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ITEM lb. SPECIAL PRESENTATION.
Hayek: Item lb is an addition. It's a, uh, special presentation for shovel -ready
certification of Iowa City's wind energy supply chain campus. Would our guests
please come forward.
Karr: Here to make the presentation is Eric Hanson with ICAD who'll also make other
introductions. You'll need to turn it on, Eric. There you go!
Hanson: Is that on? There we go. Uh, Mayor, City Council, and audience. I work for the
Iowa City Area Development Group. I'm the Communications Director. Also
with me is DaLayne Williamson, our Workforce Services Director. We've been
working with the City for this particular industrial campus for the past two years
to attract, uh, industrial and commercial property to the campus. We've also been
working on a certification program, uh, to help market the campus, and to make
that presentation for the certification we have Jonathon Gemmen from Austin
Consulting out of Cleveland.
Gemmen: Thank you! Um, lot of work goes into certification. I don't know if, uh, everyone
here knows exactly what it is, but uh, today's, uh, environment to compete for
industry is very, very, very competitive. Um, it's a real challenge. A lot of states,
um, that are not as fiscally conservative Iowa are willing to throw oodles and
oodles of money at, uh, at projects, um, just to get jobs cause they're desperate for
jobs. Um, and when you ... you got a community like Iowa City, uh, well
educated, uh, good school system, uh, well planned, urn ... and just a great quality
of life, um, but the desire to grow industry is ... is very, very, uh, appealing, um,
and uh, again, you have to grow industry, uh, to continue to, uh, you know,
develop your middle class and we're ... we're excited to see that a community, um,
you know, who could go after the ... just the creative class, uh, you know, kind of
high -tech, virtual jobs, uh, really is willing to invest in really blue collar jobs so,
um, we haven't seen the ... the full fruits of our labor, but uh, we really have a
wonderful site, um .... our there and I don't think it'll be long before, uh, someone
from corporate America or global corporate corporation inc chooses to come to,
uh, to Iowa City and uh, make capital investment and create some jobs. So thank
you! Yeah, it's basically the letter, uh, letter talking about our certification and
uh, the key details. I just want to thank, uh, a handful of folks, um, I don't want
to go into too many names, but for the City of Iowa City, um, and ... and ICAD,
they stepped up a few years ago and... and decided to make, um, make an
investment in this program. They hired our group, uh, with, uh, a partnership
with the State to, uh, to bring us in and uh, and identify the best sites in the, uh, in
the community so they can be marketed at a high level, and uh, now they're
getting the exposure that, uh, that ... that they need, and uh, now the State is finally
jumping on board and, uh, making a State program, but uh, the impatience of the
ICAD group which I was very much impressed with. They, uh, they couldn't
wait for the State. The State's been talking about this for years and uh, they said,
hey, we're going to do it without you, and they ... they went ahead and did it and
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now, uh, the balls rolling and it's moving all across Iowa. So, thank you!
(applause)
Hayek: Jonathon, I want to thank you for ... for coming tonight and also our ... our ICAD
partners. ICAD has been a real leader on the .... on the development of this wind
energy campus and uh, they plus... critical members of our staff
have... have... moved the ball down the field considerably, but this shovel -ready
certification is ... is a major milestone for us. Uh, along with the other amenities —
the rail spur and the infrastructure and what not, and we're excited to see, uh,
the ... the attraction of private industry to ... to this former cornfield. So ... thanks,
uh, for making the trip and we appreciate your work. (mumbled response) Take
care!
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ITEM 2. OUTSTANDING STUDENT CITIZENSHIP AWARDS — Grant Wood
Elementary
Hayek: While I'm up here, let's move on to the next item which is, uh, Outstanding
Student Citizenship Awards. Would our students from Grant Wood Elementary
come up please? Hi, guys! Well hello, everyone! I'm Matt Hayek, I'm the
Mayor, and sitting behin ... behind you here is the City Council of Iowa City.
Have you ever been to a meeting before here? Yeah, well ... this is an exciting
place to be (laughter) let me tell you! So, we're ... we're really glad to have you
here and what we do, uh, throughout the school year is invite leaders of the
various elementary schools in Iowa City, uh, to come and talk to us just a little bit
about what they're doing at their schools and uh, we've got an award we want to
read to you, um, and I understand that... at least one of you has a... some sort of
band concert to get to so we'll try to cut this shorter and ... and cut to the chase
here. So why don't we do this. I will, uh, pass the microphone to you and if you
wanted to read your ... your piece to us, that'd be great! Thanks!
Garcia: Hello! I am Korrin Garcia. I am a sixth grader at Grant Wood Elementary. My
homeroom teacher is Miss Grigsby. My jobs in school are conflict managers and
clipboard pickup and returns. I read and help the kindergartners and watch the
kindergarten and first grade recess. I also have the privilege of playing the flute
in band. I also like going to the after school band on Wednesdays. Outside of
school I babysit and do volleyball. I believe I received this award because I like
to go to school and get to see my friends and teachers. I believe I am responsible
and respectful to my peers and my wonderful teachers. I'd like to thank my
teachers, Miss Grigsby, Miss Brock, and Mr. Glenn. Thank you, Miss Grigsby,
for nominating me for the leadership award. Also Miss Grigsby helped me with
questions and problems I had. Thank you sixth grade teachers for nominating me.
Thank you everyone who helped me, like my mom and neighbors. (applause)
Momberg: Hello. My name is James Momberg. I am a sixth grader in Mr. Glenn's class at
Grant Wood Elementary. Thank you for giving me this award. Some activities I
am involved in at school include conflict managers. I am a bank officer and I was
leader of the classroom for about half the year. As conflict manager, I go to
kindergartner ... kindergarten and help them read and fill out worksheets. As bank
officer, I pay the people in our class for doing work and jobs with classroom cash.
As leader of the classroom I decided rules and fines for not getting your work
done. I also kept track of how much money people had and other things. Some
activities I am involved in out of school include soccer, basketball, and orchestra,
and I play the viola in the fifth and sixth grade orchestra. Again, thank you for
giving me this award. It is an honor. (applause)
Lui: Hi, my name is Winston Lui. I'm a sixth grader at Grant Wood Elementary. My
homeroom teacher is Miss Brock. Grant Wood teachers are very nice and kind.
Each morning I look forward to coming ... to come to school to, uh, come to
school early ... to raise both our nation's and our state's flag. It's been an honor
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and a privilege to do what I believe is an important job. In school I enjoy math
and helping others in need. Outside of school I enjoy soccer and baseball. I also
enjoy playing the piano and violin. Both sports and music have kept me
motivated to help me stay organized. I look forward to go ... I look forward to go
to Southeast Junior High, but I will also miss my teachers and peers. My future
plans are to continue to be active in various activities and to do well academically.
Lastly I would like to thank Miss Brock, Miss Grigsby, and Mr. Glenn for
teaching me, and Miss Brock for nominating me for this award. (applause)
Hayek: Well those were beautifully written and beautifully spoken pieces, and, uh, it's
just wonderful. I don't know how you get all of these things done, uh, during the
week but ... because you must be so busy. Well it's great for us to see, uh, young
people in Iowa City doing such amazing things, and one of the reasons we bring
you here to give you this award is to recognize what you do in your school
because you set an example for everybody else in your school and around the
community. And we also want to thank your teachers and your parents and the
people in your lives who, uh, help you, uh, do everything that you do. Obviously
they have a big, big role in ... in what you do, uh, every day of the week. So, with
that in mind ... we have what's called a Citizenship Award, and there's one for
each of you and I'll read it. It ... it reads as follows: for his or her outstanding
qualities of leadership within Grant Wood Elementary, as well as the community,
and for his or her sense of responsibility and helpfulness to others, we recognize
you as an Outstanding Student Citizen. Your community is proud of you.
Presented by the Iowa City City Council, May 2012. (mumbled) Here's yours,
and Winston ... let me just shake your hands here. Congratulations and keep up
the great work! (applause) Thanks so much!
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ITEM 3. CONSIDER ADOPTION OF THE CONSENT CALENDAR AS
PRESENTED OR AMENDED.
Champion: Move adoption by, uh, pulling out 3e(1).
Dobyns: Second.
Hayek: Okay, uh, that's 3e(1). Moved by Champion, seconded by Dobyns. Discussion?
Are we permitted to do this this way?
Karr: So we're adopting it minus 3e(1) only?
Hayek: Exactly, and we'll take up 3d(l) under (both talking)
Mims: But wait a minute, isn't (both talking)
Karr: What about 3, yeah, 3d(5) too?
Mims: (both talking)
Hayek: Do we need to do that?
Karr: Well if you're... you're going to be adopting the rest of the agenda...
Hayek: Right. All right, let's take both out. So, Connie, why don't you amend your...
Champion: I did!
Dobyns: Yeah, I seconded the amendment.
Hayek: Okay. The motion is to, uh, to, uh, adopt the Consent Calendar, pulling out 3e(1)
and 3d(5).
Karr: (both talking) (5) okay. So we'll have adoption of the Consent Calendar minus
those two.
Hayek: Yes. Seconded by Dobyns. Discussion? Roll call, please. Okay, uh, passes, uh,
6 -0, Council Member Dickens will not be here this evening. Okay, why don't we
take up the other two and we'll start with, uh, 3e(1).
Payne: On 3e(1) I'll need to recuse myself for.
Hayek: Okay.
Mims: Move adoption of 3e(1).
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Champion: Second.
Throgmorton: And what is it?
Hayek: This ... this is, uh, conveyance of utility easements, uh, on Lower Muscatine, uh, in
connection with (several talking) Mid American on the infrastructure work down
there. So, moved by Mims, seconded by ... who was that?
Karr: Champion.
Hayek: Champion. Discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes 5 -0, Council Member
Payne abstaining. Which brings us to M(5).
Karr: d(5)?
Hayek: Or 3d(5), pardon me. Why don't we key that up as a ... as a motion.
Champion: Okay, shall we, oh ... we do it now?
Hayek: Yeah.
Champion: Okay. I'd like to pass 3d(5) on the Consent Calendar.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Motion from Champion, seconded by Payne. Uh, discussion, and I will read that
so the public knows what we're talking about. This is, uh, consider a resolution
authorizing an agreement between the City of Iowa City and the, uh, Eliezer
Rodriguez and Marc Moen for installation of a mural on City owned property at
220 S. Dubuque Street, and authorizing the Mayor to execute and the City Clerk
to attest the same.
Throgmorton: Matt, I wonder if you'd be willing to say some of the comments, uh, you made
during our work session. They were, uh, really right on target and, uh, pretty
reasonable to repeat.
Hayek: Yeah, uh, so this ... this relates to a proposal for private funding of a mural on City
owned property, specifically a parking ramp, um, and as I understand it, the
process went through the normal Public Art Advisory Committee, uh, process, uh,
where it...it was vetted with a recommendation to, um, to the Council to ... to
support this and enter into an agreement with the artist and the, um, sponsor,
um ... the .... the difference that caused what I think is a minor flap in the scheme of
things, uh, will be forgotten was there was a request to, um, not forward the, uh,
the details of the mural were to the Council because the artist wanted to unveil the
work, um, essentially live so the public could see this come together, um, as the
artwork unfolds. Um, this is a little bit not in keeping with, uh, at least past
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practice, and so what we discussed at a ... at our work session earlier this evening
was that the Council wanted to see, um, those details, which is consistent with
what we do for other public art, uh, projects, and uh ... uh, we have since then in
the last couple of hours, seen the design sketch for that. Um, so this is before us
now to, uh, take a vote on, uh, have discussion on ... if people would like to.
Dobyns: And the Public Arts Commission is a group that's taken a look at it recently, um,
the finished product so it's actually been vetted by, um, multiple groups.
Champion: I think this'll be a really positive thing, uh, our new parking ramps are actually
quite good looking for a parking ramp. Our older ones are pretty ugly so I think
this is going to be an incredible improvement. Thank you, Marc!
Throgmorton: Yeah, I'd like to repeat something I said during the work session too. I really like
the idea of, uh, public art on the sides of, uh, these large public structures, uh, that
...that we in particular own. Uh, and I think it's tremendously generous of.. of
Marc Moen to volunteer to, uh, contribute funds for this. I expressed some
concerns about, uh, not knowing in advance what the ... what the art, or what the
design might look like, and now ... now that's been clarified, and also it was, uh,
entirely unclear to me how much of the north wall of the parking structure would
actually be covered by the mural. Marc addressed that very clearly. Uh, I feel
comfortable with what he said, uh, so I ... I'm happy to support this, uh, and ... and
am confident it will serve the City well.
Hayek: Yeah, I think this is a ... a remarkable act of generosity, um, and I think it's an
important and significant investment in our downtown artistic landscape, um, and
it's ... it's just fantastic to ... to see this kind of, uh, commitment, uh, to a public
piece of property. So ... further discussion of this? Roll call, please. Item passes
6 -0.
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ITEM 4. COMMUNITY COMMENT (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA).
Hayek: Okay, this brings us to Item 4 which is community comment. This is the
opportunity at each City Council meeting for members of the public to address the
City Council, uh, regarding items that are not on the agenda. So if there's
something you'd like to bring to our attention, I invite you to step forward. Ask
you that you sign in, and also give us your name over the microphone and uh, we
need people to keep their comments to five minutes or less, please. So...
Holbrook: I'm Mark Holbrook. I'm with the Senior Center Commission and I just want to,
uh, make a few brief, uh, announcements. One is the summer program guide for
the Senior Center will be available on Monday. So look for that all throughout
town. The classes will start on the 4th of June, and registration for those courses
start on the 29th of May. Uh, the Senior Center recently hosted on, uh, Friday,
April 27th, a very successful event. It was an art exhibit called "Stir Fry" and also
a Sudanese festival, and over 250 members of the community came during that
evening event, and also that the Senior Center is participating in the June Ist
gallery walk. So, we appreciate, uh, our participation and hope that others will
attend as well. Thank you!
Hayek: Thanks for the update, Mark! Would anyone else like to address the Council
during community comment?
Whiston: My name's Dorothy Whiston and I'm with the Coalition for Racial Justice and,
um, hearing the discussion earlier in the work session about the possibility of
selling public housing units and um, transferring some of the funds from those
sales into the UniverCity program, um, raises concerns for me, and I would hope
that before that's done or really any action is taken by the Council that there will
be a systematic, uh, racial equity assessment done. Uh, I think that those two
programs are very different populations in our community. I know at the state
level now the legislation is required to go through a racial equity, uh, impact
assessment, and I think that that's something that we need to be doing at the local
level, as well. So particularly when it has to do with public housing, which I
think does disproportionately affect people of color in our community. I hope you
will do that kind of an assessment before moving forward on that.
Hayek: Thank you, uh, for your comments.
Simmons: Good afternoon. My name is Chadd Simmons. I'm the Executive Director of
Diversity Focus. Diversity Focus was started around six years ago, uh, by
corporations and organizations, uh, such as Rockwell Collins, ACT, University of
Iowa, University of Iowa, uh, Healthcare, um, Alliant Energy, um, and many
other organizations. It was designed in order to help the community with the
challenges that it has, um, around, uh, issues of diversity. Uh, our organization is
an organization that wants to help you and help the community get better, and the
reason why it's important to corporations is because they found that they were
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bringing in talent, um, but they were leaving after two to three years. So they
would come here for a job, but they would leave because they couldn't build a
life, and it's costing organizations, um, a lot of, uh, money, uh, thousands of
dollars, um, and so, uh, the ... the simple two things that I wanted to bring up. One
was, is that I really appreciate the work and the effort and the due diligence that
you've put together as it relates to, uh, taking a look at the document and making
some assessments. I would ask you to consider that, um, it's not only about your
vote of whether you support it or not. It's about the discussion that you have, and
whether people believe that you believe in them as a community. And so I would
ask you in your actions versus just your words what it means to people as they're
listening to you and whether they believe that you believe in them. The second
thing that I just would ask is, is that I know there will be a committee that would
be created, and was curious on what the process is for that committee and how
much involvement, um, would, um, the community have in, um, recommending
or suggesting people for the committee.
Hayek: Well we, uh, Mr. Simmons, we don't ... we don't do a back and forth during
community comment. I can tell you though that on this particular issue we're
going to have that conversation probably at our next meeting, in terms of the
...the composition of the ad hoc committee and then the ... the tasks we assign to
it.
Simmons: Thank you very much.
Hayek: You bet! Would anyone else like to address, uh, the Council? Okay, we'll move
on to Planning and Zoning items.
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ITEM 5. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS.
b. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE VACATING .27 -ACRES OF
STREET RIGHT -OF -WAY ADJACENT TO LOTS 1 -8 MELROSE
PLACE. (VAC12- 00001) (SECOND CONSIDERATION)
Hayek: This is second consideration. Expedited action is requested by staff. Why don't
we do ex parte before we get into this? Does anyone have any conversations
since our last meeting? (several responding) Okay. (several talking) ... do the
honors?
Mims: I move that the rule requiring that ordinances must be considered and voted on for
passage at two Council meetings prior to the meeting at which it is to be finally
passed be suspended, that the second consideration and vote be waived, and that
the ordinance be voted on for final passage at this time.
Champion: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Champion. Discussion? Roll call, please. Item
passes 5 -1, uh, Council Member Dobyns in the negative.
Mims: I move that the ordinance be finally adopted at this time.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Pass and adopt...
Dilkes: Hold on one second! I'm ... we're going to ... because we've got one missing, and
we've got a no, I'm going to have to check the requirements on (mumbled)
Hayek: Oh! (mumbled)
Dilkes: Yeah, I know it's three - quarters of (mumbled) Do we have five of you? Okay,
we're good then.
Mims: I move that the ordinance be finally adopted at this time.
Payne: Second.
Champion: I mean second! (laughter)
Hayek: Pass and adopt moved by Mims, seconded by Payne. Discussion?
Throgmorton: I'm going to oppose this for the same reasons, uh, I opposed it last time.
Hayek: Okay.
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Throgmorton: Last ... last meeting that is.
Hayek: Roll call, please. Uh, passes 3 — 2, Council Members Dobyns and Throgmorton
(several talking). Oh, yes, 4 -2! My math is terrible tonight! Okay. So 4 -2,
Council Members Dobyns and Throgmorton on the negative.
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ITEM 5c CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE REZONING APPROXIMATELY 2.43
ACRES OF LAND FROM INTENSIVE COMMERCIAL (CI -1) TO
COMMUNITY COMMERCIAL (CC -2) FOR PROPERTIES LOCATED
EAST OF WEST SIDE DRIVE AND NORTH OF MORMON TREK
BOULEVARD NEAR ITS INTERSECTION WITH HIGHWAY 1 WEST
(REZ12- 00003). (PASS AND ADOPT)
Champion: Move adoption.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Champion, seconded by Payne. This has to do with the, uh, corner of,
uh, Mormon Trek and ... and Highway, I guess 1. Uh, 2440 Mormon Trek
Boulevard where the McDonald's is. Um, and allows expansion of that
restaurant, and acknowledges that general retail, commercial is appropriate at this
intersection. Discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes 6 -0.
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ITEM 5e CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 14, ZONING,
ARTICLE 5A, OFF - STREET PARKING AND LOADING STANDARDS,
TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF REQUIRED PARKING SPACES FOR
CERTAIN MULTI - FAMILY DWELLING UNITS WHEN LOCATED
WITHIN A DESIGNATED UNIVERSITY IMPACT AREA (UTA). (PASS
AND ADOPT)
Mims: Move adoption.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Payne. Discussion?
Throgmorton: Uh, I'm going to vote against this, uh, again for reasons that I articulated during
our last meeting, having to do with how the parking ordinance does nothing to
reduce our dependence on automobiles, which is problematic in the face of fiscal,
uh, uncertainties and so on. I won't, uh, don't need to elaborate, and also because
it does nothing to ensure that the streetscape will remain urbane and lively and so
on. I'd be happy to elaborate on that with anybody at any time, but I guess this is
not the appropriate moment.
Dobyns: I'd let the public know uh, earlier in our work session we discussed with City
staff, uh, various options, specifically a... sort of a zip car, rent car, uh,
methodology used in other cities to try and look at operational ways that we can
decrease the parking burden on the downtown areas.
Hayek: Further discussion on 5e? Roll call, please. Item passes 5 -1, Council Member
Throgmorton in the negative.
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ITEM 7. AMENDING THE FY2012 OPERATING BUDGET.
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Hayek: This is a public hearing. (bangs gavel) The public hearing is open. We have a
presentation on ... this I believe. Mr. O'Malley!
O'Malley: Mr. Mayor, City Council, uh, I am here to support ... recommend the adoption of
this, um, resolution and I wanted to call your attention to, uh, our public hearing
on this. Uh, we have ... I'm sorry, I just came out from the hallway! (laughter)
Our current estimates are another $8 million in revenue, and ... another $14 million
in expenditures, which would be a reduction of $6 million. Urn ... $4 million of
that's going to come out of our General Fund. $2 million out of Debt Service and
uh, Water funds. And remainder out of Landfill. For, uh, cost overruns. Are
there any questions?
Mims: Kevin, that's still going to keep our reserve at the end of the year within our...
O'Malley: Yes, within our 25% policy.
Mims: Okay.
O'Malley: We, uh, decided uh ... staff decided that instead of borrowing money from the
Landfill, paying it back over 20 years, uh, that we would just invest in the
industrial park the $4 million this year, and get it shovel- ready.
Mims: Okay. Thank you.
Hayek: And that's what these dollars stem from, is that investment.
O'Malley: That's correct.
Mims: Okay.
O'Malley: I know that ... the forms are a bit arcane, uh, based on State, uh, prescription. So
we had a memo in there and we had also like a spreadsheet, and if there was any
questions about any of those amendments, I'd be happy to try to clarify that.
There's about 60 amendments, about 300 journal entries. So I ... I'm trying to
pick up on the large dollar ones. Oh, the other thing that is throughout the budget
amendment process this time is we don't amend for, um, or we don't budget for
retirements and we had several retirements. Uh, obviously Dale Helling, as you
know, and several police officers and firemen. So, those always end up in this
second round of amendments. And fuel costs were higher this year, so that ...that
amendment was in here.
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Hayek: For the benefit of the newer Council Members, roughly how many amendments to
the budget do we do throughout the course of the year?
O'Malley: Oh, about 170 amendments, uh, the ... actually it used to be about 170. To, uh,
Tom Markus' credit, he's been, uh, not allowing, uh, some of the smaller
amendments to go through and uh, that's helped my office quite a bit. And so
we're only looking at ma ... major ones that really had appropriation authority to
begin with, uh, and so we expect that we'll be in good financial shape, even with
these ... with this $6 million. Uh, that service ones are going to save us money in
the next two years, and the uh, capital improvement one was just a capital, uh,
cost overrun in our Landfill.
Hayek: Yep. And then of those, let's say 170 amendments throughout the course of the
year, those get bundled (both talking) into a couple of action items for the
Council. (both talking) It's not 170 votes. (laughter) Don't worry about that!
O'Malley: Right, and uh ... what ... governmental accounting's different than, um, business
accounting. When I was in... in private practice, we did 18 -month budget with a
three -month review and sales changed every three months. Here you're revenues,
your property taxes are fixed and your utilities are fixed, so your revenues don't
change too much. So our focus is really what's happening in the expenditure side
of the books. And, then of course the state law requires us not to go over by a
dollar, so we have ... these formal meetings. So if there's no other questions I'll
let any members of the public who want to speak.
Hayek: Would anyone from the public like to weigh in during the public hearing here?
O'Malley: Thank you.
Hayek: Okay. Thanks, Kevin! I will close the public hearing at this time. (bangs gavel)
b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION
Champion: Move the resolution.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Champion, seconded by Payne. Discussion? Roll call, please. Item
passes 6 -0.
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ITEM 9. CONVEYING VACATED PORTION OF MELROSE PLACE RIGHT -OF-
WAY TO THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA.
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Hayek: This is a public hearing. The public hearing is open. (bangs gavel) For the
public's information, this relates to the earlier vote, uh, we ... we took and ... and
this action will facilitate construction of the, uh, hospital surface parking lot, uh,
just south of Melrose.
Walker: Hi, I'm Jean Walker, 335 Lucon Drive. Um, concerning this item, we feel that we
shouldn't be at this point at all, having a 285 -car parking lot in the Melrose
neighborhood, which involves demolition of the house at 711 Melrose Avenue.
This house is an integral part of the historic district of the Melrose Neighborhood.
Um, this planning came about in a way that we think is unfortunate in that there
was no time ... not enough time for the neighborhood to respond to the initial
thought of having the parking lot there. Um, we would have investigated where
else the parking lot could have been, like we did for the Hope Lodge, with good
success. Um, and then, I mean ... to have a parking lot in that area, it didn't have
a... a good enough entrance and exit. It was problematic because of the situation
of the, urn ... the Melrose Place, and so that meant that there had to be a ... an exit
that involved demolition of the house and I think that even though the University
had said to the Regents initially that there would be no demolition of any historic
structures. So, that's... that's the past ... that being said, I'd like to say that two
members of the neighborhood, myself being one, has been sitting in on the
planning, um, meetings for this parking lot, and I must say that the University has
listened to the neighbors in many respects and we're delighted that the barn, the
historic 100 - year -old barn, is being saved and relocated, and that there is, um,
they've taken note of having enough trees there to ... in effect replace the ones that
were removed and to have landscaping. We would have liked a little more, but
they have in essence, uh, listened to the neighborhoods so we're pleased with that.
However, it doesn't negate the ... my original, uh, thought of...that we ... we
shouldn't be having a parking lot here. To us it was ill- advised planning, and so
in our view it points to a few things. One, that the City has not followed the
sentiments in its previous documents for the need to preserve the Melrose
Neighborhood and I'm talking going back to the 1992 Historic Preservation Plan
and the 97 Comprehensive Plan, and the 2002 Southwest District Plan, and the
2007, uh, Historic Preservation Plan that was updated. And so it ... the work for
preservation of the neighborhood has fell on ... has fallen on the neighborhood
itself and they've worked hard on it for the last ten years. So, uh, and delineated
a ... a historic district with the architectural historian. The ... another thing that this
points out is that we feel there needs to be a closer connection between the City
and the University to achieve appropriate planning that benefits all of Iowa City,
that it's not just, um, perhaps the University, but that everything is ... is kept in
mind. So there needs to be timely, closer connection and that the neighborhood in
this instance, um, anything to do with the neighborhood, we are the people who
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know the most about our neighborhood. We've worked very hard on it and we
should be included and our thoughts should be taken, uh, under advisement.
Thank you very much.
Hayek: Thank you for your comments. Would anyone...
Kieft: Good evening, uh, my name's David Kieft. I'm here on behalf of the University
and the Board of Regents. I just wanted to note that this is a very important
project for, uh, the University and ... and University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
This will facilitate part of the, uh, very large, um, Children's Hospital
construction plan that will commence, uh, early next year. Um, as Ms. Walker
made, um, note of, not only has the University consulted with the neighbors, but
we've invited them to be part of, uh, the design team. They've been .... been at all
of our meetings, including um, the person whose property is adjacent to this and
uh, he's been all... at all of our design meetings. They've been instrumental in
selecting the lighting, the landscaping, the fencing, and ... and boundaries that will
be used. The lighting and landscaping standards are going to be used on this lot,
uh, far exceed University standards and we've tried to be good neighbors in every
way we can, and also just to note that none of the homes that are being razed as
part of this are... are themselves, uh, historic structures and um, even the Planning
and Zoning Commission also noted that there were no, um, homes on here that
were, um, on the Historic Register. I'd be happy to answer any questions.
Hayek: Thank you, David. Would anyone else from the public like to address the
Council?
Carlson: My name is Nancy Carlson. I live at 1002 E. Jefferson. Uh, and I've lived here
in Iowa City since 1965 for better or worse. And I say for better or worse because
I'm one of the people who remembered that the University said that they would
not cross Melrose, and I have listened to this neighborhood fight for its existence
for as long as I can remember. And I feel very sad that the University has not
lived up to its word and that these neighbors are once again being, uh, put upon
because University is larger than they are. Thank you.
Hayek: Anyone else from the public before I close the hearing? Okay. Public hearing is
closed. (bangs gavel)
b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION
Payne: Move the resolution.
Hayek: We need a second.
Mims: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Payne, seconded by Mims. Discussion?
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Throgmorton: Yeah, I want to say something. Uh, I'll vote against this for the same reason I ... I
articulated last week, but um ... with due respect to the University, which I worked
at for 25 years and ... and admire tremendously, it's really good that the, uh,
neighborhood is being involved in the current discussions about how to design the
parking lot and so on, but apparently they were not involved in the ... the
deliberation about whether to build a parking lot in the neighborhood. Um ... I
don't think that's a good way to be a good neighbor.
Hayek: I'll uh ... I ... I won't reiterate all my comments from ... from the last vote, or from
the last time this came up, um, but you know, it seems to me the University has
acquired the property in this area, is going to do this project whether we assist or
not with this essentially minor portion of it, um, and ... I think it is important that
there has been, uh... a fair amount, um, of engagement between the University,
City staff, and the neighborhood, uh, not to everyone's satisfaction, obviously, uh,
but more than ... than I think we've seen historically. I think that is important,
um ... the end result is a remarkable investment, uh, in ... in the Children's Hospital
and everything that comes from that and um, I think will solve more problems
when we engage, um, the University in a positive fashion on things like this, and
I ... I ... I want to pick up on Miss Walker's comments about ... about essentially a
more robust, shared planning of... of the area, and I think that would be a good
idea. Um ... this is a ... this is an expansion south of Melrose. Uh, the University is
far and away the dominant player, uh, in this section of the community, um, and
there are other neighborhoods in the vicinity of...of this project and uh, I think it
would be good for this institution and ... and the University to ... to consult going
forward on... on future planning. Further discussion? Roll call, please. Item
passes 4 -2, uh, Throgmorton and Dobyns in the negative.
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ITEM 10. ADOPTING IOWA CITY'S FY13 ANNUAL ACTION PLAN WHICH IS A
SUB -PART OF IOWA CITY'S 2011 -2015 CONSOLIDATED PLAN (CITY
STEPS) AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT SAID
PLAN AND AMENDMENTS AND ALL NECESSARY CERTIFICATIONS
TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT, AND DESIGNATING THE CITY MANAGER AS THE
AUTHORIZED CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER.
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Hayek: This is a public hearing. Public hearing is open. (bangs gavel) Tracy.
Hightshoe: Hi, I'm Tracy Hightshoe with the City's Community Development staff. Earlier
at the work session you had requested a brief summary of what City STEPS and
our annual action plan is. Um, as we are a community over 50,000, we are
considered a HUD - entitlement community, and as such we do not have to apply
for Community Development Block Grant or Home Investment Partnership funds,
but because we get those funds, we do have to do what's considered our
consolidated plan for housing, jobs, and services for low-income ... low- to
moderate - income residents. That's what City STEPS is. It's a five -year plan of
how we will spend those CDBG and Home funds in our community. Every five
years we go through a process with community engagement and we declare what
we consider high priorities for funding, low priorities, medium priorities, and then
we have our process of how we fund those. The annual action plan is the
individual one -year plan for that year of how we will spend the money, um,
exactly in that upcoming year. So the fiscal year 13 annual action plan is how we
will spend those funds starting July 1St of this year. Um, we do go through a
process, the Housing and Community Development Commission reviews the
projects that apply, um, they come up with a formal recommendation, and that's
the plan that you see in front of you. Um, we've had this through a public... 30-
day public comment period. There are times every year ... not every year, but we
do get requests of, um ... the Council has the authority to accept the HCDC
recommendation or you can make changes tonight. If you decide to make
changes tonight, if you allocate money to one project, additional money, then you
have to take money away from a different project. Um, we do have Andy
Chappell here. He's our, head of our Housing ... he's the Chair of the Housing and
Community Development Commission, and I think he was going to have a few
words just about how HCDC came up with those allocations. In your May 3`d
Council Packet, there was a request from the Habitat for Humanity, um, they
applied for two projects. They requested. They didn't get funded for one, so they
sent a letter to Council for reconsideration to fund theirs, and you got a letter from
Crisis Center requesting additional information, or additional funds.
Hayek: Mr. Chappell!
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Chappell: Good evening. As Tracy indicated I'm Andy Chappell, 911 Rider Street, Iowa
City. I'm the current Chair of the Housing and Community Development
Commission and I'm glad you asked Tracy to describe City STEPS and the
annual action plan cause I would have been a little lost, even though I pretty much
know what it ... what it all entails. Staff asked me to basically talk about the
process, how we went about going and reaching... reaching the recommendations
we did. We start out, of course, with the written applications that everyone
submits. Those are sort of tweaked, adjusted from year to year to try to ferret out
the information that it seems the Commission is most likely to need based on our
question answering... question/answer periods, based also on City STEPS.
There'll be some changes from year to year. We then hold a question/answer
sessions with all of the applications. It's all open, uh, I suspect it may be a little
painful at times because there's some pretty pointed questions often. The ... the
topics that are touched on are things like, uh, who's benefitting from the project,
why is there a public subsidy necessary, why don't you have or what sort of
capital improvement plan does your organization have, instead of just asking for
City dollars, um, what other funding streams have you looked at, hopefully
exhausted before you came to the City, just ... any questions that come to
Commission Members' minds as they sit there and after they've reviewed all
those applications. After that session the members rank the applications,
individually, and the ranking forms are actually very recently, uh, this past year
revised. We try to reflect mainly five things in each of the ranking forms. One
the priority that the project has in our City STEPS plan. Two, the ... the budget,
how well does it explain, how well are those resources leveraged, are you able to
get some private dollars with the public dollars, that sort of thing. Three, we want
to know about the project's feasibility. We want to try to rank that. We want to
know about the need for the public subsidy. Can we try to put some ... some value
on that. And four, what's the likely impact to the community, uh, not just to the
low and moderate income, uh, portion of the community, though certainly
significantly that's something we're interested in. We also want to know, is this a
project that's going to ... going to be tax exempt or is going to ... is going to have,
uh, a real ... pay full real estate taxes. Number of things go into that category.
And then finally, what's the applicant's ability to ... frankly navigate all of the
regulations that they're going to have to accept in connection with the ... the Home
and CDBG funds. After we get those rankings, uh, we sort of all come together,
everyone makes their allocation proposal, shows their cards, if you will, and then
it's really consensus building. Uh, have a couple meetings where we ... first
meeting where we sort of discuss everything, discuss our initial rankings. Folks
can go back and make changes to those, based on ... maybe someone has a
different perspective than you, someone has, oh, I hadn't thought of it this way or
maybe a question gets answered that was lingering in your head, and then finally
we try to reach some consensus. The ... the recommendations you have in front of
you are the direct result of that consensus building and some folks got
recommendations for full funding, some folks got recommendations for no
funding, and then of course there are some folks in between. And that's basically
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the process we went through. Otherwise I'm here to try to answer any questions
you may have.
Hayek: Thanks, Andy.
Throgmorton: Andy, uh, have you had a chance to read the letter from Crisis Center?
Chappell: I did read the letter from Crisis Center.
Throgmorton: Was there any new information there from the Commission's point of view? That
...that might have affected the Commission's decision?
Chappell: I ... I can't say. I mean, clearly there was some discussion... my first reaction to
the letter from Crisis Center was I thought it was a pretty good description of how
the discussion went down at the time, I mean, how it...it sort of played out. Um,
as far as who had what concerns about their ability to ... to secure the property,
staff had ... had it certainly made clear that if ..and I can tell you that initially that
was a concern of mine but it was taken care of once staff said, well, but if they
don't get the property, we'll just have to reallocate it to someone else. So it's not
as though there was any real risk that the money was going to go away, that
the ... it was going to go to a project that we wouldn't have supported. It was just
at that point we sort of took it on faith, I think, that they were going to be able to
secure the property. Um, I can't speak for individual members as to whether
knowing what we know today, what Crisis Center knows today would have...
adjusted them closer to the funding they really... they'd really asked for.
Hayek: Any other questions for Andy? Okay. We may ... if we get into further
discussion, Andy, we may ask you to come back up. Would anyone else from the
public like to address the Council before I close the hearing? Okay. I'll close the
hearing at this time. (bangs gavel)
b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION
Karr: Motion to accept correspondence.
Mims: So moved.
Throgmorton: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Throgmorton. Discussion? All those in favor say
aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries 6 -0.
Mims: Move the resolution.
Payne: Second.
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Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Payne. Discussion?
Mims: I guess from my perspective in doing this, um, the ... the Commission does a lot of
work and gathers a lot of information, um, spends a lot of time analyzing these
proposals and the pros and cons and ... you know, who's being served and
additional funding and those sorts of things. And, I think you can come at these
from a lot of different directions in terms of what your personal priorities are, um,
but my tendency tends to be that unless I can see something that..and I just think
they really messed up on for some reason, and I don't think I ever have, we ask
them to put in an awful lot of time and effort to analyze these, and my inclination
is to go along with their funding recommendations.
Payne: And I think they make their decision based on the best information they have at
the time.
Mims: I do too.
Payne: As the year goes on you could always change a decision based upon something
that happens, and second -guess what you decided six months ago.
Throgmorton: Susan point... Susan's point, uh, goes directly to the reason I asked my question,
you know, whether there was any new information contained in that letter that
might have influenced the Commission's judgment. Uh, I gather from Andy's
response that, uh, there really wasn't, uh, I ... I like Susan, uh, am completely
inclined to defer to the Commission because they've put the time and energy into
it. I don't know if any of you have any, uh, any other interpretations of the Crisis
Center's um, letter and how we should respond to it.
Mims: There's just never enough money!
Hayek: Yeah, I ... I served on HCDC for four or five years before I joined the Council and
so, um, I understand the process. It's a tough one, because there's considerable
need and ... and never enough, uh, funding to ... to meet very, you know, the wealth
of...of promising projects that come before the Commission, and uh, the area
we'd be talking about as it relates to Crisis Center is the public facilities bucket if
you will of money and the request, the ration of requests to, uh, allocated funds is
roughly 2 to 1, and I spoke to the Crisis Center relating to the letter they sent and
um, they're, you know, they're getting roughly half of their requests, little over
half of what they requested for, um, their rehabilitation work of... of the facility
that's... that's being acquired. Um, and while I'm sympathetic to, uh, the ... the
fact that the ... the recommended award is not quite, uh, what ... what they're
hoping for, um, I'm reluctant to pull from the other, uh, allocations or
recommended allocations, um, it'd necessarily come from, well, any one of the
others and I ... I think one of the ... one of the intents of, one of the intentions of
HCDC with this, um, funding round was to support some of the reinvestment, uh,
along Broadway, um ... we see what ... what Southgate is doing and ... and it seems
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that, uh, the HACAP, uh, applications, both up in the housing projects bucket and
then down in the public facilities, uh, bucket for... for the playground work would
be consistent with that reinvestment, and I think reading the minutes, um, that was
among the intentions of HCDC. So again, I ... I'm inclined to defer to what they
do. I think a lot of thought and deliberation goes into this process, um, and absent
some... something that's, you know, inconsistent with where we're hoping to go
or with, you know, what we've been discussing, I ... I don't want to change it.
So...
Champion: I can't change it cause I couldn't tell you where ... who to take that money from.
That would be way too painful!
Throgmorton: I do have a question, Matt. Um, which doesn't really need to be answered here
tonight, but I'm wondering if...if Tom our City Manager has any thoughts about
the ... the process and whether there are particular ways in which the AC...
HDCD's process, deliberative process, could be improved, uh, from the point of
view of, uh, city administration and so on, and if... if there are ideas that Tom
might have, I'd certainly love to hear them, but ... but I'm not kind of looking for
an elaboration right here and right now.
Markus: Well I'm kind of in the same position I think as others. I think they put the work
in and go through the reviews, so this at this point I don't have any strong
suggestions for changing it.
Throgmorton: I was kind of looking ahead.
Hayek: You know, speaking from experience, I ... it seems to me that the process is a long
one. It's a very public one. Uh, and there are multiple... bites at the apple, for
lack of a better word, I mean, the ... the applications are before the Commission I
think maybe twice, uh, and so it's a very public, open, deliberative process and,
uh, absent adding to that already long process, which is a burden on the applicants
themselves and the Commission members are there until the late hours of the
night. I'm not sure what we'd do.
Chappell: (mumbled) ...I would just indicate that, uh, we ... we welcome that review, either
from Council Members and certainly from City administration. We have, uh, on
our agenda too many meetings this week, Thursday ... did we move back to June?
Okay, in June we have ... we'll have an agenda item starting to review that process
and try to take a look at whether there are things that we as a commission
can ... can do better and we certainly are going to try to find ways to ... to ... solicit
information and ... and constructive criticism, frankly, from the applicants
themselves so we can make sure that the process... we're getting not just the
information we need but ... but they're able to convey it in a way that's useful for
everyone. Yeah, it is on the agenda for two days from now. We'll get started and
then kind of see where we're going to go.
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Champion: Well I thank all of you for all that hard work.
Throgmorton: Yeah, for sure.
Chappell: It's a fun process really! For us! I can't speak for the applicants.
Hayek: Further discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes 6 -0. And again, we thank the
HCDC commission members for their work.
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ITEM 11. ADOPTING THE IOWA CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY'S ANNUAL
PLAN FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012.
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Hayek: This is a public hearing. (bangs gavel) Public hearing is open.
Rackis: Somewhere in the distant past of the informal meeting, somebody mentioned
HUD and complexity in the same ... same sentence (laughter) um, can't remember
who, but that's very appropriate. So ... just a warning, I'm not here to take the
complexity out because you can't. I just want to try to bring some clarity to
HUD's complexity and how they do things. Our actual planning document
coincides with City STEPS and it's the same fiscal years, and uh, so that was
2010 to 2015. Even though this is called an annual plan, it's actually an annual
report and it's a report on, uh, who we serve, how we serve those families, uh,
who makes up the participants and tenants in our programs. So, uh, just would
like to highlight a few things as I walk through this. And uh, HUD requires the
Housing Authority to, um, submit, um... submit annual exams every year. So
when a family first comes on the program, they go through an eligibility review
process. Every year that eligibility review process is repeated, and all of that data
is reported electronically to HUD and that's how HUD, uh, tracks and monitors
performance of housing authorities. So, this is an 18 -month time frame that HUD
is looking at all of the annual reviews that we submitted to them in both public
housing and the housing choice voucher program. Not all of these numbers are
going to add up to 100% because some families can be counted in multiple
categories. Uh, again, you know, the complexity of HUD, the categories that
they're looking at, for example, elderly disabled. They have eight categories.
Elderly no children non - disabled, elderly with children non - disabled, non - elderly
no children non - disabled, uh, I don't ... I don't think it's necessary to try to put that
in any type of report. So when I go through is I take the data reported to HUD
and try to look at, you know, the different groupings. So in other words, we can
have an elderly disabled family that is working with kids or we can have an
elderly family that's a single individual, or an elderly family that has two adults in
the household. Because when we look at head of household, uh, we're looking at
the definition of the head of household here. So elderly is 62 or older. A disabled
family is a family where the head of household is disabled, and then obviously,
uh, you have, um, and HUD has a discrete category, female head of household
with children. So, one of the things mostly I get a lot of calls from people, and
the assumption is that everybody that we serve is a single female household and
the family's on welfare. And if you look at the numbers, uh, really when you put
it all together, uh, the ... the majority of families that we serve are elderly or
disabled, or working families, and again, we have elderly, disabled, heads of
household who are working. So, if you do take a look at some numbers that will
add up to 100 %, households without minor children is 58% of the program.
Households with minor children is ... is 42% of the program. So again, these
numbers can, uh, have some double counting and ... and again, what I'm trying to
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do is break it down so you can look at, you know, what is the count for elderly,
what is the count for disabled, what is the count for minor children and ... and so
on. Uh, regarding the welfare aspect of it, again, supporting the elderly and
disabled. Uh, nature of the participants, the income sources reported to HUD, uh,
62% of our families are reporting either Social Security or supplemental security
income. And this status coming from all family members. Uh, we're ... heads of
household are required to report the income of any family member, whether it's
counted in the rental calculation is up to the HUD regulations. So for an example,
an 18- year -old that's a full -time student and working, their income will not be
counted in the rent calculation. But if you're 18 and working and not a full -time
student, it will. Employment, we had 47% of the families. Certainly, again,
supporting, uh, that we are serving working families and then you can see here,
you know, the ... the idea that, you know, everybody's, uh, you know, has this
entitlement that we're serving families that are not incentivized to work. Only 7%
of the families are reporting income from, uh, the Department of Human Services,
Family Investment Program, and that's the cash assistance portion of the welfare.
In other words, where the family is getting money because they have kids in the
household, and one of the things that's not reported to HUD but um, something
that I found interesting and continued to dig into our data and count that when I
first started putting this data together on February 1st of 2012 only 23 of the 1,365
assisted households reported FIP as their sole source of household income. So
that was roughly 1.7% of all the households we served, uh, were solely on welfare
without any other type of income. Uh, the other aspect of this, you know, sense
of entitlement that low- income families are not incented to work, um, 61 % of all
the participants exit the program within five years. And that ... that's a
combination of both our public housing and the housing choice voucher program.
Uh, most of the people that are not elderly disabled will eventually work
themselves to the point that their income causes them to be paying full rent.
When somebody pays full rent for six months, we then exit them from the
program on... on the notion that the income that put them at full rent after six
months is steady enough so that we can exit them from the program. Obviously
some other people are exiting the program, uh, because of the program integrity,
not following the guidelines and not following the rules, but uh, I have a statistic
on that later. So again, roughly about two - thirds of all the families stay five years
or less. Obviously, families staying longer when we have elderly disabled
populations, uh, they're going to be on the program for a long time because Social
Security and supplemental security are not going to ever put a family at, um, at
full rent, and we do ... we do shared housing, which is an option for HUD, and so
we have a lot of, uh, clients that are also with Reach for Your Potential,
Successful Living so they're pretty much going to be on the program. Uh,
until ... well, they die actually. Uh, we also have a self - sufficiency program and
this is the current, uh, well current based in February of the data, and I try to do
February every year so that each subsequent report gives points of ref...reference
for comparison. Uh, roughly about 10% of all of our families are enrolled in the,
uh, FSS program. 73% have an escrow savings account, and uh, that's a
particularly neat feature of this program where typically if somebody's income
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goes up, their portion of the rent goes up, our housing assistance payment goes
down. Now when our payment goes down, that money just goes back into our
housing assistance payment pot of money. If somebody's participating in this
program, and this has to be income from employment. This can't be, you know,
that they had another kid and their FIP went up. They only get an escrow deposit
if that increases in income is from employment. So instead of that money going
into our housing assistance pot, that money gets diverted into an escrow savings
account for that family. And while they're working on their goals, they can use
that, uh, to have interim withdrawals. For example, somebody may work in Iowa,
or live in Iowa City but they're working at the Super Walmart in Coralville.
Obviously they need their car. So if the ... the car's in need of repair, they can tap
into their escrow savings account to repair that car and maintain their
employment. So again the ... right now the ... the deposit average is 151, average
escrow savings 1,800, and the highest balance right now is 1,105 and that's
because we had a ... about two or three families that graduated before I did this
whose savings accounts were in excess of $20,000. Um, one of the other things I
hear quite a bit is that, um, how we're impacting the Iowa City Community
School District that as, you know, the free and reduced lum ... lunch numbers, uh,
the ... the rising of those numbers over the course of the year are a direct result of,
um, people coming on to our housing program, so I started doing an analysis
comparing the total enrollment for the, uh, 2011 -2012 cal... or calendar year for
the School. It's 12,159. They report 29.4% are families eligible for free and
reduced lunch. That's just the families that are eligible. That's not necessarily
the families that actually are participating in ... in that. Uh, then I did a count of all
of the school aged children that are currently being assisted on the program, and
that number was 861. I then compared the household income to the free and
reduced lunch guidelines and the end result is that, uh, 778 children who are on
our program are eligible for free and reduced lunch, whether they're participating
in that program, again, like the School District, I don't ... I don't know. So that
leaves 2,840 eligible children that are not being assisted by us, whether they're
being assisted by Pheasant Ridge, the project -based facility, I don't know, but
again with 248 units, I don't ... I don't think that that would support 2,840 kids.
So again, we ... we hear that quite a bit that, um, free and reduced lunch is going
up because of the number of people coming here to get a... get a voucher.
Again...
Mims: Excuse me, some of those kids probably are living outside of Iowa City but going
to the Iowa City Community Schools?
Rackis: Um, our jurisdiction is all of Johnson County.
Mims: Okay.
Rackis: Uh, we have, um, Iowa County because nobody else is there, and we have
Washington County. So this would be kids living in, uh, Iowa City, Coralville,
North Liberty, unless they're living in the, um ... um, Clear Creek Amana. Uh, I
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think we do have some families that are in the Solon School District, uh, but again
the majority of these kids are in the Iowa City Community School District.
Mims: I think that's an important clarification, that the housing voucher portion of this
goes beyond the Iowa City city borders, that a lot of people probably don't realize
that.
Rackis: Uh, no, actually I ... I do put the ... I didn't make a chart of that, but those statistics
are in the book and when you look at it from the large picture, the vouchers really
tend to follow the general population. Majority in Iowa City, the same percentage
in Coralville as the general population. Same in North Liberty. Uh, same in ... in
Johnson County. Something else to look at, I think I mentioned this before, 58%
of our households do not have any minor children. 53% are one - person
households. And again, 42% do have children in ... in their household. So, again,
I think, you know, not quite the impact on the Community School District that
people who call me or I meet in public, uh, tend to think. Um, don't want my
property taxes used to support these programs. Certainly can understand that.
But, none of their property taxes is ... is supporting the program. It's all federal
dollars so it's, you know, payroll tax and ... and that sort of thing. Uh, we do, uh,
payment in lieu of taxes for our 81 public housing units. That is optional. Uh,
HUD does not require that we do that. If we do that then we have to follow
HUD's formula and the amount of, uh, taxes that we pay is based upon the
amount of rent that we take in. And we have the ability in public housing to try to
target families with ... with incomes because if we're putting somebody in a three
and four - bedroom house, and they have to take care of the yard, they have to take
care of the snow on the sidewalk, they certainly need income to have a lawn
mower and put gas in the lawn mower. So, um, actually as ... as, we had the
discussion before about selling public housing units, we actually have seen in
recent years where even though we've reduced down to 81, that our payment in
lieu of taxes have actually spiked up the last couple of years because we're...
we're getting more in rent. We have more people paying full rent. Um, also in
terms of property taxes, since 1998, and ... and this is in conjunction with our three
home ownership programs and families that use their escrow savings accounts as
downpayment assistance, we ... we've helped 161 families, uh, realize the dream
of home ownership. Uh, the other thing I ... I think that ... that we like to focus on,
um ... not all the landlords are local, but the majority of the landlords that we pay
out housing assistance payments to are local. All of the contractors that we use
in, uh, public housing are all private contractors. Uh, the only public housing
employees are public housing coordinator. The public housing program through
cost allocation also supports other staff, but I was reading on the internet, uh,
these buy local campaigns and I think the Chamber of Commerce has, uh, has its
own buy local campaign, and most of the web sites I went to claim that for every
dollar spent at a local business, that 68 -cents will remain in the community. So
based on that ratio, we paid $5.8 million out last calendar year to landlords, which
means about 3.9 million would have stayed in the community, and public housing
we paid out $334,000 and change and about $227 stayed in the community.
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Again, I don't know if that dollar to 68- cents, uh, but that seemed to be the
common theme of all the buy local campaigns I ... researched on the internet.
Crime. Uh, we're the only housing authority in the State of Iowa that conducts a
national criminal background check. Every housing authority in the country has
the ability to enter into a contract with the FBI and to get data through an
intermediary, which in our case is the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation
and ultimately get, um, the crime statistics from the FBI. There are seven housing
authorities that enter ... have entered into agreements with, uh, the FBI to do this.
To date, we're the only housing authority that is actually doing it, because it does
cost money. Um ... and we've been doing that since, uh, 2005 on the
recommendation of the Iowa City, Coralville, and North Liberty police
departments because we were using Iowa Courts Online and we were using, um,
other law enforcement, like for example the Illinois State Police. We had a
contract with them, but the law enforcement agencies in ... in Johnson County told
us, we're ... we weren't getting federal crimes through that source. So they
recommended we do this and ... and we took their recommendation, and I think
when we started that we were spending about $4,000 a month. Our costs have
gone down, uh, but um ... we, uh, had ... last year 235 families exited the program.
117 in good standing; 118 were terminated for cause. Um, because we put a lot of
investment of time, energy, and dollars into program integrity. We ... we believe
that, you know, our job is the money. We're not ... we're not social workers, I
mean, housing is sort of a social program. It ... to have a safe, decent, and
affordable housing is a social program, but our responsibility is the money. Our
responsibility is to make sure that we're doing eligibility determination under
HUD's guidelines and regulations, and that we're paying the correct dollar
amount to that landlord on behalf of the family. So we ... we take that very
seriously, and we also, uh, enforce our public housing leases to the greatest extent
allowed by federal and state law. Conclusion, well, we've got 73 other housing
authorities in the State of Iowa. When you compare the HUD data that
everybody's reporting, uh, we have higher average annual incomes, uh, we assist
more working families, we assist fewer families receiving welfare by a significant
amount, and our families pay a higher average monthly amount of the contract
rent. Part of that might be just the cost of rents here, but the Des Moines Housing
Authority is included in here. Dubuque. Council Bluffs. Cedar Rapids. Sioux
City. So certainly there's other larger housing authorities included in the entire
state total. So, with that, that's the attempt to bring some clarity to the complexity
of dealing with the HUD program.
Hayek: Thank you, Steve. Any questions for Steve?
Throgmorton: Yeah, I do have one. I... Steve, you know I think, uh, we have a terrific housing
program and I admire the work that you and others and the staff are doing with
regard to it, uh, but I do want to ask you one question having to do with, uh,
criminal background checks. When you do that, do you distinguish between
arrests and convictions?
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Rackis: Uh, HUD allows us to, um, look at the preponderance of the evidence. So, we
look at charges, not necessarily convictions. Uh, we don't have to wait for a
family to go through the legal process, because again, HUD's test is
preponderance of evidence. The court system is beyond reasonable doubt. Uh, as
a matter of fact we also have the ability when drugs are involved, it is drug use.
Not necessarily a charge. So if somebody admits to a police officer that they were
using drugs, we will terminate their ... their assistance. Unless there's some
mitigating circumstances not to do that. The other distinction that people get
hung up on, it's not felonies versus misdemeanors. It is the charge. And what
we're primarily looking at, and... and HUD allows us a greater latitude in terms of
our application eligibility process, where, um ... we're not confined to just what
the regs state, because HUD has certain instances where you must deny
assistance. If somebody has been evicted from federally- assisted housing for
cooking methamphetamine, HUD tells you you can't ... you can't assist them. If
anybody's on the lifetime sex offender registry, you can't. They also give you the
latitude of you may, and that's where we get into the drug related criminal
activity, violent criminal activity, and our program is based on ... I told you
program integrity ... of people providing us with true and complete information.
So we expanded our eligibility criteria a few years back to include, um, crimes
like fraud, forgery, um, I think it was theft in the third degree or higher. We're
going to be coming back to you, um, in ... in the next month or so, we're going to
be adding burglary in the second degree or higher, and ... so we're looking at in
terms of denying a family, uh, looking at broader ranges of criminal background,
or criminal charges, and we have a five -year look -back for that. When
somebody's on the program, the regs are pretty clear as to what you can and
cannot terminate assistance.
Throgmorton: Okay, I might want to follow up with you, uh, at some other point in time. My
question really has to ... I don't want you to answer this. I'll just tell ... I just want
to explain why I'm asking the question. I'm curious about people who may be
arrested, evicted, and never convicted, and ... and about what happens to them
along the way as a result of that sequence of steps. I don't want you to ... I don't
want you to address it right now, but I'm just curious about it. Like to talk with
you about it in some other moment.
Rackis: Well the ... just real quick, there ... there is a distinction. In public housing, we are
the landlord and we hold the lease. We cannot convict the family unless it's
allowed by federal and state law. Housing choice voucher program, the landlord
is the leaseholder. We're only, you know, paying a portion of the rent on behalf
of the, uh, participant. If a landlord evicts under the ... under their lease, if they
evict the family for a crime, that ... that is a contract ... the lease is a contract
between the landlord and their tenant. We have a housing assistance payment
contract between us and the landlord, and then there's the voucher family
responsibility's between us and the participant. So there's sort of this triangle
relationship in the housing choice voucher program.
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Hayek: Jim, you could follow up with Steve later on that.
Throgmorton: Right.
Hayek: Are there any other questions for Steve? Okay. Thank you. Anyone else, uh,
during this public hearing before I close it? Okay, I'll close the public hearing at
this time. (bangs gavel)
b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION
Mims: Move the resolution.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Payne. Discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes
6 -0.
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ITEM 13. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION DIRECTING SALE OF WATER REVENUE
REFUNDING BONDS, SERIES 2012C.
Mims: Move the resolution.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Payne. Discussion? Think we've got some
comments from Kevin O'Malley on this.
Throgmorton: (mumbled)
O'Malley: Yes, uh ... today at 10:00 Marian and I looked at bids for this water revenue, uh,
refunding of $5 million and ... uh, Marian won the bid. We always take a little bet
as to who's closer to the interest rate (laughter). I, uh, I was very surprised at the
rate we got. We got actually like a triple -A rate. It was 1.67, uh, int...net interest
cost. There was plenty of bidders. There was five bidders, and it was kind of
tight. There was only 30 point basis spread between `em. Um, we estimated
when we went into this, uh, proposal that we might save 7.5 %, um, which would
amount to about $430,000. It ended up being 14% savings, uh, about $800...
$833,000 in debt service, and that present value about $633,000. So I'm
recommending, uh, awarding the sale. (several commenting) Any questions?
Hayek: Any, yeah, any questions for Kevin? (laughter)
O'Malley: Thank you.
Hayek: All right. Any Council discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes 6 -0.
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ITEM 15. INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS TO TAKE ADDITIONAL ACTION FOR
THE AUTHORIZATION AND ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED $700,000
GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS, SERIES 2012.
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Hayek: This is a public hearing. (bangs gavel) Public hearing is open. This has to do
with funding for, uh, police station, the fire station, City Hall, and miscellaneous
other improvements. Anyone from the public? I will close the public hearing.
(bangs gavel)
b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION
Dobyns: Move the resolution.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Dobyns, seconded by Payne. Discussion? Roll call, please. Item
passes 6 -0.
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ITEM 16. INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS TO TAKE ADDITIONAL ACTION FOR
THE AUTHORIZATION AND ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED $700,000
GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS, SERIES 2012.
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Hayek: This is a public hearing. (bangs gavel) The public hearing is open. This has to
do with a number of things, including, uh, funding to, uh, equip City facilities, er
I'm sorry... including construction of an animal shelter. Anyone for this public
hearing? If not I will close it. (bangs gavel)
b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION
Mims: Move the resolution.
Dobyns: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Dobyns. Discussion? Roll call, please. Item
passes 6 -0.
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ITEM 17. INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS TO TAKE ADDITIONAL ACTION FOR
THE ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED $650,000 TAXABLE GENERAL
OBLIGATION BONDS, SERIES 2012.
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Hayek: This is a public hearing. (bangs gavel) The public hearing is open. This has to
do with various, uh, projects, uh, regarding urban renewal out at Towncrest, as
well as, uh, development of the Riverfront Crossings area, south of Burlington.
Close the public hearing. (bangs gavel)
b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION
Payne: Move the resolution.
Throgmorton: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Payne, seconded by Throgmorton. Discussion? Roll call, please. Item
passes 6 -0.
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ITEM 18. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION DIRECTING SALE OF $9,070,000
GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS, SERIES 2012A.
Payne: Move resolution.
Mims: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Payne, seconded by Mims. Discussion? Mr. O'Malley!
O'Malley: (mumbled) Council, I am also recommending approval of this sale. We had four
bidders, a lot of interest. Uh, was only 20 point basis spread between the top
...the high and the low. Um, the interest rate was 1.68 which, uh, I checked last
year's. It was 2.47. So we had a 78 basis point drop in ... in net interest costs.
Again lost the bid with Marian (laughter) (mumbled) ...we thought it would be,
um, and so I would recommend, um, directing the sale of these bonds. Awarding
the sale of these bonds. Any questions?
Throgmorton: Since you lost, uh, the bet, does this mean the two of you should switch positions?
(laughter)
O'Malley: Sometimes I think so! (laughter) Actually, Jim, I'm not a betting man (laughter).
My job is not to speculate. So I always, uh, get ... estimate high!
Mims: That's why we're in such good shape!
O'Malley: Thank you!
Hayek: Thanks, Kevin! Further discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes 6 -0.
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ITEM 19. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION DIRECTING SALE OF $620,000 TAXABLE
GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS, SERIES 2012B.
Payne: Move resolution.
Dobyns: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Payne, seconded by Dobyns. Discussion? I don't know why you sit
down (laughter).
O'Malley: Should have stayed here. Uh, this also was well received, and I'm surprised cause
it's just a small issue. We had three bidders and only 2 basis point spread. Uh, it
is a ... only a short-term, so it's .76% int ... uh, interest costs. I recommend
awarding, uh, this ... bonds. Any questions? Thank you.
Hayek: Thanks, Kevin. Discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes 6 -0.
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ITEM 21. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN
AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN AGREEMENT BY AND
BETWEEN SHIVE- HATTERY, INC. AND THE CITY OF IOWA CITY
FOR MATERIAL TESTING AND INSPECTION SERVICES DURING
THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE WASTEWATER TREATMENT
FACILITIES CONSOLIDATION PROJECT.
Throgmorton: Move the resolution.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Throgmorton, seconded by Payne. Discussion? Uh, by the way, this
contract will be awarded to Shive- Hattery for $199,000 roughly, and is included
in the budget, uh, we've already gone over for this. Further discussion? Roll call,
please. Item passes 6 -0.
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ITEM 22. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN
AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A TWO -YEAR CONTRACT
EXTENSION WITH CITY CARTON COMPANY, INC. TO CONTINUE
EXISTING RECYCLING PROCESSING SERVICES.
Mims: Move the resolution.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Payne. Discussion? For the public's knowledge,
there's a ... we have a current contract with City Carton which has a roll -over
option, and by exercising this we will be extending it for another two years, uh,
into June of 2014. Further discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes 6 -0.
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ITEM 23. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE BENCHMARK
PROJECT.
Mims: Move the resolution.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Payne. Discussion?
Champion: This is a fun art project!
Hayek: Yeah, for the public, this has to do with a pilot program to, um, paint, uh, and
otherwise decorate downtown, uh, public benches. Um, we've done several of
them. The SSMID, now known as the Downtown District, has taken the lead on
this, and this will, uh, launch this into a broader coverage of downtown, uh, with
the Downtown District working with Public Art to, uh, collaborate this. Further
discussion?
Payne: I was going to say that at my community leadership meeting on Friday we, um,
did (mumbled) actually toured some of (mumbled)
Hayek: You know, I think you're not being picked up.
Payne: Really? (noise on mic) I have it on. Sorry, Marian! I'll move it up. How's that?
Sorry. I just wanted to say, during my community leadership program on, um,
Friday, uh, we did, uh, culture and art in the community, and we did a tour of
some of the benches that have been painted already and people were quite
impressed!
Hayek: Further discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes 6 -0.
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ITEM 24. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE AWARD OF A
CONTRACT TO COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING CORPORATION
(CEC) FOR A CITY -WIDE SOLUTION FOR NON - PUBLIC SAFETY
RADIOS.
Mims: Move the resolution.
Champion: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Champion. Discussion? Mr. Fosse.
Fosse: Thank you! Um, what we have in front of us for tonight's item is the award of the
contract and the staff is recommending to CEC, uh, for the non - public safety radio
system. Uh, this is roughly a 20 -year decision and uh, it involves a substantial
capital investment. So it's something that we're very deliberate about and ... and
thoughtful on it. Um, so what we want to do tonight is ... is recap the presentation
that we did at the work session a couple weeks ago, uh, with a little bit of
additional information based on some of the questions that we received in the
meantime, and then, uh, field any questions that you have before you take action
on that. And, uh, with me tonight to help me with this is Jeff Thorsteinson. He's
our, uh, radio system consultant. Uh, next to Jeff is Mary Niichel - Hegwood who
is with our purchasing division, uh, then Gary Cohn our IT coordinator. He's our
in -house technical advisor, and then Tom Hanson who's our equipment
superintendent and project manager on this. So with that, let's begin, and what
we'll do is go through this in the same order as last time. We'll look at some
background, what ... what's public safety, what's not public safety, and how is
inner- operability important there. Uh, we'll look at our request for proposal
evaluation process, compare the costs and capabilities of the ... of the proposals
that we received, and then discuss our recommendations. And our next steps. So,
leading off of that background, our public safety radio users are the ... the police
departments, fire departments, sheriff's office, uh, Department of Public Safety at
the University of Iowa. Their police department. Uh, ambulance service and
some miscellaneous others that include the Corps of Engineers and Iowa
Department of Natural Resources, because some of the lands that they manage
have ... have law enforcement, uh, responsibilities there. Uh, these systems are
currently operating on the JECC radio system. Um, then we have the non - public
radio, or excuse me, non - public safety radio users, and that consists of Public
Works, uh, Parks and Recreation, Housing and Inspection Services, uh,
Transportation Services, and ... and some outside agencies, and right now Cambus
is one of those outside agencies that ... that shares our non - public safety radio, uh,
system with us, and ... and has expressed an interest in continuing with us, uh,
regardless of whatever option we ... we go with. Uh, all of these uses are currently
operating on the City's legacy system, which is about 21, 22 years old, and is, uh,
reached a point in its ... in its technical life in which it's obsolete and we can no
longer get replacement parts, uh, for the system and that's what is precipitating
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departments is certainly important because we work together, we ... we share
things and ... and we help each other out. So being able to communicate with each
other is important, and that also extends to inner- operability with the public safety
folks, as well, and I've got three examples here. One is ... is a car that's knocked
down a ... a light pole and let's get a hold of Public Works regarding, uh, de-
energizing it and ... and dealing with that. Uh, the other is a towing operation
where they interact with Parking, and then the third is ... is a, the tornado that we
had back in 06 and ... and we have a lot of people working, uh, side -by -side on
that and ... and the inner- operability is important in all these situations. So that's
...that's a key component for us on this. So let's look at the evaluation process
that ... that we used here. Uh, we go back to April of 2010 is when we originally
issued the request for proposals, and ... and at that time we were ... we were
reaching a point where we were having difficulty getting replacement parts. We
were in somewhat of a hurry at that point and ... and that hurry subsided, and I'll
talk more about that in a moment. Uh, in June of 2010, uh, we received two
proposals and let me back up for just a second and note that in our request for
proposals we had two options in there. One is to provide the radios to allow us to
migrate to the JECC system, or the second option is to provide, uh, basically an
upgrade to our existing City infrastructure and new radios for the non - public
safety system. So they continue to run independently or become a part of the
JECC system. Uh, in June of 2010 we received one proposal for each of those
options. Uh, and we reviewed those following the City's defined process, uh, for
scoring. We compared the technology. We evaluated and tested the results.
Testing was an important component of that. Uh, we developed a cost model that
looked both at initial costs as well as 10 -year costs and then we evaluated the
governance factors. Um, one of the things that happened during this review
process that bought us some more time is police and fire migrated to the JECC
system and that freed up a lot of the hold radio systems that we ... old radios that
we were able to use in ... in Public Works and Housing. So that bought us some
additional time to ... to methodically, uh, check this out, and also allow some
things to gel up at JECC, as well, because they were in their infancy, uh, during
that time frame. Um, by December of 2011 ... we've had a little over a year pass,
and in the technology industry things change fast so we wanted to make sure that
we went back out for a best and final offer, uh, that would include any ... any price
reductions, or changes in technology. In January of 2012 we received those
offers, evaluated those, and in April of 2012 we ... we issued a conditional award
to CEC, contingent upon your approval, uh, which we're ... we're talking about
tonight. And the reason that ... that contingent award was a necessary step in
there, so we could allow the ... the presentation that the figures that we received
and ... and discuss those publicly, and that's what we'll do right now is look at the
cost and capabilities, comparisons. Uh, we have the two proposals that we
received side -by -side. On your left there is the CEC proposal that basically, uh,
replaces the existing City infrastructure for non - public safety radio system and
provides new radios for ... for their use, and on the right is the Racom proposal,
which provides the radios necessary for migration to the JECC system.
And ... and we're looking both at initial cost, as well as the 10 -year cost. And
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what I've done here is ... is provided a little bit additional breakdown on those
initial costs, based on some of your questions after the ... the work session. Uh,
you look at the CEC proposal. It's roughly $622,000. Included in that is
$227,648 for the upgrade to the City infrastructure. That is replacing our... our
base stations and upgrading our ... our antennas and all the hardware that's
necessary to get that up and running. In contrast, if we went with the ... with the
Racom and JECC proposal, all of that is provided by the JECC system, all that
infrastructure is in place. Um, then we move on to radio costs, and that's where
the ... the two proposals really come ... stand apart from each other. The radio
costs for the CEC proposal are as outlined there, and the radio costs for... for, uh,
the Racom proposal are on... on the right side, and there is a contrast in price,
primarily because these are fundamentally two different types of radios, and...
and that is that the ... the JECC system, uh, was designed around P -25 compliant
radios, which is a federal requirement. They had ... they had no choice but to
design around that fea ... uh, P -25 standard, and with that comes a higher price tag
for those radios. And ... and one of the things that I'll point out is when you
operate on... on the scale of operation that we do for our non - public safety, we
have over 330 radios, every dollar difference between those two is ... is taken
times a factor of...of 330. So that ... that spreads the field quite a bit at that point.
Uh, then we move on to the 10 -year total cost, and we have about $775,000
versus $1.179 million and that includes looking at ... at, uh, 10% replacement on
the radios; we just assume 10% of those are going to wear out over that period of
10 years, and it also looks at the ability to push data over the radio system. Um,
the CEC proposal has built into it the ability to push, uh, small amounts of data
over the radio system, without the use of...of additional monthly fees or
additional hardware, uh, that is the typical solution for large data users, uh, that
use the cell cards. Um ... the ... so having that capability is ... is certainly an
attractive option for us. There are ... we do have some uses where we're already
using data cards. Uh, but ... to have that available for all the rest of the fleet is a
good thing, uh, for ... for, uh, AVL, GPS, and that sort of thing. Uh, and then also
we looked at the system maintenance costs, and uh, one of the things that's
included in the Racom/JECC proposal is the ongoing costs of $75 per radio per
year to be a part of that JECC system, because it's ... uh, their costs to provide that
infrastructure and other things. Um, any questions on that before we move on
there? Okay.
Hayek: As I understand it, that ... that last point with ... with the JECC fee...
Fosse: Yes!
Hayek: ...was raised and my understanding is that ... that there's not interest in waiving or
modifying that for the City ... for this purpose. Is that...
Fosse: We ... we actually had that discussion with the JECC policy board, um, last
Monday. So after the work session, and before tonight, we did meet with the
JECC policy board, uh, and essentially gave them the same presentation and ... and
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answered their questions; and one of the things that was discussed at that meeting
was ... was perhaps waiving those fees as an incentive for the City to go on to this
system. Uh, two things, uh, came out of that conversation, and one is ... is there's
not unanimous support on the JECC ... existing JECC board to waive those fees or
to reduce them. Uh, the other thing that became clear is that because that is a
policy decision, the ... any ... any discount or wavering of the fees is subject to the
...the approval of the board.
Mims: Could change!
Fosse: So, yeah, it could start out as ... as a waiver of fees but turn into basically an
introductory offer that ... where we would have fees after a short period of time, or
a long period of time! Uh, but it was discussed!
Hayek: Anyway ... so...
Fosse: Yep!
Throgmorton: Rick, let me make sure I understand the math of this correctly, because...
Fosse: Okay!
Throgmorton: ... because I don't know, I'm challenged mathematically in a way like Matt was
earlier. The upfront costs is $622,000 you say and ... but the additional costs over
the following nine or so years is like $150,000? Am I doing the math correctly?
Fosse: (both talking) ...well, let...
Throgmorton: ... total 10 -year costs $775,000.
Fosse: Yes. In fact I've got that on my next slide. If we ... let's just advance there for a
moment, and ... and look at the difference in the initial costs and the additional, uh,
difference in the ... the 10 -year costs. About $100,000 initially; about $404,000
over that 10 -year period.
Throgmorton: Yeah, that's not what I'm asking.
Fosse: Oh, okay!
Throgmorton: If you'll go back to the other slide please. Just want to make sure I understand
what's up there. Are ... are you saying that the total 10 -year costs is operating
costs over 10 years, or are you saying that's operating costs plus the initial cost of
$622,000?
Fosse: Oh, I see ... I understand your question now. That is the ... the operating cost, plus
the initial cost.
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Throgmorton: Okay, that's what I needed to know.
Fosse: Yep! Um ... so as...
Payne: The 775 includes the 621?
Fosse: Yes! That's correct. Mary, is that right? Okay. Just wanted to make sure of that.
Throgmorton: It seems to matter! (laughter)
Fosse: Uh -huh!
Payne: So that means the $1.1 includes the 722.
Fosse: That's correct.
Mims: Your huge...
Hayek: (both talking)
Mims: Your huge costs are your upfront costs of one for us to set up our own system;
that 621 which is the 227 infrastructure, but then a huge radio cost, and they're
only considering a 10% turnover in radios in the 10 years, so it's that initial
upfront cost that's the biggest part of this thing.
Payne: Well, I understand that, but I didn't understand that 775 minus 621, so we're only
having a $10,000 a year cost over the 10 years? Because 775 minus 621 leaves
100,000 divided by 10 is $10,000.
Hayek: If you look at the two bullet points on the lower left slide, $28,000 plus $125,000,
I think those added together equal the difference between the 622 and the 775.
Fosse: Yes.
Hayek: Does that ... make sense?
Mims: It's about $150,000 (both talking)
Hayek: ...the answer to your question is yes, it's... it's... the ongoing costs are minor.
Payne: Cause that's not the way I originally interpreted it.
Fosse: Okay.
Payne: I think this is exactly what Jim was saying.
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Fosse: Okay, sorry I didn't make that more clear. So as ... as you're seeing with this side -
by -side comparison, uh, the ... the outcome that we had from the ... the request for
proposal process really wasn't the outcome that we expected going into it. We
thought we'd simply be migrating to the ... to the JECC system, uh, but instead our
preferred alternative is to, uh, award to CEC and maintain that separate,
um ... non-public safety radio system with an interface built in so that we do have
that inner - operability, and... and I want to touch on that for a moment. Uh, that's
something that we wanted to be absolutely sure about, so as part of that evaluation
process we actually built that interface, physically installed it, and tested it to
make sure that it works. So...
Mims: So that means, Rick, that ... going with our own system, there will be somehow a
way for our Public Works' people to communicate with the Police.
Fosse: That's correct.
Mims: Okay. I don't need to understand how, just ... (laughter)
Fosse: Okay! We actually have a couple options there, but ... one has been tested and
complete. So, our staff recommendation is to utilize the CEC MotoTrbo system
on a City of Iowa City infrastructure, with both a primary and a backup tower
system. Um, as ... as I pointed out, the coverage and inner- operability have been
tested. They've passed. Uh, the cost differences are about $100,000 upfront,
about $404,000 over the initial 10 -year period, and we have some functionality
advantages, that is that ability to transmit data over the ... over the radio system
without the need for any monthly fees, or for, uh, additional hardware there. And
... and also the platform that we're recommending, uh, permits the development
and use of third party applications, which may or may not be a good thing for us
in the future, but we have that ... that possibility. So, what I want to do is ... is, uh,
back up for just a second and ... and make sure that I ... I, being clear that ... that our
recommendation in ... in no way is a disrespect to JECC's decisions that they've
made so far for the public safety system. We believe that they made a good
decision for their public safety systems, uh, that is the P -25 radios are required
and the ability, uh, their techniques for moving data is appropriate for the types of
data that they transmit and the volumes that they transmit. So the right decisions
have been made there. Uh, what this comparison really points out is that ... that
different jobs, uh, can use different tools, and ... and that's what we're hear...
seeing here, and the difference in those tools when applied over a 330 radios is
significant enough that we feel compelled to ... to recommend approval to CEC.
So if we move forward tonight, uh, we'll close out the RFP, uh, notify the
vendors. We'll do some detailed project planning, and execute the ... the project
and be operational hopefully by winter. So with that, I'll open it up to questions
and...
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Markus: Rick, uh, one of the questions that came up at the JECC meeting was the issue of
licensing, and whether we had, uh, appropriate authority to use our licensing in
this ... this fashion. I think that was the question that was raised.
Fosse: Yes! Jeff...
Markus: Have you had a chance to look into that issue, so that you can update the Council
on that?
Fosse: Yes, our consultant Jeff Thorsteinson has done that; I'll let him address that.
Thorsteinson: I'm Jeff Thorsteinson. The question regards the use of the... continued use of the
Iowa City licenses. They've been used for the last year and a half in this manner,
and we would expect that it would be routine to update them to digital. And uh,
the class of activities allowed in that band include, uh, safety of life, land
transportation, business industrial, and specialized mobile radio. So, um ... we
(both talking)
Markus: ...under those categories.
Thorsteinson: ... a routine thing.
Mims: So the fact that public safety, I think that was kind of the ... the focus of the
question from the JECC meeting. The fact that public safety is no longer going to
be used on there doesn't impact our continued use for these other purposes.
Thorsteinson: We don't expect it would be anything but routine and public safety has been
rebanded to another area, but this is still, uh, a use of public safety. Our actual
licenses are safety of life, so for instance, Mr. Hanson has things where he has to
provide for safety of life, as well.
Mims: Okay.
Hayek: Great.
Thorsteinson: Anything else?
Hayek: Thanks for the clarification.
Thorsteinson: Thank you.
Mims: I would just add from being on the JECC board and ... and Tom and I were there,
that I want to, uh, commend staff for, uh, the way that this was handled. I think
bringing it to the Council at the work session, um, allowing it to then go to the
JECC board before we acted on it, uh, worked out very well. There were
definitely some concerns on the JECC board's part, um, of why we would want to
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start our own system, and I think... or continue our own system, and I think Rick
made it very clear that we didn't want to, but when you started crunching
numbers and 330 -plus radios, um, and Rick gave them the same presentation,
every one of the naysayers there who initially had thought we were crazy, um, just
sat there and nodded their heads and said, we wish you weren't doing it, but we
sure get it. It just ... it doesn't make any sense to come to JECC when the
differences in cost are as considerable as they could be, and as Rick explained, the
difference between their requirements for the P -25 radios versus ours for a lower
cost radio, so ... I just want to commend staff for the process. I think it worked out
very well for us and um, I've sat through this two or three times now and... and
am very comfortable with what staff is recommending.
Hayek: Further questions for Jeff ...or for Rick?
Throgmorton: No.
Payne: I guess I have one question. You mentioned that Cambus has some radios. How
many do they have? Do you know?
(male): (away from mic; unable to hear)
Fosse: About 75.
Payne: And then, so the purchase of those radios will be by the University, not by the
City?
Fosse: That's correct.
Payne: So that 75 times 700, or well 700 was the hand -held; 600 was the mounted.
Fosse: Yes. They ... they have the opportunity to experience some savings, as well, and
they will need to put in place their own interface between their Public Safety and
the Cambus. And probably use...
Hayek: Are they going this route as well?
Fosse: Uh ... we ... we believe that they are. We've had discussions
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definitely some concerns on the JECC board's part, um, of why we would want to
start our own system, and I think ... or continue our own system, and I think Rick
made it very clear that we didn't want to, but when you started crunching
numbers and 330 -plus radios, um, and Rick gave them the same presentation,
every one of the naysayers there who initially had thought we were crazy, um, just
sat there and nodded their heads and said, we wish you weren't doing it, but we
sure get it. It just ... it doesn't make any sense to come to JECC when the
differences in cost are as considerable as they could be, and as Rick explained, the
difference between their requirements for the P -25 radios versus ours for a lower
cost radio, so ... I just want to commend staff for the process. I think it worked out
very well for us and um, I've sat through this two or three times now and... and
am very comfortable with what staff is recommending.
Hayek: Further questions for Jeff... or for Rick?
Throgmorton: No.
Payne: I guess I have one question. You mentioned that Cambus has some radios. How
many do they have? Do you know?
(male): (away from mic; unable to hear)
Fosse: About 75.
Payne: And then, so the purchase of those radios will be by the University, not by the
City?
Fosse: That's correct.
Payne: So that 75 times 700, or well 700 was the hand -held; 600 was the mounted.
Fosse: Yes. They ... they have the opportunity to experience some savings, as well, and
they will need to put in place their own interface between their Public Safety and
the ... the Cambus. And probably use...
Hayek: Are they going this route as well?
Fosse: Uh ... we ... we believe that they are. We've had discussions with them. Uh,
they've indicated a strong interest, but I think they're waiting to see the ... the
outcome here.
Hayek: Okay.
Fosse: Thank you!
Throgmorton: Thanks, Rick.
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Hayek: Well I ... I think, uh, your comments are ... are appropriate, Susan, and ... and uh,
you know, this in no way should be interpreted as inconsistent with our
commitment to JECC.
Mims: No!
Hayek: I mean, Iowa City has been a strong supporter of it and continues to be, but these
cost savings are something we cannot ignore. So, further discussion? Roll call,
please. Item passes 6 -0. Should we take a quick five minute break? How's
everyone...
Champion: (mumbled) ...need to walk for a minute.
Hayek: Okay. Let's, uh, adjourn for five minutes and we'll come back.
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ITEM 25. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION REGARDING DIVERSITY ISSUES.
Hayek: I'm going to read it. I don't normally read resolutions but what we're going to be,
uh, voting on tonight is not part of... it's not on the internet because it went
through some changes at our work session. I don't even think it's available to the
public so I think it's appropriate, uh ... uh, to read. Reads as follows: Whereas
periodically events occur around the nation or world that cause wide spread
concern, and whereas these events and their aftermaths serve as a reminder of the
need to focus on issues of cultural and racial awareness and acceptance in our
own community, and whereas Iowa City's population is becoming more racially
and eth... ethnically diverse. Between 2000 and 2010, the percent of Iowa Citians
who are African American increased from 3.8 to 5.6 %. The percent who are
Hispanic increased from 2.9 to 5.3 %, and the percent who are Asian increased
from 5.6 to 6.9 %. And whereas these demographic shifts have contributed to
increased social tensions, and whereas it is vital for Iowa City's long -term
prosperity to create a stronger and more inclusive sense of community, now
therefore we, the City Council of Iowa City, do hereby intend to establish an ad
hoc committee to study city operations as they relate to minority populations, with
a view toward promoting just and harmonious interaction between local
government and minority segments of the community. We further direct the City
Attorney to prepare an appropriate resolution recommending the composition of
the committee and appropriate charge and the date by which the committee would
report its findings to the Council.
Mims: Move the resolution.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Payne. Discussion?
Champion: Do we, um...
Hayek: You know, before we ... take this up for ... at the Council level, are there ... are there
members of the public who wish to address the Council on this? You've been
waiting and I ... I just want to give that opportunity if there's interest. If not...
(mumbled) the Council.
Champion: I...
Throgmorton: I think they do, Connie.
Champion: Oh!
Hayek: Please come forward! (laughter)
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McKinstre: My name is John McKinstre and I'm pastor at First Christian Church. I live in the
northside neighborhood at 308 Ronalds, and uh, I just want to speak in favor of
the resolution. I think it's a wonderful idea. I'm not always comfortable talking
about, uh, racial justice myself. I confess that! But I think it's, uh ... a
conversation that this community badly needs to have in an open and forthright
manner, and uh, I'm here representing the Consultation of Religious
Communities, which is an interfaith organization. It includes about 25, uh,
congregations, including the local mosque and a local synagogue and uh, you
know, diversity's a very important thing and uh, talking amongst ourselves and
uh... striving for a more inclusive and a more open community is always a good
thing. So I'm just here in favor of that, so ... God bless you all.
Mims: Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you for your comments.
Throgmorton: Thanks, John.
Hayek: Okay, uh, Council discussion?
Champion: Oh, I just wanted to bring up something, um, that I'm confused about, for the
third time tonight! Uh, I'm going to vote for this; I support it totally. Uh, but
were we going to talk next ... work session about the composition of the committee
and an appropriate charge, and ... but this says that Eleanor should do that. Do
we...
Dilkes: No, I assumed that you were going to talk about that and ... and give me some
direction about what you wanted the charge to be (both talking) who you wanted
to be on the committee.
Champion: ...next time then. I thought this was (both talking)
Dilkes: You're going to have to have a discussion about that before I can draft the next
resolution.
Dobyns: Will it be on the work session agenda for the first June meeting? (several talking)
Throgmorton: Yeah, and that's completely consistent with what Rick and I had, uh, had in mind
when we drafted the resolution.
Hayek: Yeah, we have to have that conversation.
Champion: Okay. Thank you.
Hayek: Further discussion?
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Throgmorton: Yeah, well I do want to say some things. Um, I want ... I want to thank the people
that Rick and I met with, uh, while we were in the process of crafting, uh, a
resolution, A ... I could name many people; I'll just mention a few. Ken ... Kenya,
Henry, Latasha, Orville, Donna, Marian, and many others. Uh, they committed
time and energy, uh, insights based on their own knowledge and experience.
They spoke from their hearts. We, I believe, learned a lot by listening to them,
uh, their insights went into the draft resolution. They clearly appear in the, uh, in
the now therefore part of the resolution. I'm very pleased about that, and ... and I
look forward to, uh, making further progress on this.
Hayek: Well I want to thank you and ... and Rick for your work on this, um, and the
Council earlier this evening for ... for reaching consensus on something that
everyone (both talking)
Dobyns: Yeah, I've been on the Council, you know, long enough I suppose to see that this
could have been buried within the agenda and the operations of Council, um, I
think it's a very impressive that Council's discussing this. This is not easy. Um,
the discussions that we're going to have, um, open because they need to be open,
are going to be really difficult ones. Um, having said that, the real merit of the
statement is, um, and its intent will be what the, um, committee recommends to
us, how we deliberate it, and the operational changes that we, um, actually make,
uh, at the end of it. So the proof is in the pudding!
Hayek: Further discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes 6 -0.
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ITEM 25B CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER
TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A CONCESSION
AGREEMENT WITH FIN AND FEATHER FOR THE PROVISION OF
RECREATIONAL RENTAL EQUIPMENT AND FOOD SERVICES AT
TERRY TRUEBLOOD RECREATION AREA.
Mims: Move the resolution.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Payne. Mr. Moran! Brian!
Moran: Mayor... Members of City Council, uh, I've got Brian Mildenstein with me who
is, um, working with us for this, and I want to just go through a real quick, short
slide s how. Uh, it's got pictures on it so it won't be quite as boring as Rick's but
(laughter) Um, in fact that ... that's a picture that I was going to accuse Brian of
being the ... the canoer, but that's not him. So ... he's, or kayaker, sorry! (laughter)
Already (both talking)
Hayek: ...Parks and Rec Director to make!
Markus: Now you know why we're privatizing that! (laughter)
Moran: If you haven't been out there yet, uh, the marina building, uh, that was completed
and accepted, uh, last month, uh, and it looks very similar to that. That's a pretty
good rendering of that. Uh, this is a ... a view from where the park lodge will be,
and then this is a view from the parking area, uh, as it exists now. Uh, when we
built this in mind we really didn't know how we were going to function with this,
but uh, Fin and Feather has been a great partner of ours over the many years. Uh,
Brian's dad, uh, has sponsored us for our National Gold Medal awards that we
won in previous years. He's provided us equipment for our special Olympics
program, and... and truly they're a... sort of a sole source provider for this type of
thing for what I'm going to show you with. They're a local, uh, company that
we've done business with for a long time and they can truly bring all this stuff to
the table without having to buy it individually and I don't want to be the
marketing manager of all this and to buy all the equipment and ... and do that, and
...and Brian has ... has graciously offered to do some of that stuff. So, uh, what
we see in this is we see canoe rentals and paddle boat rentals occurring on the
lake. Uh, and we also see kayaks and uh, these are actual pictures that were taken
of an event that Brian did ... Thursday night? Last Thursday?
Mildenstein: Yes, some are from Thursday, but we ... we had about 25 paddlers out there on
Thursday night, uh... (mumbled) boats and (mumbled)
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Moran: And then, uh, we would also then become a seasonal operator and we would do
skating, cross country skiing and snowshoes, and it'd be real difficult to see that
in... in action because we didn't have a great winter last year (laughter). In fact
we had very little ice with that. Uh, we did make the commitment that we would
not clean snow from that trail, around that facility, just for this very same reason.
Uh, of course last year we didn't have any snow to clear. The year before that,
uh, it wasn't as popular as it has been. So we've already initiated that for a couple
of years. Uh, the concession, uh, types that we are looking at, uh, that Brian
and ... and myself have been talking about are ... are fishing concessions and it's a
little hard to ... to figure out how you're going to do food and worms, but I think
that we'll, you know, we'll work through that (laughter)
Hayek: As long as you don't do worms and food (laughter)
Moran: I don't know, it makes pretty good mud cake or whatever...
Dobyns: Now I'm really worried about the food! (laughter)
Moran: Um ... the ... the limits for the concessions will be handled contractually
with ... with Brian and myself, and with the contract, so it won't be a ... if he wants
to do a sole source provider or if he wants to provide certain things, uh, he'll run
it by us so that we can say yeah that's a go, or that isn't a go, and ... and those
would really only be objectionable things that we might not want to consider, and
that's alcohol and ... and you know cigarette sales and stuff like that. Uh, so we'll
have a little bit of control on that so that, uh, they'll know what we expect out of
that to do. Uh, non -food items could be anything from clothing to uh, sales of
water bottles to things that, you know, just sort of transpire over the next couple
of years because the great unknown about this is that, uh, when we get this started
this year, we don't have the park lodge amenity. We don't have all the shelters.
So we don't ... we really don't know what the ... the business is going to be like,
and then next year once the park lodge is there and all the shelters are in place, uh,
I certainly incr ... uh, think that the traffic will increase greatly and I think Brian's
uh, business will change drastically, depending on what the wants and needs are
of the people that visit the park. So it's really a great unknown for us, and so
we're trying to keep it open ended but we want to try to keep it focused and
scoped a little bit with that too. Uh, it will be a seasonal thing. Uh, we will run a
winter season and a summer /spring/fall season if you will, so I wouldn't
anticipate, uh, a closure of any kind, of any great extension. I think that we'll just
roll into seasonal stuff, uh, but like I said, who knows! If we have a winter like
we did last year, uh, there's not going to be much business out there, and I don't
think Brian's going to want to stick staff out there to ... to sell ice skates or to rent
ice skates. Um, the contract itself, the resolution before you tonight authorizes the
City Manager to sign that. We don't have a bonafide contract right now. We're
still working out the details with that, but we wanted to give Brian the opportunity
and... and them to get started as soon as we could get that, uh, put together, so we
didn't want to hinge that dependent on your Council schedule, uh, we will have an
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agreement with renewable terms. Uh, we want to give them an opportunity to
recover costs for providing canoes, kayaks, fishing, bicycles, and all those kinds
of things, so we don't want to go year by year, uh, we want to give them a longer
extended term contract so that they can recover their ... their equipment costs for
that.
Markus: So, Mike, in that regard there was a discussion that there was some complications
with entering into an agreement beyond three years.
Moran: Correct.
Markus: You should ... in terms of full disclosure, we should tell the Council what is to be
expected.
Moran: Sure. The ... the three -year agreement, and why we're here tonight, is ... is the
initial agreement that we'll do is three years, and that's because it only requires
one Council meeting. If we were to do a four year or larger, longer agreement,
then what that would take is, uh, two Council meetings, which would put us into
June 5t' or June 19th, which means that we couldn't operate the ... the concessions
at that point in time. So we wanted to do a shorter contractual thing of three years
or less, with the guarantee to ... to Brian that we will look at an extension for that
after that, so that he gets a longer contract of four or five years, which he wants to
recover his ... his equipment with.
Markus: And ... and that's really the basis for the longer term agreement, to get a vendor to
come in and invest you have to give `em enough term for them to amortize the
cost of the investment that they're making in this regard, but if this comes back
next fall, you're going to be scratching your head. You thought we just entered
into an agreement. So it was best that we just tell you that right up front.
Moran: Uh, the percentage of sales back to City, uh, will not be great. In fact, we're
proposing 4% and uh, in looking around, other agencies around the state that do
that, for example, Gray's Lake in Des Moines. If you've seen their rental
operation, they only get ... get back 4 %, uh, Scott County, off of 225, over in the
Davenport area, uh, they do a I% return. So the range ... I think the highest that
Brian said that he saw when he was doing his search was 7% and the lowest was
1%. So we both sort of settled in at a 4% figure for contractual sales of kick -back
for that. Uh, we would ... we would like to negotiate that percentage every year
because of the change of people that will attend the parking every year. We know
that this year might be a little rough, but next year might be a real boom because
we're going to have more activities and events. So the contract extension length
will be set, but every year we'd like to go back and look at the percentage that's
given to us, based on that.
Payne: And how are you going to determine that percentage? I mean, it's based on last
year's sales then?
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Moran: It'll be a percentage of...profits of what Brian makes on a monthly basis.
Mildenstein: I think the way it's worded is not profits but rather on ... on gross sales. So ... uh,
the City doesn't have to worry about whether or not we make a profit, but uh, just
what the overall gross revenue is.
Payne: But it will be based on last year? Because you can't base it on the current year
cause you don't know what it's going to be!
Moran: It'll be based on the current month of operation.
Payne: Oh, just the current month!
Moran: Correct, right. We'll got on a month-to-month ... month-to-month basis. Yeah,
and ... and when you see the actual contract, Brian has to come up with the
corporation name, but it won't be under Fin and Feather, uh, because he doesn't
want to tie it to the store per se but he wants to come up with Fin and Feather East
or whatever he wanted to come up with, uh, so we'll have it under another
corporation name, uh, so that we can keep the books separate. We don't want to
get into the Fin and Feather corporate books. We just want to get into the books
of our facility.
Dilkes: Michelle, I'm not sure you and Mike were connecting on that question. Um, you
were talking about when you renegotiate the ... the percentage what are you going
to base it on, was that your question? Okay. I ... I don't know that that's...
Markus: We have determined (several talking)
Dilkes: ...talked about that yet. We're still in the ... we're still coming to terms on the
details, and we have to work within this three -year limit that we've got and ... so...
we'll get there.
Hayek: So we're ... we're authorizing the City Manager...
Dilkes: You're authorizing the City Manager to...
Hayek: ...negotiate and complete this.
Dilkes: With these basic terms.
Dobyns: Did you mention, is sidewalk going to be cleared? You're talking about the one
around the lake. Is that...
Moran: Two mile trail around the lake.
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Dobyns: But it's not going to be cleared during the winter?
Moran: That's correct.
Dobyns: Okay, and that's because...
Moran: Of the winter, uh, cross country skiing, snow shoeing, and all the events that'll
take place in there. We want people to participate in that manner at that park.
Dobyns: Okay. Well people will walk on it anyway and there'll be little doggie gifts along
the way, as well (several talking and laughing)
Moran: ...we've had this discussion, yeah. We've had that discussion, and we haven't
had a good trial run for that because we haven't had a good case of snow for that.
Dobyns: Will it be (several talking)
Moran: Yes. That's our intent is to do it for cross country skiing.
Dobyns: Okay.
Champion: You could make snow.
Hayek: Okay, any other questions for, uh, Brian or Mike?
Moran: Last picture....the coolest thing to rent out there will be a surf board with long
pole, like a little gondola ... I don't know what you call `em (several talking)
standup paddle boards.
Mildenstein: We were out, actually, on these the other night, again, and uh, they're... they're
gaining in a lot of popularity. Some people actually fish from them, um ... which
can be kind of interesting. Uh, you need a little bit of balance, uh, and there're
also yoga classes that are ... that are being offered on standup paddle boards now.
Once again, balance key.
Dobyns: I think our Parks and Rec Director should demonstrate it for the public before we
go live with this! (laughter)
Markus: Especially the yoga on the paddle boat! (laughter)
Mildenstein: That ... that's me, and I promise you I can't ride a ... a skate board or anything else
that way, so...
Throgmorton: The guy standing on the board, it looks to me like a ... I'm sorry, I'm from a
University, you know, a post -modern voyager. So ... wonder ... wonder if maybe
that's... that's what it is really.
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Moran: It's an actual picture!
Mildenstein: Surfing in the Midwest, you know, for us ... kids who grew up here. (several
taking)
Hayek: Marquette, Joliet! (laughter) Okay, other questions for these, uh, these guys?
And any discussion on...
Champion: Looks great!
Mims: Yes! It's exciting!
Throgmorton: (mumbled)
Hayek: Yep, I think this ... this, uh, has the potential to be a very good partnership.
Further discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes 6 -0.
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ITEM 28. CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION.
Hayek: Start down with you, Jim.
Throgmorton: Yeah, I'd like to mention a few things. Uh, I ... during our meetings two weeks
ago I mentioned a couple suggested changes to our TIF policy, and Matt, you
suggested that I look at our Economic Development, uh, policy, and I ... I've done
that. So, uh, I will be sending to you, and I guess to the Economic Development
Committee, um, suggested changes and where they fit into the policy. Does that
sound reasonable?
Hayek: Okay.
Throgmorton: Uh, I guess, um, I'd like to also say that, uh, with the help of Karen Howard, uh,
I ... I conducted that Jane Jacobs' Walk, uh, roughly a week or so ago, uh, it was,
uh, it went beautifully. We had maybe 40 or so, uh, people walking with us. And
Karen did a great job, uh, assisting at certain points. I really appreciate her help,
but the...the surprise to me is that, uh, there was a little televised excerpt on
KWWL TV and that was picked up by, uh, the Bluefield, West Virginia TV
station and ... I went to Notre Dame, the University of Nortre Dame, the South
Bend Indiana TV station as part of the Fox, you know, news ... not news network
but the Fox Network. So ... there we were walking around (laughter) talking in
...in our town and it was appearing in Bluefield and South Bend (laughter)
Dobyns: You were on Fox, Jim?
Throgmorton: Huh?
Dobyns: You were on Fox TV?
Throgmorton: Well, you know the ... the Fox Network.
Hayek: You joining Fox and Friends? (laughter) How this spirals! (laughter) Well
thanks for doing that. That's... anything else, uh, Jim?
Throgmorton: No.
Hayek: Connie? Susan?
Mims: No!
Payne: Are we going to finish our Council time from the work session also, or this is it?
Hayek: I ... this is it, unless you need us to go back (several talking)
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Payne: No, I just had two things that really... weren't that important. I'll just talk to
Marian about `em later. They don't need to be public stuff.
Hayek: Okay.
Dobyns: No.
Hayek: Uh, I have a couple of things. First you might have seen today, um, the National
Association of Realtors announced its list of top turnaround towns, which is a
listing of, uh, area, um, economies that have weathered the downturn in the real
estate market nationally, and Iowa City ranks 21St. Um, which is essentially a
recognition that we have escaped, as they say — escaped from the recent national
housing bust, relatively unscathed! And they, uh, give credit to, uh, the strength
of the housing market, the University, some of our private sector employers, and
then our arts and culture. So I thought that was a nice, uh, recognition...
Champion: ... commend the City Council? They didn't say (both talking)
Hayek: No, they ... they put it on a web site! (laughter) Uh, and the second thing is I want
to, uh, remind the public of an exciting event this Sunday, uh, May 20th, uh,
Friends of Historic Preservation is putting a ... putting on a walking tour in Iowa
City through the civil war era, uh, and it starts at Old Brick at 1:00. Goes until
5:00. All sorts of stuff going on there. A tour of the building. A civil war ball.
Uh, re- enactors, uh, and then a bunch of activities for children, uh, you can build
Lincoln's... Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home out of Lincoln logs, and do other
things. Uh, there's also a pop -up museum scheduled for the Congregational
Church between 2:00 and 4:00, and then open houses at various places around,
uh, the, looks like the near northside. Um, so encourage the public to go to that,
and for more information contact Friends of Historic Preservation.
Throgmorton: Super! Matt, could I mention one other thing, I forgot to mention?
Hayek: Yeah.
Throgmorton: Today, this is Bike to Work Week, so I don't know, I'm sure all of you rode your
bikes down here today but ... but uh, tomorrow I'll be on the New Pi to Old Pi, no
...Old Pi to New Pi. I'd better make it ... make sure I've got it right. Um, it starts
at 5:30, from Chauncey Swan I think, and then ends up at New Pi out in
Coralville. So bravo to the bicyclists around town.
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ITEM 29. REPORT ON ITEMS FROM CITY STAFF.
Hayek: City Manager?
Markus: Nothing.
Hayek: City Attorney? City Clerk?
Karr: Yes! (several talking and laughing) I know! Um, distributed this evening is an
email from Andy Johnson reminding us that the joint cities meeting is scheduled
for June 20th, and they're asking each entity to let them know if they'd be
interested in taking a tour of the court house and jail, um, in place of the usual
business meeting, and they'll finalized logistics, but didn't want to wait until the
next, our next meeting to do that. And again, that's looking at June 20th. They're
anticipating the tour starting at the court house at 4:00, which would be our
normal starting time, and then ending up in the large court room, um, and there
would then be agenda items or anything that you would like to add. Is there
interest on the part of the Council to do such a tour and structure it that way?
Champion: If you haven't been on a tour of the jail, I would recommend highly that you go.
Um, it's ... it doesn't take long cause it's very small (laughter) but it is really...
you'll understand why we really need a new jail. So I think it'd be a good idea
for people to go.
Mims: Well, and I think given that they're also planning on doing a brief presentation
about the plan for the justice center (both talking) this could be, you know, the
referendum this fall for the bond, I think it'd be a good idea for people if they can
go.
Hayek: Yeah. They really ought to do it at about 9:00 in the morning when the place is
just bursting at the seams, and then put us in one of the broom closets that they
use for hearings. Uh, that's how bad it is over there.
Champion: It's terrible.
Hayek: So, I think it's a good idea.
Karr: So, please check your schedules and let ... let me know if there's any conflict and
I'll respond back. Thanks.
Throgmorton: No conflict!
Hayek: Anything else, Marian? Okay, we need a motion.
Mims: So moved.
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Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by, uh, Mims, seconded by Payne. Discussion? All those in favor say
aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries. We are adjourned. (bangs gavel)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council
formal meeting of May 15, 2012.