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Council Present: Bailey, Champion, Dickens, Hayek, Mims, Wilburn, Wright
Staff Present: Markus, Fosse, Fruin, Ford, Dilkes, Reichart, Karr, Bentley, Davidson,
Andrew, Tharp
Others Present: Graham, UISG
Council Appointments:
Board of Adjustment:
Hayek/ Okay. Why don't we get started with our work session tonight. We have a lot to
accomplish and not much time in which to do it. Um... Geoff Fruin, uh, welcome to the
team. I think this is your first official non - strategic planning meeting here; you're part of
the City team, and we extend (both talking) welcome to you.
Karr/ Mr. Mayor, I just want to, for the record, note that we will be adding to the agenda two
items for separate consideration this evening that you have before you, and it'll be a
separate item not on the Consent Calendar, but I just wanted to note that 24
hours... emergency status.
Hayek/ And Connie will handle that part (mumbled) Okay. Uh, first item in the work session is
Council appointments. We have several to make. Uh, let's start with, uh ... Board of
Adjustment.
Champion/ (mumbled) qualified applicant.
Wright/ Yes we do!
Bailey/ (several talking) ...so many people are coming back? (laughter)
Champion/They can't stay away! (laughter)
Wright/ (mumbled)
Bailey/ Yeah, that's what he promised me on the phone, too. (several talking)
Hayek/ So, uh, consensus for Mr. Baker? (several responding) Okay. Uh, next is, uh, Planning
and Zoning.
Planning & Zoning Commission:
Wright/ I'd like to speak...
Champion/ ... Martin.
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Wright/ I was going to say I'd like to speak in favor of John Thomas. (several talking) We do
need a male.
Champion/ I know it. So anyway (mumbled) that's fine.
Wright / And I think John Thomas will do an excellent job on P &Z.
Champion/ (mumbled)
Hayek/ Okay. Consensus for Mr. Thomas?
Mims/ Yep!
Champion/ Sure!
Hayek/ All right. Senior Center Commission.
Senior Center Commission:
Champion/ We have one applicant.
Hayek/ One applicant.
Wright/ She's filling out a partial term...
Mims /Right, she's just filling out a partial term.
Hayek/ Consensus for, uh, Rosamond Hanson? (several responding) Okay. Um ... I skipped
Public Art Advisory. That's the one with, uh, where there's an actual decision.
Public Art Advisory Commission:
Dickens/ John Engelbrecht, I don't ... I worked with him. He's in the basement of our building.
He works for Public Space 1. He puts his heart and soul into the, uh, art, promoting art,
so I think he'd be a very good (several agreeing).
Wright/ And Melissa Mitchell, um, has done a lot of work with the Public Art Commission. She
hasn't been on it, um, one ... one male and one none. (several talking)
Mims/ One doesn't matter.
Wright/ So we have, um, I think she'd do a terrific job. She's ... she's worked hard with the
Commission in the past, although she has not served on it.
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Mims/ I thought, uh, I don't have front... first name in front of me, Milstein, I thought her
application was very strong. She hasn't been in the community very long, but um...
Champion/ Well, they're all really good candidates.
Mims/ Yeah (several talking) yeah, that's (several talking)
Wright/ It's one of those nice problems.
Mims/ I think that's a good point, because unfortunately we have so many that we have
vacancies, um, and here we have five applicants for two positions, and all I think, very
qualified.
Bailey/ I think that's interesting... what commissions are popular. (several responding)
Champion/ Because they're fun! And they're a lot of work, but they're great! You feel like
you're doing something.
Bailey/ Yeah.
Champion/ Well, I like John also, um, I can't pronounce his last name. John E.
Wright/ Engelbrecht.
Champion/ Okay, thank you. Engelbrecht. Engel ... (both talking) John E!
Mims/ That one's fine too. As far as I'm concerned.
Hayek/ Okay. Consensus for him?
Champion/ And I like both Milstein and Mitchell so I'm really ... I like, I mean they're all really
good candidates. I don't mean I ... anybody have any preference?
Bailey/ Well ... who did you mention, Mike?
Wright/ I said Mitchell.
Bailey/ Yeah...
Mims/ That's fine!
Bailey/ I think ... yeah, her activity.
Wright/ I think she'll do a great job. (several responding)
Hayek/ Okay.
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Champion/ That was easy! Mitchell!
Hayek/ Okay, let me write those down. So Brody, or I'm sorry, uh, wrote that down.
Wright/ Engelbrecht.
Hayek/ Engelbrecht. And, uh, Mitchell. Okay. And last is Youth Advisory Commission.
Youth Advisory Commission:
Wilburn/ Um, Malin Craig, uh, City High student. Been very involved at City High, uh, is
looking forward to getting involved, uh, and contributing with, uh, things at the City
level, so I would recommend her.
Mims/ Sounds good!
Champion/ (mumbled)
Bailey/ Great.
Hayek/ Okay. That's it for, uh, appointments. Next is agenda items. There are several P &Z
items that we'll take up during the formal. Eleanor, do you want to just quickly touch on
the 21, uh, ordinance items, just so people understand what is and what is not before us
tonight?
Agenda Items:
ITEM 13. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 4, ALCOHOLIC
BEVERAGES, CHAPTER 5, PROHIBITIONS AND RESTRICTIONS,
SECTION 8, PERSONS UNDER THE LEGAL AGE IN LICENSED OR
PERMITTED ESTABLISHMENTS, SUBSECTION B, TO AMEND THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR NON -BAR AND ENTERTAINMENT VENUE
EXCEPTIONS. (FIRST CONSIDERATION)
Dilkes/ Um, you've got a redlined version of the ordinance, um, and some of you may not have
caught some of the comment, and in the ordinance itself that there are a couple things that
are being done by resolution. And that resolution will be on your agenda the ... at the
third reading of the ordinance and those things are the actual PAULA rate, which you
decided would be .25, um, the deposit amount for the audit, if requested, and the factors
that staff, that the Police Chief will consider in deciding whether to request an audit of
the, um, the alcohol /non - alcohol figures. Um, so just briefly, I mean, essentially
everything you decided on is in here. Urn ... we didn't really see any problem with them.
The ... the pragmatic thing that has to be worked out is ... is figuring out how to combine
the numbers of the Iowa City PD and, um, UI Public Safety. And, that will be part of that
final resolution, so we didn't have to do that for purposes of tonight.
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Mims/ Eleanor, will that also, um, I know part of that discussion from the bar owners was the
concern about what constitutes a visit. Will there be something in there related to that, so
people have a better understanding of what is what?
Dilkes/ Yes, I've asked ... we've asked the, um, PD to develop kind of a protocol for that,
and ... and I'm hoping to conclude that as part of the resolution.
Mims/ Thank you.
Dilkes/ Um, so ... we included a provision that says with respect to the temporary six -month
exception for new businesses, you can only get one temporary exception for any one
location every three -year period, and any one applicant can only have one for, um, for a
three -year period. Urn ... you saw the revocation process in there, which ... and we've
made the entertainment venue, uh, revocation process the same. Um, one thing that you
didn't talk about is how long the revocation will ... if...if somebody has their, uh,
certificate, exception certificate revoked, how long that... it'll be til they can apply for a
new one and we set it at 12- months. Urn ... and I think, oh, one thing I misspoke when we
discussed this last. We were talking about, um, the period of time during which you can
have two sales to minors. Um, and then you would lose your exception certificate. And
right now it's five. Um, with respect to the State code, if...the fourth, if you have a
fourth violation in three years, you'd get your license revoked. Not five years, but I think
the point that Eric was making in his memo is that that ramification, i.e., the loss of your
license, is far more significant than loss of an exception certificate. So, but I wanted to
let you know that. I think that's it. Wristband stuff is not included.
ITEM 16. 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 MMS CONSULTANTS, INC. TO PROVIDE ENGINEERING
CONSULTANT SERVICES FOR THE EAST SIDE LEVEE PROJECT.
Hayek/ Right. Thank you. A question, uh, on #16, uh, which is, uh, Rick. Urn ... which is the
consulting agreement for the eastside levee. Uh, and it...it just, uh, a question about
bidding, and we've talked about this before, the distinction between, um, some of our
capital projects and the competitive bidding for that, and some of the professional
services contracting that we do and whether those are competitively bid. Where ... where
does this fall into that and...
Fosse/ This one because of its funding source, uh, was a qualification based selection process,
and so we ... we did not, um ... bid ... bid it based on price, if you will. Um, on those
contracts in which we do consider price into factor, what we do is narrow it down to the
best qualified firms and then ... then begin to talk, get some prices from them to compare.
But there are some funding sources that ... that don't allow that type of...of, uh, selection
process.
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Hayek/ Is there, uh, some sort of industry rate, standard, or... or practice that can...
Fosse/ Oh, for the billing rates?
Hayek/ Yeah ... that sort of thing.
Fosse/ Um, there are, and ... and we've got some of that information from FEMA, and uh, they
look at ... at, uh, project costs as it compares to the, or excuse me, design costs as it
compares to project cost, and that varies with the size of the project.
Hayek/ Okay. Um, so in this case, we've got a source that dictates the process, but is it fair to
say that generally speaking on ... on these professional contracts, we're moving toward
more competitive bidding?
Fosse/ Yes!
Hayek/ That ... okay. All right, and that's why I just wanted to know about this, cause it ... that
makes sense.
Fosse/ Yep! We'll do it where we can.
Hayek/ Yep! Great! That's all I got. Thanks, Rick!
Fosse/ Uh -huh.
ITEM 14. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS AND POLICIES.
Bailey/ And item #14 ... the resolution approving the economic development process and policies.
The committee met and we discussed the up -front funding. That ... that was primarily the
paragraph that we had concern about. And, now will we do an amendment on the floor
tonight or did ... how did you want to proceed with that? Eleanor?
Dilkes/ Yeah, just occurred to me ... was that resolution... was that, the revised policies in here? I
didn't ... I don't think they were.
Bailey/ So we can amend it on the floor with that language, correct?
Dilkes/ Yeah.
Davidson/ The meeting (both talking) was after the packet went out.
Dilkes/ Oh, that's right, yeah.
Bailey/ So ... in regard to that paragraph that refers to up ... upfront financial assistance, what the
Committee would like to recommend is upfront financial assistance, and the appropriate
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financing mechanism and security will be considered on a case -by -case basis. We know
that in these kinds of situations, it's really, um, it does have to be considered on a case -
by -case basis to manage the risk the City's exposing itself to, as well as, um, consider the
project itself and how it achieves community objectives. Susan and Matt, what else
would you add?
Hayek/ (mumbled) refresher, this ... for some context, this deals with situations where we are
requested to put money in on the front end of a project, and the security or lack for a
better word that we, uh, are able to pursue before we put in those first -in dollars.
Bailey/ And originally we had talked about urban renewal bonds, and ... which is one mechanism
that could be used in those kinds of circumstances, but it really ... to give the flexibility to
the City, to be able, you know, what we've been talking about, really, uh, aggressively
pursue economic development opportunities. We thought this was a better approach. We
heard from some developers and a better approach.
Champion/ So you're content with what you came up with then (several talking)
Bailey/ ...and we will amend it on the ... tonight on the floor.
Hayek/ Elean ... Eleanor's suggested language tweak, uh, preserves all options for the City on a
case -by -case basis... and... and so what we ask of the developer on a given project, um, is
for us to determine.
Bailey/ And so ... and that goes through Economic Development Committee, comes through
Council, so you'll see every project so...
Hayek/ Thanks for that ... thanks for that, Regenia.
Champion/ Thank you (mumbled) guys for doing that.
Hayek/ Any other agenda items? Okay. I'm going to move on, and uh, the first, or the next item
is our Downtown Market Analysis, and I'll have, uh, Wendy Ford come forward please
and start the process!
Downtown Market Analysis:
Ford/ ...turn the projector on...
Wright/ I think you have to say some (mumbled)
Ford/ Abracadabra? Okay, so don't really need to wake this guy up. There we go. While the
computer's waking up, um, good evening, um, I'd like to introduce today... tonight John
Millard with Divaris Real Estate, um, who we contracted with earlier this year, after
learning of, uh, his, uh, particular method of doing economic development research. Oh,
thanks, I can do that. As it regards to the hidden economies that can be found in
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university towns, government towns, um, and um, and governmental towns. Um, the
University of Iowa, friends of ours, saw a presentation by Mr. Millard last year and uh,
brought him to Iowa City in February, at which point he spoke to about 120 community
members who were, um, impressed by his, uh, research methodology and um, thought
that it would be a good idea if we could do the same kind of thing for Iowa City. So
indeed in June, um, we contracted with him and he has now completed his study, and um,
will be presenting the results of that tonight. So ... I'm just going to ... minimize this and
get his presentation up. John, would you like to come up? Everybody, this is John
Millard!
Hayek/ Welcome!
Millard/ Thank you, I appreciate the opportunity to give this presentation. The original, uh,
mission here was to, uh, study the downtown Iowa City retail and also Tom Markus
asked me to also take a shot at Riverfront Crossing district retail at the same time. You'll
notice as I go through this I ... I've expanded my role beyond just retail into, uh, what I
consider university- driven, uh, real estate. As Wendy said, uh, I am with Divaris Real
Estate, uh ... next year, uh, will be my 401h anniversary in the retail real estate business.
Uh, I did have 12 years with, uh, General Growth Properties, and had eight, uh, Iowa
properties in my, uh, regional mall portfolio. The, uh, I also will be celebrating my 10th
year with Divaris Real Estate as I shifted to mix -use town centers from regional malls,
and for the last, uh, six years, I've been involved in, uh, college towns, particularly
university, what I call university- dominated college towns. I'd also say that in the last
four years it's probably been the worst four years during the great recession, and
continuing for, uh, retail development. Uh, this fortunately has not been as true in
universities ... university towns, where the ... the unemployment rate generally averaged
2% lower than the state average. Sorry! I'm going to get to the basic primary trade area.
It's a 10 -mile radius, um ... the primary trade area is not the real subject here. I mean, it's
a nice trade area, uh, it seems to have, uh, attracted significant retail, particularly with
Coral Ridge Mall. But there are some flaws in the census that we'll go through, that...
that I'll show you that impact how retailers see your community, and what, uh, what they
think is here, and if you'll notice here the estimated average household income is
$66,600, which is a nice average, but nothing special if you were, uh, looking at other
markets to ... to go into, and I will get to this with a different, uh, um ... slide that will deal
with it. Again, 20 mile radius, uh, about the same household income. The population,
uh, it's a good population, but uh, it doesn't really tell the story of this, uh, this city. One
of the things that, uh, usually go through in the, uh, census information is I look for retail
market opportunity gaps. This is actually provided by the Nielsen Solution Center, uh,
and it shows surprisingly it shows that there is a $157 million opportunity gap showing
here in Iowa City, and I say surprising because you have Coral Ridge Mall and you have
all the big boxes over in Coralville, which are included in this number, and it really is
surprising that there would be any deficits at all because Coral Ridge Mall pulls from
over a 40 -mile radius, uh, almost 430,000 people. This equates when you divide the...
the opportunity by, uh, average square footage of certain categories. That there is still a
deficiency here just by studying the census of...almost 310,000 square feet, and this does
not include, uh, what I call the hidden economies. The one tip off when you look at a, uh,
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what I call a university- dominated college town is, uh, Iowa City is to the University of
Iowa. This age group here really tells you whether there's been what I call a corruption
of the data, and in this case, you're finding that students that are out of state, live out of
state or ... or live outside Johnson County are included in the census, and this has a
significant negative effect ... and this will show you ... when retailers look at the ... at the
demographics, this is what they see. This is what is shown. And you can see in a 1 -mile
radius, $44,000 is the average household income. Well, actually by taking out the
students and just considering the family household income, there's a huge gap of $48,000
that is not the ... the retailers do not see this number, and it continues all the way out to the
20 -mile radius. These are very powerful numbers that any retailer would be proud to
consider, particularly in the upscale tenants. If you're looking at this, there's no upscale
tenant that really, uh, will come in there, unless they're... they're pushed in there by, uh,
General Growth Properties. Now when I talk about hidden economies, they're the result
of non - resident economic activity, not recorded in the U.S. census for that geographic
region, and that's ... my city of Virginia Beach, it has lots of military in it. It has five
million tourists in it. State capitals, and particularly universities. The University of Iowa
provided me, uh, hometown zip codes of each student's hometown and so I was able to
determine, uh, where everyone was coming from, and it was very valuable and turn
it ... when we get to the next slide, but this is significant here... Illinois with 5,856, almost
22% of the student population. When we got... got into determining the average
household income by state, first we did it by zip code and then we brought it down, or
brought it up to the state level. You will notice that the average household income of a
student's household, his parent's household, is six ... almost $70,000. So when you get to
Illinois, it's $116,800, mostly in the, uh ... um, western suburbs of Chicago. When you
look at just the top 25 %, and that's those zip codes that were over 75,000 in average
household income, there are more students here from those households than there are
from the state of Iowa.... 128,000 with the average top 25% is $116,000. The ... this is
from a survey that was done, that shows the tremendous market, uh, that college students
drive in this ... in any economy, even this one! And as you'll see, we'll get down to it,
this is a significant part of it. College students spend $3,500 on shopping center goods
per year. Now, they would spend it here if what they wanted was here, so I call that
potential. Uh, usually they'll go home, uh, to their hometown, if they have the goods that
they want. This'll give you an idea. This is ... the hidden economy of your students.
$105 million, and this is the rough breakdown of how they spend that money. Uh, they
spend a lot of it, of course, on entertainment, restaurants, and ... and food, but also in
men's and women's fashions, spirit wear, and sporting goods. That $105 million
supports, could support about 270 million, I mean, 270,000 square feet of, uh, shopping
center retail. And then you have the direct visitors, which also are not, uh, included in
the census in any way. And, of course, the economic engine and the attraction is the
University of Iowa. So that you have, uh, you had study done that I think maybe a bit
inflated, but I still think it ... it's within the parameters of what I found elsewhere. That
the economic impact of home football games, uh, they're saying it's $100 million for a
seven game season. The things that were more interesting to me were that there are
51,000 visitors. The University gave me their ... their season ticket holders by zip code,
and 86% of the season ticket holders come from Iowa. I would have expected a higher
percent from Illinois, but that was not the case. The other thing I found interesting was
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that 13% of these visitors just come, they don't have tickets, and they just hang around.
They go shopping, hopefully or they ... they go in a bar and watch the game. Now, the
direct visitor estimates, obviously football is the most important part of that, but total
direct visitors is just for the University would be, around a million dollars. And what a
million dollars, I mean, a million direct visitors equates to is $408 million worth of, uh,
hidden economy. Now, the Trip Umbock report that did the economic impact of the
University of Iowa said that there were $200 million that were attributable to visitors
from outside the state of Iowa. And that's ... I ... I agree with that. What they didn't
attribute was, what the impact is in state on Johnson County from people coming to the
University of Iowa. And I estimated that to be another $200,000. That roughly equates
to supporting about a million square feet, uh, again, very strong in restaurants, uh, the
lodging is a ... is a part of that, and uh, this is a potential more than an actual. Then we get
to ... what I've been able to determine anecdotally is that there has been a movement of
University alumni who want a simpler life and they ... they look for different places to
retire, or to have a second home. And I ... I think, uh, Iowa City certainly meets a lot of
those criteria, and we'll go through that. There are 244,000 living alumni, uh, some are
really old (laughter) but ... I was shocked at ... that some of the classes go way back, uh,
people are 90, 100 years old, but this is the part I find the most interesting because the
baby boomers, of course, are now reaching or have reached the retirement age, and there
are 77,755 baby boomers. And of course going back, again Illinois figures in, you know,
because they have 5,000 students here you would expect them to be the second largest,
uh, state for living alumni. Modern Maturity survey gave the characteristics of what a
baby boomer would look for in a retirement locale, and as you look at it, uh, it's Iowa
City, Johnson... well, that should be Johnson County obviously, um, but it's Iowa City in
every aspect, you know, it's easy to get around, walking, by vehicle, except during game
day, uh, quality of dining experience — you have wonderful restaurants here; affordable
housing — we'll deal with that in the next slide; proximity to comprehensive, well
regarded health care facilities — well, you've got that over everybody. This is the health
center of, uh, the state of Iowa. Life -long learning opportunities with colleges or
universities; the culture and entertainment; entertainment, uh, we'll get into that part; safe
environment. In this survey, uh, less than 10% thought of downtown Iowa City as being
unsafe. Civic and volunteer opportunities, you know all about that; and access to
spectator sport activities, certainly the University provides all that. Looking at the
comparable home prices, if you owned a house in Evanston, Illinois, and certainly they
cost more than that, and you wanted to have your retirement in Iowa City, you could sell
this, and with the equity in your house you could buy a house at the University... in Iowa
City. So I think it's a wonderful place, uh, good ... good housing prices, good
opportunities for people to retire in Iowa City. Now, these are real estate opportunities
that I think ... are driven by the University of Iowa economic engine, and I think that they
deserve to be over on this side of the water, uh, in Iowa City, uh, rather than in Coralville,
because the driving force is ... here is the University and the access to the University. So,
you have to have a ... a walkable environment. I'm going to go into the web site survey
that we did that sparked a little controversy here I understand, but controversy's good
because we got 3,500 responses. We cut it off at that. We could have had more, but this
is a tremendous, uh, sample. The last sample you had of a survey was ... was about 1,200
in the 2007 study that was done, and this is right on, because this is ... this is your true
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shopper right here, urn ... I would say about, uh, in all our studies that General does, 70%
of the ... of the shoppers, uh, serious shoppers were females, and this is significant,
although we're talking about their parents, not them, for the students, but this is, again,
shows the significance of a higher income that is not, uh, not showing in the ... in the
census. Here the age, naturally you have this age group but I think you have a very
strong, strong 25 to 44, uh, which is very strong, uh, in which you need from the faculty
and, uh, the residents. Course the faculty and residents should parallel one another very
closely. When we asked, uh, where they shopped, of course this is the dominance of
Coral Ridge Mall, um... Coral Ridge Mall attracts, uh, it says its area overlaps with Cedar
Rapids and that, uh, it attracts over 400,000 people on an annual basis, and that's just
68% of their market. Somewhat of a surprise to me was the strong showing with
downtown Iowa City, and of course, the Coralville big boxes, naturally they ... they feed
off of Coral Ridge Mall. The internet ... I would have thought it would have been higher.
Then ... Des Moines and ... and this is why I ask all the questions about upscale retailers,
there's an 18% linkage going to Des Moines. Two hours away. There's only one reason.
Higher end goods. Upscale stores, probably at Jordan Creek Town Centre. When we ask
what they would like, movie theater hits a ... hits it out of the park with all of the, and
these were pretty much even across the ... the three, uh, consumer groups, uh, for some
reason everybody loves donuts (laughter) and uh, women's apparel; the organic, gourmet
grocer, I think Trader Joe's outpolled, uh, Whole Foods like 10 to 1 in its preference; and
again, shoes; entertainment, again; uh, the electronic, even though you have a, uh, Apple -
authorized store in Old Capitol Mall; national restaurants, uh, that's a touchy subject,
uh ... and of course, men's apparel and health and beauty. When we talked about these
specific tenants that are at Jordan Creek Town Centre, and probably are the draw of that
18 % ... Urban Outfitters, very strong with the students; Cheesecake Factory, across the
board; uh, the Apple store, again, you have an Apple authorized, uh, store in the mall, in
Old Capitol Mall. Forever 21 is a, uh, student thing; PF Change, again, straight across
the board for everybody; Sephora, stronger with the students; J.Crew ... uh, Pottery Barn,
very strong with the faculty and uh, the residents; Eddie Bauer, not so strong with
students and it's at the mall anyhow. So we ... we took it open question and so if you look
in the report, which I understand is now on the Economic Development, uh, web site, that
you will find, uh, specific tenants that the retailers and restaurants that they said they
wanted. So this was an open -ended question. I just categorized it, and I would say that
this is a very hard -core, vociferous group that wants only local retailers and restaurants in
the downtown area. Now, as you can see, this parallels with many of the things that
we've just seen on the other. Some of them are more remorse for what you've lost, uh,
hardware store showed up but it didn't make the cut here; department store, misses the
department stores downtown; uh, missed the grocery stores; grocery store downtown.
The retailer strategy for downtown Iowa City is that I've recommended is the foremost
strategy is do no harm to existing downtown retailers and restaurants. And I think
that's... that's a good thing. One thing I would say is that most national retailers won't
consider coming in to existing space in ... in downtown in most college towns for three
reasons. Number one, they don't have the size space that they need, and they're very
rigid about their requirements. Number two is that ... the tenants, the national tenants that
I just showed you get anywhere from $50 to $100 a square foot in tenant allowance to
encourage them to locate to a ... to locate to a specific shopping area, and the third thing,
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of course, is self - fulfilling is that they don't have the co- tenancy of other national tenants.
So this is all understandable. You know, I do think that as you saw the merchandise
categories that were identified as voids, that, uh, you should somehow encourage the...
the local entrepreneurs, I think your new SSMID, uh, district will ... will be helpful in ...
in dealing with the local entrepreneurs, you know, local entrepreneurs should become
franchise owners for national franchises. There are small number of national retailers
that fit comfortably in other college towns, uh, we'll discuss those in ... on the next slide,
and there was a lot of call for encouraging more ethnic restaurant entrepreneurs to
expand. Potential retailers by merchandise category, again, these were the voids that
were either noted by the survey or by the, uh, uh ... census. And ... and I think there is an
opportunity for local retailer entrepreneurs to, uh, take up the, uh, challenge to fill some
of these voids. Compatible national retailers, um, a lot of therm are, you know, what I
would consider, uh, user friendly, not competing with anybody else in town. Urban
Outfitters is a favorite, in almost every college town. Five Guys Burgers is the new... the
new hot franchise and Famous Dave's, coming out of Medina, Minnesota, is uh ... another
one, Caribou Coffee, which is over by, um ... Coral Ridge Mall. The California Pizza
Kitchen is a ... is a good, um, middle -of -the -road brand that I think would fit in here
comfortably, course Panera Bread is also over on the Coralville side. Since some of
these, and there were four specific restaurants that got a lot of play that ... that people want
to see, hopefully additional ones not that they would relocate from these other cities.
Riverfront Crossing district ... I give you a minimum and a maximum because... there's
this thing called Iowa River Landing, and whatever Iowa River Landing takes in terms of
retail, you will not get. Um, their main disadvantage is that they are competing with
Coral Ridge Mall and General Growth is not known to be generous with its tenants, or
with its perspective tenants. Having worked with them for 12 years, I know that they will
take no prisoners in the pursuit of, uh, keeping the competition out. So I think the
opportunity is here and most of this would be upscale, uh, because that's the area that
you're missing. I think most of what, uh, is at Jordan Creek Town Centre that is not here
anywhere is an opportunity but again, it's all in the education of these retailers. You have
an upscale market that nobody knows about. Then we get to ... the area where I think
game day condos are kind of a fashionable thing, but they only work in a mixed -use town
center. Uh, their number in the southeast conference and the ACC that are stand - alones
that have failed, but ... from the survey, there're 51,000 football visitors, spelled wrong,
sorry about that, 51,000 visitors that come here, um, many probably have ... game day
condos here, but they're just called homes. You know, they have second homes here.
Uh, retirement homes and condos, you have 77,725 baby boomers, but the interesting
thing when I studied Charlottesville, there were more retirees from ... that were not
University of Virginia graduates that retired in Charlottesville than there were university
alumni. So ... universities have a strong universal draw to educated people. They want to
be in that environment. Private dormitories, I think that's somewhat controversial, but
when my daughter was at the University of Kansas, they did have such a thing, and you
do have out -of -state students that have high average income. (mumbled) determination,
but I also think that is a University of Iowa decision. University related retirement home
— it's probably 75 -plus; now it's 65 -plus; baby boomers that still think they're young, and
we hope we are! The University Hospital, I haven't talked about that but it's in the report
and it is also a strong draw, uh, for people in retirement. There's also a huge amount of
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people that come from all over the state and outside the state for outpatient. As you know
with ... with medical insurance the way it is today, most of the work is done on an out-
patient basis, so these people need a place to stay while they're being treated. And of
course you have the tremendous draw of the sports; the University conferences; and
University students, family, and friends. Office is really the least opportunity, I think,
and really, uh, office in most university markets or college town markets is driven by the
university. So if the University wants to put some off - campus that's fine, but most of it
would come from these, uh, these people that may want an office, but they're also retired,
but they want to keep their hand in the game. They don't want to have their office in
their, uh, retirement home, uh, so they ... they may be a potential for office space, but it's
a very small potential. So, that's my presentation, uh ... the entire presentation is, uh,
about 134 -pages long, uh, it's on the Economic Development web site now so I would
encourage you to, uh, to read that and, uh, there's a lot more information than I'm able to
give in this brief talk. So I'll be glad to take any questions that you have.
Hayek/ Thank you ... let's just make a decision right now as a council since we are running out of
time here. Do we want to put off the balance of the work session until after the formal, if
there are questions? Um ... it would be an option if we want to continue this conversation
right now.
Champion/ Do you think we have time to do the legislator priorities?
Bailey/ No!
Hayek/ Probably not.
Champion/ Oh!
Hayek/ So ... (several talking) Okay, so let's continue to talk with Mr. Millard here and then
we'll just plan on finishing up the work session after the formal. Yeah, so, Mr. Millard,
we're going to ... there may be some questions (laughter) yeah, yeah, yeah. (both talking)
Sorry, I didn't...
Millard/ ...being tabled until later!
Hayek/ ...didn't communicate well! (laughter) So ... go ahead.
Bailey/ Just to follow up on your office space comment, um, and I'm sure you saw the previous
market study, and I know the ... the economic environment has changed quite a lot, but the
demand for office was deemed much greater, um, and you've come up with sort of a
different...
Millard/ Well, office is ... is not part of my study.
Bailey/ Okay, all right.
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Millard/ I understand that there is a separate one being done for Riverfront Crossings, uh, so I
defer to that.
Bailey/ All right! That ... that helps.
Millard/ That's an opinion, not a ... not a learned fact.
Bailey/ All right. Thank you for clarifying that!
Hayek/ Sounds like your findings were more or less consistent with what you often find in ... in
university -type communities, with its hidden economies and what not. Is there anything
about Iowa City in your review of the data that really suggests.'.. that surprised you, uh
(both talking)
Millard/ ...the dichotomy between the Illinois students and the Iowa students...
Hayek/ What, on household income or uh...
Millard/ ... surprised me. It's similar to New Jersey, New York, uh, out of state students at Penn
State, but other ones that I've studied, Wake Forest obviously is ... is all high -end from
everywhere, uh, only 6,000 students and Texas A &M it was just whether you came from
Houston or Dallas, you know, that you ... you kind of tilted the average household
income. But I think ... I was surprised at the, once you consider the family household
income, I was surprised at the affluence. I was, uh, because the 66,000 is what
everybody has accepted. If you look at General Growth, uh, Coral Ridge Mall web site
they quote in there those demographics. They don't dig into, 0, what I call the soft
underbelly of...of the hidden economies. And of course they have enough because
they're pulling 432,000 people in their primary market. And, uh, another surprising thing
was that ... how little impact Lindale Mall was one of my malls'', that was redeveloped
while I was in charge of that portfolio and it literally has no impact on Coral Ridge Mall.
Dickens/ Are there any other factors, other than the ... the dollar value that you think is holding
people coming back from Iowa City? Businesses.
Millard/ Uh, you know, universities generally, uh, mostly in the Big Ten, land grant universities
that are in smaller towns, they ... they're a huge economic engine. Uh, here I was...
probably another thing that surprised me that is ... we didn't go over tonight, but it's in the
report, is the impact of the University Hospital systems and clinics. That is a tremendous,
uh, economic engine of its own, and it also feeds into the fact that people, as they get
older, want to be near their hospital. So I think that you have a natural, uh, not just for
the University, but for the Hospital of retiring baby boomers. You have the whole
package here, uh, for that particular segment of the market.
Champion/ Um, maybe I missed it, but how did you take into account these five, over 5,000
Illinois students, um, who come from a much higher level income, mostly from the west
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suburbs of Chicago. How did you take into account what the parents spend here? Oh,
you did not.
Millard/ I did not. Now, and... basically if you look at the Trip Umbac�, uh, report, I hope I'm
saying that right, they say that the average student from out -of -state contributes over
$14,700 to this economy. I'm just saying that it's ... I'm using the average, $13,000, and
the ... taking that down to the shopping center, uh, expenditures 'of about 3,250 to about
3,500 ... per year, per student.
Hayek/ The, um, the ... the slide that showed the last six months where people shopped and that
Iowa City was 70 -some percent, did that break down what kind of shopping they were
doing or where they were going?
Millard/ Well, no, we ... I mean, we just... some questions... some answers that I didn't put in
there that are in the report were that for the most part, everybody answered that they
shopped because they wanted to support the local shopkeepers,', and for the convenience
and accessibility. You would want number one, you know, selection to be the number
one reason that you shop there, but that was number four. So Ilthink there's some work
that could be done there. You know there are a lot of opportunities and the ... and... a lot
of...I had one open -end question in the end that is a book in itself because I asked
whether they had comments, complaints, or observations that they wanted to share, and
that's 234 pages long. Over 1,500 responses. It's available to anybody (several talking)
I've given it to Wendy to read! (laughter) She can't thank me (enough! But there are
issues that the SSMID, I think, will be the absolute... perfect organization to deal with
because they're operational issues, of course. There are parking issues. There're all of
these issues that can be dealt with and work with the Universit, uh, to mitigate some of
them, because right now you're not really operating as a shopping center. In some ways
that's good but when people come down for the concerts in the summer, they want the
stores to be open. They're shocked that they're closed. You know, they want everybody
to have somewhat uniform hours, although we know that that' uh like herding... herding
cats to get everybody to agree to set hours but there should be �ome parameters which
everybody can agree on, because you're paying rent, the same tent no matter how many
hours you're open, so you should take advantage of those opportunities when they
present themselves, particularly when the City is doing such a reat job of bringing
people downtown in the summer when they feel they're less threatened by the ... the
student body, if you will. Not threatened, but you know, overwhelmed I ... you think
would be a better word.
Hayek/ Okay. Well, thank you for coming out. Thank you for your v�ork on this. We'll
probably have some follow up questions and we'll channel those back to you, but uh, I
think we probably ought to take our five minute break so we can start at 7:00. Thank you
for coming! (several talking) So we'll start up at 7:00! (BREAK TO FORMAL)
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Legislative Priorities:
Hayek/ (several talking) All right, let's find where we were.
Dickens/ Legislative priorities.
Hayek/ Can staff walk us through that?
Markus/ Yes, uh, the... basically we're going to have a future work session on these items to
determine what our priorities are, and I think we need to set a date at some point, as well,
to meet with our legislators.
Karr/ I think (both talking) I think what we want... correct, but we wanted to do tonight was see
if we could identify them so we could prepare that resolution prior to that meeting.
(several talking) Well the meeting cannot be the 4th of January because the, uh,
legislators are not available. There's a TIF meeting at the same time ... in Coralville. So
we do have to reschedule that meeting, but the question becomes... again whether the
legislative priorities, you want to wait for the next Council and schedule... we'd like to
meet with the area legislators with this behind you, or in front of you, as the case may be.
Champion/ But, Marian, are we going to get so late in the picture that there'll already be...
Karr/ That's the ... that's the dilemma we're in right now. Typically you would have done this...
if we have typical, in November. (several responding) So that's why the last time when
we talked to you about it we said we were going to put it on this work session and the
anticipation was that you would come to an agreement; we would prepare a resolution for
you; and that would be acted upon prior to the meeting with the legislature, that ideally
would be before January 9.
Markus/ So would you like to walk through these different issues?
Champion/ I think we should...
Hayek/ Why don't we do so, I mean, I think most of them have been standing issues and
probably won't require a lot, but why don't we do that? Let's just pull through this real
quickly.
Markus/ I think most of these are fairly self - explanatory. Diversifying different revenue sources,
um, and then the whole discussion I think with the, um, the potential for commercial
property, urn ... roll back and so ... um, how we go about dealing with those issues in terms
of dealing with our legislators. The next is the Chapter 411 Police and Fire Pension. We
had a brief discussion today at the Metro Coalition, uh, telephone call that we had. Um, I
think it's Davenport has proposed that the State pick up anything over a 17% employer
contribution. I think there's other opportunities to suggest other, uh, legislative reforms
in that regard, that uh, we may want to consider. Urn ... course TIF is a, uh, major issue
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and ... Mr. Fischer I think made some suggestions for amendments to TIF, urn ... I think
if... if everybody's had an opportunity to read those, I think those are issues that I think
we can all, uh, kind of get around and ... and have that discussion with our legislators.
Um ... extension of the 6% historic tax credit, I think we'd like to see that continued.
Uh ... adequate funding for public transportation infrastructure, the road use tax revenues.
Uh, whether that should be increased and how much. Continuing discussion. To me
most of these items are ... are all items that we should ... we should be endorsing and
supporting, so ... uh...
Bailey/ With Item G ... Tom, should that also read, um, the priorities of...and maybe lead with
the Metro Coalition and the Iowa League of Cities, because I think what we've agreed
(several talking)
Karr/ If you'll notice the handout in front of you tonight, um, the resolution passed last time, that
final paragraph, that did include that as well.
Bailey/ I just ... (several talking). Right. I would ... I would flip those though. I ... I don't know,
just because I think the Metro Coalition is always more line ... in alignment with (several
talking) represent 943 cities in Iowa, Iowa League can...
Markus/ So I think the direction we're looking for is direction to prepare a resolution to ... to
bring back.
Bailey/ And you feel okay about leaving this 6% historic tax credit in there, I mean, I don't think
it's going to get a lot of attention...
Markus/ Yes I do.
Bailey/ Okay.
Karr/ So just minor adjustments and tweaking to the past legislative priorities?
Bailey/ I would. (several talking)
Hayek/ Is the ... is the suggestion to have, what is this? I can't count... seven items, as opposed to
the thematic approach we took last year?
Markus/ I think it would be beneficial to ... to call them out, personally.
Hayek/ Yeah. I mean it's ... it's almost like having themes and then seven issues under `em. It
may just (both talking)
Markus/ ...and then any other items that are on the agendas for the Metro Coalition and the, uh,
League as well.
Hayek/ Okay.
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Wilburn/ ...help focus the discussion with them. (several talking)
Bailey/ I actually think you'll be dealing with property tax, um, if...if they really do, I mean, I
think it'll (several talking) but ... I hope not!
Hayek/ Okay. Anything else on that item?
Karr/ On a related note, the legislative meeting cannot be the 4th, and I was hoping that we would
discuss this before, um, Jim or Rick ... Rick is still here. Okay, good. Um, I'd like to
offer some other dates to the legislators sooner rather than later. And one thing I heard
from a number of them is ... they're getting very booked. Mornings work better. So is
there any days or times, or ... you certainly could get back to me tomorrow, but perhaps
we could offer them, urn ... 7:30, 8:00, before... before they get going and have other
conflicts.
Champion/ Before we get going and have other conflicts.
Karr/ That too! Is there a day of the week that's better or worse?
Champion/ Monday is never good, is it? (several talking and laughing)
Wright/ Really any day is fine. (several talking)
Hayek/ Yeah, we could still get this in before these guys (laughter)
Karr/ Well, we'd like to adopt this (several talking)
Markus/ And your lobbyist will be here too, as well. So...
Karr/ So we want to (several talking) so is there a day or time ... if we would do a 7:30 or 8:00
meeting, Michelle or Rick, could you let me know if there's days or times ... that are
better than others. And we'll offer two or three, and we'll see what flies. Okay? (unable
to hear person away from mic) and that won't work for you? Okay. We can talk.
(laughter)
Hayek/ Marian' ll get it figured out! Okay. Enough on that? Okay. Okay, thanks for walking us
through that, Tom. Next is Info Packet discussion. There are two packets; one
November 22nd and one December 1St
Information Packets:
Bailey/ I did want to point out something in the December 1St packet. There's the memo that I
sent, or gave you last time, but um, the Chamber has chosen Dublin as their city that
they're going to visit in the spring. As you know, Dublin is another City of Literature.
Um, Jeanette has approached, um, Nancy Quellhorst about some engagement or
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Page 19
something, connecting, but I would just encourage you all, and if anybody's from
Council is going on that Chamber trip, um, to make those connections and encourage the
Chamber to make those connections, learn a little bit about how Dublin is capitalizing on
their designation, perhaps bring that back. Think it would be a nice opportunity.
Markus/ I think I know somebody that's intending to go on that trip. (laughter) I'll speak with
her!
Bailey/ Good idea! (mumbled) Yeah, great! (several talking and laughing)
Hayek/ And, Regenia, by the way, that was a fantastic memo on (several talking). It was great,
uh, cause you gave us some ... sort of inspirational goals but some concrete (both talking)
some low- hanging fruit and uh, that was great. I read it twice!
Bailey/ Thank you. Good!
Hayek/ Okay, anything else on the ... on either of those packets?
Mims/ I just had a quick question, um, I think it was in the December 1St packet and it was under
the, uh, flood stuff that's going on. There was a thing in there about negotiating with I
think an architect for the new Animal Shelter. Do you know where they're at with that,
Tom? I guess ... I guess my question was, if we haven't really figured out what we're
doing and how big we're going and what we're spending then ... how do you negotiate
with somebody to design it, when you don't know what you're building (both talking)
Markus/ ...I think what we were doing is we were intending to have options in terms of the
design so that it would be ... you'd end up with a main design for a facility that would
serve our needs and then what the expansion requirements would be, uh, for that. So it'd
be somewhat of an optional design, and I think that's the way we've conceived the scope
of work on that.
Mims/ Okay. Thank you.
Hayek/ Okay, anything else on the ... Info Packets? Okay, Council time.
Council Time:
Karr/ Mr. Mayor, in front of you this evening you have a handout regarding a commitment letter
for the Blue Zones project.
Hayek/ Uh -huh.
Karr/ And, uh, this is something we ... a request we received from the Chamber. This is part of
their application process. It needs to be, um, talked about this evening because it ... we
need a 75% of the City Council commitment, uh, letter signed by the current Council, not
the new Council. The deadline for the, uh, the paperwork and the application on this is
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January 4t ". So ... that, the letter is before you this evening. We just received it. Rebecca
is here to answer any questions. I do have letters prepared for each signature, if you are
so inclined to do that. Uh, we are under a ... it is time - sensitive.
Markus/ This is ... this is something that even before the ... the, uh, Chamber was involved in this,
um, our staff was pursuing this, so from our perspective we would recommend this to you
and ask for your endorsements.
Bailey/ I think it's a good program. I recommended it to a community I was working with.
Mims/ I'm not familiar with it. (several talking)
Neades/ Good evening, Susan and Council. The Blue Zones is a concept of, uh, improving our
health, the healthy lifestyles and, um ... that we ... I'm not being very articulate at nine-
something at night! (laughter) Um ... it's a concept of trying to live a healthier lifestyle,
and through that, um, communities can work together through all the different
constituencies, cities — we're going to apply as a three -city, um, area and look at ways
that communities are, um, more bike, uh, walkable friendly, and those are things that you
guys have already done. Livable communities, bike friendliness, um, improving the
health, um, of our schoolchildren by what they eat, and ... and our school system is
already doing that. We look at things like um, indicators like, um ... religion, um... help
me out, Tom. I'm just blank (both talking)
Bailey/ ... indicators as Rebecca has outlined, and some of them would fall into a city purview,
the number of parks, bike paths, um, the policies that a city would have in place that
could go for points or scoring to move you into this Blue Zone.
Neades/ Thank you, that's exactly right.
Markus/ I think initially they ... they determine through a number of different studies that there
were places around the world that the, uh, life expectancies and the general health of the
population was substantially better than the norm. They've since, uh, tried to replicate
some of those, urn ... statistics by improving the quality of life in those communities, and
this is an initiative here in the state uh, and elsewhere I think in the country to try and,
um, replicate that again to im ... improve the health of the general community... going
forward.
Neades/ This uh ... couple things you should note. Dan Buetner who, um, was with, um, National
Geographic went across ... went around the world and looked at these hot spots and kind
of identified nine factors. There's a book he has written, it's called the Blue Zones so I
encourage you to look at that and um, we've got other community organizations, Public
Health, United Way, um, both hos ... all three hospitals actually. We've got a lot of
engaged community people involved in this. So ... thank you.
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Markus/ I think Albert Lea, Minnesota was one (several talking) communities that they've
identified as ... and they took some of these initiatives to improve the general health of the
community, as well, so...
Hayek/ Thank you.
Neades/ Thank you.
Karr/ So if there is interest to do that ... um ... I have letters prepared for each of you to sign
tonight. You certainly can take them with you, but again, I just need some indicator if
not tonight, some indicator that we would have a commitment.
Hayek/ Can you take these, or do you ... oh (several talking and laughing) Okay, uh, anything
else on Council time?
Champion/ I have two small, short things. I'm wondering if the Council is interested in looking
at this controversial property on Governor, and seeing if we can help define what should
be there. It might take a little more than a letter. I don't know. I'm kind of interested in
deciding what we think would be appropriate.
Mims/ I think we probably need to have our joint meeting with P &Z first before we do anything
else. Don't you think?
Hayek/ I think we should hear from Eleanor, uh, as to what... course of.. .
Dilkes/ Yeah, I think probably discussing that at the P &Z consult, if they choose to consult with
you, that's how it works. Um ... makes sense.
Champion/ Okay, all right.
Hayek/ That's right, they get to choose.
Champion/ And then I ... one more, I'm sorry, but you know I asked for...
Dilkes/ Let me just ... it could be a City- initiated rezoning application.
Champion/ Yeah, that's what I'm asking. Okay. I have one more thing. Remember I asked for
a list of, uh, Iowa City -owned housing? And we got that in a packet not too long ago.
I'm sorry, I don't have it with me. Uh, and there was some letter in there that said we
can't ... we can only sell like one or two more houses because otherwise we won't qualify
for federal funds. What I'm interested in talking about if anybody else is interested. You
might be too tired to think about it tonight is to convert some of those to homeownership
and relocate some of the City housing in other parts of the City, besides the southeast
side.
Markus/ I didn't catch the last part of what you said. (several talking)
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Champion/ Moving where the Iowa City owned, uh, public housing is. By selling some that we
have, kind of consolidated.
Wright/ So buy some in other parts of town, sell some on the southeast side?
Markus/ I ... I had the impression from Mr. Boothroy that some of those properties had some
restrictions on them, based on some of the funding.
Champion/ (mumbled) if we lower any more, well, maybe we can discuss this another time. If
we lower, if we get rid of too many, we won't qualify for federal funding (mumbled)
Mims/ Was it not qualifying or not getting enough money to cover costs?
Hayek/ That's what I thought it was.
Champion/ Well maybe (several talking) I don't have it in front of me, but...
Hayek/ Why don't we do this, if the ... we got a staff response. I think we had a lot going that
night (several talking) we could still work session it or re -work session it.
Champion/ Okay, great. Thanks.
Mims/ Let's do that.
Champion/That's all I have. Thank you.
Hayek/ Okay.
Champion/ I'll miss your smile! (laughter and several talking)
Wilburn/ Shucks!
Pending Work Session Issues:
Hayek/ Cat ate the bird smile, I think! Okay, summary of pending work session issues. For the
love of God let there be no discussion on that tonight! (laughter and several talking)
Yeah! Meeting schedule.
Meeting Schedule:
Hayek/ Plenty of `em! Upcoming events, Council invitations.
Upcoming Events /Council Invitations:
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Page 23
Hayek/ There's a, uh, the annual Wreaths Across America, uh, event at Oakland Cemetery is this
Saturday at 11:00. Think I'll be there for that. You're all invited! Anything else? Okay.
We're done! Thanks for (several talking)
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