HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-06-19 TranscriptionJune 19, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 1
Council Present: Champion, Dickens, Dobyns, Hayek, Mims, Payne, Throgmorton
Staff Present: Markus, Fruin, Kopping, Moran, Howard, Bentley, Dilkes, Robinson,
Havel, Long, Karr, Davidson, Rackis, Craig, O'Malley, O'Brien,
Jennings, Hightshoe, Yapp
Others Present: Uttermark, UISG
Recap of 2012 Legislative Session (03):
Hayek/ Got a fair amount to get through... Council Member, uh, Dobyns is celebrating his 30th
anniversary this evening and so I've pledged to him that we would conclude our, uh,
formal meeting by 7:18 P.M. (laughter) There's going to be a lot of speed reading!
(several talking and laughing) Collapsing of multiple public hearings! (laughter) Don't
worry about it, Eleanor, we've got it covered!
Dobyns/ I could have spent it with people I love but .... I'm here instead! (laughter)
Hayek/ Public servant! So, uh, without further ado let's get started with our, uh, legislative
wrap-up ... from the last session. We've got Tom and Jessica here.
Stanberry/ Thank you, Mayor. Um, well we're here to give you the wrap -up on the 2012
legislative session, as ... as your lobbyists this year, and we're going to, uh, tag -team this a
little bit and... and in about 20 minutes we're going to give you a pretty high level review
of how ... what happened in the legislature this year aligned with the legislative initiatives
that you all had set for us, and uh, what happened on a number of bills that weren't on
your legislative agenda, and ... and how ... how they came out. Some positive, some
negative, but uh, give you a review of that. The first thing on your legislative agenda was
economic development, and economic development this year in the legislature really
focused on tax increment financing. Um, in part because of the issues that you had with
Coralville and the Von Mauer property, and in part because of just a general concern
around the state that something needed to be done to ... uh, in some cases curb abuses, and
in other cases under the general umbrella of reform the tax increment law in the state.
Um, I think from the City's standpoint, uh, with the three issues that you had identified as
critical tax increment issues for you all, you probably came out ... better than anyone
would have anticipated when the session began. Because we began the session with one
very onerous bill in the House that would have taken tax increment financing as you
know it and want to use it going forward, and ... brought it to kind of a grinding halt. Uh,
the Senate worked on a bill, which eventually came out was a better bill, uh, contained
some of the House provisions and was much more palatable, uh, but still would have
made a big impact on how Iowa City wants to use tax increment financing going forward.
So we focused on the three key issues that you had identified — reporting, uh, how can
you come up with better reporting so that not only do citizens in your city know what's
being done with tax increment financing, but how do other jurisdictions know what
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you're doing with TIF, um ... better identification of what a project is, so public hearings
in the project arena. And, better anti- piracy laws to prohibit one city from using TIF to
move a project away from another city, when there really is no identifiable economic
benefit. The bill that ultimately passed and was signed by the Governor addressed all
three of those issues. A few others were addressed in there, but those three issues were
addressed. There's a... roughly I think 19 -point reporting system that is being put in
place right now that all cities will have to report under. The information will be
aggregated in the Department of Management and eventually the ... those, that
information will be out for any citizen to, uh, delve into if they can use a computer
system. Um, and other ... and cities and counties and other jurisdictions will know what's
going on ... with TIF throughout the state. Second issue ... of what I'll call project -based
public hearing was also part of the eventual bill. Uh, it came out in two ways. The way
that we had initially discussed with legislators that matched Iowa City's request was that
when a project itself is going to be the recipient of TIF, there has to be greater
transparency. The public has to know what's going on and ... and not just the decision
being made by staff and the Council behind closed doors and then eventually presented at
a Council meeting. And now there's a required public hearing. So in addition to the
hearing on an urban renewal area, and a plan, there's actually a project -by- project hearing
that has to take place. There is a provision that was not part of our agenda, uh, which
identifies certain municipal projects that can be financed with TIF, and requires a public
hearing on those projects, and also requires that you make a finanding ... a finding that
financing with TIF is the best alternative of all your... alternate ways of financing that
project, and that you make that information available to all of the impacted taxing
jurisdictions. So ... county, uh, any other city that might be impacted, and all of the
school districts. A last provision, which was the anti - piracy provision, um ... you wrote
the language. Uh, the language that we all agreed to with, uh, your staff is essentially the
language that's now in the code, and uh ... uh, it prohibits the use of TIF to relocate a bus
...a business from one jurisdiction to another, unless there's a finding that without TIF,
that business would going ... would be relocating out of state. So, um, I think in that area,
uh, you got exactly what you wanted and it's a ... it's a tight provision. We'll see how
well it's used and uh ... if there are holes in it, we'll probably see, uh, an effort to tighten it
up even more, but there was strong support for that. So from a TIF perspective, uh, it
was a very successful session.
Harder/ I'll just touch on one of the other big issues of the session that really dominated the
landscape, um, along with TIF was property tax reform. And I'll just kind of give you a
few pinpoints of sort of the political, uh, landscape so you kind of get the background. A
lot of you may already know this from last session, but ultimately not a lot changed as far
as that goes. We have Governor Branstad, a Republican, we had a very Republican, uh,
conservative House with a very big majority, and then a tight majority for the Democrats
in the Senate. And so for anything to pass there had to be a lot of compromise. So it was
easier to stop a bill, I would say, this session than to pass a bill. However, you saw a lot
of significant change in the leg ... the pieces of legislation that both chambers, um, put out
there this session. In the end you saw something I think was specific to, um, specifically
would have impacted Iowa City more than other cities, and that was the multi - residential
piece that was included and that was not in any bill last session, and that was in both
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chambers' bills in the end. The last two bills that were introduced had that provision.
They were slightly different, but it would have really impacted your city in the fact that
you have a lot more of that, um, type of housing. They would have rolled that back to the
residential level. Right now it's ... it's taxed commercial. So that would have been a
significant revenue hit in those bills. Um, ultimately the good news is nothing passed,
but I think it is of note that they got a lot closer. There were negotiations, all the way
through the very last minute, up to the very end of session, um, with the Governor and the
leadership of both chambers, um, but they were just not able to come to an agreement.
Uh, we're already hearing we know that this is going to be an issue continuing going
forward next session. I have all the ... the gritty details if you want to know the different
provisions that are in the bills, but I think that's too far in the weeds for the time we have,
especially with your anniversary dinner (laughter) so ... if any of you have questions
afterwards about the specifics of the provisions and the different versions of the bills, I'd
be happy to try to talk ... talk you through those or answer those questions, but um,
ultimately the ... one of your other, uh, priorities was addressing the Krup decision, and I
think with what I just, uh, kind of explained, that was at the beginning maybe on the
horizon and then we saw this significant shift to not only not talking about fixing it, but
actually going further in the other direction, um, basically the opposite of what you want
to do. So that was really the shift in the discussion from the beginning of...of the session
until the end of the session. So, that's kind of, um, the landscape there, and Tom wanted
me also when I was up here right now to talk about the, um, pensions and then he's going
to come back up here and speak, but the pension issue, um, really didn't get a lot of
traction this session, and I think one of the reasons why, even though this is a pension
year, which is every other year, usually. They can address those issues in other ... in other
years, but they usually do `em every other year. This was a pension year. Um, they had
an interim committee and it was very clear that ... that committee was not going to make
any recommendations. They could not agree. It was split between, um, Republicans and
Democrats, and they just weren't on the same page. The issue of reforming the 411
system specifically becomes very political, um, as well. It's a hard thing for two
chambers that are that different to agree on something. And even to come up with
something that they could put forward in a piece of legislation. So we didn't see any
significant pension reform legislation this year. Another reason I think why is because
they had so many other reform bills that they were talking about. Big things. We had
TIF and property tax, which you also talked about, but they had, um, education reform
and mental health reform, which are huge also, and I think this was just one more thing
that was going to be added to the plate that they didn't want to address this session. So
there were no big pension bills, which is kind of unusual for a pension year. Um, the... I
think that's pretty much in a nutshell what I wanted to say, but we will see, um, obviously
this issue come back. There was ... this is what I was thinking... there's a $5 million
appropriation that did get put into, uh, it was just a one -time thing, put into the Senate,
uh, standings bill but that did get taken out in the House so that, uh, influx of State dollars
would have been a one -time influx to help cities lower their rates ... did get taken out.
And I think it was just a disagreement of, between the Senate and the House over how to
approach pension reform. Do we put State money in? Do we actually do some systemic
reforms to the system, and they just did not agree. So that did get taken out, and that was
really the only significant, uh, thing we saw for the 411 system reform this session.
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Stanberry/ I'm going to talk about the few, uh, you had some other items on your, uh, legislative
agenda that we just wanted to hit, uh, briefly and talk about. Um, Amtrak of course is a
big issue and having rail service come through Iowa City. Uh, it's clear from the
Governor's comments and other's comments in the legislature that nothing is going to
happen until the DOT study on rail service from Davenport to Omaha is completed. And
that's in process. Uh, with no firm completion date. There's been a lot of effort by a
number of communities, um, led in part by the Passenger Rail Association and also by
the Greater Des Moines Partnership to bring people into the state and demonstrate what
rail service can do. Uh, one of those, uh, one of those uh, mayor ... a former mayor of a
small town in Mississippi was in Des Moines and then came to Iowa City and talked
about the economic impact, having rail service in his small town had. What it did for
both tourism and just general economic development, and that's starting to pick up
momentum. More and more people are hearing about the impact that rail can have on a
community. So ... uh, hopefully that will, uh, that'll continue to gain some traction. Um,
road use tax, an increase in the road use tax was on your agenda. Um, we had several of
your folks attended the Transportation Day, heard the Governor talk about supporting an
increase; heard the chairs of the two transportation committees talk about supporting an
increase. The Senate Com ... uh, Transportation Committee actually passed a bill,
increasing the road use tax out of committee. The House version of the bill died in the
funnel process, and the Governor's support was ... weak to kind of non - existent, until after
the legislature adjourned, and surprisingly now, he has come out in full support of, uh, of,
uh, an increase in the road use tax. So we'll see ... when we see the makeup of what the
House and the Senate is next year, if actually there's now some strong momentum with
the Governor behind it to, uh, to pass road use tax increases. You had asked us to, uh,
look into local regulatory reform and mostly focused on, uh, on alcohol licensing and
control. Uh, there were a couple of interesting bills this year. One that passed and one
that did not, uh, the one that did not would have given more control over, um, alcohol
abuse from a consumption standpoint, as opposed to, um, just a possession standpoint,
and also would have in... introduced on a statewide basis, third party host liability. Uh,
that didn't pass. Uh, largely because it...it was ... was poorly handled by the associations
that were pushing for it, and we were involved but not really in the lead, and if that's
something that the City really wants to see next year, we'll take a much stronger lead
position in that one. The other one that passed, uh, which you know you always like to
see small wins that sort of a humorous nature, but uh, infused alcohol. If you remember
the big debate in Iowa City about the bartender, or the bar that wanted to have infused
alcohol, which then alerted the Alcohol and Beverage Division that such a thing could
possibly exist, and as I said to the staff, which then alerted them that they had been
inspecting a number of bars and restaurants in Des Moines that had infused alcohol for
about the last ten years, but no one knew that they were violating the State law. Well,
you can now have infused alcohol as of...as of July 1, so that ... so that bill passed. We
had a few bills, um, both talk about these, but we had a few bills that were not high on
your agenda but actually, uh, worked fairly hard to get passed. One was a $1 million
appropriation to the Department of Natural Resources that can be used for low -head dam,
uh, studies and restoration, which means you can apply to DNR for part of that money for
the Burlington Dam project, uh, which could be, uh, of some assistance in funding that.
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Uh ... automatic traffic enforcements, um, the speeding cameras, red -light cameras — that
was, urn ... that was a piece of legislation that had more lives than I've ever seen a piece
of legislation have. It was dead. It was ... it came out of subcommittee and the House. It
was dead in the committee. Uh, voted down. It should have died in the funnel.
Mysteriously leadership put that bill into the Appropriations Committee which is exempt
from the funnel. Um, and uh, it...it continued to have lives, uh, it would have died in the
Senate and for those cities and now actually some ... some rural counties that are ... are
putting in traffic enforcement cameras, that want to continue to use that. Right now the
Senate is where those ... that bill's going to get killed. And if the Senate changes into
Republican control next year, I think what we will see is a bill banning the use of ATEs.
Will pass the House, pass the Senate, and be signed by the Governor. So ... uh, it's an
interesting coalition, the people that oppose the use of ATEs. What are we forgetting?
Harder/ Uh, there was a ... there was a bill that popped up, urn ... that actually got further than we
thought that would have prohibited rental ordinances based on familial relationships.
And we worked very hard, um, with some of the other big cities to ... to make sure that
that didn't move, um, any further. It actually was put on the Senate calendar, uh, at one
point for debate, and so we ... we worked very hard with your legislators and other, uh,
like communities to try to get that, uh, bill stopped, um, especially after you just recently
amended your ordinance. So, um, that did get stopped so that was a successful outcome
also for you this year, um, as well as the bill that, um, basically does a ... a state assistance
for flood mitigation projects. That was another bill that was out there that wasn't
necessarily on your top priority list, but the .... um, did get passed this session. So, that's
kind of a quick overview, high level. I know there's a lot of information there, um, but
we can always delve into detail on anything that you have questions about for us. So...
Stanberry/ We've, um, provided you with a... a written recap of everything, uh, gone into much
more detail than we did today on both TIF and property tax reform, and if there's
anything else that you want, uh, detail on, we can certainly do that. Uh, we're going to
spend ... this was our first session lobbying for the City. It's the first session that you've
had contract lobbyists. Um, and I ... and I think, from our assessment, be interesting
to ... to, you know, hear Tom and Geoff s assessment. I think from our assessment, it was
a pretty successful session. Uh, both substantively, it was a successful session and uh,
we're ... we're learning how best to communicate with all of you, uh, how best to use staff
members, uh, who are going to be in Iowa ... in Des Moines, and uh, hook them up with
key legislators. Uh, we now have hit the, um, in ... in full swing, we've hit the, um,
fundraising season, uh, so we'll be meeting with a lot of legislators during the fall,
leading up to the election, and then once the election is finished and we know who the
committee chairs are, meeting with committee chairs about the agenda that you come up
with for 2014. If any of you have suggestions for us on how better to communicate with
staff or with Council, um, or if you, um, want to get involved in the process, we'd love to
have you involved. It's always much more persuasive, we believe, to have you talking to
one of your senators or representatives than having us talk to them. We can educate
them. We see them every day. Um, we think for the most part they trust us, but it's very
helpful when we have grassroots input, and uh, I would ... I would leave you with that
thought, that we would love to have your input. Any questions?
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Hayek/ Any... any questions for them, and Tom and Geoff, certainly you interacted on...
Markus/ Well one of the things I think that is, uh, pretty clear is our delegation here in Johnson
County is very responsive to us. I think the advantage for, uh, deploying lobbyists is to
reach outside of our delegation area and have our ideas communicated to other
legislators, and I think they were very effective in doing that for us, and as well as
working with our own delegation. So, I find it to have been a very successful partnership
this last year. And would recommend we continue with it.
Throgmorton/ I ... I would think that would have to be the case, um, because I'm sure most of us
have pretty good connections with all our local, uh, legislators, but we don't know the
people at State.
Markus/ that's right!
Throgmorton/ You know, and you do, so that ... that's a great benefit for us.
Stanberry/ Well one of the ... one of the first things we'll do once the results of the election
are ... are finalized, we'll be watching to see who are appointed as committee chairs,
particularly if there's a swing in, uh, in whoever controls one chamber or the other, um,
and those are the people that we work with a lot. I mean, we work with leadership, we
work with committee chairs, and we work with rank and file legislators, but the ... the
decision making gets done, um, in those committees, and so we'll be watching pretty,
um, pretty hard to see who's going to control those committees.
Harder/ And you already ... and you right now have a very powerful delegation that's great to
work with so, um ... I ... I'm assuming that that's going t continue in the future regardless,
but I think that that's a key thing that we `d like to do is, you know, meet with the
delegation in between with the new agenda that you put forward.
Hayek/ And Tom, you mentioned that the good ... the good partnership this last legislative
session, and to that ... and I concur, but I would add that, you know, we've got a second
set of lobbyists essentially through our membership in the Metro Coalition, which is the
ten largest communities in this state, and ... and that has a lobbying arm, as well, but I
thought you guys worked well with them on some of these issues of mutual concern to
the larger cities of Iowa, and I can't think of a better example than ... than what we did,
um, in ... in connection with the property tax, uh, discussions and the 11th hour inclusion
of the apartment issue, um,. and the quick response that ... that you guys helped
orchestrate with the help of Metro. So ... I ... I thought that was effective.
Stanberry/ Thanks!
Markus/ I think the other thing too is we ... we met in staff just before we had this meeting, and
we're trying to figure out different ways to involve our staff. We have a lot of staff.
They all have professional associations, um, they all have, you know, to some degree or
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another some lobbying efforts going on there. We're trying to figure out how to
piggyback off... off of some of those. Uh, our Councilors are another source, uh, that, uh,
just as Tom and Jessica said, have the opportunity to go down and testify, and I ... and we
do believe that elected officials, probably even more so than staff, uh, do carry quite a big
of weight with a lot of the elected officials at the legislature. So, we're trying to figure
out different techniques and methods to, uh, deploy, to make the whole effort that much
more successful, and I'm confident we can do that going forward. It was a learning year,
but I think we pretty much hit the ground running and it kept going that way all the way
through the legislature.
Hayek/ And we don't see it, but Geoff and Tom were in almost daily contact with ... with Tom
and Jessica, uh, you know, in the thick of it, um ... I think it was effective.
Stanberry/ We're on each other's speed dial! (laughter)
Throgmorton/ So, Matt, on the whole it was obviously a good session for us and thanks to both
of you for your great work. I'm particularly interested in the TIF part of it. It ... the
legislation that came out with regard to TIF. So it seems we're going to have to modify
our, uh, economic development policy in order to be responsive to the amendments, uh,
and there're two parts of it. I ... I've mentioned before...
Mims/ I don't think we need to do the policy, do we? Procedures are going to change somewhat,
but I don't think policy's going to...
Throgmorton/ Well, here's what I mean. Uh, holding public hearings, when to hold public
hearings, how far in advance of the particular decision, you know, I mean what ... what's
the timing of the public hearing, and then secondly, notifying, uh, local ... other
governmental units — the county and the school district?
Markus/ We ... we've had those conversations among staff. Eleanor's up to speed. The
department, Legal department's up to speed on those things. We ... we'll roll those into
our normal procedures to make sure that those notifications get made, those hearings get
held. We've had those conversations; we're moving in that direction; and Eleanor can
chime in on...
Dilkes/ I think that's right.
Hayek/ And I think much of what this law embodies we were already doing. Uh...
Markus/ You know, I think our spirit in terms of our policies, uh, is ... it was very much
consistent in the direction that this legislation was going. Um, we ... we very early on
struck the three, uh, policy changes or legislative changes that we felt, um, had a chance
of being approved, and I can tell you that the ... the spectrum of proposed legislative
changes was so wide- ranging, from no change to some very dramatic changes, and
despite what maybe some may have thought about our position as a city out there, we still
wanted to use TIF. We spent a lot of time, you know, educating our... our colleagues in
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other jurisdictions that we fully intended to use TIF, as well, and so when that fear kind
of reduced, I think there was an opportunity for the ... for example the Metro Coalition
communities to get together and at least, you know, wage in the same direction and effort
to make the changes that ultimately got done. You know there's... there, among us, there
are people that thought maybe we could have asked for more and ... and succeeded with
more and some that wanted less, but ... clearly the three priorities that we talked about
very early on, uh, we ... we were successful in achieving them and it was ... it was a, you
know, it was a pretty big effort considering that that legislature, or legislation, hasn't
been changed significantly in a number of years.
Hayek/ Okay! Well thanks for making the trip over and we appreciate your (several talking) last
session. Okay, let's move on. We've got next on the agenda tonight the workforce
demographics report.
Review of City's Workforce Demographics Report (IP4):
Markus/ Uh, Karen Jennings, uh, submitted a report on this and she's here to answer any
questions that, uh, anyone might have about that report. It's basically a federal document
report that we submit on an annual basis, but ... you may have some specific questions
about it.
Throgmorton/ So ... so we're just going to have an opportunity to pose questions. That's the idea
(both talking)
Jennings/ Well, yeah, I provided kind of just a general explanation of what the reporting
requirement is and kind of how the report is structured, and I guess from there if you had
specific questions after seeing that information and having an opportunity to look at the
report a second time.
Throgmorton/ Right. Uh, well I have an observation. It's not a question.
Jennings/ Okay.
Throgmorton/ If I count correctly, out of 560 full -time employees, uh, either 25 or some number
slightly less than that are black or Hispanic. Uh, that's roughly 4% of the ... of the, uh,
employee, um, pool. Full -time employees. I ... I hope I've done the math correctly there!
Uh, and I understand that the demographic patterns of our city have changed substantially
over the past 10 years, and I understand that, uh, turnover is relatively slow, uh, within
the staff, but it seems to me, uh, we need to, um, be a bit more aggressive in trying to
diversify our employee base, uh, our ... our staff population if you will. So it's not a
question directed at you. It's just a, um, something I'm ... I believe is significant and
important.
Markus/ Might I react to that?
Throgmorton/ Sure.
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Markus/ I... you know, I think you're accurate in pointing out that you have a number of
employees that certainly have long tenure, and as our demographic, um, of our general
population changes, and I'm, um, confident that most would believe that a ... a similar
change in our population, employment population, um, reflecting that change would be
beneficial. There are challenges obviously to ... to make that happen on a timely basis.
But, I take the challenge very seriously. Um, that we can do more to, um, try and
diversify our staff, and we will look towards, uh, efforts to do that. We have some built
in, uh, other issues or, um, other legal requirements, of course, with Civil Service and
process that we have, uh, built in place that, urn ... poses I suppose challenges as to how
you ... you go about doing that. But I think, uh, advertising and recruiting and, uh,
making people aware of opportunities in our organization are ... are ways that we can, uh,
ultimately, um, further diversify our staff and ... and we as a staff will look at those things
and, uh, and...and...and meet that challenge in terms of how we do go about that. So...
Throgmorton/ Great!
Markus/ I appreciate your comments on that.
Champion/But I think it's something that every organization is striving to do, and it takes a long
time and it doesn't always happen.
Mims / And I ... and I think it's ... it's how aggressively an organization goes about doing it in
terms of reaching out, you know, growing your own from internships on up, I mean, I
think there's lots of strategies and I think if you look out there and research, there are
some organizations that are quite successful at it, and others who aren't, and I think we
have to as a city, you know, try and look at those who, in the Midwest, who are looking
at the same demographics that we are, who have managed to do that, um, and why they
have been successful and how they've been successful, and try and emulate some of their
practices so that we can get our city staff, uh, at all levels to look more like our
population does.
Champion/ Right, right!
Mims/ I think it's really important.
Markus/ One of the things we've talked about, uh, among staff to a certain degree is creating
these ranger programs, uh, in police and fire where you bring young people in, um, give
them exposure to the, uh, police and fire professions and uh, hopefully encourage interest
in, uh, individuals to pursue careers in those areas and I ... I know that those, um,
programs have been used successfully in other jurisdictions, and I think that those are all
things that we want to talk about and consider. There's other benefits obviously rather
than just growing your employment that way, but um, that exposure and that interaction,
uh, especially I think is beneficial in the minority community to make that connection
with our ... with our officers and ... and (both talking)
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Mims/ ...those relationships.
Markus/ You bet!
Throgmorton/ I ... I guess I would like to ask one quick question just to make sure I'm
understanding. So ... the ... the memo that you presented and the data you presented, am I
correct in understanding that the second part of it, uh, is for the police department. The
first part is for all the other units that have less than 100, uh, employees within it.
Jennings/ That's correct, and that's a requirement of how the form is completed for any
functional area that has more than 100 staff. We have to report them separately. So
that's why the police protection staff are carved out.
Throgmorton/ Right. It's very helpful.
Jennings/ Thank you.
Hayek/ Any other questions for Karen? Or on this issue generally? Okay, thank you!
Jennings/ No problem. Thank you!
Council Appointments:
Hayek/ Okay. Next item is Council appointments. I believe we just have one to make this
evening, and that's for the Library Board of Trustees.
Champion/ I really like Jay Semel. (mumbled) trying to pronounce his name right. (several
responding) Yeah!
Hayek/ And that would meet the, uh, gender balance requirement (both talking)
Mims/ Gender req... yeah.
Dobyns/ Yeah, I concur with Connie.
Mims/ Yep, I do too.
Hayek/ (several talking) consensus on Jay? (several responding) Okay. We'll set that up.
Throgmorton/ I've known him for 25 years (laughter) can't stand Jay! I'm only kidding!
(laughter)
Dobyns/ But you'll deal with it, Jim! (laughter)
Champion/ Just get over it! (laughter)
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Questions From Council Re: P &Z:
Hayek/ Okay. Next is, um, questions, uh, regarding P &Z items ... that we can talk about prior to
the, uh, formal.
Throgmorton/ Uh, yeah, what can we not talk about, Eleanor?
Hayek/ Uh, 5b and 5c, yeah, we cannot talk about, so that leaves 5a (several talking)
Dilkes/ You should ... now each agenda item has a bracket if you can't (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...just didn't notice it!
Dilkes/ Right. At the be ... but I'm just ... I'm just letting you know at the beginning and after the
items, so, but a you can talk to now (several talking) now ... about now if you want to.
Dickens/ And can we ask about an update on... anything from Pearson? You know, talk about
the ... or is that ... you know, we talked about it last meeting about speaking with Pearson
to see if we've heard any more from there.
Dilkes/ I don't think that's on the agenda.
Dickens/ Okay.
Dilkes/ Yeah.
Hayek/ Bring that up during Council time if you want. (several responding)
Markus/ And yes, we can give you some updated information on that at that time.
Hayek/ So, any questions, uh, regarding 5a? Okay. Let's look at the balance of the agenda. Any
questions regarding, uh, those agenda items?
Questions From Council Re: Agenda Items:
ITEM 3(d)6 CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN
AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST AN AMENDMENT TO THE
AGREEMENT WITH JOSEPH J. HENDERSON & SON, INC.
Karr/ Just like to note the addition of agenda in the Consent Calendar, 3d(6).
Hayek/ Yep.
ITEM 20. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING AN AGREEMENT FOR
PRIVATE REDEVELOPMENT BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF
IOWA CITY, IOWA, AND MDK DEVELOPMENT, L.L.C.
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Dilkes/ I have a couple comments on Item 20, uh, the development agreement with MDK for the
Towncrest property.
Hayek/ Uh -huh.
Dilkes/ Okay, um, I passed ... there was a draft that went in to your agenda packet. This came
together fairly quickly cause the EDC saw it, um, last week, but um, we do have a signed
agreement now. A number of changes have been made and I've handed that out to you.
Urn ... the only ones I think that you'll be particularly interested in are first of all Exhibit
D, which talks about the minimum improvements. And essentially what we did is we
just ... we made it a little more general to give the developer a little more flexibility. For
instance we said approximately 14,850 square feet. Urn ... as opposed to landing on that
number. In addition, um, the developer has two of the likely three condominium units,
uh, committed, uh, for medical type uses, but didn't want to be locked into something,
uh, for the third unit. So the agreement, uh, reflects that and says that at least two - thirds
of that square footage has to be for medical offices and the remainder, um, for any use
allowed by the applicable zoning.
Champion/ When you say medical offices, do you mean medical related like dental offices (both
talking)
Dilkes/ Yes, yes.
Champion/ Okay, all right.
Dilkes/ Yes. Urn ... and the only other I think... significant improve ... er, change for you all
anyway is that, uh, we had to struggle a little bit with the ... the fact that with this
development the developer is going to be, I mean the plan is to sell these units and be
done with it. As opposed to having an ongoing ownership interest in the property. So,
we had to ... you know, I think the last development agreement we did I explained that
shortfall obligation, that contractual obligation to make a shortfall payment in the event
the tax receipts are not sufficient to make the loan payment. Urn ... it's a personal
obligation. Um, not a secured obligation, but when you have a developer who is still
involved in the project, we have a little more faith in that. So we just took a...made some
extra steps to make sure that the ... that contractual, um, obligation will be assigned in the
event that the developer winds up...
Hayek/ How's it secured? Does it run with...
Dilkes/ There's... well, remember we talked about that. That is not a secure obligation (several
talking)
Hayek/ ...back to our policy (mumbled) yeah. Yep.
Mims/ So does that shortfall then get assigned to the owners?
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Dilkes/ It's part of the min ... minimum assessment agreement and we specifically said in the
agreement that there has to be a showing that that, um, contractual obligation has been
assumed by the new owners, as well.
Mims/ Okay.
Payne/ I ... I have a question about the zoning. And I'm not sure ... by looking at their site map
how deep they go onto the property, but it looks like the prop ... the zoning changes from
CC -2 to CO -1 part way through ... the second property. If you look at Exhibit A. Jeff.
Davidson/ I am bringing it up as you speak, Michelle.
Payne/ Okay. So ... and when I did a calculation on how deep the building is, it looks like it's
like 229 feet deep. I can't ... there's no ... there's no dimensions on here to show how deep
that zoning goes. So is there going to be a zoning change or...
Davidson/ Uh, my understanding was that the existing zoning, uh ... the CC -2 zoning, would
accommodate the project. Let me double check that and ... for the formal meeting, and
we'll have a...
Payne/ Okay, and it might all fall into the CC -2 zone, you know, just depending on how deep
that line is.
Davidson/ Yeah. Let me ... let me double check that. My understanding was that the ... the
zoning was in place that would accommodate it, uh, the CC -2 zoning, but we'll ... we'll
double check that and have a... answer for you at the formal meeting.
Payne/ Okay.
Throgmorton/ I guess I have a related question, Jeff. Will the Planning and Zoning Commission
be involved in reviewing this project?
Davidson/ Not if the zoning ... not if I confirm Michelle's... the answer to Michelle's question
being that the zoning is in place. No, there'd be administrative.
Throgmorton/ Right, uh, okay so another thing I'm wondering about has to do with parking
spaces. I'm not sure I'm doing the math correctly. It's not clear to me whether it's ... uh,
indicating that 58 spaces would be required or 58 plus 22.
Davidson/ 58 plus 22. I think that (both talking) I think that exceeds... some of the on- street
parking will be needed to fulfill the parking requirement, but my understanding is, Jim,
that can again be handled administratively by the site plan review process. I don't think
they need all of them. I think they're overparked with ... with all of that parking.
Dilkes/ And that has also been changed in Exhibit D to approximately 50.
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Throgmorton/ Approximately 50? Plus 20...
Dilkes/ Plus the 22 (several talking)
Throgmorton/ So I actually have several other questions, but rather than dive into them
immediately, I want to make a ... a more general comment. And this connects back to the
question I asked with regard to the TIF amendments that came out of the legislature. I
believe we should defer a vote on this particular, um ... um, proposal till our next meeting
and that we should schedule a public hearing associated with it... so that, um, we will
have time to process this and think about it, and so that, um, the public will have a chance
to deliberate about it, in whatever way they want to deliberate. And I could elaborate on
why I think that's important, but I'd like to, uh, suggest that as a possibility.
Dilkes/ Let me just add a little more information to what ... what you would be doing by that. If
this agreement is deferred, um, then what we will have to do is, to comply with the new
statute, is to amend the urban renewal plan for the Towncrest, um, urban renewal area.
Throgmorton/ Why?
Dilkes/ Because that's what the statute requires.
Mims/ As of July 1St
Dilkes/ As of July 1St it requires that each project be included in the urban renewal plan,
and ... and therefore there would be an amendment to the urban renewal plan, which
would require a public hearing. So that'll be a four to six, and ... and as well as the
consultation with the other, um, communities. So that'll be probably a four to six week
process, I think is what we usually estimate for that.
Mims/ Yeah, my feeling is, I mean, we've gone through the procedures and policies that we have
in place at this point. All of our Economic Development Committee meetings have
public notification of our agenda, so if the public is interested and wants to come and
hear or look at our minutes afterwards, um, we have all of that on, you know, on file. We
basically never have anybody from the public show up at our Economic Development
Committee meetings. Um, but they certainly are open to the public. They're posted just
like all the other meetings. Um, the agendas for these meetings are posted well in
advance, based on state law, so people can come and speak and hear. So I don't see, I
mean, there's some amendments to this, but I think Eleanor's gone through the ... the
significant changes, um, based... compared to what we got with the packet last Thursday.
So I don't see that there's anything so major here ... um, that I would feel any need to
defer this, and certainly given the changes in state law effective on July 1St, um, I don't
want to put that ... put the developer back in terms of that (both talking)
Throgmorton/ I make the suggestion partly in response to the, um, to the TIF, I mean, to the
petition that is circulating right now with regard to, uh, the south Dubuque Street project.
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Mims/ But that has nothing to do with this one. (several responding)
Throgmorton/ It ... it doesn't have anything to do with this particular decision, but ... but what it
does have to do with is the public's ability to first of all know that something's
happening. Secondly be able to comment on it, and ... and ....and get their responses to us
Council people so that we Council people can take into account the views of the public of
the city. And I think that matters. It's not purely an administrative process that moves
through committees, etc.
Champion/ We are the public.
Mims/ I mean, I ... I totally agree, Jim, that the public has ... should be looking at these, and has,
you know, should be communicating to us if they have issues and concerns, but I would
also say pretty emphatically that we have a process in place, under state law and under
City policy, that that is already happening, that agendas are publicly posted, our meetings
are open to the public, and that people have the opportunity to come to those to comment
to us, give us their views pro or con, and then we have the obligation to move forward
with these projects. So to ... to kind of suggest with your language that they haven't had
that opportunity, I ... I'm sorry, I kind of see that as disingenuous. They have had the
opportunity, whether they've chosen to take advantage of it, is ... is up to them, but I'm
not willing to put this ... uh, to defer this simply because people have not come forward at
this point. They have had the opportunity like with any other project that's been on our
agenda.
Champion/ I'm not willing to defer either.
Hayek/ I think what I would add is ... is um ... you know, this ... we ... we have ... we have an
Economic Development subcommittee, uh, whose job it is to vet projects like this. Um,
in part so that we essentially double the public scrutiny and ... and the opportunity for
input, um, and ... and that has occurred here. This, you know, tonight's the second of two,
as Susan noted, um, publicly noticed, um, open to the public, open to the media, uh,
forums to ... to take up this, uh, this project, and ... and we had substantial media coverage
at the recent meeting where we ... where we took this up, and ... and what it resulted in, uh,
pretty heavy duty Press - Citizen and Gazette coverage, and probably other, um, media
outlets as well. I mean, I ... you know, I know we will, uh, fully comply with the new law
when it goes into effect on ... on July 1St. My sense is what we've been doing all along,
um, complies with most of it, and probably the spirit of all of it, uh, and, you know, that's
what we just talked about in terms of us pushing, uh, the legislature to, uh, open up the
transparency in the reporting and ... and what not, and so I'm pleased with that, but for
those reasons I'm really ... I ... I'm comfortable voting on this tonight, um ... and I think
this is a fantastic, uh, opportunity to jumpstart the redevelopment that we've talked about
for years, um, and I'd like to see us move forward.
Throgmorton/ Well, uh, I disagree but I can count. Also, I will make a motion during the formal
meeting, and then, you know, I assume there will be no second and we'll move from
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there. Uh, I'd like to ask, uh, a couple questions though that really have to do with the
substance so I can really understand some of what's going on. I think mainly in terms of,
I mean, what ... the first question has to do with, uh, what happens, um, per ... pursuant to
the ... to the agreement, if the State legislature on January 1St or you know during the next
legislative session reduces commercial property taxes. How would such action by the
legislature affect the, uh ... conduct or implementation of the agreement?
Dilkes/ Uh, that's addressed in the agreement and the minimum assessment agreement that is an
exhibit and will subsequently be signed as follows. Um ... first there's a provision that
says, where the parties agree that the value will be adjusted to compensate for that, uh,
reduction in taxes, and if for some reason that doesn't happen, and I can tell you that's...
that's an untried, uh, or an ... an unproven mechanism, let's say, but if for some reason
that doesn't happen, then uh, the backup to that is the shortfall obligation that we were
talking about earlier.
Throgmorton/ All right, so we have protection in the event that the state legislature does, uh,
adopt a...
Dilkes/ That's how ... that's how it's addressed. That ... that's what the protection is. It's not, as I
have said before, it's not a secured obligation, but that's what the protection is.
Champion/ Well I think this is a good development and it's a ... it's a major development to
jumpkick development in that area. My only concern is ... I don't know why we're
limiting what can go in at those spaces. What was the, uh, rationale for that? It had to be
medically related ... what was the rationale?
Dilkes/ I think Tracy can address that.
Hightshoe/ The reason why is, uh, when we talked to the assessor, if it's for medical offices the
assessments higher. So if you have non - medical uses you might potentially have a lower
assessment, which would affect our minimum assessed value that we based the
agreement on.
Dilkes/ And I think ... the second reason that Tracy and I have talked about is that ... is that there's
an interest here to, um, retain med ... new medical office space (both talking)
Champion/ ...well I, yeah.
Dilkes/ ...in the Towncrest area.
Champion/ ...I just wondered why...
Dilkes/ We may not need as many coffee shops as we do medical office (both talking)
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Champion/ ...don't know about that! But I know, I ... I think there is a need ... I know several
people who are looking for a new space. So, but I just wondered what the rationale was.
Usually we don't limit what has to do in there.
Mims/ Good question!
Davidson/ It's kind of fortuitous that the space that is open is the most viable for retail use along
Muscatine Avenue where the visibility and the traffic count is the highest.
Hayek/ Hey, Jeff, when you come back tonight to answer Michelle's question about the footprint
and the zoning, could you also just be prepared to remind us and therefore the public
what that zone or those zones would allow on the commercial end?
Davidson/ Sure.
Throgmorton/ I guess I'd like to follow up on Connie's question, uh, but first, Tracy, I thought
yours and, uh, Wendy's memo was really very helpful and I appreciated that enormously.
Uh, but um, my ... my question really has to do with, uh, who will move into the facility,
and this is a question I've gotten from some other people in the community, right, so it
seems like a reasonable one to ask. Uh, and it's this: what's the risk that ... the people
who move, the businesses that move in to this new facility will actually be moving out of
the existing buildings in the Towncrest medical complex? And that in fact ... we won't be
adding new jobs, won't be adding new value. We'll just be shifting things around.
Hightshoe/ There was a realtor from one of the tenants. The developer doesn't want to disclose
the two tenants they're in negotiations with, but the one tenant has informed us about a
year and a half ago that they were looking at new space in Northgate or on Dodge Street
and they actually had a ... they were actively looking at a developer to build on the site.
Um, we approached them when we were dealing with the Towncrest, um, urban renewal
area and the Towncrest improvements that we wanted to make, um, that if we found them
space, if we worked out, would they ... would they stay, would they not move to another
location, cause we wanted to retain ... it's much easier to retain businesses as opposed to
try to attract new ones to backfill those spaces. Um, so there is some imperative because
right now they lease in the Towncrest area. Their lease is expired. They hope to get into
this new space so that they're not, um, they're not doubling up on lease end, or having to
renegotiate their lease agreements in order to wait to get into this new facility. So we
were in danger of losing, um, there has been a lot of...a lot of physicians have left the
area.
Throgmorton/ (mumbled) understand.
Dilkes/ And ... and I did want to follow up on that, because of Jim's comments about deferral,
and it sounds like you might be talking about that at the ... at the formal, is this agreement
will need to be revised if there is a deferral, because we've got a pretty quick construction
timeline and the timeline is also ... um, based in part on when they have to have the space
available for the other people.
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Davidson/ We do also feel, Jim, that... as you've stated, there's really no net economic gain... or
not significant economic gain when you're just moving somebody across the street to
better space. There's some economic gain in that, but the space that is left behind then
there... becomes more motivation for the redevelopment of that space. And if it's
occupied by a leased... leased up tenant, you know, then the develop ... the property owner
isn't as inclined as if the space is vacant, and we hope to manifest that throughout the
Towncrest area.
Hayek/ Other questions on this?
Payne/ On this one, or can we ask other questions?
Hayek/ Well why don't we stay on this while we're ... I mean, if there are more questions on this,
let's answer ... let's ask them. Otherwise we can go throughout the agenda.
Payne/ Okay.
Hayek/ Are there in fact more questions on this?
Champion/ No.
Hayek/ Okay. Let's open it up!
ITEM 3e(1) CONSIDER A RESOLUTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING ON JULY
10, 2012 ON PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS, FORM OF CONTRACT, AND
ESTIMATE OF COST FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE S.
DUBUQUE STREET STORM SEWER AND WATER MAIN
IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT, DIRECTING CITY CLERK TO PUBLISH
NOTICE OF SAID HEARING, AND DIRECTING THE CITY ENGINEER
TO PLACE SAID PLANS ON FILE FOR PUBLIC INSPECTION.
Payne/ All right. On item 3e(1) ... if you go to ... the ... I just found a typo. Sorry! (laughter) But
it's ... it's a whole word! So I don't know if it changes the meaning. So if you to page
101 ... in the memo. Come on computer... catch up with me! Um, down at the bottom it
says the recommendations, on page 101. It says, June ... the last thing says June 3ISt
Well there isn't a June 31 St. I think that should say July 31 St.
Hayek/ In terms of awarding the project?
Payne/ Yes!
Hayek/ Yeah. (several talking)
Dilkes/ It looks like it.
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Hayek/ Where's Fosse? (laughter)
Markus / Which item is it? (several talking)
Dilkes/ It doesn't affect the resolution that you're passing tonight.
Payne/ No. I just...
Dilkes/ Right!
Champion/ Michelle is really good at catching those things! (laughter and several talking)
Payne/ I don't mean to! (laughter)
ITEM 3f(7) Jerry Bokassa: Forest View Trailer Court
Throgmorton/ I have a question with regard to Item M(7), which is a letter from, uh, Jerry
Bokassa. Uh, I don't think I know Jerry, uh, but he's the writer of the letter, uh, about,
um, something going on in the Forest View Trailer Court, and I'm just wondering, when I
read it I think this doesn't sound very good. I'm wondering if...if there's, if anyone has
tried to connect with Jerry Bokassa, tried to point him in the right direction in terms of,
uh, getting some legal assistance, if it would be appropriate, cause sure sounds like it just
based purely on his letter.
Markus/ Uh, we have, uh, regular staff contact with Mr. Bokassa. (laughter)
Champion/ Yes! (several talking)
Throgmorton/ There you go!
ITEM 18. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN
AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO
THE AGREEMENT FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF LAND FOR
PRIVATE REDEVELOPMENT BY AND BETWEEN THE CITY OF
IOWA CITY AND MARC MOEN FOR 118 EAST COLLEGE STREET,
IOWA CITY, IOWA.
Dobyns/ I had a question on um ... Item 18 for ... I ... I guess Eleanor and, uh, 19 for either Tom or
Jeff, um ... on 18, Eleanor, this is the, um, regarding the Moen Group.
Dilkes/ Uh -huh.
Dobyns/ Maybe, Jeff, you can answer it. Is the provision of alcoholic beverages similar to what
exists at the Englert?
Dilkes/ I ... I can't ... I didn't hear you. I'm sorry.
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Dobyns/ Is the provision of alcoholic beverages, uh, that is proposed is similar to what exists at
the Englert? Um ... in terms of having alcohol at a movie, place where they're showing a
movies or art or...
Dilkes/ In terms of how we would classify it under the zoning code, yes. In terms of the...
Davidson/ I think it is intended to be a regular occurrence... for this business, should it go into
place. Not that it would be, you know, done occasionally or for special events, but as
part of their regular operation of the ... the FilmScene operation (both talking)
Dobyns/ ...the city it's not really unprecedented to have this ... okay.
Davidson/ Well, it's ... it's unprecedented in as much as a business like this is
unprecedent ... probably the closest thing to this, uh, as the ... the two individuals who are
behind the effort have indicated is the Bijou Theater that ... that type of venue. They...
apparently it's getting to be more and more common nationally at these types of, uh, for
these types of businesses to have this sort of food and beverage service available and
that's kind of part of their business model, and I guess that's what I'm trying to
emphasize, Rick, is that this is part of their regular business model for the operation of it,
not a special event type status.
Dobyns/ But regular theaters, like we have at Sycamore, you know, does not have this.
Davidson/ Right, right. It will ... it will not be the same type of movies that you find at Sycamore
and Coral Ridge Mall but ... but more the Bijou -type, uh, art house is the phrase I always
use. That might not be accurate. They can clarify that tonight if... if needed, but more of
an art house type theater.
Dobyns/ Okay. Thank you.
Champion/ And I missed the business about the alcohol and somebody asked me today about it,
and I thought well it would not be uncommon. I've been to several theaters across the
country that have bars attached to `em. You can actually take your drink in and sit on a
couch and watch the movie. It's great! (laughter)
Markus/ And ... and to pick up on that a little bit. It isn't just art theaters...
Champion/ No!
Markus/ ...that have gone that direction. First run theaters, you're seeing some migration occur
in that regard as well.
Champion/ I've only seen in it first -run theaters. But it ... they're very closely monitored.
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Dobyns/ Yeah, and I'm most familiar with it at the Englert so ... but I just wanted to see if we
were setting precedent. Thank you, Jeff (several talking)
Mims/ So, Eleanor, in terms of our ... original agreement with the financial assistance to Mr.
Moen on this project, and the fact that this was not going to be a bar, okay?
Dilkes/ Uh -huh.
Mims/ This is simply a special exception or whatever, or agreement, that does not impact ... that
original, I mean, this is simply for this purpose in this particular part of the location.
Dilkes/ The ... the addition to the, um, definition is very specific to this use. But the ... the way we
came about deciding we needed to amend the agreement is that, um, even though the...
the film, or the theater use is not an eating and drinking establishment under our code.
Um, the way the language of the agreement was drafted it seemed to be stricter than that.
Mims / Right.
Dilkes/ So we wanted to make sure we had this addressed speficially.
Dobyns/ Would this exception, if the business moved to another building, um, would the
exception move with it or would it have to be, um, I mean, if they ... there was some
mention in this that this actually might not be the permanent location. It might move.
Dilkes/ This only addresses the use of that space in this building.
Dobyns/ That space (mumbled)
Davidson/ Yeah, and I think what (several talking) excuse me, the point Eleanor was trying to
make, Rick, was that if not for this agreement, regarding the rehabilitation of this space,
you wouldn't need to take this action.
Mims / Right.
Throgmorton/ So, I'm a big fan of the FilmScene. I did talk with Andy Brody about it, before
though, not with regard to this particular location, uh, but I do have a concern, and that is
that it's open ended. It seems to me we ought to have a termination date that could, uh,
conceivably be renewed. I know that there's language that we could use, but why not
have something like this ... this is good for a two -year period or good for a three -year
period, instead of being ... as I read it at least, open ended?
Dilkes/ that's a judgment call on the part of the Council. And ... and you might want to have Mr.
Moen address that.
Champion/ It might be very successful and continue for longer.
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Dilkes/ I don't ... I can tell you from the staff perspective. I don't think we talked about needing
to put an end date on it. But that ... that it would not be a problem if it continued. Am I
correct... about that? Jeff?
Davidson/ I'm sorry, Eleanor, clarify what you meant. I would want to check with...
Dilkes/ No, I mean ... the... the agreement as it's worded does not say this is only a temporary
use.
Davidson/ Right. Right, the ... the developer has indicated they expect it to be a temporary use,
uh, by virtue of the fact that it'd be hoped that the business would flourish and they
would get in a more permanent type location, and the developer has indicated two or
three year period, but I think what Eleanor's saying is the agreement does not limit it to a
two or three -year period. It could go beyond that ... if things work out differently.
Hayek/ But it does limit it specifically to this particular non - profit. It's not...
Davidson/ That's correct.
Hayek/ ...an authority to ... to do this regardless of who goes into that space. It is specific to this
particular...
Dilkes/ Right, and it also limits the ... the area, the floor area that can be dedicated to it can't
exceed 40% of the square footage of the first floor.
Payne/ So if this specific business moves out and something else comes in there, they would not
be able to sell alcohol. It would revert back to the original agreement.
Davidson/ Right.
Hayek/ We could take up that in the event that occurred, but absent some sort of revisitation by
us (both talking)
Payne/ Just like this.
Hayek/ Yeah, exactly.
Davidson/ And again, Michelle, that's ... that' s the intention the developer's indicated.
Payne/ Okay. Thank you.
ITEM 19. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING FUNDING FOR IBLITZ
BOXING AND FITNESS, LLC FROM IOWA CITY'S COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT — ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
FUND AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ACT AS CHIEF
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICER AND SUBMIT ALL NECESSARY
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June 19, 2012 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 23
DOCUMENTATION TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND
URBAN DEVELOPMENT.
Dobyns/ I have a question on Item 19. Urn ... is there going to be pugilism involved at that site?
This is the IBLITZ.
Davidson/ There will be pugilism involved in the site. That's the basis of the workout.
Dobyns/ Okay. (both talking) ...people will be hitting each other?
Davidson/ Um... (several talking) Yeah, I don't believe the hit each other, Rick. More of (both
talking)
Mims/ It's bags! It's hanging ... it's hanging bags and mitts. They do (several talking) they do
some with mitts.
Payne/ They have routines that they hit ... have you ever been in a class where you do these
routines and you hit these mitts?
Dobyns/ All right. (several talking)
Hayek/ Apropos your penchant for multisyllabic words, um (laughter) I think this will be
pugilism visa vie inanimate objects.
Dobyns/ Okay. All right. It'll be virtual pugilism! (laughter) Okay, thank you, Mayor.
Hayek/ Is that ... is that correct? It's (several talking)
Mims/ ...the presentation...
Davidson/ ...will not be battling each other! (several talking and laughing) All right.
Throgmorton/ Pugilism, there's a great photograph of Mohammed Ali, one of my, uh, idols so to
speak from Louisville, Kentucky. On the back cover of Time magazine this week.
Shows him and I think his grandson because the little boy looks exactly like Mohammed
Ali!
Hayek/ You should join!
Hightshoe/ There might be some self - defense classes as part of the business, but yes, the
business targets, um, professional women and stay -at -home moms. If you read the
business plan ... and they're just hitting the bags.
Dobyns/ But nothing to the head!
Hightshoe/ Yeah, isn't that ... no, there won't be...
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Dobyns/ Thank you. No concussive potential. Thank you. (laughter)
ITEM 21. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION APPROVING DISTRIBUTION OF THE
"PROGRAM FOR IMPROVING NEIGHBORHOODS" ( "PIN ") GRANT
FUNDS.
Payne/ I have a question on Item 21. Which ... my question's actually on page 272. Let me get
there. Sorry! In the ... writeup ... urn ... it talks about...
Hayek/ This is the ... the, uh, the PIN grant (several talking)
Payne/ ...yes, the PIN grants, sorry!
Hayek/ Okay.
Payne/ When it's talking about, uh, parties in the park ... it says College Green, Melrose, Miller
Orchard, Kiwannis, and Goosetown. But then when you actually look in the ... in the
applications, it ... instead of Kiwanis, it says Ty'n Cae. So is ... I'm assuming it really is
Ty'n Cae because that's what they put in their application, not Kiwanis. Is there a
Kiwanis Park?
Davidson/ There is a Kiwanis Park within the Ty'n Cae neighborhood.
Payne/ Okay. So maybe it means the same thing they just used different language in (both
talking)
Davidson/ Used one word once and ... and they used the neighborhood once and the park name in
once, but it's the same neighborhood and park. (both talking) Yes. Good catch!
(laughter)
Hayek/ You've got a reputation (several talking and laughing)
Payne/ Then the other question that I had was on ... page 274. So it was in one of the
applications, and maybe this is why, um, the staff recommends the ... the award that it
does. On page 274, Item j, urn ... oh, did I put this in the right spot?
Davidson/ This is the workshops at Grant Wood, right?
Payne/ Uh -huh.
Davidson/ Okay.
Payne/ It actually talked about, um, oh, no. It's under Item m. It says honorarium for four
speakers at $50 each.
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Davidson/ Uh -huh.
Payne / And then the total says $250. I think four times 200 is, or four times 50 is 200.
Davidson/ Okay. I believe we ... limit those honorariums to $50. Like for example when the
person came and talked about how to take care of your pet. That person got $50 so I ... I
think the intent here, in spite of the fact that the math is in error, would be to perhaps be
able to fund five speakers. At $50 apiece.
Payne/ Okay.
ITEM 22. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION FIXING DATE FOR A MEETING ON THE
PROPOSITION OF THE ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED $2,800,000
TAXABLE GENERAL OBLIGATION URBAN RENEWAL BONDS,
SERIES 2012, OF THE CITY OF IOWA CITY, STATE OF IOWA, AND
PROVIDING FOR PUBLICATION OF NOTICE THEREOF.
ITEM 23. CONSIDER RESOLUTION FIXING DATE FOR A MEETING ON THE
PROPOSITION OF THE ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED $3,100,000
TAXABLE URBAN RENEWAL REVENUE BONDS, SERIES 2012, OF
THE CITY OF IOWA CITY, STATE OF IOWA AND PROVIDING FOR
PUBLICATION OF NOTICE THEREOF.
Throgmorton/ Uh, Matt, I have a question about Items 22 and 23. Uh, unless somebody else
wants to ask questions (mumbled). Okay, um ... well, they have to do with two alternative
ways of, uh, bonding, uh, scheduling the public hearing for that, with regard to the South
Dubuque Street project, right? So my question is this. Uh, at what point, assuming we
receive a petition signed by, um, sufficient number of citizen, uh, of registered voters, or
eligible voters I guess, right? Uh, at what point will be discuss whether or not to, uh,
schedule a referendum in response to that?
Champion/ (mumbled)
Dilkes/ Well, I think your initial discussion would be July 10th cause what's going to happen on
July 10th is you're going to have a public hearing on the, um, both types of bonds and
then you're going to decide, um, if you have a petition, the ... the options on the GO bonds
are going to be to, um, abandon GO bonds or set it for election, or you're going to make a
decision to authorize the issuance of revenue bonds. So you're going to have that
discussion July 10th
Throgmorton/ So on the 10th with regard to the first ... would there be a public hearing on the first
possibility, I guess, right?
Dilkes/ Well there's a public hearing on the issuance of the bonds.
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Throgmorton/ Right, and ... and is there a vote that same night? Would that be scheduled for the
same night?
Dilkes/ On whether to authorize the ... to issue `em, yes.
Throgmorton/ Yes.
Dilkes/ Yes.
Throgmorton/ So we'd have to have that discussion about how to respond to the petition that
same might. Is that correct?
Dilkes/ Your decisions on that... if you get a petition you will not be able to authorize GO bonds.
You will be able to authorize revenue bonds.
Throgmorton/ But still there'd be a question about how ... whether or not to put a referendum on
the ballot?
Dilkes/ Right.
Throgmorton/ Okay. I just (both talking)
Dilkes/ You won't actually have ... let's say the decision ... you got a petition and there was a
decision made to set it for election. You won't have that resolution in front of you at that
time.
Hayek/ Maybe another way to ... explain this is to ... to explain why Items 22 and 23 are both on
the agenda tonight... in terms of flexibility.
Dilkes/ Because if you get a petition on the GO bonds, urn ... we wanted to give you the option,
um, to issue revenue bonds.
Hayek/ So, so again ... so if we ... if we don't, then we vote on the GO bond original approach, but
if we do, we can't go that route, then we decide what to do. Election abandonment or
revenue, which by then we will have provided proper notice of. Do I have that right?
Champion/ Uh -huh.
Dilkes/ Uh -huh.
Hayek/ Thanks.
Throgmorton/ I ... I raise the question only because I think it, uh, presuming we receive a
sufficient number of, uh, signatures and so on. It deserves some thoughtful consideration
(mumbled)
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Hayek/ Okay.
Karr/ Mr. Mayor, if I can just respond to Council Member Throgmorton. You will have ample
time to meet the required deadlines for the election, should that be your decision, by the
next meeting, as well. So you can have that discussion. You can proceed. You could
wait till the next one. It still meets the deadline to meet the other criteria for the election.
ITEM 16. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE IOWA CITY HOUSING
AUTHORITY'S PUBLIC HOUSING ADMISSIONS AND CONTINUED
OCCUPANCY POLICY (ACOP).
ITEM 17. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE IOWA CITY HOUSING
AUTHORITY'S HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHER (HCV)
ADMINISTRATIVE PLAN.
Hayek/ I have a quick question, uh, Steve, if you could come forward, and it regards the, um,
Items ... what is it, 16, 17. And um ... without getting into the ... the various and sundry
details, can you ... can you confirm, are ... are the proposed changes, um, identified in your
memo changes so that ... to make us consistent with changing HUD policy or...
Rackis/ No. HUD ... HUD policy, um ... there are various things that HUD tells us we must do.
Then they tell us there are things that we may do, and if we choose to act on the `mays'
like, uh, setting, uh, selection criteria and uh, the ... the criteria that we use to determine
eligibility, if we use criteria beyond what they subject... they've suggested, then we have
to spell it out in the plan. So for example the burglary in the second degree or higher is
something that we may do, and if we choose to do it, it requires your action, and we have
to have it in the plan. So these are things that we may do, and things that we would like
to do. So we just have to spell it out in both plans.
Hayek/ And then right below that under the modification section where we've reduced the
sanction, um, for particular misconduct, can ... briefly why ... why that?
Rackis/ Uh, basically the ... those were part of our denial for ... in the criminal activity portion of
the plan, and for all criminal activity we had a three -year period of ineligibility. Uh, our
hearing officer has been routinely modifying those denial, uh, determinations for
disorderly house and disorderly conduct that does not constitute violent criminal activity.
So he's been reducing those to a one -year period of ineligibility. So we thought we
would take those out of the three -year, put it into the one -year, because that's what he's
routinely doing in his decisions.
Hayek/ Okay. That explains it. Thanks.
Throgmorton/ Are ... are (mumbled). With regard ... if I'm reading it correctly, with regard to the
housing choice voucher tenant selection policy, there's suggested change to, um, to no
longer, well, to focus preference for disaster ... on disaster victims from the state of Iowa,
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instead of...of apparently disaster victims who are at- large. There's a particular sentence
that's being added in ... why is it being added?
Rackis/ We ... we get several applications from Florida, Indiana, wherever, and people claim the
disaster preference and then a great deal of staff time is, um, is used to determine a lot of
exchange of information to get, um, documentation from FEMA, documentation from the
American Red Cross, and it turns out that the families are ... do not, they are not displaced
because of a federally declared disaster, nor are they displaced due to government action.
In... in Iowa that is much easier to evaluate and to get information to work with those
jurisdictions and make that determination. Uh, as a matter of fact we had one individual
that did get $500 from FEMA, um, there wasn't a federally de ... declared disaster in
Indiana. The particular unit that she was in was not near it. She just knocked a
downspouts down. Did get ... it did get some flooding. FEMA for whatever reason gave
her $500, but at the same time, the county was paying her, subsidizing her rent, but that
was, you know, a lot of phone calls, a lot of exchanges. That's just a particular example,
so we thought let's just limit it to federally declared disasters in the state of Iowa.
Hayek/ Thanks, Steve, appreciate it. If there aren't any other agenda questions why don't we
switch to our strategic planning, uh, update with Geoff Fruin.
Review Strategic Plan Status Report:
Fruin/ Okay, we've got, uh, 15 -20 minutes here to go through the five remaining strategic plan,
uh, priorities that the Council has. If you recall, at the last meeting we walked through
the neighborhood stabilization priorities. So I'm going to skip over that one, um, and my
intention is really just to provide a high -level update on the ... on the progress that we've
had to date. Um, I can respond to specific questions. We've got some staff in here that
can certainly, uh, talk specifics if you want to get there.
Hayek/ Can you just remin ... or remind everybody where your report was? It's probably (both
talking)
Mims/ May 31St
Hayek/ Thank you!
Mims/ Information Packet.
Fruin/ Thank you.
Mims/ Item number ... 6. I'm sorry, IP #4.
Fruin/ And if you don't have that with you I'll ... I'll try to be descriptive in my comments and
give you some context. Uh, the first priority was, uh, generally termed economic and
community development. And uh, with this goal we were both looking at some targeted
geographic areas and some strategies to ... to build those areas, as well as some more
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general items to ... to help spur economic development in the community. So a couple of
the highlights from the, uh, geographic areas that were ... that were mentioned. Uh,
Towncrest, certainly you're aware of what's on the agenda tonight in the district, and
you'll recall, um, about a month ago you approved the acquisition of the Kerr McGee
property, so a couple of substantial, uh, actions in the Towncrest area. Moving on the
Sycamore Mall and First Avenue, uh, again you're aware of the infrastructure, uh,
conversations that have taken place with Lower Muscatine Road and Sycamore Street.
So we're still working on the ... on the capital projects surrounding that, uh, district. You
also have an item on your agenda tonight that initiates, um, the grade separation project
on First Avenue. Some utility work there. So that's a good sign of progress for that
project. Uh, in addition we've had, um, several discussions with Sycamore Mall staff,
uh, over the last couple of months and certainly are ... are looking to help them out with
their plans to revitalize the center. Uh, you've got the, uh, Title boxing agreement on
your agenda tonight. That'll be a ... a substantial tenant for them going forward, assuming
that deal works out. On the Highway 6/1-fighway 1 area, this is the, uh, really the City -
owned Transit and Public Works' space there. Um, we've indicated that we are, uh,
currently in the middle of the Phase 2 environmental, uh, study and that's ongoing. You
also have before you, um, some plans to relocate the fueling stations off of that, uh, off of
that site, and that's just an indication to you that we are moving in those directions to try
to move our operations off that site and thus free it up for development. Um, let's move
on to the Moss property. I think you're aware of the discussions that are going on there
and we continue to work on that front. The 4201h Street industrial park, you, uh, earlier
this year approved a... a contract for the rail spur improvement. That is, uh, ongoing, and
you also, uh, were witness to the receipt of the shovel -ready designation for the site. So
we continue to ... to market that property and ... it, uh, I think Jeff could attest, we continue
to get interest and ... and hopefully we'll have some ... some tenants, uh, soon for that area.
Uh, in terms of other economic development efforts, just a couple of things to highlight
that we have accomplished this year. Um, several months ago you ... you approved some
changes to the, uh, non - conforming use ordinance, and uh, that has certainly in
conversations with businesses in the community and with the Chamber of Commerce,
that has been very well received. I can't necessarily point to a specific business that has
utilized that, but I can tell you, there is conversation in the business community. They
recognize the changes that were made and they feel very positive about, uh, about that.
There's a few other things, uh, I would consider fairly minor in the ... in the written report
that I'll skip over, unless, uh ... anybody had specific questions about those items. We'll
move on to the, uh, downtown and near - downtown areas, and ... and this looked at
specifically Riverfront Crossings, downtown, and the Northside Market Place, and the
actions that were ... we're, uh, pursuing there. Uh, you know, certainly the biggest thing
is the formation of the SSMID, or the Iowa City downtown district. Uh, and I can tell
you, um, as the... as the staff representative to that board, they have been, uh, very busy
in their ... in their infancy, um ... I just, before this meeting, came from, uh, their
infrastructure committee. Chris O'Brien joined me. Chris has stepped out of the room,
but we were, uh, reviewing all of our parking policies, uh, with that committee, and uh,
you may have not seen a lot of public, uh, progress or a lot of activity generated from the
SSMID group, but I can tell you that there's a lot of conversation going on and in ... in my
view it's very, very positive, very productive exchanges that are going on. I ... I'm very
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confident that ... that it'll lead to some ... some very positive changes, uh, downtown. So
we'll continue to stay very engaged with that group. Uh, you... in approval of the budget,
uh, this year, you set aside $850,000 for infrastructure improvements to the downtown
streetscape, and this was intended to be more of a maintenance project, uh, that updated,
um, you know, light posts that were rusting out or tree grates that were disintegrating,
um, those types of maintenance projects. After having some conversations with the, uh,
Iowa City Downtown District, we thought it would be best, uh, or perhaps a good time to
review the streetscape plans that we have in place for the area. Uh, a couple reasons for
that. The downtown streetscape plan was from 1998, and certainly there's been a lot of
changes, both socially and ... and with the ... the type of streetsap ... streetscape amenities
that are available for public use. So we thought it would be good before investing that
sum of money to make sure that we're ... we're not replacing something that's ... not as
functional as it could be, or not as attractive as it could be. The other thing is, we have
this, uh, taxing district now that expands into the northside. Well the northside has its
own streetscape plan and uh, we recognize that it...it jumps across the University of Iowa
campus on Iowa Avenue, uh, which has its own, uh, streetscape plan. So, thankfully the
...the SSMID group and the University have all been receptive to the idea where we can
come together and try to unify these plans, and uh, what it will do is it'll slow down the
investments in the area. We will, uh, try to issue an RFP here in the next couple of
months to bring on an urban design team, a landscape architect, to not go through an
entire, uh, drawn -out streetscape, um, plan where we're starting from scratch, but to
really take a look at the existing plans, update them, and unify them, and ... and hopefully
better guide those investments in the coming year. So, you'll... you'll see more on that
throughout the year. Uh, the... special events, a lot of public art projects going on. Just
this year we had the Asics Fan Fest which was great. I think that was a good display for
the community. We introduced the One -Book, Two -Book Festival to downtown, which
looks like it will carry over into future years, and you've seen the beginnings of the
Benchmarks Project by the Iowa City Downtown District and you, of course, approved
the, or gave them the authority to ... to pursue some of those public art projects. So a lot
of exciting things happening there. I think you're aware of some of the larger, um,
individual projects that we have going on. The, uh, John Wilson building RFP that's, uh,
being drafted and... and hopefully will be released in a couple of months. The ICAD co-
lab, uh, the ... the Park at 201, the Vito's renovation, all those, you know, very positive
changes that are going forward in the ... in the community. You've also approved a
couple of small business loans that'll... that'll help these districts, uh, Molly's Cupcakes,
the Busy Co- working Space, and the Trumpet Blossom Cafe are just a couple, um, and
we've also approved the, uh, Prairie Lights' grant, as well. So a lot of activity happening
in the Downtown District. Uh, we'll skip past neighborhood stabilization and jump to
the, um ... the financial priority, which is a strong and sustainable financial foundation.
Uh, some good progress throughout the first few months on that, uh, priority, as well.
You did approve a new purchasing manual, um, a couple months back, which included a
Buy Local preference policy, so a couple of...of significant, uh, policy changes, uh, in
that area. We did reaffirm our triple -A bond rating earlier this year, uh certainly we've
talked about the importance of that and ... and we're focused and intent on keeping that
bond rating going forward. Uh, couple meetings ago you also approved a... a staff
reorganization where we eliminated a ... a purchasing division, uh, position and created
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a ... a new budget analyst position, which uh ... we feel will help us improve the budget
document and some of the financial analysis that's presented to Council and the ... and the
public in the coming years. So, very positive steps in ... in that area. Uh, moving on to
the communications and customer service priority. Um, this one was really internally
focused at the organization to see how we can improve in those two areas, and uh, we're
very excited that starting July 1St our ... our reorganization that you approved will
officially take effect. That's the elimination of the document services division, uh, which
was part of the Finance department, um, those, uh, staff members are going to come
down and form a centralized communication team in the City Manager's office, which
we feel, uh, over time will have a very positive impact, not only how we communicate
with the public but how we communicate with ourselves, amongst the various, uh,
departments and divisions. So we're excited to, uh, work through some of those
transitional issues in the early months and ... and start to build a ... a foundation for ... for
some improvements in those areas. Uh, if you've noticed the last month or so, um,
unfortunately our front desk operation, um, has been cut short a little bit. We've had to
close it early due to some staff changes, uh, and ... and just on Monday, uh, we ... we hired,
uh, two new positions for the front desk — one in the morning, one in the afternoon.
They're falling under this new communications group in the City Manager's office and
it's allowing us to really refocus, um, the front desk operations there, which from a
customer service standpoint is so critical, greeting folks that are coming in, taking calls,
responding to emails that come in through the web site. So, with that, uh, now under the
umbrella of the City Manager's office we'll be able to put a ... a uh, a strong emphasis on
customer service there. Lastly, uh, on this priority I'll point out the, uh, the computer
system which, uh, we continue to work on. This is the enterprise resource platform or
ERP project where we're looking at the, really the ... the backbone computer system of the
City. If you'll recall a few years ago, um, we initiated some new software that ... that, uh,
did not work out for the City, so this past year we put out another RFP. We're currently
vetting, uh, two finalists, uh, that have responded to that and ... and hope to have a
recommendation back to you within the next couple of months. And that ... that will, um,
we feel have a... a tremendous impact, uh, mostly on internal communications, but also
on our ability to, um ... turn out data and respond to folks in a timely manner. The last
one that I wanted to, uh, talk about, the last priority is the organizational effectiveness.
This was, uh, just a couple of items here. The ... the most significant being the, um, our
partnership with our state and federal elected officials and I'll ... I'll just skip over that
given the presentation that we had earlier in the work session. I think you're up to speed
on what we're doing in those areas. Uh, the second part of that priority was a ... a focus
on succession planning, and so looking internally at our organization and trying to
anticipate in the next three to five years what changes will be taking place and how we're
going to adapt, uh, to those, uh, changes in personnel. I can tell you we've gone through
what we would consider Phase one of that, which is a ... an analysis of our workforce
demographics and we've been able to focus, you know, on the areas, um, where we see
the biggest changes occurring. Uh, we've got some things in motion internally to ... to
take that from a, really an analysis into an action plan format, and uh, that'll probably be
put together, uh, throughout the summer and into the early fall, and I think that'll lead to,
uh, a number of changes, um, again, mostly internal in ... in just how we, um, how we
look at our staff and how we can cultivate them to move up and to, uh, new positions and
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upward in the organization. So, um, that ... we didn't share the demographics analysis
with you. We can certainly do that if you're interested in it, um, at...at some point,
again, in the fall likely we'll come back to you and share with you a ... a summary report
on succession planning. And that's ... under 20 minutes I think, so ... uh, I could respond
to some questions if you have `em.
Information Packets:
Hayek/ Any questions for Geoff? It's really handy to have ... to remind ourselves what our
strategic objectives are and then to do these periodic ... gut checks, you know, what have
we accomplished, uh, to those ends. (several talking) Thank you. Okay, that takes us to
the Info Packets, uh, we have two for your consideration. The first is June 7th. Any
questions about that one? Okay. Uh, let's go to the 4 ... June 14th Info Packet.
Throgmorton/ I have a quick question about IP #6 concerning the, uh, possible Taft Speedway
levee. Uh, I'm not sure if I completely missed, um, the ... the appropriate communication,
but...
Karr/ IP7, Jim. IP7.
Throgmorton/ IP7? I'm sorry.
Karr/ That's okay.
Throgmorton/ Thank you. Um, so if I slipped up I apologize, but uh, I ... I didn't know that the,
at least the second meeting, the public event down at, uh, down at Parkview Church until
I read it in the newspaper that morning. So, did I ... I miss something or ... I ... were we
sent information about that meeting, cause ... I didn't see it!
Markus/ You know, I don't see Rick here and that's ... falls under his jurisdiction, so ... maybe
when he comes ... I don't know if he's coming back in or not. We'll have to ... we can
circle back to you and find out what the public issue requirements were.
Throgmorton/ I mean I've had some conversations subsequent... subsequently with people who
attended the meeting, but I didn't know about it until the morning of the meeting
(mumbled)
Markus/ We'll get back to you on that.
Throgmorton/ Okay!
Hayek/ Any other questions on the, uh, Info Packet?
Dobyns/ I had a request on, uh, the ... Economic Development Committee meeting minutes. It's
sort of the end of the Information Packet. Um, for those of us, for me who doesn't ... who
isn't on this subcommittee, um, some more elaboration would be nice. I'm looking at,
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uh, when Tom asked Jeff to speak to members about the Sycamore Mall status, uh,
there's... there's about four sentences there. Um, I mean, the what the Economic
development Council I think is very interesting, um, to the rest of the Council and it's
nice not to find out about it until it comes up for a resolution. I just ask the note taker, uh,
maybe to elaborate on such things a little bit more, you know, in that specific
subcommittee. Just cause I think that's a ... what goes on (mumbled) is so important and I
was trying to read that and I'm thinking this is really cool, but I really couldn't figure out
what was... going on, and I don't want to take up the time now in this meeting to do this
(laughter) but uh, I'd be ... I'd welcome to read such things.
Davidson/ Okay, so just ... more complete elaboration.
Dobyns/ Yeah, more complete, cause that's cool stuff, Jeff. (laughter)
Mims/ We think so too! (laughter)
Davidson/ Appreciate that, Rick!
Hayek/ You mean like Human Rights Commission complete or (several talking) more than status
quo!
Dobyns/ I think I'm referring to the Economic Development Commission, Mr. Mayor.
(laughter)
Hayek/ That's a good point. (mumbled) sure that happens. Any other questions on that Info
Packet? Okay ... Council time!
Council Time:
Dickens/ I had the question on Pearson's.
Markus / And you wanted to know what the current status...
Dickens/ If there was any update from the last...
Markus/ Yeah, what we, uh, we had planned a meeting this Friday with the, um ... um, leadership
from both Pearson and from the Moss Green development to discuss ... uh, possible road
connections and other, uh, issues of mutual interest, in an effort to try to bring everybody
together. Uh, the traffic study was completed by Moss Green. That has been submitted
to Pearson. Pearson has hired their own traffic consultant. They're evaluating the, uh,
traffic report from, uh, Moss Green and uh, hopefully they will be able to share, uh, their
reaction to it. There's also a 1985 agreement that exists and that agreement apparently
took place, uh, was entered into at the time, uh, the predecessor to Pearson, um, occupied
and developed and expanded on that site and the agreement, uh, calls for, um, the parties
to negotiate in good faith, uh, a ... a roadway, an ingress and egress to the adjacent
property, which is the Moss property. And so that ... that agreement will be brought up.
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We'll discuss that, in light of the traffic engineer's work and there's actually a north route
and a south route, uh, that both touch or go through the Pearson property. So, obviously
the Pearson, uh, organization is concerned about how this, um, these routes would impact
their traffic, not only internally but externally as to the connections onto the highway.
Um, it's kind of where we're at. Our efforts at this point are to try and get the parties
together to see if we can find that magical common ground that, uh...
Dickens/ No blows to the head.
Markus/ Yeah, that we can ... all that they're hitting is ... is punching bags or the City Manager!
(laughter)
Payne / What was that word you used?
Dobyns/ Tom's (mumbled) (laughter)
Pending Work Session Topics:
Hayek/ Any other Council time items? Okay. Uh, pending work session topics, which is IP5.
Anything to ... add or subtract from that?
Dobyns/ Do we really need, um, in regard to the, uh, ad hoc committee that we're planning on
putting together, Item #2, um, regarding review of the Police Citizen Review Board's
annual... because that seems to me, I don't think Council wants to discuss something that
that group is being charged with. So I would recommend, uh, to come off pending topics
to be scheduled.
Hayek/ (several talking) Yeah.
Throgmorotn/ It raises a related question. Will we be receiving a transcript of the PCRB's
forum?
Karr/ The PCRB will have minutes and they will have, uh, recommendations; a report on the
forum. We do not typically do a transcription per se, uh, but we ... we certainly ... are you
interested in a transcription?
Throgmorton/ What I'm interested in is the questions that were asked by people at the forum
because the questions were spot -on, and ... and I think our committee, when they start
talking about that...
Karr/ Let me see.
Throgmorton/ ...would want to know what those questions were and how they were asked and
all that.
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Karr/ Okay, let us ... let us see what we've got. We're working on the, um, the PCRB has met
and we're working on the final report, and we're working on minutes now. So, timing is
good we'll take a look at what we can provide.
Hayek/ We also have the video from that, I believe.
Dobyns/ So, Marian, let the minutes reflect that at least one Council Member tried to remove
something from the pending work topics! (laughter)
Karr/ Duly noted!
Dobyns/ Thank you! (laughter)
Hayek/ Okay! Meeting schedules (several talking) Meeting (laughter and several talking)
Mueller! Uh, Let's move on to meeting schedules, uh, anything on that? We've got the
schedule that Marian's got in the packet. Any changes on that ... through the balance of
the summer? Okay. Upcoming events. Invitations.
Invitations•
Payne/ Tomorrow night we were invited to something. The ... it was ... I have a letter.
Dobyns/ Well maybe you! (laughter)
Throgmorton/ The joint City /County thing, right?
Payne/ Well, it was something besides that. Isn't the 20th tomorrow?
Karr/ Community Development.
Hayek/ Oh, yeah, that's tomorrow evening.
Payne/ The ... the (mumbled) so we're not going to be able to do both.
Dobyns/ Yeah, can't do both.
Hayek/ I ... I'll be at this, the Community Development thing (several talking) um ... which is an
annual event that ... that Housing and Community Development puts on.
Dobyns/ And Jim and I are going to jail.
Payne/ What time are you going to jail?
Dobyns/ Uh, 5:30.
Hayek/ Don't show up too late cause there's not a judge until the following morning! (laughter)
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Dobyns/ Good to know!
Champion/ Unless the state cuts out that day too! (laughter)
Hayek/ Okay! Anything else for the good of the order? If not ... let's disband and come back for
the formal in 25 minutes.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of June 19, 2012.