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Home My WebLink About2012-01-07 TranscriptionJanuary 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 1 Council Present: Champion, Dickens, Dobyns, Hayek, Mims, Payne, Throgmorton Staff Present: Markus, Fruin, O'Malley, Lewis, Karr, Bentley, O'Malley, Dilkes, Hargadine, Rocca, Boothroy, Craig, Moran, Kopping, Davidson, Tharp, O'Brien Overview: Hayek/ Good morning, everyone (mumbled, feedback on mic). This is a hot mic, but anyway, good morning, everyone, and uh, welcome to the budget, uh, cycle. I'm going to turn it over to Tom right away for, uh... Markus/ Good, we're ready to go! Hayek/ ...him to walk us through! Markus/ All right! A couple of ground rules, urn ... first, there are no ground rules (laughter). Um, if you have a question during the course of this (coughing on mic, laughter). Um... Karr/ Well, we're going to adjust those! Champion/ It's echoing! Markus/ ... feel free to jump in; it's okay during the presentations to ask questions. One of the things I think we're trying to achieve is to spend a little more emphasis maybe than we had in the past on operations budgets. Our focus has been ... more on, uh, capital improvements, and so our intent now is to ... is to kind of expose what we do on a day -to- day basis through our operations, and make sure that you're familiar with that. Not only that you're familiar with it but that you're comfortable with how we're operating, so feel free to delve into those types of questions. We're going to start with a PowerPoint (mumbled) click to the next page. Urn ... it's, uh, we operate on a fiscal year, and it covers, um ... usually two parts of, uh, different calendar years and for those that are, uh, new to the process... typically, uh, what you'll hear is that we'll talk about fiscal years and we'll say, well, it's fiscal year 12 or it's fiscal year 13. What you have to remember is it's always the second six months that dictates the number of the fiscal year you're in. So we start this fiscal year coming up July 1St, which is in ... fiscal 12 (unable to hear) or calendar 12, and ... it runs through the second six months, or the first six months, of calendar 13, but that's called fiscal year 13. So ... they do it differently in different parts of the country, so I thought it was worth mentioning. We are, um ... almost six months ahead of the, uh, start of the fiscal year, and we're using numbers that we've been generating now for the past six months. We actually started this process in August of this year. We continued to, uh, refine our numbers, right through the budget, uh, adoption process, and obviously we recognize that there can be changes in the national economy, the state economy, federal legislation, and state legislation, so my point in telling you that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 2 is things change and in fact, the document you have before you is already changed. We'll get into those changes. You're going to like the changes that have occurred. Most of them are to the positive! So, we'll ... well, before you move on, uh, today we're going to spend, um, time op ... going through operating budgets, and then we're going to have the Rick Fosse matinee starting on 1:00 (laughter) on, uh, Monday afternoon, and those of... of you that have seen Rick's, uh, proposals for capital improvements, or his presentations, in the past, it's, uh, it's a joy to watch usually. It's kind of one of our main features. So, that will take up most of, uh, Monday. We'll come back on January 31St and we'll have boards, commission, and special events. Uh, they'll make their, uh, presentations, and then on March 6th we go through our public hearing or formal public hearing on the budget, and we expect formal adoption. The last day for us to deliver the budget to the County is March 15th. So ... those of us, my partner here to the right, Jeff, and myself that come from out of state, we find it a little unusual how far in advance the process for budgeting occurs, and I ... I point that out because... there's risk associated with being this far out in front of the budget cycle itself. The advantage you have here, of course, is that you can amend the document through the course of the year to bring it up to date with changes. So, we'll go to the next... Dobyns/ Question? Markus/ Yes, question! Dobyns/ (laughter) ...how I do this (laughter) I don't know! (both talking) ...your statement, first page, as you ... and I did get through the first page, I will admit that. Um ... as you may recall, property revaluations occur bi- annually at FY213 and ... is a revaluation year. Will you be explaining what that implies and ... and when it will actually affect our, um, city budget? Markus/ Yes, and... and really the purpose in making that statement was, as Kevin will tell you, and Kevin will be chiming in during this presentation, as well, that every other year, and I think it's usually the odd year, we do a revaluation of our property values, and traditionally those have, um, been significant increases in our values. Urn ... and the point that we made, and that you picked up on, Rick, in terms of the budget document is that those have been steadily declining, and we're going to show you that kind of information, and what that point really is, is that while we still have growth in terms of our property valuations, what's really happening is it's the growth is at a much lower rate, and so if you start to do some trend analysis, you can see that those property values are starting to flatten out, and that's the concern we have, because we're very heavily reliant, I think 62% of our budget for the general fund, is essentially based on property taxes, and to further the discussion a little bit, in the strategic plan one of the things that you all kind of noted was that our heavy reliance on, uh, property taxes, and so we're going to have some commentary about how we think we need to shift away from that reliance on property taxes and there's several ways to do that that are built into our operation. Uh, what happens is when you don't keep up with your fees that you charge for fee -based services, the default is property taxes, and I think that's occurred in our community over the last four or five years that when we haven't annually monitored those fees the drop This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 3 back is to property taxes, and so that's one way to kind of correct that over - reliance on property taxes, but that's all the background associated with that (mumbled). Any other questions at this point? So, in terms of our, uh ... let's, yeah, the budget ... the budget overview, uh, it includes the transmittal letter, the document overview, financial and fiscal policies, and then this year if you went through our policies, you noted that we've adopted an economic development policy. Of course that's been rolled into our, uh, fiscal policies for our budget. The other thing that's, uh, been included is we've included some of the new limits for purchasing authority, and Eleanor and I sat down earlier, um, to review those limits of who has authority, uh, to make purchases, and how much that authority is, and in one of those rare things, um, that occur I guess in this ... in this world of local government (noises on mic) I actually returned authority back to the City Council. Um ... I thought my authority actually was too generous, uh, and when you go back, um, this issue kind of started with the enterprise, um, contract and the authority that the manager had to actually enter into that contract without bringing it to Council for that authorization. My ... my feeling on that was is that that authority was too generous, uh, for the manager to hold without having more, uh, debate at the Council table, and having the, uh, Council have more say in that, so we've restricted that. The other thing that you'll be seeing coming forward is, uh, Eleanor's department is currently working on a complete update of the purchasing manual itself and there's things you know that our local community has brought to us about buying local and some other issues like that, and so we'll be rolling some of those, uh, features into that document. Uh, we have some summary information and some of that, uh, revolves around just summaries of...of major revenue and expense categories, and then we'll be discussing the various funds. We operate on fund accounting, which for those of you in the private sector is a very different, uh, kind of concept in terms of how government, uh, operates their accounting systems. The general fund is the City's, uh, main operating fund. It includes the general government, public works, public safety, community development, uh, cultural and recreational activities. Then we have special revenue funds, which are, uh, grants and dedicated revenues and tax increment financing. Some of the other funds under that category are the CDBG Home, uh, Home program. CDBG for the new ones is Community Development Block Grant. Flood recovery, hazard mitigation, the Metro Planning, uh ... uh, organization of Johnson County, and GRIP, which is the General Rehabilitation and Improvement Program. The debt service funds are also included, and that's where we account for all our principle and interest payments for our GO debt. And then we have a number of enterprise funds. These are business -type funds and enterprise funds are set up to really operate these different funds that we have more on a business - type basis. This would be more akin to what you would see in the private sector. We have ten enterprise funds that we operate. They include the parking fund, transit, water, wastewater, refuse collection, landfill, airport, broadband cable TV, storm water, and housing authority. Uh, next we have internal service funds, and those include, uh, funds that... charges, these are funds that are set up internally and then these funds charge back the different departments for those departments that use their services. Those include the equipment maintenance fund, the info tech services, the risk management, and central services, and health and dental services. The irony of course with the internal service funds is that these are government funds that we charge our departments for. And so ... it's the one time when you get to hear, uh, department heads and staff act a lot like This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 4 taxpayers, because they turn around and claim that we're charging them too much, um, internally for government services. So it's kind of irony that ... that occurs in those areas. Uh, next is the capital improvement program, and like I said, we'll be discussing that on Monday, and that includes construction and improvement projects over $25,000. That's where we account for all of those. Dickens/ What is the total that we have this year for that, do you know? O'Malley/ It's about $67 million. Markus/ Uh, next we have, uh, added quite a bit of supplemental information including a comparative analysis, uh, for a lot of our expenses and our operations, and um, and then there's some comparative analysis on what our charges are compared to other jurisdictions that we've pulled out across the state so that you could see what our charges are like compared to others. One of the things that I constantly get as the manager is our taxes are too high or this rate is too high, and ... one of the problems of local government is trying to achieve apples to oranges comparison is very difficult, and so we've started to try and dill ... drill down into what's behind some of those charges or expenses, so that we can explain that better to both you and to your constituents. Throgmorton/ Tom, I'd like to, urn ... I don't know, respond a little bit and make some suggestions. Uh, I ... I think this is a terrific budget and financial plan. I think it really clarifies understanding, uh, makes it far easier for us to see connections between, uh, policy decisions the Council makes and what the administration's doing, so bravo, uh, for that. And then comparing it to, you know, the budgets I saw in the mid -90s. I don't know what the ... what the more recent budgets have looked like, actually ... but bravo for that. But, uh, when I look at the, uh, comparison, uh, the metrics and the performance reports and so on, one thing I'd like to see ... in the next iteration, it's probably too soon for ... for this particular one, is uh, greater consistency, uh, in terms of how the departments are measured. In other words, not every, you know this, not every department has a mission statement that's clearly, uh, stated, not every department has a set of objectives that are clearly stated, not every department reports perfor ... has performance reports and metrics and so on. I'd really like to see much greater consistency, uh, between departments. Markus/ I can tell you've read the document, and one of the things that happened is I've been here for about a year, just been here for a couple months, Adams' been here for about six months, and we started down this path (both talking) shortly after I got here, and part of the ... part of the challenge is that the metrics for some of these different operations are not clear. Some ... we have some of the information came from the International City Manager's Association. Some of it we had to create ourselves, uh, some of it is ... is more relevant than others, and quite frankly there's I think four operations that we have not yet completed, and one of the points I was going to make is, we hope to have those completed in time for the final document. Uh, they're not done yet, but this has been an ongoing process. We'd actually hoped to have had this, uh, put together sooner rather than later this year, and uh, it pushed it right up to the holidays. I can tell you, uh, staff, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 5 uh, has worked diligently to put some of this together to try and meet some of the objectives that I've tried to, you know, infuse in how to make this a better document. We consider this a work in progress, and you're right on target. We know we need to do those things, but this was our first effort. We wanted to show you where we were going with this document, and I'll talk a little bit more about (both talking) Throgmorton/ I figured that's what you would say, so bravo, you know, keep on going that direction! I'd like to say ... make two other points that are directly related to it. As best I can tell, virtually every, uh, metric that's presented is an input metric, about what... what's being done, uh, so I think we need to be looking at outcome measures, as well. Uh, meaning, what have we actually accomplished... Markus/ Sure! Throgmorton/ ...in relation to goals that the City or City Council, uh, articulate. So ... it becomes trickier, I understand that, once you start getting into the outcome measures world, but I think we need to be moving in that direction, and I'll bet you've already been thinking about that. The last thing, uh, I'd like to suggest is, if I can remember my own notes, let's see, um ... uh, we might want to think more carefully about what cities we want to compare ourselves too. Now obviously you've done a lot of thinking about that, but when I ma ... ask myself that kind of question, I end up with relatively comparably sized university towns... because the University creates its own unique situation. Markus/ Okay, and let me respond to that. We have ... we have three university towns basically in the state, uh, and so what we chose is our compet ... comparative analysis were the communities in the Metro Coalition, which are all the major cities, uh, pretty much in the state. Some dropped off and some were added in, and then two others, Coralville and North Liberty. The reason we threw those in, even those they're not the same size, is I think it's very important because they are ... they tend to be our most direct economic competition in this particular area, and so my point in including those was to show how we stack up because I can tell you, for example, ICAD when a new business comes to ICAD, ICAD is out showing our area, and if the issue comes up as to taxes and fees for services, I want to have that metric in our information so that we can respond and explain what the differences are, and there are differences in terms of service that we provide that others don't, and there's other statutory requirements that we're required to meet that others are not. One of the things that I found when I came here was a human rights department. In my 38 years in this service I've never run into a municipal human rights department. That's not a judgment. That's just a statement of unfamiliarity and that's not a common feature you would find in a government this size in the other states that I have worked in. So, I wanted ... part of what I'm trying to do is understand what we do in relationship to what others do so that when businesses come calling, I can make reasonable explanations of why things are different here than they may be elsewhere, and I think the other thing that ... that really drives some of our property tax issues is we're a much more aging community than our ... our, you know, suburban Greenfield type of operations around us, which initially makes their investments cheaper, but all communities mature, and we're all gonna end up in the ... in those kind of places. So I This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 6 just think it helps me in terms of what communities I pick. There's a reason why we pick these communities for comparative analysis. All right. Let's move, uh, on to our budget goals. The goals, um, as delineated on the slide are to hold the line on expenses while maintaining or improving service, uh, levels; eliminate redundancies and seek out efficiencies; uh, determine appropriate staffing levels; reduce operational dependency on property taxes; and begin analyzing the revenue model with an eye towards economic development. Build the fiscal integrity of each fund by ensuring that adequate reserve levels are achieved, and provide funding for infrastructure improvements, other capital improvements, and of course economic development initiatives. Throgmorton/ I need to ... inject another comment. Markus/ Sure. Throgmorton/ Uh, I think those are terrific goals and I'm completely supportive of them, but I think we also need to articulate goals concerning social justice and fairness within, uh, both the community at large and City operations. When I say fairness I think for example in ... in my judgment, and I'm not sure everyone would agree, but in my judgment we need to make sure that um ... uh, budget decisions do not unfairly shift costs to lower income residents. That'd be one example. There ... there might be others, but ... but uh, but I think we need to articulate what our goals are with regard to those kinds of things, uh, and the second is I think we need to, urn ... um, articulate a goal or goals with regard to long -term prosperity, and I know you and I and others have talked about in terms of sustainability but I ... I think prosperity works at least as well as a word, but if we don't articulate what those goals are, or at least that we have a goal with regard to long -term prosperity, then ... you know, it goes ignored in the ... in all the subsequent activities of city administration. Markus/ Let me respond to that, because I've given that a lot of thought, especially the social justice issue. This community in my opinion, um, is at the forefront of social justice issues as communities go, and I think, uh, by and large is a very generous community, uh, in terms of trying to protect those, um, that have less capacity to protect themselves. The argument I'll make to you is that in order to be able to do that and to continue to do that, we have to have financial strength. That's why I make a couple of arguments, um, one is, um ... I'm fearful that our tax base is being eroded by those that would ... would, uh, recruit our business away from us, okay, and everybody's heard me say that ad nauseam and they don't want to hear me say it anymore. Secondly, we have been very generous to the point where we provide services beyond our borders, and one of the initiatives I have is to make sure that when we provide services beyond our borders that we make sure that we're getting an equitable reimbursement for the provision of those services, from taxpayers outside of our communities. My ... my concern is two -fold: if you, uh, want to be the kind of community that you've just delineated in terms of how we treat people, you have to have the financial res ... resources to be able to do that. Otherwise, you're going to drive the whole operation to a point where nobody's going to be sustainable. Throgmorton/ I ... I couldn't agree more, and I wasn't trying to suggest anything to the contrary. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 7 Markus/ And ... and I think ... and I think about those things all the time, and staff 11 tell ya, I've professed those things maybe too much, but it's ... it's the equation that's going to have to be constantly revisited and examined as we go forward. It's a ... it's not a difficult... it's not an easy answer for us to get to, uh, but we are a generous community in terms of how we treat our fellow, uh, resident in this community that may have less means than others, but on the other hand, uh, going back to that strategic planning comment, I would tell you that, urn ... we cannot over -rely on one, uh, resource more than another, and we'll get into that diversification of how we intend to approach that. Throgmorton/ So I completely agree with what you said, and ... and I still would suggest that we need to articulate goals with regard to, uh, social justice, fairness, and with regard to long -term prosperity. I don't think they're at conflict. Hayek/ I think ... no, and ... those are fair points. I think that we need to, uh ... uh, in my opinion, I mean, today is a presentation of the product staff came up with over many months of work, and we're going to have discussion points, urn ... but I would suggest that we focus on the presentation and ... and if there are questions about numbers or charts or whatever... Markus/ We do have a section at the end too. Hayek/ Yeah, cause there'll be an opportunity for ... for discussion. Dobyns/ And that would be an appropriate, cause we have a discussion at the end, that's where we could have a discussion in this... Markus/ Yes. Dobyns/ Okay, all right. Hayek/ We've got a lot of material to get through. Dobyns/ I know, yeah. Markus/ Um ... did I get through this or did I ... okay. All right. In terms of budget highlights, uh, the reduction in the overall property tax rate is about 3.19 %. Uh, there's about a I% growth in our property tax receipts due to, uh, increased valuation on residential properties. Um, there's this term called rollback and our roll -back was, uh, actually a roll -up. This is a very, you know, non - intuitive kind of definition of how (coughing, noises on mic) from that standpoint. Urn ... commercial taxpayers will actually see a decrease in overall tax burden, and this is not a deliberate thing that happens. The sole reason for that happening is is that assessed valuations and taxable valuations are the same thing for commercial, and for residential property there's a rollback which changes the equation as to what the net tax effect is. There's still much more advantage than commercial properties, um, are. There's a shift to the transit, uh, services from the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 8 general fund to the enterprise fund. And we are, uh, constantly looking through attrition at a continued reduction of workforce. Uh, we've, uh ... attrited out about 10.87, uh, full - time equivalent positions in fiscal year 12. Uh, there's a proposal for another five FTs proposed to be eliminated in fiscal year 2013. Uh, in addition to this attrition, I have recommended some lay -offs with this budget. The actual number of the lay -offs may be reduced, as an employee in lay -off position may be able to fill another position, uh, that would open, uh, prior to the end of this coming fiscal year. So, it is not as harsh as some might, um, argue it to be. There's going to be opportunities for those that are targeted for lay -off to move to other positions within the organization and we'll get into those details in the specific departments that are affected. Turn to budget highlights, um, there are rate increases proposed in several areas — transit, housing inspections, storm water, and parks and recreation. Your budget also had proposed rate increases in, uh, landfill tipping fees and in the water fund. We have since, like I said, we get out ahead of ourselves on how we prepare these documents. We have since eliminated both of those recommendations. We're not going to propose a water rate increase and we're not proposing a tipping fee increase, and we'll get into the reasons why we have changed our positions on those. We continue with an aggressive capital improvements program, focusing on flood recovery, economic development, and utility services, and infrastructures. Uh, and we will get into a full review of that on Monday. Um, there's a continued flexibility built in to address Council's strategic plan goals. Even though the budget was prepared somewhat out of sequence with the secret, or with the strategic plan, uh, we believe that we have achieved some fairly good alignment with what the, uh, strategic plan goals were and what... what's recommended in this budget. Uh, we, uh, have a .... added operational performance measures and comparative analysis for each department. Uh, and comparative analysis for revenues, as indicated. We'll now discuss a little bit about our comparative analysis, and this is kind of a, one of those charts that I was telling you about, when you start to get into discussions about property tax levies and you look and for example in the comparisons that we made, uh, Iowa City ranks number three in terms of property taxes. But some of the offsetting factors in that regard on the revenue side are Waterloo, Council Bluffs, Sioux City, Des Moines, Davenport, and Dubuque — all have gaming revenue, which is, uh, coming into their general fund, which offsets those ... those tax levies. Additionally, there's utility franchise taxes, and of course we have one too, but one thing that you should understand is Council Bluffs, Sioux City have a 2% rate as compared to a 1% rate for us, and in the case of Des Moines, Des Moines has a 5% rate. So those ... those are also additional revenues that thus create, you know, downward pressure on the tax rate. In terms of the `lost' or the local option sales tax, again, um, Iowa City does have one of those, but one of the, uh, major, uh, considerations when people go into these `lost', uh, proposals is they designate money for tax property relief, and so in the case of Sioux City, Davenport, and Ames they have committed 60% of those revenues for property tax relief, so that puts downward pressure on their, uh, property tax rate. And in the case of Dubuque, they use 50 %. So while Dubuque might be at the bottom of that list, remember that they have gaming revenues and they've committed 50% of their, uh, local option sales tax to put downward pressure on their property tax. So those are things that, you know, a lot of times when newspapers do stories about who's high, who's low those things come in. Now there's two other communities, and that's Coralville and North Liberty, and in Coralville and North Liberty This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 9 I think the issue shifts more to the services they provide. They're smaller jurisdictions and as a result they do not have kind of the same types of service levels we do. Um, we run the Animal Shelter. We run the Senior Center. We run the Airport. We have full - time fire service, uh, compared to what they do. Those are all cost factors that we generate, uh, general fund monies to which helps keep those tax rates lower. Those tend to be the two jurisdictions, though, that tend to be our most competitive, uh, comparisons when business comes to town. So we have to keep that in mind in terms of our strategies and how we do those things. There's a huge debate out there in the country whether property tax drives any kind of economic development at all. I think what you have to do though is be kind of in the general ballpark in terms of property taxes to make it a non- issue for business selection in your community. So we need to be cognizant of it. I don't think it's as critical a ... a decision in local economic, um, locations but we need to be aware of it. Hayek/ You know, apropos your comparison on ... on sales tax and gaming and things like that ... I think Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, and maybe Des Moines are the only three municipalities without a `lost' for general operations. I may be wrong, but it ... but we're one of the few cities that doesn't... cause our `lost' is a short-term flood related, which expires in a year and a half. Markus/ Exactly right! Hayek/ Um, and then secondly, I ... I believe the gaming revenues in Dubuque are sufficient to fund 20% of their general fund, and I ... that's a lot of ... I think it's like $12 million a year or something like that. Just from gaming. Markus/ These are all things to keep in mind, because nothing is, you know, again, apples and oranges in this business, and just trying to pull out all that comparative data at times is very frustrating. Uh, we've gotten information, by the way, from some jurisdictions and then they call us back and say you know that was the wrong information and then they, you know, so then you gotta regenerate all of that ... that documentation. In terms of utility rates, uh, what we've um ... what we've done is we've kind of compared water, sewer, waste, and storm for all of the jurisdictions, um, that we compared with and uh, we come out number three, um, in that category. Uh, the big outlier for us is the sewer service, but I would tell you that both our water, sewer and ... water plant and our sewer plant are relatively new plants, and the fixed investment in those plants of course causes our rates to be higher because we have newer, more recent construction values in those areas. Some of these other operations, um, tend to have, uh, older facilities, well - maintained I'm sure, but their cost for debt and everything else to have built those is much less. So, I would like to be right in the middle of the pack. I don't ... I don't want to be the high; I don't want to be the low; uh, but if you look, uh, water's four, waste is four, and storm is four, and sewer is our ... is the one that pushes that out, and sewer by the way is going to get more expensive as we rebuild, you know, the south plant to take the north plant off line. In terms of, uh, revenues, urn ... in terms of all of our comparisons, uh... for all funds, we've actually had a decline of about 2.9% in terms of the revenues themselves. Um ... the ... the outlier there is the sale of assets and as best I This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 10 can determine, that relates more to the different accounting process, uh, for the UniverCity, uh, program that we're now required to follow, uh, going forward. So it's not really a ... it's not really a major change. It's an accounting change that causes that to be, um, that far out of whack. Next we have a pie chart showing our, uh, all fund revenues, and what I really think this shows ... I first looked at it and I thought it might be the results of the, uh, the Republican caucus, um, doesn't seem so three high .... high ones (laughter) and then a bunch of also -rans. Uh, what it really represents to me is a, uh, a fairly diversified mix of revenues over all of our funds, and urn ... we also suspect that over time the intergovernmental is likely to be reduced as federal dollars, uh, shrink and um, you only have to recall that we had this super committee that was set up that was charged with reducing, what, $1.5 trillion from the federal budget and it ended with no solid recommendations, but I think the issue is still there and regardless of what administration is running our federal government, um, I think that that's an issue that's going to have to be addressed and I think that's going to be downward pressure on federal revenues that we see coming forward. Dobyns/ Tom, did you suggest that that was a good thing, having sort of a mix? Markus/ Yes (both talking) I do ... and I ... and I, the other thing I like to think about when I think about revenues is matching the ... that as a resource to the expenses, that there needs to be a logical tie -in between the two, and sometimes I think, especially in fees, uh, what happens is that, you know, when you don't keep your fees up, the default is property taxes and so that puts that upward pressure on property taxes, when you don't keep... keep on top of your fees. Next is the general fund, uh, revenues and you can see where 62% of property taxes is the major source of revenue for our general, uh, revenue funds. In a special comment in Moody's which is a major bonding rating house from November 2011, this is their comment: We expect Iowa's cities and counties to maintain credit quality over the near to medium term given primary reliance on relatively stable property taxes as well as levy flexibility and ... and by the way, compared to the other states I've been in, you do have tremendous flexibility in what levies you have available to you. All the other states I've been in have gotten real repressive from the state level trying to control the dollar levy amounts that you have capacity to use. We still have a fair amount of flexibility. And that flexibility (both talking) Throgmorton/ Tom, I'm sorry, are you ... are you moving off that particular point right now or you're still with it? Markus/ I'm still with it. And I would say that, as well uh, les ... levy, any ... that levy flexibility enables, uh, increases in those lev ... levies as is necessary. The other part of that quote is unlike much of the United States, Iowa properties did not drastically inflate in value. Iowa's low inventory of foreclosed properties is likely to stabilize home prices before other states. That's a very good sign in terms of a predictor for us because with our reliance on property taxes, especially in the general fund, that relates to, you know, the gradual increase again over time of values. And ... and I have personally seen that, uh, here in Iowa. Uh, it is very hard for a person that's been in the state of Michigan for 20- plus years to move into an environment that's actually kind of kept its nose above water This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. Y City 7, 2012 Iowa Cit Council Budget Work Session Page 11 during the whole recessionary period. Uh, we've actually done, your state's done a pretty remarkable job. You were positioned in the right businesses to stay out of some of the... the mess that we found ourselves in more of the eastern, uh, Midwest states. Did you (both talking) Throgmorton/ Yeah, so, um ... I'd like to ... return the triple -A bond rating part of that. I mean, I think it's absolutely fantastic and it's really impressive that our city's managed to do that so every preceding council and city manager deserves a lot of praise for that. But I do (both talking) Markus/ And I'm going to get into that discussion. Throgmorton/ Well, maybe you can address it then but... so the question I have is, what amount of additional borrowing would place ... would threaten the triple -A bond rating? Markus/ I will get into that. Throgmorton/ Thanks. Markus/ All right. Um ... the next chart is the full and taxable values. This is kind of a chart that I brought over from, uh, the state of Michigan and uh, in... in the case of Michigan, assessed value and taxable values had a more drastic change between them, and uh, essentially, um, your taxable value is about 63.85% of your assessed value, and I guess the point I want to make is in terms of graphs, you can see a relatively constant, um, kind of separation, but if we get into a situation where Krupp, the judicial decision on co -ops or if in fact the State legislature, uh, treats... starts treating commercial property the way they treat residential property, what you're going to see is those two lines separating and continue to separate over time. And that's going to put some real pressure on our property taxes, and the other thing it's going to do is shift the burden from commercial to residential, and I have a graph that's going to show you that very dramatically. In fact it's the next one! If you look at full versus taxable valuations by sector, if in fact we were to use the upper line in that previous graph, um, and used 100% valuations, commercial would be contributing 26% of the value for the ... for property taxes, and residential would be contributing 72 %. Now here's the value of the rollback. The rollback causes residential to drop from 72% of contribution for property taxes down to 57 %, and commercial jumps from 26% to 40 %. That's the issue that ... that is being debated across the state. And I want to make a point — some of you that were at the session for the legislators yesterday, I made a comment to Joe and I didn't really explain it. I had send Joe an email yesterday, something I had come across, and on a web site called about.com taxplanning.us it lists the best and worst, uh, states for business. The bottom five states for business in the United States are 46 is Iowa, 47 is Ohio, 48 is California, 49 is New York, and 50 is New Jersey. The important thing about this is, is why they comment about our status. Iowa's ranked among the worst for business because they impose a corporate and individual alternative minimum tax, AMT, and because they don't tie tax increases to inflation. The point I was trying to make to Joe, and I made it to him after the meeting was, doesn't say property taxes are out of whack. It says that this income tax This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 12 is out of whack, and the point further is that if the income tax is the thing that's out of whack, why aren't we targeting that in this state instead of property taxes? Now, don't wish to cast stones but ... you know, one might conclude that it's because property tax affects locals and the income tax affects the State. So ... you know, maybe there's an argument to be made there that hasn't been made here to date, but I think that's kind of an interesting comparison that they don't even bring up commercial property taxes as one of the reasons that we're one of the worst places to do business. Dickens/ (mumbled) said a lot! (laughter) Markus/ Um ... and course that chart is clear why, you know, this is a target. This is why people want to lower, you know, the commercial property taxes. Next is the, uh, 100% property valuations, and this is a very telling chart! You know, you get into taxable values and then you get into assessed values. And what ... uh, Kevin'll point out is usually in revaluation years, we receive a pretty significant bump. So if you go to the left side of the chart and you drop down to the very lowest line and you look at, for example, fiscal year 2003, we had a 2...8.2% increase in assessed value during our revaluation year. 05 was 8 %. 07 was 15.7 %. 09 was 8.3 %, and then by the time you got to fiscals 11 it dropped in a revaluation year to 1.4% and then in 2013, 2.1 %. So if you were just to take your line and just go and touch the tops of all of those bar graphs, you would see that it was a pretty rag ... regular increase and all of a sudden it's really plateauing on us, and that's creating a real problem for us because there is a, you know, especially for those property tax dominated funds, you know, the cost of living and ... and the adjustments that are going on are ... are north of 3% so when your growth in your property tax is really kind of flattening out around 2 %, you're... you're creating, you know, um ... what they call, what, functional, uh, deficits going forward. So that's... that's a real challenge for us to try and get that growth back up. I think a lot of people would like to say that, well, that's where we need to emphasize economic development, and Kevin and I had this discussion and from the time I think a permit is even discussed to the time it's issued to the time it gets on the property tax rolls is a couple of years! And then if you're using economic incentives to do that, you can add ... you can add ten years to that, depending on the level of incentives. So you can't just grow your way out of this, especially if you incentivize yourself or think you can incentivize yourself out of it. That's a much longer term horizon to build your way out of this problem. Dickens/ Have we got any information from like the Iowa City Realtors as to trends on house valuations as they're selling or... Markus/ Well, I do have ... I have had, come across information in just preparing the budget. They're still fairly flat in terms of, I think, their numbers so ... and I ... I'm going to have some economic analysis on a national level for you, which will talk about some of those issues. Um... Mims /Tom, is that 2013 number that was on the previous slide, that's an estimate or projected? That revaluation hasn't been done yet, I assume? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 13 O'Malley/No, that's... that's the actual is we got from the Assessor in August. Mims/ Okay. Thanks. O'Malley/ Valuations keep changing, just got a change last night in ... in valuations, so... Markus/ Typically what happens is not ... that was my point earlier, we run right up to the time where we give you the final numbers for adoption and that tweaks, you know, that property tax rate one way or the other, based on what those final numbers are. Now in terms of, uh, taxable property valuations, um ... those actually went up, uh, by 4.3% and if you read in the budget document, the percentage change in taxable valuations for urban residential property is limited to either 4% or the growth in ag property. Okay? And ag property was north of 4 so our max was 4. So then you might wonder why ... well why is this 4.3 %? Because the 4.3% doesn't include just urban residential. It also includes commercial and there's some growth there and it also includes additions and... O'Malley/ New construction. Markus/ ...new construction, um, is added into the numbers, so that's why ... that number would be north of 4.3 ... or 4 %. In terms of property tax receipts, with the decline in the tax rate, um, we're estimating overall about a 1% increase in, uh, what we're proposing, uh, for, um, for our tax rate increase this year. And this is mainly the result of moving Transit out of the general fund back into a business -type fund, um, it was initially moved, I think, in 2003 and the reason for moving it was ... you can charge employee benefits to the employee benefits levy, if it's a part of your general fund, so it was dumped into the general fund so that we could capture it. Cause at the time, even though I consider it an enterprise fund, the enterprise fund was not in a position to really support that business and make it work. We think it's back on its legs and that it will work, and we are proposing a rate increase there and I'll get into that discussion a little bit with you, as well, and in more detail when we actually go through the specific budget for that. In terms of the property tax rate, um, we're proposing a decline I the property tax rate of about 3.9...19 %, uh, which would drop it down to $17.27. If you look across the chart, that's the lowest, uh, tax rate we've had, uh, over the past five years. And obviously, you know, this isn't magic. These are just divisions normally. This is largely due to the increase in our property valuation, uh, as a part of that rollback or rollup, however you describe it. Uh, has a big part of that and then some of the other things that we've done inside the general fund. In terms of other revenue sources, we have the local option sales tax. This went into effect, uh, July 1 of 2009 and sunsets on June 30, 2013. The original referendum provided funding for remediation, repair, and protection of flood, uh, impacted public infrastructures, specifically the south waste water, uh, expansion, the elevation of the north Dubuque Street, uh, street project, and the reconstruction of the Park Street bridge. Uh, the actual, um, dollars are coming in higher than what we estimated our budget, and this, uh, actually results in, uh, more funds available for flood relief and takes pressure off of other sources that we would have to have come up with to make up the differences, um, for that. I think the big issue that's coming up is, so what happens when this sunsets and you know that's kind of just ... we're just starting on the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 14 edge of that conversation here about what's going to happen. Uh, it's my understanding that the County wishes to start talking about maybe using, uh, local option sales tax for their criminal justice center, and that whole issue of whether... Champion/ I don't think that's going to happen! Markus/ Okay. Um, but you know there's always those types of competing interests for ... for what happened. I ... as I recall (both talking) Champion/ In fact I ... it's definitely going to be a bond issue. Markus/ It is? Champion/ Uh -huh. Markus/ One of the things that, um ... I would ask is ... um ... in terms of us considering this going forward, the law is kind of quirky as to how we would have to do this with ... this was done under a special circumstances (both talking) O'Malley/ ...this local option sales tax was enacted by the State legislature for cities that were impacted by the flood in 2008, and so some of the rules were changed to make it easier for cities to do this, uh, the one rule was that your local ... other cities that are contingent borders did not have to pass it, and that was the hurdle in the past that we would pass it and Coralville would not; therefore, it would fail for the whole county. The ... the special legislature allowed cities to stand on their own and we passed it in 2009. Coralville did not, and so therefore we got the sales tax revenue. Markus/ You know, it depends ultimately on how much these major projects are going to cost us and then what we want to use as our source of funding, as so those numbers have become more refined going forward and hopefully we can kind of come to a conclusion on how we want to handle that. Dickens/ Because of the ... like the water plant and the sewer plant being moved, mainly because of the floods, or ... can that ... option tax be redone following the state mandates? Markus/ I don't think you can use it under the special flood circumstances any more so you... we'd have to go back to the (both talking) O'Malley/ ...if we go back out, all the cities contiguous to us would have to pass it also. For their own special purposes. Payne/ Why is 14 only... Dickens/ (mumbled) Payne/ I ... I understand it only goes to June, but you would think it'd be half, not a fourth! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 15 O'Malley/ Actually, the fiscal 14 starts... through July 1" of 13 and ends in 14, and that... 13 payment actually comes in November (both talking) a true -up of the previous year. Markus/ ...it's kind of... O'Malley/ It's 5 %. Markus/ It's kind of the audit, the look back and then they send you the money afterwards. Payne/ Okay. Markus/ All right, other major revenue sources, um ... the hotel /motel tax, this is 7% tax on gross hotel room rental, uh, receipts; 25% of this is committed to the Convention Visitors Bureau, uh, 47.5% to police, 27.5% to the, uh, Parks and Rec facilities, and then we have the gas /electric excise tax and this is a tax that kind of replace property taxes as I understand it on gas and electric properties. And then the other is the utility franchise tax, and this past ... in February 2010, it's a tax o gas and electric utility customers' bills. If I understand this one correctly, Kevin, this was originally a 1% ... 2%, and then the Commission came back and dropped it to I%. O'Malley/ That's correct. Markus/ Uh, there's restricted uses on ... on how those funds can be used. Uh, maintenance of the right -of -way, operating costs of Station #4 has been used, and then this is not the full amount. There's another $275,000 of this which is actually in the capital improvement program for projects in the public right -of -way. Throgmorton/ Tom, can you help me understand where those restrictions came from, cause I wasn't privy to any of those conversations and... Markus/ Jump in, Kevin. O'Malley/ Uh, when we initiated the franchise tax there had to be a purpose statement and Council decided on the purpose statement, but by State law the first thing that had to be done was all costs in the right -of -way had to be taken care of first. And then any additional revenue beyond that could be used for whatever purpose the Council wanted, and at that time the Council wanted additional public safety and if there's any funds left over after public safety, it was economic development. Throgmorton/ So that could be revisited. O'Malley/ Yes. Markus/ Okay, next is our all fund expenditures, uh, comparison, and some of the things that probably jump out at you, need some explanation. If you look at Public Works, the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 16 percentage change there is 44.7 %. That's just the pulling out of the Transit system out of the Public Works category, and moving that down into a business -type activity. So those are the connections there. Community and economic development shows a decline of about 33.5% and that's flood dollars are in decline, especially for housing acquisitions and for the new housing, uh, constructions and that's showing that particular decline. General government, some deficiencies that have occurred in there. The employee count is down, um, debt service, uh, there's a prepayment that's an increase. There's a prepayment, uh, for the Plaza Tower notes that are outstanding, and then advance refunding occurred in that category, um, and then capital projects overall are down about 16 %. Dobyns/ Tom, if you eliminate flood related, um, dollars in community and economic development, would that be a no- change over the two fiscal years, do you think? Markus/ Um, I think, well there's still a ... there's still another issue there. I think Home Funds going forward are ... have been hit. There's a reduction there of about 36 %, and despite what we were told, community development funds actually went up about 6% so ... um ... I think with those differences, it'd probably be pretty much the sen ... same. Economic and community and economic development, we did do some attrition in that department so, um, there is some reductions there as well, so ... I think function wise, service wise we'll be able to deliver the same services, but those changes obviously impact that. All fund expenditures, uh, by classification. This is kind of interesting because typically, you know, you look at general funds and how those, um, monies are spent, but this is taking all the funds and kind of taking a picture, a big picture look at that, and you'll note that, uh, we have excluded the transfers out, which can kind of confuse these issues, but the big, um ... the big emphasis, uh, in terms of chewing up the most resources, uh ... are business type activities, and remember we have ten of those enterprise funds, um, that operate there. The next highest is our capital projects and then of course public safety takes up the third place ... not, uh, and shortly thereafter is, uh, debt service. Um... these are basically the State requires us to classify different issues in certain ways, and these are based on State classifications. Um, again the ... this shows the diverse... diversification of the operation and looking at the clock, I'm going to kind of kick this in a little bit higher gear. Uh, general fund expenditures overall our expenditures are down about 1.4 %. Uh, one of the reasons for this as well is last year we had 27 pay periods, uh, you'll recall that conversation crammed into that fiscal year. We're back down to 26 this year, uh, and it doesn't include any transfers or contingency. Um ... this next chart I do need to spend a little bit of time. If you recall, the revenue side of this chart 62% of the revenues are taxes, and in this particular chart you'll see that 76% of our expenses are personnel. Not uncommon in a service- delivery organization. But my point going back to the strategic plan is, if you want to de- emphasize your expenses in terms of, uh... property taxes, you know, 75 -cents on the dollar is spent on personnel- related matters, so that's going to occupy a lot of your attention if in fact you're trying to control property taxes. In terms of public safety contributions, this has been a... an issue, um, obviously and it's one of our legislative priorities, uh, IPERS which is the pension system for everybody but Public Safety personnel, um, when they have increases due to actuarial analysis as to the unfunded accrued liability, the increases are split between the employee This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 17 and employer on an basic formula. That's not the case, uh, in the Public Safety pension arena. Uh, pub... employer participation, uh, is set for 24% this year and 26% for next year, and that's a percent of the, uh, payroll cost. Um, and at the same time, employee participation is fixed at 9.1 %. So you can see that there is at least, um, since 2010 a trend line that's pretty much straight up and um, we have some issues with that. Um, my personal opinion, it's going to be very difficult to, um, the way this structure is set up to ...to see reductions in benefits for current employees, but that's why I suggest, and Jeff and I have talked about this because it's strategies we both used in, uh, our communities, uh, in other states, and that's to tier some of the benefits so that new employees coming in, you know, they have a conscientious choice that ... that is the benefit structure coming in and that seems to be a ... a subtler way to start to deal with some of these costs. Hayek/ Tom, can you just briefly explain for the new Members that there are ... two or three different retirement systems for City employees, one of which is this. Markus/ Yeah, the IPERS system (both talking) the Iowa Public Employee Retirement System, uh, is really for all employees but police and fire, and this system, uh, this police... public safety pension system is specifically for police and firefighters, and I would say it's probably 50 -plus percent better in terms of the benefit structure on the Public Safety pension side, and you know, I don't want to get into a debate about this. The other thing that I would point out is, uh, Public Safety officers through their Public Safety employment, are not eligible for Social Security, some might around the table consider that a blessing, uh, because they're not making those contributions either. Uh, the IPERS employees' not only eligible for the IPERS pension, but they're also in Social Security. So ... there are some tradeoffs in those types of areas, but I can tell you, the labor organizations are very strong in support of their system and uh, both the police and fire labor unions are very strong in dealing with those types of issues. So ... that was perfect timing for the Chief to walk in! (laughter) Next, uh, we're going to look at some of our financial and fiscal policies, and in terms of reserve, uh, we have a general fund contingency at three- quarters of a percent, expenditures and transfers out. Our general fund operating cash balance is at 15 to 25 %. We're forecasting at 25...27 %, um ... um, fund balance for 13. Other fund reserves, uh, very on the nature of the business and the bond covenants. When we issue bonds, a lot of times the requirements of the bond issue are that we have certain coverage factors that we have to keep in place, and so that those set up reserves and we'll get into an analysis of that. One of our goals for next year is to review all of those fund balances and create targets that we think are appropriate, because some of `em when you see `em you're going to (mumbled, away from mic) higher than (mumbled) debt financing ... uh, debt service levy not to exceed uh, 30% of total property tax levy, and you'll recall the City Council in 2010 increased this from 25% to 30% and I think the recognition at the time was that we were spending more and more money on maintenance of roadways rather than building new ones, as the maturity of this community, uh, progresses. Um ... we like to use pay -as- you -go whenever feasible and practical, and believe it or not, we did use this in a major way here recently as we paid for the improvements to the 4201h Street industrial park. Um... as a part of, um, on a pay -as- you-go- basis. So, I don't know, $4 million? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 18 O'Malley/ 3.8 Markus/ 3.8 million? All right! Next is a chart showing our fund balances, and I would try and get you to kind of focus on the right side. Again, the general fund is 27 %, the water fund is 59 %. Originally we recommended a 10% water rate increase, and the reason for that was if you look at revenues and expenditures across the water line, um, there is deficit spending occurring in there. We still had trouble justifying a rate increase because the fund balance was 59 %, and so we're going to monitor this closely during the course of the year, but we don't feel that this is a rate, uh, increase that we will support at this time. The other thing I want to say about the water and sewer funds, this is ... water and sewer funds are two areas that we charge our public for, um, that the public can kind of control their own destiny in terms of their bills a little bit. And ... and the law of elasticity of demand really comes into place more in the case of the water and sewer funds than any other place you'll see. And so, you know, yards start to turn brown cause they're just not going to spend any more money on water and sewer, so if you push those rates too high, that's kind of a consequence, and the other problem that you have in water and sewer funds is, they're heavily, heavily fixed costs, dominated. Just think about the infrastructure Iowa City has for water and sewer funds alone. So if you increase those fees too high, the demand goes down. As the demand goes down, you still have all of these fixed costs, so the price goes back up. It's kind of counter - intuitive, but that's what happens in these things because of that elasticity of demand issue. And we ... we think we've experienced some of that here already, um ... waste water, um, is, uh, is, uh ... has a fairly healthy balance, but as you know, uh, we're upgrading some facilities and we may have to dip into reserves for some of that. Storm water, uh, Rick has recommended a 50- cent increase over three years. This is the second year of that. That's primarily for storm water infrastructure. Uh, refuse... Dobyns/ Tom, what is storm water? Markus/ Um (both talking) storm water is set up as utility so the storm water funds, we have a separated system where you have designated sewer lines and designated storm water, uh, lines and the storm water lines that carry the storm water to the receiving waters. Dobyns/ Got it, okay. Markus/ ... um ... this is a utility that we've set up to keep those upgraded and fix those and maintain those. Payne/ Is it a separate line item on your bill? Not that I ... obviously I haven't read my bill (laughter) Markus/ Yes, there is. Yes there is, and it's about 2.50 a month or something like that (mumbled) and it's going to (mumbled) Payne/ So it's just a flat amount on your bill. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 19 Dobyns/ Hopefully it's separate plumbing under the streets too! Markus/ (several talking) um, landfill, you know, we originally proposed an increase there and ... and this number will shock you, but we have almost $20 million in fund balance there. The thing that will offset that shock is that when you have a landfill, the environmental protection agency has requirements for closure and post- disclosure, and we have reserved I think about $15 million of this $20 million for EPA closure, post - closure requirements. So that needs to be thought of when you think about that particular fund balance. In terms of Transit, uh, Transit is now, we think, able to stand on their own two feet and uh, they have currently a fund balance of 20 %, um, we do have some improvements coming up in that area, and we are proposing a rate increase for that. Broadband or cable TV has a substantial fund balance. Um, they have a dedicated revenue stream. When you pay your cable bill you pay a 5% franchise fee and that's what funds this area. We're going to be looking at that operation in terms of how it's operated and the funding for that, as well. Airport, uh, they have $141,000 fund balance; however, Airport is planning a number of hangar projects and a number of other issues associated with that, and uh, we're working with them on some of their land sales, and you know that we created a policy on how to ... how those monies'd be used. Parking, um, while it has a 71 %, uh, fund balance, um, this is a, uh, a fund that, uh, likely will receive a fund, or a rate increase in the near future, especially if we proceed with the construction of the new parking facility down on the, uh, St. Pat's, uh, parking site. So, uh, that ... that one may need to be adjusted going forward. Now to talk a little bit about our Moody's, uh, triple -A bond rating. Um ... I can't overemphasize what this means, um, to your community. Uh, this is ... I'll tell you, I've been out to New York for rating reviews, and one of the things I'll tell you, and Kevin'll probably say the same thing. No, Kevin won't because he does know his business better than they do, but quite (laugher) frankly the rating analysis when you go ... analyst, when you go out to New York, they typically know more about us than we know about ourselves. They're that thorough. And we are one of four cities in the state of Iowa that have a triple -A bond rating. You should be very proud of that. I don't take any credit for that. That's been in existence here for a long time. The other cities are West Des Moines, Ames, and Cedar Rapids. And this is a credit to all of the, uh, city. And when they rate communities, they look at four things: they look at debt profile, they look at financial strength, they look at economic strength, and they look at management and government. And, um ... obviously in all cases they rate us very high but I want to read something about what they say in terms of management. We define the management and governance of a team as those with financial and administrative oversight for local government entity, including the financial officers, government management, and elected officials. A strong management team can take proactive steps to maintain healthy financial operations through the economic cycle and mitigate challenges that are outside of an issue's control, such as maintaining high cash reserves to offer economic, uh, to offset economic vulnerability. And so having just gone through these reserves that we have, I wanted to reiterate that that's a critical part of what Moody's looks at when they come in and do a rating agency for us. Again, this is another, uh, chart that we show, and this is kind of the typical bell curve and you're way over on the best end to be on and uh, less than 5% of the 3,300 communities in this country are in that triple -A bond rating, and I will tell you that even This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 20 though where I came from it was a triple -A bond rated community, this rating in my opinion stands for more than the rating that I came from. This is a Moody's rating. Moody's is ... has very stringent requirements and so you should be very pleased about ... about the status of this community and it's from an independent analysis. This isn't just politics or everybody feeling good about the community. This is an independent review that tells you about your community. Mims/ I would just comment, Tom, especially for the new Members who may not understand the importance of this. When the City goes out to sell bonds, that rating is critical in terms of the interest rate that we can get. Um, because it's showing that ... how strong position we're in to be able to pay those back. So, we get to sell bonds at a lower interest rate, so those interest costs can be much less to the City. Dobyns/ So why don't other municipalities do this? I mean, local relevant, um, municipalities? Markus/ Well ... um. ... for lots of reasons I imagine. The ... maybe their agendas are very different than what ... what ours are. You've always had very prudent, conservative management practices here, and so that's a less risk, you know, kind of taking approach to how we manage government here. Um ... there's lots of reasons they don't. Some just don't have the capacity to achieve a triple -A rating either, in terms of, you know, their asset base, in terms of property values, and (mumbled, away from mic). Lots of reasons why they don't (mumbled) ...the head of the class. Throgmorton/ I ... I get the point but I still don't quite understand how ... at what point additional borrowing threatens the triple -A bond rating. You know, what additional amount of borrowing in our context would threaten that rating? I ... I ... I need to understand that. Markus/ (both talking) ... statutory debt capacity and debt limitations, and so they would look at that. They would look at your revenue streams, uh, to ensure that that debt, A ... makes sense against what your (coughing, unable to hear) pay is, um ... it ... this ... and this is truly the free enterprise at work because what happens is, every time you do a debt issue you create an official statement, and that official statement describes your community, describes all of the financials. They drill down into all those numbers, and they make a financial analysis to determine the likelihood of repayment, the strength of that ... that situation, and so then you go back into those four categories to make sure that you can deliver on the promises that management makes (mumbled, away from mic) It's also communities, um, they ... there's a story about, I think it's Dayton, Ohio. Dayton, Ohio, where a number of terrible things have happened to their community. Terrible losses of industry and employees, and the steps they kept taking, you know, to refine, streamline their organization to make sure that they were financially viable to maintain good fund balances so that cash flow interruptions and emergencies were taken care of. Kept their rating high. They were never a triple -A but there are things that you have to do. You have to adjust to your economic circumstances which is the management potion. And the thing they talk about management, even though it's rated 20% in the value of all these things, management has an impact on the debt capacity, uh, the ... the debt issuance, and on, you know, how you respond to economic conditions that effect that particular This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 21 community. They analyze all of that stuff. They pour over what's going on in your community to make sure that, you know, you're doing what you're saying, and it's historical. They look at how you've performed, how you've reacted. You want to add in? O'Malley/ Those official statements are kind of fun for me to do. I get to talk to the Moody's analyst and I'm a very candid and blunt person, and I think they enjoy my candor. I don't sugar coat anything. I tell `em what's good and what's bad about our organization, and fortunately, we've been getting... still getting good ratings! (laughter) I think it's strangely because of the economy. But A ... also some of the analysts, in recent times, were from ... had gone to Iowa City and I could tell `em exactly what part of town was being developed, and they'd say, "Oh, yeah, I know. I've been there." So that ... that's been helpful too, but I've also talked with people in New York and there's a ... there's a strong emphasis that Iowa does things right, and ... and I just more or less confirm our governance. And ... and how we do business, and that's pretty much, uh ... fun part of the day actually. Mims/ Kevin, back to Jim's question. I would assume that there's no set answer for his question, in terms of a dollar amount of bonding that would affect our rating. O'Malley/ I think ... it gets to ... to uh, the percent of...of ... we have a State statute of 5 %. And I've always heard as a rule of thumb don't get over 75% of...of that number because then ...then the willingness to pay and then the structure of the debt. We ... our structure's usually a 10 -year structure we pay it back in, except for like the Library, which was a 20- year building, and some facilities like that. They look at that very closely. It's how quickly is the creditor going to get their money back, and how much debt load around the City, like the School District and the County, what kind of debt load does the property have. So it may not be us, it might be our neighbor who throws some debt, overlapping debt, on us that could impact our rating. So we always have to keep an eye out as to what our neighbors are doing, and what we're doing, as far as issuing bonds. Personally, this'd be a great time to issue bonds, but I ... you have to have the willingness to pay for it. Markus/ All right. Uh, next slide, uh, this is kind of relating it back, you know, you take all this information and you get all the expenses, all the revenues, and you summarize it and you ...you refine it. And, uh, essentially what ... in looking at a property, uh, taxable value of about $100,000, which re ... it's just something under $200,000 market value type of house, assessed value type of house. Taxes last year were $866. Next year they'll be $877 dollars, which is about an $11 increase. If you look at that same, uh, information on a commercial property, the difference here is that assessed value and taxable value is the same. Same tax rate. When you multiply that out, you're comparing, uh, $1,784 in taxes last year, $1,727 this year, for a net reduction in property taxes for commercial properties of about $57 based on those values. And of course what you can do then is just use multiples of 100,000 depending on your particular circumstances and multiply that out to get close to where, uh, our impact would be in your particular situation. Terms of the budget analysis, proposed rate increases, uh, for Transportation Services, uh, a 25 -cent, uh, proposed fare increase. We haven't had a rate increase in 15 years or since 1997. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 22 Uh, we are looking to achieve a fare box, uh, of about 25 %. Currently, by the way, um... property taxes make up over 50% of the revenues, uh, in the Transit system, and even after, um, the rate increase, property taxes will make up over 40% of the revenues, um, to the Transit system. And the point I would make about that is, what's the linkage necessarily between Transit users and property taxes. It's clearly... there's a more direct relationship between fare box. We don't expect this to ever be a total pay -as- you -go kind of basis. This is one of those value services, and urn ... so, I'm sure we'll have that debate going forward and ... and Chris will get into more of the details about ... about that during his budget presentation. Housing Inspection Services, we're proposing 5 %, uh, increase in rental inspections; a $28 fee; uh, we're looking at developing some new technology that will allow electronic plat submission, and that there'd be a $28 fee with this. This is one of our goals to make, um, the operation and the review of our Planning and Building department more efficient. We feel that this will create a faster turnaround from application to actual permit delivery, because we can refine these documents in a much faster way. And it's ... part of our initiative to just use a lot more technology, and Storm Water, um, this is the second year of a three -year 50 -cent per year, uh, rate increase. And this is largely for capital improvements. Recreation programs, we're proposing, uh, adjustments in several programs and activities, and the goal is for fees to contribute about 50% of the departmental funding for these activities. Um, the ... the reasons for the fee increases are to maintain a relationship between the fee and the cost of the program. Uh, to pay for anticipated infrastructure improvements, and to main ... uh, strong fund balances and intended to maintain the triple -A bond rating and provide flexibility, emergencies, or unforeseen opportunities. Annual review of fees and user charges, by the way, this is a requirement of our budget policies, and I'm not sure we've always done that, urn ... but that's something going forward we're insisting on. Reviewing fee structures annually allows more gradual increases instead of huge bumps. Fees can adjust in response to changing costs, and improves the compliance with City revenue policies for self - supporting funds and programs, um, and again it's required by our budget policies. Now what we've done is we've kind of created a chart, um, to show what the impact to the average household is, and so we took this basket of services that we provide — property taxes, uh, with all the services associated with that — storm water charges, refuse charges, sewer and water charges, and we calculated, uh, what they were last year and what they will be going next year, and the net effect is, um ... for a, uh, home valued at that $100,000 which is, uh, actually a home just under $200,000 the increases in the service... in the fees for all of those services that we provide will be about $17. That's less than 1 %, uh, and when you com ... compare that to the Consumer Price Index of 3.8 %, we think that's a ... a pretty good, you know, increase, uh, in comparison to what, uh, could have been expected. Throgmorton/ Tom, are we going to get copies of these new graphs? Markus/ Yes, you can have... certainly, yes! Throgmorton/ Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 23 Karr/ They'll also be archived and available so that the citizens who are watching this at home can also access it on the web site, with the meeting folder. Markus/ All right! Budge summary, um, flattening the property tax receipts, uh, low ... lower overall tax rate due to increased organizational efficiencies and strategic rate increases, and there's actually... actually a net cost re, or a tax reduction for commercial properties, uh, no service level reductions or elimination of public services, building in fiscal integrity to ensure maintenance of our triple -A bond rating, continued emphasis on flood recovery infrastructure maintenance, and economic development initiatives. Then looking ahead, I have, uh, but considering the time ... I have an analysis of the, what's going forward with the national economy, I would say it's a little more of the same, and in the case of the State of Iowa, I would say that Iowa's fared much better and, uh, the signs for, uh, Iowa seem to be growing more positive all the time. Um, so I ... I feel good about that. The big unknown, okay, the thing we have to worry about most between the time we adopt the budget and the time, um, that it actually goes into, uh, into effect is what's going to happen at our State legislature regarding commercial property values, and the potential for the Krupp decision, and those are really critical things that we have to keep our eye on, because we may be right back here in front of you talking to you about what we have to do to make adjustments to make those numbers work. Uh, I'm very concerned about that, um, it's, you know, the potential I supposed to go late into the legislature just like we did last year because, you know, in our legislative meeting it was pretty clear that, you know, there's some pretty hardened positions on both sides of the aisle. Uh, looking ahead, um, our, uh, continued emphasis will be on our strategic plan, um, in terms of economic and community development we have a number of places around the, uh, city that we want to continue to spend time on and focus on and uh, regenerate some economic activity. Uh, we have, uh, successfully seen the establishment of the SSMID. I have high hopes for that organization, um, and hopefully that will help coalesce a cooperation between the shops and the businesses and the property owners, and more importantly with the City to get us all working in the same direction. I'm excited about this Riverfront Crossings plan and we want to continue to invest in that area and see that happen. Neighborhood stabilization, of course, is really been on our radar here of recent, and I think we need to really spend a lot of time and effort in those areas, uh, to do exactly what that category says, and we have some people that have stepped forward here in the last few months who I think are going to be good to work with, um ... they're very, uh, supportive of trying to save these neighborhoods, and I think these are fragile places that really need a lot of attention to make sure they're protected. Uh, we are going to continue with the UniverCity program. We're going to do that with a lot of our own local funding. It's not going to be to the same level, but my thought was it's very difficult to dismantle and then try and re- establish a program so even though it may be only four or five houses, I want to keep that in place and if we can grow that project going forward, we'll do that. I think it's one of the most impressive programs I've seen, um, in our community, and I want to keep that going. Continued emphasis on infrastructure, and a new collaboration with the, uh, Iowa City School District. We had that discussion. I had a chance to talk to one of the School Board Members and kind of re- emphasized our willingness and ... and need to work with them and ... and help them, uh, and in return, uh, make sure that these neighborhood schools stay in our This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 24 neighborhoods. They're absolutely vital, in my opinion, um ... this initiative that they have going forward for continuing education and what is it, uh, the program that they've started here recently, Matt? Um, that they talked to you about? Um ... is it ... not continuing ed but... Mims/ Is it the one with Kirkwood and ... that they're... Markus/ They're trying to get the community more involved in... Hayek/ ...the before and after? Markus/ Yeah ... yes, it's... Hayek/ (both talking) Markus/ ...the technical name for it? Hayek/ I don't know. Its program ... it's an enhancement of programming... Markus/ It's a community involvement type of program for use of the facilities beyond their initially intended purpose, and I think that would be a really critical thing for us to be involved in. We need to have a critical member that can have the time to spend on that so that we can keep those schools integrated into these neighborhoods. And I think as you know that will allow for families to come in and reinvest in these areas because there's walkable schools. Those are critical. Again, uh, continuing... Council strategic planning efforts, strong and sustainable financial foundation, and I think we've gone through those. Um, but I wanted to add a couple to the list up there too. We continue to ... we're going to pursue, uh, what's called the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Budgeting from the, uh, Government Finance Office Association, not because we need another plague. We already get this for our annual report, but one of the things they do when they prepare this report is they do what's called a `peer review,' and so, uh, different people that have really developed some really fine budgets around the country review our budget and make comments on it for improvement, and so we want to be a part of that, uh, where it came from and I think where Jeff came from, that was one of our ... our goals is to make sure that that document achieves that award, uh, it makes it more readable for the public and it makes it more usable for the Council to make decisions. And the other thing we want to do is make this document, uh, more tech - friendly, both in terms of how it's prepared and how it's accessible to our public, uh, both on line and ... and more interactive and that may take a little more time, but those are some of the objectives that we're going after, and again, I, uh, I want to emphasize that, uh, when we pre ... uh, provide services beyond our borders, we really need to have discussions about, um, equity in terms of who's paying for those things. Just a few of them: Senior Center, Animal Shelter, the Airport, uh, contributions to, uh, human and social services, where we place low - moderate income housing — those are regional discussions that have to take place and I think that those are important for us, um, to engage in those conversations with our neighbors. Uh, coordinated communication and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 25 customer service orientation — um ... this is that initiative in terms of how we communicate and this is both internal and external, um, review of transactional processes, you know, focusing on that customer service element and ... and how we make that happen. Internal communication channels, coordinating how we communicate with the public. We ... we're kind of scattered in our communications right now. We need to pull that together and we have some ideas on how we're going to make that happen over this coming year. Uh, looking ahead, continued effort to reduce dependence on property taxes, while maintaining acceptable service levels; annual analysis of our, uh, utility rates and fees and charges to make sure that they're supporting the percentages of those operations, and achieving economically competitive revenue model that maintains fiscal integrity and provides greater stability through revenue diversification. So ... that's my comments in terms of the, um, you know, kind of the general overview of our budget document. We're now going to go into individual, um, budget presentations, but might I suggest for my own personal needs that we take a break (laughter and several talking) Dickens/ One quick question on the City levy, uh, with all those unknowns... should we, I don't know if you and Kevin talked about having that levy a little higher, just in case the commercial... thing does pass this year, or would that affect us in future years? O'Malley/ Terry, I think our ... our fund balances are there to weather us through that first phase of this, and then ... then we'd have to look at next year's, raising higher taxes. Dickens/ I just didn't know when that would take effect if it goes through the (both talking) O'Malley/ Unfortunately we've had the legislature, uh, do issues that took effect and lost a million dollars right on day one. Dickens/ Right, that's ... that was my concern, whether the levy was being lowered too much because of the commercial potential loss. O'Malley/ Well... Markus/ Actually, I don't think it's the levy side we're going to have to look at. We're going to look at the expense side (both talking) Dobyns/ So is our planning... in your budgetary considerations, did you consider somewhere between a worst -case scenario and best -case scenario, regarding the KRUP decisions? O'Malley/ Yes. On the KRUP ones we ... we figure we have enough in our fund balances to take care of ... take care of that and ... and work through that for this next fiscal year. Dobyns/ If it's a worst -case scenario? O'Malley/ Right. Markus/ But ... but (both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 26 O'Malley/ It's going to take a while for Krupp to happen. Markus/ But hear what he is saying ... the Krupp decision isn't all going to hit at once. Because it takes individual decisions for people (mumbled) from their current situation to the co -op situation, and there's reasons for and against doing that, and Eleanor and I've had a pretty thorough discussion about you know what's some motivations are. We think that will roll out over a longer period of time and what Kevin, I think, is suggesting is that you know initially we want to see how that ... that rides out. We think we can ride that out initially, but it may be years two and three that get ... get to be more of a problem, but... Dilkes/ Yeah, just for a little bit of information, we talked to the Assessor yesterday and he currently has 37 applications for conversion, um, so they're clearly coming in. Um... but I think it's really hard to know how that will eventually play out. I know, um, have ... from having had discussions, uh, with the Clarks' attorney, for instance, that he sees that as a .... as not the, uh ... all-saving thing that it's chalked up to be, so think it'll just depend. Dobyns/ Eleanor, have we had any conversions so far from which we can extrapolate decisions? So far we've gotten conversions; um ... if I understand this correctly. Help me with that. Maybe I didn't ask the question correctly. Um... Dickens/ How much has it affected our (mumbled) Dobyns/ so far (both talking) Dilkes/ Uh, well ... hardly at all at this point, I mean... Dobyns/ ... okay. Dilkes/ Hardly at all at this point, because we had for instan ... we had about six being ... we were litigating about six cases, um, and they were really held in abeyance till this Supreme Court decision came down. Oh ... we settled, because of the Supreme Court decision, five of those. We are continuing to litigate one of those because there is a remaining issue as to who can form a cooperative. Our reading of the statute and the case that went before the Supreme Court says it's two live bodies, case before the Supreme Court was husband and wife. Uh, attorneys are creating the co -ops using, I think for tax reasons and for liability reasons, using LLCs and other entities that aren't live bodies. We will ... we are continuing to contest that. Dobyns/ Okay. Got it! Hayek/ Okay, let's take a break! (BREAK) Markus/ Supposed to be calling this back to order but I'm going to interject myself cause we all want to get out of here (several talking) some of the Saturday left, and so what we're This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 27 going to do is we're going to go right to the City Attorney and um, and then we're going to move on from the City Attorney to the other departments, uh, management and finance are going to be bumped to ...to the end because we're going to be here all day anyway, and we'd like to get these people in and out so ... Eleanor, it's all yours. City Attorney (pp. 192 & 211): Dilkes/ Just one quick additional comment about co -ops. Um, in thinking about Rick's question, there has been a very minor impact to date because of the cases that we settled. The change in the assessment from commercial to residential went down for the years that the cases had been pending, but that ... very, very minor. Um, okay for my budget it's pretty self - explanatory. Um ... I'm on page 192 now. You can see there that most of my budget consists of, um, personnel expense. I've got 5.6 employees... I've actually got 6.6 and if you look at pg. 211, that's where the other one is, because we fund one of the attorneys through the tort levy. Urn ... the ... the only comments I would really make are that ... that of the 6.6 employees, 3.6 are at the top of the range. Urn ... 2.6 ... I'm the .6, by the way (laughter) 2.6 of, um, of my attorneys have ... have been out of law school for over 20 years, 20, 25 and 27, and um, three have been with my office for, uh ... I think ... at least half of that time, if not more. So I've got a very experienced staff and I think as attorneys go, it's ... it's hard to compensate for experience. Urn ... and I ... and the other, the only other thing I would say is that ... that at least in Iowa City, the, uh, city attorney's office plays a pretty integral part of...and is involved very closely with all the departments. From Planning, for instance in other cities you won't find a city attorney staffing at the, a planning and zoning commission level. Urn ... Personnel, we probably have daily contact with Personnel. Uh, we probably have daily contact with, uh, Purchasing, urn ... and I can entertain any questions you have. Markus/ I would point out that while Eleanor may say she's .6, she's usually here like .85 so... Dilkes/ My i -Phone has been really helpful! (laughter) Mims/ Eleanor, with staff you have, how much outsourcing do we still do for legal? Dilkes/ The ... we handle about 95% of, um, litigation, um, that's one thing that you'll find that differs across cities, um ... we have a self - insured retention of $500,000 for our general liability so that means that most of the claims against the City are handled, um, by us in- house. Urn ... the, I try ... I ... when I first joined the City ... there was a lot of outsourcing of legal work. We don't do ... we try and minimize that. Urn ... if I've, for instance, got a contract that provides for attorneys' fees and I think I can get expertise, I did that with our, urn ... litigation, or our ... our arguments with Knutson over the water plant, and I got a... an attorney who had significant experience in construction litigation, and all our fees were paid for by Knutson so that was a good way to do that. Urn ... when we have a conflict, for instance let's say the police ... the City is sued and a police officer is sued, and there's a divergence of interest between the police officer and the City, then we are required by law to retain an attorney for the police officer. Um, our worker's comp ... uh, has always been done by outside counsel, since before I came here. That is something This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 28 that we've talked about trying to bring in -house if we could. Um, I think we've got a pretty good system and ... and I've been having, uh, Eric actually spend some more time on worker's comp to kind of get up to speed on that if we want to end up going that way. And I'm trying to... (male)/ Bond. Dilkes/ Bond counsel! Yes. Champion/ Eleanor, when you (several talking) Dilkes/ Collective bargaining! Right. And those are ... we've also talked about bringing collective bargaining in- house. That's not something that, um, Steve Atkins ever wanted to do and there are some issues in terms of our representation of personnel on a day -to- day basis and then sitting at the bargaining table, so ... but those are certainly things that we've talked about and could talk about. Markus/ And I would say, um ... to Eleanor and others, we have a long — standing relationship with legal counsel by the name Steve (mumbled). Steve does an excellent job for us. I don't know how long he intends to continue his practice and so Eleanor has provided one of her staff members to shadow that environment and the kind of my thought, you and I haven't discussed this, my thought is is that she might (mumbled) role (several responding). Dobyns/ What is that person ... what services does that person provide (mumbled) Markus/ Labor relations. Negotiations. Champion/ Eleanor, when you do outsource, where does that show up in the budget? Dilkes/ Not in mine. (laughter) O'Malley/ The work comp shows up in my budget. Dilkes/ Work comp shows up in Kevin's... urn... O'Malley/ Risk ... and some risk management. Dilkes/ Uh, if for instance we, I think like right now we have a retained attorney for, um, some con ... some construction litigation on one of our projects, and that will come from the enterprise fund that's being served. Urn ... bond counsel, I think you'll see in Kevin's budget. Um, economic development has been, you know, we have been doing a lot of economic ... I mean, the amount of time the City has been spending on economic development in the last two years is just ... gone like this. And, um, my office has been pretty involved in ... in those things because there's just a lot of legal stuff that goes along with that. Um, we've been using our bond counsel to get us through some of those This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 29 development agreements and kind of learn ... from them and hopefully can take on more of that stuff as we move forward. Hayek/ You raise a good point though, you know... watching what we spend for outsourced legal work... and you know whether the numbers and the trends, you know, justify... bringing someone in -house to do that work or not. That's an ongoing thing to watch. Um... Dilkes/ Yeah it's, I mean... Hayek/ Probably ebbs and flows in terms of our needs (both talking) our needs and that's part of the problem (both talking) Dilkes/ ...and clearly you know while I have a big budget, I mean, if you paid an ... if you paid outside counsel to get the services you get you would be paying ... much, much more for this work. I mean, hourly fees for private attorneys are ... pretty significant. Hayek/ If I might I've got a picture I could ... I'd love to bring and show the Council one day. My dad was a city attorney eons ago and it was ... he was the city attorney, and uh, ha d a private office just up the street, uh, he had two phones. He had a black phone and then ... I was a kid so I thought it was a red phone, but it was probably another black phone, but it was directly to the city manager's office and um (laughter) and that was the ...that was the legal team (laughter) Yeah, you'd pick up the phone and (laughter and several talking) and ... but the city's needs, uh, were a fraction of what they are today. Dilkes/ (both talking) yeah, everything's just, you know, the world has become so complicated, and you know, public - private partnerships which are kind of the... everybody's... wants a public - private partnership. They are very complicated. So... Hayek/ Okay, any other questions for Eleanor? Okay, thank you! Markus/ Next we'll go to the, uh, Police Department. Chief? Police (p. 56)• Hayek/ Morning, Chief! Hargadine/ Morning, Mr. Mayor, Council. I'm going to, uh ... jump over our mission statement in the interest of brevity and ... and uh ... jump right into the structure of our department. Uh, leadership within the department is divided into two different levels. We have the senior command staff, which includes two captains, both here and here, and myself. Um, that make up, um, the senior command staff. Both captains have received command staff school training. One's a graduate of the FBI's National Academy and the other is a graduate of, uh, the Southern Police Institute. Both of these captains, um, serve as acting chief in my absence. I have full confidence in both of `em, and I kind of rotate that back and forth between the two of `em. Um ... the senior command staff meets formally once a week and informally, you know, several times daily. Um, the full staff includes the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 30 senior command staff, but also includes nine sergeants, four lieutenants, and a records supervisor. The full staff meets formally once a month as well, um, more ... more if necessary. Okay. The, urn ... department is split between field operations and administrative services. Field operations includes patrol, which is the bulk, sort of where the rubber meets the road. It's the bulk of the department and in investigations. Each of the three watches is led by a lieutenant and two sergeants. Investigative is led by a lieutenant and one sergeant. The sergeant o the task force, urn ... is responsible for all things that deal with like narcotics, uh, the street crimes unit which we call SCAT, and the narcotics officer task force. Uh, though... though the sergeant is assigned to investigations, uh, that's his primary role is to maintain, um, supervision over, uh, things that involve anything to do with drugs or narcotics investigations. Sixty -four officers are divided up between patrol, investigative, and we have one crime prevention officer assigned to the sub - station. Um ... I think as Terry pointed out, prior to meeting, if you do the math, especially down here, um ... between the police officers the math doesn't quite add up. One thing I'll point out here is the ... when this was done it was a snapshot in time and we had eight officers in training. Those eight officers now are added, um, most likely to these two watches here, so ... that's ... when you do the math, you've got to add these eight that were in training at the time. Karr/ This is on page 56 of the budget. Hargadine/ Thank you! We have, uh, 50 officers assigned to the patrol watch. There's 13 in... officers inside assigned to investigative. That includes three SCAT officers and then one crime prevention officer. On the ... admin ... uh, services... administrative services side, I might point out that this captain is also my, um, chief financial off ...officer. He deals with Kevin's office, uh, probably on a daily basis. Um... all things budget, even if I, um, want to go purchase something, I go to that captain, do we have the money for it? Uh, he's who I assign, uh, to make sure we stay in the black. If, uh ... my boss comes to me, or Kevin comes to me and says, your guys are way in the red, then I'm going to be going to this guy, saying, what happened? Um ... the ... underneath that captain we have training and accreditations, one, uh, particular sergeant is assigned to there, and that person, um, handles all in- service training, but probably the bulk of it is to maintain our CALEA certification. Uh, we have all kinds of reports that are due throughout the year, compliance reports that go to CALEA, and ... and that accreditation is really, uh, it ... uh, I think we've gone through it probably four times now. It's on a three -year cycle, but um, it serves a multitude of...of benefits, both to the citizens, to the officers, and to... to uh police administration as well. We ... there are times when we'll get a complaint, well your policy ... your policy needs to be looked at. When I ... when I can come back and say well, that policy meets the best national standard, uh, because of that CALEA review, that really takes that argument off the table. Uh, planning and res ... research sergeant is actually assigned to the records unit. That person is also, um ... um ... public information officer. It's the face of the department. It's the one you'll see on news, um, clips and uh, in the paper frequently. Usually when there is a ... a crime, um, and the reporters are calling, they'll go to the PIO first, um, I estimate that probably... that probably keeps about 20 phone calls a day off my desk. That particular person. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 31 Dobyns/ Who is that person currently, Chief? Hargadine/ It is, uh, Denise Brotherton, Sergeant. Uh, Animal Services is under the Police Department. I believe you're going to get a probably an in- depth, um ... under the capital, um ... improvement projects, you're going to hear a lot more about them, I think on Monday. Um, but Meisha and her shop is under the Police Department, as well. Um... we have multiple specialized training units within, uh, patrol and investigative. Uh, they include SRT, which is special response team, SWAT team. Uh, crisis negotiators, um, K- 9 is one. Uh, one member on the Johnson County Metro Bomb Team. Field training officers — there's ... is a specialty, and crime scene technicians. Um ... these officers are not full time specialists in those fields. They've also got their normal patrol or investigative duties ... on ... on top of that. With the exception of K -9. K -9 that is a specialized, full -time job. Um ... one of our strategic... plans with K -9s is to purchase a dog every three years. Unfortunately, uh, like humans, you can get 20 to 30 years out of a ... out of a human career. That's not quite the case with a dog. So we found in past where we had one dog. It takes a year to two years to get that dog replaced when the dog is going to retire or ... or, uh, dies, whatever happens to it. So we always want to be in a position where we've got at least one dog, and by phasing one in, uh, every three years we're always going to have a senior dog and a... (laughter) younger dog. (laughter) Um ... fairly new to our organization is the position of station master down here. Um, these are the people that staff the front desk 24, uh, hours a day, seven days a week. These positions were necessary when the JECC, the Joint Emergency Communications Center, JECC, went live. Previously dispatchers were used to staff the front desk and when they moved out, we needed somebody to be able to greet the public and uh... um, those positions were, uh, a replacement for the 1 I dispatchers that ... that went over to the, um, JECC. Any specific questions, uh, about the operation or the ... or the budget? Mims/ I guess maybe Tom or Kevin actually, and maybe you know, Chief. On the station masters, do they fall under the retirement system of Police and Fire or are they under IPERS or... Hargadine/ They do not. They are, uh, actually in the rank and pay grade of community service officers. Mims/ Community service, okay. Hargadine/ And are technically civilians. Mims/ Okay. Thank you. Throgmorton/ I ... I'd like to raise a question, and I don't know any other better context, uh, you ... you remember earlier on I mentioned that I thought we need to articulate goals having to do with, uh, social justice and fairness. So, I ... I think I need to bring this particular point up at this moment. Um, and I'm going to express a view that I know is held by significant fraction of people who live in this city. I'm not saying it's a majority, I'm saying a significant fraction. Uh, but the ... the view is essentially this ... that... that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 32 we need to, uh, address and alleviate tensions in this city and surrounding regions concerning the interaction, intersection of race, ethnicity, poverty, behavior, and community perceptions. And ... and some of those concerns, uh, pertain to the Police Department, and again, I'm .... expressing a view of a significant fraction but how many I don't know. Uh, having to do with, uh, disproportionate contact with minorities, uh, and s on, related kinds of concerns. Uh, so ... I ... I think, uh, as ... as a matter of policy, uh, we should be thinking of ways ... uh, that have budgetary consequences about how to, um, address those concerns. And, uh, one ... one way, uh, might be, and again, this is a view I've heard from people who have this, uh, perspective, one way, uh, might be to, um, I don't know, accelerate or improve training, staff training. Maybe Council training too, I don't know, concerning the complexities of... of working with people who come from a, uh, who are of a different race or ethnicity, or have different cultural experiences having to do with class ... uh, class, you know, class structure (mumbled) coming from poverty circumstances for example. Uh, and uh ... another would be to, uh, be part of a larger community wide response to the, uh, the kind of situation, uh, just articulated. So ... uh, I know it's a big ... big thing and I'm certainly not trying to put all the weight on the Police Department or anything like that., but I don't know where else to bring it up. Uh, so I ... wanted to put that on the table. I don't know how the rest of you think about that, and uh, Tom, I don't know if you have any thoughts. You don't have to articulate `em now, about how to ... how we might be able to address these concerns, in a way that people who, um ... come from that kind of background can see, recognize, and feel that um... we're hearing and responding to their concerns. Markus/ Yeah, I would like to comment on that. It ... it seems to me, and I've heard this conversation before and while every organization can always improve on how they deal with these situations, um ... Sam and I and members of his department have met with a delegation of individuals that expressed that very view. Uh, recently I read a report, um, from the Court System and um, the ... the number of individuals, minority status, that are working through the court systems have substantially declined. And, they were touting the fact that ... that that is recognized and the length of stay and all of those types of issues. The disproportionate minority contract... contact is an interesting discussion, and I'm a firm believer in drilling down into what are the facts. And, a lot of times the facts, um, defy the perception, and ... for example, we got into this discussion about, um, how... how these contacts derive. And, most of the contacts from what I could tell were, um, citizen call driven, and when we get a call, we need to respond. That gets recorded as a con ... contact and may fall into this category of disproportionate. A lot of the contacts come from the schools. So the suggestion that there is some sort of institutional prejudice or inclination to target, um ... I think is not resolved and one of the things I've encouraged members, and I can't remember the name of the organization we met with, something of churches (several talking). Consultation of Churches, I've encouraged all of them to take a ride -a -long with our police officers. I have to tell you, I've done that, and my impression of the way the officers conduct themselves is highly professional and highly sensitive. I've watched direct communications, uh, with minority contact and ... I was very proud to be associated with a department of people that behaved the way they did in those situations. I think they're highly sensitive. I want to make two points. One, I think we need to drill down into what the numbers are, what they mean, and then spot on at This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 33 some of those contacts to really determine what's going on. And number two, I sense a total willingness on the part of this department to be the best they can and to reject or to eliminate the accusations of that sort, um, because I think we have ... I think we understand the issue and we try to do our best to be sensitive to those situations, but I can tell you... that... the ride -a -long I conducted, this officer didn't stop for one second. They just jump from one call to the next. He doesn't have time to have institutional, um, prejudice in my opinion. They were so busy and so ... disproportionate contact and if there is some institutional discrimination in those regards, it's not coming from this department from what I can tell, just based on what I know in less than a year's time. It's coming from calls from individuals, and so the discussion may have to be a discussion about ... with the general public as to, you know, is this really out of place? Is this really worthy of a call into the department to respond to some of these issues? Urn ... you know, I'll be the first one to get in Sam's face and he'll tell you that. If I see something that, you know, I don't think is appropriate, but in this particular case, um, I think they're very sensitized to the issue and I think I don't have a problem with the continued dialogue with those that maybe share an opposing view, but um ... and I don't want to appear overly defensive of the Police Department because that's an evolving situation always, but um, I don't sense the same necessarily degree of concern that others might, based on my observations of what's gone on, and I don't think my view of it is colored by the fact that they're playing a city manager in these situations either. So... Karr/ If I may also, your office roughly... maybe three, four months ago, also did a, um, detailed response to the Human Rights Commission on a number of issues, but one of them dealt with training and what training the officers do. And, um, that might also be noted that there is an ongoing training, um, and that ... that has been, and that might informative also to know what they do ... um, what training they do on a routine basis ongoing. Dobyns/ Sometimes when we (mumbled) Jim is getting at, sometimes perceptions have nothing to do with facts, and I would agree, everything that we're talking about are facts but ... I think there's an opportunity, I assume, Matt, during the year for the Citizens Review Board, is that the body that would come to us, they're representing... Karr/ Police Citizens Review Board, yes. Dobyns/ Do they make a report to us at some other time during the year? Karr/ They do an annual report like all other City boards and commissions. That is staffed through my office. One of their missions is to review, um, the policies and procedures, as well as complaints. That annual report is provided to you, um, at the same time each year with all the other annual reports, generally in the fall. Dobyns/ Cause I can't help but think when these things come up through the, uh, church, you know, religious communities and um ... you know, other bodies, what does our Citizen Review Board think, and I would welcome, you know, that input since they are, you know, the people of Iowa City chose them several years ago, uh, regarding these matters. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 34 Hayek/ I think we have to be ... I think we have to, I mean, those are ... those are legitimate points, but ... I think it's important for us to keep in mind the ... the budget process we're in. I mean, we can ... you can, the budget deals with every facet of city government, obviously, and there will, you know, we're going to have interesting public... public policy, uh, considerations no matter which page of this 300 page binder we're ... we're looking at, and uh ... throughout the year we consider public policy issues, whether it's this or others, that have budgetary impacts and um, we may want to spend time ... more time than we have, and we have spent time over the last three years, uh, on ... on the issues Jim raises throughout the year. Um, we may want to revisit that or ... or other issues. Um, it's going to be a challenge to get through our budget process if we do a lot more than flag issues for ... for future discussion, in ... in my opinion. Mims/ And I would just add, I think if you look at the major issues that they have in there to address in the near future, there's two key ones that I noted that ... that relate to this whole issue, and that is, uh, securing funding for the retention of an expansion of services offered at the police substation and also establishing strategies to free up officer time for increase in community policing presence, and I think those two are absolutely critical, um, as we have a... a percentage of our community that is very transient coming from different areas with different expectations, different cultures, and trying to fit into this community and the more, um, that the police can be out there and getting to know people, um, before they're getting the calls, I think that can really help facilitate some of that transition. Throgmorton/ One ... one last brief comment. I ... I, again, I'm not trying to put, uh, you know, single out the police department, uh, in particular. Markus/ I didn't (mumbled) Throgmorton/ (both talking) ...I just don't know another better situation in which (mumbled) bring up the topic, and there's no need to belabor it, uh, excessively here, but I think we do need to address that, as time goes on. Hargadine/ Those discussions, uh, have certainly... have been ongoing. There's... there's already a couple of reports, uh, I know I think the Mayor's been involved in one of them with the, uh, CRC and um, you know, it's really just the inclusiveness of the community is just one issue that, urn ... the average police officer deals with a dozen other sensitive issues. For example, one of `em that's... that's going to be increasing is ... is dealing with mentally ill, um ... when you ... when you're focused on one issue so much, you're forgetting about the dozen other ones that we deal with on a daily basis. Uh, Occupy Iowa City is another one. I mean there are so many, when you think of all the things that, um, people like about Iowa City, that ... the diversities, the issues that we deal with, that ... that bring national attention, the police are the ... the ones that are dealing with ... they're at the front part of that when people don't get along about those two particular issues. Payne/ Just a quick question. You mentioned that, um, 11 dispatchers went to the Johnson County Emergency Communications Center. Does that mean that your department at This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 35 that time, and you hired five station masters, does that mean at that time your department had a ... a net loss of six bodies? FTE's? Hargadine/ That's correct. We did use to provide dispatch services for Iowa City, University Heights, uh, the Sheriff s Department provided the same service for their department, Coralville, and North Liberty. We've combined, uh, dispatch and um ... we could talk for a week specifically on JECC, but um, those ... those, uh, we did have a net loss of personnel because of that. Champion/ That could be a whole `nother discussion! Hargadine/ And will be! (laughter) Hayek/ Oh yeah! (laughter) Mims/ Under the ... the, some of the performance measures that were put together, just a clarification. Maybe (mumbled) I don't know who's best to answer this. But when we looked at the sworn police office... officers per thousand population, I'm assuming that our population is including the students, cause they were in the census, but I'm assuming the police officers do not include UIPD. Correct? Thank you. Markus/ I think the other thing (both talking) Hayek/ ...pointed out here too. Mims/ Oh is it? I missed it. Markus/ ...it is ... is in one of the clouds, I think. Mims/ Okay, I missed it. Sorry. Markus /But I think the other thing that, urn ... we do benefit from somewhat is having the Count Sheriffs here in town and having at least the squad presents back and forth, and uh, that's not to diminish the staff at all, but... Sam and... and the Chief of the University Police and the Sheriff, they were in communities... work very closely together so ... there's some overlap there that occurs and ... and urn ... Sam and I have those continuing discussions about (mumbled, away from mic) ... think he does the most with what he has. Hargadine/ One of the things I'll ... I'll close with on a positive note, and especially for some of the more tenured, uh, people on the Council that have heard me (laughter) talk about... I get asked do we have enough officers, and in the past if you can look at how many we've had in training, um, those ... they show up in the budget, but they're not out doing the streets so eight officers... if you're down eight officers, uh, at the same time we were down three officers for military, um, there have been times in the fast ... past couple years where we've had the eight in the academy, and I've had another six to eight up to ten officers on light duty because of injuries. So if you add up all of those, and just so This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 36 happen to ask me, do you have enough officers, um, I'm going to tell you no, I don't, but urn ... we're... we're in a position now that I've never been in since uh I've been here in that we've got everybody healthy, out working the street, urn ... we've got um, we've got one heading to the academy. Everybody else is ... is, uh, ready to be assigned or is assigned. And, um, I've ... we've got the military guys back. And they're back to work so you add the, um, the University guys that are helping out downtown, um, we're in a good position. I'm ... I'm happy with the ... with the officer ... you know with the staffing that level that we have. Um, you know, will it ... will we be able to maintain it? That... that remains to be seen but um, um ... that sort of ... our situation in the past few years when um..you know, do you have enough officers? Well, that ... that's what we were going through. Champion/ Well, (mumbled) congratulate both public safety people in that you have been deprived of people for many years. Urn ... has the 21- ordinance helped that situation downtown? Or has it just created another set of problems? Hargadine/ Um, I would, um, I'm going to include the curfew situation in that question, as well. I think both of those two have had a positive impact on quality of life throughout Iowa City. Um, it, um ... they were both tools that we needed at the time, and I think it has had, um, if nothing else, it was a deterrence for those out of town folks that used to come here. We'll always have some revelry and uh ... um, people getting out of line downtown, but urn ... at one time we had close to 3,000 coming in on any given night that weren't from this area, because of the, uh you could get into a bar underage and I think that helped... you know those ... those, that's the same, uh, crowd that gave college students a bad name because they're in the same age group. But um, so if nothing else, it's done ... it's done that. Payne/ Another question ... do you ... I know a lot of urn ... places have this problem, but an aging workforce. So is your workforce older and we'll have a problem in say ten years with... Hargadine/ We do. Um... Payne/ Retirements. Hargadine/ Um, I went a couple of years without making any promotions whatsoever, and as a new chief here six years ago, um, I ... my predecessor left me with a very capable staff, and I wasn't looking forward to going through that, but uh ... um, most of the ... most of the staff have ... have all turned over. The two captains have turned over in the last year or two, uh, most all of the .... all of the lieutenants and above are my promotions. I ... I can't blame the previous chief on anything anymore, um, and he calls me and tells me that routinely (laughter) um ... but um ... yeah, that is...it cycles through. Um, but ... um, we also on average they do a 30 -year career so, um, it ... it's a blend. Um, but yeah, they seem to be getting younger and younger (laughter) Dobyns/ Despite the aging of your force, you're looking better than ever! (laughter) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 37 Markus/ We are ... we are rolling out succession planning across (mumbled, away from mic) so that's... that's one of our objectives, to make sure that ... we have some people comin' up the lines. If we can identify people that have the interest, and have the skill set to move up, so that ... we have ... this moving forward and people ready to go when it's time. Hayek/ Any other questions for the Chief? Thank you! (several talking) Dickens/ Don't be nervous! (laughter and several talking) Fire (pp. 91 -101): Rocca/ Good morning, Mr. Mayor, City Council, and City staffers. Um, it's a pleasure to be with you this morning and over the course of the next couple hours and 12 pages of notes, I intend to give you a brief overview (laughter) of ... of the Fire Department! Markus/ Thanks for those comments, Andy! (laughter) Karr/ Page 91. Hayek/ Questions for the Chief? (laughter) Rocca/ What I thought I'd do is give you a brief overview of the Fire Department, uh, talk a little bit about the organization of the Fire Department, some of the highlights of our budget proposal, uh, briefly about the, uh, snapshot of performance. It's contained in the ... the, uh, financial plan, and (mumbled) and then of course entertain your questions throughout or at the end, whatever you deem to be most appropriate. Um, as you can see, um, on the organizational chart, we have, uh, 65 personnel. Sixty -four uniformed and we have one civilian, which is the administrative secretary. We're currently delivering our fire protection services from four fire stations, and as you know, we recently opened Fire Station #4 a few months ago. We're also utilizing a training center in the south area on South Clinton Street. So with that, we have four fire districts that we're providing emergency services from. We are staffing four engine companies, one ladder company, and a battalion chief, and we do that 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It's, uh, interesting to note that Station #4 with engine #4 and that particular company is also cross - staffing our rescue truck, which is up there adjacent to Interstate 80, uh, with the likelihood of transportation emergencies in that area. And so one of those issues is... is the cross - staffing of that rig, but not insurmountable currently, uh, but something for us to keep an eye on. Core services that the Department provides would be fire suppression, emergency medical services, technical rescue which would include things such as, um, vehicular extrication, high angle /low angle trench collapse type rescues, water, ice rescues, urn ... and the list kind of goes on from there. Hazardous materials response, and our fire prevention services which would include, uh, public education, code enforcement, and fire investigation. Currently the City has been rated by the Insurance Service Office, uh, Fire Protection Rating of a rating #3. That's out of a scale of 1 through 10, 1 being the best, um, 3 used to be the top rating in Iowa, and currently a couple communities have achieved a 2 and frankly we believe that with some This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 38 enhancements, to include Fire Station #4 that we can take a pretty legitimate run at becoming an ISO2 rating and that's something on the radar for the future for the Department. We're currently in, uh, wrapping up year two of a five -year strategic plan that was facilitated by the, uh, um ... Commission on Public Safety Excellence, and uh, we'll be retooling that as ... as we move forward in years three, four, and five. We did achieve accredited agency status by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International in 2008, and we'll be up for reaccreditation in 2013, and as you can imagine, we're busy preparing for that. Um, I want to kind of indulge you in just a very brief snapshot of response time 101 I'll call it, because I think it's really ... uh, something that you need to know. It's a good foundation and I could speak until noon on this but I'm going to just use a little snippet, so bear with me if you will. Emergency response times, uh, for the Department are broken down really in four components. Out at the JECC, uh, we have the alarm handling, when somebody dials 9 -1 -1 to report a given emergency, uh, and they do what they need to do in order to broadcast tones to our fire stations, as well as transmit the nature of the emergency. We like to see that happen in about 60 seconds. The next element then is after the tones have gone out and the message has been received, is our turnout time. The time firefighters, uh, move to their rigs, put on personal protective equipment, and respond on the vehicles. We like to see turnout time happen in about 60 seconds as well. The next component is travel time, and when you think about our city, um, and the ... the 24, 25 square miles that we protect, our four fire districts, and within those fire districts are sub - districts, and can actually drill down into census tracts or de... demand zones to tell you how many types of calls have occurred in a particular tract, to include how long it took us to get there and all those elements I just spoke of. Uh, but at any rate, our goal is to have our first unit on the scene regardless of the type of emergency within six minutes 90% of the time, and uh, that would include the two minutes, uh, alarm handling and turnout time, and four minutes of...of travel time. We can break this all down by percentage, the fractal analysis, and I'll spare you all the gory details of that, but it ... then we like to have the balance of our first alarm assignment, and if we have a... a structure fire, we're going to take two of our engine companies, the aerial ladder, and a battalion chief to respond to that ... that type of emergency. We like to see the first engine on scene in six minutes, and ... and the balance of that assignment, the other engine, the aerial and the chief officer arrive within ten minutes, and we're doing a pretty good job of that down in the central business district so if you just kind of bear with me here, uh, I want to talk about benchmarks or goals for our response time, and I'm going to speak specifically about travel time, from the time the fire truck rolls out of the station until the time it gets on the scene. The first unit on the scene, uh, travel time is four minutes, 90% of the time. And, uh, we're doing a really good job which I'll get to in a minute. The other part of that goal has to do with getting the balance on the scene within eight minutes of that travel time component. Our base line, or our current capabilities, what we actually do day -to -day, down in ... I'll call in the central business district... would be, again, the urban travel time, given the population density that we have, our first unit is on the scene, the travel time component in four minutes and one second. That's pretty good! Now keep in mind alarm handling and turnout time add two minutes to that. So we're really close to that six minute, uh, nationally accepted goal. As well we do ... do very well with the balance of that alarm. I mentioned to you the goal of getting the balance on that scene, uh, within eight minutes travel time ... uh, we're actually This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 39 doing that seven minutes and 13 seconds travel time, add the alarm handling and turnout time and we're at 9:13, which is well below the Commission on Fire Accreditation International's standard of 10 minutes and 24 seconds. So again, I urge you to think of that in context of the central business district, or heavily populated areas. It changes a little bit once we get out into the more suburban areas. But I think keeping those elements in mind, alarm handling, turnout time, travel time — makes our total response time really correlates back to the budget because of the resources you allocate to the Department are commensurate with the level of services that we're able to provide to the community. So I just wanted to provide you with that foundation and ... and one last note, when we're talking about that would be the distribution. I mentioned the four fire stations, four fire districts, that's the distribution throughout our community. Then there's the concentration component that speaks to the number of fire units and firefighters, and how quickly we're able to deploy them. And of course all these things really correlate back to, uh, time. Time is really the essence here. Whether it's a cardiac arrest victim or a structure fire emergency, the sooner we get there the more likely we're going to have a successful intervention. So, again, that's ... uh, response time 101. Thank you for letting me indulge you in that, and we'll kind of move on now with the organization of the Fire Department, if you will. The first section is the administration and support. Of course as the Fire Chief I'm responsible for overall daily administration and emergency operations. Second in command is our deputy chief. Uh, deputy chief is responsible for a lot of our special projects, Homeland Security, accreditation, fire station construction, and ... and remodeling projects and the like. We also have a battalion chief that is assigned to, uh, the administration and support. That person largely works with personnel transactions, uh, staffing needs, buildings and grounds, those types of, uh, situations. And as well we have, uh, an administrative secretary who is clearly the clerical support for the Department. The next section is our fire prevention bureau. And that's headed up by a battalion chief who's classified or appointed as our fire marshal, and also a shift inspector that's detailed off our truck company to do inspections. Fire prevention bureau's primary, uh, role is public education, code enforcement, and fire investigations. The next section that we have is our ... our emergency operations, and we have, uh, three ... three shift, uh, three shifts of personnel, shifts A, B, and C. Uh, 20 personnel on a shift, per se, uh, one battalion chief, one captain, four lieutenants, 14 firefighters. Uh, these people through the course of, uh, of their shift work, uh, respond to roughly 4,500 calls for service each year. A breakdown of those calls for the last year if you will, uh, would be fire suppression, uh, all types of fires; last year was 161, the previous year 170, uh, fires actually went down. The EMS calls, which are first responder calls. We, um, our dispatch, through the JECC, under the Emergency Medical Dispatch protocols established by our medical control, then we go out as first responders, uh, to include sometimes a police department and the fire department, and then ultimately the Johnson County Ambulance service, the paramedic transport. They have the ability to transport patients to a ... to the hospital or the emergency center. Uh, those calls were at 2,765 last year and 2,535 the year before, so a slight increase there of about 230 calls and roughly 60% of our calls for service are EMS. Technical rescue calls, 17 last year and the year before was 18. Uh, hazardous materials, releases or conditions, 173 in the past year, 192 the previous year, uh, so a reduction there. False alarms is another area worth, uh, mentioning here. 783 last year, 900 the year before, and I would credit newer This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 40 fire alarm installations and probably more aggressive enforcement, uh, of the false alarm ordinance that we have on the books, uh, to help bring that number down. Uh, the last organizational area that we have is the training and equipment, uh, that's headed up by a battalion chief and our training officer. They're tasked with training all of our incoming firefighters and fire officers, as well as new firefighters, and that's all classroom, hands - on training, and certification based programs. They also specify and purchase new fire apparatus and equipment, maintain and repair fire apparatus, tools, equipment, to provide personal protective equipment, self - contained breathing apparatus, and portable and mobile radios. Um, I guess what I'd like to do now is probably refer you to page 92 of the financial plan. And really the goals of this year's budget proposal, uh, while we're looking at approximately a $7.4 million budget is to maintain the current staffing levels of our 65 authorized position. Uh, 87% of the budget is salary, wages, and benefits, and so when you, you know, try to keep the lights on in fire stations and ... and they are conditioned appropriately and fueling the fire trucks, whether it's supplies and services, um, you know, you don't have a lot of wiggle room there, within the budget. Uh, as well I want to point out, in the revenue line approximately $1.5 million of revenue from the University of Iowa fire contract. That contract's been in place since the late to mid -50s, um, unamended by either party, and has a growth provision in there, and so I think it... it clearly helps, uh, reduce the cost of fire protection, not only here in the community for the average taxpayer, but, uh, I believe it's also a very good deal for the University of Iowa. Dobyns/ Any comments on the growth (mumbled) Rocca/ Excuse me? Dobyns/ Any comments on the growth provision with the University as far as needing it... amending? Is that... suggested you thought it was pretty reasonable (both talking) Rocca/ It seems to be! Because, and Kevin could probably explain the formula better than I, but um, all our operational expenses are factored in there. And as their ... their campus grows by square footage, so grows the contract, and so... Dobyns/ All I need to know is it's fair! O'Malley/ It's fair! Very fair contract! Markus/ The only thing I'd say is that it doesn't compensate for new construction. O'Malley/ It doesn't participate in the building construction, but it participates in rolling stock and operations. Payne/ So when they build their new dorm, it won't increase because they have a new building. O'Malley/ No, no. Our construction ... our fire stations. (several talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 41 Payne/ Oh! Markus/ ...they did not participate in the increased cost. Payne/ Okay. O'Malley/ It's all based on square footage. Payne/ Their square footage. O'Malley/ Their footage, and our square footage. Payne/ Okay. Rocca/ Thanks, Kevin! Okay, and as well on page 92 the capital outlay components there listed, uh, external defibrillators for our EMS program, the building collapse kit for the technical rescue or special operations response team; an educational component with that fire education house; the respirator fit tester is something, you know, we're always under the guise of, uh, not only the NFPA standards to a degree, but OSHA standards and clearly we have obligations to make sure that our equipment and our firefighters are trained and tested accordingly, and that's what the respirator fit testing will do for us. Um, as well some maintenance issues out at Fire Station #3 with the driveway, sidewalk, and the tow vehicle replacement, which tows not only, uh, public education trailers but our special operations response team for all those technical rescue programs that we previously discussed. Um, now I'll just quickly refer you to pages 94 through 101, and that's that snapshot and performance measures that ... that Adam put together, and I think, uh, this is kind of an interesting area to look at, uh, we're the only, uh, fully paid department within the county and we work closely with the Johnson County Mutual Aid Association which is roughly twelve other fire departments, uh, Coralville Fire Department has some paid positions, fully paid positions as well as a balance of probably about, uh, 50 volunteers. North Liberty has a couple half -time paid positions and the balance volunteer, and... and then the rest of the county, uh, fire departments essentially are volunteer fire departments. So it's interesting to note um, you know, those differences, but I think as well it[`s kind of interesting to compare and contrast us with the, uh, Metro Coalition communities there, who have the fully paid fire departments, who have, uh, like call volumes and provide like services. Uh, so what I ... I would encourage you to spend some time and look that over, because I think there's some valuable information in there. On, uh, page 101 then ... of the financial plan, down on ... under item 6, those major issues for the future? I would say that our human capital workforce planning is really morphed into succession planning, uh, I've also lost, uh, two or three senior staff officers, and uh, course promoted up and ... and the Code of Iowa drives how we handle promotions, but we are working with the notion of succession planning and giving, uh, junior officers and firefighters, uh, more leadership roles and responsibilities to better prepare them to move up into the organization. Because we're on the cusp of lov ... losing probably two or three chief officers and maybe a couple captains, uh, so clearly a significant issue for us in the future. We'll be looking at our reaccreditation as I mentioned earlier, in 2013, with the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 42 Commission on Fire Accreditation International. Relocation of our training center, um, that training center, while we haven't had it a long time, it's a valuable resource to be able to provide classroom and hands -on training for not only a fire department but other City departments have used it and other agencies within the county, and the state for that matter, have used that and so as we look to either relocate or redevelop down there, that's something that ... that we really need to pay very close attention to. Uh, facilities, Fire Station #1, whether it's relocated or somehow remodeled to ... to be a little more favorable for the services that we provide, uh, is an issue for us. I think, uh, item e there that I've listed in my notes, Fire Station #5, south planning district. I know Tom and I've had some discussion about this and we feel really good about where we're at with Fire Station #4 and the services we're providing to the community. I really think it's incumbent on us, not only staff but City Council, to think about the future so as growth starts to pick up and we start to expand, that there is a plan component to look at the future of fire protection services. I'm not suggesting that we're in any crisis mode right now. Just to be prepared for the future. Um, and lastly, uh, kind of on the ongoing effort, looking at all of our core programs, making sure they do meet our service delivery demands. Those are the things that, uh, we'll continue to look at for the future. Uh, with that, again, it's been my pleasure to be with you this morning and would entertain questions that you might have. Hayek/ I had a question, um, about uh ... about staffing. I was just this morning kind of looking at the numbers and... and this is very rough math, but if you... if you, uh, lump lieutenants and everybody above lieutenants as ... as supervisors, um, you've got a ratio of supervisors to ... to firefighters of roughly 1 to 2. Is that, I mean is that typical in the industry to have that kind of, you know, management to line, uh... Rocca/ You know it really is, Mr. Mayor, because when you look at...at how fire departments function, and typically they're um with engine companies or truck companies and teams of, anywhere from two, three, four, or five, uh, you always do have a company officer, a supervisory component in there. So it is fairly typical. Hayek/ Okay. Payne/ I just have a question on mutual assistance. Rocca/ Certainly! Payne/ So if...if we go help Coralville, or Coralville comes and helps us, is there any kind of monetary pass -back or is it just... Rocca/ It's ... it's mutual aid in the strictest sense, uh, if...if we were to call a number of departments in, like we did on the Bruegger's incident a few months ago, um, if...if somebody's low on fuel, we might fuel `em up to get `em home. But, you know, any cost that they incur beyond that is their cost. And, we would do the same if we were in their community. Be responsible for our costs, to include our personnel. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 43 Markus/ Andy, let me jump in a little bit on this too. Um ... one of the things that, um, and this is kind of... it falls in the category of services beyond our borders in my opinion, as the only full time, real full time fire service in Johnson County, um, I think there is a ... an ability for others to rely on us to a higher degree, just because of the level of training and experience and, you know, the ... the more professional aspects of these firefighters. That's not to diminish the departments in the other areas; however, we ... we do send a lot of people out, and in fact Andy and I have had very serious discussions about, you know, how ... how we deploy going for ... forward, but ... a number of our firefighters, um, do not live in our jurisdiction, and where they reside they participate as volunteers, and so on a mutual call -back situation, a lot of times Andy's calling back firefighters, okay, who are actually volunteers in other departments. Well clearly they're going to show up as ... as our firefighters because, guess what? They're paid! And they're probably paid in an off - duty rate. So, I contend that the others are getting a better deal in the mutual aid than we are. First we're better trained; we're professional firefighters; we're always on call; and then you have that, kind of that little quirky provision where some of their people are really our people, and we're paying `em so ... again, when you think about beyond our borders services, I think that's one of `em! Rocca/ No I think that's a good point, um, clearly there ... you're kind of...counting people twice there, and frankly it can run into a problem when you get into an extra -alarm situation because the host, uh, agency needs resources because they're stretched, and those providing those resources to come in and help you back -fill or deal with your emergency still have issues at home to take care of, let alone trying to fulfill the, uh, the mutual aid request. So there is a little tug and pull there, and uh, you know, I think more times than not it does work, uh, but that's not to say we don't skip a community because they can't help us or vice versa. We're busy and can't go out to help somebody and they go to the next department to try to get that assistance. Hayek/ Is ... is mutual aid, is it statutory? Is it a 28E? Rocca/ It's a 28E agreement. That's correct, and in fact you'll see it, uh, Monday night. Hayek/ Okay. Markus/ And it's in ... quite frankly, it's essential in this day and age, and you know, as ... as the new `normal' you've all ... I think that you're going to see more of those types of things Andy and I have had really long range discussions about what could happen and ... and that's why I'm somewhat dismayed by the whole JECC discussion because I really view JECC as a potentially great model for service delivery across this county, and there's really no incentive for these other jurisdictions to move to a more professional, full time model like we have, because they can really count on us to provide that core fire service, and yet if we could move to something more on a regional basis, you know, a metro -type of department, and further consolidate that with paramedic service, um, I think you could move to a much more efficient, uh, consolidated model, but that's a huge discussion because like in most regional situations, you have to give to get. And a lot of people don't necessarily want to give to get. In our case, we would be giving a much higher This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 44 level of service. Others would have to give higher tax, uh, commitments to make that sort of thing work, but ... I mean, the ... the efficiencies, um ... that could be exported in my opinion with ... with a more regional approach to this type of service are tremendous, and um, so I'm really hopeful that JECC and our County Supervisors can really understand that they've created a model that has tremendous potential for other service delivery mechanisms across this county. Hayek/ What ... what percentage of your calls are beyond our borders ... for mutual aid (both talking) Rocca/ You know, I ... I can speak probably in terms of actual numbers more so than percentages, and it's (both talking) it's very low. Uh, we might provide mutual aid approximately 20 or 25 times over the course of a year. And we may request mutual aid anywhere from six to 12 times a year. Hayek/ Okay. (both talking) Rocca/ ...those are pretty constant. Hayek/ ...that's where we're deploying our trucks and our firefighters to go to... Rocca/ Right. Typically it's one unit that we would send out. Sometimes more than that and... and that causes us to back -fill but typically it's in the neighborhoods of 25 calls a year out and about six to 12 requests coming in. Throgmorton/ Would I be correct in inferring that the cost implications are equally small? Rocca/ Generally speaking yes. The commitments are usually short-term, you know, maybe in one to three hours, um, if it exceeds an hour we typically to back -fill with overtime personnel just to make sure the rest of our community is adequately protected. Hayek/ Are ... are those calls, let's say 25 a year ... are they larger fires, are they more significant events that trigger a request for (both talking) Rocca/ Cert ... certainly they are, because either they are busy on another call and can't fulfill an obligation in their jurisdiction, or their resources are stretched and they just need help with the call they're on. That's correct. Hayek/ Okay. Payne/ (mumbled) just a side question to that then is training, so if...Coralville has all the firefighters that are volunteers there, are we paying for that person's training so that they can be a firefighter in Coralville and then they don't have to be trained twice. Rocca/ There are a minimum requirements of the State of Iowa that are addressed in the Code of Iowa that cause firefighters to at least have that basic minimum training, and so there This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 45 would be a cost in all communities to a basic level. Um, certainly there are other certifications and training that we require that we do pay for, and that's probably what Tom's referring to in terms of that benefit in that community. Maybe it's technical rescue or hazardous materials, or ... or whatever, but um ... clearly there's a minimum level that we all provide county wide, state wide, and then level beyond that that we've trained to and they reap the benefit (several talking) Payne/ ...if they did their training in Iowa City, Coralville wouldn't have to pay for them to go do that training... because they already did the training here, so they've had that minimum training. Rocca/ They wouldn't have to repeat it, but they would have to demonstrate proficiency, and there'd still be some costs associated with that... Dobyns/ Much lower! Showing your proficiency in training would be a lot lower cost than actually training them. Rocca/ Certainly it would! Dobyns/ What percentage of our Iowa City firefighters currently moonlight, um, and volunteer in other municipalities? Rocca/ Well I think roughly two - thirds of them would live outside of the city and probably a third of those would be volunteer firefighters. So there could be close to 20. Champion/ But they're not paid! (several talking) Not really moonlighting for money. Payne/ No, but it's still ... they are ... we're still providing something that another community is getting a benefit from. Champion/ I think we're really getting a (both talking) Rocca/ Well and I think you have to be fair when you look at mutual aid, we also reap a benefit when they come in and help us. Payne/ Oh, absolutely! Absolutely! Rocca/ And that's the whole basis for mutual... mutual aid. Payne/ Absolutely! Champion/ I want to just ask a quick question. You said we were number three rated... Rocca/ Our ISO rating, that's correct. Champion/ One to 10? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 46 Rocca/ Yes. Champion/And we could possibly eventually be two. Rocca/ Correct. Champion/ Does that lower people's insurance rates? Is there an advantage to being a number two over a number (both talking) Rocca/ That's an excellent question. From ... from a residential standpoint, no they are generally grouped from like rating, uh, class rating one through six; uh, commercial, industrial users may see a significant benefit from us going from a three to a two. Champion/ Okay. And ... if you're a volunteer fire department, what would your rating be approximately? Rocca/ You know, Coralville currently has a three. Champion/ Okay! Rocca/ Yeah, and so there's, you know, the way your alarms are handled, and that's clearly done consistently throughout the county now. Uh, your firefighter staffing, training, fire equipment, water capabilities, your 9 -1 -1 services — there are a lot of things that go into that and so as you get out where there isn't municipal water supplies typically you'll find the ratings are lower, response times are longer, maybe personnel immediately available are limited, so the ratings typically go lower. Champion/ Appreciate that (both talking) Markus/ What you have to do when you, you know, like in any of these ratings and any of these surveys that rank us, you have to drill down into what are the criteria that they're using for rating, and Andy just pointed it out, one of the critical rating factors for ISO is water systems and the pressure points where they draw that water from to fight fires. And that's one of those big issues. So you can have incredible fire department and if your water system's a disaster your rating will be much lower. And Andy's actually... accurate when he points out that, you know, those ... when you get into a certain level of ratings, they have minimal if any impact on insurance premiums for residential. Where they have an impact is on commercial properties. And that's a misnomer out there. It's one of those urban legends that's been repeated over and over again, sometimes by fire services that really don't understand the ISO rating system, and that Andy's right, that it doesn't, at those levels, it really doesn't have much of an impact on residential premiums (mumbled). Payne/ I have one more question. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 47 Rocca/ Certainly. Payne/ It's ... very, very minute, but um, on your capital outlay you have $8,000 for sidewalk and driveway replacement at Station #3 you said. Rocca/ Correct. Payne/ And when you were talking about it you called it an expense. Where I'm from capital expenditures are different than expense expenditures. So, is it capital or is it maintenance? (laughter) Rocca/ Well, it's a capital and what's triggered by capital is it exceeds $5,000... Payne/ That's your, okay, that's... Rocca/ Correct. Payne/ ...the threshold. Okay. Rocca/ Correct. Otherwise it would be embedded within the line items of the budget (both talking) but it's singled out as capital, given the cost. Payne/ Okay. Markus/ Financial triggers that... Payne/ That's ... that was my big question is, what ... I guess what was the threshold. Dobyns/ Is our water pressure optimal? Rocca/ It's very good! Yeah! I mean, we have, you know, some issues in certain parts of the community, uh, but uh, you know, the long -term plan for that is to upgrade and ... and replace a lot of those water mains as, uh, development occurs in those areas, or redevelopment occurs, so ... water system's very strong in Iowa City. Throgmorton/ Very briefly revisit what Tom said about regional, possible regional approach, and ... and you know, express my support for the idea. I think it's definitely something that should be explored, uh, at least tentatively and what other ways are ... you feel are appropriate. But... Markus/ (mumbled) ...one of the reasons that I really wanted to go onto the JECC board is I hope to, you know... and I have no illusions that this is going to be easy, but I hope to con ... start to convince people of what a tremendous value going to regional on those types of services is. It's significant, especially when you consider the amount of capital investment. Back in Oakland County where I came from in Michigan, I think we had like 26 p -saps. A p -sap is a radio center for a county of a million people. It was absurd the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 48 duplication and the cost to do those sorts of things, and so what you've done here in Johnson County is ahead of the curve, and I'm just dismayed about the consternation that continues over ... over that for reasons, uh, beyond what I understand. Because I think if it's management issues or its, you know, delivery issues, those are issues that we can work on and make better, but that's a great model for this county for other service delivery mechanisms. Mims/ Well, and I would agree with that, and also ... you know, your comment, Tom, too about, you know, with the ambulance service. I mean, that's always been one of my questions. I know I talked to Andy about this when I was running for Council, you know, why do fire trucks go out every time there's a 9 -1 -1 call, even if there's no fire involved, and so are there are we can work together maybe with the whole county, getting some efficiencies in terms of, you know, a regional fire coalition and the ambulance service, where we can cut our costs on the non -fire calls. So we're not sending out those incredibly expensive trucks and maybe some of the highest paid people, um, you know, on everything that doesn't necessarily... and I understand sometimes you've got a fuel spill or something like that where ... where you need that equipment, but just looking at what kinds of efficiencies we can get by working together in those areas. Markus/ Yeah, Andy and I have talked about that, and one of the things that we came from was that combined fire, paramedic service, and ... and Andy and I might disagree on this, but I doubt it. Um, paramedic service saved fire departments around this country ... when they, uh, paramedics were combined with fire departments, and they're kind of a natural alliance in my opinion. One of the things you have here in Johnson County is you have, in my opinion, one of the most expensive service deli ... uh, delivery mechanisms for public safety. You have separate police, separate fire, separate paramedic, and separate 9 -1 -1, and there has to be some allegiances that can occur between some of those to make those things more efficient. The natural one to me is paramedic and fire, but ... the problem is I think that politically, uh, it's such a popular service for the Johnson County Board of Supervisors that it's not going to change. I think it's just an absolute natural alliance, and I think, Andy, you can tell us, there's a number of your firefighters that are already paramedics. Rocca/ That's correct, and some of you may even remember the dialogue we had with the County, albeit very short, you know, they weren't really interested in pursuing that. I think it's healthy for the community to always take a look at, you know, a different way to provide the services, and if you elect to, uh, to move forward in a different direction, there's probably win -win. If not, so be it. At least you examine the option and you can move on from there. Markus/ Paramedic service is one of the most critical in terms of response times services that you can have, so you know, one of the biggest criticisms, Andy's heard it too, that we get here is, my God, every piece of rolling stock in town is rolling to every respond for a call. Cause Andy's responding is both fire and first responder. Police is responding. And then the paramedic service is responding. So you got all these sirens and equipment rolling This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 49 and people are going, `What's...'... you know, they ... because it isn't really as coordinated, quite frankly, as it could be. Champion/ Well I think part of that is the ... I mean, I'm glad you're first responders because you have much better distribution throughout the town than the ambulance service does. And there's been no effort to change that. Uh, we tried to change it with the new fire station. Didn't we think about asking them to put an ambulance up there? Didn't we talk about that? Rocca/ We did. We did and frankly I think the discussion kind of fell off when the provision of rent or, you know, shared expenses came to be and I'll let you all deal with that component (laughter) but the offer was ... was certainly made. Champion/ I mean, so ... it's hard, I mean, I don't see this happening in my lifetime, this regional thing. I don't see it happening. It..we've been talking about this since I was first on the School Board... working with that, you know, that joint thing we all go to. So that would have been ... a long time ago, let's say 24, 25 years ago ... this has been talked about. And the ... we haven't done anything about it, except the 9 -1 -1 now is consolidated, but that... it probably isn't going to happen in your lifetime either! Markus/ Connie, sometimes you just need a good crisis! (laughter) Champion/ That's true! Hayek/ Well and one will be this slow but steady, uh, erosion of...of state and federal funding that I anticipate, and if the economy moves forward but not at the break -neck pace that we've seen over the last 10, 15 years these things will come to fruition... (several talking) out of necessity. Rocca/ Certainly! Hayek/ So... Rocca/ Any other questions? Well I thank you for your time today and uh, commend you for the funding and support you've provided the Department and uh, wish you luck through the budget process! Thank you. Hayek/ Thanks, Chief! Markus/ Doug, known for his brevity, is agreed to (both talking) Housing & Inspection Services (pp. 103 -112): Boothroy/ I think I need to take a hint here! Markus/ ...five minutes or less (laughter) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 50 Boothroy/ Let me just say, Matt, that, uh, when you said that your father worked here eons ago, I worked with your father. (laughter) And, uh, it was not eons ago! (both talking and laughing) Hayek/ ... immediately thought (laughter) there's Boothroy! Boothroy/ So ... yeah, we were, uh, he was a great city attorney and we ... and we did the Oaks Meadow case, Jim, went to the Supreme Court, and John was imp ... that was an important land -use case and... and the City won that and it made a big difference in terms of how we dealt with subdivision law and so forth, so ... uh, it was, uh, it was a great... great adventure at that time. Um, Housing Inspection Services, uh, gee, look at that chart! Uh, it's not as big as the others, but uh ... uh, I want to point out a couple things about it, or at least one thing about is that... Karr/ Excuse me, it's page 103. Boothroy/ 103, I'm sorry. Hayek/ Thanks, Marian! Boothroy/ Uh, besides the building inspection and uh, rental housing inspection divisions that you see there to the right, uh, sometimes people forget that Housing Inspection Services also includes the division of the Iowa City Housing Authority. Uh, you know, a little bit about what we do, and I'll start with the, uh, Iowa City Housing Authority because the City Council is the administrative board for the Iowa City Housing Authority. And, it is not an Iowa City only, uh ... group that you, uh ... have jurisdiction over, uh, it's a multi - county or maybe you'd consider it a regional. We do Johnson ... all of Johnson County, um, north half of Washington County down to, well, I can't remember the name of the town now, but it escapes me and then also, uh, a part of Iowa County. Uh ... so it's multi - jurisdictional, uh, it makes it a little bit different, uh, and I won't go into the history of that, but it is called the Iowa City Housing Authority. Now, uh ... we administer in that particular program, uh, Section 8 vouchers, and the voucher system is, uh, a um ... a subsidy that's paid to landlords to, uh, support the rent of low - income families, and if you look at the budget, uh, the numbers are quite large in terms of that subsidy, that we pay out, uh, on a regular basis. It's over $6 million a year. Has been that level for some time, and ... and why ... why I want to emphasize that is that ... that goes not to our clients. We don't pay it directly to our clients. It's paid directly to, uh, to the private sector, uh, to support, uh ... uh, the rent and it's paid directly to the landlord. Um ... we also have public housing. We have a small program, uh, there's about ... back to Section 8, there's about 1,214 units, uh, public housing... Karr/ Excuse me, Housing Authority is 293. (mumbled) Boothroy/ Thank you, Marian. Uh ... there's 81 units of public housing and then we also have in the Peninsula, we did a ... we were in a partnership a few years ago and we built a 10 -unit This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 51 apartment building that is owned by the City of Iowa City that, uh, through the use of Home funds, uh, and grants from the State, uh, is, uh ... uh ... used for affordable housing, for uh, elderly and handicapped and uh ... uh ... it's primarily one - bedroom and two - bedroom units, uh, all handicapped accessible, uh, and that's ... and that's, uh, we're obligated to that for 20 years. Um, so we ... we did that about five years ago or so. Maybe I'm losing track of time here, but it's ... it still has a ways to run as far as the, uh, obligations we have at that. So we have about 1,300 -plus, uh, families that are, uh, active, receiving uh, affordable housing through the Housing Authority. Um ... our wa ...we don't have much of a waiting list anymore. It's about ... it may be up to a year, depending on the time of the year that we're talking about, uh ... uh ... and we process that pretty quickly. Our fees are, uh, for administrating the program comes from keeping not only the families in affordable housing, but ... but uh, on a per ... per head basis, uh, HUD pays us for, uh, administering the program based on, uh, keeping it, um ... uh, active and utilized. So ... uh, the Housing Authority has received high performer status over the last, uh, few years. Uh, part of that is maintaining, uh, above 95% utilization. We usually are around 98 %, um, and uh ... that number is ... you know, over the entire year, so there are times that we're actually, um, a little over 100 %. Times we're over ... like in the fall when there's a lot of turnover, sometimes we're a little below 95 %, but we ... we have to over -issue in order to maintain, uh ... a high level of occupancy because of the turn -over that we have in ... in the, uh, the program. Uh, for your information we take a very active role in accountability. Uh, it's important. I think that's uh ... in terms of the integrity of the program. Uh, so we..we do criminal background checks, uh, nationwide and lo... we're the only, uh, entity in, uh, Johnson County that does nationwide FBI, uh, background checks on ... on clients. Cause we have access to that through HUD. Um... and so we're ... we're always screening and making sure that ... that we're not providing assistance to, uh, criminals or other people that meet the denial criteria for the HUD program, but it is a HUD program. Uh, all the money comes from HUD. Uh, it's 100% funded by HUD. It is not a General Fund program. Now the other ... other two divisions, um, I'd like to talk about are on ... background 103, urn ... and so that's 107, Housing Inspection. Let's start with Housing Inspections on page 107. As rental housing spec... inspection and uh, in Iowa City we've had a rental housing inspection program since, uh ... the mid70s. Some of you might not remember that. But um ... uh ... it's a well - established program, uh, and we inspect all rental units, duplex, single - family, and multi- family, every two years. Uh ... we ... couple years ago changed the cycle for single- family and duplex inspections because some of our problem properties, problem rental properties, uh, were in the single - family rentals and duplex rentals. And so one of the ways we felt that we could get a better handle on that was to inspect them, uh, every two years and uh, and we've been doing that now for, uh, at least one cycle. It's probably been three or four years ago, uh, for that. The, uh, rental housing inspection program is fee - based, uh, for the most part. I'll talk a little bit later about the fact that we're proposing a fee increase. Uh, one of the things that we inspect for that you should be aware of is that it's, um, it's a life safety inspection for the most part. Uh, all of the, uh, sprinkler systems and... and uh, fire suppression systems and alarm systems and smoke detectors and any other fire hazard type of things that may occur in a residential, and that's where you see a lot of it occurring because of all ... the way people tend to live sometimes, uh, we're there every two years to make sure that those systems are This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 52 operational, uh, and uh ... I think that's really important, uh, and has been very important in several major fires in Iowa City. Um ... the other division is the ... and I should say, that all the housing inspectors are, uh, certified, uh, under the International Building Code, so they have that level of expertise and ... and that's something that we've done over the years to make sure that all the inspectors, both the building inspectors and the, uh, rental housing inspectors, are certified, uh, under the, uh, building code, if you will, uh, because that helps them in terms of their credibility as well as their ability to do their inspections. The building inspection division, uh, is ... on page 109. Uh ... it ... as I mentioned, they're all certified. It's also based on revenue. Uh, it ... that revenue comes from building permits and so as the economy does well, our revenue does well. Uh, which should be no surprise that revenue in building permits over the last three years has been down. However, we are up from the ... the low of two years ago. Uh ... uh ... and you know I ... I'm aware that there are projects in the wind that, uh ... we hope go forward because that will certainly help our revenue with regard to this particular division. One of the things that both the rental housing and the building departments, or inspection divisions do is that, uh, we ... we inspect and enforce or administer, uh, all of the, uh, not only the life safety codes like with building codes, plumbing, electrical, mechanical, uh, backflow prevention, which protects our community water supply system, uh, but we also, uh... administer environmental regulations, uh, erosion control, um ... also, backflow would be I suppose an environmental regulation ... uh ... flood plain ordinance, uh, those types of ...of documents, uh, that are in place. Uh, we do the land use regulations, uh, that would be zoning, uh, nuisance, uh, this has been a good year, uh, with regard to snow. That's one of the ones that we do not like to regulate, uh, but ... but uh, we do ... we're very effective, the community's very effective in getting snow removal taken care of. Uh, so a lot of that stuff that you adopt through, from the... recommendations from the Planning and Zoning Commission to the City Council, uh, we're responsible for making sure that it works. Uh, it's ... you know, we try to make these laws work. Sometimes there are glitches, uh, and if there are, we'll bring those back to you or bring them to the appropriate board, uh to have them changed. One of the things that ... that I tell my inspectors, uh, in terms of the building codes and housing codes is that ... we're there to support the contractors. We're there to support the apartment owners, uh ... we have developed good working relationships with both entities over the years. Uh ... we... we need to be there as problem - solvers, to help them get worked through these codes. Um, to train them, in effect; to, uh, so that they can comply, uh, I've been with the department since ... for quite some time. I won't go into that (laughter) uh, but I've seen ... I've seen the progression, uh, with ... for example the rental housing code. Uh, years ago when I first was involved, a lot more violations because people were learning the codes. We haven't changed the rental housing code significantly over the years, and uh, now it's more about maintenance. It's more about, uh, ensuring that the ... the systems are working the way they should be, or that the building's are well maintained on the outside, as opposed to getting into some structural issues. So, people have learned what the codes are, what the expectations are, but as I said, I think it's important to realize that... that, and the inspectors to understand, that ... that they're there to help and to be problem - solvers, and not be the problem when it comes to code, because the first thing people think about regulations, uh, is not necessarily a positive thing. Um ... the next thing I want to mention is that ... the entire department is based on the philosophy that it needs to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 53 be, uh ... either fee - supported or with the Housing Authority of course it all comes from federal funds ... uh, so the ... as I mentioned earlier, the building inspection division bases their fees primarily on... on revenue from building, uh, building permits. The housing inspection division on ... on the business license, which we call a rental permit. Uh, in the budget, uh... a consideration, uh, one of `em is that there is a proposal for a fee for a rental fee increase between 5 and 5.9 %, depending on what type of configuration you have with regard to, um ... uh, the units. Now this is a, uh, number ... if you adopt that, we would have to come back to you after the budget's adopted, uh, with a resolution, and there would be a public meeting to discuss this, but uh, it's a ... it's a relatively modest increase, but it keeps pace with ... with fully funding, uh, the division and ... and over the next four years after that's, uh, adopted, uh ... we basically break even at the end of that four years, uh, with a 5% increase. Uh, one of the things that ... the way we apply that fee, just for your information, uh, cause it could come up at the meeting in the future, is that it ... is that it's rolled in as we renew permits. So there are some folks that ... that got their permit June... if you adopt this and it goes into effect July 1 st of this year, there are some folks that got their permit in June, that will be two years before they would see this ... this particular permit. So it's not as if everybody that owns property has this come into effect. So it takes us two years to balance this out. It takes us...it takes a while to move this through the system. And we've taken that into account and uh ... uh... as you looked at the numbers, I don't know how much information you've received on it, but the ... the impact on, um ... and I've got that written down here ... impact on single - family and duplexes is about, uh ... let's see ... on a three - bedroom single- family rental it would be ... for a two -year permit there ... there would be an additional $10 that would be owed. On a two - bedroom duplex permit, again a ... a two -year permit, that's $11, and then on a multi - family like a 12 -unit, there would be like a $31.00 uh ... increased, uh... amount that they would owe. So it's ... it's not a significant amount of money, uh... and it does help maintain, uh, full funding of.. of the inspectors. Any ... any questions about (both talking) Dobyns/ Doug, can you give us benchmarking data regarding (both talking) Boothroy/ Pardon me? Dobyns/ Can you give us some benchmarking data with other municipalities on those rates? Boothroy/ Well ... I would ... I don't keep track of it, but I ... I think the City of Des Moines and Iowa City probably are the only two communities in the state that ... that are as aggressive in terms of trying to maintain full funding of their ... of their inspection divisions through fees. Uh ... what I can also tell you is that other communities are catching up and are trying ... are going in the same direction. Dobyns/ That's consistent with our City's philosophy, like in transportation. (several responding) Yeah. Mims/ Doug, I've got a couple of questions on the construction permit, um, and inspection fees, the numbers between the housing inspection and the building inspection. Um... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 54 Boothroy/ Yeah. Mims/ Yeah! Boothroy/ I'm not sure I understand your question, but go ahead. Mims/ Well... for example on... on the page for the housing inspection. Boothroy/ What page is that? Mims/ It's 108. Boothroy/ Okay. Mims/ The difference between like if you look at the numbers for construction permit and inspection fees from 2011 going up. Boothroy/ (mumbled) this is rental housing, okay. Mims/ Yep, dropped off in 2012, looking at another significant increase in 13. Is ... is that because we ... you're already seeing in the works... some big apartment complexes that are ... or where ... where those numbers come... Boothroy/ Well... O'Malley/ I can speak to that! Boothroy/ Oh, okay! O'Malley/ ...for you! Boothroy/ I won't! (laughter) O'Malley/ Uh, the... (male)/ Thank you, Kevin! O'Malley/ ...the number for 13 is correct, but the number for the year 14 is incorrect. The computer software just took 13 and spread it out, but this rate increase is a ... like 60/40 ...60% of the... residences are one year and 40% the next. So... Mims/ I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch that. O'Malley/ Um, his work load is not an even work load. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 55 Boothroy/ We don't inspect the same number ... uh, units every year. Uh, even though it's a two - year program, some ... one year we have (both talking) Mims/ Heavier! O'Malley/ Yes. Boothroy/ Depending on schedule ... and we try to keep that balanced but they're out of balance all the time it seems like. Mims/ Okay. O'Malley/ And the computer just flatly took (both talking) Mims/ Doesn't like it! O'Malley/ Yep! Dobyns/ What does the increased projection do to the anticipation of larger apartment units? Boothroy/ Yeah, we ... we haven't had a lot of growth, I mean, you see a lot of construction around but, uh, but yeah, we do take that into account. Mims/ So, Kevin, are the bulk of the ... is the bulk of that dollar amount, both on page 108 and on page 112, are those inspection fees and not permit fees? O'Malley/ Right (several talking). The..if you look at 2011... Mims/ Uh -huh. O'Malley/ ...that $594,000 and compare that to the 640,000, that's your 5% increase, roughly. Mims/ Okay. O'Malley/ And ... what happened is, the 473,000 wasn't appropriately flagged. Mims/ Okay. O'Malley/ So, uh, as far as the other, those are building ... the building inspections is the same type of story. We don't have an increase going on there though. But I think it's flattened all the way across. Boothroy/ Yeah it is. I believe it is. O'Malley/ And if we don't get information from divisions, we just use a flat inflation factor for those revenue accounts. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 56 Boothroy/ We're not ... I'm not expecting... well, I don't know what'll, you know, like I said earlier, I think we ... we've heard that there are things in the works to ... to um, help that but-but what happens with the building inspection area it doesn't really relate to the ... that rental housing fee. I treat those as two separate, uh, operations in terms of ...of revenue. In other words, I'm not counting on the building inspection revenue to support the rental housing. Mims/ Right! Boothroy/ Okay. Hayek/ Is ... is the rental, well, is the rental license part of that construction permit and inspection fee? That's ... okay, so... Boothroy/ That is the... Hayek/ Fee pay gets you the license and covers the cost of inspection. Boothroy/ Right! Right. Hayek/ Okay. Payne/ And when you compare the two, you really compare every other year to each other. Boothroy/ It is sort of that way, and we're constantly, you know, we've ... we've brought on another hundred, uh, you know, we've been looking for, uh, units that are being rented without rental permits, and I think we put on a hundred and some this year and so they have to be plugged in wherever and so, you know, we're constantly trying to keep those balanced, but then there's this ... the customer tends to want to have them in the summer, not in the winter, and so there's just ... and we don't, they don't like to have inspections in December, but ... because of the holidays, you know, and so there's a lot of ... you know, there is a little bit of that going on, and it's natural I think because of working with people. Uh, the other thing I wanted to mention, uh, couple other things about budget considerations for... for those of you who were on the Council last year is that, you know, I mentioned that there might be a fee increase for temporary use permits, uh, there ... for game day, uh, activities. Uh, there won't ... that won't be necessary. We kept that within budget, uh ... the University helped out in terms of picking up trash. They picked up almost a thousand bags of trash from the additional trash cans we put out there. Uh, and they paid for, uh, picking up that trash and it worked out pretty well, and it really kept the area clean from what I hear. Payne/ Just out of curiosity, is that thousand bags per game? Boothroy/ No, no, for the season! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 57 Payne/ For the season. Okay. Boothroy/ For the season, not ... that was just on the blue trash ... we rolled out 50 blue trash cans and ... and that was just what we collected south of Melrose, uh, the area north of Melrose was..was, uh, was the University's dumpsters and trash stuff and so that was (several talking) that was just in the neighborhood ... primarily. Dobyns/ Yeah. Most of those in my front yard I think (laughter) Boothroy/ Right! (laughter) Uh... Markus/ But that's... that's a point that you (mumbled) and that's... remember how controversial that issue was. Doug and his crew did a marvelous job (mumbled) together, tamping down all the (mumbled), making it all work, problem all went away (mumbled) to Doug and his staff to make that work. They were out there on game days, monitoring that activity and really, really helping (mumbled) Boothroy/ This is my first year. I've been in town since 68. I had never been over on game day at 7:00 in the morning! (laughter) And so ... uh ... it was a ... it was a very interesting experience (several talking and laughing) Markus/ You always came in a little disheveled on Monday (laughter) Boothroy/ One of the things that ... that I want to, you know, that worked out really well, as it turned out, and we got ... we ... we sent out letters to everybody that we issued a permit to and asked for their feedback, and we got very positive feedback from everybody, or well, all the people that provided feedback, but being over there, uh, we found ... three, what I call party houses, and uh ... having the inspectors on the ground, going out and ... and getting a police officer to come down, take a look at the situation, and getting on it right away, uh, two of those party houses were, uh, they just stopped doing any partying there at all, and the third one was quieted down. So, uh ... one of the problems in the neighborhood besides the trash, and I think we got a pretty good handle on that, was the issue of noise and uh, public urination. And I can remember the first ... first game I was over there, it was before 7:00. It was just a little before 7:00 and I ... and walking up Melrose there's this loud noise, I mean, it was just ... this party, down on Melrose Court about halfway down, 300 Melrose area, Court area, uh, the place was just full of kids already, and many were drunk. Uh, and I'm thinking, boy, could they get `em to class that early, but you could get them to drink, and uh, and so ... I think we did have ... I think it was not only was it important in terms of dealing with some of the game day issues with the vendors, but I think it was helpful to have the inspectors in the area to deal with some of these on the spot, because with neighbors calling in, some of those police calls, took a while to respond to and, you know, just didn't get the resolution that we were able to do to grab the guy on the bicycle and ... and bring him down and say, listen, you know, they're taking money, they're ... and they're charging at the gate. This is ... this is an illegal activity and uh, they were able to get that taken care of. So, I think that worked out well. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 58 Dobyns/ Doug, I just want to mention, you know, your staff, the University, and the community volunteers, uh, I go past Melrose 8:00 every Sunday post -game and the cleanup is remarkable! Boothroy/ It was remarkable, and ... and I want to tell you that Extend -a -Dream stepped forward to ... to provide the staff, uh ... their ... so we were supporting, uh, some of their folks to ...to do the cleanup. They ... they took a lot of pride in what they did. We provided them with vests and hats and they really ... they really liked doing what they were doing, and uh, they got on it and they kept it .... they kept it very clean. They dumped all of it and uh, I couldn't, uh, be more pleased with the kind of support they've provided. So ... we have this group that we meet, uh, we met and we'll be meeting again, uh, it includes University, neighborhood, uh, a whole bunch of us, and I think that's a ... that's a good group, uh, to continue to ... to talk about these issues. The other thing I wanted to mention is that I think in the budget there is a ... a fee, a $28 fee for, uh ... uh, the document, web based document management system that's in the capital improvement plan. That's project docs and that fee will only be necessary if you approve the ... that particular project. Urn ... so ... uh, that fee was established to ... to take care of the, uh, ongoing costs of it, as well as some of the startup costs for that, and that's a fee that we would charge in addition to, uh, the permit fee, a site plan fee or something like that. Uh, it's really very cost - effective because right now when we get a ... let's take a site plan. A site plan comes in, we get six copies, and then we may have four to six pages and it's the large pages, and uh, and MMS for example runs that down. Every revision they run back and forth, uh, at 28 -bucks it would be a steal as far as saving them time to come to the City. Markus/ But we're going to get into that in the CIP. Boothroy/ We will and I won't go into that today. (several responding) Uh... couple things on the horizon I just want to mention is that, um, you know, we're keeping... we're trying to watch what the Congress does with regard to federal funding for affordable housing. We're okay for next year so it's not an issue. I just want you to know that ... that it's a moving target. You never quite know what's going to happen, uh, they never seem to be on your schedule, uh, but I'm not sure what schedule they're on sometimes. Um ... uh... but I do see a trend at the federal level that administrative fees and stuff like that are probably going to be continued to be reduced, and we're going to have to be, uh, cognizant of that and pay attention to what we're doing. In terms of... of, uh, staffing, I want you to know... and... that technology is some of the ... one of the ways that I look at extending our services and maintaining the same level of staffing now and in the future. We'll talk on Monday about project docs, which ... which I think is an important thing to do. Another thing that relates to being more proactive in the neighborhood, uh, intend to ...to continue to pursue, uh, a mobile app called `go request' and that that does is it allows people with ... with cell phones and stuff like that to ... to report issues, uh, to the City. It helps stretch our ... our ability to meet those needs. If they have a GPS- enabled phone they can photograph it and they can give us the address and it may even save us an inspection. So I think that if we can roll that out in the spring, I would like to ... to go in that direction. For the Housing Authority, just for your information, we ... we decided to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 59 be a beta -test site for a new, uh, enhancement for our software. Um... it's called a ... assistance check and what it does is it automates a lot of the interaction we have with our clients in terms of any information changes they have to report to us. Address, uh, income, family status, uh, etc., and it... and it... it automates it so that they bring it into the system. It's data in the system and then for an income verification, we can read that into a form that we send to the employer and it...it cuts down on ... on handling paper and... and key ... keying stuff in and stuff like that. And it's really important that we continue to look at these systems because as I mentioned earlier, we are going to see some reductions I think in time with regard to our administrative fees, and this type of ... of automation is not only what people expect, or are beginning to expect, even low- income families, but it's going to help us in terms of providing service to our clients. Now, questions? Cause I know you want to go home! (laughter) Go to lunch! Markus/ Thanks, Doug! Hayek/ All right! Thanks, Doug. Appreciate it! (several responding) All right, do ... Library's next. Are ... are we going to get Parks and Rec and Senior Center? Okay, so ... (several talking) Karr/ They're here. Hayek/ We're lagging behind here so let's try to make up some... Library (P. 123): Craig/ So you want me to go fast? (several responding) Whatd'ya say? I'm brief, Tom? You said ... am I a brief person? Markus/ You can be concise! Craig/ I can be concise! All right. Well, thanks for having me. Um, here's our org chart which is page... 123 in your book. Um ... I also want to point out the, whenever I start talking about the Library that the City organizational chart reflects the semi - autonomous nature of the Library Board. The Council allocates money and appoints the Library Board, and the Library Board hires and evaluates the Library Director, sets Library policy, and authorize... authorizes expenditures of the allocated money. Our org chart shows the approved permanent staff positions at the Library. In addition to that we employ... it varies day -to -day sometimes, about 60 temporary, uh, workers. There are a great deal... many, many metrics in your budget book this year, which I like to see. I'm sort of a statistic geek! Um, but it's obvious that librarians love their numbers; urn ... I'm not going to go through all those. Uh, if you have any questions about them, I'm glad to answer them. Uh, I think the message I take away from those metrics is the Iowa City Public Library is very heavily used and is very well supported. Our building is open 67 hours a week. We average per hour 227 people in the door, and 458 things checked out. Um, very high metrics! Uh, last year that totaled 768,000 visitors and 1.75 million checkouts. Um ... one of the trends that we're dealing with is this explosion in the use of This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 60 electronic information. Uh, through our web site we provide access to information databases, which people can also use inside the building. Those were used about 600,000 individual... log, web pages last year and we also, and this is where, um, this service is really exploding, offer access to the downloadable electronic books and um, electronic downloadable audio materials. In December everybody got a new gadget for Christmas, and we added 300 new users of that service in the month of December. Access to a computer with an internet connection is rapidly becoming an essential to daily life in this country. Um, increasingly employers and governments are only making vital information online. I think we can all think of many examples of that. The one I want to point out is Job Service of Iowa this year closed 30 offices, and said, well, people can just go to their public libraries. Um, libraries see that as cities should as, uh, a rather unfunded mandate from the state. Uh, we were very lucky to be able to keep the Iowa ... that the Iowa City office stayed open, but they are working on much reduced staff and hours. Um, similarly the State of Iowa no longer will mail a tax form to anyone. So, if you want a ... a state tax form, you can go to your public library and call it up and print it out! Um, otherwise, file online. Again at your public library! Um, some big projects that we're working on this year, we're implementing recommendations of the facilities study that was done last year. We're currently finalizing plans with an architect, um. ... our consultant did not recommend branch libraries, which is good for the City budget. Uh ... in his study, they did recommend that we provide some computer access in southeast Iowa City where we had a ... disproportional number of folks there were using, uh, library computers and so in October with the support of the Iowa City Police Department, we began to provide limited computer access two days a week at the police substation at Pepperwood Plaza. The consultant did suggest some specific items that are needed with the downtown building, and that's what we're working with the architect on. There is a capital request of $100,000 in ... for both FY 13 and FY 14, uh, that we will match with private funding, uh, to get that project done. I don't plan to be here Monday cause that's such a small part of the CIP, but if you have any questions I'm glad to take those. Champion/ What project is that, Susan? Craig/ Pardon? Champion/ What project? Craig/ It's the... we're... we're just finalizing the plans. I mean, the big things that are happening are, uh, we're adding, moving the teen space to the second floor and adding technology, expanding that, and reworking that entryway, combining service desks on the first floor. Other than improving facilities this year we're working on strategic plan goals to emphasize early- childhood literacy programming and to prove... improve our communications about library services and programs. We've tripled the number of outreach visits to pre- schools and daycares, and this month we're offering `book babies,' um, one of our popular six to eight ... for the six to eighteen- month -old set out at Mercer Park one ... once a week in January. Urn ... and we continue to build electronic collections as well as those of more traditional materials, uh, we ... are hoping to launch an innovative project this year that will allow access to the work, electronic access to the work of local This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 61 musicians. Um, we're always struggling to stay one head... one step ahead of the technology needs of our users. FY13, our biggest initiative financial -wise new thing is related to that building project. Um, at the end of FYI the new Library will have been opened seven years and seen 4.2 million visitors. So, things are starting to wear out. In the operating budget there's a $10,000 capital item to replace an obsolete, um, automatic lighting system, and... maintenance costs are just inching up every year, as, you know, the HVAC system start, oh, we need a new motor here, and a new this there ... um, so just ... nothing gigantic, but it's something to start thinking about a seven - year -old building, uh, things are starting to wear out. And collection funding that we've asked for will continue to support diverse titles and formats that, uh, Iowa City customers, who are very demanding, want. I just want to point out on page 124, which is the Library budget sheet, um ... where our income comes from cause we ... I think Tom has talked a lot this year about making sure that people that use us from outside of the Iowa City area pay fair amounts. Um, looking at the 2013 budget line, the $4 million is the General Levy of property tax, uh, the 781, which is the next line down, is Library levy that was voted on, um, I think it was in 1999. The late 90s and is a 27 -cents levy. Um, so that's a voter - approved levy, and then if you skip down to, um ... $35,000 from the University of Iowa, the State 28E agreements. That is for providing access to children's literature collections that started last year, um ... well, it started in 11, uh ... and it ... is a contract that is the same for three years and then we'll renegotiate that. The $423,840 is our agreements with the... the biggest one there by far is the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, the Council approved some modest changes in that contract, um, earlier... later this fall? Um, but basically it is a contract that has been reworked several times, but it's ... it is based on the percent of checkouts that go to, uh, rural Johnson County people, which is usually between 7 and 8% of our total circulation. Um ... and then they pay that percent of the tax support that we get from the city. So I think it's a fair formula. Hayek/ Sue, 7 to 8% of... Craig/ Of our total circulation... Hayek/ Okay. Craig/ ... comes ... from rural county residents, people who live in the unincorporated areas. Um ... then the ... Library fines and fees, the next two numbers I just want to point out the two rental spaces that we have. So we bring in about $123,000 in rent and a big part of the miscellaneous revenue is we ... take in their taxes and then pay them back to the City and that's in between $40,000 and $45,000 a year. So about $160,000 some there is basically pass - through money. We're taking in their rent and their taxes and, um... giving most of it back. So that's our revenue. And our expenses, uh, it's no surprise, again, uh, what we do is very personnel driven and most of our expenses are personnel related and the ongoing biggest capital expense is always the Library collection. Was that brief enough, Tom? Questions? Hayek/ Is the ... the CIP matter, that you referenced... is this consistent with what we talked about a year ago, or... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 62 Craig/ (both talking) yes, after the building consultant's report. Hayek/ Okay. Craig/ ...we said, yeah. Hayek/ Okay. Champion/ (several talking) Susan, how... no, go ahead. Throgmorton/ Go ahead! Champion/ Susan, with the 28E agreement with the County, do we have a ... I know you can use any library, right? Is there a special agreement for that? Or is it just... Craig /That is a statewide agreement. It's called open access, um, and our money has been decreasing from the state, uh... for funding of that. It... it says that if you're an accredited library and you participate in open access, anyone within your jurisdiction can go to another participating library, get a library card, and check things out there. Um, our biggest open access client as you would imagine is Coralville, but similarly their biggest open access user is Iowa City people. So we ... we are a net loaner in the open access pro ...project, um, we loan more things than Iowa City people go and get at other cities. Um, and so again, that fuels, you know the interesting ... I was listening to the conversation about mutual aid and fire, and it's a similar, if you're participate in open access, it's a similar kind of deal and people can come to us and get library services and our people can go someplace else, and we are, like I said, a net loaner. I think Iowa City does see some benefits from it because of our downtown location, uh, of the building. You know, people who come make a visit from Fairfield to come to the Iowa City Public Library on Sunday afternoon are very likely doing other things in downtown Iowa City, um, or in the Iowa City area and spending money and we are a destination point in that regard. Throgmorton/ The police sub... substation initiative, how's that going? Craig/ We are not overwhelmed with customers, but ... you know, we ... we want to keep promoting it within the neighborhood. I think anything that you offer so few hours a week; people have to remember when it's open. Um, this summer and it's very valuable to the people that are using it. This summer we are going to do some initiatives through summer reading program out there, and work with the Neighborhood Center out there and get some... some of their kids over and hopefully, um, raise the awareness within the neighborhoods of the availability. Hayek/ Other questions for Susan? Craig/ All right! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 63 Hayek/ Okay, thank you! Craig/ Thank you! Hayek/ Mr. Moran! Parks and Rec. Parks and Recreation (pp. 138 -140): Markus/ Mike (mumbled) you have 15 minutes! Moran/ (laughter) Good morning, uh, Mr. Mayor! Council! Matt, congratulations on your reappointment or re- election... Hayek/ Oh, thank you! Moran/ ...as Mayor. Um, thank you, I'll try my hardest! Parks and Recreation, uh, we go through seven divisions, which are listed there. I'll go through them in order of how they are... Karr/ Page 138. 138. Moran/ Uh, 140 or 138, whatever, yeah. We'll go in ... we'll go in order of those. Uh, if you have any questions let me know please. Uh, park operations, uh, just for some background there are some listed in there. Some other ones that ... that we came up for you with, uh, we maintain 1,506 acres of parkland. Uh, 43 designated parks, which includes about 1,354 acres. Uh, we oversee 27 and a half miles of trail, uh, throughout the City of Iowa City, and we have 60,000 linear feet of irrigation lines and systems in our parks we have to maintain. Um ... in our 22 ball fields and softball fields we had over 4,100 games played an practices last year. Just to give you an idea of usage. We have 31 playground structures and 14 restroom structures in our park systems, uh, throughout the city. We have, uh, very unique areas, uh, two dog parks, uh, that we've had that have been very successful. The Riverside Festival stage, which was also a revenue producer for us, a skateboard park, splash pad, disc golf course, and then the beloved carnival rides in Lower City Park, which we overtook several years ago. Uh, the new areas, uh, for park operations that will add to our, uh, fleet of course is the Terry Trueblood Recreation Area. Uh, that will become Iowa City's largest park, uh, when it's completed. Uh, the lake itself is twice the size of the lake at Kent Park, just to put it into perspective for you. Uh, double the ... the size of Kent Park, and then the acreage of the Terry Trueblood Park is about 208 acres, which is about 25 acres more than City Park. Uh, just so you can put all that into perspective. Uh, we hope to bring the marina, well, we will bring the marina facility online with a vendor, uh, a joint contract this spring and we'll be renting canoes, kayaks, paddle boats, fishing lines, and bicycles out of that building, and then utilize the trail system and... and utilizing the facility basically. And then, uh, a year from now then the lodge will come available, and that will be a rental facility. Uh, it'll be about 32,000 ... 32,000 square feet. It'll have two meeting rooms, a kitchen facility for catering, and bathroom facilities, used both for the facility and outside the facility, uh, for users This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 64 that don't necessarily have an event going on inside the building. Uh, so that facility will come on and that will be a rental property for us as well. We will be done with, uh, all the ... the maintenance of that and construction by May of 13. That's our goal to do that with. Uh, and bring that online. Uh, the other issue that we will have, uh, that we will be going through is the Normandy Drive area. Uh, we'll discuss that a little bit more in depth on Monday in the CIP program. We've got some CIPs for you to look at. But that also includes the Ashton House, the Ned Ashton House, and that's a historical house on the National Registry, which means that we did purchase that house, but we can't tear it down. So what we're going to do is we're going to use that for a rental facility, as well. Use that for weddings, receptions, uh, use that for conferences, mini - conferences, meeting rooms, etc. Uh, we have to ... we can't get that online yet. We have to do an adaptive reuse study and flood mitigation study. Uh, through FEMA. We've bid that out and that work will start sometime this month and that'll take about four months to do and then we'll bring that online. So that'll come online this next fiscal year, as well. Uh, recreation division, uh, has four, uh, five general program areas. Uh, we program in social, cultural, aquatics, special populations, adult fitness and wellness, and youth sports and wellness. Uh, in addition we administer the Farmers Market, the Grant Wood Farmers Market, uh, the garden plots, and the shelter reservation system which had over 1,100 shelter reservations last year. Uh, we offer over 1,200 programs annually to the public with over 12,700 participants annually. Uh, our facilities, uh, which main ... which consist of Recreation Center, Mercer Park Scanlon Gym, uh, Grant Wood Elementary, uh, School gymnasium, and City Park pool, um, host over about 375,000 annually, uh, for people coming in through. We will have a lot of celebration things going on in the next couple of years. Uh, last year we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Mercer Park Aquatic Center, uh, in two years will be the 50th anniversary of the Recreation Center, and in two years will be the 75th anniversary of City Park pool. So we'll be partying a lot in two years, so when you see our budget it'll go up maybe a 100 bucks so we can do that (laughter). Hayek/ Will ... will, um ... apropos those facilities ... is ... in the last 25 years, have we had a major Parks and Rec type facility constructed? We've acquired boatloads of parkland, and now we're doing Terry Trueblood and I know there are facilities there, but is there anything else in the last quarter century? Moran/ No. In 1986 when we put up Mercer Park Aquatic Center, uh, we did that and then in 1990 is when we put the gym in so the gym was an addition to Mercer Park Aquatic Center. And that was basically the last construction we had for a recreation facility. Dobyns/ Mike, your, uh, 2014 budget doesn't increase much with the Trueblood park. Are you just ... somehow you can use current personnel and... Moran/ Yeah, we haven't put a budget plan together yet because we're in the current phase of designing the building so we know exactly what it ... what it looks like and then we'll put a budget plan or a business plan together. We hope to float any additional help we need with that through a revenue stream... at that... at that facility. But we won't know that until we get the business plan put together for that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 65 Dickens/ Is it going to have a separate person that runs that... facility? Moran/ We would like a separate person to run that, right. But... Dickens/ Cause it's going to be used quite a bit I imagine. Moran/ I would certainly hope so. It's being used quite a bit now! (laughter) Markus/ Mike, have we considered at all privatizing the, um, operations of that? Moran/ Uh, we will in the business plan, uh, that's what we're doing at the marina building right now is we'll contract with an outside business source to do that. So ... that could be a very good possibility. Dobyns/ Mike, what's been the impact of the University's new health and wellness recreation center on, especially downtown... Moran/ Everybody asks me that and ... and we honestly don't see an impact at all. We have not been impact... impacted by an increase or a decrease. Our numbers have stayed relatively flat over the that. Uh, the kids that live across the street still come to the Recreation Center instead of go to the ... the new building, and uh, the programming for that, uh, the programming is very difficult from what I understand for families to go and ... and be involved in swim lessons. They have to pay for parking, you know, etc, etc, and at the Recreation Center and Mercer Park they still aren't paying for parking and it's a lot easier to get to, so ... uh, we've really stayed flat throughout that. Payne/ I have a question on capital outlay. Moran/ Uh -huh. Payne/ On the Parks and Rec sheet that's on page 139, there's no capital outlay. So how are you doing this stuff at Terry Trueblood without having capital outlay? Moran/ Uh, well the one on 139 is the administration budget and... Payne/ Okay, so I'm looking at the wrong page? Moran/ (both talking) but the Terry Trueblood is all on CIPs and we'll have that discussion on Monday. Payne/ Okay. Hayek/ That's the trick of this! You can ... (both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 66 Payne/ And then on page 147, I asked a question earlier about what the threshold was for capital. There's several things on here that are less than $5,000. O'Malley/ That's correct, Michelle! Some of our departments listen closely and some do not! (laughter) Payne/ So these really are capital expenditures. O'Malley/ That's correct. Moran/ Old habits die hard! We've been ... we've been doing that for a long time and we just haven't cleaned that up. Thanks for pointing that out! (laughter) Markus/ Do you mean Kevin or Michelle? (laughter) Moran/ Uh, Kevin obviously! (laughter) Throgmorton/ Mike, uh, we have, um, quite a few, uh, new residents who are of different cultural backgrounds than, uh, what's long been familiar for Iowa City. In what ways does the current budget and programming within it accommodate the, uh, the interests of, uh, that new population? Moran/ Well the new population, we're impacted by that by the ... their visits to our facilities and right now our facilities are mainly free, so it doesn't really have an impact. We still offer that same service. If we get requests for specific things, uh, we usually can meet those requests. For example, they do a lot of rental of our facilities, and they do their own gatherings right now. So they haven't asked us to really alter the way we deliver our program service, but they've been using our facilities much like the general public would do. So we really haven't changed much in ... in doing that, uh, and we still seem to be meeting their needs. Does that answer your question? Dickens/ Lot of stuffs being done at Grant Wood by their Neighborhood Association too. Moran/ Right, right and we facilitate that since we have the facility, uh, we have two 28E agreements in place. One is for the Grant Wood Gymnasium which means that the School District gets the gym during school hours til 3:30 and then we get it after that and on weekends. There's no dollar exchange except that we did give `em over $400,000 when they did the addition, uh, through CDBG monies to add that gym, and then we have a 28E agreement through Mercer Park Aquatic Center so that the School District has 25% of usage of the facility and then also pay 25% of the bills, and that's been going on since the (mumbled) inception. Hayek/ And the Wetherby splash pad! Moran/ And the Wetherby splash pad was a CDBG project and a neighborhood project, right. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 67 Mims/ ON a different little, uh, little different focus, but certainly budget related, um, in the objectives on page 140, you talk about the, uh, snow and ice removal, which hasn't been an issue yet this year, um ... with the 27.4 miles of trails and sidewalks, I think it behooves us to really think about long -term how much of that we can afford to clear in the winter. Um, obviously there's certain sidewalks that have to be done, but I think we really need to give some forward thought to which trails, uh, we can and cannot afford to do and uh ... I just ... I just don't see us being able, especially if we add more and more trails, I don't see how we can afford to continue to clear all of these, um, all the time. Moran/ Yeah, we started that process last year and uh, we didn't do south Sycamore greenway, for example, because it went to the soccer complex which wasn't open, but we didn't do Terry Trueblood recreation area and we anticipate turning that in the winter so that we do that for cross - country ski rental and snowshoe rental and ... and stuff like that. So we're in that process right now of trying to decide what we can do and what we can't do. Mims/ Thank you. Hayek/ Thanks for your work in the CBD with downtown maintenance, pedestrian mall, and ... and the sidewalks. Champion/And the bird droppings! Hayek/ And the, yeah, but it's critically important that we ... that we stay on top of all those day - to -day maintenance issues to what we hear about regularly, but I ... I've noticed an improvement. Moran/ Thanks! We'll have some discussion on that Monday, with the CIP project as well ... for that. So... Hayek/ Any other questions for Mike? Thank you! Moran/ Yep! Hayek/ ... good weekend! Markus/ We can finish up with the, uh, Senior Center before we break for lunch. Hayek/ Sure! Hi, Linda! Senior Center (p. 158): Kopping/ I was just told lunch is waiting and I needed to be quick! (laughter) So... Karr/ Page 158. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 68 Kopping/ Well good morning, I think it's still morning! Barely! Okay, um, I wanted to talk a little bit about, uh, who was using the Senior Center, what some of the benefits were, little bit about our finances, and our future plans. Um ... our focus at the Center is now and always has been on active (mumbled) older adults, age 50 and beyond. Um, we sell memberships as a ... a form of participant cost sharing, but you don't need the membership to participate in many activities and low- income scholarships are readily available. At the moment, we have just under... just over 1,500 members. But we serve many more people than our 1,500 membership would, uh, suggest. Several years ago we initiated a deliberate effort to attract younger, older adults to the Center. Not necessarily to make them members, but to introduce them to the facility and the new healthy face of aging. We wanted to dispel negative stereotypes related to growing older and attendance at the, uh, Senior Center. To do this we began offering, uh, programming targeted... targeting young, older adults and our new offerings were offered in the evening hours were things like tango and salsa and chess and travel log, yoga, and zumba classes, um, also literature and ... and urn ... classes that might be of interest to people who have aging parents. As a result, the evening and weekend segment of our programming has grown significantly. In fiscal year 2011, there were over 17,000 visits to, uh, evening and weekend programming. And, I'd like to point out that, uh, we did this without compromising programming enjoyed by, um, existing members or without any additional staff. So we actually increased our, um, number of visits to, uh, a record high of 124,000 visits in FYI 1. The evidence of success of attracting younger, older persons can be seen in the table of 163 on your budget guide under "membership." Uh, the number of younger members has increased while the number of older members has decreased slightly, but I think what's interesting on this table is it clearly illustrates the facts that we provide programs and services for people who vary in age, in as much ... by as much as 40 to 50 years. Other community members who benefit from the Center who are not necessarily members participate in the free AARP tax preparation, legal counseling, Visiting Nurse Association, the nutrition program, senior health insurance information program, counseling, um, honoring your wishes coun ... or, and the honoring your wishes counseling, which is a new initiative that just started last year. Others may work as a volunteer, do student practicums, uh, work -study programs or conduct age - related research. Um, and I hope you can see that we have a much broader outreach than just the, uh, over 50 population. We're very involved with the community. The primary principle underlying our programming is that of successful or optimal aging. This concept involves more than physical health or the absence of disease. It's a comprehensive concept of wellness that encourages and extends an optimal balance of physical, intellectual, emotional, social, vocational, and spiritual health for each individual. The Center promotes optimal aging by providing a variety of opportunities for social... engagement, education, physical activity, and community involvement. Participation in these activities is known to reduce the risk of disease and disability, improve memory, enhance mobility, and provide a social network that is a key factor in longevity, and the ability to participate in and contribute to the culture and community. Essentially, we offer preventative medicine. There are no guarantees, but participation in the types of programs and services offered at the Center have been shown to improve health, extend independent living, and increase satisfaction with life. They keep people... older people in the community, uh, living independently longer and delaying This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 69 the need for more expensive community services. Our current respondents seem to agree. In FYI 1 with the help of, uh, some practicum students, we did three outcome - based surveys, uh, one survey was ... involved participants in literature classes. One involved participants in fitness classes, and one involved participants in performance groups. And, I have to say, I'm certainly not an expert in outcome based surveys, but we ... we did get some information that I thought was interesting and I'd like to share that with you. Uh, and this is something we'll be trying to do, uh, more of in the future. Um, insofar as the literature, um... surveys, the returns on that, uh, 83% of the respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that they made new friends and 80 %, uh, indicated that they were happier since they started taking the literature classes. Um, and one woman wrote on her survey that ... that, "I retired early because of diabetes. I thought my life was over. Was I ever wrong!" Um, on the fitness classes, 81% agree or strongly agree that they feel healthier. 79% agree or strongly agree that their quality of life has improved. 78% agree or strongly agree that they feel better about themselves. The performance groups, which involve the largest number of respondents, indicated that participants believe that the Center has a positive effect on their lives in a few different categories, including social interactions, wellness, and community interaction. The combined agree and strongly agree responses were as follows: 94% made new friends, 87% indicated that their quality of life had improved, 81 % felt healthier, and 78% feel better about themselves. It's pretty clear that participation and program counts while they are... they certainly are a measure of success, do not tell the entire story when evaluating the successful operation of the Senior Center. For many years there was a 28E agreement between Johnson County and the City of Iowa City, stipulating that the City would pay 20% of the operational budget, or no, the City paid 80% of the operational budget and the County paid 20 %. Around 2003, the County pulled out of this agreement and over the years incrementally have decreased the... the... their contribution to ... I think in FY12 they're giving us $72,000. Uh, further the last two years, um, I've had to submit a grant application for their consideration to receive these funds. Looking back over the past five years, from FY07 to FYI 1, the City has paid an average of 75% of the operational budget. Uh, the County has paid 9.5% and ... uh, the Center has raised the balance, slightly over 15% through participant cost sharing. We, we being the Senior Center Commission, the Senior Center Steering Council, and staff recognize that financial circumstances are tight and initiatives are under way at the Center to increase the amount of revenue taken in each year. The first option being explored is raising the percentage of revenue raised by participant cost sharing. The Center's Steering Council is planning some meetings for participants to look over the budget and discuss how we can be proactive and identify the best ways to raise operational revenue. While there are not many options, um ... participants and input support will certainly facilitate any changes that are made. Another change was made in the grant request made by the County. Rather than asking for what the County had been giving in the past, I based the amount requested this year on the number of non -Iowa City, Johnson County residents who are members of the Center, which happens to be 19.2 %, on the total proposed operational budget, which meant that I asked the County in this grant application for $166,084, rather than the $72,000 that I have asked for ... or the $75,000 I'd asked for previously. I've not heard anything from the County regarding this grant application, but it ... based upon usage this would seem to be a more, um, equitable share... of the funding. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 70 Hayek/ Can I interrupt you, Linda? Kopping/ Yes! Hayek/ Um, cause I've been focusing on these, um, percentages and ... and ... and looking at, uh, total expenditures and things like that. So, based on where we are now, the County is roughly 9.5% of, uh, their contribution covers about 9.5% of total expenditures? Kopping/ That was an average over the last five years, yes. Hayek/ Okay, but they're under 10 %. Kopping/ That's correct. Hayek/ And their ... but their utilization is closer to 20 %? Kopping/ That's correct. Hayek/ Okay. Are ... are the ... the total expenditures referenced in those numbers inclusive of the capital and other expenses? Or is that operations? Meaning is the full amount it costs us to keep that building open and staff it and program it reflected in that expenditures cost? Kopping/ I believe so. Hayek/ Okay. O'Malley/ Except for some capital improvement projects... that we've... Hayek/ So when we have those, those are not (both talking) cause we've had some major ones in the last five years. Kopping/ Well, wasn't it included in ... in one of them, Kevin? O'Malley/ ...used to be that way. Used to do loans for `em but we've been paying them out of cash. Kopping/ But there was one year we had a budget over a million dollars. O'Malley/ A budget or a CIP? Well, yes. Kopping/ Didn't that include capital outlay? O'Malley/ If it ... if it was a million dollars it'd be capital outlay and probably some CIP. Kopping/ Yeah. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 71 O'Malley/ Yes. Hayek/ So the answer is the total expenditures does not include all expenses associated with (both talking) O'Malley / Right. Sometimes our CIP programs (mumbled) don't hit the operations. Hayek/ Okay. Thank you! Dobyns/ Have you tracked over the years, uh, you were mentioning the elder population of Johnson County and the percentage they're utilizing. What does that mean, if they visit the Senior Center that... once a year, that counts as a utilizer? Kopping/ A visit is a duplicated count; um, we have not figured out a good way to, uh, produce an unduplicated count. We're looking at different types of software that might help us do that. Right now, the method we use is extremely labor intensive. Excuse me, we're actually, um ... counting, um, collecting numbers and counting and plugging them into charts, Excel tables and ... uh ... so I...I can't give you an individualized count. Dobyns/ My concern is taking a look at your City appropriations per capita, um ... it's ... and thank you for providing, uh, a comparative data with Madison, Wisconsin. Kopping/ Uh -huh. Dobyns/ But it's sizably larger in terms of...what the City provides the Senior Center per capita. I assume that's per capita, per Iowa City citizen. Um ... yeah, I'm just trying to figure out why that's ... why the... Kopping/ Why the difference? Dobyns/ ...I look to the right and you mentioned personnel costs, which I would agree is always a reason for the budget being higher, but I was wondering... realizing that we are unique in having the kind of Senior Center that we do ... but that just seems to stand out to me, and I realize, Matt, that that may not be, you know, consistent with what we should discuss here, but I'm not ... I'm not sure exactly ... it just seemed to be a big difference to me and I'm not sure if we should discuss that here. Hayek/ Personnel expenses or... Dobyns/ Well, just the Senior Center expenditures, uh, in general. I'm not sure if this is the right (both talking) Markus/ You're saying the total expenditures are out of whack with what you're seeing (noises on mic This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 72 Dobyns/ Yeah, I mean, perhaps it's just the fact that you chose Madison as a comparative, but... Kopping/ I ... I agree with you and since I've seen this, um, table I've been very concerned about it. Um, I find it really hard to believe that we spend that much money on programming knowing how we do our programming. Um, and I would like to take some ... I'm not saying this is calculated incorrectly, but I think there's some other variables that need to be considered. Dobyns/ Well I would... and I don't know (mumbled) time we can take a look at that or maybe a year from now, but I'm ... I'm concerned about that. Plus the fact that, um, I think the... charging more as far as utilization rate, and of course you know having scholarships available for low- income (mumbled) of course very much a part of that for inclusivity, but that to be consistent with other City departments as well in terms of what we're doing, so I would really applaud that, especially looking at that fairly sizable (mumbled) Kopping/ Right. I ... I know the director of the, uh, Senior Center and I hope to sit down and... and talk with her about her funding and how it's structured, uh, do some comparisons to see where the differences lie. Champion/ There's an obvious difference, um ... you have twice the visitors. Kopping/ I beg your pardon? Champion/ You have twice the visitors that they have. Kopping/ We have twice the visitors and a quarter of the population (both talking). Uh, we have more programming; um ... we have a much older building. Um ... we support the operation of the nutrition program. There ... there are a lot of things but ... I can't really address it in an informed way unless I really sit down and talk with Christine Beatty. Dobyns/ I agree, Connie. I think that's a probable reason, but I'd like to make it more transparent for future budgetary discussions. I would hate to lose the Senior Center or have to diminish it because we didn't have sufficient transparency. Kopping/ It's a huge difference and I think it warrants looking into. Markus/ You know, one of...one of the other things is ... and I started to look at all these issues and Linda invited me over to meet, uh, the folks that run the food service program, and um, I mean, it is such an incredible program, um, my intention going over there was trying to figure out how I could get them to, uh, maybe help pay some of the rent, um, for the facility, but it was just ... it's obvious that their resources are stretched beyond belief, and the work they're doing in terms of providing food to low /moderate income housing ...you know, I'm a manager at the end of the day, but I couldn't even get there. I mean, it just (laughter) I mean, the work is so significant that you can't go there, but I think those are the types of things that people don't always recognize, about what this community does, and I come from environments where social services are usually the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 73 purview of the county, and I think some of those just because of the way this area developed and what a significant feature Iowa City is, we've absorbed some of those responsibilities over the years, whereas other jurisdictions across the country, that is usually the highest priority is with the county to do those things, so ... those models are different here than you see in other parts of the country and this city in particular is very good about, you know, taking those on, or has been, and we continue to provide those services and ... it's going to take some finesse to move those into areas where the population at large across Johnson County participates in those costs. All of these programs have great value, but you can't expect one municipal entity to continue to provide the bulk of the cost for some of those services. And that's going to be a challenge that we just have to be cognizant of when we have discussions with these other (mumbled) Mims/ Well I would agree and ... and I know two years ago when I was running for Council I went over and visited with Linda and got a tour, I mean, it's a great facility and the things that are being done there, you know, like you said, Tom, with the food program, are fantastic and the results of your survey, the more, you know, we can see activities and entities like this that are helping people in their aging, you know, the better we are as a community, but we have got to find ways moving forward to get some money from some of the other entities whose citizens are using these kinds of services and facilities that we are now footing the bill for. And it's not going to happen overnight, but it's something that, um, kind of put in Tom's lap as city ... City Manager to keep ... keep on top of and keep working towards, and ideas that you might have, Linda, um ... you know, ways that things can be structured a little differently, um, in terms of, you know, keeping track of who is coming through that door, in an efficient way, um, that might work towards some different 28E agreements or whatever. I think we just have to keep trying to work in that direction. Markus/ We're not just in Johnson County with that food program. We're beyond Johnson County. Kopping/ That's correct. Goes to Washington and Iowa counties. Markus/ Here we are providing all the facilities to prepare everything and ... and house that operation. Kopping/ Um ... another fundraising source is, uh, Friends of the Center. I hope you all received the annual report. Um, it's uh independent of the City of Iowa City but uh ... I personally am very closely associated with it as the Treasurer. Uh, it is a non - profit organization that raises funds to help the operation... support the operation of the Senior Center. Um ... annually, um... funds from the endowment are contributed to the operational budget. This year, uh, FY12 it contributed $23,631.86 and course it's our hope that as the endowment grows so will the amount of the contribution and that this will be a long -term source of revenue. Um, the charitable giving account is used to, uh, purchase things like exercise equipment and uh, computers and other such things to support programming. Um, one of the things that has been pledged is to purchase the sign for out in front of the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 74 building, if we can ever get settled on the logo and design and such, and then on... on Washington Street as well. Excuse me ... insofar as program expenses are concerned, we really try to make our programming self - supporting. This is what's confusing about that chart for me. Uh, we use volunteers or independent contractors for instructors, and the volunteer instructors... or independent contractors actually pay the Senior Center back 25% of their gross revenues and they bring in $20,000 a year, uh, into the budget. Um, material costs are paid by the participants. We use corporate sponsors for larger programs, um... such as, uh, dances, the member appreciation events, and that macaroni and cheese event we had over, um ... the homecoming event. Um, our largest program expenses are in advertising and publication of the quarterly program guide. Um, our advertising, we have modified it significantly and it's been extremely successful. Um... over the last 18 months. Uh, the quarterly program guide, we've talked about transitioning to a, something that comes out three times a year rather than, um, four times a year. This is quite likely, uh, will be happening and that will reduce our costs. We've also talked about transitioning to something that's online, but we think given our, uh, participant base that that might be a little bit premature. So probably we'll go to three times a year and then eventually move to an online publication. We want to, uh, in the very near future, like this year, um, continue to work on the diversity of our membership and ... to stabilize and diversify our funding. Uh, to promote a positive image of aging, and the Senior Center. We want to secure national accreditation through the National Institute of Senior Centers. We need to conduct a community survey to evaluate how the Center is serving the community and how effectively it's meeting its needs. Um, our only capital improvement project is to install a fire safety panel. Um, which is a... relatively speaking a low -cost, uh, project. Um, we want to finish the darn sign out in front of the building (laughter). Um ... and we want to continue to support the honoring your wishes, a community wide advanced care planning initiative. We want to have volunteer counselors, uh, available for community members of all ages. And now this is a total biased, uh, pitch I'd like to conclude with, but I think it's really important. I don't think it's said enough, um, I'm the Iowa delegate to the National Institute of Senior Centers, which is a constituent unit of the National Council on Aging. I have been to senior centers in all parts of the mainland U.S. and I've talked to center directors from all 50 states. I've seen research results on best practices for senior center design and programming, and I'd like to say that the Iowa City Senior Center is unique and one of the best in the country. We are very fortunate to have this facility in the community, and I want to thank you very much for your long- standing support that you have provided to make this possible. Thank you. Hayek/ Thank you. Kopping/ Any questions? Hayek/ Any other questions for Linda? Okay! Thanks! (several responding) Enjoy the rest of your weekend! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council ouagel work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 75 Markus/ (both talking) ..suggest let's break for lunch. Let's return and make this a working lunch and we'll get, uh, Jeffs up next and he's always great meal -time, uh, entertainment (laughter) Hayek/ Yes! Dobyns/ We're having Jeff for lunch? (laughter) Hayek/ Ready? So we're back up and running now and uh... Planning and Community Development (pp. 165 and 213): Davidson/ We're not ready til Marian says we're ready! Hayek/ Yeah! Karr/ Go ahead! Hayek/ Okay. Jeff! Davidson/ Okay, thank you! Uh, pleasure to be here and present the operating budget from the, uh, Planning Department. Um ... and it is nice to be here while you're having lunch and not in any post -lunch lull! (laughter) Um... Karr/ Starting on page 166, Jeff, or... Davidson/ Yeah, let's start on page 165 actually and uh, we will be looking at actually two areas of the budget. The, um, the governmental activities community and economic development section where most ... most of our programs are. And then if you skip forward to page 213, the governmental activities special revenue funds ... well, especially with, uh, a lot of uh ... see here. A lot of these sub ... sub, uh, programs of the Community Development division is in that area and we'll ... we'll go through those briefly. I am... there's a lot to cover here, uh, and so I am going to be very brief. By all means jump in if you have a question. Uh, if there are any subtleties or nuances and I'm unable to answer, uh, we'll check those out Monday and get that information to you Monday afternoon. I'll be here for the CIP anyway, so ... um, you know, if you look at the ... at the mission statement and general description of the functions of the Planning Department, uh, it sure occurs to me that they very closely match your strategic planning goals, and so clearly, uh, we're going to have a major role in that. Diversifying the economic base of the community, uh, promoting the growth of the downtown and the near downtown, investing and delivering in core services to neighborhoods, creating a strong and sustainable financial foundation, I mean, those are all things that our programs directly related to, and of course the ... the fifth priority that you have on, uh, high functioning consumer service organization. We, uh, definitely intend to be part of that, as well as all City departments would. Uh, if you look then at the ... the org chart that you see here, um, a couple things just to point out. You know, the... the... the real actual core Planning This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 76 Department services are pretty much the administrative portion here, uh, and then the urban planning portion. Um, that's the traditional Planning Department functions, and it just happens that in this community we have evolved into having all these other things included under the Planning Department that are not traditional Planning Department functions. If you go to other communities, they're not included in the planning department. Some of them are, some of them aren't. I don't know of any community where ... all of these things are included in the planning department, in addition to the traditional planning services, but uh, just wanted to point that out. Basically between the admin, uh, division here and urban planning, that's... that's 5.0 FTEs, that's five, essentially five people, although two of them are half -time positions, and uh, we'll... we'll actually start with that. The other thing that I wanted to point out that I think's been a valuable, uh, function of the Planning Department and one that we certainly, uh, intend to continue to fulfill is when we have had difficult issues come forward, uh, we've had those tossed to us by the City Council, and basically said figure something out, and we've done that on a number of occasions, most recently the affordable housing location model, which we were able to work through with you, uh, and come up with something that I think's going to really help us with those location decisions for affordable housing in the future. Uh, other things like that, we were having, uh ... uh, a number of issues with neighborhood traffic, uh, issues in years past. We developed traffic calming program. It's been a model for traffic calming programs throughout the state and so again, that' [s a function that we provide, uh, through all our divisions that we want to continue to do as well. The development of our public art program, our neighborhood services program, that sort of thing. So let's start with, uh, urban planning then on, uh, let's see, page 169. Um ... the, uh, this is a division that includes a lot of boards and commissions, um, Planning and Zoning, uh, the Zoning Board of Appeals or Board of Adjustment, as we call it. Historic Preservation Commission, Housing and Community Development, uh, the City Council Economic, uh, Development Committee, uh, the Neighborhood Council, which is the presidents of all the neighborhoods associations, and then of course all the... the two JCCOG boards and the JCCOG Technical Advisory Committee. And you, of course, some of you have participated in those boards in the past, or participate in some of them now. Uh, Michelle was just named to the, uh, Economic Development Committee and we look forward to working with her, along with, uh ... uh, Susan and Matt. But anyway, Urban Planning has a number of, uh, commissions, uh, and ... and a lot of the function of this department is because we do have a zoning ordinance, and if you do have a zoning ordinance, by state statute you have to have a Planning and Zoning Commission, you have to have a Board of Adjustment or Zoning Board of Appeals. Uh, just to put things in perspective, uh, Planning and Zoning has 22 meetings a year. This past year they had 42 cases. These would be, uh, zonings, subdivisions, Comprehensive Plan amendments, annexations, and that sort of thing... related to the ... the growth of the community and the legislative process that ... that is followed for ... for those sorts of things. Uh, Board of Adjustment had 12 meetings. They meet basically once a month, and these are for appeals or modifications to the zoning code, and uh, they had 11 cases last year. Uh, the Board of Adjustment, and of course Michelle knows this, you were on the Board of Adjustment for P &Z, right? Um, it is a quasi-judicial body. You never hear anything, really, about what comes out of the Board of Adjustment because the appeal is to District Court, as opposed to things coming out of Planning and Zoning and then to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 77 you. Board of Adjustment, uh, those ... that's a quasi-judicial process. Uh, the ... the other important function of Urban Planning, and you see it listed right here is Historic Preservation, uh, we have 11 historic or conservation districts — conservation districts are sort of the support zones around the historic districts. It totals 1,187 properties within those districts, uh, and there are 56 landmark buildings. We are required to have a ... a Historic Preservation Commission if we have historic, uh, districts. And basically the function is for that commission to review projects to modify buildings or new construction within those districts to a ... a, ensure that the projects are done consistent with the Secretary of the Interior's standards for, uh, historic districts. And that's the function of, uh, what we support in Urban Planning, uh, with that. Uh, there was formerly a, uh, 1.0 FTE, half of which -- .5 — was assigned to Historic Preservation. Uh, that position was eliminated through an attrition measure. We have been filling it this year with a contract employee, uh, when ... when the full time person was here, that was approximately an $85,000 position with salaries and benefits. Uh, we have been using a consultant for about $28,000 a year to fill that function. What's in the budget for the upcoming year is $15,000 to, uh, fulfill those obligations. So, that does give us some concern but we'll be, uh, dealing with that, uh, next year and... and figuring out how we can, uh, fulfill those responsibilities we have to, uh, Historic Preservation. Um ... let's see ...um, you know, obviously the one other thing that I probably don't need to say because you've all witnessed it is that, you know, this division is involved in managing conflict. I mean, every single day of the year that's what they do. When I meet with the incoming students to the University's Urban and Regional Planning program, I tell them, you know, it is an extremely interesting compelling job doing what we do, but if your goal is to be universally beloved by everyone you deal with, this may not be the, uh, the, uh, the job for you, because you know we are managing conflict, and I've even gone on to ... when we've had young planners starting in the department, um, I've told `em, I've said, you know, if...if any one of the constituent groups, the developers, the environmentalists, the neighborhood people, if any one of them think you are just doing a `perfect job' living up to every expectation they have, you're probably not doing your job, because you're not probably bringing the proper balance to it, and we all have to remember that, but there is an awful lot of conflict, and of course, you see that directly at the, uh, City Council meetings. Uh, moving on then to Neighborhood Services. Uh, we have 33 neighborhood associations, and the previous ... my predecessor in the Planning Department, uh, and I really made a commitment several years ago to establishing this division, uh, and orienting our Comprehensive Plan. The ... the foundation of our Comprehensive Plan in this community is the neighborhood associations. Uh, what Karin and I thought was that that was a way to really bring strength and interest to the Comprehensive Plan was by orienting it to the neighborhoods, and ... and I'll tell you, if you want to get someone interested in planning in this community... relate it to their neighborhoods and you can almost entirely... almost every time get them interested and... and we found that to be very successful. Um, our Neighborhood Services Coordinator is that conduit between the City and the neighborhoods. It is two -way communication. We find out what's going on; they find out what's going on with us. Um ... and there are a lot of success stories. We ... we have occasionally had, or with some regularity, had certain neighborhoods that we've tried to focus on. A couple of our low -mod income neighborhoods, uh, Grant Wood neighborhood and Miller Orchard have been ones that in This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 78 past years we've had a number of initiatives related to trying to sustain those neighborhoods, maybe, uh, regain some of the stature they've had in terms of bringing property values back up, maybe dealing with some criminal issues that we've had in some of them. For example, in Miller Orchard the development of Benton Hill Park, uh, the ongoing Highway 1 Trail project. We have a community garden now in the Miller Orchard neighborhood. The UniverCity Neighborhood Partnership, which we'll talk about in a little bit, uh, has had a ... a very important role there. And of course we're working very closely with a neighborhood right now and the repurposing the Roosevelt School. Uh, in the Grant Wood neighborhood the Whispering Meadows wetland park, Wetherby splash pad, the Grant Wood Marketplace, which I believe occurred this morning, which is an off - season farmers market. The Friday night roller skating, various workshops, uh, all initiatives that ... that have come out of the Neighborhood Services Planning Division. Uh, the other thing that comes out of Neighborhood Services and it sort of evolved this way is as you see here the public art program. Public art was begun basically as an initiative of the Director of Planning, uh, and it was staffed by the Director of Planning. We've since had that evolve into the Neighborhood Services Coordinator, assisting and... and for all intents and purposes, being the main coordinator of the public art program. The public art program has definitely morphed from what it once was into what it is now. Started out with an annual $100,000 budget through the CIP, uh, for doing public art projects, and we have a lot of wonderful public art projects in the community. We have a great inventory of public art and we have a ... a brochure that's available. I encourage you to look at that sometime, but we have a lot of great art, but due to fiscal, uh, fiscal issues, that was pared back to $50,000. It was then pared back to basically the money we had left in the program, which that terminated then at the end of this current fiscal year. Uh, what is proposed is very much a care -taker kind of budget. $3,000 basically annually for the next three years, will enable us to take care of the current inventory of public art, occasionally things have to be rewelded, they get knocked over, they have to be repaired, that sort of thing. And it also enables us to do some of our ongoing initiatives that are ... that are basically expense -free. We've just this week started the new annual, uh, poetry in public, uh ... uh, process, which is a program that's part of the City of Literature that we do annually. It's a great, great program! Gets a lot of poetry out in the community. Uh, in this past year we were able to establish the Sculpture Garden in Willow Creek Park. Uh, we were able to rotate some new sculptures onto the ... to the two sculpture pads we have, uh, we began the donation meter public art program, which basically we have a small stipend. We make available to artists to take one of the, uh, donation meters downtown to discourage, uh, panhandling and have it decorated as a piece of public art. Uh, poetry in public I mentioned. The kids tent, uh, at Arts Fest. Uh, we have a couple of mural projects, uh, hopefully the next one you're going to see is on, uh, the side of the Dubuque Street parking facility. We're working with the owner of the Plaza Towers building on that. And again, these are things that we're trying to finagle money from various sources. It's really not costing us anything. We have to coordinate the projects. We'll continue to do that for that $3,000 budget that you see there. Uh, let's move on then to Community Development, and we'll start on page 174 with this. This is, uh, the division that manages essentially federal programs, and this has been a very significant, uh, division since 2008 because they have been coordinating the flood recovery, uh efforts of the City since the 2008 flood. Obviously This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 79 when we were responding to the emergency in 2008, uh, Police and Fire and Public Works were the main divisions. We assisted in Planning, but they were in charge of it. Once the emergency was over, the flood recovery efforts were then assigned to the Planning Department, and chiefly because the funding has come from, uh, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and uh, the Homeland Security Department of the federal government, and we are used to managing those programs. The majority of the money, and it's being ... it's been, believe it or not, between $70 and 80 million since 2008 has been principally through the CDBG program and since we have the experience with that, and let me tell you there's a lot of subtleties and nuances to managing that program, and we have to make sure we do it right so that we don't put the City in a ... position of having to refund money in the future, and that is what, uh, Steve and his folks have been doing since 2008. Let's quick skip ahead then to ... um ... page 213. Uh, CDBG uh Matt of course was on Housing and Community Development, uh, Commission and so, Matt, you're very familiar with this. Uh, they have a number of things that they do in terms of the CDBG and Home funds that are received every year. And the trend has been, uh, declining funding, uh, we ... have been a little bit fortunate in terms of the formula that's used within the state to distribute money in that we have actually ended up pretty ... in pretty good shape compared to some other communities. But for example, CDBG funds, FYI 1, we had $722,000, uh, we're slated next year to have $639,000, uh, Home it's even a little bit worse. Uh, $678,000 in FYI 1. That'll go down to 2...$382,000 in FY13. Um ... a number of programs, we have a number of significant rehousing rehab programs. We try and keep that money circulating, uh, through... through loans. Sometimes they are forgiven, and ... and the program income is lost, but as much program income as we can get back, we try and keep recirculating throughout those rehab programs. Obviously the idea benefits the City there in that somebody's able to improve their property and keep the property values up and ... and keep the property taxes where we ... where we want to see them and not declining. Uh, so CDBG and Home, uh, again, unless ... I won't elaborate but you know Habitat for Humanity and the Housing Fellowship we work with a lot on affordable housing projects. Big Brothers /Big Sisters, uh, recently completed a new facility. Free Medical Clinic rehabbed their facility. The Crisis Center, uh, a number of...of projects like that, and of course, um, well ... see, let's skip ahead then to ... actually, let's skip back real quick. The, uh, on page 176 is Human Services, and this is a, uh, a set -aside basically that comes out of the CDBG funding that is used to, urn ... provide funds for, and you see on page 177 the agencies that receive funds there. Uh, recommendation comes from HCDC. You can see that a ... a 9.5% cut is proposed and this is consistent with those numbers that I just gave you on the reduction of CDBG funds. Um ... this ... process was formerly managed by the Human Services Coordinator, uh, for the MPOJC. And this is the second FTE, 1.0 FTE, that we've had reduced out of our ... we've had a total of two people. This is the second one through attrition, uh, when Linda passed away, her position was not filled. What we've done is we've shifted about .15 of the funding, which used to go to fund her position, we're going to shift that over to Community Development and then continue to fulfill the obligations related to Iowa City exclusively, that that position used to fulfill, and that'll be done by Steve and his staff. And that'll be, as you ... when the ... you can see that the 392,000 number there, that's the total that will be apportioned in the upcoming year to the agencies through the process that ... through the Housing and This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 80 Community Development, uh, Commission. Um, back then ... let's just real quick run through the remainder of the ... the UniverCity Neighborhood Partnership's been a fabulous program. I won't elaborate because pretty much every City Council meeting we've had, uh, a house there. We've got one on the ... the Tuesday's agenda. Been a great program. We've spent all the i -Jobs money, which was the money from the Culver administration that established the program. We've got all that spent. We're basically ...we have 11 houses to sell now for the next six months. We have a waiting list much longer than that, so we don't think we'll have any problem... problem at all. What you have here on page 221 is a proposal to continue the program. Uh, with, uh, $160,000 provided by the City. The University, Steve Long and I met yesterday with the Vice President of Finance and the Business Manager from the University. They are willing to commit the $100,000 for downpayment assistance for University employees. That's been a real success for them. And then you can see the ... the banks are going to continue with their loan fund, uh, and ... and it varies from bank to bank. Uh, very small amounts of interest charged by the various banks. I think it's six or seven banks that have come together for this fund. Steve Long deserves all the credit for ... for getting the banks to cooperate, but they're going to continue as well. So, if you choose, we can continue, we can probably do five or six, maybe seven, homes, uh, depending on the condition they're in when we acquire them, uh, with this level, and that's something we'd like to do to keep that program going. Um ... let's see, oh, then flood miti ... flood recovery and mitigation grants. Uh, again, just to summarize, and ... and this is obviously in the process of being phased out. The HMGP, the, uh, program has ... has been phased out already. We're continuing with the CDBG program. We have two temporary, full -time people that will be phased out once the work is done. Urn ... we have helped a total of 326 people through the three programs that you see on page 223 there. Uh, and that includes businesses as well. And then the other thing we manage is the single - family new homes program, which has been great for basically replacing the housing stock that has been taken down with the buyout program. We will actually end up ... it's ... it looks like maybe 110 or 115% to the good in terms of replacing the property tax base. Now that we've got the fourth round of funding, which will be, uh, and that'll keep those two temporary full -time guys on a little bit longer because we can pull admin money out of that. There hasn't been any local funding, uh, on those two guys, uh, and ... and once ... once the ... the programs are completed, those two positions will go away. Urn ... any questions about any of the flood recovery programs? I mean ... I mean, it's been huge programs, as I said, approximately $70 million which is an incredible investment in our community... since the flood. Um... Throgmorton/ Jeff, uh, yeah... Davidson/ Yes? Throgmorton/ ...I think I do want to ask a question about that. Um ... well I ... basically I'm wondering, uh, what within the ... the, uh, within the budget in terms of pro... programmatic activities, uh, will focus attention on the, uh, Normandy Drive area. Davidson/ Uh -huh. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 81 Throgmorton/ And ... and on trying to figure out how to develop, um, parkland there given the fact that people are still living along the street and so forth. Davidson/ Right! Yeah, you'll hear ... you'll hear about that Monday afternoon. We have a project, uh, that we'll be presenting in the CIP budget for exactly what you're talking about. The ... the long -term goal is to basically convert all of the Parkview Terrace neighborhood to, uh, parkland that'll be part of City Park. The, uh, the access road will be extended through to give secondary access to that neighborhood. Now, what we have to manage of course, and ... and just to put it in perspective, we have bought out 85 residences in Parkview Terrace so far. Um ... out of 137 total. I think there will be another 8 or 10 come in, so you know, you're dealing with a neighborhood that's a third of the size that it used to be. Um, how we manage that ... uh, we'll basically be showing you, Jim, when we show you the CIP project for beginning to establish the park ... Mike mentioned the ... the Ned Ashton House, which is of course one of the ... the house that we're going to preserve and make a parks' facility. But we'll have a project for doing that, and then you know the ... the City Council's long -term strategy in terms of flood abatement is to buyout that whole neighborhood, again, voluntary basis as we have future flood events ... as we have future flood events, remember, that neighborhood will not be allowed to be sandbagged along the river's perimeter by law because of the funding that's been used to buyout those homes. The river has to be allowed to go in and occupy the capacity on those lots. So we do believe that in future flood events, there will be additional people at that time that choose to be ... to be bought out, and eventually the goal is to acquire the entire neighborhood. Markus/ And I think, Jim, the other conversation staff has had is that this Normandy intersection you really have to make a ... an investment decision on that with the ... it's somewhat in conflict with the policy of acquiring all of those properties, to then go in and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to make intersection improvements, which begins to serve less and less people all the time. So ... there's some priority types of decisions that are going to be oriented with that in the CIP, but you'll hear that on Monday afternoon. Throgmorton/ Pard ... pardon my ignorance but um ... when you say the Parkview Estates, all the buildings and pro ... Parkview Estates, are you referring to all the houses north of...of Park Road? Davidson/ All of the houses off of Manor Drive, yes. Markus/ But ... but again, understand and I don't know the geography of that area. There are certain of those houses that are not in the, uh, flood prone area that will still require service. Davidson/ The ... we don't have a, let's see, I'm sorry! I can't ... I was going to go over to the aerial here. Um ... the Park Court (several talking and laughing) take an eye out with this thing, the ... the Park Court cul -de -sac, up at the top of that cul -de -sac, there are a couple of residence, and I don't think it's more than three or four, that as Tom has indicated are This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 82 not even in the 500 -year flood plain. Okay? And at that point that becomes a decision for you in terms of using ... you know, if we're left for lit ... with literally four homes there, okay, and we're providing (noise on mic) public utilities and public services to four homes, I think it then becomes a decision for you — do you want to extend an offer to those people to, with local funds, buy those out and basically complete the buyout program. Otherwise, we would, as we do right now, maintain access to those residences, continue to provide (mumbled) services to them, but uh, for the remainder of the property, the other 133, urn ... Council's stated goal has been to pursue buyouts for that area. And again, the idea there is that is the only flood mitigation strategy that reduces the probability of future hazard to zero. A levee doesn't do that. Nothing else does it. Elevating a structure doesn't do it, but ... but buying it out, you're reducing it to zero. Throgmorton/ If I'm understanding you correctly, uh, then I ... I would say based on conversations I've had with people who live in that neighborhood, they don't understand that that's what the, uh, what the long -term intention is. Now maybe I'm misunderstanding various things, but ... but... Markus/ Yeah, I think it was a stated goal of the City to acquire all of those properties that were in that flood prone area. Part of the problem is that, um ... before the offers were actually consummated people reinvested in those properties, and now they're in a situation where even with the flood buyout they probably couldn't recover, um, their costs as a result of the damage because they've reinvested as well. Throgmorton/ The people I'm thinking of are not ones who have literally reinvested in their properties. Markus/ Well there ... and there are some of those, and I think what ... what, uh, Jeff is trying to indicate is that there's a cost for improving Nor, uh, the Normandy intersection. If in fact, and... and to maintain infrastructure, probably built way beyond the capacity of the few remaining homes, if in fact you bought out everybody else except the ones that were not subject to the buyouts. It's kind of the Detroit, urban situation where you have blocks of decimated properties... Throgmorton/ Yeah, right. Markus/ ...and you have a few homes left and how do you deal with the balance of the cost to continuing infrastructure versus servicing one or two homes. And so it's not that extreme, obviously, but it's kind of a micro - situation that has, uh, analogous factors involved. Throgmorton/ (mumbled) lantern effect. But so ... let me suggest this. Just to display my own ignorance or misunderstanding. I think we need to have a focused conversation about this particular, uh (noises on mic) this particular location, so that ... I at least as a Council Member really understand and... and I can convey that to, uh, residents out there and... Markus/ I think the time for that is the CIP. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 83 Throgmorton/ Yeah, fine. I don't (both talking) Davidson/ Yeah, there's a couple of other projects, also, in the CIP. Obviously the Taft Speedway levee is one that's generated a lot of controversy. There's also a project that Tom alluded to, to elevate the intersection of Manor and Normandy. Basically that intersection goes down because of the storm sewer situation there. That intersection goes down and it ... and it shuts down. We have to evacuate the entire neighborhood, even the properties that are not flood prone, because it's their only way in and out. We can't respond with fire or police or anything like that. And so our ... our goal at one time had been to elevate that intersection so that that phenomenon did not occur, and we made that, uh, we stipulated that that was only if we could get federal funds to do so. We still have the hope that we may get federal funds to do that. Uh, but... at which point we do get funds, then it becomes a decision for all of you, with such a diminished number of houses, is that a project we still intend to do, and you'll have to ... we'll have to have that discussion with you. And we will discuss that at CIP on Monday! Hayek/ And you... the... the... we've had regular communication over the course of three and a half years, and a lot of documentation and correspondence, and if there are lingering questions about what the communications from the City have been, I mean, that can be recreated and summarized, um ... to ... to bring people up to speed, not only up here but... but in the community if that's necessary. There's a three and a half year history on... Davidson/ Right! Right, and of course several of you who were not part of those original discussions, so ... um, on page 237 then real quickly is the GRIP program, which ... where is it? Uh..yeah, right here. Um, this is ... I just wanted to real quickly mention it. All of our rehab programs are federally funded, and in ... and focused on low and mod - income in... individuals, people that meet the 80% of median income or lower, um... qualification. The GRIP program is locally funded and it's a rehab program and it's locally funded, operated just like the other programs, but we're able to go up to 110% so we're basically able to go into some areas that do not meet the federal requirements for low -mod income, and we're able to do some good in those places and that's why this program was established and again, we try and keep the funds circulating through repayment as much as we can, but that is one that you have... complete discretion over in terms of its ... its funding. Uh, couple of final things then. Uh, Economic Development, um, I certainly... it's... when Tom came in as City Manager, he made the point, and I think it was an excellent point, that basically all of us are in the economic development business. Every ... every one of these divisions, and that is something that we've really tried to take to heart in the Planning Department, so in spite of the fact that you see a single division, although actually you see another one over here and I'm hoping that's another FTE, but I'm not certain (laughter). Um ... in spite of the fact that you see this division here, we're really trying to break down a lot of these silos I guess, to use the buzz term, uh, and ... and create a situation where everybody, even including the MPOJC, the work they do for Iowa City, is ... is involved in our economic development activities. But, in terms of this specific division there are a number of specific things that are managed, and if you turn to page 180, 1 just want to run through that table really quick. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 84 Uh, the Downtown Co- Workspace is something that has been evolving. It originally started as a proposal of the City of Iowa City to go in and create a downtown business incubator space to try and incubate some new businesses. It has since evolved and is going in a number of directions. I think they're all good directions. Uh, the ... the Iowa City Area Development group, uh, ICAD, has a proposal called CoLab which would involve new offices for them as well, and Tom has been the principle person, uh, kind of representing Iowa City in those discussions, and I guess you have worked out a tentative, uh, arrangement with them, and they're fundraising right now, and if that goes forward, we would clearly be a partner and have a role in that. There are a couple of other proposals out there, um ... one is called Busy Co -Works and the other is called Seed Here. Busy Co -Works is working with a particular downtown, uh, property owner, and we do anticipate them requesting some funds, uh, from us. It's a little bit more of a grassroots - type situation, but a couple of young energetic individuals that really I think have ... have an exciting prospect and certainly those of you on the ... on the Economic Development Committee will be hearing more of that ... more about that in the short-term. The, uh ... the Seed Here group is a group that is operating a facility in the old Guarantee Bank building in downtown Cedar Rapids. It's called the Vault, uh, Adam I think went up... Adam and... Markus/ Simon. Davidson/ You and Simon went up and ... and visited that and ... and I hope to get up and see that eventually too. Uh, they're very interested in starting something in downtown Iowa City, and so again, another... another concept that we're ... we're keeping track of. More of... little bit more of a grassroot, uh, type effort. Um, but the... Markus/ Before you ... before you jump off of that, Jeff, we had talked about this last week, and the monies that are shown allocated in there, are probably higher than what we expect to be paying. Initially those monies, uh, contemplated us doing our own co -work space. Think the study was out of Northern Iowa (both talking) Davidson/UNI, yeah. Markus/ ...University, and um ... we had talked about building our own. Well that's not the case anymore. The ... the plan is is that we would be a ... a 50/25/25 in terms of thousands of dollars contribution over a three -year period for the CoLab, and that we would maintain our current contribution of $100,000 to ICAD, uh, others are being asked, obviously, to raise their level of participation and what they're doing is they're in the middle of their five -year campaign now, so that the dollars that appear in there are ... are higher than what we have discussed with them, so don't let yourself be confused that we've committed to those higher dollar amounts. Jeff and I had talked and some of that, as well, could be some minor, uh, seeding to some of these, um, more, um ... um... Davidson/ I've been using the term `grassroots.' This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 85 Markus/ Grassroots is a good word, uh, organizations that may also want to try those things. This is kind of the newest initiative in economic development, and I think it's... probably a reasonable approach to at least consider it, trying to grow your own ... organic gardening of economic development rather than the big hunting, uh, approach to, um, going after, you know, big game and trying to bring, you know, in a big hit. This is trying to grow your own approach and so you know it's not ... it's not really proven from an ROI kind of standpoint, but it's something I think it's at least worth testing in our marketplace. Especially being this close to a university. Davidson/ It ... it may be much easier to establish ten small micro - enterprise businesses that employ five people than one large one that employs 50, and that's basically the concept. Um, proceeding then, there are a number of things there that are already recommended by the Economic Development Committee for, to you for funding, and you will make that decision, uh, in approval of this budget. The Englert Theater you see there, $50,000 a year; City of Literature, $50,000 a year; uh, the ... the Convention and Visitors Bureau is funded from a percentage of the hotel /motel tax, but you see that, um, laid out for you there. Uh, ICAD then, that ... that, um, Tom referred to and..and you know, basically ICAD is the partner, arm, whatever you want to call it that works with us in terms of recruiting interstate commerce businesses. That is their niche. The, uh, the businesses that ... that provide, uh, money from external of the community process that and then go outside of the community again, and they provide a very valuable service. Um, there is an ... just an incredible amount of time involved in recruiting these businesses. Last year we had the announcement of the Foundry for the new industrial park. ICAD had a very significant role in that, and that is the type of work that they do, uh, they do for us, and they do a great job. Uh, Joe Razo the president will be coming to the Economic Development Committee in a couple of weeks and basically making the ... the presentation for what they are requesting for the upcoming, uh, few years. Uh, Riverside Theater is a new request. Again, that's been through the Economic Development Committee, uh, Matt and Susan, uh, heard that proposal, and you can see what's... what's requested there is a sliding scale, 30/25,000/20, uh, and ... and they made a good case for that in terms of...of being a significant player in the arts and entertainment, uh, in the community. Uh, the other economic assistances that basically what we call... Wendy and I call the `economic development opportunities fund,' uh, recently enacted a provision where Tom can make decisions up to $50,000 is it, Tom, from that fund? I believe it was $50,000. So that we can ... we can move quickly on things that we need to move quickly on, and then apprise the Economic Development Committee and the full Council of it, uh, later. So, that is all managed by Wendy and her division, uh, in ... in terms of the budgeting for economic development. Uh, any questions about that? Uh, the final thing then is... Dobyns/ ...sorry, I just had ... ICAD is funded or which ... used by which municipalities ... in the (mumbled) Davidson/ Um, they are actually a regional group that go beyond Johnson County. Cedar County also has a significant role with ICAD, but it's basically the municipalities in Johnson County, and they may have some private investors, as well, Tom, don't they? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 86 Markus/ (mumbled) Davidson/ And you serve on their board, don't you? Yes. Markus/ I ... I would say, urn ... and that's the point I was trying to make earlier about our competitiveness in terms of our, uh, taxes and fees, and ... again, I don't know how much they go in that direction, but all of these jurisdictions, um, have industrial areas set aside, and so when somebody comes looking for a place to locate, ICAD takes them out and... and shows them likely sites for what they're looking for. Uh, we've always been the most significant contributor, uh, to ICAD and it wouldn't hurt for our Economic Development Committee to press them a little bit about how they're going to specifically help us in terms of trying to locate facilities here. Um ... it ... sometimes it depends on the, just the circumstances of you know sometimes they know somebody that they want to be, you know, close to in terms of another company or people in a particular community, but there's a lot of competition, and of course being in a region, we're all competing with the other entities in this region. So it's ... it's a tricky place for ICAD to be, and it's ... it's something that we need to hold their feet to the fire because we are the major contributor. Davidson/ Final division then from the Planning Department is MPOJC, uh, formerly known as JCCOG if you ever see that, it's the same organization. Um, JCCOG, or excuse me, MPOJC, uh, is in place because of the federal statute in any urbanized community with a central city of 50,000 or larger must have a metropolitan planning organization, and MPOJC provides that function. In 1980, Iowa City in the ... in the national Census achieved 50,000 population. A steering committee of local people, uh, were put together. There's even a couple of people still around. I believe Mr. Balmer, who uh, owns Plumbers Supply was on that steering committee. Senator Dvorsky was on that committee. He was, uh, on the Coralville City Council at that time. But that steering committee got together and ... and everyone agreed on the arrangement that MPOJC would take, and that is that Iowa City would basically provide the MPO. Karr/ Excuse me, Jeff. Page 232. Davidson/ Excuse me, 233, right. I'm on 233; 232 is where it starts. Thank you, Marian! Um... and so that has been the arrangement by 28E agreement, that ... that M ... the MPOJC is staffed such that it fulfills all the requirements of the, through ... it's called the 3C Transportation Planning process, and it is required to follow all those rules and regulations in order to maintain our eligibility for federal transportation funds, whether that be for public transit or trails or, uh, roads... discretionary entitlement programs. We have to have the MPO in place, and they must achieve a certain set of...of rules, and those of you, uh, who are on the MPO board, either have, uh, know ... know about that already or... or will in the future as you participate in that organization. Um, the employees of MPOJC are 100% City employees, just like the rest of us are. Same status that ... the difference is that by virtue of the 28E agreement, they are essentially loaned out to Coralville and Tiffin and North Liberty, and provide services and ... and there's kind of two roles. There's the regional cooperative kind of things where they're independent This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 87 representing everyone, and then there's also work that they do, exclusively for one entity or the other, where they're basically acting as a staff person, and I can't emphasize enough that for Iowa City, John and his staff occasionally act, you know, they are the Transportation Planning staff, the Traffic Engineering staff for the City of Iowa City, and ... and the regional services that they provide, um, I mean, they're... you... you were talking earlier about fire department mutual aid. That ... that agreement was hammered out originally by JCCOG, back in the ... back in the 80s. Uh, Animal Control is another one that's ongoing right now, where there's some discussion of, uh, how to organize that better. The Joint Emergency Communication Center came out of JCCOG. Um, so it's a great venue for the regional -type of issues, but they also provide direct, uh, services as well. The way it works out is that Iowa City provides, uh, had Lee Lewis do the calculation for me here ... 51% of JCCOG's overall budget for the upcoming year. And that also includes, um ... about $40,000 that goes to the East Central Iowa Council of Governments. This is a six - county... Connie's rolling her eyes. Six - county regional, uh, entity that's basically the old community college system where the ... the state's split up into sixteen regions. We are Region 10. They are an independent organization, located in, uh, Cedar Rapids, who, uh, operates in behalf of our six counties. We pay a population pro -rata type basis. Everybody pays Iowa City, and Iowa City pays that bill for Johnson County. That's how it works, and there's been a lot of discussions, uh, about that and I'm just figuring there's going to be discussions in the future as well (laughter) but that ... that one in terms of what Iowa City pays is pretty simple, because you pay population based basis. The remainder of JCCOG, there's an assessment made in terms of how it's split up, in terms of how much work is done for each entity. You know, this has been a ... this has been a year where there's been a lot of work, probably more work done for University Heights than I ever recall, because of their project where the Presbyterian Church is, and so John and his staff makes subtle adjustments year to year, nothing huge, but subtle adjustments in terms of how much work is done in Transportation Planning, uh, and then that's reflected in the budget that all of you will approve at the JCCOG board in January. Markus/ And ... and one of the things that I brought up when I first came was, it seemed very inequitable the ... the amount of money we're paying as compared to others, and we've kind of worked through some of it. I ... I still have some questions about it, but the tact we're taking this year is we want to at least be reimbursed for rent of our facilities because we're housing them here, uh, at this point in time, and we feel that there should be some reimbursement from the other jurisdictions for us just putting them up, you know, in our facilities. They all benefit from this. The other thing that we talked about is, um, there's a certain portion of it that we get charged for as members of M, um, the MPO, but then there's also this other quotient of work that they do specific to the City of Iowa City, and we're trying to figure out if we need to have them start tracking their time so that we can at least see if that's really an equited ... equitable distribution of cost. I will tell you, I've been very impressed with the staffing of the organization. That's not my issue. My issue is, again, if there's an equitable distribution of cost. Davidson/ That is it for the Planning Department. Any questions? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 88 Throgmorton/ Yeah, I'd like to ask you about neighborhood stabilization. Uh, we know that, uh, you used the word conflict, you know, so we know that there's, uh, there are a variety of conflicts relating to that particular topic, but when I think about it as a goal of, uh, of Iowa City government, it clearly stipulated though, uh, my sense is that the proposed budget does not give sufficient priority to the stabilization of older neighborhoods. I know there's... there are lots of good activities that, uh, take place and you highlighted all of them, uh, but I think we can and should do more, and so I ... I think in particular of the UniverCity, uh, Neighborhood Partnership, which everybody here knows has been a terrific success so far. And I understand what you said about (mumbled) houses in the coming year. I ... I think we ought to look a little more deeply into the possibility of, um, borrowing some additional funds, and that's why I was asking those questions earlier, about whether some additional borrowing would threaten our triple -A bond rating. I think we ought to look into the possibility of borrowing some additional funds to, uh... uh, expand that program a bit more than has been articulated, and, uh, along the way before we borrow funds, uh, seriously consider other initiatives that could be undertaken, or current programs that could be, uh, expanded. So, you know all the details, you know, you're the city manager, Tom, you know these things way better than I do, but my main point is, we have a goal that, uh, I think is not being sufficiently addressed by this... by the budget, and it's a goal that many, many people in this city, uh, hold pretty dear, uh, and I think we need to give more priority to it. Markus/ Yeah, I ... I agree with you, um, specifically on the number of issues you brought up this morning. That's one that I've been concerned about since I've been here and I think these inner -city, uh, neighbors, uh, really do need an infusion of both protection and probably new investment, and it was ... it was not a stretch to include the UniverCity program as an extension. Um, one of the things that I've identified too is, um, the whole traffic calming effort, and I think I've pushed pretty hard to expand the traffic calming, um, applications to areas that previously heretofore had not really been eligible for traffic calming, and I think what happened historically is that, um, these neighborhoods as the, you know, the suburbia and exurbia areas developed around Iowa City, the traffic inflow and out of this city, uh, changed the character of the roadways through the city and turned them into one -ways and some other things that happened that really are very destructive to neighborhoods in my opinion. So I think that there's a lot of different fronts that we need to hit this on. Staff, uh, added this item to the agenda, when you know we had the Avocado situation coming up, but I think that there's probably some other brainstorming that needs to be done to protect these areas to start to rebalance the neighbors... the neighborhoods, and... you know, from my way of thinking, um, when these folks all showed up at the meeting and ... and you know really straw ... voiced their strong opinions, I was really happy to see that because quite frankly they're speaking up and saying, you know, these pioneers that are moving into these areas that, you know, are... are questionable how ... you know, where their survival is going to be, um, were really standing up for their neighborhoods, trying to protect those neighborhoods. So I think, you know, there are probably other things we need to do — zoning, traffic calming, infrastructure investment, um, new, uh, and rehab house, uh, investment — all of those things. So we ... we do need to head there. Um ... we can look at the expansion of the program as it gets going. That doesn't have to be, um, amended right now into the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 89 budget. We could expand that program with an amendment of the budget, later on as well, but I just wanted to make sure that that program didn't go away at this point. Throgmorton/ Uh -huh, absolutely! Davidson/ Any other questions? Dobyns/ Six of the seven of us are on the MPOJC board, is that... everyone but the Mayor. Is that how that works? Davidson/ That's correct. Hayek/ Glorious! (laughter and several talking) Markus/ It's actually like an eight or nine member team because there's usually one or two that are missing so Marian, Tom, and Eleanor, and Matt are always kind of rotating in and out too so it's the whole group of us that kind of get exposed (several talking and laughing) Davidson/ Any other questions about anything on the board here? Hayek/ Can you refresh my memory on ... I know I've asked this probably twice before in my four years, but ... um ... the Human Service, or the Aid to the Agencies budget that we have, you know, we have ... we use that, use those ... we allocate those dollars based on our judgment, year to year. Davidson/ Yes, you receive a recommendation. You used to have a subcommittee of council that met, and you decided to change that and get the recommendation from the Housing and Community Development Commission, so you get their recommendation, and then yes, it's your discretion. Hayek/ That versus just sending the money to a clearing house, whether it's United Way or somebody else, some ... um ... why is that the case? Is that ... was there a conscientious decision about that... Davidson/ (both talking) in terms of the application process, that's a coordinated process between Iowa City, Coralville, and United Way, and the County. Um... so... so the application part of it is coordinated but ultimately what everybody-like for example the Coralville City Council has always been inclined to fund, um, agencies that have a presence in Coralville, and so they ... they have their discretion to do that, and then what they decide essentially goes into the pool, Matt, of what all of the, uh, agencies ... you know there ... there are a whole list of those agencies that you saw listed there that gets ...that get funds from all four of the ... those sources, and basically if...if you make a decision to limit an agency for one reason or another, then it's basically they need to rely on the other three to ... to make up the difference. So it is ... it is coordinated, Matt, I guess is what I'm trying to leave with you, although you don't sit down around a table with all This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 90 four funding entities when you are making your decisions about Iowa City's funds. You do that independently. Hayek/ So ... so is it fair to say that all of the local jurisdictions have their own pots of money that they apply toward human services, and they themselves determine each year what amount goes to what entity? Davidson/ Yes! And then the front end of that process is coordinated with a single application, that used to be done by MPOJC and is now done by United Way. Markus/ Quite frankly, United Way model is pretty well developed. Davidson/ Sure, they're ... they do it throughout communities all across the country, so... Champion/ The thing that I liked when the Council kind of had their own little committees to distribute our share of the money was that we could gear it toward goals we had more so than, um, another committee would. So if we're in the neighborhood preservation, we might want to give more money to some of these agencies that work directly in ... in neighborhoods. Davidson/ Yeah, and you know, Connie, you can always send a message to HCDC before their deliberations that, hey, this is real important to Council, or here's something we want you to take into consideration, when they're formulating their recommendation to you. Champion/ Yeah, I think that's probably a good idea. Hayek/ Yeah, just like the CDBG and Home recommendations, those are just recommendations, based on work they've done on the front end and we're free to modify. Davidson/ That's right! Dobyns/ You may have covered this, but Connie said "our share of the money." Um, the County gets some, uh, money for human services, municipalities get some money... Davidson/ Yeah, as Tom pointed out, traditionally, um, Rick, the County is the funding of human services, is...it has simply evolved in this community that Iowa City and Coralville have volunteered to, in the case of Iowa City, use some of their CDBG distribution. There's a little bit of a distinction in that Iowa City is an entitlement community. Those numbers that I gave you for CDBG and Home, we get those because of our population level. We get those automatically, and then you decide to partition off a portion, which this year we're recommending $392,000 and then decide what ... what agencies that goes to. Coralville's not an entitlement community, so they have to, uh, figure out how they're going to provide the funds that (both talking) Dobyns/ And the provide that of their own free will. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 91 Davidson/ Yes, of their own volition. Champion/ But we actually provide General Fund money to this. Dobyns/ Oh, so we add General Fund money to (both talking) Champion/ ...and Coralville has a very small amount. I'm not saying that (both talking) Davidson/ ...three or four, three or four agencies, yeah (both talking) Champion/ ...yeah, right. Hayek/ So the Aid to Agencies, which is page 177, that's the ... that's the money coming from our General Fund to go to human services, that supplements the entitlement funds that we... Dobyns/ Thank you. Hayek/ It's about half a million. Champion/ ...the Council have more say in where those monies go, cause they are actually General Fund monies. Dobyns/ Okay. Davidson/ Yeah, 290,000 from the General Fund in FYI 3. Markus / What's the allocation from CDBG? Davidson/ Uh... O'Malley/ It's 91,000. Davidson/ Yeah! Hayek/ Other questions for Jeff? Davidson/ Yeah, there's actually a small amount, 27,000 from water, sewer, and storm water utility, as well. Hayek/ Okay. Davidson/ Any other questions? Thank you. Enjoy the rest of the day! Hayek/ Thanks, Jeff! Okay, next item is, uh, we're now moving into our business type funds and first item is parking. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 92 Markus/ You want to let Airport go first? Go ahead! Hayek/ Oh, okay, we'll, uh ... fly over to the Airport! (laughter) Airport (p. 275): Tharp/ Works for me! Well, uh, good afternoon, everyone. Uh, I'm Mike Tharp. I'm the Airport Operations Specialist. I, uh, work underneath the Airport Commission, and uh, the Airport Commission's one of the, I think two boards and commissions that have a budget authority, um, within the City budget. Um ... what we're going to talk to you about today are a couple of things. Just go over the budget in brief and ... and uh, one of the requests from the Airport Commission, uh, is to move the Operations Specialist position from a .75 time to a... Karr/ Mike, you on page 275? Tharp/ Uh, 276 is where we start, sorry! Uh, one of the big requests from the Airport Commission is to move the Operations Specialist time from .75 to 1.0, to a full -time position. Um, these last, oh, I've been here for about five years under a ... under a part- time and it's been, uh, increasing, um, just by the ... the virtue of the tasks that are, uh, given to me and uh, um ... you know the needs of the Airport. Um, the Airport Commission has, uh ... um, completed a strategic plan that actually started in fiscal year 2011. A lot of the objectives of that strategic plan are, um, to increase the use of the Airport, increase the ... the revenues of the Airport, and increase the, um ... marketing of the Airport, and some of the things that are lacking at the moment, a lot of it due to, uh, lack of staff time are some of the public outreach and marketing aspects of ... of that area. So those are certainly some of the ... the additional things that the Airport Commission would like for that additional time to be, uh, picked up. Uh budget wise, the Airport Commission operates on a roughly $400,000, um, operation budget. We do get General Levy support of about $100,000 a year, um, part of that support also pays for our 10% share of the Economic Development, um, position. We pay about $12,000 into that position overall, so um, ultimately, uh, what the Airport operations budget is doing, is... certainly providing a ... an airport facility for the city, uh, and the broader area. 2009 the Iowa Department of Transportation did an economic impact study of the Airport to the, uh, Iowa City area, and with the airport being there, we generate about $11 million in economic activity, um, support about 115 jobs, um, and those jobs have a total payroll of about $3.7 million. So ... um, beyond that, I don't have a whole, um ... big list of things for the Airport budget, so I'm open to any particular questions you guys ... folks might have. Dickens/ (mumbled) How many people that use the Airport are not Iowa Citians, or that store airplanes there or have airplanes there that are not... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 93 Tharp/ I don't have exact numbers. I ... I can get you the exact, uh, numbers off the tenant... but predominantly they are Iowa City folks, um, you know, I do have ... I can think of about half a dozen out of the 60 T- hangars that, uh, aren't Iowa City residents. Payne/ The capital improvement item, the $20,000, what's that for? Tharp/ Generally that's... that's kind of a ... a fund we use for, um, large scale building improvements, or larger scale building improvements that might not meet the ... the actual capital improvement definition but locally, um, for boiler replacements or roof repairs, uh, higher ticket items that, uh... Payne/ So it's not for something specific, it's more of a... Tharp/ Not at this point, no. Hayek/ So, um, the Airport Commission is seeking a .25 increase. Is that ... that's something that management is supporting and trying to... Markus/ Yeah, we had a conversation about this. I think that is appropriate in this particular case, um, it's a, you know it's a ... not a very significant incremental increase. Um, Mike attends all of our staff meetings. He's a key member of the staff in terms of what's going on, and I think that the reality is is not only is it important, I think it tends to ensure that we'll be able to keep Mike's services here, um, the problem with, uh, Mike is we've done a good job training him and he's going to be, uh, actually, um, have some value to other operations, so ... it's a ... it's a fairly inexpensive way of keeping him around here. Um, the other thing, uh, I wanted to say is they have trimmed back some of their costs in terms of operations over there, uh, running them back through the FBO, and um, they've worked very closely with us to try and draw down and reduce some of the debt that was incurred before, uh, both Minnetta and Mike were involved, uh, Minnetta's here as the Chairman of our, uh, Airport Commission. Uh we haven't really resolved where the additional funds are coming from. They do have adequate fund balance to write that off. They wanted to fund it by getting rid of the economic development contribution, and they make very strong arguments for that. Um, actually, um, the economic development group should probably be paying the Airport, uh, cause the Airport serves as a, um, you know, in my opinion, a generator of economic development potential in our area, uh, where businesses may locate because they do have access to a general aviation airport. Um, and not to leave you out, Jim. I know you have some different ideas maybe about, uh, the Airport and its potential development. One of the challenges we have, uh, with an airport is the acceptance of substantial fed ... federal dollars in, uh, making development improvements to the Airport, and as a result, uh, typically those agreements call for us to reimburse the feds, if in fact we're going to convert this to an alternative use, um... one of the things that we've talked about in terms of this airport, because it is one of those services that goes beyond our borders, and I thought ... was it Terry asked the question about, uh, where the hangars and who's using the hangars come from. Uh, state law allows for the creation of an airport authority. And ... like most initiatives that go regional, you have to give to get, and get to give, and so we would have to give up I'm This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 94 sure a modicum of control over the Airport to create an authority, but potentially the advantage of an authority would be that other, uh, larger, uh, areas would participate in the cost. Right now our contribution is about $100,000 to this. So the Airport, uh, Commission is studying that issue, and hopefully will come back with some sort of recommendation in that regard. Urn ... I think there's some other properties that are still available, um, that we're looking at potentially developing and being able to sell off for, uh, additional development around the Airport too. So ... I think the relationship is probably improved quite a bit in terms of the City management and the Airport authority in terms of how we're moving that ahead and to our mutual benefit. Hayek/ (mumbled) we'll discuss some of the hangar plans during CIP. Tharp/ Correct. Hayek/ Okay. Dobyns/ In terms of long -range thinking about the Airport, I mean, I think of most airports of this size (mumbled) Iowa are usually not so close to the city itself. They're more in a, sort of a rural county area. And, um, I mean ... Jim's concerns are well taken because five to ten years, it just seems unusual for me looking at that map as the city surrounds the area. I'm not saying we don't need an airport. I'm just saying is there, you know, in terms of long -range planning. (mumbled) discussions about eventually moving the Airport and then having the County participate. Markus/ Well those ... those that have been around longer than I have, which is just about everybody in this room, um, apparently recognize and remember that this actually was an issue some time ago, and there was a study to potentially relocate this facility elsewhere in the county, which met with, as I understood it, a fair amount of opposition, uh, for any potential relocation. Uh, having been involved with a significant airport that we actually acquired and redeveloped in the Chicago metropolitan area, um, I can tell you that urban air ... airports can survive quite nicely in very dense urban environments. Uh, you just have to make sure the clear zone areas established and you can do some other things in terms of noise attenuation, but they're highly desirable in urban environments because of access to industry and in our case the University as well and ... and uh, other businesses, so ... I ... I'm not sure that it's necessarily a bad thing just because it's in that kind of proximity. One of the things that it does do ... is in creating these clear zones. It does impact our, you know, the trajectories impact our ability to go vertical to, uh, certain levels that we wouldn't otherwise, and uh, one of our local entrepreneurs constantly reminds me that that's a pretty expensive airport when it comes time to building buildings and going vertical with them. Um ... I'm not sure how much more vertical we would go beyond, you know, 15 stories anyway, uh, in our downtown area, but, um, those are some issues that come into play. Um, I think potentially, uh, you know, general aviation airports, uh, may have a very desirable future going forward for commerce and business and our university, so... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 95 Throgmorton/ If...if I could spin off of that, uh, briefly, Tom, um, actually just to reinforce what you just said, uh, I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and I grew up right across the road, almost literally, from Bowman Field, which is the general aviation airport serving the city and has been since 1929 basically. Uh, and it's um, very successful, uh, so I, you know, I don't have any principled opposition to the Airport itself. Uh, in the strategic planning session what I was trying to do is just ... ask a question and hear what the answer would be. Um ... in the interim I've been finding myself paying a great deal of attention to the Transit facility, right across the street from the Airport. And I find myself, well, as a result of the trip that Jeff and ... and Adam and I took with Rick and Michelle, uh, around town. Uh, there's enormous redevelopment opportunity there. So, uh, it makes me think we need to be paying very close attention to what's going on at the Airport in terms of, uh, selling property for particular kinds of activities. In relation to the possibil ... possible uses of, uh, of that Transit facility site. That site has tremendous opportunity given the intersection of Highway 1 and Highway 6. Hayek/ You're absolutely right. We have ... we spent time, uh, earlier in the year, I guess in 2011, on just that and ... and that corner and some other areas in the vicinity, um, are... are we think poised for some good redevelopment, and a lot of that's City owned. Throgmorton/ Right. Dobyns/ What I'm hearing Tom say is that the Airport is a value- added, um, to (both talking) Markus/ (mumbled) Dobyns/ Okay. Dickens/ How many ... how many lots are left in that north area? Tharp/ Um, a little under half. It was 18 all said and done. We just, uh, the purchase agreement that, uh, the Council just, uh, approved a month ago brought that number down to about, uh, there's two ... two for sure with an option for three more, so we've got about seven or eight lots left. Dickens / And then there's the possibility of development on the south end too now. Tharp/ Yeah, the ... the Airport, urn ... and the Council have had a couple of discussions on ... on how to go about the south development. There is some work that would need to be done. A lot of that area is within the flood plain so there's some mitigation efforts and things that need to be taken care of before it's really, um, developable. Hayek/ Any other questions for Mike? Okay, thank you! Tharp/ Thank you (several responding) Parking (n. 245): This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 96 Hayek/ Next, uh, are Parking and Transit. O'Brien/ Uh, good afternoon. My name's Chris O'Brien. I think I've met everyone but Rick, I don't think you and I have officially met. Dobyns/ I'm from the University so parking people make me upset! (laughter) O'Brien/ Excellent! This should go well then! (laughter and several talking) Transportation Services Director for the City of Iowa City, uh, oversee the Parking and Transit Department. Um, going to start off with just kind of a brief summary for those of you who haven't been here the last few years. Urn ... between two and three years ago we did a, kind of an overhaul of the department, before it used to be the Parking and Transit Department. Um, they're both siloed. There wasn't really no coordination between outside of the director position. Karr/ Page 245. O'Brien/ Sorry! Um... Markus/ They're going to get this eventually, Marian! (laughter) Karr/ I will! (laughter) O'Brien/ Um, at that point, um ... the director at the time left and we ... we took a look at the department because there were some vacancies that took place. Um, and went from a director associated, or a director, a parking manager, a transit manager to a director, associate director, um ... each division at the time, parking and transit, had three supervisors. So we cross - trained all the supervisors so that we had, uh, a better balance and the ability to ... to react to certain, whether it be projects or incidents that happened, um, customer service operations was another one where we centrally located those in the downtown area; before, uh, transit's customer service operations were located at the Transit facility, which right now we only have one bus that services that area once an hour. It wasn't very convenient for those, um, that utilize transit services to get to our facility. So we relocated that to downtown, cross - trained our customer service representatives so that, um, any calls that came in, parking or transit related, anybody on the staff could handle. Uh, we also did the same with our maintenance staffs, so that as projects arose we could coordinate with our maintenance staff to, uh, to go where the need was, so that we could look at things a little bit more efficiently, um, look at positions as they opened up, um ... and ... and decide how many people we needed in order to ... to make those operations go since everybody was cross - trained. Uh, on the ... on the parking side of things, we've also made several changes over the last few years. Um, most of you were involved in ... in, uh, a lot of these decisions. One of which was the ... eliminate ... the adjustment of how we do our parking citations. Um, and that was going from a ... a flat $5 rate on every ... every expired meter citation we had, uh, to where ... to now we have the ... the first one that we issue, every six months, is a ... is a zero This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 97 dollar citation. It's a warning, so that those that visit the community, those that, um... those that just occasionally make changes, or um ... those that just occasionally forget to pay, uh, forget how much time they have left, uh, they're... they're met with a warning instead of a ... a $5 citation, and what we've seen is that the ... the amount of people that have sent in complaints, whether it be written or phone calls, has really dropped off. Uh, we've also moved to automating a lot of our parking facilities. Um, and what I mean by automating is, we've taken ... every one of our lanes currently has credit card access now. That's something that we didn't have before. Many of which, it's a ... it's a centralized pay station unit, uh, right out in the lane. So if somebody wants to use a credit card, they don't necessarily have to wait, um, in a line if there's people waiting to pay cash. Um, and then just... yesterday I think we finally got ... we installed our first pay in lane station that accepts cash and credit card, uh, in Tower Place, and are... are currently testing that, and we have nine other units that we're going to install in our different facilities that will allow for pay on foot and pay in lane, um, so that people as they're going to leave the facility can pay at one of the pay stations, take their ticket to their car, they'll have 15 minutes to leave, and can bypass, uh, once again any lanes where ... where there's a, um, backup due to cashiers, things like that, so ... um, those are some of the changes that we've had on the ... on the parking side of things. I'm going to cover the parking operations first because really the budget this year, compared to last year, there's no significant changes really. Um ... kind of a summary of what the parking operation does. We have four parking garages, and I know there's five parking garages, but one of them is actually a Transit asset and I'll get to that in the Transit section. Um, and that gets to be a little confusing, because those funds, uh, because Court Street was a federally funded facility, all those funds have to be redirected to Transit. So, uh, that's a Transit asset. We operate it from the parking side of things, but parking itself has four parking facilities, ranging in age from, uh, being built in 1980 to ... to 2001. We also have six external parking lots. Uncovered facilities, surface lots in different areas. Um, we handle all parking enforcement, along with the Police Department. They assist in the, um, the actual parking enforcement, and then we have maintenance of all of our facilities as well. Uh, we're a seven -day operation, ranging anywhere from 7:30 in the morning to up to 3:00 A.M., depending on what day of the week it is is how long we're open. Um... some of the changes that we're making in the automation, which is, um, something we're taking care of in this current budget. It's not something you'll see in the next one. Uh, could potentially allow us to be open 24/7, um, without having to add staff because of those, the ability for people to pay cash and credit card at any time. So that's... that's one of the things we'll be looking at in the future. Um ... parking itself is an enterprise fund. Um, all the funds that go to ... uh, pay for the parking operations come from within the parking operation itself. Um, and that's from on- street operations, enforcement, off - street operations, and then we have some miscellaneous revenues, parking hoods, things like that that come in as revenue streams. Excuse me, I have a little bit of a cold so... from the expenses -side of things uh the ... the two biggest expense items we have are personnel and debt. Uh, they make up about $3 million of our $4 point, uh, $4 point, uh, $4.3 million expense budget. Um ... so that's the majority of it. And then we have a lot of facility maintenance. We have some service contracts for different facilities. Uh, Tower Place, for example, what you're seeing with the facilities we're building now is they're all multi -use. Uh, used to be you'd build this big monolithic parking structure This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 98 that, concrete walls. Well now they all have, uh, for example, they may have a Zender salon in it. They may have a law firm in it. Uh, daycare, um, so there's a lot of different things we do to try to utilize that space to, um, provide space for people that have a) parking access to it, and b) a nice central location for them. So ... uh, there are certain contracts that we have that come along with that. Um ... some highlights of the ... the parking budget, and ... and one of the projects that we've done and I think most people are aware, um, the LED project that we did this last year. Um, we completed that in September is when we completed that project. Um, what we've seen is a $900 to a $1,300 drop in our, um, per month, in our actual utility fees for each of those facilities. Um... and right now through six months we're on pace for saving a million kilowatt hours per year, urn ... just by those, changing those lights from high - pressure sodium to LED, and that's... that's quite a drop. We've actually had MidAmerican call us, twice, during that project to inquire if we had something with our meters at those facilities. Uh, and all it was was once you change to those LEDs and flip the switch, they're... they're ready to go, so... Dickens /Much brighter in there too. O'Brien/ It's a different kind of light... actually the light readings are identical, but it's just a different type of light (both talking) and it... it makes it look cleaner. It makes it look, um, much more inviting than yellowish light you saw with the others. Uh, we also had our ... our elevator project, Connie (laughter). Three of the four have been replaced. We're starting our last one (several talking) Champion/ ...new one didn't work! O'Brien/ What's that? Hayek/ Did you get the plague up... O'Brien/ We'll look at it once we get the fourth one..fourth one going so... Hayek/ (mumbled) (laughter) O'Brien/ Um, the fourth one just started, and that'll complete... complete the project for the Dubuque Street and Capitol Street facilities to replace those, and that's about a $750,000 project. So most of the projects when we do them, they're... they're massive scale. Um, construction projects, uh, rehab projects, elevator replacements, um, all things that need to be done in order to maintain those facilities. Uh, we also have a mobile license plate recognition. That's something that's in this current budget. Um, and something that you'll... you'll see maybe an RFP come out for, uh, that allows us to drive different areas of town, uh, with a vehicle that actually reads license plates, and that'll help us in ... with some efficiencies in the Court Street and the Chauncey Swan facilities because currently we have to have staff. They walk it ... they come in and enforce it by hand. Walk all the way to the top enforcing all the vehicles after they pull a report, walk all the way to the bottom again, pull another report, and then any corrections that have to be made, they This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 99 have to do by foot. This is something where you'll just drive through, uh, the cameras read the vehicles on the way up, on the way down, um, and it's an automated process, and that's allowed us to, um, through attrition make some changes in the parking enforcement staff that we have, which you'll see as we ... we talk budget later, and then we're ... we're also working with the University on a car - sharing program currently. Um, and what that is is ... there's different companies out there, WeCar is one, ZipCar for those of you who might be familiar with those names. Uh, it's where there's a community car basically that's located in different spots that allow people who may be utilize transit to come to work, who maybe don't want to own a vehicle and live in those areas. To have access to a car, uh, that they would, um ... utilize at different times of the day. They'd make a reservation, they'd have the car, so that they wouldn't have to own one and keep it, uh, in areas, and it would open up, uh, we think a lot of use for transit, uh, for people to take the bus downtown and still have that option of a car if an emergency arose. So that's something that we're looking at as well. Um ... as far as the actual budget itself ...and I'm on page 246 ... um ... some of the things ... the, really the big change in the ... in the parking budget, and you can see, uh, under the expense side of things that $1.8 million in personnel, $1.1 million in... in financial uses, which is all debt, uh, on loans that we have as well as the, uh, the Tower Place debt service that we have, which is the $846,250. Uh, capital outlay this year, we've done a lot of capital outlay the last three years, uh, in rehabbing our facilities, elevator projects. This year we're just looking at putting some multi -space meters up, uh, that ... we have money in this year's budget, uh, we're proposing it in next year's so that we can replace... instead of having, one of those machines can replace 10...10 to 15 single space meters, so help clean up certain areas of town so it's not a ... a parking meter every 10 feet. Uh, but one unit that can be paid, urn ... which'll open up some pay by cell technology as well as some ... some other items for us, um, moving forward. So that's the only capital outlay that we actually have this year. Um ... from the revenue side of things, once again everything's pretty consistent. We're not proposing any rate changes this year. Um, this ... the rest of this year, part of next, we're doing kind of a comprehensive look at our entire parking system, and this is something that came, um, within the last several months, as a result of meetings with different businesses downtown and some ways that the downtown is changing, um... so that we can address some of the parking concerns that have arisen, uh, by taking a comprehensive look at it, and then at that point we'll, um, take a look at the rate structures and any proposed changes we would make at that time. But that's why you're not seeing any at this time. Dickens / When is the new ramp ... uh, the St. Pat's ramp, when does that come (both talking) O'Brien/ Yep, that's... that's the, actually ... CIP will ... will really hit that one hard, um, we're in the ... kind of in the process... we're doing, we've done the conceptual design, and now we're at the RFP stage of trying to put an RFP together for developer, um, sounds like at this point ... the parking garage will be completed separate from the actual other structure, uh, to allow that to proceed in advance, so that we can get that up and going, uh, to help spurn some of the development in the ... the Riverfront Crossings area. Um, but that's something that we'll ... we'll certainly discuss at length in CIP. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 100 Markus/ And we'll RFP the development that will virtually wrap that deck, um, separately to that, but what we've done is we've used the consulting services of a developer to, um, help us kind of conceptualize how that could work together so that, uh, when we get development proposals for the actual improvements of residential, commercial, whatever we ultimately decide, that can be attached and make that work. O'Brien/ And once again, that'll be a ... a multi -use facility with, as Tom said, office space, commercial space, residential, urn ... different types of residential, and it is nice because it ...of how that site sits, I don't know how many of you are familiar if you can picture it. It's a very steep sloped site, urn ... but allows us a lot of options to ... have a fagade without having to put a fagade up, which is a very costly, um, so with the ... the residential units and ... and how that will fit into that slope, there's a lot of savings that we've seen from, um ... the screening of a ... of a facility of that size. Dobyns/ I'm sorry, maybe I missed this but the 2012, uh, parking fines went up about ... it's estimated to go up about 20% this year. Over the 2011 actual. Then it goes back down in 2013. So it was sort of a bump, just in this current fiscal year. O'Brien/ Right, there was a $3...I think $3 million placeholder for ... I think in the ... the other financial uses is where we ... I mentioned that we have a lot of capital outlay these last few years. And that's... you're talking about how it goes from $5.8 million back down to 2.5. Is that your question? Dobyns/ I'm looking at 297,000 in, uh, FYI to 372,000 in parking fines, 2012. O'Brien/ Oh, I'm sorry, the parking fines, portion of it. Dobyns/ Yeah, parking fines. O'Brien/ Um, the 2012 estimate... that was based off the 2010 budget so there ... we had a drop when 11 hit ... due to ... which is why (mumbled) we had some, um, with the amount of warnings that we issue, which are all zero dollars, we weren't sure what the financial impact of those was going to be ... um, and what we saw was in 11, uh, I believe in 12 we'd have closer to the $400,000 mark. So the way the budgets line up when you make your estimates a year and a half in advance, that's how those ... why those dropped, as we ...we based the 13 budget off what we actually pulled in in 11. Because we're not making any actual substantial changes, and that that 12 estimate was based off something that happened two years ago. Dobyns/ And so it's going back down to its base line ... next year. O'Brien/ Uh -huh. Dobyns/ Okay. O'Brien/ That's correct. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 101 Dobyns/ I just thought you were being little bit stricter this year (mumbled) O'Brien/ Huh -uh. No. As strict as we've always been (both talking) Dobyns/ Okay. (laughter) Throgmorton/ Chris, a quick ... quick comment on the multi -use facility. Based on the concepts I've seen I'm very excited about it, uh, but uh, when we get to the CIP discussion, uh, I'd appreciate it if you'd help me at least understand why 600 parking spaces are currently being, uh, proposed for that ... for that structure. We don't need to talk about it now (both talking) O'Brien/ Yeah, I think a lot of it was, and I'll just give you a brief summary. We did a ... MPOJC did a parking impact study of...of that area and the amount of spaces that they felt it was short, based off developments that were going to be coming on line — Hieronymus properties, several developments that were there, and I believe the number was 1,100 that they felt we were short in that area, which is why, um, and 600 is a number we're comfortable with. You start getting any higher than that, um, it's a big facility. Uh, Capitol Street being one, 875 spaces. If you really walk that facility, it's a massive structure. Champion/ Huge! O'Brien/ Um ... we ... we try to stay away from those because what we've ... the feedback we get is that ... the less we have people driving up the more apt they are to park in that facility. Um ... and that facility, not only does it take a while to get up, but you're going all the way around an extra... extra deck that's going down the middle that we have as far as the exit portion of that facility. So 600's a number we're comfortable with. It's (mumbled) Court Street. Tower Place was just over 500. Um ... so that's why 600, based off what we're comfortable with, and what we feel ... with Court Street being there at 600 spaces, Court Street ... or in, uh, the St. Pat's multi -use area, not being that far away, uh, that's 1,200 spaces in a pretty ... pretty short distance for that area as we see it develop. Throgmorton/ And ... and I assume this is related to assumptions or ... or data about how far people are willing to walk from the place they park to the place where they live or where they work or shop. O'Brien/ Yeah, and I think a lot of it had to do with like I said the study that was put together for that immediate area and those developments that were going to ... to occur, and the fact that currently we're at capacity at all of our facilities, um, as far as the permits go for those facilities. So... Throgmorton/ Okay. Dickens/ Well, and the Courthouse will affect that too, depending on (both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 102 O'Brien/ Yeah, there's several developments, not only just the ones that are underway, but potential ones that are hanging out there that we would like to make sure that ... parking's a ... the economic development, any time that you do anything in the downtown or Coralville, Iowa City, we're involved in that ... that process, um, because any time ... a business goes up the first question they have is where's the available parking at for it. Um, that's one of the things that people want to know when they come in, um ... and so we don't want to be a deterrent, uh, from ... from people wanting to come to Iowa City and bring their businesses here. So ... questions on the parking... budget? Hayek/ Think the, uh, the ... the, um, escalating fines with the freebie every six months has been immensely popular! O'Brien/ It actually changed the behavior the exact way we wanted it to. Hayek/ I think the second part of this is ... is, uh, the balance between what we charge on ... on the street and what we charge in the decks, and how long you can park on the streets, that's where I think we still need to do some more thinking, and I know that's underway right now. O'Brien/ Agreed. Agreed. Hayek/ Not ... not for today's discussion but... Dickens/ But the ease of getting in and out of those ramps is made people more... they're... they're getting used to them and it makes them use the ramps because they are so much easier. You're not sitting in line forever (both talking) O'Brien/ We went from where we had maybe one or two lanes that you could actually use, to now every lane can be used at every facility, making it .... I think 40, I'd say 42% of our transactions are now credit card transactions in those facilities. Um, and if you saw the averages, it's about three hour ... little over a three, almost four hours. That's pretty low dollar transactions, but people just ... it's the way it is anymore. Swipe it and go. So... Dobyns/ I do notice on the, uh, parking ramps that there are some merchants on the first floor, and it sort of softens the look of the parking area. I assume that was an intentional design consideration on (mumbled) put together. O'Brien/ Yeah, we actually struggled with Tower Place. At first people didn't realize it was a public parking. We had to put signs on the .... those big signs that come down and point in, just to get people to realize it was a public parking facility (both talking). It's a very ...very well done facility. Hayek/ Great! Want to move on to Transit? (laughter) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 103 O'Brien/ Chris O'Brien, Director of Transportation Services for the City. We're going to talk about the transit budget next. And that is on page ... 248 to start. Markus/ Oh, wow, look at that, Marian! (laughter) O'Brien/ I didn't want her to tell... Markus/ Changing behavior! O'Brien/ ...I didn't want her to tell me twice! (laughter) Um, this budget ... uh ... lot more changes to this budget, as well as there's a lot more explanation I want to make sure that I get out as far as how transit and transit funding specifically work, because especially the CIP, you're going to see a big number project come across, but I want to make sure that you ... you understand, and it's in an out -year so you don't have to make a ... but to understand... for the funding aspect of things, a lot of the funds we go after are grant funds. Um, you know, we can't ... the parking revenue bonds, that helps pay for a lot of the things on the parking side. On transit, you know, when we do a $20 million facility, we're looking for 80% federal funding on that facility when we go to do it. So when you see that big number, understand that a lot of this is grant dependent. When we buy a bus, $400,000 bus, 83% of that is usually federally funded. Um, and a lot of our ... when we go through our revenue side of things, um, you know, we have JARC, job access reverse commute funding; we have federal operating assistance, state operating assistance, transit levies. There's a lot of different funding mechanisms that come into transit. Now, one thing different about this year is ... uh, transit moving from a General Fund to an enterprise fund... operation. Now ... as far as how that impacts transit, um ... it's about a $1.1 million difference in the revenue side of things coming in. Um... so the ... I guess what we were tasked with was a) can you, and b) how do you make that work as far... and our goal when we did this was not to impact on- street operations. To make sure we weren't cutting service, pulling routes, um ... because it's a well used service on the street and the ... about 1.9 million riders per year utilize our services. Um, so that was one of the decisions as we went into this is to how we were going to make up for that difference. So, um, kind of a brief summary like I did with parking, with transit ... uh, Monday through Friday we operate 5:45 to 11:00 P.M. Saturday we operate 5:45 to 7:40 P.M. Currently we do not operate on Sundays. Um... our headways, that means how frequently bus service, um, is on the street. It's every 30 minutes for most routes during peak service. During off -peak and the evenings and weekends it's about every once ...once every hour, depending on what route it is. Um ... we also have a contract for our complementary paratransit service and that's with SEATS in Johnson County. Um, and that's in the services portion of our budget and that's $970 -ish a year. Is what that currently is. That expires at the end of next year. So we'll be in negotiations with Johnson County here this year, looking at future budgets as far as what that number will be. Uh, we have a fleet of 27 40 -foot buses, and 10 paratransit vehicles. Uh, we operate 55,500 hours of service per year. We operate 710 miles... 710,000 miles of service per year. Uh, like I said, 1.9 million rides, and we have 585 bus stops within, uh, the city limits of Iowa City. So that's just a ... kind of a brief summary of ... of some of the things that we do at transit. Um, once again, now transit is an enterprise fund. Whereas in prior This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 104 years it was a General Fund. Prior years to that it was an enterprise fund. So it's kind of been going back and forth. And how I kind of mentioned Court Street Transportation Center... earlier as being a transit asset, when you get a $14 million, $12 million facility that's federally funded at 80 %, those revenues start coming in pretty quick. And with all those being transit revenues, that's what made us be able to do this change, without a huge impact to service. Was because those revenues are coming in to transit ... and that's within the last five years that we've really seen a good ... good change in those operations ...in those..those revenues, which has allowed us to move, like I said, without having to cut services and things like that. So, um, on the revenue side, once again, we have a transit levy, and a lot of this is explained ... I made sure we put it in the ... in the budget book, um, if you have any questions on it, feel free to ask and I'll go through it in more detail. Um, but transit levy, fare box revenues, uh, and once again ... we'll talk about fare box revenues later too because we've proposed an increase, uh, this year for the first time in 15 years. So ... uh, we have federal and state operating assistance. The Court Street Transportation Center, which ... we have rent for the actual, uh, four units that we have there, as well as, uh, the parking aspect. Uh, we have JARC funding for some route expansions that we have. Urn ... and then we have a University Heights 28E agreement for service to University Heights which are very ... it's a very small number but ... uh, it's one of our revenue sources. Uh, on the expense side, once again, what you'll see, the majority of our expenses are in personnel, and then if you take the paratransit aspect to that, urn ... and this is on page 252. Urn ... you know, the personnel for the 2013 budget is $3.6 million. Uh, out of a $6 million budget, and then another almost $1 million a year in paratransit services, uh, that's a big portion of our budget. Then if you look at maintenance, fuel, um, that's where a lot of our other, uh, finances go to. Um... Dickens/ Did you receive a request for money for the cameras from the paratransit? O'Brien/ Yes, we ... we agreed to in funding that. Dickens/ Okay. O'Brien/ What he's referring to is we put, um, all of our big buses have camera systems on them. Uh, which helps us with, uh, monitoring complaints, issues that come up, um ... when we have misbehavior that takes place we're able to pinpoint those. Go out to the schools, meet with them, um, as well as validate or, um... disprove complaints that come in. It allows us that option to go in and look at those, uh, those cameras. Johnson County SEATS requested the same for our ten vehicles that they use for paratransit. Um ... and so we ... we funded that partially along with their assistance. Um, some highlights over the last couple years ... um, Bongo has probably been one of our, and for those of you who don't know what that is, it's our bus on the go AVL system for our transit service. It was a joint project that we did with Coralville and the University of Iowa, uh, where all three systems have, uh, AVL systems that we then push out data to the public so that they're able to monitor real -time data of where the buses are, what time they're going to arrive, uh, get alerts sent to their cell phones or computers at home, um, so that they can more easily access our transit services. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 105 Markus/ It's a big award winner too, right? O'Brien/ Yeah, we actually won, I don't know ... those of you that are at the University might know the Iowa Award, improving our work place. Um, it's, um ... it was nominated for and won, um, that award so we ... I think in May is when we have our ... um, presentation from the University. So ... and once again, that was a joint project. And it really opened up some doors. Now Coralville transit, uh, and Iowa City transit received joint funding, uh, for placement of our fare boxes, um, the University of Iowa and ... the City are working on the car sharing program, so there's a lot of things that have come from that, uh, I think the coordination we had on that project that have led to other projects we're working on now. Uh, we also once again got grant funding to replace our existing fare box system. That was a 50 %, uh, funding from the state, which came through the feds... from the feds to the state. Uh, we're doing a study to relocate the transit facility. Uh, that's one of the things that you had brought up. Um, the relocation study is almost complete, and then we'll move to the feasibility study after that. Uh, we've had nine buses replaced over the past two years. Uh, State of Iowa up until last year had the oldest fleet in the state, or in the country, the State of Iowa did. Uh, currently Nebraska's last, and Iowa second to last, so we passed Nebraska. Um ... but we had nine buses replaced, which is one -third of our fleet. Um, over the last two years. Um, and then obviously the benefits levy cut is another of the ... the big impact items, and ... and that's led to, uh, two of the topics we're going to cover next, which is, uh, proposed revenue increase and then some proposed expense decreases. Um ... any general questions before we move into these specific ones? Dickens/ Just two questions, uh, Sunday service, we had asked you to do some studies on that and find out if that was feasible, and the cost, and... O'Brien/ And I think we nixed that ... um, when we made the budget cut last year to... Dickens/ Okay. And then I had a gentleman who keeps coming and visiting me about vouchers at night, uh... O'Brien/ We're familiar with that discussion, and we're actually in the process of evaluating our entire transit system, urn ... the transit system's roughly the same as it's been since 1971, with some additions, some tweaks, but the base system is the same, so we're in the process of evaluating that. We've, uh, had Adam and I ... and Tom, multiple discussions with I think the same individual about... we're... we're researching that. Dickens/ Okay. Markus/ Adam's become his penpal! Champion/ Oh, right! O'Brien/ I think two ... two of the last two days, right? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 106 Markus/ Uh (mumbled) (laughter and several talking) Throgmorton/ Chris, I want to make sure I understand, um, a number I think I heard you say, and then understand the rationale for it. O'Brien/ Sure. Throgmorton/ Um, cause, you know, maybe I ... maybe I misunderstood. Did I understand you to say that ... be ... the shift from the General Fund to a ... an enterprise fund, resulted in a $1 million reduction in the amount of ... revenues available to transit. That's what I heard you say, so I need to understand if... Champion/ It was 1.1... O'Brien/ It was 1.1 roughly. Throgmorton/ 1.1 okay. O'Brien/ Proposed. Throgmorton/ Why? I mean, help ... I need to understand it. Why? Champion/ Let me just ... can I just say something from the past that ... when we built the Court Street Transportation Center, that ... was built with 80% federal money, approximately. Our whole idea of doing that was then all that revenue from that parking ramp goes into transit, to get it out of our General Fund. So that's what ... that's what's happened, am I right about that? O'Brien/ Uh, that's correct, and-and what we were seeing was, we had a large sum of, uh, revenue that we were then putting into reserve, um ... there are several things that this I think allows, and-and Kevin might be able to speak more to it than I can on ... on the financial impacts to the City's overall budget, uh, by making that change and how it impacts the entire City budget. That wasn't just a, "Chris, we don't think you need $1.1 million." I think there was certainly some things behind it that ... that led to that, to impact the City's budget, knowing that we could make it work in the transit budget without impacting the service we put on the street. Dobyns/ It's like (mumbled) their fees or would go into the ... the transportation budget now (several talking) Champion/ ... everything ... from that Court Street Transportation... Dobyns/ So that's where we gained that $1.1 million (several talking) O'Brien/ ...that's a portion of it. Um... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 107 Markus/ I think it's time for Kevin to chime in. O'Malley/ Okay! I'm the historian here! (laughter) Marian's the historian but we're close. Uh, that's correct. Back in 19...2003, 2004 we were, uh, transferring over to transit about, uh, anywhere between $400,000 and $500,000 of General Fund tax money. Property tax money. And we could no longer sustain that. It ... cause it, our 8/10 limit and we were using a 27 -cent emergency levy also. Markus/ When ... when Kevin talks about the 8 -10 limit, the General Fund is limited to... O'Malley/ Is capped. Markus/ Is capped at $8.10 per hundred. O'Malley/ And so ... the thought process (mumbled) senior management and council was to move this... operation into the General Fund. I was the only one that kind of objected because of my accounting background, but other than that, I said, yes, it's legal. You can do that. So anyway, we did that, and the property taxes obviously went up, and transit... Markus/ But the primary purpose for moving it into the General Fund was because then you could take all of the employee benefits and charge them to the benefits levy. The only way you could get `em into the benefits levy was to have it in the General Fund, and the reason Kevin objected to it at the time is from purely an accounting standpoint, this should be a stand -alone business enterprise fund. But they did it ... purely to take advantage of the ability to drop it on property taxes, which was my point earlier, that the ... when you do not keep your fees up where they're supposed to be, the default mechanism is it drops on property taxes. O'Malley/ And then we got the opportunity to get the, I think it was 80/20 or 90/10 funding... O'Brien/ It was 80/20. O'Malley/ ...it was 80/20 funding for the, uh, the Center, and so we had to issue bonds, about $2.9 million in bonds to cover our percentage. So we had to pay debt service on that , and I asked the feds if we could ... from the revenues on the, uh, on the rents and the parking fines, to pay off the debt service, and they said none of the program income can go toward debt service. So ... it solidified my opposition to keeping it in the ... in the General Fund, and over the last few years I've been trying to coax the City Managers to move it back to where it belongs and last year we took $300,000 from the $1.1 million tax and reduced it to lower the levy, or keep the levy stable, and then this year somebody listened (laughter) and we moved it completely back to where it should be. That's the history of it! Markus/ ... so now it's back to being a business enterprise fund, which is where it should be! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 108 Throgmorton/ But I still don't understand why it results in a $1.1 million reduction to transit. That... O'Brien/ Because $1.1 million was coming in to cover the benefits levy of the employee ... the benefits of the employees, which is now not coming. So I have to cover that $1.1 million with internal ops. Markus/ So, here ... here's the situation, Jim. Previously you had a 95 -cent levy, uh, towards property taxes that was going into the transit fund. On top of that, you took all of the benefits, the insurance, the pension, whatever else... benefits there were, and you dropped them into the pension levy. And so now when we reverse direction and we make it a business enterprise again, you still get the 95 -cents property tax going in there, but the benefit levy can't be there anymore because it's not in the General Fund anymore. It's a standalone and the state won't allow you to charge the benefits unless it's in the General Fund. But because of the transit... the... the Center, the parking center, uh, having that generate the money, that should start to off -set that kind of operation, and make that fund whole again. O'Brien/ And offset's the key word. It ... it offsets some of the 1.1 million, so we had to make other changes in order to not only ... cover those changes, but also make sure we built in enough cushion because we don't know what federal funding's going to be on the transit side of things. There's continual talk of a 10% across the board cut. Our JARC funding is something that's year to year. You don't ... and it's supposed to be a start-up. So three years really is what you can count on, and we're in year four. So we don't know where that $150,000 may ... may be next year. As well as looking at a transit facility relocation, which we'll have to cover roughly $4 million of a $20 million facility. So there's a lot of things coming that ... that we had to cover in ... in this budget to ... to be sustainable moving forward. Throgmorton/ Let me follow up with that ... what I guess would be a technical question that involves policy choices. So, let's assume it's wise to shift from um ... from the General Fund to, uh, enterprise fund. Okay. (mumbled) Uh, and let's assume it's good to, uh, that... that results in a $1.1 million shortfall or whatever. Um, and... as a technical matter, is it ... is it true that the Council could instruct, choose, to uh ... urn ... I don't know, still draw, I don't know, 100,000, 200,000, $300,000 from the General Fund, instead of...uh, producing a... a$ 1.1 million shortfall (both talking) Markus/ Yes it is. Throgmorton/ ...an $800,000... Markus/ Yes it is. You can still do that. I don't think it's necessary at this time to do that. But ... the other thing I would point out is ... and ... and this is just that hard -core manager in me, when you have a fund, um, there should be a corresponding revenue that's connected at the hip to the service that's being provided. And right now while it's in the General Fund that ... that fund is getting over 50% of its revenues from general property This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 109 taxes. Even after the transfer's made, it's getting over 40%! We're not even at 20 % ... in fare box at this point. That seems entirely inconsistent, and yeah, I know, I'm going to take a lot of grief from people that say, oh, you're picking on people that use the bus system. Well, in the first place I don't assume that people that use the bus system are, uh, less capable of using other transportation in all cases. But where they are, this city also provides vouchers to those who need that transportation system, and do not have the financial capacity to use it. So, I don't think we're being less compassionate. I just think we're aligning services into funds where they belong and should have stayed in the first place. Throgmorton/ Okay, but we have a policy choice we can make, if we ... if we want to go in that direction. Markus/ Yes you do. Throgmorton/ Okay, uh, and did I hear you correctly to say that the, uh, the ... the shifts that you're recommending would result in no reduction of services? O'Brien/ It results in no reduction in transit service, correct. Throgmorton/ Transit, I'm sorry, that's what I meant — transit services. And did ... headways, um... O'Brien/ Will main ... will be the same. Throgmorton/ ... routes .... same? O'Brien/ Until we've evaluated... once again, we're doing a full evaluation of our ... so things may tweak or change, but not based off this, but based off necessity through data that we have now. Correct. Markus/ But the gentleman that keeps calling the (mumbled) at City Hall, um (laughter) he makes the point that service should be reduced because what he reports to us on a regular basis is the number of buses that pass his home with one or less passengers in it, and he sometimes counts the driver as a passenger. And he repeats this and reports this to us on a regular basis. Throgmorton/ I do understand; it's a familiar complaint! Markus/ ... and ... and the problem of course is, you know, you start running those routes and it's not easy to just start and stop routes! You know! In the... systems are designed so that people can depend on them, and that you know you're running those systems and they have peaks and they have valleys in terms of the demand and the users on those systems. But, you know, the moment you start cutting those things out, and try and arrange schedules so that people don't think that that's an opportunity, you know, that elasticity demand issue starts to play in and (mumbled) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 110 Dobyns/ (mumbled) advertisement that there will be another bus in 30 minutes. O'Brien/ Correct, and I think some of the technological changes we've made have made it easier for people to ... to get that information, as well. Champion/ I couldn't find (mumbled) maybe it would help, Jim, if you could tell him how much money the Court Street Transportation Center actually puts into the transit system. O'Brien/ Yeah, it's actually... it's ... $720,000. Champion/ So that's part of that 1.1 million. O'Brien/ Add in expense of 205,000 for that ... that cost center. Markus/ I think the other thing you need to explain is that we have proposed three reductions. Explain those situations. O'Brien/ Yep, right. As I ... I want to explain the revenue increase proposed first, and that's a transit increase in fare from, and that's once again outlined on page 249 of your booklet. Um, of the... some of the proposed changes that we have (laughter) Hayek/ You can go home, Marian! (laughter) O'Brien/ Uh, and that's ... but I think the critical part is to understand, the last time these were increased was 1997. I'm going to give you some stats of then versus now on costs that are out there for us. Um ... and also outline other systems in the state and what they're... so minimum wage in 1997 is $4.75. It's currently 7.25. Um ... the mass transit operator, this is our mass transit operators, starting wage was $11.08. It's now $17.47. Cost of diesel fuel, which we have 188,000 gallons of a year was $1.73 per gallon. It is now $3.89 per gallon. And the cost of a vehicle, 40 -foot bus, was $226,000 in 1996, 1997 — sorry! It is now $380,000, the last buses we just purchased. So, all those costs have skyrocketed and we've maintained, so our percent of fare box revenues as a portion of our operations have done this. Urn ... now granted there wasn't ... there wasn't a ... I think there was one, I don't even know if there was an attempt ever. I've been with... started in Transit actually right, like a month after this took place. And I don't believe since then there's even been discussion of a fare increase there so ... um ... so that's the revenue, and ...and other system's rates — Sioux City $1.80 for one ride; Des Moines $1.75; Waterloo's $1.50; Ames is $1.25 — I think they just proposed as of January 1St a 25% increase in that, um ... Cedar Rapids is $1.25; and Dubuque and Clinton are a dollar, and that's... that's what we're proposing is from 75 -cents to a dollar. Um, there'll be some changes to our ... our proposed bus passes which we've outlined, uh, in the book on page 249. Mims/ Yeah, related to that, Chris, what's ... you got the 31 -day pass and the discount 31 -day pass. Why would anybody buy a 31 -day pass when there's a discount pass? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 111 O'Brien/ The discount you have to qualify for. It's based off income. Mims/ Income? Okay. Thank you. Dickens/ And then there's the student one, is that a three or four- month? O'Brien/ It's for the full semester, so I believe it's four months at a time. There's two semesters and then a summer one. Dickens/ So it's cheaper to be a student than to buy a 31 -day pass. O'Brien/ There's a big subsidy for the students from the University. Dickens/ The University does pick up ... okay! Champion/ I do like the idea of a dollar. It's easier than three quarters! O'Brien/ Yeah, it ... it's ... (several talking) Um, now ... the revenue increase didn't cover everything. So ... we had to look at the expense side of things, uh, we made some general changes to how we do maintenance. We ... we shifted due to some contracts... we'll have, um, staff from one location to the other, um ... reducing scheduled overtime, um, that's something we're doing as ... as we look through all of our routes and how they're set up, the amount of scheduled overtime we ... we pay out daily. Um, but we had three ... three reductions, I shouldn't say three. We've had, if you look at ... page 252, the personnel services section. 2012 budget we were allotted for 57 FTEs. We're going down to 51.75, urn ... two of which are positions that are currently filled, and that's a maintenance worker I and the body shop technicians that we have. Um ... and those posi ... so ... that along with we have a mass transit operator position that we won't fill, and what that does, what we've done with those hours is, it's been ... we've taken those hours and it's ... we've added it on to ... it's a meal -break type position. We've added those on to other people and it's the perfect time to do it, that are part- timers, we're adding a 30 minute here, a 30 minute there, and it covers... covers those hours without us reducing any services. Um, but yet we're able to still maintain our break coverage, um, covering for sick, that we currently have, um, while also not filling that maintenance or mass transit operator position. So ... um, we've had some maintenance workers that have ... have left that we have a custodian position that we didn't fill, I mean, they're outlined there as far as what the changes we made were. So I won't ... I won't repeat all those, unless you have questions. Um... Payne/ So is that all through attrition or somebody actually losing their job? O'Brien/ There's ... two positions that are currently not vacant. And that's a maintenance worker and the body shop technician. Markus/ But explain further. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 112 O'Brien/ Um, the mass ... for the maintenance worker I position, um, that position works in the evenings, does a lot of the cleaning. Well we had four positions that did that and covered the six days. Well on Saturday, we only have five buses go out for a really short time. We're not running the full 20 ... we're not running the full 20 buses out there. We have five. They go out the door, um, we can handle the cleaning and the fueling and all of that on Monday morning, before they go out. So, we were able to shift... shift hours so that those, that staff covers Monday through Friday, and by not having that sixth day, we don't need all the coverage that we ... we have, so that allowed one of those positions to be ... to be, uh, reduced. Uh, the body shop operations, that's, um ... that one is one... there's not always a vehicle in the body shop. Um, we went and we pulled... pulled the reports of the logged hours for that, um ... I think the most, over the last three years, the most hours that we had actual body work that was done was 800...827 hours ... over a year. Um ... (mumbled) so we're paying for 2,080 hours. Now granted there's always going to be ... you're not going to have, uh, billable hours for everything, but, um ... we took that and we went, found ... we called three different body shops to get the average rate. Uh, including bodywork on transit buses. Broke out those hours, and it was, uh, $62,000 compared to $85,000 just the labor, um ... we just, there wasn't enough, I felt, bodywork to keep someone busy full time ... for that position. So that was why we proposed that one, as well. Has nothing to do with the quality of work, has nothing to do with ... uh, the work being performed. It's just there's not enough City bodywork coming in to justify, in my opinion, a full -time position. Payne/ So is that up here where that $50,805 is for miscellaneous charges for services that wasn't in 2012? Is that where you put the charges that ... will have to be done for bodywork? I mean, where is that in the ... in the expenditures? O'Brien/ It's just absorbed in our maintenance, which will be in our ... uh ... in services, so one... in the 1.377 million under ... you're looking at receipts. Payne/ Oh, am I ... oh, yes you're right, I was! Sorry! Markus/ But ... but the other point I would have you make is that there's other openings that these individuals can apply for. O'Brien/ Correct, and this won't take place until July 1. So, there's six months. I believe one of the people's already applied for a ... a similar position in another department. Um... and you know, once again, there's six ... we're not going to effective tomorrow make these changes. We wanted to give notice, but um, when you're looking at your operations and um, obviously we had a big change in how we operated transit, so we had to really look at things and it was obviously the last thing we looked at, but you get to a point where you have to make those decisions. Um... Payne/ So what you're doing is becoming more efficient is what you're saying. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 113 O'Brien/ Well yeah I think ... I think when you're really, and that was something all of us have been tasked with when ... when Tom arrived is look at your operations and ... you know, only do with what you need. Um ... can it be done, and it wasn't like we just thought to ourselves, hey we're just going to cut it. You know, we ... we looked at what it would cost to ... to do it elsewhere, urn ... figure out what the rates, what the proposed rates were of others ... now there might be a little bit of markup on, um, materials but ... you know, we're probably getting some of that anyway, cause we're not a main, urn .... purchaser of it. Um... and, we didn't say what would the rate be if you had a contract with the City either. So my guess is there would be some cost - savings there as well. We went with the flat ... Joe Public goes in and here's your rate. Dobyns/ Right. Dickens/ Is that something you'll do estimates on for like the bodywork and stuff like that? O'Brien/ Uh -huh. Dickens/ Would you bid... O'Brien/ Well, unless we do a formal contract through purchasing, hoping to bring rates down. Dickens/ Okay. O'Brien/ But, yes! Dobyns/ Question. This is a user of your bus service. O'Brien/Yes! Dobyns/ Um ... the, with going up to a dollar. O'Brien/ Uh -huh. Dobyns/ ... is there an opportunity for it to be like a dollar bill reader, uh, or do you still have to put in quarters? O'Brien/ No, no, we have a dollar bill accepters now. Dobyns/ Okay. Great. O'Brien/ And we can take fives if you want to put it in (laughter) we just don't give change! Dobyns/ Clearly (several talking) get on that (both talking) O'Brien/ Yeah, it's over to the right -hand side when you board. There's a place for the coins on top and then the dollar bill slot's on the right -hand side. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 114 Dobyns/ Okay. Hayek/ Other questions for Chris? Payne/ I have one more question. O'Brien/ Yes? Payne/ And this is actually going back to the Senior Center operations and it has to do with parking. On the Senior Center operations, they have a line on there that it's a receipt as a parking ramp revenue. And... O'Brien/ That's something they collect from their ... that's something they collect for permits that they issue to their staff, or I'm sorry — their ... users. They then have a line item that comes over to us, annually, for us... Payne/ Do they pay you back for it? O' Brien/Yes. Payne/ So they're... they're collecting it and then giving it to you. O'Brien/ I believe they're collecting ... I don't know what, I don't discuss the rationale with what they've done with their receipts, but the expense portion of it, um, they do have an annual charge to us, for us to provide parking for them, yes. Hayek/ Other questions for Chris on transit? Champion/ Good job! Hayek/ Okay, thank you for a very thorough explanation! Markus/ If, uh, if it's okay with the Council I'd like to get through Finance and the Management departments and... and uh, Clerk's office, uh, before you go, and uh, then spend the time, uh, next Monday, um, just having wrap -up discussions. It gives you the weekend to think about what we've talked to you about and, um, have those conversations on Monday, both before and after the presentations on Monday if...if that's acceptable. Hayek/ Yeah. Markus/ So we can get through these items? Hayek/ Do you want to just keep plowing forward on those final items (both talking) then disband? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 115 Markus/ Is that all right? Yes, and then... and then break up. Karr/ A break has been requested. Hayek/ Let's do a ... a five - minute break and then ... (several talking) City Manager's Office (p. 186): Markus/ Yeah, next budget we want to talk about is the Manager's office budget. And that's on page 185, Marian! (laughter) Karr/ Thank you, Tom! (laughter) Markus/ All right, uh ... (several talking) 186 is really the numbers you want to look at. Dobyns/ What page did he say? Payne/ 186. Markus/ 186... Payne/ 1 -8 -6 for doctors! Markus/ All right, the overall, uh, City Manager's budget is reduced, uh, by about $47,070. It's roughly an 8.2% reduction. This is largely because, uh, the manager is so hard on his help that he ... beat their salaries down. Um ... actually what happened is Dale Helling, uh, as a long -term employee had accrued higher, uh, benefits and when we hired Jeff ... Jeff of course came in at a lower rate. Um ... the same is true with, uh, the former administrative assistant. Uh, she had, um, progressed to a higher salary, and now with Adam Bentley, uh, he's a starting employee so he's a little lower too. That is, uh, somewhat offset by the fact that we have, um, asked to include in this budget a full -time management intern, and that price is about $20,800. And I will tell you, especially over the past ten years of my experience, uh, these interns are incredible value added to our system. Uh ... Adam started as a, uh, as an intern for a short period of time and Simon Andrew, the other young, uh, gentleman that you'll find in our office, uh, is currently an intern. Uh, they provided a lot of the research for the, uh, comparative analysis and the, uh, comparisons to other jurisdictions, and will continue to do that. And the other thing that I find about these young folks (mumbled, coughing) is they come with a vast array of computer skills and they start to infect, uh, the dinosaurs that are around the office like me, uh, and make me embarrassed enough to try other applications on the systems. Um, so ... they're a big plus in terms of our operation. Uh, additionally, there's a corresponding reduction in our fringe benefit or employee cost, uh, because those salaries are down as well. In terms of, uh, services, professional and technical services, uh, they've increased by $31,757 over the previous fiscal year, uh, $30,000 of that is, uh, for the new City lobbyist position. That's where that's been plugged in into this budget. Uh, so you've I think all of you have since met, uh, the lobbying team and this is really on a This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 116 one -year trial. Uh, we wanted, you know, take a look at how this works for the City, and then we'll come back and report on that before we would come back and budget this in the subsequent year. And they know that as well. In terms of, uh, repair and maintenance, uh, some minor, uh, inflationary increase, uh, increases in some line items. Otherwise a total reduction of about $4,800 in that category. Uh, in terms of supplies, um, there are, uh ... some ... minor inflationary changes. Uh, with some small increases in minor office supplies. And otherwise the total changes to both cost centers, uh, pretty much remain flat from 12 to 13. Uh, I should mention too under services, there's about, urn ... there's some additional costs for transportation, lodging, registration, and meals. Um, one of the things that, uh, I've become involved in is what's called the Big Ten Managers Association. Last year we hosted the Big Ten City Manager's here in Iowa City. Uh, I go to Evanston in, uh, the end of January I think it is, and we're discussing international students and what cities and the universities do for international students. Uh, we pick a different topic, uh, for each winter session, which'll usually be held in Evanston, and then the summer sessions we go to, uh, a different Big Ten town, and uh, we have another study issue, but it's less formal and we get to see kind of the interactions and what happens on campus between their cities and their universities, which has been kind of a good learning experience. And, the other thing I want to do is I want to send, um ... uh, Jeff and Adam to the International City Managers Conference this year, which would be in Phoenix. I'm choosing not to go, uh, so I'll be, uh, holding fort back here while those two off ...are off learning something this year and uh, so that's what the changes are in this particular budget. Dobyns/ You're (mumbled) and they're going to Phoenix. Markus/ Yeah! I've been doing this for 38 years! You know, not that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but ... um, I'd rather have them go and ... and get involved in that. So ... any questions? Throgmorton/ Yeah, my old dog teaches me new tricks! How's that work, I'm serious. Maggie, she's 10- years -old. She's constantly teaching me how to do stuff. (laughter) Markus/ Okay, who's up next in the management team? Fruin/ I'll go ahead. I'm going to ... I'm going to go ahead and knock out, uh, Human Resources or Personnel, and then I'll jump into Human Rights and we can turn it over to Adam here. Um ... Human Resources is, uh, page 189, and that's a division of the City Manager's office. Uh, pretty typical services that you'd expect in a personnel department. Uh, deal with recruitment, benefit administration, collective bargaining, uh, personnel policy. And as such, we do have three collective bargaining units here that, uh ... um, we deal with, and uh ... they're approximately 1,000 employees, 640 of those we would classify as permanent, uh, full -time employees. The, uh, total budget, uh, that you see on page 190's expected to grow about 5.6 %. Um ... that's, uh, there's really no new initiatives in the department on the ... from the personnel side of things, it's about a 2% growth. There are full ... four full -time employees in the division and there's uh, some temporary help that comes in or, uh, a few hours a week to help, uh, scan some records so they can, uh, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 117 reduce the physical space needed in that office. The services line item is where you see the ... the large increase. It's 19 %. Um, based on what I understand and what I can see in looking at past trends, I would be surprised if...if, uh, at the end of the year total expenses came up to that level, but there's a number of things that the department does that is ... is hard to budget for. So when you look at things like police and fire entry -level testing, promotional examinations, uh, advertisements for vacancies that come up — we tend to budget pretty conservatively for those, so uh, again, that number's pretty conservative. We don't, uh, really there's no new initiatives or efforts that are pushing that 19% increase. Um, and the supplies is pretty much just, uh, a, um ... a small decrease, which is more accurately reflects usage in the department. Any questions there? We can jump to Human Rights. And that is on page 193. Um ... Human Rights division is, uh, tasked with enforcing local anti - discrimination laws. Um, so they have a lot of direct, uh, connections with citizens who have, uh, various complaints. Uh, they will receive and investigate, uh, complaints when appropriate and then, uh, in some cases they'll have to refer those citizens to state or other agencies that more appropriately have jurisdiction over the issue at hand. They're also a staff representative to the Human Relations Commission, and they assist, uh, various City departments with some contract review, um, particularly with civil rights laws and uh, equal opportune... equal opportunity laws. There are two permanent employees, and there's also a temporary employee that does some, uh, transcription services for them on an as- needed basis. The total budget shows approximately a 15% decrease. Um, the biggest decrease here is the, uh, elimination of a 20 -hour part-time employee that was budgeted last year; however, it has been unfilled for several years so the last couple years we've appropriated money for that position. We just haven't filled it. This budget, urn ... basically eliminates that position altogether. I think everybody's come to the realization it's not critical at this point. Uh ... other expenses, the services line that ... that's mostly public education, um, some language services. They do, uh, translation services, that sort of thing. And then the HRC, uh, the Human Relations Commission has some special events funding that's out of that line. Uh, again, no...no new initiatives in this division. Throgmorton/ Has ... has the Human Relations Commission requested funding for additional, I mean, additional funding for... other kinds of events that they might want to do? Fruin/ Uh, in talking with Stephanie... Stephanie, the Division Chair here, all the requested, um, funding from the HRC's reflected in this budget. So I'm not aware of any unfunded requests. Hayek/ Anything on Human Rights? Or anything further? Okay. Bentley/ We'll do your budget — City Council budget. Uh, page 184. Markus/ This'll be brief! Bentley/ (laughter) Uh, generally speaking it's for ... your budget's, uh, for the operations of City Council, your membership dues, uh, the salaries that we pay you, uh, travel. Um ... and cost related to providing materials to you, um ... that's going to be about, reduced by This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 118 about 4.8% next year. There was a capital expense to upgrade laser fiche last year, and that ... that, you'll see that, um ... in the capital outlay for the 2012 estimate. Um ... other than that, uh ... there ... isn't anything planned at all. Stays relatively the same. Um... Dobyns/ But if there's a purchase of, uh, computers... for Council ... it would go in this budget? Bentley/ Uh ... I think that is in this budget. Yeah... Markus/ Is it here or IT? Karr/ It's not here, but it is in the budget (several talking) Bentley/ ... so ... any questions? Um ... move to page ... 288, Cable and Broadband. So, uh, cable and broadband, they provide programming for the City Council meetings and throughout the community with various organizations. Um, they're spit... split into three different sections — administration, which handles the franchise agreement, uh, they regulate some of the rates; they provide guidance for staff. There's a media production services unit, uh, they produce ... they produce the local government community video programming, so like what you see here, and um ... they ... the interactive services, they schedule programming on Channel 4, they operate the interactive channel on Channel 5, um, and they also provide some training and programming for the different departments, and provide services for the different departments internally. Uh, this is an enterprise fund for the most part, covered by a franchise fee, 5% franchise fee that consumers pay ... on their bill. Um, and they have staff representatives to the Telecommunications Commission. Um ... they have five permanent employees, two three- quarter time employees, and one part-time custodial. Due to an increase, um, I'm guessing, assuming in, um, cable costs, you'll see an increase in the franchise fee of about 3.4% which is the $786,814. And, um ... you'll also see a reduction in the reserve amount. There's... there's a, uh ... let's see, 280...11, there's ... in 2012 there was $25,000. That's put into a reserve amount for any equipment; that was reduced to $11,500. Um .... total expenditures decreased about, again, I% due to that, um, reserve, uh, decrease. So, they end with an ending balance of about $1.5 million. Hayek/ Are the ... the funds that go to PATV and Senior Center and etc, those are all ... those are not part of this, those are... Bentley/ They're... they're part of a grant that the, um, that... Hayek/ Right. Bentley/ ...they give out that is through, um ... that is budgeted in this, that is in ... is in, the um, in the franchise fee. Hayek/ Okay, but are they ... are they part of the numbers shown on page 289? O'Malley/ Yes they are. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 119 Hayek/ Yeah, okay. O'Malley/ The receipts are there. Hayek/ Okay. Markus/ I'm just going to briefly comment that considering the level of reserves there may be some abilities to expand, um, the types of services that may be funded out of those franchise fees. And we will be examining those types of issues going forward, urn ... we haven't ... any hard decisions, but I just want you to be aware (noises on mic) looking into that issue (mumbled) Throgmorton/ I ... I was wondering about, hearing the $1.5 million number, uh... and you know, I'm tired enough where I didn't kind of immediately get on it, but ... but, uh, I appreciate the fact that you're going to be looking at possibilities for using some portion of that reserve. Right. Yeah, good! Dobyns/ When are we due to negotiate, um, the franchise fee with, is it Mediacom currently is the... Markus/ I don't think that really gets negotiated at this point. Those franchise fees are pretty much set now, um, through... do we have a state law here or... or is it federal? (several talking) Yes. Bentley/ Five's the max permitted by state code, and I think there's some language in the franchise agreement that if the state were to increase the maximum level at that point, we could consider an increase as well. I think the current franchise agreement expires in 2018, and of course at that time, uh, I believe the operator will have the choice whether to negotiate at the local level again, or there's a state franchise option. That they can pursue. Markus/ And they've already exercised their state option in other locales where I suspect relationship issues may have caused the change. So it's ... a delicate balance that needs to be achieved in the process of...making changes. Payne/ What happens to the franchise fee if it's done at the state level then? Does the state (mumbled) franchise fee? Or do we still... Markus/ We'd have to look into that for you to tell you how ... how that gets distributed. Obviously that would be part of (mumbled) Bentley/ (several talking) ...one more page, uh, 80...88, deer control. (laughter) So when I was 13 ... uh, the City Council looked into, uh... Hayek/ 2005? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 120 Bentley/ Uh, look at that! Markus/ Five years ago! (laughter) Bentley/ I believe it was 1999 was when we first hired White Buffalo to, uh, perform our deer mitigation plan and every ... every other year we, uh, review, uh, the levels of the deer population in Iowa City. We coordinate with the DNR. They do a helicopter fly -by in the winter time to, um, check to see how many deer are in the area, and then they estimate that total number, um, and then we also work with our police department to get car strike, uh, reports and determine whether or not it's urn ... whether or not we need to have a... a, execute our deer mitigation plan. And um... (several responding) uh, so uh, we are planning to, we have budgeted for that, uh, for this year. We have already... we've already, the DNR haven't been able to get out to count the deer yet because they need to have snow cover in order to count the deer. Dickens/ Come to my yard! (laughter) Bentley/ So, um ... uh, as soon as there's a good snowfall, the DNR's indicated they're going to be going out and providing those estimates to us, and then we'll get the numbers and um, and determine whether or not, uh, there needs to be a ... we need to execute our deer mitigation plan. (laughter) Dobyns/ (mumbled) the University does not, um, execute any deer mitigation plan ... on University property. Bentley/ No. Dobyns/ Okay. Bentley/ Nope. Dobyns/ Which affects the west side, so ... okay. Bentley/ Unless I'm ... unless I'm different... I've got my historians over here. (several talking) Okay. Payne/ When is ... when is the last time we executed the plan? (laughter) Bentley/ Uh, it was in 2009. 2010. (several talking) Yeah, we uh... Hayek/ Couple years we have not. Bentley/ ...we bagged, uh ... less than 100. Deer. So ... and when it ... when it first (several talking) ...what? Excuse me? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 121 Payne/ Say that again. Bentley/ We bagged, we, uh... (several talking) Payne/ I got it. Mims/ The first year or two they had over 300, I think. Dickens/ They mitigated (several talking) Mims/ So it's really been down. Bentley/ But I think in the first year there were 587 was the population count, uh, that was the estimate, and then, uh, White Buffalo came in and ... and um... Dickens/ Mitigated. Bentley/ Mitigated 387 of them. Payne/ So what ... what is the threshold? That we mitigate. Bentley/ You know I don't ... you know I don't think there's an actual, um, I think what they do is they see what the trend is and determine whether or not, uh, the population has reached a level where we would need to. Payne/ So it's not (both talking) we count 392 we're going to do it, it's (both talking) Bentley/ Right! Right! (several talking) Markus/ It's usually the density (several talking) Dickens/ Well, and how much accidents they're causing too. Bentley/ Yeah. Champion/ I can't remember the exact number but it's... (mumbled) (several talking) Dobyns/ But they have to execute the deer on City property (mumbled) Karr/ (several talking) ... permission from property owners, one we identify the area based on density. We identify it. Dobyns/ So on the west side, I mean, if they're on University property, they're... Karr/ Safe! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 122 Dobyns/ ...they're sheltered. Champion/ They're free to roam! Dobyns/ Yeah. Dickens/ Free roam deer! Champion/ Unless they walk out on Melrose! Dobyns/ Which they do! Bentley/ That's it. Hayek/ That's all you got? Bentley/ Yep! Hayek/ All right. Thanks, Adam. Bentley/ Thank you! Finance (p. 195): Hayek/ What's next? O'Malley/ Looks like I'm next. Urn ... Finance Department. Our mission statement is... Dickens / What page? O'Malley/ Oh, I'm sorry, page 195! (laughter) I got it. Our mission statement is to, uh, provide quality services to the residents and safeguard City assets. Those assets include the financial assets and the human resource assets, and physical property. I have seven, uh, active divisions, and a couple divisions you see on page 196, that are really financial divisions, but the seven staff divisions, I have a staff of 38 individuals. There is three and a half of us in, uh, Finance Administration. The role of Finance Administration is to... to do budget all the time. Actually we do current budget, monitoring budget, and then we do forecasting next year's budget. The other thing that we do in Finance Administration is, um, prepare official statements for bond sales and administrative support services for my other operating divisions. The Accounting division, uh, has about eight individuals. They're tasked with, uh, providing, oh, let's see ... 202. They're tasked with, uh, paying all the bills in the City, approximately $165 million every year flows through the City, uh, checking account, and it's paid out in small checks, $5 at a time sometimes and sometimes $20 million. So we have to account for each one of those, either via... a wire transfers, checks, or uh ... ACH payments. They also provide payroll services for the whole City, which amounts to about $40 million a year, about 20,000 checks are cut, plus This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 123 the appropriate federal agencies have to be paid, and the ... and the pension funds. The... the major, uh, output of the division, of the Accounting division, is the preparation of our financial statements. And they work with auditors to, uh, to get our unqualified opinion for the last ... least 30 years I've been ... 30 years I know of. We've been receiving the comprehensive, uh, annual financial report (mumbled) award for excellence on the comprehensive annual financial report since 1986. So, it's, uh, it was quite a ... quite a honor for us to get it that first year, I remember. It's still an honor, but ... we had tried for several years. The other division, let's see is, uh ... going page, would be Purchasing! Purchasing assists all the City divisions and departments in, uh, procurement of...of goods and services through our City policies and State law. Uh, they also manage the purchasing credit card program that we have. And ... and in recent years they've been also working with the, uh, wellness committee to maintain our exercise room in this facility, and they've upgraded that and painted it over the last, uh, two years. Next page I'd like to call your attention to is the Revenue division. They are customer service division that meets the public, uh, with about 25,000 customers, utility customers. They bill for the, uh, water utilities, four times a month, uh, everybody's cutting... everybody has a route. There's four major routes a month, and everyone... everyone's billed once a month. There's also a collection process we go through and if, uh, people don't pay their bills, they end up being shut off or it goes onto the, um, landlord... landlord's uh ... tax bill. That ... that's also the division that manages the, um ... our cash flow accounts. We have all our deposits sent to Revenue, and uh, we do our investments there for short-term cash flow and for our bonds that have longer... longer horizon on `em. The, um ... the manager of the Revenue division is also the manager of the Risk Management division. Risk Management is actually ... in the back. It's internal service fund, and it has one employee besides her ... let's see if I can find ... 303. Thank you, Marian! (laughter) Uh, this is where we safeguard the City's assets, um ... from casualty and liability risk. Essentially, when I first came here we ... we bought insurance and insured everything, and we had a couple of hard markets in the mid ... mid -80s, and so we decided to, uh, self - insure so we ended up building our own, uh, self - insurance fund, and kind of a mini - insurance company. So now we do claims, work comp, liability, uh, trips and falls, and, uh, sewer backups, etc. And that actually works through Finance Administration and Revenue and Risk Management. In 1994, we hired a ... a safety specialist to help assist with our OSHA program. There was quite a push in the late 80s and 90s and we tried to get all our utility divisions, uh, up to code, and we have some pretty good records now of...of low injury dates. Next ... one... Dobyns/ Where's the Risk Management funded from? O'Malley/ I'm sorry, it's on page 303. Dobyns/ Oh, no, I'm seeing it. 304 ... where the inter -city charges that pays for this? That's from General Fund or... Markus/ (away from mic) O'Malley/ That's from all funds. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 124 Markus/ This is an internal service fund and so what they do is they charge back all of the charges, the water fund ... roadibridge fund, the general fund (both talking) Dobyns/ Depending on... Markus/ ...those get charged (both talking) Dobyns/ For managing the risk, okay. Thank you. O'Malley/ They're usually based on the three -year average of their claims history. Sometimes we end up fronting the claim, if they have a big claim and they don't have enough money, then we'll ... the Risk Management fund has about a $2 million ... $2.7 million fund balance. From that ... we do an actuarial study every year to make sure if enough funding in there. Last year we came up with I think a $2.1 million actuarial liability, so we're reducing our fund balance going out. It's kind of our own little insurance company. Uh, back to ... General Fund, page 208 is Document Services. This division is ...is seeing some changes, um ... it's been over, oh let's see, last seven, eight years we've had a ... a lot of reduction in dictation. When I first came the City just about everybody, uh, used dictation to have their memos done and with the advent of computers and ... and personal computers, and people's typing skills getting better, that dictation has fallen off, and several times we looked at, uh, repurposing this division. And actually we did change it from a word processing center back in the early 90s to the Document Services division, to provide for, um, more doc ... uh, higher level document preparation. We have some ... pieces of equipment that can do quite a bit of, uh, banners and different types of print equipment there, and we also phased in some web services there. Web content. We ... in the Information Technology Services division we do the nuts and bolts behind the web, but the front end of the web was always done through Document Services. So recommending, um ... that since dictation has dropped off so much in the last couple years that we want to reduce two staff members here and hopefully, uh, repurpose this division into more of a public information office type division. We've seen a need for that for several years and it seems to be, uh, disjointed with... throughout our organization. Any questions? Champion/ What do you mean by that? O'Malley/ What I mean by that (laughter) is that I think in 2000 ... maybe it was 1999, the Planning Department got a half -time PIO person, and not to be outdone, Public Works department two years later got a half -time PIO person. And not to be outdone, the Police department has a PIO person. Maybe I shouldn't be saying `not to be outdone!' Champion/ But you think you do too? (laughter) O'Malley/ You need to have a single message coming from the City. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 125 Markus/ We weren't going to reveal all of this, uh, necessarily at this meeting because there's some internal discussions that have to take place amongst employees, but um ... now that that's kind of out there, the whole repurposing discussion is kind of related back to the strategic planning effort, and the real ... the real discussion in this particular area is that urn ... uh, dictation, uh, services just are not necessary or needed to the extent they were, and so, um, those positions, um, are recommended to be, um, eliminated, and there I suppose is some potential that they ... they may be eligible to apply for other positions, if there's openings that occur, um, but in those particular positions, those are recommended to be laid off. O'Malley/ And the last, uh, operating division is the... Information Technology Services division. Central Services is kind of a part of Purchasing. Which is on, I believe, 299? And uh, their mission statement has changed over the years that I've been here. Uh, when I first came, uh, nobody wanted to be involved with computers. It was just a financial function and uh, and so we have some legacy software that we've built, that we created back in the 80s, uh, that need replacing currently and we've been trying to replace it over the last four years. And uh, the Information Technology has exploded and instead of having it, uh, decentralized throughout the organization, we ... the Finance took it upon itself in the early 90s to start consolidating and creating a management, uh, for the ... all the networks that were starting to be built. Uh, we're using ... some divisions were starting to use different technology versus another division, and so there was duplication of services and lack of communication, so that was decided back then to make an internal service fund out of it and charge the divisions, and standardize services. Of course the Information Technology's exploded... it's capabilities and ... and we've expanded into, uh, a phone system. We expanded into fiber optic network system, which we share with the ...which we own but we manage and share with the, uh, Johnson County... Johnson County, the Iowa City Community School District, and uh, University of Iowa. Uh, we also have, um, a computer systems run from servers to desktop to the software that comes with the desktop, to uh ... application software that we have developed, to integrating software for... specific software for like each, uh, disparate organization. Rec Center has a certain type of software. Housing Authority has a certain type of software. HIS has a certain type of software. They all need to be integrated to provide, um, some general level... some general ledger integration. So that's, uh, that... department also has expanded from, uh, three and a half people back in 1985 to about 11 people. Um, challenges for the Finance department are as I mentioned earlier that, um ... the software is home - grown, back in the 80s, and those three and a half people that started in the 80s is down to a half a person. So we've recognized that issue for the last four or five years and ...and uh, instead of, um, you know, back then in the 1983 or 4, the decision ... it was a make or buy decision, and ... and uh, City at that time determined to make the software. Nowadays it's too complex to get into making software. So we're looking at trying to buy software, and so that's the challenge is trying to upgrade our financial systems and HR systems. Our utility billing systems, which creates about $35 million of revenue to the City, and urn ... think that's it! Any questions? Hayek/ Questions for Kevin? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 126 Throgmorton/ Maybe ... maybe, uh, either you or Tom could explain the direct connection between ... uh, what you just discussed and previous conversations, uh, concerning, uh, the system software replacement difficulties and ... and you know, help me out with that. I think you know what I'm referring to, don't you? Markus/ The, um ... the City undertook a process to go out, uh, and select a new, uh, service provider, and um ... we made a selection, long story short, um ... changes in personnel in that particular company and some probably some license issues between the parent company and the individuals that spun off and were our company, uh, created some real issues in cable ... in their capacity to deliver those services. Um ... I think we're probably in litigation at this point. There was an offer to settle and a payment schedule arrived at, and they defaulted on the payment schedule, so I think our only result was to pursue litigation, uh, there's the potential that there's a bankruptcy involved and ... uh, another company has since bought the company that we did business with so ... it was a ... a major mess by the time it all unraveled, and so now we're in the process of trying to determine what our best course of action is, and uh ... Kevin and his staff, as well as, uh, the IT department and even now Jeff, uh, are kind of involved in this whole study of what the right solution is, uh for the City, uh, number of departments want to go with some of their own standalone type features and ... and some of us are arguing that it needs to be comprehensive but the last comprehensive approach we took was somewhat disastrous so we're not going to pull the trigger any time too fast, and at worse, what's going to happen is is that this is all going to be vetted through a public meeting in front of the City Council before any decision is made this time around. Uh, unlike in ... there was some vetting but not to the degree that I think needs to be done in terms of contract letting and things like that this time around, and our purchasing manual has at least been amended in that regard to make sure that I can't just sign off on it (mumbled) You're going to see our selected options, um, while there's some urgency... there's a deliberate pace about this so that we don't, uh, repeat mistakes in the past. Hayek/ Other questions for Kevin? Okay! Thank you! City Clerk (p. 187): Karr/ City Clerk's budget is on page 187 and 188, and I knew everybody was going to say (several talking and laughing). 187 and 188! Um ... much of what you've heard today you'll hear again, um ... concerning my budget. There's no major changes. Um ... however, uh, it should be noted that most of the work in the City Clerk's office are duties, uh, that we perform based on State code, City code, or City Charter. We are fortunate to have other opportunities pass our way that we also inherit, but generally speaking those are the major categories of most of what we do. That would encompass everything from the Council meeting minutes, agendas, uh, Council proceedings, um, resolutions, ordinances. We also, um, are the, uh, main or final destination for all the City subdivision paperwork. Um, we handle, um, cemetery records and the past year we've done the first major step of converting, um, all of our City cemetery records into an electronic system that we do hope to have, um, available on the web shortly. Um, and it was a huge undertaking because it goes way back, uh, penmanship and uh, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 127 recordkeeping was a little different through the generations in cemetery records. So we're busy trying to ... to uh ... um, take care of those matters and get those up and running. Realizing it'll be a ... a, uh, work in process for generations to come as more and more people use it for, uh, genealogy and more and more information is provided that we can then further update. Um, we also handle, um, lot of the legal publications. We handle all legal publications, um, to the paper. That's a major component in our budget. We do charge -backs if we can charge `em back to the City departments. If not, if they are generated through Council, um, meaning, um, recently the 21- ordinance. That was generated through you. We would absorb though ... those legal publications in the Clerk's office. Um, in addition to that, we do domestic partnership registry, taxi company and drivers permitting, um, dancing permits, board and commission applications, and also staff Youth Advisory commission and the Police Citizen Review. Um, primarily as you've heard today, our primary, um, major part of our budget is our, um, employees, personnel costs. Salaries, wages, employee benefits. And popcorn! Um, we, um... three, the three employees, the four of us in the Clerk's office represent over 50 years of experience. Urn ... the employees are at the top of their range, um ... and I think as Eleanor said this morning, we all benefit from that. There's a lot of history there. There's a lot of knowledge there. There's a lot of, uh ... um, communication with people over the years, and for that, uh, we all benefit greatly. Um, the other things that I'd just like to point out that are the only changes in the budget, um, would be, um, again, pointing... legal publications, we're doing our very best to keep those costs down. They continue to go up. Legal publications are required by State code, and the fee is established by State code. So the State code enables the newspapers to publish based on a formula that the newspapers follow, um ... the formula ... the formula, if you can imagine, it is established by State code so it's up to interpretation. But ... it is very, very difficult to save money with legal publications when you are bound to publish certain things, um, it also is tough to get any legislation to decrease that because in ... especially in the State of Iowa, but certainly nationwide, many newspapers are taking a hit on circulation. Many of the smaller papers are kept alive by legal publications. Plain and simple! And um ... it's, at the same time that they're kept alive, we as taxpayers are paying, uh, a great deal for those legal publications that in my opinion could be done much more efficiently, but the way the State code is written we don't have a choice. So it is what it is. The other opportunity that my budget has is every other year I have an election. So I ... my budget either goes up double -digit percentage, if there is one, or down double -digit percentage if there isn't one. This happens to be a non - election year in 13. So it's about a 12% decrease because of the lack of election costs. But, uh, I also do want to note that on that subject, again, that is something that we have very little opportunity to control those costs, again, by State code, um, the County, uh, Commissioner of Elections, uh, handles those costs, urn ... we here in Iowa City are petitioned often for satellite voting stations. We have a great reputation for, urn ... um, absentee balloting. All of those things cost. And um ... a good example of that is, uh, the primary and general election in 2009 cost $68,000. Combined, the two of them together. One year later we did a 21- ordinance only, one election, was $48,000. I have yet to be billed for this election. But it proportionately goes up, um, 8 to 10 %, and again, it's because of the participation we have, but that participation converts into additional costs, whether it's, uh, satellite This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012. January 7, 2012 Iowa City City Council Budget Work Session Page 128 stations, uh, ballot printing, whatever, but ... those costs is why it went down this year is primarily elections. Questions? Hayek/ Any questions for Marian? Thank you! Okay! What uh, what's left? Markus/ That's it! Hayek/ Can we go home? (several talking) Markus/ Actually you know, there is a discussion but there is time at the beginning and the end of the next session, although ... you all know Rick and once he starts talking... there probably won't be much time at the end. So ... not this Rick! Rick Fosse. (several talking) Hayek/ All right. Well, thank you... Markus/ Appreciate your patience for sittin' with us all day and ... and uh (several talking) Hayek/ We are adjourned! We'll see ya on Monday! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council budget work session of January 7, 2012.