...anybody else but me, and... Dickens/ I sympathize with the fact that they can't use these, but for consistency, I mean, we went through a lot to get the law passed the way it is, and I think that (mumbled) we have to be consistent with the alcohol issue. Champion/ Well it would be consistent! Dickens/ It looks like you're giving exemptions to certain bars, outside of Iowa...downtown basically. Champion/ Well downtown could get these too, couldn't they? Hayek/ Sure. That would be absolutely part of the consideration, is you know... Wright/ Yeah, difficult to do it otherwise. Hayek /Okay. Champion/ All right. I'm on the losing end tonight. Hayek/ Okay. Let's move on, uh, Info Packets. We have three of them. Information Packets: Hayek/ March 3rd. Anything on that? (several talking) Yeah. Hearing none...March 10tH (several talking) Dickens/ (mumbled) Hayek/ Tom, can you just, uh, summarize for us the...the hangar loan issue as it relates to the Airport and... Markus/ Sure! The...proposal was to, um...split everything 50/50 as we sold those, uh, properties and we're suggesting that hangars F, K, and I not be included in that split. Hayek/ That they be paid off? Markus/ Yes. 100% paid off first. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 36 Hayek/ Are those the ones with the long amortizations? Markus/ Yes they are. Mims/ I think that sounds fine. Bailey/ (several talking) Mims/ I mean... (several talking) that's fine. Hayek/ Anything else on March l Ot"? March 17t". Covered most of that there. Higgins/ Um, I do want to bring up IPS, and that is a letter that Mr. Mayor here wrote...um...in support of the Amtrak operating funds. I just wanted to make it public record that student...University of Iowa Student Government is in strong support of this railway. Um, many of my friends, thousand of University of Iowa students are from Illinois, especially the Chicago area. So this would be a...this would be absolutely fantastic! Unfortunately I can't join along with the commitment to operating funding, but uh (laughter) if we could we would! (laughter) Champion/ Would you write a letter from the Student Government, I mean, that would be great! Higgins/ Sure! I'd be glad to! (several talking) Hayek/ Student Government has a huge budget! (several talking and laughing) Champion/ That would be great if the Student Government would (several talking) Hayek/ Okay. Uh, Council time. Council Time: Hayek/ Yeah, uh, I...I've just got two things. Uh, number one, just to let you know, uh, Tom and I drove over to Des Moines couple weeks ago, um, there was a Metro Coalition meeting with, uh, the Governor and the Lt. Governor, and then with, uh, Majority Leader Gronstal, um, and then we met up with Joe Bolkcom for a few minutes before coming back. It was a good meeting. Um...I think our...the takeaway message is that we will likely see some sort of commercial property tax movement this session. Um, and...the Metro Coalition members made the administration aware that, you know, of our concern (mumbled) take that away, how do we...is there something to backfill it, and that's part of, uh, what they're talking about, at least they recognized that all the cities are having huge impacts, would suffer an impact. Um... Markus/ And the Democrats are supposed to be coming out with their proposal, and I don't think...is it out yet? (several talking) It was supposed to be out at least I think a week ago they were saying, by the end of the week, and I don't think it's been out yet. So... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 3~ Wright/ I don't recall hearing anything (several talking) Hayek/ I think there's been some discussion and covered by the media, and some interest in looking at TIF and maybe reforming it a little bit, but we didn't get the sense that that much was going to happen on that at this time. Uh, and then last, or another issue is pension reform. Uh...and the cost cities are incurring to keep these funds solvent, and we didn't get a sense that anything was going to (both talking) Markus/ Especially for 11. Hayek/ Right. So...anyway, but it was a good trip. Um, and then the second thing that's totally unrelated is, um, we, uh...start our work sessions at 6:30. Um, there has been some interest, uh, from staff and quite frankly I'll admit - me - uh, to considering an earlier start time to the work sessions. Um, and the reason, at least on the staff side is you have this gap where you have to try to scoot home and scoot back, or wait around more likely, uh, after the close of business until we meet. Champion/ I would love it. Hayek/ Is there any interest in... in even experimenting with an earlier start time for work sessions? Dickens/ Be fine with me. Champion/ I'd love it! Dickens/ Cause I...I sat out across the street and reread the packet tonight, cause I worked until 5:30 and then sat out, just waiting and (both talking) Champion/ I think it'd be great if the staff could have an evening off, you know, if we started earlier, instead of waiting around here. And I...I would love it. I would love to not get home from work at 5:30 or 6:00 and leave (mumbled) I mean, I live close enough I can do it. Hayek/ You've got...I've talked to you about this, and you've got a commitment for the next couple months. Bailey/ We11...I mean, I'll just adjust appointments accordingly, but I mean what time are we thinking? Dickens/ What time does Ross (several talking) Hayek/ 5:00? Bailey/ (several talking) talk to Ross? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 3s Dickens/ Yeah, that's my question. Hayek/ No, and the answer is no. I mean, you're the only person I talked to cause I saw you earlier today. Dickens/ We're open late, so I mean there's somebody to fill in. I can leave earlier, but... at 5:00, 5:15, 5:30... Hayek/ Even 5:30 would...would help. Mims/ That'd be fine with me. Champion/ I'm very flexible. Wright/ I think 5:30 (mumbled) Hayek/ Okay! Wright/ We can try it. Hayek/ We'll try that. Bailey/ Are we... Hayek/ When do we...when we do start that? Want to wait a couple months or... Bailey/ No, no, I mean, let's start it right away so I can, I mean, it's easier... Champion/ We need to check with Ross. Bailey/ Yeah, but...our next one is April 4cn Karr/ We're going to be redoing the schedule, doesn't matter what time we start. Hayek/ Well... Mims/ Why don't you check with Ross, Matt... Karr/ Do you want me to check with Ross? We can get it out as early as tomorrow if you want to, then you could announce it tomorrow night if that would help ease in. Bailey/ That would totally help...for my appointment schedule. Hayek/ Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page s9 Karr/ And you'd like to start it as soon as possible, if 5:30 works. Is that correct? Hayek/ Okay. Yep, let's give it a try. Karr/ And is there, in case Ross asks, there's no commitment to ending time. It's just a 5:30 start (laughter) Bailey/ Wait a minute! (laughter) Karr/ No, but there was some discussion about wanting to get home...I just wanted to know is the goal say...(several talking) 5:30... Champion/ To 5:45 ! Karr/ No, I just (several talking and laughing) Hayek/ I mean, I don't think we really (several talking) Could we prohibit the eating of dinner before then, cause then I think (mumbled) get out of here faster. (laughter, several talking) Bailey/ ...living on (several talking) Champion/ I don't eat unti17:00, so it'd be perfect if we could end at 7:00. Wright/ Some of us just might be running in with sandwiches! Hayek/ No, I know it, I know it! Be a lot of chewing on the (several talking) Bailey/ Poor, Marian, with the transcripts. Karr/ 5:30, no dinner? Hayek/ 5:30 yeah, and yeah (several talking) no. (several talking) Karr/ I'll see if I can get a hold of him tomorrow and then you could make that announcement tomorrow night. Hayek/ Okay. Uh, other Council time? Champion/ Well I'm wondering, um...I mean, I think the repercussions from horrible stuff going on in Japan and Libya, are you going to make some kind of...declaration about what's going on there tomorrow night, like a... something the people (mumbled) suffering something horrible over there. Hayek/ You're talk...I mean, those are both tragic incidents, but you're talking about two different things. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page ao Champion/ I know. That's why I'm throwing it in your lap (laughter) Hayek/ I don't know (several talking) Markus/ I can tell you the City employees are trying to raise money, uh, for the Red Cross so...(several talking) Hayek/ Well, I'll think about it, I mean, you know, we have to be careful because there's a lot of hardship all over the world (both talking) Champion/ I know that! I know that, but Japan is really (both talking) they're in horrible straights, and nobody's concentrating on the people cause they're all concentrating on these reactors. I mean, the people are getting...forgotten. Don't talk about the reactors, talk about the people! (laughter, several talking) Wright/ I do agree though. We didn't have any particular statement after the Haiti earthquake, that I remember. Bailey/ That's right. Wright/ Um, it's kind of hard to pick your disasters. Mims/ Uh-huh. Champion/ Okay. See, again, shot down! (laughter) Hayek/ It's a good point (several talking) Wright/ ...City staff's campaign, encourage people to do so, but... Dickens/ See, you didn't lose that (laughter) Mims/ I think that's a real good point, Mike, I mean...you know, yeah, we had a major disaster in the last year, too, down in Haiti, and if we didn't do anything for that, then how do you pick and choose, as a Council, make (several talking) Hayek/ I'll think about it. Your point's well taken. Champion/ I mean, you know, this is going to affect the whole world! And it's going to affect America economically. It's going to be...there's already plants shutting down. Not permanently, but closing cause they can't get stuff. It's horrible! Bailey/ So how does anybody follow a Council time after that one? (laughter) With some mundane question! (laughter, several talking) I have a little bit of a question cause we did some work on the Plaza, the pedestrian plaza, in front of DC's, by the sculpture, and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 4i it's all concrete, and I'm just wondering if that would...if plans are to repair that in time for, um, like the summer music stuff when people are really, really down there. Markus/ You know what, I'm not really familiar (several talking) some pipes (several talking) Champion/ We don't know. Bailey/ (several talking) It was something water main, yeah. Markus/ That's probably a temporary patch. They'll have to come back in and... Bailey/ It'd be nice if it were done before Arts Fest. That's one of my question is, or...or when the music starts. Music starts the last Friday (several talking) Champion/ Either that or after it's all over with, and not during. (several talking) Bailey/ Right! Right, but you know, so many people come down, it's always nice to look spiffy! Thank you. Sorry that... from Japan to that but (laughter) had to be asked! Budget: Hayek/ Anything else on Council time? Anything on budget? Pending work session issues? Pending Work Session Issues: Higgins/ I do have one thing that I'd like to bring up, uh, it's...I've been thinking about it for a long time. I've spoken to a few of you about it individually, even though it's been a long time. I kind of got caught up in the landlord-tenant stuff, but I'm still concerned about the level of the fine of the...of the 21-ordinance. Um, I'm in the process of drafting a memo to explain why I think it's a problem. So I will submit that, and it should be in the, if not the next Information Packet, the one after that. I'd like to discuss it April 4t", um, especially since my...my tenure is about up here, so...if you're willing to hear me out and uh, have some discussion on the issue, I'd really appreciate it. Hayek/ Well, if you give us a memo and it's in our, uh, packet, I don't think it needs to be a work session issue for us to discuss it. Higgins/ Well...the memo is...is...proposing that you take action, so that's what I want you to discuss. Karr/ He'd like it a discussion item so you can have dialogue and make a...give direction. Champion/ Okay! I mean, that's up to you. Hayek/ But can't we...can't we do that... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011. March 21, 2011 City Council Special Work Session Page 42 Bailey/ If it were just in the Info Packet? Hayek/ If you're... Higgins/ Like if it's in the correspondence, we could just talk about the correspondence? Hayek/ Yeah. Wright/ As long as it's in the record some place, we can talk about (both talking) Higgins/ I don't care if it's in IP number of in the correspondence. Markus/ But it would result in legislation, local legislation. Dilkes/ There's no distinction between whether we talk about it under information items or we talk about it under a specific work session item, in terms of whether we can...how we talk about it. So... Champion/ (both talking) on the work session. Hayek/ And...and then, you know, whether we take action on it, I mean, you have to see whether there's interest to doing that, and then you set it up as an agenda item to be voted on at a future meeting. So... Markus/ Which would require further action anyway, further staff development. If there were something to come of it, likely. Champion/ Might have to stay here a little bit longer! Bailey/ He's movin' on to bigger things! Champion/ Maybe! (laughter) Higgins/ Nothin's for sure! Upcoming Events/Council Invites: Hayek/ Okay. Any other, uh...contributions to the work session list? Okay, upcoming events, Council invites? Uh, meeting schedule? Marian, do you have anything on meeting schedules? Other than what we just talked about in terms of changing the work session start times? Okay. Well, if that's it, I guess we're adjourned and we'll see everyone tomorrow evening! Thank you! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special work session of March 21, 2011.