HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-06-05 Transcription Page 1
ITEM 2. PROCLAMATIONS
a) Pride Month -June
Hayek: (reads proclamation)
Karr: Here to accept the proclamation is Bridget Malone. (applause)
Hayek: Thank you! Thanks so much!
Malone: I would like to thank,um,the Committee very much and also invite someone
from the Committee if you'd like to come and read the proclamation at our
festival on that day we would love to have you! So,thank you.
Throgmorton: Bridget, one of my great-great-grandmothers has the same name!
Malone: Really?
Throgmorton: Yeah.
Malone: (unable to hear, away from mic) (laughter)
Hayek: Okay,thank you for that.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council
formal meeting of June 5,2012.
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ITEM 3. SPECIAL PRESENTATION—Landfill Fire Update
Hayek: Item 3 is an update on the Landfill fire, and I'll turn it over to staff at this time.
Markus: Uh,Fire Chief Rocca will kind of introduce the team that's here this evening, and
uh,will make a presentation and then we'll take questions from Council,uh, and
then uh...Mayor, it's up to you to,uh, invite any public comment at that
point...as you see fit.
Rocca: Good evening, Mr. Mayor,Members of the City Council, City staffers. As the
City Manager indicated, we wanted to provide you with a bit of a three-pronged
approach here in terms of a...a Landfill fire update. And so I'll just start out with
the initial alarm. It was, uh, on May 26, 2012, at approximately 6:41 P.M.that
the Fire Department received a report of a fire at the Landfill,which is located at
3900 Hebl Avenue SW in Iowa City. Uh,the initial response was made by
Quinton 2 which was a three-person engine company and would have had a
lieutenant and two firefighters on there. Uh, as they approached the Landfill site
they noticed a large column of black smoke, similar to what you see there but
probably not quite as advanced at that point, and they immediately upgraded their
response to include an additional engine company, a truck company, and a
battalion chief for more personnel. When they arrived on scene, uh, after making
access to the Landfill, they were coordinating with, uh, Landfill employees and
staff at that time. And uh, I might add that it's an easy question I guess to ask at
this point,but...but I'm going to ask it, and it's why let the Landfill cell burn?
Well,the initial incident commander,uh, saw the fuel that was involved,how
rapidly it was spreading, and made a...a very good decision to try to cut the fire
off and so coordinating between,uh, Superintendent Dave Elias and Lieutenant
Scott Duvall,they identified an area where they could make a fire break, and they
were using heavy equipment to try to separate the burning material from the
unburned material. Urn, despite some of their best efforts early on, we had fire
migrate across the fire break and...and of course we had to kind of back up and
we took an additional run at...at establishing that fire break. Um, again,with
limited staffing, uh, limited fire suppression capabilities,uh,the...the decision to
let the cell burn and try to separate it from the unburned material was a very good
decision early on. I want to talk a little bit about what's going on. Clearly we've
had,uh, staff present out there, uh, numerous staff from fire and landfill,working
day to day, and urn, through that we identified...the Public Works Director and I,
identified on Saturday the need to open up our incident command post. Uh, many
of you that have been around for a long time know that many lessons have been
learned from our...our tornado in 2006, our floods in 2008, of how we approach
response and recovery to disasters, and so we...we used a lot of the lessons
learned from those two incidents,urn, and opened up our command post on
Sunday the 27th of May. It...it really became operational the next day,but we just
wanted to be ahead of that. The incident command system as you know is really
not an option. It's required by Presidential directive and how we respond to and
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council
formal meeting of June 5,2012.
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deal with these types of emergencies. When,uh, Public Works Director Fosse
and I initially discussed how we were going to approach the coming days,um, it
was clear that a lot of the detail that he was going to be involved with wouldn't
allow him to focus on the strategy that was going to come to play over the next
several days and continues as we speak. So we had an agreement, and ultimately
I was appointed as Incident Commander, uh, of the incident, and that occurred I
believe on Monday and so we went ahead and...and abandoned our unified
approach with Fire and...and Public Works, and I took over those duties as...as
Incident Commander. When we did that we identified three incident priorities
and they are still active and current today. The first has to do with safety. Our
first priority clearly is safety. That of the public and personnel,whether it's Fire
personnel, Landfill personnel, or contract personnel. The next priority has to do
with fire containment and control. And ultimately extinguishment,which I know
we all want. Let me briefly break down some of the structure that we've got with
the incident command system. The, uh...the command staff personnel that I have
available to me, one of those positions is the public information officer, and I
want to credit our Assistant to the City Manager, Geoff Fruin, for all his proactive
actions. He's taken on, urn,the media contact, uh, our contact with the general
public, our web site, as you well know is equipped with frequently asked
questions and is updated routinely. We have a presence on Facebook. So we're
able to push out a lot of information very quickly. And I know he worked very
hard and long hours coordinating all that information with the Johnson County
Public Health Director, Doug Beardsley, and Doug's here tonight, and of course
you'll hear more from him later,but once again, Geoff, want to publicly thank
you for all the effort you put into our media relations. You've done a fantastic
job! Moving along, the general staff that I have to work with...our Public Works
Director Rick Fosse is our operations section chief and so Rick really is kind of
where the pulse of the operation is. He's working with Fire. He's working with
all his divisions with Public Works, uh, he's working with the Health Department,
uh,the Finance Department,uh, Planning section chief, and I'll step through that,
but uh,that's really the hot seat, but he needs to be involved with that,uh, so we
can move forward on ultimately the extinguishment of this fire. Uh,the
administrative section chief, of course, is our City Manager Tom Markus. Uh,
we've kept him abreast of this, uh, on an on-going basis. He continues to provide
us with...with excellent direction, um, a lot of questions have surfaced during
our...our briefings and planning meetings, and he's done a fabulous job of
providing the direction that you would expect of him. Of course there's a finance
aspect to this and our Finance section chief has been split up between Kevin
O'Malley the Finance Director and...and Melissa Miller, our Risk Manager. Urn,
both doing an admirable job of making sure that we have the resources that we
need available to us and that they are paid for. As I mentioned,we have a
planning section chief, our Deputy Chief Roger Jensen is doing that. He kind of
looks at the day's activities and...and tries to pick out some of the problems,
maybe issues and concerns that we're likely going to anticipate and uh,he tries to
forecast those in, uh, issues for us to discuss as well as plans for the next
operational period, which would be the following day. Roger's well versed in the
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council
formal meeting of June 5,2012.
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incident management structure as he's part of the Iowa Incident Management
Team and he brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to us in that regard.
We have a number of branch directors too. Our on-duty fire battalion chief
continues to monitor the day-to-day activities of the Fire Department throughout
the city as well as coordinating...coordinating actions at the Landfill. Uh,
particularly on the cell that's involved right now. Our Public Works branch
director is Ron Knoche the City Engineer. Again, he's kind of more down into
the details of, uh, whether it's the Landfill cell or waste water treatment issues,
and some of those implications, and I'm sure Rick will talk a little more about
some of that. A very...a very important component of our...our branch directors
has to do with Public Health. Mr. Doug Beardsley from the Johnson County
Health Department,urn, early on was contacted to provide direction. Uh,
obviously we had concerns about air quality and air monitoring,uh, as we lead
back to our...our incident priority of safety. And Doug clearly has stepped up.
He's brought a tremendous amount of knowledge, uh, wealth...wealth of
knowledge, experience, and quality equipment, uh,to the table. And, uh, I know
he has a lot that's going to be very enlighting...enlightening for the public and
those here tonight to...to hear about. Doug's just done a tremendous job in that
regard. Urn, when I look at the Law branch, Captain Weiss from the Iowa City
Police Department has been involved, uh, from the beginning, looking at the
issues with smoke propagation and potentially needs for evacuation and trying to
stay ahead of it; seeing security at the Landfill itself; and so you can see there are
a lot of...of people come together from a city perspective, and I'm going to
expand on that a little bit because the next piece of information I want to share
with you has to do with the Johnson County Emergency Management Agency.
Dave Wilson's our coordinator. Really everything that we've done to date, uh,
reaching out to many agencies, and I'll get to those in a minute, all are, urn,
possible because of our emergency management coordinator. Uh, as you know,
Mayor Hayek put together a declaration, uh, State of Emergency for the City, and
once we did that, at Dave Wilson's recommendation, many additional resources
have come through at...at our disposal. Um, and I'll get not some of those here in
just a little bit but any...any additional requests for staff, for equipment, for fire
suppression agents, for water, for phone, for communications equipment, urn, on
and on, again,the emergency declaration was guided by Mr. Wilson and we have
access to County, State, and federal resources as a result of his actions early on.
So, Mr. Wilson clearly has done a marvelous job on behalf of the City of Iowa
City. I want to move into operations and research here briefly. Uh, I want to say
that, uh,the decision to let the fire burn isn't an easy one, because we're really
looking at...at a number of issues there. Um, if we were to have access to, uh, a
lot of water or fire suppression agents, or surfactants, and we went ahead and put
those on that cell,uh, we could have risked probably running additional oil, water,
suppression agents into the ground water and then we'd have the whole run-off
issue to contend with. Uh, so again,back to the decision to let it burn, granted we
have particulate in the air. We have other issues that we're monitoring for, uh,
but really when we looked at all the research that was available to us, some of this
from the United States Fire Administration, entitled, uh...they had a...a study
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council
formal meeting of June 5,2012.
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entitled "Scrap and uh...and Shredded Tire Fires. " An excellent resource for us
to...to go to. Urn, also a tire fire report from the Office Environmental Health
and Hazard Assessment was a tool used early on, not only by the incident
command team but Mr. Beardsley as he looked at what toxins could be produced
by the fire, what would we need to monitor for, where should we be monitoring,
urn, so...so some excellent resources in that regard. Another question that
probably has been asked numerous times out in the public is why don't you just
extinguish the fire? Well, we've done some testing on Class A foams,um,with
limited,uh, sustainability. A small quantity in a test area, we applied the Class A
foam and um, while it...it suppressed the surface area,the flame production, urn,
within 10 to 20 minutes it was starting to degrade, uh, fire and smoke was starting
to pop through and uh, when you look at the amount of Class A foam and water
necessary to extinguish the fire, we weren't sure we would have...sufficient
quantities of either, uh,to be able to do that effectively and for a sustained period
of time. We've also been pre-planning for the deployment of Class B foam.
Class B foam is used on flammable liquids. Uh, we are generating some pyrolytic
oil as a result of this fire and hence we have a...a liquid that we're contending
with here. And so we're trying to be ahead of that to look at fire suppression
needs in the, uh, in the event that we have an ignition...an ignition of that oil. So
we also,urn, reached out to the EPA as I mentioned earlier and uh, the
Environmental Protection Agency came to the scene,purposely for air
monitoring. And, uh,they came out of the Kansas City office, Region 7.
Through the monitoring, they were able to assist Mr. Beardsley and others that I'll
mention here in a minute with the air monitoring. But we talked to them, given
their experience, uh, hands-on experience with these types of fires and one
gentleman recommended...what we refer to as the `stir,burn and cover' method.
He said we've seen a lot of situations where...whether it was Class A foam,
surfactants,wetting agents have been applied, uh, and they've been largely
ineffective. They believe...it's their opinion,that we're on the right track, again,
with the `stir,burn and cover.' They also recommended a number of contractors
that we could work with. We contacted one of those. We are presently under
contract with Environmental Restoration out of the St. Louis and Kansas City
area, and we'll speak a little bit about what's going on there. The City's reached
out and cooperated with a number of agencies. And I just want to kind of
highlight those once again for you. First of all, most of this was made possible by
the emergency declaration by our Mayor on June 1St. Multiple City departments
and divisions have been involved, and I can tell you,be very proud of the effort.
The late hours, the sleepless nights that many of our employees from many
departments and divisions have put in to making this a successful operation.
Johnson County resources, I mentioned, uh, Dave Wilson our emergency
management coordinator's been stellar, uh, with his ability to provide resources to
the community. Doug Beardsley, the Johnson County Health Department
Director, as well, stellar with his air monitoring and reaching out, coordinating
with Linn County Public Health Department. The State of Iowa has a number of
resources involved in this. The Department of Natural Resources out of the
Washington, Iowa office early on was contacted as a resource, and had an on-site
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council
formal meeting of June 5,2012.
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presence about every other day to monitor the operations here. A number of
items have been sent to the State Hygienic Laboratory for analysis, to include
some of our air monitoring. We've had to reach out to the Iowa National Guard,
71St Civil Support Team, uh, for some modeling and hazmat expertise, as well as
the federal level. As I mentioned, United States, uh, Environmental Protection
Agency out of Region 7. The National Guard, who also has at the federal level, a
federal branch of the Guard is doing...has been doing some plume modeling for
us and of course the National Weather Service. As I begin to wrap up, I just want
to let you know that,uh, the incident command post briefings continue, uh, each
day. We...we...we congregate in there at 8:00 A.M. All of the, uh...uh, section
chiefs, uh, branch directors, and...and other City staffers are available to kind of
hear first hand where we're going, what our obstacles are, and...and what it is we
need to do during that operational period. We also have operational planning
meetings at the end of each day to kind of evaluate some of those activities. Were
we successful? Uh, what needs to happen? What are the priorities for tomorrow?
And I can tell you that we do have some issues that we're currently dealing with.
As we all know, community wide, fire and smoke, uh, we're...ever so cognizant
of,uh,the prevailing winds. We're trying to coordinate our on-scene efforts at
the Landfill cell, uh, to minimally impact the public to the best of our ability, and
we continue with the stir, burn and cover strategy as we work with, uh, our
contractor out there, as well as City staff. The pyrolytic oil production continues
and likely will continue to a degree, although we hope it will lessen with the stir,
burn and cover strategy, but the production, storage, and ultimate removal of that
oil is...is a critical thing for us to move forward on, and...and quickly I might
add. So we'll continue with those incident priorities that I outlined earlier. Safety
will remain the number one incident priority. That of our public and that of our
personnel. We will continue to work to contain the fire and ultimately control the
fire, and as we work toward extinguishment. That concludes my remarks right
now and so I'll go ahead and turn the, uh,podium over to Rick and uh, we'll
move forward from there.
Fosse: Thanks, Andy. What I'd like to do in the next few minutes is...is take you
through the operational end of it and...and show you, uh, first hand some of the
things that are happening in the field out there, uh, the picture that you see now...
thank you, Marian, is...is as it looked when I arrived Saturday night out there, and
what you see burning is not garbage but it's the liner system in the Landfill and...
and we'll talk about that more in just a moment. I want to begin by just getting
you oriented to the fire location, which is crosshatched here. It's right in the
middle of our 200-acre site out there, of which about 125 acres are currently the
landfill. We have 17 cells. This newest cell, it's kind of a pie-shaped piece here,
is about 15 acres and the bottom, or the southern half of it had been covered with
garbage, but the north half had not, and that's...that's where the liner was
vulnerable to fires, and that's what we saw here. Uh, so as I said, what you see
burning is the liner system, and what I want to review with you is...is how that
liner system is constructed and...and follow me through here. I want to point out
that this drawing is not to scale so pay attention to the dimensions that I talk
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council
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about. Uh, at the bottom we have the native soils out there, and the first layer is
six inches of granular base, and that is to keep ground water from
pet...penetrating up into the landfill cell actually, and then on top of that six
inches is four feet of compacted clay. And on top of that is the 60-mil,high
density polyethylene plastic linter. On top of that is a geo-textile composite and
on top of that is 12 to 36 inches of tire derived aggregate or shredded tires, and
then the waste goes on top of that. Uh,part of the reason for the...the aggregate
in there is to allow the leachate that comes out of the gravel, or excuse me, out of
the garbage to travel horizontally and get into the leachate collection system. And
the question you're probably asking yourself now given the vulnerability that
we've seen to fire is why use shredded tires for this? And it's...it's an industry
trend that started back in the mid-1990s. Uh, we've been using shredded tires
since 1996, uh, and...in a number of cells, and it...it, besides having the
vulnerability to fire, it has some very good physical characteristics for us, that is
that it...it provides the drainage we need better than sand, and it's also more
structurally stable than sand is, especially on the slopes because underneath it,
remember, is that slippery plastic layer that the sand tends to slide down and it's
hard to keep it up there. Whereas the tires stay put and they also stay put when
we put the garbage in place. So that's a little bit of the background about the, uh,
how the liner is built. So let's...let's take a look at things in more detail. Uh,
what you see here is...is our staff working with the Fire Department to implement
the strategies that Andy was talking about where we're trying to cut off the fuel
source from the fire. It's a similar strategy that you would apply to a...a grass
fire, and uh,the hard part about this strategy is you've got to pick where you're
going to do that and cut that line, and it takes about two hours to build that line
and not having much experience with tire fires, and the effects of the winds that
we were experiencing that night, uh, the fire did beat us to the center. We're
building from the north and south. We did not get it complete in that first
containment line. Uh, our guys worked it as long and hard as they could on that
first containment line,but ultimately the fire breached it and we held...had to fall
back and...and work on a second containment line on Saturday night. This is just
a shot of the Fire department and the uh, and uh...Landfill staff working together
out there. I also want to point out that we had a...a one staff person from our
Streets department out there that has heavy equipment experience, so was helping
out that evening. Uh, here's a couple firefighters, and Dave Elias, our Landfill
Superintendent, actually going down into the landfill cell because there's no
substitute for the information that you get when you go down in there to see just
how to...to strategize against this thing. Urn, I cannot overstate the, uh, the skill
and the effort that our staff put in that night. Uh, they really pushed themselves
and...and equipment to the limits there. Uh, it was necessary to come up out of
the cell and allow the cooling systems on the equipment to catch up, and then they
could also regain their bearings on where the fire is and the things that they're
doing, uh, before they returned...back into the cell. Uh,to make things even
more scary out there is there were flame tornadoes that were roaming the site, uh,
two or three at a time,just because of the intensity of the fire and...and uh...what
all was burning out there. It was...it was like being on a different planet! Uh,
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this is a shot, uh, little...around midnight,uh, after the second containment line
had been built and was holding well, and uh,that's our Landfill Superintendent
Dave Elias on the left and...and Ron Knoche our City Engineer on the right,just
strategizing for the next day, and uh...the second containment line that we built,
uh, held until the wind shifted the next morning and then that containment line
was breached about 9:00. Staff worked to build a third containment line, uh,
again working in the wind, and that one was breached as well, and a fourth
containment line ultimately contained a fire. So you can see that containment line
here, and all of these tires that you see over here are tire chips were saved from
the fire. So that part of the liner system was...was saved, and that's a...a good
part of what we've spent the past week on is getting those unburned tires up out of
the cell so that they no longer are a concern for catching on fire and...and
spreading that further. Um, that...this is Dave Elias taking a representative from
the DNR down into to survey things. This is the morning after...no, two days
after the fire. Uh, Andy talked a little bit about the fire sup...suppression
strategies, and I just wanted to show you firsthand how that worked, and this area
here, uh, was an area where they supplied 700 and...or, applied 750 gallons
of...of water with Class A foam mixed with that. It suppressed the fire
temporarily and uh, within a few hours it was back and what you see in...in uh,
the fireman's hand here is a thermal imaging camera and it's difficult to see over
his shoulder here but you can see the hot spots that are...that are back and the
scale is over here, and that's reading at 1,200 degrees. So that area right there that
you're looking at is 1,200 degrees and it had just had 750 gallons of water put on
it,uh,just a short time before that. So that...that puts into perspective trying to...
to deal with this type of fire with...with water. It...it's really not a practical thing
to do, um, and that's why we're in a situation where we have a continued burn
going on for some period of time. Um, but the fire is...is only part of what we're
dealing with out there. We're also feel...dealing with the fire by-products, and
that is the run-off from it,the pyrolytic oils, and if there's any good news in this,
if...if you're going to have a tire fire, or tire chip fire, uh, a landfill cell is a good
place to do it(laughter)because it has that four foot clay liner underneath it. It
has a drainage system built into it. It has a collection system. Uh, so that...that
run-off is going into our leachate collection system and over to our lift station that
pumps it into town to be treated with our regular leachate from the Landfill. Uh,
but what we quickly learned is that this is an oily substance that we really don't
want to pump into town. It's...it's not appropriate for treatment in our waste
water facility and uh, the...the good news there is that it separates from the
regular leachate, kind of like oil and vinegar in a...in a salad dressing. So, as...
we're looking down into the lift station now so we allow that to sit still for a
while, while it separates and then we pump the pyrolytic oils off and we put them
in the leachate lagoon that we have out there. Again, another very handy facility
for this type of thing. It's got the same HDPE liner in it and four feet of clay
underneath that. Now, we were not...it was not possible to keep all of the oils
from going through the lift station. So some oils were getting through the lift
station into our sanitary sewer system, and uh, it...where they pooled, and this is a
good thing, they all pooled at the Napoleon Park lift station wet well. That's a
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place where we...we pump sanitary sewage to lift it up so it can continue on its
way to the south waste water plant and that wet well just created a natural trap for
it there. So we're able to go down and retrieve that, and put it in a truck, and then
bring it back and put it into the lagoon where we want to contain it. So
fortunately(mumbled)that lift station along the way that acts as a natural trap for
it. Let's go back to the fire now. Uh,this is how the fire looked yesterday
morning on day eight, and it looks as if it's burning out. It's looking pretty good.
Uh, but I want to drill down and...and look at...here's a row of tires that are from
that second containment area that I talked about and if you go down and look
more closely, you'll see that there's still some flames on there. And,there's a lot
of...of unspent fuel in there, and that's where the stir, burn and cover strategy
comes from, and yesterday afternoon we, uh, the contractor that we hired from St.
Louis, Missouri,uh, Environmental Restoration came up and started to implement
that...that strategy for us and began to stir those piles, and as soon as those piles
are disturbed,they...they flare up very quick and that's why you're seeing more
smoke out there, uh,the last...uh,yesterday evening and all day today, and in that
first pile that he broke open, the heat release was enough that it cracked a
windshield on the excavator and melted some of the, uh,the uh...insulation
around the window. So that suggested it would have been nicer to wait longer to
implement the strategy, but we...we have a good stretch of weather ahead of us
and we take advantage of that, and uh, so we are stirring, burning and covering
right now. Uh, here's part of the covering, uh, activity as it started last night, uh,
they were working out there, and uh, where the fire has burned down to the point
that we believe that we can cover it without risk of ignition,re-ignition when we
uncover it in a month or two from now. That's when we place the soil on it, and
that's really the tough judgment call that has to be made out there over the next
few days is...is when are we to a point where we can...we can bury that, because
uh...we...we don't want to deal with flare-ups later. It's very possible that we
will, but we want to minimize that to the extent possible. So this is last night
working out there. They worked to about 7:00 and uh, had a north wind so
they're working at the north end. You always need to work with the wind at your
back, uh; today they worked at the south end. Again, stirring, burning and
covering, uh, altogether last night and today they have stirred about two acres and
covered about one acre. So of the seven and a half acres of...of burn area, we're
about a seventh into it, and how fast we ultimately get through that depends on
two things. One is the rate of burn, and second is the weather over the next, uh,
few days. Um...let's see...I think I'll just...just move on to this point and uh,
turn it over to, uh, Doug Beardsley. I'm...I'm sorry; I do want to back up and
cover one thing. In the top of this picture what you can see are regular landfill
operations. So we are able to open up an old landfill cell and continue to accept
garbage from our...our commercial and municipal haulers, and we actually have
two locations functioning out there. So depending on which way the wind's
blowing, it may take smoke over one and we have to move to another. If we have
a bad day where it's covering the scale house, or covering both of these areas,
we've made arrangements with Linn and Iowa counties. So our commercial
haulers will go to Linn County, our municipal haulers will go to Iowa County. So
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that's how we're working on operations. And with that I'll...I'll turn it over to
Doug.
Beardsley: Good evening. Thanks for this opportunity to, uh, to be here. I'll just get right
into it. Uh, when I got the call,um, well, first of all I noticed that and I...I
anticipated...I told my wife I'll probably be getting a phone call with that much
smoke out there. Uh,true to form I got a call,uh, Saturday night from the Chief.
Uh, started doing some research right away cause I knew the two questions that
were going to be asked is what's in the smoke and is it going to affect my health,
or how will it affect health. So,uh, doing a lot of research, uh, having a little bit
of background but really diving in on a very steep learning curve. Reached out to,
uh, our partners to the north in Linn County. They have an air quality program
that they run. It's, uh, federally approved. Uh, have some great resources there.
Uh, asked about messaging. They've had some similar experiences up there with
industrial fires, uh, similar fires—not exactly tire fires—but similar fires,uh, and
through their research, uh, investigations and sampling, uh,we...we discussed
immediate messages that we could get out and that immediate message was,uh,
smoke is a health hazard and you should reduce your exposure to it,to the extent
possible,uh, particularly for vulnerable populations, and we've outlined that in
the messages that have come out. Um...again, uh, reached out also to our
partners at the State Hygienic Lab who are just tremendous in providing, uh,
support, uh, going the extra mile, uh, any hour, day and night,um...I won't get
into all (mumbled) get into that later. Urn, but basically, uh, the message is all
smoke contains a variety of chemicals and particulates. Uh, there's been a lot of
research done on tire fire smoke. Uh, there are...there are carcinogens in it.
There's,uh, irritants in it and uh, particu...particulate matter. The real,uh, crux
is: what dose are you getting? How long is it that you're exposed? Uh, a lot of
things have to be taken into account there. So, uh,but reading through past
experiences,reports, and studies that have been done on other fires, it became
apparent that...all of the conclusions were the primary health concern with fires,
any fires,whether it's forest fire or an oil fire, essentially what this is, is the
particulate matter. That's the issue of most concern, and that causes acuter or...
or short-term problems. Particularly those people who might have respiratory,
you know, underlying or pre-existing respiratory, uh...issues, such as asthma or
COPD, emphysema,those types of things. Uh,people with chronic, uh, heart
disease. Very young, or young children who have developing lungs still and
are...are usually more active, uh, on a ratio to a body weight and...and lung size.
Uh,the elderly, and we also threw in the...threw in! That doesn't sound good!
We also included pregnant women in that, uh, cause there's some very remote
evidence about mutagenic, uh,properties. Urn, the conclusions of the, uh,the
research and health assessments on other large tire fires similar to this, larger
ones,uh, is that the long-term effects really are...are negligible. Again,while the
smoke is bad and those things are...there's, you know,there's bad chemicals in
there, uh, when you take it on the scale of by the time it gets to populated areas,
uh, and you know with shifting winds, and the amount of those chemicals that are
being deposited,uh, you know on the assessment there just hasn't been a
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noticeable increase in risk. There's always risk out there, but uh,just no
evidence, good hard evidence that would point to that there's going to be a long-
term risk, so the message was always turned back to the short-term risks. So
avoid exposure, avoid unnecessary exposure; uh, sheltering in place would be
adequate. Uh, and just taking those extra steps, not being active while the smoke
plume...uh,while you're in the smoke plume. Uh, we consulted again with our
...our partners up in Linn County, uh,we spoke with our air quality experts at the
Department of Natural Resources, uh, we, uh, had the EPA, uh, in with experts
reviewing two things. We were sending them data...we did get some equipment
from Linn County, some hand-held equipment. The Hygienic Lab was out taking
samples, doing, uh, various analysis on that,primarily looking at particulate
matter and our VOCs, volatile organic compounds, which are constituents of any,
uh, combustion. Uh, we were feeding that data to the partners and...and
discussing, here's our health message—is that adequate; here's our sampling
strategy—is that adequate; do you have recommendations? Uh,there was good
concurrence all along the way, uh, when EPA was here we...we shared our...our
data again and...and continued on with the strategy. Urn, our strategy was to try
to catch the plume, go out at various distances, uh, the data that we were able to
collect confirmed the things that we had,uh, discovered through the research that
you know the VOCs and other compounds quickly dissipated as you got distance.
The particulate matter, uh, varied, uh, didn't go on a...you know, it hasn't heard
of the Bell curve. It was kind of up and down, but that's...a lot to do with the
weather, how the wind currents are...are going along. If you watch a smoke
plume sometimes it spreads out this way, other times it's rolling along. So you go
out and you grab samples,you try to do timed, uh, samples, uh, and various
techniques to get the best information, but all of that to supported the messages
we were...were continually wanted to be sure that we had the right message
coming out and those messages held throughout and they will continue to hold
until the operation is done out there. Um...we've also...I do want to mention, uh
we've had some folks from the University of Iowa, Department of Chemical and
Biochemical Engineering, who...we've got some...some actually top, national
experts on air quality here in Iowa City who, um, volunteered to do what they
could to drop some of the work that they were doing and uh, get their graduate
students and uh, staff, uh, so they were out and they were doing a lot of
monitoring with sulfur dioxide, and that's...that's one of the big things that you
smell, urn...and uh,particulate matter. Uh,they reviewed our data and we've
been sharing all that back and forth, uh, they've concurred that the...the
environment, or the health messages, uh, are appropriate,based on what they're
finding, as well. Uh, we should have additional information later on,what we call
PHAs or,uh, I'm going to try to sound intelligent here. I'm going to read it:
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Those are...that's where you'll find your
...your carcinogenic, your cancer-causing chemicals. Those tests take a lot
longer. They've had some ongoing,uh, collection sites for their normal work,uh,
and so they'll be, again, sharing data. Uh, but all of the research, again,the... the
reports,uh,there's quite a few reports out there, uh...of uh, analysis of soil and
plants afterwards that,uh,the level of the PAH in the soil, uh, many times
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was...was below detectable levels or at levels far below any actionable levels to,
uh,to attribute additional lifetime risk. So,that's the good news. I'm not saying
the smoke's good for you! Uh, it's bad; you should avoid it; but urn, it's really
that short-term risk that we're most concerned about. Have been in touch, uh,
pretty much on a daily basis with the hospital ERs and uh,they...none of them
report any,uh, elevated traffic, uh, respiratory or cardiac. Otherwise it seems like
it's, uh, business as usual, so that's good news. Um...also just to...we talk about
particulate matter, uh, and levels. The research really tells us that it really needs
to be at elevated levels for a prolonged period of time. So you're looking at one,
two, or three days, uh, continuous exposure at very high levels, uh, generally
before you start getting a lot of those symptoms, and again,people are
individuals. Some people are going to experience symptoms long before others.
So,that's stirred into the mix too. So that's, uh, what I've got and I assume we're
going to take questions at this point now.
Markus: As...as they're all coming up I wanted to point out Dave Wilson did join us. He's
in the far corner back there. Raise your hand, David, so that everybody can see
who you are. I think the other thing that's important to note is, Andy mentioned a
lot of people in the City operation by name and by position, and what you should
understand is that to keep the operations going in a time like this, when you have
a big part of your operation dedicated, it takes all of those other people that take
on more responsibilities too and they did that, and you should be very proud of
your staff the way they stepped up to this and kept services going.
Beardsley: And I told Rick to remind me to say this. I want to echo what the Chief said
about your incident command structure. Urn, I don't want to say it's been a joy
working on this, but uh, but they have been very efficient. Uh, the cooperation,
uh, even when I've reached out...everybody's been working very well together.
Your incident command structure works very well, and uh, it was a good
experience for me. I can take that back and add that into, uh, our incident
command, should we ever have to use that again in Public Health.
Markus: So we're ready to answer any questions of the Council and...uh, we also have our
Finance Director here in case there's questions about finance issues and that sort
(mumbled)
Hayek: I'm sure there will be questions from the Council. I do want to preface our
questions with, uin...with a collective thank you, uh, from...from the City
Council,uh, regarding the response of, uh, staff, not only at the City but at the
County and...and all other levels of government and the private sector—the
collective response, uh,to this. I think that...that this has been a very transparent
and proactive, urn,handling of...of this, uh, very unfortunate incident. Urn, and
it's clearly been a top priority of those involved. Uh,the City,the County, uh,
everyone else, and...and you've described, uh, around the clock efforts to,that are
ongoing to...to combat this. I...I know through my position that even those who
aren't out there, you know, every minute of the day are still working actively on
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these issues. The...the upper echelons of...of the...of our command structure are
meeting twice a day, seven days a week. There's constant communication, uh, on
this,um, and regular communication to the Council, as well, with updates, and
you know what this comes down to is that this is a...this is a community issue,
and I think the approach thus far has kept the community apprised of the risks of
the progress being made and of the critical issues, and I think that's extremely
important, um, as we deal with...with something that's affecting, uh,the broader
community, not just Iowa City, but...but out into the county, so...I applaud your
efforts, um, and...and we know and expect that they will continue until this is
behind us. So, with that why don't we open this up for questions from the
Council.
Dobyns: I had a question regarding the...I went out there on Thursday; toured the area. It
was remarkable seeing it, um, I think your pictures even captured it even better.
Um, I think the stress and urn, you know,nature of what was going out there for
your staff,um, commending you all. Uh(mumbled)white smoke versus black
smoke. I noticed in some of the pictures there's a different color of the smoke. I
assume the white smoke is a higher combustion. I was wondering, does the color
of the smoke suggest that that, uh, is burning faster? And is it burning safer?
Urn, and is there anything that informs us as to the nature of mitigation efforts?
Fosse: I'll begin by...by talking what happens operationally when you see the different
colors of smoke. Um, over the past week as...as the fire remained undisturbed,
the smoke changed color from...from dark black to the white. Uh, as we do the
stir and burn it turns black again. So once you expose new fuel, rapid
combustion, it...that's when it turns black and you've probably noticed that, both
last night and today. So I'll let Doug talk a little bit about difference of the
content.
Beardsley: Well,that'll be a short answer. I...I don't know for a fact. Uh, the research just
talks about the constituents of tire smoke, so...um...it doesn't talk...I haven't
seen things on the differentiation, and I actually had that same thought too
(mumbled) gee, I wonder if it's better now. My best guess would be that the
black smoke, there's probably more particulate matter, you know, again just not
reflecting light makes it darker, but uh...I haven't seen a quantified table of, you
know,white smoke to black smoke. Stay out of it. If you can smell it.
Dobyns: Is there any way to make, I mean, is there an advantage toward mitigation toward
heating up the combustion? I know when you put more fuel to oxygen mixture I
assume it's a cooler temperature and there's more, urn, materials and particulates
in it, but is there any advantage to attempting to make the fire hotter,to accelerate
the burn, and to...potentially degrade the particulates faster?
Beardsley: Um, a lot of the,um, a lot of the pollutants,toxins,these chemicals are the
product of incomplete combustion. Uh, actually shredded tires are used as fuel in
some, uh, in some generation plants, you know, they extract the oil, but because
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they're burned more efficiently,they meet...they actually meet emission
standards. So, uh, I...would be intuitive to say that yes,the hotter the fire, uh,the
better. I think also for, uh, you know, extended period of time, my
recommendation would be get it over with now...they're going out doing
operations, uh, like was mentioned, take advantage of the favorable weather, get it
done now so maybe it'd...it'd last one week instead of two or three weeks
smoldering. So...
Rocca: Yeah, I'll just respond, Rick, uh, I think when you look at it, some of the
temperatures that we've, uh, recorded out there, the thermal imaging camera had a
surface temperature of about 1200 degrees. The infrared, I believe, was
somewhere around 2000 degrees, and so it's not for lack of temperature, but as
the material burns, it develops kind of a crust and so everything's kind of
contained, and that's where we go back to that stir, uh, burn and cover. Open it
up; break that crust; allow it mix with the oxygen that's available to promote the
combustion process; and...and hence reduce the product that's out there.
Dobyns: Okay.
Payne: One of the biggest...questions that I've heard from many people is how long is
this going to last.
Champion: Right! (laughter)
Payne: Um, I think originally the very first...one of the very first press releases
says...said it was going to last about three days. And then three days later we
said three more days. So you know people are just wondering. Is...is this going
to be three more days or...the end of the month or do we have any idea how long
it's going to last?
Fosse: It'll be more than three days! (laughter) And the...as I said earlier,the...the two
factors that'll determine how far...how long this goes is...is the rate of burn, how
much combustion we need to allow before we bury it, and then secondly,the
weather we get during that time period, because we're working with clays out
there and if we get a rain, that really slows us down. It doesn't seem to put the
fire out, uh, but it does make it difficult to work with the clays. So that's where
we want to work as quick as we can when we have good weather, and as I said,
we completed about one-seventh of it last night and today.
Markus: But...but to be open about all of this discussion,the stir, burn and cover, um,may
take...what,how many, six, seven days to complete, but after you've covered you
still have the...the charring, the burning occurring, potentially, under the cover.
Fosse: Right. We have the potential for flare-ups.
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Markus: Okay, so...so then after that point, after they're done, the contractor's done with
the stir, burn and cover,you still have this, uh, product underneath the clay cover,
still,urn, ignited, still...still, uh,burning to some degree, and that that can cause
some flare-ups. So we're going to have to continue to watch that, and that could
occur until that produ...product is extinguished entirely.
Payne: So that's probably the biggest unknown is how long that'll take, at this point.
Fosse: Yes.
Champion: I'm going to ask a really dumb question. How can...how can it burn under the
ground where there isn't any oxygen? Are you pumping oxygen down there?
Rocca: Well the strategy is of course once we get it covered is to essentially smother it.
Champion: Right!
Rocca: But we don't want to have it...as City Manager pointed out,burning under there
so we want as much of it to turn as it can to, uh, release those...those smoke
products.
Champion: No,my question is, how does it burn?
Rocca: There is still oxygen and air entrained and trapped within pockets. It's not
perfect,urn, even though we're putting that clay cap over it, it's not perfect.
There's still the ability for...for air to be in there, as well it's...it's extremely hot
and so it will take a period of time anyway before the oxygen is removed and it
ultimately is smothered. It just takes time. So there is going to be air trapped in
there, allowing it to continue to burn for a while.
Throgmorton: Andy, I think you've, uh, answered the first question I have,uh, which appeared
actually in the newspaper this morning. An Iowa City resident said, well, why not
just you know cover it with dirt? It's an obvious solution,right,but uh, it seems
like that really is not viable because of the heat, uh, and the material would keep
burning and it would...there'd be the risk of flaring up and so on, after
the...things were covered, and it's probably dangerous to try to cover it initially
anyhow, but...
Rocca: That...that's correct. We don't want a lot of, uh, unburned material there to
smolder for weeks if not months on end. And so, again,the recommended
strategy of...of stirring and burning and covering seems to be the best practice.
Uh, it's been tried by our contractor in a number of places,uh, and he believes in
it, and...and I believe his estimate was back to Michelle's question, I think he
estimated seven full, 12-hour days, um, to really turn the corner on it. Uh, now
again,that's all dependent on weather conditions. So we'll see how that plays.
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Throgmorton: My second question really would be directed toward Doug. I think, Doug, you...
you described the air pollutant aspect of this pretty clearly and accurately, as best
I can tell,uh, but it's not clear to me, uh, where the air monitoring equipment is
located, cause so much depends on air...wind speed, wind direction,vertical
dispersion and distance of the population away from the source of the...of the
pollutant, so...I,where are the monitors located? Is there one...for example, is
there one near Irving Weber School?
Beardsley: Um,the...the monitoring that we did was all on, uh,very portable hand-held
equipment. Uh, the State Hygienic Lab has what they call these "suma canisters,"
and I don't know what"suma" stands for,but it...but it,uh,pulls in air so you...
so you take it out to where you want to grab the sample from. So these were grab
samples. These weren't, uh,pieces of equipment that are out and parked there on
a monitoring basis, uh, around the clock. So the strategy was, looking at the
models that were provided of...of where the, uh,plume was going to blow that
day,uh, and uh, and the concentration of contaminants, we would
deploy...deploy! Someone would go out there, open the top on it, it would suck
in the air,they'd take it back to the lab and analyze it. So we just tried to do that
at various points...
Throgmorton: So instantaneous samples, right? Not like...not like 24-hour samples, but...
Beardsley: Correct,because you know 24-hour samples actually are preferred when you're
talking about full health risk. If we'd had,uh, 24...if we'd had monitors out there
taking a 24-hour sample and you average it, we would have got,uh...we would
have got results that the, you know, that actually lowered, you know, cause you're
going to...cause the wind changes and so then you're going to get fresh air, so
and that's how risk is assessed. It's by total dosage over time. So we're actually
grabbing samples kind of in a worst-case scenario, acting on that,you know,
being very conservative on that,to be sure that, uh, health was protected. Uh, in
addition to that,we uh...Linn County,uh, lent us some other hand-held
equipment so we could get instantaneous particulate matter readings. Also CO
and CO2 and total VOCs. Uh, so we had, uh, staff going out and grabbing those
samples, and yes, we did one at Weber School. We...we talked early on. I
called, uh, I can't remember if it was Saturday night or if it was Sunday,but early
on with the Superintendent. We were trying to think ahead of,uh, you know,the
...those, particularly those special populations that might be affected, uh, and they
did ask us to go out there and do some sampling and we did. Did that answer
that?
Dickens: Rick, uh, you mentioned the oil being taken to the lagoon. What happens to it
once it gets to the lagoon? Is it usable in any sense or is it just recycled
or...dissipate or...
Fosse: That's what we're trying to determine right now, uin...our first priority is to get it
off site, and...and to do that on a quick basis, we're working with a company
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called Clean Harbors, and they are trucking it to a facility, an incinerator that's
actually on the far side of Nebraska. So this stuff is going,uh, a long ways away.
In the meantime, we're looking for other opportunities to see if there's anybody
that...that could recycle this in one way or another, uh, and....and probably do so
at a lower cost than how we're getting rid of it right now, but our priority is...is
safety as...as Andy mentioned and our priority is getting that off site.
Dickens: And the other question is the number's been thrown around, $5 million, is that
coming out of the fund balance or insurance or...where's the money coming
from?
Markus: We have, urn...put our insurance company on notice and uh,they are obviously
researching, uh, our policies, and they've uh, had an investigator out to the site.
Um, I think it's, uh, fair to say that, uh, I would like to have them respond to the
claim, uh, without a whole lot of discussion about how we particularly feel about
the claim; let...let them respond to it, and then we'll go from there.
Champion: You know they keep throwing that money out, $5 or 6 million, whatever it is, but
it's really going to cost a lot more than that. You're going to have to redo that
cell, aren't you? Well what do you do with that or end it or build a new cell or
it's going to be a lot more than that.
Fosse: Well that...that estimate of...of$4 to 6 million is...is a rough estimate at this time
and what it's based on is...is the cost of rebuilding that cell...
Champion: Oh!
Fosse: ...plus an unknown cost of how much of that clay liner are we going to need to
take out and dispose of, because very likely the pyrolytic oils have...have
penetrated into the clay liner. Uh, Dave Elias has been out and poked around in
there. Interestingly the top is...is virtually turned to brick because the clay has
been baked by the heat of the fire and that's...an interesting thing.
Hayek: But we...we don't know, uh, and won't for some time the true...the true cost of
this event.
Champion: Right.
Hayek: Urn, I mean obviously that's secondary to...to the safety and...and
extinguishment objectives, but...but the costs will be considerable and...and it
will have a budgetary impact.
Markus: And I can tell you that just the contractors we've hired, urn, you know, we
...Legal went through the contracts over the weekend. We signed off on the
contracts and you know there're...there are some very expensive operations going
on out there right now that...that are going to add to this cost. Urn,just to get us
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to the point where we get this completed and we can open up the opportunity to
rebuild this cell, uh, for future use.
Hayek: Okay. (several talking)
Dobyns: ...ask him a question?
Hayek: Sure, sure!
Dobyns: Doug,just a comment. Um...the,just because some people can't see the smoke, I
assume there's still a possibility of a particulate, uh, exposure risk. Urn, if the
plume has all of a sudden dissipated, I assume that's chemical. You...you can't
assume that just because the plume isn't around you that you don't have a health
hazard, I mean, a lot of people...kind of drive around the plume and go, okay!
I'm not even close to it; I don't see it; I'm fine. Can you comment on proximity
to the plume and safety? Um...
Beardsley: Well, the closer you are...I mean, it's just kind of a...it'll be geometric, so the
closer you are to the plume, the more at-risk you might be. Now if you're...if
you're...you talking about if you're up-wind or if the plume's...
Dobyns: Well,no I'm just saying if you can't see the smoke, I mean, is the particulate
matter necessarily visible? I mean...
Beardsley: No. No. You're not going to be able to see particulate matter. Particulate matter
is monitored. We do...there is one, uh, continuous monitor in Iowa City, uh, at
Hoover School. It's part of the DNR's uh...monitoring of the state for
compliance with, uh, EPA standards. Um, so particulate matter is out there. It
can be...and it's not always, you know, generated by combustion. It could be
a...dust, I mean, there's a...there's a number of factors that affect that. Urn, so
right,just because you don't see the plume doesn't mean you're in it, but...but
this is...this is what we'd call a point source so there's particulate matter coming
out of here. If you're up-wind, you're...you're out of the plume. With the smoke
being lighter there's still things coming out of there. Uh, and it's likely, you
know, if you can smell it, you're in the plume cause those sulfur dioxides and uh,
other agents, you're going to be able to smell for...for a while. But I would
anticipate that, you know, as they get it covered and we reduce it,that...that, uh,
that risk is going down. We have, uh, suspended daily, going out and sampling as
of now. Uh, for the...for the fact that we're not learning anything that we didn't
already know, that if you're in the plume,there...there's particulate matter there,
etc., so we haven't been really...we haven't changed our message based on the
levels. The safest is...you know, if it's overhead reduce activity, shelter in place,
particularly if you're in one of those vulnerable categories. Um, shifting wind is
good. I know it drive...probably drives firefighters crazy but in terms of, you
know, spreading it out and diluting the plume from a health risk,that's actually
favorable.
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Dobyns: The solution is always dilution!
Beardsley: That's...you've heard that saying!
Hayek: Okay. Gentlemen, thank you! (several talking) Thank you and...and uh, we'll
look forward to continued updates on this. Now, um, I want to...give an
opportunity. If there are members of the audience who want to comment to us on
this, uh, item on the agenda, I want to provide for that opportunity. We're not set
up...this wasn't, uh,this evening's not a forum. It's not an opportunity for Q&A.
We just don't really have the set-up for it and we've got a huge agenda be...
before us. The public is, uh, being provided with information as was indicated
earlier on a constant basis and if people have questions that they're not getting
answers for, we encourage you to contact City Hall, uh, go to the...go to the web
site, um, call the central number. There's a lot of information out there for you,
and there are people who can answer your questions, but having said that, if
there's anyone who wants to make a comment, uh,to the Council on this agenda
item consistent with how we handle other agenda items, I want to make that
opportunity a...available. Okay! So, we will move on then to Item 4 which is
consider adoption of the Consent Calendar as presented or amended.
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ITEM 5. COMMUNITY COMMENT (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA).
Hayek: This is the time at each City Council meeting when we, uh,provide an
opportunity for the public to speak to the Council on items that are not on the
agenda. Uh, so if there's something that you'd like to bring to our attention we
invite you to form a que and...and sign in, and also give us your name, um...I
think given that we're getting a pretty late start—we've already had an hour delay
—and there appear to be a number of people, I would ask that you try to keep your
comments to three minutes and also if you're all here speaking on similar issues
to try to not go over similar information. So, with that let's proceed!
Dotzel: Robert Dotzel, Iowa City. Um, I'm a pastor at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church and
Lutheran Campus Ministry. Uh, Mr. Mayor and City Council, I...tonight I
represent the Consultation of Religious Communities, an organization made up of
approximately 35 faith communities,uh,that cooperate together for peace and
justice and service to our neighbors. Uh, we come today with a resolution
regarding the safety and status of immigrants in our community, and we want to
thank you for your previous actions on this issue, and uh, and also for this
opportunity to address you with some further concerns. Um...together we
espouse a moral imperative. We believe that the essence of our common
humanity is to offer compassion to others, the same compassion that we hope to
receive ourselves. Immigrants in Iowa City deserve our compassion and our
hospitality. They are guests and friends and neighbors with all of us here, as is
true for each of us. We believe the creator has endowed them with inalienable
rights that command respect and that should not be contravened by human
legislation. Therefore,the CRC declares its solidarity with all immigrants,
authorized or unauthorized, in the present circumstances in which they are
threatened by federal actions. So the CRC is, uh, calling on the Iowa City
Council to approve swiftly some following resolutions, in addition to carrying out
its prior commitments to our immigrant neighbors. Thank you.
Detweiler: Karla Stoltzfus Detweiler of Iowa City, Pastor of First Mennonite Church.
Because American democracy requires local municipalities to comply with state
and federal laws and regulations, and yet simultaneously expects federal and state
authorities to respond effectively to the stresses experienced within these
jurisdictions, and the Iowa City Council previously has taken bold moral stands
on such issues as the transportation of nuclear weapons and the equal treatment of
persons of diverse cultures, races, and sexual orientations without fear of
retribution or criticism. And, Iowa City treasures its ethnic diversity and is
culturally and economically enriched by all immigrants residing therein.
Massey: Sam Massey, Pastor of First Presbyterian Church here in Iowa City. Continuing
behind my colleague here, and beginning with a personal observation that you
have done (mumbled)job with all of us are facing another fire, a slow moving,
human and moral disaster. The destruction of people and not just garbage. This
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is because of the federal secure communities initiative requiring local
municipalities, such as Iowa City,to participate in an oppressive policy. That has
severe consequences for relationships between cities and their immigrant
residents. And while it is clearly the responsibility of Iowa City Council to
comply with federal legislation,human decency and morality compel Council not
to support those state and federal initiatives discretionary to Council. The tend to
yield immoral or unjust consequences for our immigrant neighbors, and we are
convicted that the motto on that flag that asserts our liberties we prize and our
liberties we will maintain, is an important to Iowa City and her people as the air
we breathe and the water we drink.
Irund"Sergio"A-Wan: Sergio with,uh, Immigrant Voice Project, Iowa City. Now therefore,
CRC requests that Iowa City Council to implement the following resolutions.
Address the communication to the President of the United States and relevant
U.S. Senators and Representatives for(mumbled) security community
(mumbled). And calling up on our national executive and legislative branches of
government to reform immigration law. So that it reflects the ethics of a nation
built on the effort of immigrants and honors the contribution of authorized and
unauthorized immigrants to our national fabric. Thank you.
Shams Ghoneom: (mumbled) I am a(mumbled)mosque executive committee, coordinator of
(mumbled) Publish and post instructions in diverse languages, directing City
employees not to seek information regarding immigrant status except as explicitly
mandated by state or federal law; subpoena or criminal activities apart from
immigration status. Instruct City employees, follow city, state, and federal legal
mandates with a spirit of hospitality toward all who seek access to City services.
And to publish and post instructions in diverse languages for City employees to
request no immigration status documentation except when state or federal law or
program guidelines clearly obligate proof of such status prior to service position.
Thank you.
Whiston: Dorothy Whiston, Pastor of First Baptist Church in Iowa City. Publish and post
instructions in diverse languages for City employees to allow forms of personal
photo identification other than a U.S. issued driver's license or Social Security
number, except as required to support I-9 forms. Instruct all City employees to
exert every effort to make Iowa City a safe, hospitable, and friendly community
for all persons, regardless of citizenship status.
Juarez: Father Rudolph Juarez, Pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church here in Iowa City.
We'd like to ask the...direct...that the Council direct the City Attorney to work
with the Iowa City Human Rights Commission to prepare guidelines, regulations,
codes, statutes, and municipal laws to be reviewed by Council to guide all City
employees in fulfillment of the above resolutions. This,uh, process,uh, we have
been following in terms of the dialogue that we have,uh, begun...well actually
we...we've been in this for about two years now, in talking about...it started with
the motive of the...of declaring Iowa City as a `sanctuary city.' Um,but has
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moved beyond that from the standpoint of,uh, soliciting input from immigrant,
the immigrant community, and how we can better improve, uh, Iowa City and
how Iowa City can be more welcoming to all of its citizens and residents,
regardless of immigration status. Out of that, uh, came the immig...Immigrant
Voices Project, which has been,uh, a coalition of religious communities and
community organizers, as well as labor, as well as University people, and we've
done over 200 interviews,uh, in the immigrant community,uh, asking such
questions regarding housing, work conditions, uh,transportation, education, law
enforcement, and just generally the quality of life concerns. And after almost two
years of dialog as a...as I said, I think the time for action has come,uh, and I
think one of the things that I would like to say to you this evening is that, and
maybe it's a challenge, is that we concentrate not, well,not so much about that
which we cannot do,but rather that we concentrate on what we can do, and one of
the things that we can do is to, uh, implement and...pass and implement the
resolution which we proposed to you this evening. And thank you very much!
K.T. Labadie: Hi, K.T.Labadie, I'm a resident of Iowa City. This is any public comment that's
not on the agenda? Correct? Okay. I'm going to switch gears then and talk about
everyone's favorite topic, which is backyard chicken keeping. Urn, and I just
...I'm here today representing I-CLBCK which is, urn, Iowa City Citizens for the
Legalization of Backyard Chicken Keeping, and I just wanted to give you guys an
update. I know we've sent some documents over before just talking about some
public meetings that we've been having and I just wanted to let you know, uh,
we're still collecting our petition forms back, but at this point we have between
800 and 1,000. Remember last time when the Council was considering chickens,
there were about 500 signatures presented. So we're hoping, you know,um, our
efforts really getting out there; being at the Farmers Markets, um, having tables at
different community events that we've really been able to capture the opinion of a
lot of residents here in Iowa City and their ideas about backyard chicken keeping.
Urn, and I just wanted to, you know, read off a few cities, urn, here in Iowa—
Ames, Iowa; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Des Moines, Iowa; Hills and Clive, Iowa—they
all allow for backyard chicken keeping. In Hills recently, actually I would say
within the past 30 to 40 days, they legalized it. So, um...you know, our vision
would be to have kind of a chicken-friendly corridor, so to say, urn, along, urn,
along the Iowa River, so um, we hope that you guys share in that vision with us.
Urn, I brought some documents. I...can I leave this with you, City Clerk? Okay.
Urn,this is a frequently asked questions that we put together. It's really
informative. It talks about a lot of questions that you guys have expressed that
we've seen, urn, in the Press-Citizen, as well as talking to some citizens here in
Iowa City,to really talk about, urn,you know,what are your concerns. Well,here
are our options and here are the solutions that we have. Urn, and then I also want
to point out on the bottom of this sheet,um, we have a link to our Facebook
group, and then also to my web site, urbanchickens.org and you can contact me
through that web site. I'm happy to answer any questions or,you know if you'd
like to talk over the phone about chickens, um, I'd be happy to do so. And just
one last comment, urn, a lot of us are really interested in helping to shape this
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ordinance and I know that there's a draft ordinance that does exist,but we are
interested in maybe having a focus group, um, you know,with some City staff to
talk about what would be in this ordinance, if that's something that you guys want
to, um, go ahead and consider, and that we could help in assisting with shaping
that language, or at least, urn,having a period for public comment on that to give
some input. Be great! Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you.
Karr: Motion to accept correspondence.
Mims: So moved.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Payne. Discussion? Those in favor say aye. Let's
do that again! All those in favor say aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries 7-0.
Karr: Mr. Mayor, if I may. If everyone who has spoken please be sure that we have
your name and contact information so that if we do have questions that we can
contact you.
Hayek: Yep! Okay, would anyone else like to address the Council during community
comment time? Okay! Charlie!
Eastham: Sorry, Mr. Mayor, I...one thing I want to add to the previous...
Hayek: Why don't you give us your name (both talking)we know who you are...
Eastham: I'm sorry, I'm Charlie Eastham. I'm sorry! Charlie Eastham, uh...and I just
wanted to make a couple, uh, actually invite the Council to attend a community
forum on"Trauma and the Human Side of Racial Disparity,"which is being
sponsored by the Coalition for, uh, Racial Justice and the Johnson County, uh,
Social Services Office. The forum's going to be held on June 14th from 9:00 to
4:00 at First Baptist Church and then there're evening activities from 6:00 to 8:30
at The Spot. Urn,the purpose of the forum is to give people in Iowa City,
hopefully every Council Member, a chance to listen to the national known, uh,
presentations as on this issue, which is, again, looking at the effects of trauma and
the human side of racial disparities, uh, from a more holistic aspect, as well as to,
um, have a chance to, uh, listen to various local focus groups which are going to
be talking about specic...specific issues in Iowa City. Urn,the Coalition for
Racial Justice has put a lot of time into,uh, organizing this form...forum, and we
hope that,uh, Council...some Council Members will take the chance to attend,
uh, all or part of the day's activities. Thank you very much.
Payne: Charlie, I missed you saying the date and where.
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Eastham: I'm sorry, Michelle. Uh, June 14th which is actually, uh, a week from Thursday, I
think, from 9:00 to 4:00 at First Baptist Church, okay?
Payne: Thank you.
Eastham: Thank you very much.
Hayek: Thanks, Charlie. Okay, let's move on to Item 6, Planning and Zoning matters.
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ITEM 6. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS.
a) CONSIDER A MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR
JUNE 19 ON AN ORDINANCE VACATING AIR RIGHTS WITHIN
THE PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY LOCATED ADJACENT TO THE
PROPERTY AT 114 SOUTH DUBUQUE STREET,IOWA CITY,
IOWA. (VAC12-00003)
Mims: Move to set the public hearing.
Dickens: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Dickens. Discussion? I continue to have my
reservations about the underlying issue but I support setting the public hearing.
Throgmorton: Yeah, me too!
Hayek: All those in favor say aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 6c REZONING APPROXIMATELY 1.3 ACRES OF LAND LOCATED
SOUTH OF HARRISON STREET BETWEEN CLINTON AND DUBUQUE
STREETS FROM PUBLIC (P-1) TO INSTITUTIONAL
PUBLIC/CENTRAL BUSINESS SERVICE (P-2/CB-2). (REZ12-00007)
[Discussion only at formal meeting]
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Hayek: This is a public hearing. Public hearing is open. (bangs gavel) Before I progress,
uh, any ex parte communications to disclose?
Mims: No.
Hayek: Okay. Mr. Davidson!
Davidson: Good evening, Mr. Mayor, and Members of the City Council. I'm Jeff Davidson,
the Director of Planning and Community Development. Uh,the, uh, Item 6c on
your agenda is a request from the University of Iowa for a rezoning from Public
(P)to CB-2, Central Business District 2. The purpose is to allow the,uh,
property,um,to be developed for commercial uses. The location is the Sabin
School site, um, south of Harrison Street,between Clinton and Dubuque Streets.
Uh, you can see from the, uh, the drawing here,uh, where it's located. And the
size of the parcel, it's approximately 1.3 acres. Here's an aerial view, and you
can see that it consists of a, uh,parking lot that formerly served the school. Here
is the school property which most recently has been the, uh, offices of the School
District, and then there's an additional property right here. You can see there's a
little cut out where there's a privately held house right here. Uin...the
uh...excuse me as I get used to my paperless system here (laughter). Uh,the,
urn...the request as I mentioned is to rezone to CB-2 from P. Basically the
property has been purchased by the University of Iowa for the purpose of working
out an arrangement with Midwest One Bank for the relocation of their, uh, drive-
up banking facilities,uh, which have been located on a...one of the two properties
that the University is in the process of acquiring for the Voxman Clapp Music
School project. So that is what we are trying to facilitate here is the establishment
of uses on at least a temporary basis,uh, for Midwest One to move their drive-in
banking down, uh,to this location. Uh,because the property will go from a
public use to a private use, it does have to be rezoned to something and it's been
determined that for the purposes that, uh, Midwest One intends to use the property
for, a...a drive-up bank, at least initially, uh,that uh, the CB-2 zone is the best of
our existing zoning classifications for that. We are in the process, as you know,
of developing a mixed-use zone for the Riverfront Crossings area. That's in
development right now. In fact we've gotten a draft of the zone, uh,just last
week from the consultant that's preparing that and we'll be considering that.
Timing wise though we are recommending that you go ahead with this action to
accommodate Midwest One, knowing that in the...in the long-term future it may
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go to the new zoning classification, but for the time being,uh, it basically allows
what Midwest One wants to do. Midwest One has also obtained actually two, uh,
Board of Adjustment actions for drive-up banking. Uh, one for this existing use,
uh, not existing, but the planned use. Uh,the University has been renovating the
Sabin School for the purposes of putting the drive-in banking facility in here.
Um,they also went ahead and got a special exception for the...a...a,the
possibility of a longer-term new building, uh, that they are considering, uh,
what...one of several options that they're considering, but they went ahead and
got both actions from the Board of Adjustment, uh,to accommodate that.
Um...see if there was anything else I was going to mention...uh, everything is
consistent with the,uh, the Comprehensive Plan,Near Southside Plan, and... and
the Riverfront Crossings initiatives. Obviously what we're working towards,uh,
in the long-term is establishment of a new building that would be consistent with
our plan for,uh, especially in the area directly south of downtown,there being
these types of uses and employment types...type uses that, uh, would be located
in this area. Um, in terms of...there was a question raised, uh, at the last City
Council meeting about Sabin School. There are no plans at the present time for
the demolition of...of the school. Quite to the contrary. There's investment
being made in the school, uh, for the Midwest One to use it. Uh, in the long-term,
urn, unknown what will happen to the building. We would love to see an adaptive
reuse project that would be consistent with, uh, the...the Near Southside Plan;
however,there is the possibility, and depending on if it's in private ownership or
public ownership might involve an action of the Historic Preservation
Commission, or if it ends up still being owned by the University, by the Board of
Regents. There at least would be some public, uh, action that would be necessary
to...to, uh, enable a demolition of the building. So, we are recommending, uh,the
rezoning from P to CB-2 in order to accommodate the proposed use. Are there
any questions?
Payne: I have a question. If...let's say Midwest One Bank decides not to use this facility.
And it's rezoned CB-2. What other uses could be put there at CB-2, or if
something else came in are we going to be asked to rezone...asked to rezone it
again?
Davidson: Um,there's always that possibility. Um, the University has indicated to me they
are making a substantial investment in this building in order to renovate it for
Midwest One's purposes, uh, and there is a University representative here tonight
if you'd like that to be further clarified, but uh,that investment is taking place and
so I think there's some assurance that it is going to be used by Midwest One.
Yeah,the CB-2 zone is the Central Business support zone, uh, enables basically I
think height limitation of a four-story building, an FAR of 2, urn, so you know,
it's that...it's that type of use that would be permitted for anyone if Midwest One
did not, uh, occupy the site.
Payne: Thank you.
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Champion: But we also think in the future the whole zoning of that whole area's going to
change so...
Davidson: Yeah, the...the, it's likely, Connie,that the mixed-use zone that we contemplate
would allow an even possibly taller story building, and...and most significantly a
mixed-use building.
Champion: Right. So we'll probably be changing the zoning again anyway.
Davidson: I think that's a possibility. Any other questions for me before you continue your
hearing? Thank you!
Hayek: Anyone else from the audience during the public hearing?
Black: Hi, folks,my name is Dan Black. I'm, uh, Director of Facilities for Midwest One
Bank. Uh, Jeff's done a fine job of kind of laying out the whole,uh,process here
that we've gone through, but urn, we are very, very close to entering into a lease
with the University to lease the facility,uh, we hope even maybe yet this week we
might have a signed document. So I think it's fair to say that we're going! Urn,
we'll be leaving the location there at 325 S. Clinton and...and going to the School
District building on at least an interim basis, until we can kind of,um, look at all
our options and uh, see what we can do on a permanent basis,but urn, I don't
think there's any doubt that we won't, uh, make the move there. So, and I'm
really here to answer any questions that you might have. David Geff, uh, from the
University is...is also here to...to answer any questions you might have.
Hayek: Thanks, Dan.
Throgmorton: I...I guess I'd just like to emphasize a point Jeff alluded to a minute ago. Uh, in
the longer term though you know it's off in the future,urn, it...it would really be
sad to see the building come down, uh, so the more you can be thinking about
adaptive reuse over time, uh, and making other adjustments to...around it, that
would be great. Just hate to see the building come down!
Black: Well,we, you know,we appreciate your comments and your thoughts. Urn, we'll
look at...at really every option that we might have, whether new construction
or...or renovating...renovation's a tough, uh,process sometimes with an older
building. We face it downtown too. We're looking at options downtown and
we'll probably be renovating down there,but it's, urn, we'll look at those options
but you know the truth is we just haven't got there yet. Um, we haven't gotten
that far in this process so...thank you!
Hayek: Anyone else during the public hearing portion here? Okay. I will close it at this
time. (bangs gavel)
b. CONSIDER AN ORDINANCE (FIRST CONSIDERATION)
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Dobyns: Move first consideration.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Dobyns, seconded by Payne. Discussion among Council?
Dobyns: This is a remarkable collaboration between the University,the City, and private
business. Urn, it's just...remarkable and wonderful to hear, so...
Champion: (mumbled)
Dobyns: Yeah, it's just everybody's going (mumbled)
Throgmorton: It's a symphonic composition! (laughter)
Hayek: I think we should be clear though that in terms of the historic structure there, you
know,there are no guarantees. There are no protections in place. Uh,with
respect to the future of that, what I would consider a beautiful building, um...we
...we need to be cognizant of that, but...appropo your comments,uh, Rick, I
mean,this is...this is part of a multi-stepped, urn...shifting, uh,between major
downtown institutions,the private sector,the University, um, and...and School
District, and to some extent us that are going to be a major catalyst for the area
south of Burlington.
Dobyns: It's moving along quickly! Urn,which(mumbled)
Throgmorton: Matt,just as we can acknowledge the value of what's being done, and I think we
all see it and value it considerably,we can also...we have...the opportunity to be
clear that as a city council how much we value that building, and uh, its...its
historic, um, residence within the city. Its connection with...a couple other
buildings that were built at the same moment, I think designed by the same
architect, and these things matter, you know, we...we can state that that's true.
Hayek: Yeah, I don't disagree. Okay, further discussion? Roll call,please. (laughter)
First consideration passes 7-0.
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ITEM 6e CONSIDER SENDING A LETTER TO THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD
OF ADJUSTMENT RECOMMENDING APPROVAL OF A
CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT FOR A TEMPORARY,PORTABLE
CONCRETE BATCH PLANT TO BE LOCATED AT 5085 HERBERT
HOOVER HIGHWAY NE,JOHNSON COUNTY. (CU12-00001)
Mims: Move to send the letter.
Throgmorton: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Throgmorton. Discussion? This has to do,uh, are
you going to tell us about this?
Davidson: Uh, I certainly can. If you'd like. Here's the site, uh...(laughter and several
talking). I think most of you know where...I guess that's the only thing we have
in here. Um,there's the site,uh, adjacent to Sharpless Auctions. This is in
conjunction with the, uh, six-laning of Interstate 80 project. They're required
within I think 180 days to put the site back to its existing condition when they're
done...has a three-year limitation. It won't take that long. If...if you were to
disagree with what they're proposing to do, I think it requires a super majority of,
uh,the Board,but...any other questions?
Hayek: No. Thanks, Jeff! Any,uh, discussion among Council? All those in favor say
aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries 7-0. We'll send the letter.
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ITEM 6f CONSIDER A RESOLUTION DETERMINING THE NEED FOR STREET
ACCESS ACROSS PROPERTY OWNED BY NCS PEARSON,INC AT
2510 NORTH DODGE STREET TO PROVIDE FOR THE ORDERLY
GROWTH OF THE CITY TO THE WEST.
Mims: Move the resolution.
Champion: Second.
Dickens: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Dickens. Discussion?
Davidson: Uh, Mr. Mayor, I did want to just apprise you that we do have representatives
from R&R Equity Partners here, Mr. Moss's representatives for the project; if you
have any questions for them, uh, I'm sure they'd be happy to...to answer any of
the questions about any of the imperative of....of moving forward.
Hayek: Thanks, Jeff! Uh, discussion among Council?
Champion: Well I don't really have any questions. I guess it's obvious to me that this land
can't...nothing can happen to it unless there's some access to it, so I just hope
(mumbled) on what works for everybody.
Mims: Well...
Markus: You might want to ask them to come forward and confirm that there are serious
development possibilities...
Champion: Sure!
Markus: ...for this property.
Hayek: Folks made the trip to Iowa City; I'd, uh,hate to deny you the opportunity to
speak! (laughter)
Gage: Great, thank you, Mr. Mayor and City Council Members. Uh, Steve Gage with
R&R Realty Group, 1225 Jordan Creek Parkway in West Des Moines. I'm here
with my colleague Brett Bosworth. I think you had a letter from Brett that you
considered at your earlier workshop. We're very excited to get in this corridor
over here. Um, we think it's a great corridor to develop an office park. We love
the Moss Green office site. We do have a couple of, uh, very live prospects. I
think the one concern that we would have is the timing of this. I looked back
through my notes; I think we had our first real meaningful discussion with
Pearson on August 12th of 2011 and uh, you know the dates that these reports
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have been submitted, urn...I guess we would encourage you to...to have, urn,
have some kind of a deadline on the party's negotiations because if we're not... if
we can't come to an agreement with `em, I would say within the next 30 days, we
have to start looking at other alternative sites because we have one customer who
says I need a building. So we have to figure out how do we get them in by
November of 2013 in a new building. So we really need to get started this fall
and so um...um, this is the preferred location, urn, we think that,uh,this would
make a great office park, but we're really starting to get concerned on timing.
Urn this report that they've had that, you know, your staff commented on, I mean,
I think it's resolved all the issues. It's a win-win for everybody. Urn, you know,
the letter that's referenced in the article from their attorney says they'll get back to
us the end of July or early August. That's just not going to work for this prospect.
Um, so to the extent that you guys could encourage the parties to try to resolve
this in the next 30 days, and if we're not able to resolve it,um,to intervene to the
extent you're willing to do that,that's what we really need you to do.
Hayek: Okay. Thanks for that input.
Mims: Well I would just, I mean, I think we got a good report from staff at the work
session and I kind of said my peace then,but I'll just you know say in this formal
meeting that I...would strongly encourage all the parties to work as expeditiously
as possible to come to an agreement on this. I think we have an opportunity to
bring in some, you know, good office space and increase the number of jobs in
the community. It fits in with our Comprehensive Plan and uh, some of the
prospects from..I had a conversation, lengthy conversation with Steve Moss over
the weekend. Um, you know,not only businesses that are already here in town,
but businesses that, uh, R&R is looking to bring to town that would...would add a
lot of jobs, a lot of good jobs, to this community and um, it's, you know, it's...as
the Comp Plan says you know exit off the interstate; the visibility; it's just one of
the great locations in town and urn, I would hate to see us lose those...those
opportunities with some really good, uh, businesses and some really good jobs,
urn, because people couldn't find it to sit down and...and you know work
cooperatively on something that, again, looking at that...the site plan, earlier,to
me certainly appears to be a win-win for everybody, and I think it would really
help Pearson in terms of getting their, uh, staff in and out of their parking lots,
both headed north on Highway 1 and south in towards town, um...so I, you know,
we're getting into that...into the construction season and they don't have a long
window here. If they're trying to get somebody in by November of 13, and uh,
I...I know from talking with Council Members, we'll do what we can. We're...
there's certain limitations,but we'll try and help you in any way we can.
Hayek: I think...I think it's a fair statement that staff appreciates the underlying issues,
uh, not only in terms of timing but everything else, um...recognizes the public
objective to be served by, you know,proper and deliberate planning for the
orderly growth of the community up in that neck of the woods, um...and uh,
and...and we'll handle this adeptly and the action we'll take tonight will trigger
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this agreement dating back to the mid-1980s to...to sit down with everybody
involved. So...okay any further discussion? Roll call,please. Item passes 7-0.
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ITEM 7. CONVEYANCE OF UTILITY EASEMENTS ON AND OVER PORTIONS
OF 1807 AND 2001 LOWER MUSCATINE ROAD.
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Payne: I need to recuse myself from this one, Mr. Mayor.
Hayek: Okay. This is a public hearing. (bangs gavel) Public hearing is open. This has
to do with, uh, utility and other easements in connection with the Lower
Muscatine Road reconstruction project. Is there anyone who would like to
address the Council on this? Okay. I will close the public hearing at this time.
(bangs gavel)
b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION
Mims: Move the resolution.
Dickens: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Dickens. Discussion? Roll call,please. Item
passes 6-0, Council Member Payne abstaining. How's everybody doing? Keep
going here? (several talking)
Throgmorton: ...take a break sometime here fairly soon.
Hayek: Okay. Uh,why don't we...let's do this item and then take a break.
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ITEM 8. CONVEYANCE OF A SINGLE FAMILY HOME LOCATED AT 332
SOUTH GOVERNOR STREET.
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Hayek: This has to do with the UniverCity Neighborhood Partnership Program. This is a
public hearing. (bangs gavel) Public hearing is open.
Gander: Hello,my name's, uh, Philip Gander and uh, we're planning on buying the home
at 332 S. Governor and uh, I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank the City
for having this fantastic program and helping my family, uh,to have our
opportunity to own our first home and I really wanted to thank Steve Long and
the other people that have...we've had contact with in the program. They've just
been fantastic. So, yeah, thank you!
Hayek: (several talking) ...bring your family with you? (several talking and laughing)
Dickens: Great to see a face with the houses (mumbled) get to see so...
Markus: Congratulations! (several talking)
Hayek: Thank you for your comments. Anyone else? Okay, I'll close the public hearing.
(bangs gavel)
b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION
Mims: Move the resolution.
Dobyns: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Dobyns. Discussion? I just wanted to also
congratulate you and it's exciting to see a nice looking young family take over
one of these properties! That's exactly what we intended!
Throgmorton: We should follow Connie's motto and vote"I definitely" (laughter)
Hayek: Exactly! (laughter) Further discussion? Roll call, please. (several talking) Item
passes 7-0. Okay, let's, uh, take a short break and come back in about five
minutes.
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ITEM 9. CONVEYANCE OF A SINGLE FAMILY HOME LOCATED AT 928
LONGFELLOW COURT.
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Hayek: Okay, we'll reconvene the meeting here. We left off at Item 8 and so we'll start
with Item 9, which is conveyance of a single-family home at 928 Longfellow
Court. This is a public hearing. (bangs gavel) The public hearing is open. This
has to do with our Affordable Dream Home Program. Anyone on this item?
Okay, I will close the public hearing. (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 7-0.
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ITEM 10. PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS,FORM OF CONTRACT,AND ESTIMATE
OF COST FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE J STREET &
SYCAMORE VIEW WATER MAIN - SOUTHEAST JUNIOR HIGH
SANITARY SEWER PROJECT,ESTABLISHING AMOUNT OF BID
SECURITY TO ACCOMPANY EACH BID,DIRECTING CITY CLERK
TO PUBLISH NOTICE TO BIDDERS,AND FIXING TIME AND PLACE
FOR RECEIPT OF BIDS.
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Hayek: This is a public hearing. (bangs gavel) Public hearing is open. This has to do
with, uh, installation of water mains, uh...uh, and...and serving homes along First
Avenue, a new sanitary sewer,uh, water...sanitary sewer service,uh, for
Southeast Junior High, um, and some other things, all in preparation for the
railroad,uh, grade crossing improvement project and the funds, urn, are included
in the budget for that. Any further public commentary? Okay, I'll close the
public hearing. (bangs gavel)
b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION
Dobyns: Move to publish the notice.
Mims: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Dobyns, seconded by Mims. Discussion?
Champion: (mumbled)
Hayek: Roll call, please. Item passes 7-0.
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ITEM 11. CONVEYANCE OF PROPERTY KNOWN AS THE PENINSULA
NEIGHBORHOOD,FOURTH ADDITION,IN IOWA CITY,IOWA,TO
PENINSULA DEVELOPMENT COMPANY.
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Hayek: This is a public hearing. (bangs gavel) Public hearing is open. Public hearing is
closed. (bangs gavel)
b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION
Mims: Move the resolution.
Dickens: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Dickens. Discussion?
Champion: (mumbled)really developing nicely out there now.
Mims: It is.
Champion: ...taking off.
Hayek: Yeah, it's popping. Roll call,please. Item passes 7-0.
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ITEM 12. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION ADOPTING SCHEDULE OF
MEMBERSHIP AND PARKING FEES FOR THE SENIOR CENTER AND
RESCINDING RESOLUTION NO. 03-140.
Mims: Move the resolution.
Throgmorton: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Throgmorton. Discussion?
Honohan: Do I get to talk now, Mr. Mayor?
Hayek: Absolutely! (laughter)
Champion: Who could stop you?
Hayek: Yeah! (laughter)
Honohan: Jay Honohan. I'm a member of the Senior Center Commission. And I'm here to
support this resolution. And I thought I'd give you a little background of how we
got here. Uh, I'm sure all of you know by now that we started a fee schedule for
participants of the Senior Center in 203 and recently we had a...a meeting, a
group meeting of the Steering Council and the Commission, and we were
discussing ways that we could help...the participants could help,uh, fund the
operational budget of the Senior Center. We...we thought about it and discussed
a lot of different things, but the one thing that seemed the most consistent of the
group was raising the participant fees. We decided...the Steering Council would
hold a couple of public meetings with all of the participants invited. In fact we
sent a letter advising all the participants that we were going to hold these public
meetings, and we then subsequently held two public meetings. They were chaired
by the Steering Council and the unanimous consensus was to raise the participant
fees. With a real goal that we have here is to consolidate all the fees, raising the
...the grants that we get,to try to aim for 25% of the budget of the Senior Center.
And we're hoping that the fee raise that we're proposing today,urn, will get us
along that way. We also of course get funding from the Friends of the Center,uh,
on an annual basis that...and of course the grant from the Johnson County that,
uh, is the next item on your agenda. I can only say that, uh, obviously there are
some people that don't want to raise the fees but I think the majority,the vast
majority of the participants, are ready and willing to pay the fees. I don't think
we'll have any significant drop in participation because of it, and I think that,uh, I
urge the Council to pass it. I'll answer any questions that anyone has about... and
if I don't know the answer I've got Linda here to provide the real answer.
Champion: Well I...can I comment now? We already(both talking)
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Hayek: I have a question for...for(both talking)
Champion: So do I!
Hayek: Okay, go ahead! (laughter)
Honohan: Question?
Champion: I...think it's a good idea to make the parking self-sustaining,that part of your
program. I wondered, did you consider at all, I mean, it always irritates me that
Iowa City provides so much support for the Center, not that I don't support our
supporting it, but I object to the...kind of the County has cut down their funding
to this...for a long, long time, and did you ever consider...not raising,um...the
membership fees for people with...with,that live within the city limits but raising
the fees for people who live outside the city limits since the County is now longer
providing much support for the Center.
Honohan: Um,the County is (both talking)
Champion: Did that sound mean?
Honohan: The County is a dilemma. I...I concur! Um, I go to their meetings and I plead
and beg and almost get on my hands and knees and it does...doesn't do much
good! Uh, if we're going to be successful in raising a considerable amount of
money, since the majority,the vast majority of the participants are from Iowa
City, we're going to really have to raise them a little bit. And when you consider
we're...we're proposing that we raise them $8.00 a year. That...that's not an
...an extravagant raise...in my opinion. Uh...yes, and were raising the,uh,
we're proposing. I...I shouldn't say `we' are. We're proposing that you raise the
County participant from, or excuse me, out of Iowa City participant from $40.00
to $60.00, which is considerably more.
Champion: That's true!
Honohan: But uh...I...I cannot come up with a solution and I don't think anyone can to
encourage the County to give more. I'd like it! Matt?
Hayek: Uh,well I...I believe I know the answer to this but I just want to,um, hear it
again from you. The...the two changes on this item in terms of,uh, increasing
fees have both been approved by, and are being recommended by,the Senior
Center Commission?
Honohan: Yes, sir!
Hayek: Okay.
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Honohan: I wouldn't be here if(both talking)
Hayek: Just wanted to confirm that.
Dickens: Are there funds available for people that cannot afford...
Honohan: I'm sorry, I should have mentioned that we're...we're recommending that the
scholarship program is still $10.00 a year. So...and uh...I think Linda will
correct me on this—I think we have about 38 scholarships?
Kopping: (unable to hear, away from mic)
Honohan: More than that?
Kopping: At the...at the moment we have...um, 128 members or about 1%of our members
who are using the scholarship program and in addition to that we have about 668
members or 42%who are on the family membership discount program. So
it's...a total of like 43% of our membership uses some type of discounted
program.
Hayek: Okay.
Payne: I have one question.
Hayek: Sure!
Payne: In our packet we have one sheet that's titled"Senior Center Parking and
Membership Fees"and there's two items on it, and it has a table. Item number
one is parking permit fees shall be $100 annually or$50 semi-annually. Number
two is membership fees and it talks about to add...allow adequate time for parci
...participant notification and modification, um, it'll be effective September 1St. It
doesn't say it's an annual fee. I'm assuming it's an annual fee, but that sheet
doesn't say it's an annual fee.
Kopping: It is indeed an annual fee. It's, um, from the time of purchase. The parking fees
run from, um, July 1 till June 30th of the next year. Um, membership fees run one
year from the time of purchase, but it is an annual fee.
Payne: Thank you.
Champion: Well I wasn't going to support Iowa City people paying an increase, but you're
right. It isn't very large. I may change my mind!
Honohan: Thank you!
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Throgmorton: The...the packet also contains a couple emails from, uh, former members of the
Senior Center and...and uh, I think it's fair to ask some questions that come out of
their emails. There're actually many,many questions but I'd like to condense
`em to just three. Uh, one is why does the Senior Center have membership fees
when the Library and the Recreation Center do not? I don't know,maybe you
want to answer that Tom.
Markus: Well the recreation system has a number of fees, and they have a stated goal of
raising a certain percentage of their operations through, uh, fees as well. They
may not call it a membership fee, but there's certainly(several talking)heavy
emphasis on participation fees (mumbled)
Kopping: Right. You can't go into the pool for free and you can't ride the bus for free.
Throgmorton: Right, I was going to say and we just raised bus fare so...
Kopping: Right, and...and I'd like to point out that the two people that have sent that email
have never been members.
Hayek: And the Li...you mentioned the Library. That's got its own funding source.
Kopping: Yeah.
Hayek: A levy.
Throgmorton: Interesting! So perhaps I completely misread these emails. I thought one of`em
said it was written by a former member of the Commission.
Honohan: Yes. One of them was a former member of the (both talking)
Throgmorton: But not a member of the Senior Center?
Honohan: Not a participant.
Throgmorton: Interesting.
Kopping: Yes, very!
Throgmorton: Well, I...(laughter) despite all that I'll ask one of the other questions.
Kopping: Sure, go ahead. (laughter)
Throgmorton: Which is basically...why doesn't the Senior Center just cut its expenditures
instead of asking for more money? That's the simplest way to put it.
Mims: We wouldn't have a Senior Center left.
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Kopping: Yeah, our...our budget, although it looks really, uh, like a very luxurious budget
at first glance, really most of it is spent on staff salaries. Urn...over half of it I...I
believe. Uh,the rest of it...a lot of the rest of it goes to maintaining the facility in
terms of utilities and...and such. There's not a lot of fluff in our...our budget.
There's not a lot of, uh, areas in which we could...could really cut down, uh,
unless we wanted to, urn...really compromise the quality of our programming and
services that we provide to the community.
Markus: I...I would also add that you're essentially maintaining a historic structure.
Throgmorton: Oh, for sure!
Markus: (mumbled) and you look at the improvements that we have to make on a regular
basis. Right now if you go by you'll see that the front stairway is undergoing
major rehabilitation. The foundation under the stairs, you know, once you open
those things up...I...I always call old construction the last true frontier in this
country. Cause every time you open something up you find something new so
we...we find those things with some regularity in there, as well. And the other
service that's provided in the Senior Center is the, uh, the urn...(several talking)
nutrition program that goes on. That goes on across the county. Uh, we do not
charge for that. I raised that issue with, uh, the Senior Commission and Linda.
Uh, I have to tell you that after talking with the folks that run that program, um, I
was embarrassed to say I even asked for a consideration in that regard. They...
they do, uh, a wonderful job across this county. They...there isn't enough money
there for them to be paying any kind of rent to provide that service. Urn,they've
been responsible when they have caused problems in the kitchen area and stepped
up, but that's a...that's an incredible program. Again, one of those things that this
city provides beyond our borders, uh, which just continues our reputation as
being, in my opinion, a very generous community, and so I mean there's some
things happening in that facility that we do that we provide beyond our borders
and trying to get others to recognize that they need to be more a part of the
proportional share of that cost is a challenge and something we're just going to
have to keep working on.
Hayek: Any other questions for Jay or Linda? Okay,thank you for coming this evening.
Honohan: Thank you! I'll wait to thank you after you pass! (laughter)
Hayek: Further Council discussion? Roll call, please. Item passes 7-0.
Honohan: Now I'll thank you! (laughter)
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ITEM 13. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN
AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A GRANT AGREEMENT WITH
JOHNSON COUNTY FOR FUNDS TO SUPPORT THE IOWA CITY
/JOHNSON COUNTY SENIOR CENTER.
Mims: Move the resolution.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Payne. Discussion? This approves a one-year
$70,000 grant agreement with the County to assist with operations.
Mims: I would just add the comment that I'm disappointed with how much this has
decreased over the years and just kind of echo what Tom said. I think we have to,
in these tough budgetary times, continue to look at, uh, what we're providing,
particularly what we're providing to people outside of this community at our
expense.
Hayek: Further discussion? Roll call,please.
Champion: It's a source of irritation. Guess I'm going to vote no.
Hayek: Item passes 6-1, Champion in the negative.
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ITEM 17. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AWARDING CONTRACT AND
AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO
ATTEST A CONTRACT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRE AND
POLICE INTERIOR REMODELING PROJECTS,2012.
Dobyns: Move the resolution.
Mims: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Dobyns, seconded by Mims. Discussion?
Payne: (mumbled) one thing on the actual resolution. It has Bailey, Champion, Dickens,
Mims, Wilburn, and Wright.
Karr: Going to fix it! (laughter)
Payne: Okay,thank you!
Hayek: You better invite them back then(laughter) you guys can go home! (several
talking) You know you...we can't let you give up this role of like the
wordsmith...
Mims: She's the proofreader of everything! (laughter)
Hayek: For the public's information, the engineer estimated this project to cost about
$279,000; uh, Public Works recommends awarding the contract to City
Construction Group of Iowa City who came in, uh, in the amount of$212,150.
And the project will be funded with General Obligation bond proceeds. Any
further discussion? Roll call...
Champion: Oh, are we doing the alternate too?
Hayek: That amount includes the alternate.
Champion: Oh, it does?
Hayek: Yes.
Champion: Oh, okay, great! Sorry!
Hayek: That's all in, as they say. Any further discussion? Roll call,please. Item passes
7-0.
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ITEM 18. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AMENDING THE BUDGETED
POSITIONS IN THE HOUSING AND INSPECTION DEPARTMENT AND
THE AFSCME PAY PLAN BY RECLASSIFYING THE HOUSING
INSPECTOR POSITIONS,AFSCME GRADE 10,TO BUILDING
INSPECTOR POSITIONS,AFSCME GRADE 12,AND ELIMINATING
THE POSITION OF HOUSING/DEVELOPMENT REGULATION
INSPECTOR,AFSCME GRADE 12.
Mims: Move the resolution.
Payne: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Payne. Discussion?
Throgmorton: Does this involve any vacancies? I'm sorry, not vacancies. Any layoffs?
Markus: This is through attrition.
Throgmorton: That's what I thought. Just wanted to be sure.
Markus: I think it's...and Doug, why don't you come to the (mumbled)uh...one of the
things, uh, at least one person asked is is this going to impact our ability to
process plans and permits, even though we've worked this through attrition and
I'd like Doug to comment on that. I think he can assure people just to the
contrary.
Boothroy: We had one building inspector that was primarily, uh, responsible for plan
reviews. The number of plan reviews are down because of the economy. We
have three building inspectors now that will share that responsibility, including
the senior building inspector, um, we have not had any delays. We don't expect
any delays. We expect it to go smoothly, um, we wouldn't propose this change,
or the senior building inspector wouldn't agree to it if he thought it was going to
delay that plan review process. We're also going to be upgrading our plan
review, uh, system with an electronic process sometime in the next year and that's
going to also help, uh, streamline and make that more effective.
Hayek: Thanks, Doug! Any further questions of staff or discussion among Council? Roll
call,please. Item passes 7-0.
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ITEM 21. COUNCIL APPOINTMENTS.
Hayek: We also have, uh, a vacancy on the Airport Commission, uh, two vacancies on the
Airport Zoning Board of Adjustment, two vacancies on the Airport Zoning
Commission, and one vacancy for a student from Tate High School on the Youth
Advisory Commission. We encourage the public to apply for those positions. At
our work session earlier this evening, Council agreed to appoint Shannon
Gassman to the Historic Preservation Commission and Jessie Harper to the
Human Rights Commission. Is there a motion?
Mims: So moved.
Dickens: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Dickens. Discussion? All those in favor say aye.
Opposed say nay. Motion carries 7-0. We welcome those individuals to those
commissions.
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ITEM 23. CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION.
Hayek: Okay,that brings us to Item 23, City Council information. Why don't we start
down there with the good doctor.
Dobyns: Nothing to report. Thank you.
Payne: Nothing for me either.
Dickens: Just like to thank all the volunteers and everybody that came downtown for the
Arts Fest this weekend. The weather was fantastic. The crowds were probably
the biggest I've ever seen and...it was a lot of fun.
Mims: I would just, uh, it was in our packet, I know maybe people have heard this
before, but I think it was the first time we'd officially seen the, uh, University's
continued contribution to the UniverCity program, urn, with another$100,000 for
this next year so wanted to publicly thank the University for continuing their
support, um, of a great program, and add just quickly to the comments that the
Mayor had made earlier in terms of, uh, the staff and the whole effort on the fire
out at the Landfill. Just commend everybody for an incredible job and the
outreach to...across the state and across the nation for assistance, so appreciate
that!
Throgmorton: Two short things, urn, on Saturday during Arts Fest, uh, Terry, I had the
opportunity to welcome Dean Greg Crawford from the University of Notre Dame,
go Irish! Urn, he's biking across the country, uh, to draw attention to a certain
serious and very rare diseases and the research that's needed to help with those
diseases. So it was a real treat to meet with him and other Notre Dame alumni
from Cedar Rapids and Iowa City and tip a beer, you know, and praise him for
what he's doing. The other thing is, speaking of tipping beers, our good friend
Gary Sanders will be celebrating his 65th birthday this coming Sunday at City
Park. So...if Gary's watching, Happy Birthday Young Man! (laughter)
Hayek: Well, as a uh...as a double-Michigan grad married to a Notre Dame graduate,
double Notre Dame grad, I look forward to, uh, Big Blue taking it to, uh, South
Bend, uh,this fall, and I'll point out that Gary Sanders was a meter maid in Aim
Arbor in the 70s (laughter). For what it's worth! (laughter) Anyway, I want to
echo the comments on...on the Landfill update and the ongoing efforts,
urn...enough said on that, but job well done, and...and we continue to watch this
very closely, uh, fantastic Arts Fest! Perfect weather. Urn, so that was great.
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ITEM 24. REPORT ON ITEMS FROM CITY STAFF.
Hayek: City Manager?
Markus: You know, it seems like every time I leave town(laughter)we have some major
...major incident and we've created kind of a new nickname for Mr. Fruin. It's
called"Black Cloud" (laughter) and I just want you to know how comforting it is
for your City Manager to know that we have somebody like Geoff and Adam
Bentley backing up the Manager's office and I can tell you they didn't miss a step
while I was gone and it was so nice to come back and know that everything was
moving in the right direction and in place. And the other thing I'd say is,uh, we
did get downtown for the,uh, Summer of the Arts and it was...it was wonderful.
Was a beautiful night, so...
Hayek: Mr. Modest?
Fruin: (laughter) I haven't willingly accepted the"Black Cloud" (laughter)to change
(mumbled)
Markus: You oughta hear what we call Adam! (laughter)
Hayek: Geoff, you are exceedingly modest and we are aware of the role you've (noises on
mic) over the last couple of weeks and it does not go unnoticed.
Mims: Appreciate it!
Throgmorton: For sure!
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