HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-01-05 TranscriptionJanuary 5, 2013 Iowa City City Council Special Budget Work Session Page 1
Council Present: Champion, Dickens, Dobyns, Hayek, Mims, Payne, Throgmorton
Staff Present: Markus, Fruin, Fosse, Craig, Gannon, Dulek, Karr, Hargadine, Kopping,
O'Brien, O'Malley, Mansfield, Rocca, Moran, Tharp, Bentley, Andrew,
Boothroy, Davidson, Rummel
Overview:
Hayek/ Okay, well why don't we get started. Welcome to the budget, and uh, we'll just turn it
over to staff at this point.
Markus/ Okay! Uh, this is kind of a momentous meeting. We have two people that are going to
be here for their last budget session. That's Connie and Kevin, and ... um ... (both talking
in background). I think Kevin might be happier about it than Connie but... (laughter).
We, um ... just so everybody knows, this is the document as it looks in print, and I think
it's 436 pages, 32 pages, something like that. So...
Champion/ Are we going to get one of those?
Karr/ I have `em if you ... if you want them.
Champion/ Yeah, I want one!
Markus/ I'm with you, Connie. I still kind of like the (several talking) print when it gets up over
400 pages (several talking in background). Okay, so as we're passing those along, we'll
start with our PowerPoint presentation to kind of give you... (several talking) the
summary of the, uh, budget this year. Uh, today of course we're going to run from about
8:00 and it's scheduled to go to 5:00. Our goal is to get you out of here sooner, uh, but
that's... that's, uh ... entirely up to the Council (laughter) uh...
Karr / And you do need to wear your microphones... for recording purposes (noises on mic)
Markus/ Again, we're going to return on January 7th at 1:00, that's this next Monday. Uh, we'll
be dealing with the Capital Improvements Plan and Public Works. We have a backup
meeting scheduled for, uh, the 28th which is not shown on this screen, and that starts at
5:00. That's if we need it. Uh, in the past we had it scheduled and we ... did not
determine that it was necessary to have that meeting. March 5th is the plan for when we
would have our public hearing. And, at that same meeting, uh, there's an expectation that
we'll be able to adopt, uh, the formal adoption the budget. The technical, uh, drop -dead
date for adoption of the budget, Kevin, is...
O'Malley/ March 151H
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Markus/ March 15th. Okay, next, uh, today what we're going to do is we're going to go through
a budget overview and highlights. Uh, that will be in the form of this PowerPoint. Uh,
then we'll work our way through the, uh, the various budgets, uh, budgets listed on this
agenda — General Government, Public Safety, Culture and Leisure, Community
Economic Development, Enterprise Funds, and then get into a question and answer, uh,
general Council discussion. We don't expect that you will wait until the end of the, uh,
meeting to start asking questions. If you have concerns as we progress, please don't
hesitate to ask the question and we'll do our best to get ... get you an answer and if it's not
today, we can get back to you in a future meeting and ... and respond. So, the budget
document in terms of the overview is on the screen right now, and I ... I would hope that
you've noticed, uh, some significant differences. The transmittal letter, uh, is
significantly expanded this year. Includes a lot of graphic information. And the idea is to
give you the `big picture' of...of what we see as the City Administration in terms of
where we're headed as a city and some of the issues that we see in front of us. And we
also talk about how we incorporate the strategic plan into the overall document. In terms
of, uh, the timing of the budget itself, we send out the materials to the departments in
early September. And I always like to make this point ... that September of this past year,
and the budget fiscal year doesn't actually start until July 1St of 2013. So we're out ahead
of this actual budget starting nine months before the fiscal year begins. So there is risk of
course associated with that in terms of your estimates and your projections, and so I ... I
ask you to keep that in mind. Lot of people get fixated on these numbers and the ... the
document itself is a plan, and as a plan, you know, that we go through amendments
through the course of the year and make adjustments, and so it ... you have to have
flexibility in a budget, and we try to build that in, uh, during the course of the year.
There's emergencies that occur. We need only think about what happened last year in
terms of our Landfill fire and the amount of resources that were required on a short-term
basis during that situation and what will happen in the future in terms of making the
replacements and how we fund that, and no — we haven't heard the final answer from the
insurance company yet! But, we expect that that will be coming shortly. Of course the
rest of the slide talks about, uh, what else is in the document. Lot of summary
information. We have fund overviews, and as you go through the docam ... document, for
ease of kind of...moving through the document, everything is behind a blue tab. So the
general sections of the budget, if you go to the blue tab it'll help you kind of discern what
parts are in the budget document itself. Uh, we also added significant information about
performance measures, and some supplemental information, uh, regarding comparative
analysis. And I think that's... that's beneficial and informs the Council where you stand,
not necessarily with your peers, but with jurisdictions in our immediate market area and
then communities of like size across the state of Iowa ... in how they do their business.
And I think that helps you kind of gauge kind of where you fit and where you ... you stand
in terms of... of, uh, how they operate and how we operate, the services they deliver, the
types of revenue sources that they have and use. So there are some changes that we've
already noted in the published, or the presented, uh, document itself. Initially if you read
the news story, it talked about three new police officers. Uh, that was a mistake. There's
actually only, uh, two new officers, and those go back to the ... the COPS grant. Uh, I'm
not, uh, I'm not denigrating the, uh, formal name of police officer. It's actually called the
COPS grant, and uh ... over three years we expect that that generates a little over 50% of
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the funding for those two police officers, and we've ... and we've put those officers kind
of in special roles, or at least two positions in special roles in terms of justifying that. Uh,
we've emphasized neighborhood stabilization as a part of our strategic plan and also a
officer on a beat in the downtown area. Uh, again, that was part of our strategic plan. In
terms of personnel comparison, there's a chart that, uh, you can look at, and this year, uh,
the estimate is that we will attrite about 8.69 positions and we'll get into that as we go in
through the detailed budgets. Um, again, as we look at our operations, as openings occur,
we take a look at every opening, determine, uh, whether we need to fill that opening.
That's what attrition is, and so you examine whether you need to fill the position, uh, if
duties can be shared, if you can streamline the operation, if, uh, technology is advanced,
uh, enough that that has reduced the workload for that position, and so uh, in this
particular case, it...it results in about 8.69 positions, uh, being attrited. I would say that,
again, and I've said this from the beginning, uh, we look to create those efficiencies
throughout the operation (mumbled) occurs and again, I think this is a much more, uh,
humane approach to how we manage the operation in terms of our financial resources,
rather than waiting for a crises to occur and then force, be forced into a layoff situation.
This is looking ahead. This is, uh, in my opinion what management is supposed to do.
Um, some other things that were shown in the document that are not entirely accurate, uh,
the storm water fee increase indicated this was the third in a four -year phased in plan.
And the reality is, it's the third in a third-year ... three-year plan. So there's actually no
impact on the ... the budget, but we wanted to make sure that that was clarified. Then we
got into the, uh, housing inspection fee increase, and initially the transmittal letter, uh,
mistakenly indicated that it was a, uh, an increase that was occurring with this budget.
We actually improve... approve the increases in the last year's, uh, document, but because
we inspect on an every- other -year basis, this year's some... the... the revenues will
actually be increasing for those that are being inspected this year. So ... I think there was
a misunderstanding in terms of...of how that ... the information was translated. Uh, our
goals for this year's budget are to, uh, reduce the City's property tax levy rate for the
second consecutive year, which, uh, this budget proposes to do. Um, two years ago the
tax rate was $17.84. Uh, last year we dropped it to $17.27, or a drop of about 57- cents.
Uh, next ... this proposed budget, we're proposing a drop to $16.81, or 46- cents. So over
the two years, uh, the proposed drop is about $1... $1.03 over, from that three -year period
of time. Uh, the other goals that we have, of course, are to maintain our Moody's, uh,
triple -A bond rating. Uh, to enhance the usefulness of the document by providing
additional financial analysis. Uh, improve readability. Enhance department narratives
and performance metrics, uh, for each department. We want to continue, uh, industry
best practices, and uh, pursue receiving the GFOA Distinguished Budget Award, which
as you recall was one of our goals last year. If you were to ask me last year whether we
would have actually received it, for last year's document, I would have been probably a
little bit pessimistic because it's fairly rare that you go out and get it the first year, but we
actually did achieve it, and that to me is a indication of how good your Finance
Department is and the leadership of that department that they were able to achieve that.
Of course we've been receiving the Certificate for Excellence in Financial Reporting for
a number of years, and so again, we want to achieve that, as well. Lot of people confuse
that at...at times, is that that's just the audit. Well, the staff here prepares a lot of the
closing information to get to the actual audit document itself. We prepare a lot of that
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financial data. So that's coming out of your Finance Department, and again, that's an
indicator to you of what kind of Finance Department you have. You know, we don't go
out ... out there to get these plagues. There's a real reason for these, uh, going after these.
It does give us information. These are reviewed by our peers. They critique our budgets.
They re ... uh, they have the chance to look at our, uh, annual reports and give us feedback
and we take that feedback and then try to incorporate it into the document.
Dobyns/ Tom, what percentage of municipalities our size try to get the GFOA? What percentage
of those actually get it?
Markus/ You know, I don't know those numbers. I know about triple -As and that sort of thing,
but I ... I would have to go back to the GFOA to get that. I'll get that for you! We'll get
that. Uh, and finally, we like to, uh, incorporate the strategic plan into our financial
decisions. Told you when we adopted the strategic plan, and I hope you did note that
is ... you went through the document, that we tried to tie back a number of our expenses
into the strategic plan, uh, document itself and those goals, and quite frankly, it informed
us, uh, I'll give you an example. It informed us significantly when we, uh, reinvested in
the UniverCity program this year, and as that funding dried up from outside sources, we
moved that into our own operation. We really viewed that as an important, uh, part of
that whole neighborhood stabilization strategy and so you'll see a significant investment
in this document in that regard. Terms of, uh, budget highlights, uh, the reduction in the
overall property tax rate is about, uh, 2.64% reduction over last year. Um ... while there's
a 2.5% growth in taxable value, um, largely that's due to increased ... to the increased
rollback. And ... there's about a percent growth in our overall, uh, a ... assessed value here
in, uh, Iowa City, and commercial valuation actually declined, uh, and that happened
largely because of these co -op conversions that are occurring, and so what's happening is
those go from a commercial classification. They're now moving into a residential
classification. So residential shows growth, but it's really just a transfer, you know, it's a
wash from commercial over to residential. Uh, the residential actually increased by less
than a percent, and a subsequent graph you're going to see is pretty dramatic in what's
happening, and I have some statistics to show you how we're plateauing in terms of our
valuing, and it's one of the big challenges I see for our community going forward. Um...
what I wanted to comment on was that the residential category of assessed value actually
increased, uh, from the shifting of the previous, uh, categorization of the commercial
properties. That amounted to about $52 million in terms of the shift, in terms of our...
our value shift. And most of this increase came from the, uh, roll -back, which is actually
a roll -up from the previous year. Assessed, uh, or taxable value for residential last year
was 50.75 %. This year it's climbed to 52.8166 %, almost a 4% adjustment. And that's
the max that it can go up, uh, by State law, and it's pegged again to ag values here in the
state, as you know, so ... obviously with the ag values going up, that translated into this —
what I call a roll -up but technically in statute it's called a roll -back. The tax rate, uh,
reduce by 5.8% since fiscal year 12, when you combine the two cuts that we've had that's
almost a 6% decline in the tax rate. And, the tax rate was, uh, reduction was achieved
through a number of different strategies — debt restructuring, uh, favorable health
insurance rates, and contractual changes, and you know, it's ... it's easy to get into a
mindset about the cost of, uh, public employees and all those things, but here's a place
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where you can compliment your employees because in the negotiations I think they
understood the rising costs of insurance. They agreed to participate in some of those
costs. So from my perspective, um, I think that we have an employee group that ...that
when you do communicate with them, they do understand the issues and they do try to
come to the table and uh, help in that... in that case, and it shows up right here. Um,
equitable cost sharing, uh, arrangements — you know I've been on this equity kick since
I've been here and, um, the Animal Shelter is one of those things where in providing
services beyond our borders, I'm looking for equity in terms of the cost participation for
jurisdictions, uh, outside of...outside of our jurisdiction. Uh, departmental efficiencies
and work, uh, workforce reduction through attrition, and of course selective user, uh, fee
increases. Um, we try to maintain strong reler ... reserve levels and we do have
contingencies built in in ... in case of emergencies throughout the course of the year.
Next, um, in terms of continuing the discussion of budget highlights, uh, there's rate
increases proposed in several areas to design, um ... which are designed to reduce the
reliance on property taxes, address infrastructure needs, and maintain healthy reserves.
One of the things I want to say about, um, rate increases is, and this occurs across the
country. A lot of places don't look at their rates, their fees for service on an annualized
basis. They let `em slide. And the problem with that is the default is that the increase in
costs gets shifted to property tax. So ... while it might be painful to raise a rate on an
annualized basis, I want to assure you that it's much more painful to ignore `em for five
years and then show a huge increase all at once. It's what attracts the press to the issue
because you see double -digit increases and that sort of thing. So I believe in annually
evaluating those fees, keeping them in pace, and ... that's consistent, quite frankly, with
...with one of our financial strategies and policies to make sure that our cost allocations a
...apply to the cost centers that are driving those fees. Um, Housing Inspection, uh,
annual increase to cover the cost of the rental program, um ... this was actually instituted,
like I said before, last year and this is the second year that's being impacted. Park and
Rec fees, the City Council approved those in December of this, uh, 2012. Our goal is to
try and recover about 50% of the cost of those programs through fees, and in speaking
with Kevin, one of the things that's ... (someone interrupts on a loudspeaker system at this
point) ... (laughter and several talking) And of course we want to keep our trucks clean!
(laughter)
Dickens/ Second! (laughter)
Hayek/ So moved! (laughter) Trucks get washed! (laughter)
Markus/ All right! (several talking and laughing) In the 50 %, we actually include the
hotel /motel tax, uh, there's this certain portion of that that's allocated to that, so that's
included in that 50% make -up. As you know, um ... the, uh ... Downtown District is
working with the merchants in the downtown, working on parking rates. Uh, one of the
keys of that is that we would have first -hour free parking in the decks. Um, that's a
strategy that's worked in other jurisdictions around the country. It drives people into the
decks and keeps those spots, uh, on the street available for more turnover, uh, which is
better for commerce in the downtown area. Uh, we've increased some of our refuse rates
and you can see that on the screen. Uh, and some of the specialty services out at the
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Landfill have also been, uh, increased. Further, uh, aggressive, uh, we ... we continue
with a very aggressive capital improvement program. It's one of the things that I've been
impressed by how we operate here, uh, before I started, um, we ... we have a ... a bond
issues on an annualized basis. We ... we look at these capital improvements. I've never
spent so much time as a city manager talking about capital improvements since I came to
Iowa City, but I think we have, what, at least a monthly meeting, um, on capital
improvements. We're monitoring the, you know, what's been accomplished, what's yet
to be done, where they fit into the priority, are there other projects that we can overlap
with them, combinations of projects, what's the return on the investment that we're...
that we're going to be making, how does that better the community, how does that fit
...fit into the strategic plan. So all of those things are being discussed on a regular basis
in this community, and I think that's really healthy considering the amount of investment
that's required and considering the age of our community, it's just something we need to
stay on top of. Uh, again, uh, the performance metrics, the economic overview, the trend
reporting, department narratives, strategic plan, uh, concepts, uh, all are incorporated to
enhance the understanding of how we operate. We're going to get into a little, uh,
comparative analysis that I talked about earlier, and one of the things that, um, if you... if
you go into the, um ... the budget message that, uh ... the manager's budget message, uh,
that's included in your document and you start on page 3, you'll see an explanation of...
of our tax rate, some of the expenses that we have compared to our immediate neighbors,
uh, some of the expenses and sources of revenues that some of the comparable -sized
communities across the state have. So basically this is a fairly simple chart. It shows that
our tax rate is, uh, at about the third highest of the comparable communities, or the
communities that we listed in the chart. One of the things that's kind of interesting I
think for you folks to understand when you look at this, each penny generates about
$30,000. So each penny of tax rates generates about $30,000, which means that each
dollar generates about $3 million. Okay? So that's a good kind of, um, metric for you to
keep in mind when we talk about making cuts to tax rate and what that means and how
... and what you would have to cut to get to a lower tax rate. That'll ... that'll inform you.
So keep those numbers in mind.
Throgmorton/ What was the second one?
Markus/ Uh ... well, for a dollar it would equal about $3 million. Now our rate is going to drop to
$16.81. Now the presumption... if... if you presume that these other rates are going to
stay relatively close to where they are now, that would drop us into about fourth place, in
terms of that. You know, I... I have kind of a... a standard philosophy. I like to be in the
middle when it comes to taxes; I like to be in the middle when it comes to expenses. I
don't want to be the highest; I don't want to be the lowest. I really don't want to be the
highest! Um ... it would be nice if, I suppose, that when it came to tax rates we were
lowest because that would suggest that we have enormous amounts of wealth to cover
just about everything we want to do, but that's not the case. So, my goal is to try and get
us closer to the middle. When you look at, uh, some of the other jurisdictions, um... that
we compare to, uh, one of the things that ... that some use are the local options sales tax,
LOST, and if you look at this list, um ... and then you move over to purpose on this list,
you'll note that one ... let's see, one, two, three, four, five of these communities list
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property tax relief as one of the uses for their extra, uh, local option sales tax, which helps
them then reduce that. We don't do that. Our local option sales tax here in Iowa City is
dedicated to flood relief, and that was a specific, urn ... um, kind of reprieve of the normal
provisions for LOST, post the 2008 flood that we've put in place. Of course that's going
to expire this ... this summer. Um ... with the end of the fiscal year ... even though there'll
be some money that'll carry over into the next fiscal year in terms of collections. So this
is something that we're evaluating. We're keeping our eye on, and try to determine how
that might work. The other thing that's going on, there's a new program in the State that
hasn't worked its way entirely through Rule Making, where you can capture some
increased growth of, uh, sales tax across, I think it's across the county, and it would be
dedicated toward flood projects. We're still short on some of our flood projects, and so
we're keeping an eye on that. Um, especially if we can't make the transfer out of the Taft
levee, uh ... um, project that we've ... we've shelved now. If we can't move that into
another flood project, is there this other option that's there. So we're monitoring that.
They haven't come out with the rules. I think they're going to set up a dollar amount
that's going to be allowable, uh, for that program and ... so we're going to watch that
closely. We have our lobbyists keeping an eye on that, so that if we need to move on that
we can.
Hayek/ Do ... do you need a, um, an established local sales tax for general obligation purposes to
do that? Or...
Markus/ I'm not sure I'm following your question. Do we need...
Hayek/ Well I mean ours ... our sales tax is purely related to the flood legislation (both talking)
Markus/ ...right.
Hayek/ ... and it sunsets this year.
Markus/ There are some that are required by ... that you'd have to go through referendum. I
think, and ... and that's why we're still working on the details, I think this other one where
you can just capture the growth, not necessarily add to the rate. I think, um, that would
just require Council approval. And so that's something that we haven't fleshed out
entirely yet. So ... once we get that information we'll come back to you.
Hayek/ But I ... I'm glad you raised the sales tax issue, I mean, I ... I think it's important for the
public to understand that ... that other than this ... you know, one -time only, at least
historically, flood sales tax, Iowa City has not had a sales tax for ... for general purposes,
and you may be getting to that.
Markus/ Yeah, and ... and, but I think ... I think that's exactly the reaction I wanted by putting this
table inhere. And ... and when we went back and ... what we try to do is kind of the ... the
old COLA approach, you know, that the food basket or the ... the basket of goods and
services and the cost that goes up every year, we even missed something. We missed the
fact that the sales tax is going off this year! Okay? Well, when we computed how much
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January 5, 2013 Iowa City City Council Special Budget Work Session Page 8
the resident is, you know, his property tax, their property tax is going to go up, and then
the water and sewer and the garbage rate and the, uh, storm water rate are going to go up,
we should have also included, you know, kind of a projection for the decline in sales tax,
cause it's going to go from 7 to 6, so that impacts that basket of goods and services too. I
don't know how you'd necessarily calculate that. I suppose there's some statistics on the
average purpose by a per capita basis but ... anyway, that's a ... that's an offset too, and we
didn't include that. So, you're picking up the point I want to make to you, that there are
other revenue sources that other jurisdictions use to lower their property tax. And we
didn't even mention, you know, those that are..:have casino revenues, uh, those that
have, uh, maybe an electric utility operation that also generates those dollars, as well. So,
all of those things come into play in determining what the rate is.
Mims/ Tom, while you're still on this slide. A lot of these communities have no sunset on theirs.
So under current law, could we ... pass another sales tax?
Markus/ Yeah, you can ... you could send that to the ... to the voters for...
Mims/ Voters...
Markus/ ...for another, uh, increase in the sales tax. Now I think the way the standard LOST
works, you... you can, uh, I think you're required to go with property tax relief or street
improvements are the two cat ... you have to have one of those included in that category.
Um, again, we're watching this to determine, do we want to consider something like this
in terms of property tax relief, based on the rates and our competitiveness.
Champion/ I've kind of thought about it, just because we already have it, people are used to it.
And it hasn't really been that painful. And because our property tax is so high, it might
be a good chance to try it.
Markus/ I think...
Hayek/ Lot of considerations though with that!
Markus/ And one of the reasons I've held off is I want to understand where we're going to be...
if and when our State deals with the issue of commercial property reform. I ... I want to
have a sense of that before I jump out there and have this other discussion, and then
locally we have two other major issues, don't we? We have, you know, the justice center
and we have ... uh, the school issue coming up, and I think that, getting past those helps
inform us, you know, what's the right approach to all this and that ... you know, I think
that, you know, there's some major messaging that has to go on in terms of the justice
center and the school issue, and you know trying to get the public informed by throwing
in another item at this time, I think, would be very complicated, and again, I'd like to
know where we stand in terms of the State and ... and that reform, and quite frankly I'd
like to get the federal government, uh, past the hill. I think we're over the cliff. We're
still on a hill, right, urn ... get us past that before, you know, we start to analyze this
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January 5, 2013 Iowa City City Council Special Budget Work Session Page 9
situation. Otherwise I think it's just going to be very confusing to the public at this point,
um...
Mims/ But I think it's helpful for us as Council to realize that that is something there that we
need to keep in mind as a possibility. Like you said, lots of discussion, lots of issues,
but...
Markus / And again, you know I think that generally I would say that I like to diversify your
revenue sources so that you're not so dependent on one or the other. That ... that's just a
good strategy in the long run, um, so that if...if legislative changes occur, if property
values significantly devalue, all those different economic conditions and, you know, your
sources are ... are exclusive to property tax or one other type, um, that you know you can
make adjustments and it does ... the impact isn't total.
Hayek/ You know one ... one point of comparison that I recall over the last couple of years is ... is
the case of Dubuque, with its casino. Think that kicks off around $10 million to the city
on an annual basis, which is 20% of our general fund. (both talking) ...think casino is
the answer for us locally, but ... but it shows you what other communities accomplish.
Markus/ Well, and that's what Cedar Rapids is looking at right now too. So ... I ... I mean, I don't
really think it's an option for us, obviously, with one, you know, within miles of us to
begin with, so ... and I think they're going to have challenges, um, with the one in Cedar
Rapids, if you ... the reports that have come out about what the actual impact is and
whether there's any real growth left for casinos in this state. So...
Dobyns/ Please don't go there! (laughter)
Markus/ No, I'm not going there! It'll be somebody else that does that! All right, next
um... (several talking) yeah, we were going to look at the utility rates. Make sure I've got
that on here ... right! Um, and this is kind of an interesting chart. Um, again, I try
to ... when I try and look at, uh, what's happening in our community, I try to not just look
at tax rates but the other things that we charge for and then how they impact, you know,
uh, the ... the resident, the business in the community. And here you can see again we're
right at the third rank in terms of the collection of water, sewer, waste, and storm water
fees, and ... I would say a couple things about that situation. First, um ... Public Works has
made significant, significant investments in your water system, and over time those
investments, uh, with growth should start to ... you should start to level out in terms of
your water rate, uh, and when you look at some of these other communities, you have to
ask yourself, what's been their recent investment in capital? Water and sewer and ... and
waste are incredibly capital... well, especially the first two. Incredibly capital intensive
and when you've made recent investments in that regard, that shows up then in the rate
structure. It's the same with sewer. Uh, sewer, uh, you know, we're going ... we have
some challenges ahead with the ... with the south plant and getting rid of the north plant.
We still haven't even calculated or found a source to ... to demo the north plant once we
finally take that off line. Um, those costs will roll in here too, so ... that one's vulnerable
in my opinion to future rate increases. Um, but when you start to look at all of these,
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that's where they fall out. Now there's a couple outliers that I wanted to point out too. If
you look at Ames, for example, it shows zero on waste. Well you know that they're not
just, you know, that their waste isn't just disappearing at no cost. Uh, from what I know,
it's privatized or quasi - privatized over there. So just because it doesn't show up here,
doesn't mean the resident over... isn't paying it, and so the point I would make is
obviously their cost is higher than that. And then when you look at Council Bluffs, if you
go back to the chart that I showed you just earlier, Council Bluffs has an extra penny of
sales tax that's totally dedicated to streets and sewers. So they aren't charging on ... as we
do on a rate basis for storm sewers because, I suspect, it's coming out of this increased
penny that they have for streets and sewers. And I'm told that the history up in Council
Bluffs was that, or in Council Bluffs, they ... this was an issue that they've been trying to
get through and that ... that was the salable part of getting it done is fixing up their streets
and that's... that's what carried the day in terms of that election. So ... any question on
that, on the utility rates? All right. In terms of, uh, revenue comparisons, um, this just
walks through all of our different sources of...of revenues and I guess ... I would just
make a couple comments as we go through. For example, if you look at other city taxes
you'll see a big outlier there. There's a big decline. Well that's the lost revenue falling
off the chart, uh, for the first, you know, coming up this next fiscal year, cause it expires
even though there's still some remaining, uh, that will be received, and um ... in terms of
inner - governmental, um, that deals with, uh, federal flood programs and um ... um, their
decline in terms of... of revenue sources. Uh, we received, uh, significant amounts of
those dollars in prior years and so now that's starting to show a decline. Then in terms of
debt sales, um ... the change there regards the $7 million, um ... um ... for sewer debt, um...
as I understood that, and ... and maybe you can help me with that one, as well, Kevin.
O'Malley/ Um, correct, the uh ... that $16 million includes our normal GO debt of around $9
million. And the other, uh, $7 million is what we have in our CIP plan to finance, uh, the
shortfall on the, uh, south plan expansion.
Markus/ And so, when you get into debt sales this is one of those really difficult ones to predict.
If in fact we can transfer some of that money out of Taft, that might offset that and reduce
that, but because we don't have that offset yet, we have to show the revenue coming from
some place, so it's in GO. Terms of all funds, this looks like a real nice balance,
diversified, uh, program of where our revenues come from. Um, and ... and that's the case
when you look at the budget across the entire picture of the city, um .... because a lot of
our funds, the enterprise funds, tend to be, uh, more user - charge based than anything,
instead of taxes, so this has a tendency to ... to, uh, balance out the sources of those
revenues. But when you get to the general fund, um, you can see our heavy reliance on
property taxes, uh, it's almost 70% is ... is coming from property taxes to drive that
General Fund. Uh, personally I'd like to see that diversified as I indicated, uh, a little bit
more and have less reliance on property tax. The next chart is the chart that, um, I think,
uh, we've had in our budget for a number of years and I think it really informs, um, the
Council on what's going on in terms of our growth and value, and so what I want you to
do is to go to the second line, called "Percent Charge Assessed." Then I want you to look
at the odd number, uh, years. So starting with 05 then 07 and continuing forward the odd
years. And look at the growth in our assessed value during those periods of time. It's
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significant, and the reason for that is in those odd years we do, the Assessor does a re-
evaluation and so that's where that's showing up, plus any new construction is thrown in
there. I did some calculations last night and I looked at the years from 05 to 09. There
was approximately a 39% increase during that five year period in our assessed value.
Dividing by five years, that gives you almost an 8% per annum increase, right? So then I
took the years fiscal years 10 through fiscal year 14 and I made that comparison. And
when you look at the numbers, they're significantly declined. You can see that. That
totals about 8.2 %. That relates to about 1.6% per year. So we've gone in a ... in that
previous five year period from 8% per year growth in our assessed value down to about
1.6% and it's still showing decline. It's .9% shown for this, uh, upcoming fiscal year. So
I think that tells you a lot about what's happening in the community and it's one of the
concerns I have is this ... is that our values are flattening out. Now, that's
very... consistent with what the Council told me during the interview process, that one of
the things that we have to emphasize in the community is economic development. Now
the counter to that of course is, it's an immediate type of issue to us. I mean, you're
seeing these declines, and economic development in the incentivized environment we
find ourself in causes economic development benefit to be spread into future years.
Sometimes future, future years! So ... there's ... there is real challenges there in my
opinion because of the value flattening, and I think this ... this table does about as good a
job of describing that as we have in terms of...of what our issues are.
Throgmorton/ Tom, let me ask you a question about that. So given the data that you just cited,
uh, one could interpret that in terms of the general economic downturn nationwide, or
global even, or one could interpret it purely in terms of economic competition within the
region. So how ... how do you sort out the difference... differential effects between those
two?
Markus/ Well I think there's both! Uh, there ... both things are playing into it, and you ... you'll
hear us talk a little bit about the national economy and... and the state economy and the
situation there and stabilizing it, and I actually see some improvement in... in our housing
market, but to go to the local issue, I think all you have to do is look at the census data to
see that huge amounts of the residential growth are ... are occurring in our neighboring
jurisdictions and so you know we have competition now that we didn't have before
and ... I know a lot of people may not think that government needs to compete, uh, I
would have strong argument with those individuals. I think every part of what we do in
this country is competition and we need to compete, and so from my perspective, uh, we
have to get into that. Now also to refer it to the local level, I think there's... there's been
a culture created in our local area of tax incentivization and ... and all of this in terms of
competition. And ... I think in ... in ... in my opinion as still somewhat of an outside
observer into that process, my sense is that we need to be a little bit more frugal in ... in
handing those out. The problem is we're in a competitive environment and so the bar
doesn't necessarily get established by us. Okay? It gets established in part through a
competitive process. So ... I don't want to go where some have gone but we have to be
...we have to be in the game to grow our tax base and yeah, I think some of it is the
national economy and that's slowing. There's no question about that. Uh, but... we need
to grow our base. If we're going to provide the services that we want, and not tax people
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out of their ... their homes, we have to grow that tax base, and I think that's one of the
less, uh, difficult... well, it's ... it's still a challenge, but it's a more palatable way for most
people to get out of the situation. Because the other alternative are a lot more severe.
They include cutting expenses (someone clearing throat, unable to hear) or finding
alternative sources of revenue. That get to the ... okay. Um ... and again, this ... this issue
of...of economic development goes to the strategic plan. Again that was an emphasis
that we had there. This next chart, um, also informs I think the Council and the public
and it goes to the issue of what the State is trying to do right now in terms of commercial
property tax reform. And I'm ... I'm going to proffer an idea to try and get you to think
outside the box a little bit about this issue. If you look at the chart, um, to our left, the
full valuation chart, um, it shows that, uh, on a full assessed value basis, uh, residential
makes up about 74% of the full evaluation, and commercial makes up about 24 %, but
because of the roll -back, okay, it moves into what's called taxable valuation, and so
residential drops from 74% down to 60 %, and commercial grows from 24% to 37 %.
Here's where I want you to think about this a little bit differently. If...if when they
started the conversation about equity in terms of commercial property versus residential
property, if they hadn't said... if they had said as they did, we want to cut commercial
property values, okay, so that they're closer to residential. Okay? That's a message that
most people go, oh, yeah, well that makes sense. But it leaves out in my opinion part of
the equation. The opposite probably achieves the same purpose. What if they had said
instead of dropping the commercial value from 100 %, why don't we just raise the
residential property up to 100 %? Different message, isn't it? Probably similar results
though. So ... the problem that gets lost in those two messages is this — dropping the
commercial property value, okay, so it's in a more equitable capacity to residential is,
what happens to the revenue that was previously associated with the method that was
used? That isn't what's been talked about. And so ... in the public venue, the public
doesn't necessarily get that, yeah, while it might make us more competitive, is that ... and
...and you remember, the Governor's point was — that's going to grow the economy, it's
going to grow all these businesses, it's going to grow all these jobs. Well, there's a
decline in revenue that's occurring there, and so the other side of the aisle then argued
how are you going to deal with that, right? Everybody tracking with this conversation so
far? And they said, oh, we're going to backfill that. Okay? Well here is where
Representative Jacoby and myself get along quite well (laughter) um ... that backfilling is
something that I've seen, uh, in the other states I've worked in, and here's what happens.
Over time, legislators forget the commitment, okay? And that backfill will erode, and I
can tell you who's going to be left with the consequences — it's going to be local
government. So ... I want you to think about how this messaging has all occurred, and I
want you to understand that by changing the value, okay ... you know, for all good sorts of
reasons. There is a byproduct to this whole process, and that is a revenue shift, or a tax
burden shift, and you can see under the current scenario what happens now. I can tell
you that that 60% number, over time, will go up. They may backfill it. They may take
care of it. They're flush right now. They've got a surplus. They can afford a backfill.
What happens when that number changes? And it does. It's only a matter of time. And
that's why managers, city managers and elected officials are raising those issues — what's
going to happen to that lost revenue? And I think this graph really shows that pretty
dramatically, so ... I ask you to take a look at that; be informed; talk to your constituents
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so that they understand what ... what all that means. Commercial property values, if
they're not competitive with other states, yeah, something has to happen. But ... there is a
fall out in revenue and who's going to suffer the consequence of that? We also have to
keep that in mind.
Payne/ Well, and that backfill, if the State is backfilling it, it's still comes from us. As a
taxpayer.
Markus/ Course it does.
Payne/ I mean, we're still paying it! (laughs)
Markus/ Course you are. Course you are. It's just, again ... you know, it's like ... it's like, well,
do we use entirely property tax or do you lose ... use LOST or do you have a utility you
can drag out or do you have a casino that you can use revenue sources — it's all, you
know, if...if we're going to maintain a level of service that ... that we believe our
constituents ... our community wants, then how do you pay for it? And ... that's something
that we have to keep an eye on because that will inform us about other decisions that we
have to make, but we have to get through that discussion first. And see where that all
ends up. It probably will just raise a lot more questions when we finally get it. Okay, in
terms of, uh, property tax, uh, receipts, despite the fact that our tax rate is going down, we
will have still a ... a slight increase in ... in tax receipts, uh, residential properties, uh,
because they are, uh, rollbacked in terms of their values from the 100 %, there is still
some ... an increased tax that residential properties will pay and that's kind of fleshed out
in this ... in this area. Um, and you can see though that ... that tax rate cut, how it plays out
in the decline in revenue, especially in the fiscal year 213, uh, 2013 and 2014. You can
see that the, uh, drops that occur there. Next one, uh, talks about property tax rates, and
you can see for fiscal, uh, 13 and 14, uh, the combined, uh, decline of almost 6 %. I think
it's interesting to note that in, uh, if you look at the, uh, years, uh, fiscal year 14 there is a
decline of, uh, 2.64 %, which results in a rate of 16, uh, dollars and 81- cents, which is the
same rate that we had back in 2002, 2003. If you go all the way over to the left chart.
So, that's the same rate we had 11 years ago, okay? In between we've been steadily
raising the rates. Um, in talking to Kevin about this, um, that actually, if you then look at
...2002, 2003, look at the percentage change that occurred in that year. It was a 13%
increase in the tax rate, and Kevin and I, you know, on a cursory basis, uh, surmise that
that was the result of, for the previous three years which was kind of the beginning of the
GOs, uh, the GO debts for capital. That was kind of the cumulative impact you were
startin' to see those tax levies go up after that three -year period and so that's where that
jump likely came from in that particular year. And of course that just caused, you know,
going forward that new rate to be established because now we were heavily investing in
infrastructure through GO bonding. Which spreads the cost over a period of time. It's
not all the cost in one year because debt is ... is extended out for 20+ years, depending on
the project. Next chart talks about other major revenue sources, and this deals with, um,
the local option sales tax, and as we talked about, this expires on June 30 and so you can
see this big drop -off occurring, um ... where it goes to the ... kind of the darker gray color,
and you might ask, well, why does it still show revenue in the next fiscal year if the
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project, or if the sales tax stops. Well, there's kind of this residual payment that ... that,
you know, that the sales tax or the sales transactions that occur right up through June 30,
they're collecting sales tax. That has to work its way through the system, in to the State.
The State check ... cuts a check. Usually they try and pay us about 95% of the receipts
and then they hold that up, and then they have what's called a true -up in November. So
we'll actually have some sales tax revenues coming in all the way through November,
through our, um, local option sales tax in that regard, and that's why it shows into the
next fiscal year, but that's all dedicated to flood, uh, improvement projects anyway. All
right, next is the other major revenue sources, which include hotel /motel tax. You'll see
a pretty sizeable blip in 2014, um, I think that might be a generous estimate, but they're
also ... they're indicating there the addition of the, uh, Hampton Inn on Riverside and
that ... that will have some impact. I think that might, like I say, be a bit generous. Uh,
I'm hopeful that they're able to achieve that kind of revenue source for us, uh, and... and
the growth in the others, but, uh, I guess that remains to be rec, uh, to be seen. The gas,
electric excise tax, uh, the history on that is, that's a tax that replaced, uh, property taxes
on gas and electric utilities, and um ... that's fluctuated somewhat, uh, but remains fairly
consistent. Um, it would be interesting at this point I suppose to go back and figure out
how we turned out on this one, cause this is a classic backfill, right, as they took the
property tax off those utilities, this is the substitute they used. I ... it'd be interesting to
see if the values, uh, were the same. And whether the revenue would have been the same
under, uh, property tax scenario. The other is utility franchise tax and that's a 1% tax on
gas, electric bills, uh, based on consumption, um, so ... you know, like gas, like if you
have a mild, uh, winter you know, you may not use as much gas and so the flow is down
and the, uh, the amount actually declines. It's kind of interesting that during fiscal 2013
it actually blipped a little bit, so ... all right, moving in to expenditures, um ... in terms of
all funds, um, this is a table that kind of informs us about ... about all of, uh, the expenses
across the budget and, uh, I would just point out a couple that are, um, a little, uh, larger
blips. Under community and economic development, the 24.9% increase is more the
result of, uh, the UniverCity program and the expenses associated with shifting that to our
General Fund, uh, and not using outside sources. The other is debt service and there's a
decline, um, there's a refunding in 12, uh, 13, and, um ... then we also had, I think, in this
current year, uh, 2.6 million in TIF bonds and that sounds like, uh, the Moen Tower
project, um, cause that seems to be the amount that was there. The other is under capital
projects, um ... and ... it shows a significant decline and these, uh, these projects, uh, if you
look at fiscal 13 you have 128 million shown, and then it goes to 48. By the time we get
into the fiscal year, I can tell you that a number of, that number 128, a big part of that, or
a sizeable part of that, could be shifted into the next fiscal year. Um, this is as it's
currently budgeted, or amended, but some of these numbers will get carried forward into
the next year. Go ahead, Kevin.
O'Malley/ Just ... just to, uh, augment Tom's comments. The original budget for that line item
was 45 million. So the amendments are carryovers from ... from FY12 and the 13. These
...capital projects are not really an operating system comparison from year -to -year. They
...they shift, they're multi -year projects to begin with, but we want to keep all the
expenditures and all revenues in the same classification. So that's kind of a ... a, uh, an
anomaly as far as comparison purposes. (unable to hear people speaking away from mic)
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Markus/ ...so I'm getting the sign I have to kick it up a little bit. The next one is the, uh, all
funds expenditure by classification. This is just a graphic representation of the previous
chart that you saw and the bars, uh, indicate the ... the, uh, the dollars, and then the line
indicates the percentage changes in those particular, uh ... uh, budgets. Uh, next is the
General Fund expenditures and this is by function, and you can see that the, of course the
largest percentage is in terms of the total dollars is personnel. Under capital outlay, um,
the bump there, uh, relates to home purchases for UniverCity. And then the next chart is
a graphic representation of General Fund expenditures and... and while the red shows
personnel at 72 %, understand that ... that part of that services amount also includes
personal services... which would be provided through contract, architectural services,
engineering services, uh ... privatized janitorial services, things of that sort. So, the ...the,
clearly the bulk of the budget in the General Fund is for, uh, personnel related areas
which is very consistent with, uh, what you'd expect in a service organization. Next is
the, uh, Public Safety pension contributions, and urn ... I ... I wanted to try and give a more
fair representation, um, of this issue, and so I did a little math last night again, uh, about
this issue, and you can see that ... that it's easy to be critical, you know, of...of the
continued growth, and it is, I mean, it's continuing to grow and it's costing a lot ... a lot of
money. Um, police, fire pensions now are approaching 30% of salary, and that's a big
number in terms of the cost impact. Um, the employers' contribution, um, amounts to
about 20.6% of the cost of the, uh, pension, and the employee's contribution is 9.4 %.
And in the case of the MFPRSI pension, that's fixed. It doesn't adjust. So as costs go
up, the burden of the cost is shifted to the employer. The employees' contribution is
fixed. Well now let's talk about the other employees in the operation. And the
differences that occur there. (clears throat) And you can't just look at IPERS. Because,
um, in the case of police and fire, they don't belong to the, uh, they don't participate in
the Social Security system through the City. They may in some cases have second jobs
where they do participate in that, but my concern, and I think our involvement in this
issue has to do with the employer cost, and so that's the thing that I think we have a
legitimate, um, conversation about is how much the employers paying for that. So I
looked at, uh, IPERS and uh, the total rate for IPERS is about 14.88 %, uh, as compared
to the 30. And in terms of the employer, the employer contributes about 8.93% for
IPERS, and then you have to remember that we also contribute for FICA. So that's
another 6.2 %. Which relates to about 16- point, or about 15.1%, as compared to our
contribution of about 20.6. So the difference is that we're contributing about, from what
I ... my numbers show me, about 5% more, uh, for the police, fire pension than we would
be for the IPERS/FICA contribution. That's the point I think that you have to get to, to
just attack the MFPRSI pension, uh, to me is not the whole picture, and I think you have
to, you know, you have to have the facts in front of you to really understand the
differences. So to me it's about a 5% difference from what I can tell, if my math is
correct. (See correction page 63) Um ... I think that the ... going forward you're going to
see some significant changes again in terms of the ... the cost of all of these things,
and ... and there's some increases coming forward and I think that's in part because
actuarially I think they're using some, uh, return on their investment, uh, percentages that
just aren't realistic. And that, um, they're... they're going to need to modify those so that
they become more realistic. The other concern I have about pensions, and I ... in, uh,
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January 5, 2013 Iowa City City Council Special Budget Work Session Page 16
Michigan, uh, a lot of the pension systems were local, and they used to be here too, and
then the State kind of consolidated it into the IPERS system, as I understand it. Um, but
one of the advantages of having them local is you really get to understand how pension
systems work, how actuaries work, how smoothing works, how assumptions work, and
they can smooth out some of these costs using assumptions, but you know, like so many
things that we do, that can push that cost into the future, and that's not necessarily what
we want to do. I think the issue I have with pensions is, are they sustainable? And that's
what we have to really determine, are they sustainable. And ... and the other part I would
talk about in terms of pensions is ... uh, across this state, there's two different pension
systems that apply to public safety officers. I think the bulk of the public safety officers
in the smaller jurisdictions are in IPERS systems, and then there's larger ... these larger
communities are in the, uh ... uh, MFPRSI system. So I think ... you know, we're
challenged in that regard and that again is one of those differences in what we pay for,
and I consider that pretty much a State mandate, the way that the ... that is setup. The
others aren't growing, even with their population changes into the higher system. So
that's... that's going to be a challenge for us, and it's a ... it's a difficult conversation, you
know, cause you're talking about, um, employees that we consider, uh, priority
employees, uh, first -line employees, and um, but we do need to make sure at the end of
the day that we can afford this system and that's to me what the real issue's about.
So ... I'm sure that conversation will continue. Next is debt service, uh, the State of Iowa
limitation is that we can't, uh, issue more than 5% of our total assessed property value.
Our property, uh, total, assessed property value's about $4.5 billion which would allow
us, uh, again if my math is correct, about $228 million in, uh, bonded indebtedness.
Um ... I think we're closer, Kevin, to around $73 million at this point, outstanding debt?
So we obviously are, uh, still have room. We're about 1.6% of our total valuation, and
we also have a self - imposed limitation, um ... uh, City limitation and that is that we won't
uh, exceed 30% of our total City levy in any fiscal year. The irony of course is as you
drop the tax rate, you know, your capacity is reduced too because it's ... it's all related to
that. Uh, the projected debt service levy is approximately 24% of the total levy at this
point, and just before I came here, as I was watching Council meetings on the web, I
noted that you had increased your ...your, uh, limit, up to 30 %. Up until about two years
ago, our levy limitation was about 25 %. But, because of, you know, concerns with
operating revenue, I think some of the things that we might have done on a pay -as- you -go
before, we're moving more into debt and so we raised that debt ceiling. Something else
the federal government will be dealing with later this year. Um, again, the general
obligation debt, this is just a graphic, uh, representation and I would say to you that,
okay, the red chart basically, or the red bars, indicate the 5% limit and you can see over
the past few years how those are starting to really level off in terms of our ... our debt
capacity, and then the, uh ... um, the other, uh, colored, uh, bar graph is the actual debt
that we have here in Iowa City. So you can see as a percentage of the allowable where
we're at.
Dobyns/ But Tom, I have a question. When we get a favorable rating from Moody's, what do
they see in what you've just presented that they like that gives us a favorable rating?
Markus/ Sure. In fact ... look at the chart ... um (laughs) your timing's perfect!
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January 5, 2013 Iowa City City Council Special Budget Work Session Page 17
Dobyns/ Oh, okay! (laughter and several talking) I should look up rather than down. Okay!
Markus/ Okay. I think they like ... I think they like a lot of things. They like, um ... management,
okay? They like, um, and I don't mean me (laughs) I mean the management of our
affairs.
Hayek/ You mean O'Malley!
Markus/ (laughter) Yeah, they like O'Malley, for whatever reason they like Kevin! (laughter)
Um, they like ... they like our policies that are in place. They like the fact that we
maintain very solid fund balances, okay? And ... and don't underestimate that. That is
critical, because that gives you that backup capacity during the course of the year, and if
you look at our fund balances, they're healthy. Um ... they like the way, I think, we
manage our budgets, um ... and ... and they like the sources of revenue we have. So all of
those things come into play ... in terms of how they evaluate us. And ... I just want to talk
a little bit, um, about the rating. If you look at this chart, um ... in ... in total, um ... there
are, in this particular chart, this is called the Moody's triple -A rating chart. This is the
Moody's rating for the communities that they rate. This isn't all the cities in the United
States. This represents 3,129 cities that Moody's rates; 196 across the country are rated
triple -A. That puts us in the rarified area of 6 %. But, not everybody gets rated by
Moody's. There's also Standard and Poor's and there's also a company out of Chicago
called Fitch. Moody's is the most conservative, in my opinion, of the raters, which
suggests to me that they're kind of the `gold' standard of bond ratings. Actually there's
closer to 19,300 cities across the country and so ... of all of the communities, there's 196
that have a bond ... a Moody's bond rating of triple -A. That is really significant! You
should be very proud of that.
Dobyns/ So you said before, you don't like to be at the front of the list but (laughter)
Markus/ That one I want to be at the very top of the list! (several talking and laughing)
Dobyns/ Why?
Markus/ Because that's an independent evaluation, the most independent evaluation. I mean, we
get awards for a lot of things, right, and they're... some of that's more anecdotal. I want
to tell you, I've been through bond ratings. These people know ... well, maybe not more
than Kevin, but I'll tell you, they know as much about your operation financially as just
about anybody. They have analysts that are going through our data on a regular basis.
They are looking at ratios. They're looking at per capitas. I mean, these people ... and it
isn't just Moody's. It's Standard and Poor and Fitch too. They do what I consider the
most objective analysis of a community, and so you're darned right I want to be at the top
of that list!
Mims / And, Rick, it affords us lower interest rates when we borrow money.
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Dickens/ (mumbled)
Mims/ Yep.
Dobyns/ that was rhetorical.
Mims/ I figured! (mumbled)
Markus/ I knew what you were up to! (laughter)
Dobyns/ I had an agenda! (laughter)
Hayek/ ...teaching faculty!
Markus/ All right! Next is the, uh, Moody's ratings for cities in Iowa, all right, and so if you do
the count, there's 64 cities in Iowa that had the Moody's rating, and again, we're at the
top 6 %, we're the triple -A; but ... does anybody have any idea how many cities there
actually are in Iowa?
Champion/ No!
Markus/ No? There' s actually 80...800 cities in the state of Iowa, okay? So there's only 65 of
`em that are going through the Moody's rating. Now some of `em obviously aren't
issuing bonds. Some of `em are very small entities. So, but again, you're in a rarified air
in terms of...of the communities that do get rated by Moody's to have that triple -A bond
rating. So....
Dickens/ How's that compare with other cities in our area?
Markus/ Um...
Dickens/ (mumbled) their ratings.
Markus/ I think it's, what... Cedar...
O'Malley/ Cedar Rapids, West Des Moines and Ames are the four cities in Iowa, with triple -A.
Markus/ (both talking) ...yeah, that have triple -As.
Dobyns/ Now that was a rhetorical question. (laughs)
Markus/ We are the highest in the ... southern part of the corridor, as they might say.
Dobyns/ Okay.
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Markus/ All right. Next is the financial and fiscal policies and of course they're... these are all
identified in great detail in the budget document, um ... I ... I, you know, in terms of
operating cash balance, this is a ... it's kind of a critical one. We try to maintain between
15 and 25 %. When it exceeds 25 %, um, what we try to do is spend that money in areas
that will reders ... reduce our, uh, tax, um, tax effort and so we took a million nine, uh in
excess over the 25% this last year and we paid off loans for the two fire stations, uh, the
in ... industrial park improvements that we made, and some Senior Center building
improvements that we had loans, internal loans on. So, therefore, that reduces that cost,
you know, in terms of the inter -fund loans on those things. Um ... and then again, when
you get into analysis of the fund balances, you know, some of those, uh, we actually have
bond covenants that dictate that we have to hold certain amounts of money for coverage
factors so that their, uh, investors feel protected in terms of bonds, um, in that we'll pay.
Um, again, you know, the ... the differences in ... in how you pay for capital improvements
— some communities do pay -as- you -go. We have, um, probably do kind of a, um, more
on the bond area and ... and I believe that's an appropriate way to do things, uh, because if
you think about the taxpayer. If a taxpayer lives here this year and we decide we're
gonna spend all our money on a... on a 20 -year improvement, and then that same
taxpayer moves the next year, I mean, he's ... he's paid for something that's actually
benefitting somebody else for a period of 19 years. That's why I think debt makes some
sense in terms of how you pay for capital improvements that have an extended useful life,
inste ... as opposed to operational costs. We then get into the fund balances, and as I
indicated and ... and uh, Rick set me up for the, uh, the softball, uh, you can see that we
have significant, uh, fund balances established in a number of our funds. Um, I would
just point out for example water, waste water, and landfill and you look at the sizeable
fund balances in those areas. Those are capital - intensive, uh, facilities. I mean, just go
look at the water treatment plant; go look at your sanitary sewer treatment plant; you got
a problem there — you better have, uh, funds available to pay for those, and we probably
have bond covenants in some of those, as well, that require certain levels, uh ... um, be
available for, uh, a debt payment but also replacement in case we have an issue. There's
uh ... what's the word I'm looking for? Um ... I can't...
O'Malley / Are you talking about the coverage ratios that the (mumbled) covenants?
Markus/ Yes.
O'Malley/ I think they're 1.25% of operations.
Markus/ So...
O' Malley/ But looking at this we have over $100 million in, uh... in each water and sewer, I
mean, you look at their physical plants and their distribution systems, and so to have
about a $10 million balance in those would be ... I .... I consider sufficient in case we have
major, uh, line repairs, uh, distribution line repairs or physical plant problems.
Markus/ Again, something that ... that any of the bonding ra ... uh, rating agencies would take a
very serious look at. Kind of a unique one is in landfill. And, uh, in landfill they have
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what's called, uh, closure and post - closure, uh, reserve requirements, and I think they
actually come from the EPA, but they're passed through to the DNR here in this state in
terms of what we're required to maintain, and so that's to ensure that there's proper
closure of those facilities, and then even after they're closed, that you have reserves
available in case something managed to migrate up, you know, through the surface or
there's a problem in ... in the landfill cell itself that occurs that you have funds to go back
there and correct that.
O'Malley/ Just to note, that's a post - closure's a 30 -year horizon, so that money has to stick
around for 30 years.
Markus/ All right, next is property tax impact, um, the net, uh, impact of this proposed tax, uh,
and budget, uh, is about a $12 difference on a $100,000 assessed value, and we chose
$100,000 because we felt that people could pull out their tax bill. If they want to know
what this budget's going to cost, and they could pull out their tax bill and look at their
assessed valuation. They can do a proportionate kind of comparison and that will inform
them as to what their actual tax would be. Um... in terms of commercial properties, of
course, they're going to actually receive a tax reduction. Now, before my ... fellow
residential property owners get all upset, you have to remember that they're assessed at
100% of their value, whereas residential properties are assessed taxably at about 52% of
their property. So there's a difference, and that's why that occurs in that ... the result.
Over the two -year period, we estimate that there's a reduction of about $514, uh, over the
three -year period, rather, uh, in commercial property tax. Uh, that's occurred because of
the reductions in the rates.
Payne/ So is that $514 spread over three years, or each of the three years?
Markus/ That's... that's the total.
Payne/ Okay.
Markus/ Next is the, uh, budget analysis, uh, in terms of proposed rate increases. Uh, of course
we talked about the, uh, recreation programs. The goal is 50 %. Uh, storm water, this is
the last of three years. It's a 50 -cent, uh, increase. Uh, refuse fund has, um, some
increases for yard waste bags and yard waste stickers. Landfill has a number of, uh,
different, uh, fees that we're tweaking, and parking, of course we talked about that a little
bit, uh, before. There's the first hour free and ... and then a dollar thereafter, and then
we're getting, uh, into some of the more specific fees and programs that we, um, charge
for. Anybody have any questions on ... on these?
Dickens/ Well looking at ... the balance versus revenue versus expenditures, is water going to go
up at all because there was like a $700,000 difference, or is that...
Markus/ Go ahead, Kevin.
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O'Malley/ Yes. Terry, that's a good point. We've been closely monitoring water, uh, but what I
see happening is what I thought was going to happen sooner when we built the water plan
back in 2002 is a lot of our distribution lines are startin' to fail. And so I ... I'm expecting
we will be needing a rate increase to start covering those capital expenditures.
Dickens/ Cause I know there was a long period between increases I know (both talking)
O'Malley/ ...actually we've been ... we decreased the ... the water rates back ... a couple of times
since we, uh, since they were established in 2002. And ... it's a ... and our coverage on our
waste water, I looked at our last, uh, annual report just came out in December, and we're
right at our threshold of 1.25 and so that's got me thinking we need to look at it for 2015,
both the water and the sewer rate increase.
Champion/ (mumbled)
Markus/ Okay, I'm going to try and speed this up a little bit. Uh, reasons for fee increases are to
maintain the appropriate relationship between fees and program costs, and ... and not to
default to property taxes. Anticipated infrastructure improvements, and strong fund
balances relate to good bond ratings. The annual review of fees and user charges, uh,
allows for more gradual increases and avoids those sudden, drastic hikes, uh, adjusts in
response to changing costs, and can ... improves compliance with City revenue policies
for self - supporting funds and programs. Next is a chart that ... that tries to take that ... that
basket of goods and services and relate to what it's going to cost. I already told you that
the property tax rate for $100,000 valued home would go to $12 increase. The other
increase is the storm water charge, and that would be about 6...$6 for a total increase of
about $18. Remember though, the sales tax here in Iowa City comes off starting, uh, July
1St. So there probably should be some sort of deduct, uh, from that as well, if we could
calculate what the average, you know, impact would be. So ... that's coming off, as well.
Payne/ That $6 is a yearly ... that $6 is a year?
Markus/ That's correct.
Payne/ So it's 50 -cents a month?
Markus/ That's correct. And that's a three -year program. This is the last of the three -year
program. And after explaining this to a number of the industries in town, I don't think
we're going to cycle back to this anytime soon, are we? (laughter)
Payne/ I agree!
Markus/ (laughter) ... you were a part of that conversation! (laughs)
Payne/ I was a part of that conversation!
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Markus/ All right. Uh, budget summary. Reduce property tax rate aimed at making the
community more economically competitive, status quo service levels with no new
positions with the exception of the two police officers funded by, um, the COPS grant,
building fiscal integrity to ensure maintenance of Moody's triple -A bond rating,
continued emphasis on flood recovery, critical infrastructure, strategic plan initiatives, uh,
i.e., University ... UniverCity program, anticipation of the end of the LOST revenue,
um... and again, we'll keep an eye on whether we could possibly use that for property tax
relief or other, uh, types of improvements. Um, and what we've tried to do as well is
improve the narrative and analysis, including new economic overview and trend analysis.
And, uh, just generally an overall, uh, continued improvement to the document. Um, I
will note ... there's some errors in there. We have been keeping a running total as we find
`em. We have an errata sheet that, you know, informs us, uh, what all those changes are.
It's a big document. Uh, put a lot of pressure on Finance to ... to include a lot more
information in this document. Um, I think it helps inform the Council to make good
decisions, and they've met, uh, that. It was a big push at the end. The other thing I want
to explain that's going on in Finance right now is we're in a complete computer con
...conversion. Okay? We're (laughs) we are all over the place trying to get all of the
new, uh, programming installed with our computer system. So they are really challenged
right now. Um... so we have some real challenges in that regard. Uh, finally, uh, I'll just
make a few comments that, uh, about, uh, some of the issues that you see on the screen.
In terms of the global economy, the ... the expectation, we ... we annually listen to
Goldman Sachs. They do a, uh, presentation on what's going to happen in the economy
in the upcoming year, and so we try to use some of that data to help inform us as to the
budget document. Um, they're estimating the global economic growth to be a... above
3 %, uh, but below its 4% potential. The U.S. economy, they see, uh, growing somewhere
around 2 %. The Euro ... the Euro -zone will continue to experience economic contraction,
uh, like they did 2012. Deep recessions continuing and labor markets struggling. I don't
know if anybody caught the New York Time article about two weeks ago, but there was
an article about the different approaches to deal with the recession, and uh, some of the
European countries went the austerity route versus the stimulus route, and uh, austerity
has caused some pretty interesting, uh, reactions. I'm sure we'll see a lot of economists
evaluating these things for years to come, to see how we get out of, uh, these things, but
you'll note the labor markets are still struggling and some of the other, uh, negative
issues that occurred mov ... in moving in the austerity route. Um ... the Euro -zone
spillover and financial drag is less threatening, uh, it seems that, uh, a number of
regulations and, uh, protections have been put in place, uh, in Europe to ... to counter that.
Oil demand has steadied and supply is increased, which has eased world economies and
will continue to allow for stronger sustained growth. In terms of the U.S. economy, we
said it would grow around 2 %. Growth will be slower in the beginning of the year, until,
um, the ... the uh, the powers that be in Washington straighten out the situation with what
I call the "fiscal hill" now. We've kind of jumped down off the cliff. Urn ... but there's
still some major issues dealing with that. There's, uh, further uncertainty though about
the debt ceiling that we have to deal with. Uh, oil resource in the United States continue
to expand, allowing for higher levels of discretionary spending, and cheaper costs, uh,
overall. And, there seems to be clear improvement in the housing market. Uh, the supply
that had existed, the over - supply, has been reduced since 2007. They expect home starts
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will do significantly better in the coming years. Uh, and this next year. In 2013 we'll
feel a little like ... a little better than 2012, according to this analysis. Uh, in terms of the
fiscal cliff, I think you all know that marginal income rates for single individuals making
more than 400K will rise 35% to about 39.6 %, um. ... yeah, Matt, I know you're worried
about that one (laughter and several talking)
Hayek/ Yeah! Yeah!
Markus/ And couples earning more than 450,000 will rise at the same level. Uh, and Social
Security, we all, you know, are impacted by that one. Uh, they're returning to the 6.2 %,
um, rate. Uh, there was kind of a ... a break there in the last year at 4.2 %. So everybody's
going to take that. So ... you know, seemingly there's less money, you know, coming to
individuals at that point. Growth is for... forecasted to be stronger in the third and fourth
quarters of the year. Um... see if there's anything else I need to say here. Yes, um...
decisions regarding spending cuts have been delayed until March. We all know that,
right? And so that's going to ... that's going to, uh, start to define what happens to the
State of Iowa. Um, spending cuts from the federal government will have a direct impact
on local government spending. We expect that CDBG funds could be cut as much as
$52,000. Home funds could be reduced by about $31,000, and they ... that represents
about an 8.2% reduction in assistance in those programs. In the State of Iowa, the
estimate is that, um, based on the discussions, you know, this all has to play out, but
1,700 families could be cut from the housing choice vouchers program. And about
879,000 could be cut from public housing, and almost a million cut from the homeless
assistance programs. Um...
Payne/ That's just in Iowa?
Markus/ ...that's Iowa. Actually it was kind of interesting — I came across this data on the
Wisconsin Municipal Cities website and they did a state -by -state analysis of what might
happen, um, to each state if the cuts that they were talking about, uh, occurred. So, that's
where we derive this information from. Um, cuts to services and capital projects will
impact city government by delaying capital investments. And placing more of the burden
of social needs on the community. Um ... pushing that down again. And that's happened
other places, uh, over the past ten years. Tax exempt status of municipal bonds got a bit
of a reprieve. They were kind of, uh, on the table there, uh, in these recent discussions
and of course that would increase our costs of issuing bonds, therefore, you know, we'd
have less money to spend on the actual capital improvements. Bonds are tax, uh, exempt,
uh, from federal taxation at this point. In conclusion, uh, 2013 will show growth in the
world, U.S. and regional (coughing, unable to hear speaker) threats to economic growth
and a relapse into recession is possible, if the federal government does not, uh, clarify its
fiscal policy. Iowa City should continue to expect to see upward pressure from a stronger
regional economy and stronger housing market, along with a well- educated labor market
Iowa City should feel downward pressure as cuts to service from federal government
reduced grants and other monies typically present for services in capital projects. And
with that, um, I think we're going to start going through the individual department
budgets and, you going to start, Geoff?
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Karr/ Do ... do you want to start your schedule for 9:30 break and you've got your other
departments, I think last year what we did, for those of us who are here all day, we
moved `em to ... we just plugged `em in as needed at the end, so we could (several
talking) take our 9:30 break and start with Public Safety. (several talking) Sue is here
anyway till the formal meeting at noon, so that's also a flexibility.
Hayek/ How we all doing? Do we need to take a five - minute break or just (mumbled) We need
to take a five- minute break! (laughter) (BREAK)
Police Department:
Hayek/ Okay! Why don't we resume the meeting? Chief. How are ya?
Hargadine/ Good morning! Sam Hargadine, Chief of Police, Iowa City. (laughter) As of about,
uh, five days ago, our authorized strength, uh, moved to 82. Prior to that we were set at
80. This month we will be sending four of those, uh, officers to the Iowa Law
Enforcement Academy in Des Moines. Uh, we also had a resignation a couple weeks ago
and I've made a conditional offer to a young man who's presently working as a police
officer in Iowa. He was born and raised here in Iowa City, so I expect him to be up and
running and going, uh, fairly ... he'll get up pretty quick, soon as he gets through our field
training officer process, and that'll get us to the 82. Out of the 82 sworn positions, we
have 63 that are assigned to patrol, ten are assigned to investigations, uh, we have two
that are grant - funded in investigations and I'll talk about that in a second. One's the
domestic violence, um, investigator, and the second is the Johnson County drug task
force officer. So we have three sworn in administration, one in records, three in crime
prevention, and that's something new as well. I'll talk about that in a second. Um, 17
civilian positions, ranging from clerical to our evidence custodian, community service
officers, and our front desk station masters. Four of our positions are partially grant -
funded and um, I'm going to refer you to page 87. Um, historically we've sought after
federal, the federal domestic violence grant funding. Presently the feds pay 41% of one
of the investigator positions. We also have a history of applying for and receiving a
grant - funded drug and narcotics task force officer. This position is presently funded 53%
by the federal and state government. It's a federal grant, but it's a state pass - through.
Two brand -new positions are in the works, both funded partially by the federal
government and one partially funded by the Iowa City Downtown District. The
downtown foot patrol officer position will be funded in this first year, 75% by the federal
government, 7% funded by the Downtown District, and 18% funded by the City. The
second new officer is also funded by the 75% federal formula, and 25% by the City. This
officer will be in response to the neighborhood stabilization strategic plan and will... and
will work specifically with and for the neighborhoods. This officer will be based out of
the Pepperwood Substation, along with the crime prevention officer. So, uh, we expect
one of `em to be downtown foot patrol and the other one will ... will, uh, be more mobile,
more responsive to the neighborhoods, and will share the office ... the substation with
Jorey Bailey, our crime prevention officer. Speaking of Pepperwood, we are in our
second year of fully funding the Pepperwood Plaza substation. I continue to hear
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anecdotal information regularly about how positive that program and presence is
received. We continue to get free rent in that facility, and we only pay for utilities,
maintenance, and taxes. I'd like to refer you to a ... a performance measure on page 327.
Um (clears throat) and it's specifically the loud party complaints. I can remember, um,
discussing this with a past mayor when the nor ... when the call response time was in the
40+ minute category. And, now with an average, uh, the call to dispatch, we also call
that a `stack time,' 9.09 minutes, with a dispatch to arrival time of 3...3 minutes, 57
seconds, just under 4 minutes. Um ... (clears throat) There are several factors that are
responsible for this positive trend, but they all have roots back to Council decisions, so I
think it's something, um, people in this room can all pat theirselves on the back for. We
are not having to travel from one fight to the next while leaving the neighborhood
residents waiting. We've been able to shift our resources and make these issues a
priority, and we will continue to do so. (clears throat) On page 326, there's another
performance goal — develop a program designed to promote interaction between teens,
young adults, and officers outside of the regular duty hours. We've done similar
programs in past years, uh, partnered with Parks and Rec, uh, but this one has gone by the
wayside in recent history. And we are considering partnering with the Fire Department
and possibly, um, there's a national program started by the Cal Ripkin Senior Foundation
called `Badges for Baseball.' Um, pro ... probably a lot more details to follow. Um ... one
of the boards I sit on, uh, is the Sixth Judicial, uh, District with a guy named Fred, and
um, one of the ... one of their priority initiatives is this `Badges for Baseball.' And they're
wanting... they're wanting set it up in both Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, um ... Mr. Mims
is, uh, affiliation with the Athletic Department will allow us to do this year- round. Um,
it's a little difficult to play baseball in January unless you've got an indoor facility. So
those things are ongoing.
Markus/ Sam, why don't you just mention what kind of drove some of this and what the goal,
one of our goals is (mumbled)
Hargadine/ Well the goal is just ... is pretty simple. It's to get officers interacting with youth, uh,
in ... in, uh, our neighborhoods. It's to, uh, identify ... uh, and ... and be a role models. If
there are those that are interested, one of the things that we have particular problems with
are recruiting minorities from Iowa City. We can go to Detroit, Gramling, there's a
number of places where we can recruit minorities, but, um ... we know there's... there are
those that are here that are interested and kind of have roots in the community and, um, if
we can get those interested and ... and geared toward public safety, um, that ... that's the
ultimate goal.
Throgmorton/ Sam... Sam, could I follow up on that?
Hargadine/ Sure!
Throgmorton/ One of the things, uh, I noticed when I was reading through the budget document
was that, uh, there's an opportunity to have a ... a performance measure having to do with
minority recruitment, and ... and actually track it and have goals set for it that are, you
know, we ... we know there are complexities associated with it, but uh, to identify it as
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something that could be tracked and measured and so on. So maybe next time around I
could do that.
Hargadine/ Absolutely! The, um ... I'll jump over to page 88, animal services. Um, Meisha and
the Animal Shelter have a total of six full -time employees. It's ... it's status quo; they've
had the same, um, number of employees for a couple of years now. There's one
supervisor, who is also an animal control officer. Um, two additional animal control
officers for a total of three, including Meisha. Two animal care technicians, one animal
sis ... center assistant, uh, as I said, this has been status quo and um, I think you're going
to see a lot, there'll be a lot more further discussion on the Shelter regarding your, with
your CIP presentation. Any questions?
Champion/ Chief, now that you have a few new officers in the past couple years, how do you
compare now per capita with other similar size cities? Do you know?
Hargadine/ I think there's a chart in there. I'm not sure which particular page. Um, we're still, it
kind of depends on the ... the study you use, whether it's the top ten Iowa cities, uh,
nation, nation -wide for cities our size, um, I think we're ... um ... in that average, you
know we're not ... we're not in the, the um ... the best shape per capita, but we're also not
in the worst.
Fruin/ Connie, if I can (both talking)
Champion/ One time it was very low!
Fruin/ Yeah...
Hargadine/ correct!
Fruin/ If I could jump in, it's ... per capita's a very tough comparison to make, particularly in a
college community when you have the university presence and the ... and the presence of
a, uh, university police. (unable to hear person away from mic) Yeah, that's... that's
probably, uh, a more accurate comparison to make, but you have to be very careful
because all those entities are structured a little bit differently in each community.
Hargadine/ I agree with Geoff. Um ... there are times when I would argue that they don't ... the
University police don't answer calls out into the neighborhoods, but one thing that's
unusual about here is now they are stepping up and answering calls in the downtown
area, which goes back to that benchmark I ... I started out with, in... in reducing the
amount of time it takes for us to get to a loud party call. They're stepping up is ... is one
of the factors that's improved that. More questions?
Hayek/ Is the, uh ... is the deer culling part of...is that part of PD?
Fruin/ We do that, part of the Manager's...
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Hayek/ Okay.
Fruin/ ... budget.
Hayek/ Yeah! (laughter) I saw the line item in there and I didn't know if now's the time to talk
about it or not. Any other questions for the Chief?
Fruin/ Sam, there's a recent article or two in the paper, just about the body camera purchase,
which is included in this budget, if you want to mention a, uh, thing or two about that.
Hargadine/ It's a, um, as you know we have a ... a fairly complex system already in the cars. It's
digital, uh, any time a car is parked anywhere around this building, whether it's in front
or either side it automatically uploads to the City servers, and we, uh, we have access to
that at our desks, almost instantaneously, uh, from anything that occurs out in the cars.
We're looking at taking that, uh, a step further with putting that same technology actually
on, uh, on ... on our officers. Um, bike patrol, for example, they don't have ... they're not
going to have the same amount of equipment that ... that we have in a ... in a vehicle. Um,
we're ... the downtown foot patrol officer, for example, he's going to be away from a car
for a significant amount of time. So we need to figure out some way to get the benefits of
a recording those interactions, um ... while you're away from either the building or the
car. So ... that's why we're looking at those. It ... it would integrate with our existing
system with a backbone that we already have in place, and um ... you know, we'd be
...we'd maintain those files, uh, just like we do with the video system.
Payne/ So would you pilot it with a certain number of people to start with?
Hargadine/ Correct.
Payne/ Like the ... like the downtown foot patrol officer, for example, would be a pilot.
Hargadine/ Correct. Um ... usually the officers that have a propensity of being away. They do a
lot of foot patrol, urn ... the downtown officers in the evening, where they're down there
for a number of hours and ... and away from a car. Those are the ones. It really is kind of
an expensive per unit item, and urn ... and it doesn't ... I don't think it makes sense to put
one on every officer. Uh, because we ... we can capture ... uh, 90 +% of all of the incidents
we have, using the ... using the vehicle's camera, but there's time when whether we're in a
...in a bar or someplace out of range of the ... of the vehicle's capabilities. The bike
patrols, for example, and the ... and the downtown foot (mumbled). Those ... those would
be the place where we start.
Dickens/ Are we still a wait - and -see on the red light?
Hargadine/ Um...
Dickens/ Depending on what the State does.
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Hargadine/ ...the urn ... the DOT is ... which is the State, is ... has thrown down just about every
gauntlet they can, urn ... uh, our ... our planning, or our traffic engineering unit is working
with them, um, feeding information back and forth, uh ... fairly regularly. I think we've
answered just about every question anybody could ever dream of coming up with, um,
and it's, uh, I think at some point it's going to come back around to the legislature again.
So...
Markus/ Let me jump in and I'll be pretty blunt about what I see happening here. I think what
couldn't be achieved legislatively is being dealt with administratively ... through the State.
And so I think ... the, um, in previous situations this has not been an issue for installations
and all of a sudden the State has taken a much more aggressive kind of review through
their administration, and so I think that's a direct result of the indecisiveness at the
legislative let ... level. So ... I think we ... we still need to be cautious based on what the
State's doing. Um, so that we don't jump out there and then find ourselves invested in
something that... you know, legislatively is removed. So we're keeping a close eye on it.
At the same time, we're trying to follow direction from Council and, you know, and
pursue it but... it's... there's obvious, urn ... direction coming from the State that is ... is
causing these thresholds to seemingly get higher.
Dobyns/ It's not like our Council was overwhelmingly enthusiastic about the (mumbled)
Champion/ I wasn't! (laughter)
Hargadine/ I think there is some need for statewide... um, uniform fines. I ... I think that's
something that they ... they could and should weigh ... weigh in on, but it's still .... I believe
a local issue for ... for you to decide!
Hayek/ Uh, briefly, uh, cause we've got you up here, I just, urn ... you know, there's ... on the
issue of, uh, outreach to ... to immigrant population, minority populations, premature at
this point to get into any detail but there have been disc ... there are ongoing discussions
about how, uh, how we should engage with and what ... with those populations, what we
can do, and the Chief and I have had some conversations. Others have had conversations.
Everything's very preliminary, but think we may see over time some... some, um,
retooling of our ... of our resources and ... and new initiatives, etc., to ... to, uh, open up
more lines of communication, and that ... that could potentially have a budget impact, and
I think it's way too early to ... to tell.
Dobyns/ Plus we have a Diversity Ad Hoc (mumbled)
Hayek/ Yeah. (both talking) So, anyway, but that's something to ... to keep on the list, uh, cause
...cause it could circle back to ... to this process. Okay. Anything else?
Champion/ (away from mic) Sorry! (noises on mic) When I'm going through this and I see
targets and some of them were for public ... sorry (mumbled) community presentations,
you have increased your target bar checks. You've increased your targets. Uh,
performance measures OWI, traffic stops, um ... you also increase a target for stops, I
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assume? And some people interpret that as the police are going to be stopping people for
no reason at all. How do you defend that?
Hargadine/ I think it goes directly in hand with neighborhood stabilization. If you... if people are
speeding through the neighbor ... the neighborhoods are where we hear about it from first.
Markus/ Probable cause!
Hargadine/ True, I mean we're gonna build a solid case that includes probable cause, but as far
as directing... officers to get out, and this is a problem, it...it stems from complaints that
we're receiving from the neighbor, you know, from the neighbors that, uh, traffic calming
isn't working, the ... the radar trailers aren't working. We want to see officers out here
writing tickets. Uh, we get those complaints, um, constantly and then I think it ties in
directly with, um, neighborhood stabilization.
Markus/ I think the other thing too, and you know, we heard it during the criminal justice
discussion — you know, that we're filling the jails with people. I'm sure you hear that on
the committee and so, you know, at the same time, I can tell you our neighborhoods,
especially the close -in neighborhoods, they want to see more proactive enforcement in
those ... in those neighborhoods. They're concerned about, you know, some of the
activities that occur in those areas, and I think that's what Sam is trying to address in
those areas. But, you can't just make a random stop. There, it has to be basis for that
stop.
Hayek/ Sure.
Champion/ Well I've had to defend our police department several times at the criminal justice
coordinating committee, um ... and I appreciate that, but these ... this is the kind of thing
people look at, interpret differently than your ... that's why I asked you to ... to explain it.
Markus/ That's right.
Dobyns/ So to make sure I understand that, there's probable cause out there. You're just putting
your officers out there to discover it. I mean ... it sounds like...
Hargadine/ Correct.
Dobyns/ ...making more available, you know, not like they're trying to stop people. I mean, it's
out there. They're just, you putting them in a position where they can find it ... by making
(mumbled) trying to determine what decisions you're doing to make ... that happen.
Hargadine/ Well, from the same studies that we looked at with the red -light cameras, we know
that there are some intersections that are being run 2 and 300 times a day. So ... whether
we put a red -light camera there or not, that's ... that intersection is in ... within the beat of a
particular officer, and ... uh, if it contributes to, um ... if it contributes to ac ... you know,
crashes, then that's something that we look for that officer to ... to problem - solve. How
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do ... how do you solve that problem, that's to start taking enforcement at that particular
intersection. Likewise if you have straight -aways within a particular neighborhood and...
and, um, the average speed is ... is, you know, they're going 20 miles per hour over.
Those are all things that, uh ... uh, our officer ... our officers are out looking for.
Pedestrians at... at certain times of the year, that's another one that causes a problem. So,
um...it...it depends on where and what the problem is, but urn ... it all correlates back to
traffic safety.
Hayek/ Okay! Thanks, Chief!
Hargadine/ Uh -huh.
Hayek/ Go on to the next...
Fire Department:
Rocca/ Good morning, Mr. Mayor, City Councilors, City staff. My pleasure to be with you on a
bright sunshiny Saturday morning, and uh (laughter) I can assure you it is when I came in
anyway. (laughter) Um ... but Tom was gracious enough to give me an extra few hours
to go over the highlights of the Fire Department budget, and uh, so I certainly didn't want
to waste an opportunity like that. At any rate, uh, you've got our organizational chart
there in a book, and I'll certainly review to ... or refer to some pages within the budget
manual. Um, we have 64 uniformed personnel with the Fire Department, and one
civilian position. And that's how we support that community coordination and customer
service orientation through the, uh, use of those personnel. Our city's divided up with,
uh, four fire stations, four fire districts. We also have a training center that we operate.
Our shift strength is 16 minimum and 20 maximum each day, 24/7. The fire apparatus
that we're operating are four engine companies. One of those is (mumbled) which is a,
essentially a pumper with a 75 -foot ladder on it. Our truck company or our aerial ladder,
which is 100 -foot platform, and our battalion chief. The core services the department
provides: fire suppression, emergency medical service, technical rescue, hazardous
materials response, fire pres ... fire prevention services, which includes code enforcement,
public education, and fire investigation. I might add that, uh, last year we were evaluated
by ISO, the Insurance Services Office, and our ISO rating did move from a 3 to a 2,
which is certainly an effective measure of the ... the fire suppression discipline of the
department and so, uh, those that are ISO rated evaluated properties are taking advantage
of that rate, effective November 1 last year. That's a scale of 1 to 10. We're a 2, and I
believe we are, uh, one of two ISO 2s in the state of Iowa. So certainly a... something to
be very proud of. We developed a strategic plan for fire protection. That was facilitated,
uh, I believe back in 2010 by the Commission on Public Safety Excellence, and just
recently we completed an addendum to that for FYI through 16, and that addendum is
available on our web site. It's also directly correlated to the City's strategic planning
initiatives and the goals of community coordination and customer service orientation,
economic and community development, and neighborhood stabilization, I think, are core
to what our addendum tries to achieve and ... and articulate back to your ... your planning
initiative. We also are an accredited fire service agency with the Commission on Fire
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Accreditation International. We received that in 2008. We're one of about 150 depart
...fire departments worldwide, uh, that has that status, and we'll be re- accredited, uh,
we'll have a site visit in early 2013 for re- accreditation. Move into the organization of
the Fire Department a little bit. Uh, our administrative and support division has myself, a
deputy chief, a battalion chief, and an administrative secretary. Uh, we're the ones that
carry out the day -to -day administration of all aspects of the Fire Department — personnel
transaction, budgets, special projects, and the like. Our fire prevention bureau is headed
up by our fire marshal and a shift inspector, who's detailed off our truck company, uh,
Monday through Friday during the day. As I mentioned earlier, we're doing public
education through there. Primary audiences are elementary and University of Iowa
students, senior citizens, and a lot with neighborhood meetings. Over 500 presentations
and over 740 contact hours, uh, in the last fiscal year, calendar year, excuse me. Our
code enforcement program continues with the University of Iowa, uh, commercial,
institutional, city schools, churches, group homes, daycare, and liquor license
establishments. Over 1,800 inspections annually. And of course our fire investigation
program. Speak a little bit to, uh, the emergency operations division. As I mentioned,
we have a 16- minimum, 20- maximum staffing there. In, uh, calendar year 2011, we ran
about just over 4,600 calls and uh, calendar year 12 we were up about 540 calls, or
11.6 %, to, uh, 5,175, and I'll touch briefly on how we, you know, got that bump.
Essentially in fire suppression, our calls jumped up by about, uh, 39% in fire suppression.
That's all types of fires. When we drilled into that and took a look at it, um, we ... we
experienced more kitchen fires, cooking - related fires, uh, so we'll be after that a little bit
through, uh, public education and... and the like. And the drought had an effect with
vegetation fires and things of that nature. So I think we can speak to the increase there.
Another interesting note is our EMS program, and uh, we run about 60% of our calls are
EMS, and so in 2011 we ran 2,500 calls, and in 2012 we were over 2,800 calls. So we
saw a spike there. I don't know exactly what the nature of those medical emergencies
are. It's a little early for us with those numbers, but we'll be looking at that to see where
that increase came. Technical rescue is comparable, uh, at 15 and 17 in those two
respective years. Hazardous materials releases, um, 139 in 2012; 173 in 2011. So a
reduction there. Our false alarms bumped just slightly. We were 783 in 2011 and 799 in
2012. As far as training and equipment, in that division we have a battalion chief and a
lieutenant training officer. They're responsible for all the training, uh, for the Fire
Department, whether it's firefighter training, incumbent training, new personnel, uh,
officer training, hands -on, certification- based. Uh, they provided over 3,400 hours of
contact training, uh, they also specify and purchase new fire apparatus, which we'll talk
more about on Monday at the CIP. Uh, as well as maintenance and repair of all the fire
apparatus, tools, and equipment that are used by the firefighters. I would refer you now
to the, uh, highlights of the 2014 budget proposal, on page 96 of your plan, and you'll see
it's a $7.6 million budget. Um, it's a fairly, um, no- nonsense budget as has been pointed
out earlier with 65 authorized positions being maintained. I note as well that 88% of our
budget is salary, wages, and benefits. So there's not a lot of wiggle room there to do
much, but uh, approximately $1.4 million of the Fire Department budget is revenue from
the University of Iowa fire contract. Contract that's been in place for a number of years,
uh, since the mid -50s I believe, and ... and largely unamended, and a very beneficial
contract, I might add. It's good for the University. It's certainly good for the City, and
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uh, and the public. By way of capital outlay, we're looking at a new automobile, a rescue
vac, and strut kit, and those are technical rescue tools. Um ... I'll refer now to the ... the
2011 ICFD snapshot in your budget manual, and that's in that ... page 329 to 336 range. I
know it was pointed out earlier, but uh ... in terms of funding, 75% of our funds are from
that General Fund; 17% from the University of Iowa fire contract; and then 6% from the
utility franchise. It's now time for me to do my annual, uh, fire response time 101, and so
bear with me, but I think it's really important for you to understand how this all comes
together to get those big red trucks down the street. Um, there are four components to
what I'll call response time — total response time. The first part of that is alarm handling.
The second part is turnout time, which is when the firefighters have the alarm, they've
heard the alarm, they're getting their protective gear on, getting ready to get on the fire
trucks. Once they roll out the door, travel time starts, and once they get on scene, that's
where total response time, uh, ends actually. We have goals, uh, for alarm handling. We
like that done in 60 to 90 seconds, and that's done at the JECC. And you'll note in there,
um, generally, if you look at the trend that's on ... in those performance measures related
to our response for I believe it's the, uh, urban structure fire scenarios there, we actually
got worse, and ... and I was a little surprised by that, but we started looking at...at what
happened there and we moved in to the JECC for our emergency communications, um,
our travel times were the constant, so we started looking at our ability to turn out of the
fire stations, as well as the call processing done by the dispatchers, and we found areas
where we can improve there. And so ... for the first 18 months, we watched our ... our, uh,
productivity actually get worse, but we're on the upswing again. Some training has been
done out at the JECC, uh, with the dispatch personnel. Uh, we've certainly started to
measure and let fire personnel know what their turnout times are, and you'd be surprised
what that competition between shifts and stations and companies has done. So we're
seeing quite an upswing in that. Uh, so we'll just have to watch that real close, but um,
let me get back into this with our benchmarks or our goals for our emergency response
times for structure fires, and I'll talk mostly about travel times. We like to have our first
unit on scene within four minutes travel time, 90% of the time, and an effective response
for us of 10 personnel essentially, two trucks, our aerial ladder, and a battalion chief on
scene within 8 minutes travel time, 90% of the time. So those are our goals, and if you
look at travel time and you add a minute or two minutes for call processing and turnout,
uh, that gives you kind of a range of that total response time that I spoke of. Let me
move quickly into the baselines of our current capabilities based on 2011. We've had our
first unit on the scene, travel time — from the time they left the fire station to the time they
got on scene — within four minutes and one second, 90% of the time. The, uh, the
accreditation commission wants us to do that within five minutes and 12 seconds. So we
do well in the urban setting, which is the more densely populated part of our community.
The effective response force then, uh, we get on the scene in seven minutes 13 seconds,
um, travel time 90% of the time, and the Commission gives us 10 minutes, 24 seconds.
So again, our travel times look well, but we had to get worse almost to get better in terms
of call processing and then the turnout time for the firefighters. And so we are starting to
see some improvements there. Any ... any questions about any of that, while we're there?
Perfect, perfect! So you can see that, um ... with our four fire stations, our four fire
districts, uh, we've got within each district fire demand zones, and we're able to look at
all types of emergencies, our ability to respond there, uh, in ... in terms of our goal and our
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baseline capabilities, and uh, all that really is based on the distribution of our fire station
locations, as well as assembling the right personnel and equipment. And I thought you'd
enjoy this little side note related to Fire Station #4. Well, we've been in operation now
just over a year, and in that first year, uh, with our city travel time goal of four minutes,
before Fire Station #4, we achieved that goal 69.5% of the time. After a year, with Fire
Station #4, uh, we're now at 72.3 %, so we have shown a 2.8% improvement in our ability
to reach that travel time goal. So it's having a very positive impact and in terms of
incidents, uh, we estimated it would run about 8% of our call volume. Uh, it's actually
closer to 9, almost pushing 10 in its first year, and as the northeast continues to develop,
I'm sure those call volumes will ... will correlate to that. Um, the next area I'd like to just
draw your attention to has to do with page 335 of the financial plan, and these are the
ICMA, uh, and selected metro coalition comparisons. And ... and I think when you look
at how Iowa City Fire stacks up against, uh, some of these, whether it's our expenditures
per capita per thousand, uh, non -fire incidents, our fire incidents, residential structure
fires, and our sworn personnel, uh, we stack up pretty well I think. We're doing a good
job in that regard, um, I ... I would say that we're probably a little light with personnel,
but I think as a organization we can all talk a little bit to that. With upcoming challenges
the future of, uh, the Fire Department, succession planning is still somewhat of an issue
for us. A few years ago we identified I believe five of six chief officers being eligible for
retirement. Uh, two of them have retired; two of them are currently eligible, and one of
them will be eligible in the near future. Uh, we've seen a couple captains retire, um, and
so we are monitoring that, trying to give opportunity to those that are on our promotional
list to make sure that they're ready to take that next, uh, step up. Uh, the other, uh, thing
that Chief Hargadine mentioned is our whole issue with recruitment, and specifically
diversity recruitment. That's a bit of an issue for us, um, you know, we're over 90%
white male, and we recognize that. Uh, we do well compared, uh, to the national average
for female firefighters. We're in fact over that. I think we're at 6 %, and the national
average is about 4 %. And so we're going to be working with that cadet program that's
mentioned in your financial plan there, uh, we also do some things with Kirkwood
Community College and their fire science program, and workplace learning connection,
but it is an opportunity I think for us to ... to look at high school students and expose them
to public safety positions and careers, uh, trying to give them some incentive in high
school to follow those, uh, career aspirations, and so we're looking forward to
implementation of that program. As I mentioned, re- accreditation with the CFAI, uh,
relocation of the training center in conjunction with Riverfront Crossings' development,
uh, clearly the training center is a major component of...of the services we provide. If
we can't train effectively, we're not going to provide effective services and ... and so
when we look at how that area develops and where we're going to relocate the training
center to, uh, I would just ask you to be mindful of that as we move forward with the
development of that project. I also think Fire Station #1, um, is a little cramped and in
the future we need to look at that. I know we have a facility management plan that, uh,
hopefully will be rolled out soon and we'll address some of those, or at least identify the
condition of Station #1, but it's critical that, uh, we look at the needs for the future in Fire
Station 41. As the, uh, fringe continues to develop, um, I know in the unfunded years of
the financial plan we're looking at Fire Stations #5 and #6, and ... I know it seems
preliminary to talk about that on the heels of Fire Station #4, but as we continue to see
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some residential development, and we have difficulties providing services out there
where it's likely to develop, uh, it would behoove us, I think, to identify, uh, parcels of
land as it's annexed in. Maybe it could be dedicated, so we don't have that hurdle of
acquiring land, uh, once we're in a position to ... to put more fixed -base fire stations, uh,
in some of those areas where development will occur. Uh, the last point I'd like to make
about core programs, making sure that they meet the jurisdictional demands that we have,
you know, as our population continues to age and as our EMS call volumes continue to
rise, there may be, uh, an opportunity for the fire service locally here to play a bigger role
in EMS and we should probably be examining that, um, to see what our niche might be in
an expanded role in EMS. So with that, I would entertain any of your questions.
Payne/ I have a question.
Rocca/ Certainly!
Payne/ Um, one of our City Council meetings I think in December, we talked about, um,
charging for certain services, moving a patient from a car to a bed or something like that.
Rocca/ Correct.
Payne/ Do you have that incorporated into the budget, into one of these line items or do you not
know because it's too hard to project what those (both talking)
Rocca/ You know it's... Michelle, it's really the non - emergent was what that was targeting. So it
would be to a ... I think the fire reports or fire service software's calls it "assisting an
invalid," urn ... we had I think it was 74 of those calls in five years, 24 of them in the last
year, um, so we wouldn't be charging for those types of calls. Um, for ... for single -
family dwellings. In residential care facilities for those 24 calls last year, that's where we
would make that charge, and it would generate roughly $85, uh, for the half hour it might
take us, so it's not a big moneymaker. And it wasn't looked at to be a moneymaker. It
was a deterrent from tying up emergency services.
Payne / Right. So it's not a line item in here.
Rocca/ No.
Payne/ Okay.
Dobyns/ I found it remarkable that despite Station #4 coming online, that you're still well below
the average of ICMA, and I'm thinking about your last line about suggesting that we may
want to expand into EMS services. I'm not so ... what is that about? Is that ... you must
mention it because it's a good thing. I'm not sure what that means.
Rocca/ Well, right now we provide first respond or EMS and so somebody has a medical
emergency in the community, uh, our communications center will send, uh, the closest
ambulance unit and fire unit to that, uh, and as well as a police officer, should they be
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available and depending on the nature of the emergency. So we have a tiered system
right now. Many, uh, EMS systems across the state of Iowa are fire- based, so the
paramedic, uh, and ambulance reside in the fire station. It's run by the fire department.
Uh, so that's a component of it that continued EMS deliver, uh, but again, my point really
is, an aging population, an increase in call volumes, um, do we start to transition towards
being that paramedic service? Should we have paramedics on staff? Uh, is there more of
a niche for, uh, in -home health care that's coming down (mumbled) there's a lot of health
care changes that we all ought to be paying attention to. My point is, we should have it
on the radar so we can forecast the needs of our community, and be in a position to fill
that niche if there's a gap in that, uh, home health care.
Markus/ Let me add into this conversation. If you paid ... if you turn to page 336 ... budget
document ... and this is a conversation that Andy and I have had. One of my concerns
about the way we deliver public safety services in this area is you have separate police,
you have separate fire, you have a separate, uh, 9 -1 -1 call center, and you have separate,
um, paramedic service. And so when you start to go across and the first line under the
chart, it informs you as to the different levels of service. There's two of us — Iowa City
and West Des Moines — that are related first responder. In the case of, um, West Des
Moines, they're at sworn firefighters per thousand population of .78. We're at sworn
firefighters of .95... or .94. Now there's two other categories that are listed. One is
paramedic provisional, and then as paramedic EMS, full EMS. And then you can look at
the numbers across. Now ... here's the complication, the County is providing this
paramedic service and they're doing it on a much larger basis. My familiarity with
running fire service is, fire service /paramedic, and so ... in an aging community, like we
were, it was critical to have great response times in terms of that paramedic response. So
the discussions Andy and I have had is, how would we go about transitioning our fire
department into a paramedic service? That would then inform you as to these rates. And
then when you go back and respond to the question that Rick had about ICMA, you have
to ... you have to understand and drill down into what types of fire services are being
provided. Andy and I might have some disagreement as to what the appropriate level of
personnel allocation is, but where we don't have any disagreement is I think we both
believe that if we had paramedic service combined with our Fire Department, that the
service would probably be enhanced for our community. The problem, the challenge is
that that would probably, um, decimate the County service, the service that they're very
proud of, and probably would not want to get rid of, and so we have that kind of
challenge there, and I think that plays into your ... you know, you always have to drill
down into these statistics and understand what's behind them, not unlike the issue that
Geoff, uh, commented about when you get into the police service, and then you also have
public safety with the ... with the University and how does that play off? The other thing
that wasn't mentioned in that discussion was, you're also the County Seat. So you have
County Sherriff's patrol cars rolling in and out of this city on a regular basis too, that also
can respond to incidents. We're paying for County Sherriff service too. So when you
look at these numbers, you know, you ... you do have to kind of expand what you're
thinking about and what the full equation is here locally. And so ... um ... I ... I think, quite
frankly, uh, we're adequately staffed. We're well staffed. I think the fourth station filled
a void that ... that the community recognized and wanted, and I'm trying to figure out, is
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there a way to enhance the delivery of paramedic services to our community so we don't
hear all the time about ... why we running a fire truck and an ambulance and a police car
to every incident? Well, that' part of the reason that that's happening, is you got three
primary different responders to these issues. So ... you ... you really have to drill down
again into these ... some of these statistics when you have these conversations about what
the appropriate level of staffing is or isn't. And we do have those conversations. (both
talking)
Dickens/ Does the City pay for paramedic ... or is it strictly our County?
Markus/ Of course! Well, but it's paid through your County taxes.
Dickens / Right. Right.
Rocca/ No, I think, Tom, you make a good point. I mean, you ... you need to look at the ...the
makeup of the community. Some of these communities are much more industrial based
than we are, and so you would think that there would be a little heavier staffing
component there. Uh, Cedar Rapids being the paramedic provisional, they used to run
just like us, as a first responder entity, and I think they're starting to, uh, encroach a little
bit more into the, uh, advance medical arena with their provisional paramedic service.
Hayek/ As we ... as we talk about, um, personnel and budgeting and ... and we see what's around
the corner, um ... you know, we ... we have, as I understand it, a ... a purely, uh,
professional career, uh, fire department here. I know a number of communities around
the country have blended systems where you combine, uh, professional with volunteer,
um, and ... and you know, is ... is that something we should be looking at, uh, to ... to
augment what we can accomplish, um, while being mindful of...of...of, you know, our
... our budget?
Rocca/ Well, I think when you look at the progression, and we did this I don't know if it was
about five years ago, uh, under Dale Helling's watch. Uh, we started looking at that. The
question was asked at that point, uh, typically we start ... you start out with a volunteer
organization and some paid positions and it's a combination department and then you
make this leap to, uh, to become a full- career department, and that's what Iowa City did,
uh, probably back in the 20s I think it was. Um, so to go the other direction, um, I think
there are some inherent pitfalls with that. Tom and I have discussed some of those. Uh,
I'm not an advocate of a combination system. Uh, you still have the training component,
the complexities of the day -to -day job as well as assembling those personnel, uh,
attracting them from their employers, from school, from wherever you get volunteers,
um, I think ... I think there's some hurdles there frankly.
Hayek/ But ... but I mean there are communities around the country that operate (both talking)
Rocca/ Clearly there are.
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Hayek/ ... and... and I don't know that they're intending to go fully professional. They may have
decided that that blend works well for them, and I just wonder if it's something, um, we
...we ought to be looking at. I ... I throw that out there.
Markus/ You know...
Hayek/ ... and I don't know, but (both talking)
Markus/ ...I've looked at these issues for a long time, and ... look, there ... Andy may not say it,
but I will. Um ... the professional firefighter, urn ... um ... is dedicated in terms of their
professional career path, and I think at times that creates a rub, uh, with volunteers. And
...you correct me anything I say here, Andy, but I would tell you that a number of our
professional firefighters start in volunteer departments, and migrate into our department,
and we recruit from some of those volunteer departments. The other thing I would tell
you is, a number of our firefighters serve on volunteer departments. And so ... there is
this cross - collaboration. I would surmise that the IAFF is not a big strong proponent of
having the, what you refer to as a ... hybrid type of operation. But what I have seen work,
and can work, is the understanding and the recognition by full -time firefighters that
having a volunteer auxiliary, uh, backup, recognizing that the design is not to take the
place of the full -time firefighters, but to serve in a back -up capacity, has some
advantages. And I think that in ... in ... in terms of our firefighters and in terms of...um,
our potential future firefighters maybe a place where we can grow firefighters into the
full time service, but it certainly can't hurt to supplant and supplement the full time fire
(coughing, unable to hear speaker) but I think there's ways to do it that don't have to be
disruptive and don't have to create anxiety between the professional firefighter and a
... someone that does it more on a (coughing, unable to hear speaker) basis. Again, you
know, we're the ... we're the only full -time fire service in the south end of the community.
One of the things that Andy and I talk about is, you know, when you go into mutual aid, a
number of the firefighters that ... that we might call from mutual aid, might be our own
firefighters! Because they serve on a volunteer basis. It's likely that they're coming back
on, paid on ... you know, they're coming back on callback, okay? They're not going to
chose to come back necessarily as a volunteer. Right?
Rocca/ Correct!
Markus/ So, I contend that us having the full -time fire service in this metropolitan area is a ... is
another one of those services, okay, that we're providing beyond our borders. Our
training, um, the level of professionalism of our firefighters, um, has to exceed that of
volunteers. I mean, that's ... that is their vocation. That's their life -long work. And so
from my standpoint, it's actually an advantage to the other jurisdictions, and it allows the
other jurisdictions in my opinion to continue to have volunteer services that may not
otherwise, because they can be reliant on the level of professionalism that we provide in
our fire service as a full -time fire (coughing, unable to hear speaker) So those are all, you
know ... Andy and I have very con ... candid conversations about this stuff, and we'll
continue to. And there's no real easy answers, you know, you ... you know, it's all about
how you communicate these things and how you make it work. But the fact of the matter
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is, you could have an auxiliary backup corps that doesn't have to threaten the
professional, uh, fire department that we have.
Dickens/ Is there a requirement to have a full staffed based on the size of your town?
Rocca/ City code or, excuse me, State code says you'll provide fire protection and it's up to the
local jurisdiction to determine how we do that.
Dickens/ Okay.
Dobyns/ `What percentage of your firefighters are full -time? With us?
Rocca/ Say that again, Rick.
Dobyns/ Are ... are they, are your 42 firefighters, are they all full -time?
Rocca/ Correct. Yeah, all of ours are... are full -time staff.
Dobyns/ I just want to make sure if they're moonlighting in other jurisdictions that they're, you
know, they're still spending full -time with us so...
Rocca/ They're full -time employees here in Iowa City.
Dobyns/ Right, right.
Markus/ You know, the nature of the fire department shift is a 24/48, and so it creates some
opportunities, and I ... I don't begrudge a ... a, one of our full -time fire, uh ... um, service
employees to go and volunteer in another department. I ... I don't have a... a problem with
that. First off, I prefer that they live in our jurisdiction, and ... and (coughing, unable to
hear speaker) part of our community, but if they are going to be in another community
and they want to share that expertise, I understand why they do that.
Dobyns/ See, I would differ on that. I mean, just like our resident physicians, they allow them to
moonlight, but we don't want them exhausted when they're out there moonlighting. Um,
and these are safety officers, and ... I mean, you can't keep them from moonlighting, but I
wouldn't want to make it too easy for them because you don't want tired firefighters.
Rocca/ No, and I think that's the nature of the 24 -hour shift and the ... the California swing
schedule that we have, cause after three shifts, that four -day break does give them time to
kind of regenerate, recharge, so they're ready for the ... the next three -day swing.
Hayek/Okay! Probably need to keep moving here. Any other questions for ... the Chief? Okay.
Andy, thanks!
Rocca/ Thank you. Appreciate it!
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Housing & Inspection Services:
Boothroy/ Oh, I didn't fill the screen! (laughter) Uh ... I'll work on that! (laughter) Um, Doug
Boothroy, Director of Housing Inspection Services. Uh, couple things to talk about
today. Uh, I think the first thing to know, uh, when we look at the budget is ... is that the
projected revenue in the Department of Housing Inspection Services this year, this
coming year, uh, is expected to cover all costs. So there ... so in the Building & Housing
Inspection Divisions, for example, uh, there should be no ... all ... all of the overhead for
those employees, uh, and their salaries, uh, are ... will be covered by permit fees. So I
know the budget shows that there's about 3% coming out, but that's being reimbursed
through the permit fee system, uh, as a budget number. Uh... so, uh, and also remember
that the Housing Inspection Services includes urn ... uh, the Housing Authority and I want
to remind you that ... that they're fully funded with federal funds. Now, uh, maybe to talk
about them briefly. I know Tom talked a little bit about what's happening in Washington
and how the cutbacks might a ... might affect, uh, Section 8 and public housing, and that
could happen, uh, at this point, uh, we don't really know. Uh, what ... what has happened
over the last year through attrition through is we did reduce staff by one ... one person in
the Housing Authority itself. So, uh, if the projected 8.2% (noise on mic, unable to hear
speaker) the Housing Authority with regard to administrative fees, uh, that would not
lead to any additional, uh ... would not result in any layoffs because that's already been
anticipated. Uh, we were able ... I was able to do that because of changing that, uh,
changing some processes that we use, as well as, uh, more ... more about 60% elderly and
disabled in terms of our client base now, so ... uh, we're not getting as ... that's a st ... that's
a stable base. It doesn't turn over. We don't have new starts. They stay, you know, they
don't leave the system. And so it...it creates some, uh, efficiencies, uh, and so we were
able to adjust staff to recognize that, as well as to recognize that in my opinion the future
for administrative fees and stuff like that isn't going to get any better regardless of what
happens, um ... um, in D.C., uh, coming up in the next couple months. We are fully
funded, by the way, through February. We've already got... got that commitment. Um,
in terms of the, uh, Housing Inspection and Building Inspection areas, let's talk about
Building Inspection a little bit first. Uh, we're having a ... a good year. Uh ... uh, our
permits are up, our revenue's up, the revenue is as high as ... as ... it's almost back to, uh,
where we started ten years ago in terms of having a really great year, so, uh, we expect
that to continue, uh, through 2013, and there are a number of projects that are coming
online. Oaknoll, for example, uh, and there are other projects that we expect. So we
think that our revenue's are going to be quite good, um, in the ... in the Building
Inspection area. The other thing that, uh ... we did, uh, in terms of our revenue, is if you
recall last spring we increased rental, uh, permit fees. Uh, and uh, that ... uh, it started
coming in in July 1St of last year. Uh, I don't expect that we'll have any, uh,
recommended fee increases, uh, in... in either the Building or the Rental Inspection areas
through 2017. Uh, that's the plan that ... that we have in place at this point. We don't
expect to be coming back for anything. Um, so and I don't expect any staff increases, uh,
during that time. One of the things that has helped us with our revenue, not only is the
permit fees, uh, revenue up and the number of permits, and stuff like that, and we
continue to grow in the rental area. The other thing is that we did some, uh, some
reorganizing in both Building and Housing this year, and we've reduced staff by one and
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a half positions. So that's helped our, uh, expenditure level, uh, and when you couple
that with the additional fees and stuff like that, it's ... it's ended up being, um, self -
sustaining in terms of revenue meeting expenditures. Um ... couple other things to talk
about. We're doing some things, uh, in terms of technology, uh, that should be pointed
out. I pointed this out last year. I pointed it out, uh, in the CIP. Uh, we ... we're very
close to, uh, rolling out our, uh, electronic plan submittal and review process. It's called
...it's referred to as `Project Docs,' though I think we're going to call it publicly `E-
Plans.' Uh, what that is is a paperless system, uh, for, uh ... uh, people in the industry, uh,
designers, architects, engineers to, uh, submit plans to the City. Uh, it's recognizing the
way they develop plans. Everything... all of the people that we work with, develop their
plans, uh, electronically, uh, through certain types of software. Um, we have, uh,
traditionally required them to reduce it to paper, make copies, deliver it, we dispense it, it
creates ... it's additional costs to them. It's additional time to them and it ... and it also is
costing time to the City. So, um, we're in the process of...making sure that it ... the
operation and the rollout will be smooth. We'll be doing a soft rollout here, uh, in ... near
the end of January, uh, with some of the firms that we contacted and... and talked to them
about the system. We talked to 25 different, uh, individuals about this. Uh, there was a
lot of enthusiasm for it. Um, and then we hope to go with a public rollout sometime in
late February after we've sort of run the system and made sure that we got any bugs or
anything that we overlooked, uh, out of it. So I'm pretty excited about that, that, uh, right
now that process only affects building permits and major site plans, uh, when we talk
about the CIP, the second step is to, uh, go paperless in other areas, uh, where we get
subdivisions and rezonings and things like that, but this year, uh, we're ... we're testing it
with, uh, the building and ... and the site plan. Uh, we expect to, uh, reduce, um, major
site plan review times down because of the way the process works, uh, building permit,
uh, turnaround will be about the same because ... in many cases we're doing it in one or
two days and there's certainly not a ... not much you can shave off that, uh, turnaround
time. But with regard to major site plans, we think we'll be able to make some ... some,
uh, improved, uh, turnaround time on that, as well as improve accuracy with the use of
the system. So ... um ... that's going forward. Uh, in the area of, uh, neighborhood
stabilization or, uh, other kinds of customer service type of thing, we're working on a, uh,
a mobile app for smart phones, uh, and we're very close to getting ready to do a soft
rollout with that, uh ... it's an application that ... would be free for either Android or Apple
type, uh, i -Phone type phon ... phones. Uh, that citizens can have on their phones that
they could request, uh, services such as, uh, sidewalk snow removal or other types of
things similar to that. It also has other capabilities that we're looking at, uh ... uh, that we
can push out, for example, a ... uh, snow alerts or press releases, uh, cause people don't
typically go to the web site as much as they used to. Uh, other kinds of, uh, community
events, calendar things, stuff like that, can be coupled with that request for service, and
the idea of coupling all that together is not only, uh ... uh, give us more people on the
street to help us with regard to code enforcement issues, but it also, um, if they ... if
they're getting other information that's valuable to them, that they ... they're more likely
to, uh, use the app, on a more regular basis and become familiar with it. So, we expect,
uh, that to go public sometime in February, uh, in the interim, uh, we'll be working with
some neighbors to, uh, have that on their smart phones and see how it works, and see
how ... how smoothly that goes. Uh, the thing about the technology, I want to go back to
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Projects Docs briefly is that ... is that, uh, it's going to provide a springboard or a base, uh,
for, uh, where we're going to be in the future, uh, the architectural firms when we met
with `em, they're already modeling and developing plans in 3 -D. We're still behind the
curve on this. Uh, and uh, Project Docs will support 3 -D plan submittal, so I would
expect within the next three years, uh, we would probably be accepting, uh, plans in 3 -D,
which sounds pretty cool, uh, but what's even, uh ... uh, more... interesting about that is
that, uh, Projects Docs folks are working with the International Counsel of Building
Officials to develop automated plan reviews for 3 -D, uh, applications so that, uh, certain
types of issues like accessibility or exiting can be, uh, reviewed by the software without
any, uh, person involved in that review process, because it's in 3 -D. So, I see ... my point
is is that we're going to be there to help the customer in this area because that's where
they're at with these bigger projects, but the other thing is that it's also going to help us
with regard to our staffing level because as we get that place, uh, it'll take some pressure
off, uh, in terms of, uh, of plan review and things of that nature. Um... any questions?
Payne/ Do you know how many building permits for new construction were issued in 2012?
Compared to ... 2011 and then also I think you made a comment that we're back to about
the same level we were about ten years ago.
Boothroy/ Total permits, uh, for 2012 is, uh, 2,528. Last year in 2011 it was 2,281. Um ... total
revenue for 2012, this includes a $56 million for non - taxable public works -type project,
uh, 2012 was $160,687,950, uh, and in 2011 that was $81,699,700, well, whatever!
(laughs) So, uh, you can see that we're about double over what we were in ... in terms of
total, uh, value, permit value, uh, in 2012. Um, last time we were in the $160 million
range was in, uh, 2003. So we're doing good!
Payne / What was the low, like in ... you know, 2008, 2009? I'm assuming that (both talking)
Boothroy/ ...2011.
Payne/ Oh, really?
Boothroy/ Right. 2011 was our lowest number than, uh, oh, no I'm sorry! 2009 was lowest.
missed it. Uh, 2009 was lowest, then 2011, and then 2010. So, there's kind of...those
three years, uh, 8, 9 and 10, or excuse me. 9, 10, and 11.
Markus/ I think Kevin wanted to add a comment.
O'Malley/ I look at those same statistics and ... and uh, I thought that in 2012 that $160 million
included quite a bit of non-taxable...
Boothroy/ Right, $56,508,000.
O'Malley/ Versus? Ten years ago we didn't have that much non - taxable (both talking)
Boothroy/ I don't have that ... I don't have that footnote there.
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O'Malley / Right.
Boothroy/ What that ... was, it ... uh, I was just talking about total permit value. I would say that
the, uh ... uh ... the, on a ten -year average without public, uh, we're at $114 million. So
we're, you know, this year in 2012 we'll ... we were at, or last year in 2012, we were at...
if you take that 56 out, we were 104. So we're not far off our ten -year average.
Hayek/ Right. So the ... the condo conversion, um, from commercial to residential tax, I mean,
that doesn't have a budget impact here because it's a self - funding (both talking)
Boothroy/ These are just permit fees. These...
Hayek/ Right, right, I'm just, and I'm just... tangentially talking about what you're... you're
talking about, but that impact is to our General Fund, as opposed to (several talking)
Right. Other questions for Doug? Okay! Well, thank you.
Boothroy/ Thank you.
Hayek/ Go enjoy the day!
Boothroy/ Uh -huh.
Libra :
Hayek/ Library!
Craig/ Good morning, Susan Craig from the Library. I'm so glad it's past 10:30 because I
thought, if I get up there at 10:30, and don't do the 10:30 story time, what will they think
(laughter) Well, never been a children's librarian! It's not my forte! Um, I brought...
Meredith Rich- Chappell is here with me today. She's the Board President this year. Um,
so if you have any questions later, maybe she can help answer them. First off I thought
I'd update you a little bit on Library stuff. Uh ... the end of the fiscal year showed that we
are still the busiest public library building in the state of Iowa. Uh ... the circulation of 1.6
million is equivalent to a per capita circ of 23; um, no other major public library in Iowa
has over 12 per capita circulation, except for Ames, that we're always competing with, as
you could imagine, in that as well as many other ways. Um, we had 765,000 people
through our doors. That is more people than Cedar Rapids and Waterloo public libraries
saw combined. Um ... our per capita visits, again, are over 11, and that's about double
what any other what we call `urban' public libraries, the ten largest public libraries in
Iowa has with the exception of Ames, which was at 7 1/2. So we really beat them, um,
when it comes to, uh, people through the doors, and part of that is our downtown location
and they're sort of on the edge. They aren't in their downtown and they're further away
from campus than we are. Um ... we had over 40,000 people attend children's programs
last year, and we provide children's programs, I don't — we do — um, for all ages
beginning with the ever - popular book babies, which is for, designed for children from 6
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to 18 months. Every child needs to have a lap to sit in when you come to that program.
Um, that program was actually expanded. We now offer it twice a week instead of just
once a week because it's been so popular. We had 113,000 log -ins to our public access
computers, and 98,000 log -ins to our wireless network. Uh, our experience very much
mirrors what libraries see nationwide as people who do not have access to the internet
rely on libraries to keep them connected. Uh, this fact was recognized last year when Job
Services of Iowa closed 30 -some offices across the state, and said, go to your public
library, uh, thankfully our office did not close, but it did reduce staff and hours. Another
example of people needing access to computers is the Iowa City Community School
District now sends a lot of information home in electronic backpacks, and if you don't
have access to them electronically, you lose out on a lot of information from the school
system as a parent. Um, many of their registration things this year had to be done online,
as well. We live in an online environment and people without access are really at a
disadvantage. We've almost completed phase one of our building upgrades. We're
waiting for some late ordered pieces of furniture and some signage, but other than that
we're pretty much done, for which we've received some capital funds. You're going to
hear more about that on Monday at your CIP session, but those changes have allowed us
to adjust staff, and to provide some improvements and services, uh, the most popular
received of which is we now have a human being answer the phone when you call the
Library. You don't get a `press this for that,' or `that for this.' Um, challenges, you
know, we all have challenges. One thing that's really changing in the library
environment, uh, is our collections. Our downloadable collections, circulation grew last
year by 100 %. And in the first six months this year, it's up by another 50 %. Uh, more
and more people are requesting their information in formats other than print. To me,
who's been around a long time, uh, it feels a little bit like dejA vu because 25 years ago it
was all about audio cassettes and VHS tapes, and now it's about e -books and
downloadable music, but this time around we have more challenges than just finding
money to purchase things. Within the print publishing industry, the publishers cannot
agree on a model to provide electronic materials to libraries, especially popular titles
where they make their money. They fear losing a sale to people who might purchase a
book, and since e -books do not wear out, and depending on licensing, could theoretically
be shared by more than one person at a time, they see library lending as a threat to their
profits. Some publishers are putting embargos on new titles. They won't sell to libraries
until a certain time period has passed. Others refuse to sell at all, and one ... there is one
major publisher that sells copies that you're allowed to circulate a given number of times
and then it ... is gone. Uh, so you have to replace it. As you can imagine, this is not a
topic that will be decided at the local level, but one that we're very involved with and
watching very closely, um, talks between the publishers and libraries are ongoing and lots
of national level forums. That's sort of the downside of digital collections. The upside,
um ... is that technology is now affordable and easy to use, and we can create our own
digital collections. Last year we gathered national attention for our local music project
where we signed license agreements with local musicians to offer their music to Iowa
City residents for free download. We are working on a pilot project to digitize some
local history materials to make them widely available. The first of which I hope are
many projects. Example of how popular and useful this kind of service can be was this
year when the old Blackhawk mural was exposed during the construction downtown and
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there was all this interest in, oh, well where did that come from? I mean, really it wasn't
the dark ages, people! It was (laughs) only 20 years ago. Um ... we had an original video
interview with the artist of that mural, and we took it, streamed it off the web site, and
had hundreds of views of it in the couple of weeks after that. So technology lets us get
that stuff out there, easily accessible to people, you know, it wasn't in a dusty book. You
didn't have to come down to the Library to look at it. You had an interest in local history
and we can put it up and people could ... could see it right away. So, that's the kind of
positive thing that digital collections, um, will be ... will be happening at the Library in the
future, a lot of local history initiatives that I see coming on. People want their
information when they want it, in the format they want it, increasingly that is on a screen,
and increasingly it's on a very small screen. So ... gotta keep up! As I said earlier, the
Library provides access to the intemet for people who otherwise would not be able to use
the information, resources, the social networking opportunities, including basic email, or
the educational support this modern day tool provides. How to continue to provide this
support in an equitable, accessible, and affordable way is an ongoing challenge. We
experimented for a year with a remote computer access point at the Pepperwood Plaza
Police substation, but despite working very hard to publicize this service it was not well
used, and we found people preferred to come to the Library, which had more hours. We
were never able to staff that location... more than a few hours a day, a couple days a
week. But we continue to look at options that would... provide that service other places
than just the downtown bus... building. Um ... I don't know if you've ever heard the word
`digital immigrants,' uh, but we use it to make people like me feel good when we don't
understand technology because we are ... I am an immigrant to the digital technology
business, and basically if you're under 35 you are a digital native, and if you're over 35,
you're a digital immigrant. And the further over you are, the harder it is to learn your
new language. Hard as it may be for many digital natives to understand, we have...
Markus/ (mumbled) (laughter)
Craig/ ... exact ... exactly! (laughter) We have many citizens who have never manipulated a
mouse, do not have an email address, have never scanned anything, and don't have the
first clue how to download or stream information. We are trying to continually provide
opportunities and methods to help people understand and use this technology. Last week
the Press - Citizen ran an article on some of the classes and programs that we have to
provide technical support, and right after that this week we had four times our usual
number of gray- haired people, um, in our Senior Tech Zone. So ... there's a big need out
there for that kind of support. I mean, people come in and I ... I understand. They say, I
just got this i -Pad. My children bought it for me, but what do I do with it? Um, early
childhood literacy is another area that poses a growing challenge. For decades public
libraries have offered story times to preschoolers and summer reading programs for out -
of- school children. As our community demographics change, we face many of the same
issues the schools do in reaching and engaging young people and their parents and
caregivers. Study after study shows that success in school depends on reading and
reading skills are formed in very young children. How we can help provide a strong
educational support for our youngest is an ongoing question that we struggle with. Um,
in the last couple of years we've increased outreach to daycares and preschools. We offer
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free bus rides to the Library in the summer for children and caregivers, but we continue
to look at that and try and, uh, identify good ways, economical and efficient ways, that
we can provide that kind of service to our youngest pre - readers. And I want to talk a
little bit about economic development, because I know it's your number one goal, and it's
not something that we do a lot of, uh, you know, there are a lot of national studies that
talk about that economic development impact of libraries and we have not done those
specifically in Iowa City because they're expensive to do. Um ... but ... we certainly are a
destination point. Many Iowa City and out of city residents are brought to downtown
Iowa City to visit the Library. Um, I know people who say if it wasn't for the Library, I
wouldn't come downtown. Of course I hope that's not the only reason they come
downtown, but we know we are a destination point. While they're downtown, they shop
at surrounding businesses, eat at restaurants, and pay parking at our parking facilities.
Our services benefit job seekers and employers, small businesses and entrepreneurs, um,
one example is that relationship with Iowa Work Force Development. Library resources
and programs strengthen our human capital, reduce service costs to many local agencies,
and broaden the reach of our partners. We have many, many anecdotal stories about how
the Library contributes to the quality of life in Iowa City, and that makes people want to
live here and not want to leave. Um, I remember talking to a UI recruit who told me how
she was put up at the Sheraton when she was in town. She walked over to the Library
every night. She was so impressed that a community our size, because she was used to
an urban ... a much larger urban environment would support a library of this quality and it
was instrumental in helping her make a decision to come here. Another story that
happened this year, a young man who sat with his laptop computer every day at the
Library and we learned that he didn't have any place to go during the day and he was on
that laptop looking for jobs and one day he wasn't there because he got a job. He came
back and said, thank you! And the final story is, uh, appreciation expressed by a mother
whose young child's vision issue was identified, um, at a Lion's Club vision screening
service that we do about four, six times a year, uh, well, Lion's Club does it, but they do
it right after story time, so they get all the kids, screen their vision and make and identify
a vision problem in a three - year -old, who ... get it fixed; they're ready to go to school.
But what we're here to talk about today is the budget. Um ... our, the budget is pretty
basic. It does not include any significant initiatives, um... although not reflected in the
budget documents, you did approve some staffing changes in December that actually
reduced the overall staff at the Library by a half -time, um, permanent person. Related in
that same approval you upgraded a couple of positions. We ... we, uh, downgraded a
management position, uh, the staffing needs at the Library, like many businesses, are
changing. We need highly skilled, technically trained people, and we have less need, um,
for clerical -level staff. Upkeep on the building will continue to be, uh, a growing part of
our budget. There is a request in our budget this year to fund a study of our HVAC
system. I know you're thinking, but that building is brand new! Um, parts of our HVAC
system went on line in 2010 when we, um, were in the interim phase, built the ... the new
addition and moved into it, so some of those components have been working very hard
since then, and it's time to study, um, when they will need to be replaced and ... and then
we'll have to figure out in a future budget how we'll pay for that. Um, growth in money
spent on collections is evening out. We're, um, seeing much smaller increases in what
we spend on the collection. Uh, I think we'll start ... we are starting to spend less on
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traditional print, more on electronic resources, and how that ends up with all of these
issues I talked about, the availability of electronic resources for libraries will have to
...we'll have to see where that goes. Um, we do have in my opinion equitable service
contracts with the County, University Heights, and Hills. Urn ... I do want to mention our
State funding, although it's fairly minimal, um, it, you know, every $80,000 makes a
difference. State funding to the ... to the State Library has been cut, almost 35% in the last
five years, and we are starting to see effects of their service reductions, if...if the State
Library does not receive an increase from the State Legislature this year, it will affect
things like they help all the libraries in Iowa plan summer reading programs. They give
us very deep discounts to a couple of online databases, and we would have to, uh, provide
additional local resources, if they're not able to help us with that. So, if you get a
question from a State Legislature about the State Library, say, `yes, they need more
money!' The proposed budget reflects the Board's requests and I hope you are able to
approve it. So, Meredith and I can answer any questions.
Hayek/ Questions for Susan?
Dobyns/ Susan, your meeting rooms, um, as far as programs, um, during the day, are there fairly
filled up or busy, or is there still room for ... for programs?
Craig/ It varies! You know, over Christmas break, um, you could probably get a room. Um, if
you look ... if you look now into February, there would ... if you wanted a meeting at 1:00
in the afternoon on a Wednesday in the middle of February, I'd say your chances might
be 50150, depending on how big the room was that you wanted. Um, we have several
thousand uses, and that's non - library uses, of our five meeting rooms in a year. Um, so
they are a very well used community resource and it depends ... on the day. And how
lucky you are!
Payne/ I noticed that one of your performance measures is to increase the number of Facebook
friends.
Craig/ Uh -huh.
Payne/ I just went and did it.
Craig/ All right!
Payne / Right here while we were sitting (both talking)
Craig/ Thank you, Michelle!
Payne/ ...cause I saw that, and I wanted to say that it says that there are 30 ... 3,815 likes and
your estimate is 3,731, so you already surpassed it!
Craig/ There you go! (laughter) I like to meet my goals, right, Tom? (laughter)
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Throgmorton/ Susan, I'd like to alert you to a, um, a concern that, uh, will affect future budgets.
Craig / Uh -huh.
Throgmorton/ My daughter who is 14, uh, will, you know, in three years or so go off to college
somewhere, and since she's personally responsible for about one -fourth of the activity in
the Library (laughter) uh, I, you know, you're going to (both talking)
Craig/ ...well, it's ... it's like a school. We have to continually replace our fans so, uh, we'll
work on that!
Mims/ With your electronic stuff now, are your contracts... well let me back up. With hard
copied books, how many `uses' do you think, or check outs do you get of a book before it
has to be replaced?
Craig/ We did a study many years ago and so I live off of that data. We've not repeated it
recently, um, and that showed that ... average number of circulations was in the high 30s,
low 40s, before we had to replace a book, due to wear and tear. So certainly there are
things there that have circulated a hundred times, but there are other things that might
circulate 20 and be ready to go.
Mims/ I think I just found your comments on the electronic stuff interesting, cause NPR had a
show on just this week I think (both talking) Did you hear it? And they were talking
about it, and that's what some of the publishers are doing is putting basically an
expiration, uh, number of uses (both talking)
Craig/ ...okay with that, I mean, I ... I think we have a relationship with publishers that is
important. That's how we get this stuff, and they need to be healthy...
Mims / Right.
Craig/ ...and, um, be able to continue to publish things. Uh, Simon and Schuster's, the publisher
that right now you have to buy another copy, um, after 27 circulations. That's a little
lower than I think it should be. If it was 37 I'd be a lot more comfortable with it.
Mims/ Sure.
Craig/ ...but I'm not ... I understand where they're coming from and I would be okay with a
model like that. I mean because they lose out on providing that backlist to fill in when
copies get lost or stolen, or um, they just wear out and we need to replace them. And I,
like I said, I'm okay with that ... that kind of model.
Mims/ Is the issue that some of them have are ... are libraries not following contracts in terms of
loaning more books than they have licensed?
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Craig/ No. Libraries are following contracts. The ... the issue is, it reminds me a lot of the debate
in the 8... early 80s about, um, video tapes and rental stores would say, you can't let the
library loan video tapes. And, study after study shows that libraries, if you're in a
community that has a good library and is full of readers, the book store will (both talking)
flourish. The, if you have ... if you loan movies, the movie rental places did okay. Not, it
wasn't the libraries that killed movie rental places. That people that consume that kind of
information, you create a critical mass, and they get it from the library and then they want
to own it, or they get what they can from the Library and they went to the book store or
the rental place and got the new stuff, because the Library had a long waiting list.
Mims/ Thanks!
Craig/ Uh -huh.
Hayek/ So you ... you, uh, your organization is ... is unique in that you've got this Board of
Trustees and ... and you have a lot of, um ... uh, intelligent, interested, engaged people
watching out for the interests of the Library and trying to peer around the corners, um,
which is important, but we're also in a period of flux...
Craig/ Sure.
Hayek/ ...in terms of technology, use of libraries, missions, you know, what ... trends, etc. See e-
books are now in jeopardy because that's a ... platform that may be supplanted by
something else. I mean, I... assuming essentially stagnate support levels, you know,
(mumbled) increases notwithstanding, but assuming, you know, we're basically going to
be dealing with in five years what we've got now, um, but with all this change, uh, and
...and in terms of the ... the, what libraries should be doing, could be doing, will be doing,
you know, how ... how do you guys manage ... how do you see around those corners, plan
for the future, um... um, and... and... and figure out where to go, uh...
Craig/ You know, five years ago I think there was a lot of angst within my profession about
where our library's going and you know, people were saying all this information is going
to be online. It's going to be electronic. People are going to have ready access to it. And
people won't need libraries anymore. And, what we've seen is ... it was really reinforced
because of the economic recession. People went to libraries, because they needed
computer access to apply for jobs. They couldn't afford to buy books. They had to
borrow books. They needed, uh, good programming for their family that didn't cost $100
to take them to a movie and buy them popcorn. Um, our popcorn's free! Um, and
the ... the community center aspect in ... in online world is something that is really growing
for libraries. People still sometimes want to get together in the same room and talk to
people, and the library is a space that they can do that in. So it ... it's hard when you've
been in the profession as long as I have that the stuff I used to do, we don't do anymore.
Um, but the value that we provide is still there in different kinds of ways, and I don't
think, you know, the use of collections is changing and it may diminish slightly. I don't
think our circulation will go up this year, and it's been going up every year since we
opened the new building. Um, I don't think ... I think we're going to start seeing it inch
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back down a little bit, but the other services fill that void and, again, as we look at what
we do, we move that staff around, maybe they need to be out... outside the downtown
area helping those senior citizens with their new i -Pad or you know doing a book baby's
program at Sycamore Mall or something. So there's... there's plenty to do. And people
still need libraries. And always will.
Payne/ In your circulation numbers, do you include e- books?
Craig/ Yes.
Payne/ ...in that number? Is it broke out separately or is it all just one number?
Craig/ Well it ... we like our statistics. Um, yes, it is broken out.
Payne/ Okay.
Craig/ yeah, we're ... we're just getting ready to look at our six months' statistics, and I can send
you stuff on... e -book circulation.
Payne/ I would ... I would be very interested. In fact my daughter ... I just bought a book the other
day online, and my daughter says, you know, you could have rented that ... you could
have gotten that from the Library. So (laughs) she is right!
Craig/ Yep! Okay.
Hayek/ Thanks, Susan!
Craig/ Thank you!
Hayek/ Thanks, Meredith! (laughter)
Parks and Recreation:
Moran/ Good morning. (several responding) I'm excited to be here. I know you're not cause
you've been here all day, but I'll try to make this brief. Uh, just to ... to run around a little
bit and give you an update on some of the stats for us. Uh, our Parks Division, uh, still
maintains, uh, 1,551 acres of parkland, uh, that's up a little bit from last year and our
substantial increase, uh, was Hickory Heights neighborhood and then of course the
Normandy Drive area we've added into those statistics because we're officially taking
care of that now, which we haven't been doing in the past, uh, with that. We do have, uh,
28.75 miles of trails and that is up a little bit from last year as well, mostly because of
Scott Park, the Highway 1 trail, and then the Butler Bridge addition that we've completed
this year to take care of, and that also includes some various, uh, snow removal.
Dobyns/ Mike, is a large sidewalk that's ... a sidewalk, is that considered a trail?
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Moran/ Yeah, we don't have sidewalks, we have trails. (laughter)
Dobyns/ They're all...
Moran/ Yeah, yeah.
Dobyns/ Okay.
Moran/ Cause we usually end up having to take care of those anyway. So ... uh, we have 60,000
linear feet of irrigation lines that we have to maintain with all of our sports facilities, uh,
we take care of 486 acres of residential turf, which is basically sports field turf because
they have to be maintained at a different, uh, level, uh, and then we also take care of 212
acres of what we call rough turf around waters and highways that don't require as much,
uh, maintenance, as we've had before. We have 31 playground structures and 15
bathroom facilities. Uh, we will increase that a little bit because of south Hickory Hill
and Kiwanis Park, which you'll hear about on Monday with our CIP program. Uh, the
Recreation Division maintains 100,000 square feet of indoor facilities, uh, they offer over
1,200 programs with over 16,300 participants, uh, and our Park Bench monthly
newsletter, uh, subscriptions have increased over 50% from last year, so the electronic
media that Susan just talked about is really taking hold. There's more people that want
their information that way, and we'll talk a little bit about that, as well. The Forestry
Division maintains and plants about 125 trees a year. We take care of street and public
right -of -way trees, and we trim approximately 1,800 trees. We're in the process; this will
change a little bit to next year. We're in the process of GISing the ash trees in Iowa City,
uh, we obviously have a little bit of a concern for that, and so after we get `em on a GIS
map, we'll be able to see what areas of the ... the community we have to get in to
and ... and sort of figure out how we're going to handle that ... that issue, and then what
our, exactly our numbers are. We don't have a good handle on that right now. So we'll
be doing that this winter, uh, and so this spring when they bud out, we'll have a plan of
attack for... for that, if it gets down this far and we have to worry about that. Uh the
Central Business District, as you know, maintains the downtown ped mall. City Hall,
Chauncey Swan, fountain, bike racks, and 3,200 linear feet of the plaza and adjacent
areas to maintain, and we'll have some changes on that, as well. And then Oakland
Cemetery maintains approximately 40 acres of land, 2.65 miles of roads. We have about
18,000 internment sites, and two column bariums, and none of that has really changed
much either. We did a cemetery study last year, and based on, uh, averages we probably
have a life expectancy at our current cemetery of anywhere between 16 to 20 years before
we really need to think about what we're going to do differently, and I expect those to
change a little bit because it seems like the columbarium is the way to go, uh, instead of
internments. We're seeing more of an increase for that than we are of internments. So
that may change just a little bit, which'll just stretch our life out just a little bit longer, uh,
at the cemetery. Um, so moving forward, uh, with our budget and with other things
we've got, uh, we know that ... that on your strategic plan, uh, your five goals, the two
that we most, uh, readily, uh, come in contact with is economic development and
neighborhood, uh, stabilization. Our 2008 Master Plan will have to be upgraded. They
suggest every five years to do that, which'11 be this year. Uh, we will do some master
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planning and we'll try to bring that Master Plan into, uh, the strategic plan that the Co...
that you have adopted as well, so you'll see more of alignment, uh, with that as well, in
everything that we do, both in capital, uh, and in budget preparation. Um, we are ... the
big push is to increase our fees, especially in the Recreation Division, so that we're at
least 50% self - supporting. Uh, we've had a ... a mandate that we've been 40% self -
supporting and we've met that with some success, but we've hovered around 42 and 43%
over the last four or five years, and we need to make a better effort to get that kicked up
to at least 50 %, and uh, you'll be seeing some changes in the way that we do things to get
that done, as well. Uh, we're going to look at decrease in service of non - essential areas,
like setting back mowing schedules, uh, ending snow removal on some particular trails so
that we can enjoy some other different aspects of...of winter recreation and limited
maintenance in non -use areas of parkland. Um, we will also look at contracting services
for, uh, some mowing areas, some trash pickup, and park security so that we can get
better coverage, uh, but do it in a contractual basis without, uh, staff employees. And
then we will also carefully preview any additional parkland or trail expansions until
committed resources are in place for continued maintenance. Uh, we're at the point
where we've added a lot of parks in the last two or three years, so we have to sort of slow
down just a little bit and we have to make sure we have resources in place to take care of
anything that we get in addition to that. So we'll take a little bit more stringent look, uh,
with what we've done. Um, highlights for the future, uh, the Recreation Division has
instituted a ... a new software registration program and upgraded that. Uh, it's also in line
with the Senior Center, uh, registration program, so that we're all doing the same thing.
We don't have, uh, opposite registration programs. The nice thing about this new system
is that it's also included parkland, so that people now can go online and rent park shelters.
They can look at the maps. They can see where they're at and hopefully that'll eliminate
some questions from us and a lot of phone calls that we get in April and May and June.
So it's more interactive with that. If you buy a pool pass and it's a monthly pass or an
annual pass or a quarterly pass, you can reload those online now so you don't even have
to make a visit down to see us. You can do all that online and ... and make it a lot more
consumer - friendly. So we just opened that up about three weeks ago and ... and we're
working through the trials and tribulations of getting that established before we start, uh,
winter registration. So that's been a ... a nice thing for us to do, and especially for the
future looking at the spring. Uh, renovations to the Recreation Center will bring
necessary updates. We will celebrate the 501h anniversary of that building in 2014, uh, so
we have some renovations we have to do for ADA compliance, and just to freshen it up a
little bit, so that people don't walk into a 50- year -old building that, uh, we can hopefully
bring in some things with fitness and health, uh, and we'll talk a little bit about that in the
CIP program on Monday, as well. Uh, Farmers Market continues to thrive. The major
change for that is that we elevated the fee so that it's a $100 per self ...a 100% self -
supporting, and that includes full -time staff use. So that program, uh, completely funds
itself with all the staff and the amenities that we've put into that, uh, we've been below
that a little bit and we brought that up this year to make sure that that gets covered. Uh,
we have two, uh, fairly substantial openings next year and that's the Terry Trueblood
Recreation Area and the Ashford House renovations. Uh, we will, uh, be placing
contracts on those facilities so that that service will be contracted out for rental, uh, for,
uh, catering, for events, and uh, get that off online so that we can start making some
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money on it. We've had that, the Terry Trueblood has been a four -phase project, so it's
been a while to bring that online, and the Ned Ashton House, uh, will finally come
online, as well, and that ... that'll be helpful for that Normandy Drive area when we finish
that. Um ... we're working on marketing programs to include signage for facilities and
uh, bring in an awareness of the department's facilities so that it's a little bit more
consistent throughout the ... the land so that everybody knows where we're at, and then
we will continue on with relationships that we've had with Blue Cross/Blue Shield and
the Wellmark program, uh, the Blue Zones program, and then our ongoing relationship
with the Iowa City Community School District, which has brought about 28E agreements
for Mercer Park, Grant Wood School, uh, and the like, and ... and we'll continue on with
those, as well, as those ... as the school discussion takes place with new facilities, uh, we'd
like to be a part of that so that we can join in on ... on some of that, as well. Uh, the
budget itself, uh, is pretty non - descript. It's been the same that it has been in the past.
There are no big substantial changes to that. Uh, most of our activities occur in the CIP
program, which we'll have discussions about; uh, staffing levels have remained, uh, the
same for the last ten years. So there's really ... not been too much up and down with that.
And that's really about it! If you have any questions.
Dickens/ ... going to be staffing issues when you open the Ashton House and the Terry
Trueblood?
Moran/ Those ... those will be contracted services for the facilities and then the maintenance and
care of the land will just be wrapped into our Park Division.
Dickens/ So you won't have to add anybody to ... to run those facilities.
Moran/ At this time we're not planning on doing that.
Throgmorton/ With regard to the neighborhood stabilization goal that we have, um ... uh, I think
we'd all agree that the North Market Square Park renovations have been tremendously
successful and they'd uh, certainly enhance the ability of that neighborhood to, uh, to
thrive. So it makes me think about other potential targeted investments that could be
made with regard to specific neighborhood parks in other parts of the city. One that
comes to mind is Benton Hill Park. Um, not that I'm saying we should focus attention on
it, but it's just one that comes to mind. So I'm hoping that, uh, maybe in the CIP
discussion, or at some other point, uh, we'll ... we will be focusing attention on a few
neighborhood parks that could be enhanced dramatically in a manner akin to what
happened at North Market Square Park.
Moran/ Yeah, we'll have that discussion Monday, unless you want some redundancy now and
we can go through a little bit of that, but we do have some master plans put in place with
that CIP program to do exactly that same thing.
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Excellent!
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Hayek/ Um, and let me ... let me follow up on ... on Jim's point, uh ... I agree on that. I, the
feedback I get generally, uh, with parks and rec is, you know, by and large it's ... it's
laudatory, it's ... it's complimentary, uh, but where you see the ... the compliments, they
tend to more in the, sort of the higher visibility areas, whether it's what we do in the ped
mall, which is really great these days, or... or, uh, Hickory Hill or City Park or with Terry
Trueblood, and with the Northside Park, just tons of positive feedback on that, um, where
I ... the two areas where I hear, uh, complaints from time to time, uh, one is with respect
to, uh, a number of the ... the smaller neighborhood parks, uh, and I'll save that for our
CIP on ... on Monday, but I think it is something we should talk about, um, and ... and the
second is, uh, has to do with, um, a programming with the School District, and ... and
what I hear from time to time is that ... that our level of engagement and programming
with the School District, um, is ... is not as good, uh, as ... as what the School District
enjoys with ... with the other communities that are ... that are part of the School District.
Um, I don't know that to be the case but that's just what I hear from ... from time to time,
and I don't know if that's a budgetary thing or ... or a programming thing, uh...
Moran/ Yeah, we would look forward to doing more as well so we can certainly open up that
avenue, uh, with that. We've started that with Grant Wood and Mercer Park, and with
the advent of new schools, that's a possibility to open up as well, but even with existing
programs I think we probably could do a better job with that.
Markus/ Yeah, I'd like to interject something. And Mi ... Mike and I haven't had a whole lot of
conversation, but I suspect that these meetings are designed to kind of throw out ideas
too, and one of the things that I've been thinking is the, um ... Robert A. Lee (several
responding and laughing) facility and...
Moran/ Robert E. Lee was a steamboat captain! (laughter)
Markus/ Um, well, Mr. Lee, and his building, uh ... I understand the University is looking at an
expansion of their Rec Center in the downtown, and I guess the question that ... that I
think about, or the issue I think about is ... is it possible for us to team up with the
University and maybe shape what that addition/expansion looks like, especially in ...in as
much as we're talking about, um, the river improvements and all of those types of things,
and maybe... subsidizing City of Iowa City residents to participate in that Center, and
maybe in the long run look at decommissioning, uh, the Robert A. Lee Center and
becoming a University /community facility that our community could enjoy. We have a
population here of .. approaching 70,000 people, but that population drops off at a pretty
significant number during the summer period of time, and it just seems like ... I think I'd
at least like us to explore that opportunity and have that discussion. It's nice to have our
own facilities and all that, but I mean, that seems like an ... an incredibly advanced
recreational facility and the array of services it provides and could provide to our
community if we opened up that avenue is something we should explore.
Moran/ Yeah, I ... I think that's a good idea. Uh, the Director of Rec Services is retiring in July
so I'll have to get on that right away, and then maybe that would be a nice segue into
whoever the person is that comes in and replaces, uh, Mr. Olstrander.
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Markus/ I ... I'm not saying that where we should go. I'm just saying at...at least (both talking)
Moran/ Well we need to at least talk about it, yeah. Yeah.
Hayek/ Yeah, I have to think, I mean, I was a fixture at the Robert A. Lee, uh, Center as a kid,
and I'll point out that I won the, uh, single's and double's foosball tournament in the third
grade (laughter) at the ... at the Rec Center. Yeah! I peaked! (laughter)
Moran/ You want your trophy? We probably got in a back room somewhere (laughter and
several talking)
Hayek/ But uh ... but ... but the use of that facility has certainly changed over time. Um, and
certain ... and programming, you know, what ... what children do. Residentially the area
around it has changed. What kids are involved with has changed. The ... the panoply of
youth sports, whether it's club soccer or all these traveling teams, I mean, that has
certainly changed, you know, that facility, uh, and who uses it and what the numbers are,
I have to think.
Moran/ Yeah, and that's one of the reasons for our upgrades, to try to get more, uh, physical
activity in there, like bring the fitness room out maybe where the game room is so people
can get more enthusiastic about participating in those kinds of events.
Hayek/ Yeah.
Moran/ cause I know when you drive by the new building, that's all they've got in front of the
windows is all the treadmills and everything and everybody goes by just tired lookin' at
that, all the people in there.
Hayek/ Yeah. And motivated!
Moran/ Yeah!
Dobyns/ Mike, currently as far as meeting rooms, there is ... I guess Ashton in the future, the Lee
building, the Mercer building, um ... in terms of, uh, utilization. How does that look in
terms of how busy those meeting rooms are during the day?
Moran/ Uh, we're packed. Uh, they ... they're constantly busy, uh, with activities. We have
service clubs that use `em over the noon hour. The busiest time is from noon until the
evening, and the early mornings we run some various programs in `em. They're not as
busy, but starting about noon till we close, uh, they're pretty much full all the time. We
have two meeting rooms in the Recreation Center and then the larger social hall,
gathering room, and then we also have a meeting room over at Mercer Park, Mercer
Scanlon, that's the same way.
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Dobyns/ And Ashton won't significantly affect that cause I assume the rooms aren't going to be
that (mumbled)
Moran/ Yeah, I don't believe so, cause the Ashton House will be more like a total rental instead
of maybe just a particular room or anything with it.
Hayek/ Are there questions for Mike? Okay, thanks for ... a very good presentation!
Moran/ Thank you.
Senior Center:
Hayek/ Senior Center.
Kopping/ Good morning, Linda Kopping.
Hayek/ Hi! Still morning (both talking)
Kopping/ Um ... the Senior Center for 31 years has been promoting optimal aging by providing
opportunities for social interaction, intellectual fitness, physical fitness, volunteer service,
and community involvement, uh, to people 50 years of age and older; (mumbled) ...been
providing information and services to the same age group plus their families, um,
offering community events and inner- generational programming involving, uh, children
from elementary age all the way up through, uh, university -aged students. Um, as you
can see from the, uh ... um, slide on the wall, uh, we have six and a half full -time, uh,
equivalent employees. Uh, we supplement that with one, um, part-time, temporary
employee who works in, uh, Senior Center television. Uh, HACAP, a half -time HACAP
... HACAP receptionist, uh, various insundry, uh, work study students when they're
available, and over 500 volunteers who are really essential to our operation. Um,
working together we have, uh, in, uh, fiscal year 2012, I'm referring to, attracted, uh,
over 1,600 members; developed and implemented nearly 400, uh, unduplicated programs;
attracted over 105,000, uh, visits to Center - sponsored classes, performance glup ... groups,
clubs, volunteer activities, and professional services. Um, we successfully expanded our
building hours, our program opportunities, and member access, and something we're very
proud of, we attained national accreditation from the National Institute of Senior Centers,
a part of the National Council on Aging. Um, we feel that attaining national accreditation
is a message to the community that the Senior Center is successfully meeting the
standards of excellence that have been developed for senior centers. And we have
demonstrated a willingness to be evaluated by our peers, who are recognized experts in
the fields of aging and senior center management. The accreditation process was a rather
long one, taking, oh, close to two years to complete, and ... we, looking back we feel it
was some ... was a worthwhile process, um ... we did have a lot of community involvement
with ... which resulted in a much greater awareness of the Senior Center and what we did,
uh, within the community and we're a much more organized organization. We have
obviously (mumbled) updated our, uh, operational policies and our operational handbook,
and we have, uh ... um, renewed our plans for emergencies, uh, disasters, marketing, and
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just about anything else you can think of Um ... one of our, uh, biggest accomplishments
though is that we have a, uh, new strategic plan that complements the City's strategic
plan, and unlike many of the strategic plans we have in the past, or have had in the past,
this one we actually use to, uh, guide our planning and program development. So, um,
we're ... we're pretty pleased with this accomplishment. Um ... one of the, um ... biggest
outcomes I think though was that we have a lot more participant, uh, involvement in the
operation of the Senior Center. Uh, one of the areas that you can really see this, and the
positive outcome from this involvement, is in program planning. We have a program
committee that works with the program specialist to help plan our programs so that
they're of greater interest to our participants. We don't necessarily have more programs,
but the programs we do have are attended by more people. Um, Susan talked about her
computer classes and ... and we also offer, uh, computer classes, but I wouldn't ... I really
can't say it's a duplication of services because we have waiting lists for our computer
classes and we often refer people to the Library when our classes are ... are full. Uh, we
offer also, um, gadget work, um... classes, uh, so that as she said, you know, for like
phones and i -Pads and all those things that I'm not really sure how they work either.
Um... and we have, uh, mentoring classes where people can get one -on -one training. It's
a volunteer program that we've set up, um, that is actually supported by, um, a local
business. It's a ... provides some supplies for people to work with. Uh, that has been very
successful. Um, we also participants have become involved in a community outreach
group. They have, uh, formed a, uh, speakers bureau and they identified people who are
interested in becoming involved in such a thing. They ... they offered some training, uh,
developed a program, or a presentation, and they began doing presentation to various
insundry groups outside of, uh, within the community, and in 2013 I'm going to partner
with the speakers bureau and we're going to go out and do some fundraising, working on
a ... targeting a specific fundraising project, so we'll be, uh, starting this, um ... early this
year. And this group is also done some editorial work for, uh, perhaps you've seen them,
they have written several, uh, editorials for the Press - Citizen, and they're planning on
doing this on a regular basis, and one of their editorials was in the paper yesterday, as a
matter of fact, and I think they've written probably ... at least a half dozen editorials so
far. We have a membership committee that is volunteer run, uh, who has written a
membership guide and promotes various, uh, membership groups, or activity groups in
the Center and essentially they're just, uh, working on making membership, um, more
appealing and uh, increasing the sense of, uh ... that atmosphere and environment, creating
a more welcoming environment at the Senior Center. And we've had various, uh, ad hoc
committees. We had a committee, uh, that worked on the fee increases that we had this
year. They were quite involved with that. Um ... they worked on selecting a new logo for
the Senior Center, and also in the sign selection. I don't know if anyone noticed the signs
have been a long time in coming. We just put a new awning up yesterday. And, uh, at
the Washington Street entrance, and the sign for the Linn Street has ... been ordered, and
that will, uh, be installed hopefully within the month. Uh, both those, by the way, are
being paid for by Friends of the Center. When um ... we look at our goals for fiscal year,
uh, 14, uh, we hope to improve our customer service. We've been, uh, we are very
excited at the prospect, Mike talked about the software. We're going, the new software
we're getting. Um, we're going to be starting our training for this in the next couple of
weeks and this is going to allow us for the first time to offer online registration and online
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payment of fees, uh, for people, uh, there's going to be a ... um, a learning curve with this,
um ... and, because some of our participants aren't accustomed to doing things on the
computer but there are quite a few who are, so we're going to gradually be moving in
hopefully, um, lessening the burden, uh, work on our, uh, frontline staff at the ... at the
reception desk and such, but we think it'll be a lot more convenient for many of our
participants. We also hope to use the software to use, uh, email communication with, um
... our participants in, and by the end of the year we hope to have, um, a regular email
communication going out, with about 500 of our members, so we hope to have that up
and rolling by the end of the year. Um ... we'd like to increase our revenue generated
through fees, grants, corporate sponsors, and fundraising. Um, our largest, uh, funding
supporter though really is through, uh, Friends of the Center, urn ... they provide a ... a
portion of the endowment earnings annually and uh, the endowment has continued to
grow. Right at the moment the endowment has a value of about $600,000 and it's
contributing about $23,000 a year to our operational budget. Um, we use fees, grants,
and corporate sponsors to cover direct expenses associated with, um, programming, and
um, as it's been pointed out in the information you've been provided with, uh, we are
starting to set, uh, fundraising goals that I imagine will increase incrementally so that we
can operate proactively in a more fiscally responsible manner. Uh, we'd like to increase
the diversity, both economic and culturally, so we are trying to find creative ways within
our current resources to reach out to underrepresentative ... underrepresented areas of
Iowa City. Um, right now we're focusing on programs and promotion of our scholarship
program, um, and we do ... we have been finding this is been some... somewhat successful
and we'll ... we will continue to work, um, in this area. Um, in the future we'd like to
work on some remodeling projects. We have, urn ... areas of the building that the wall
coverings, floor coverings, window treatments are like 20 years old, and we need to start
thinking about updating those. But as far as I know, and I know you'll all be happy to
hear this, all the major, uh, operational systems are in fine working order today.
(laughter) So ... urn ... that's ... that's relief. When you look at the, uh, actual budget
proposal there are a lot ... a couple of things I'd like to mention. The budget, urn ... the
proposed budget for FY14 is less than the projected budget for FY13, but it is higher than
the FY12 actuals. Our personnel costs increased but that's because, well, our ... we have
long -term employees at the Senior Center. Many of our employees are long -term
employees of the City's who transferred into the Senior Center, but our ... no one at the
Senior Center has worked there less than five years. Urn ... they just, we just ... our
employees stay there a long time! Um ... we've also in the services area, the, uh, costs
have gone up and I'd like to point out the, in terms ... on a couple of those things I'd like
to mention, the uh, program guide cost is one of our more expensive line items. Um, we
recognize this as an expensive item. It is one of our major promotional areas and in the
future we do look at transitioning to an online publication, but ... we're just not, our target
audience is just not ready to do this yet. Um ... but we see the email component of our,
um, new software as a beginning step in moving toward this direction. So we are
thinking about this. Um, our work study and HACAP wages have gone up, but we feel
we are making very effective use of the HACAP and work study students to supplement
our staff so that we can maintain our programming. And, um, items like our parking
program and (mumbled) support, um, are programs, but they are also, um ... the items
they support are also ... uh ... I can't, the word escapes me, but those are also supported by
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fees and corporate sponsors. So, um, anything like a dance or something that might come
out of the, uh, instructor officiate line is also, uh, paid for by a corporate sponsor. So it's
... it's ... that's how the expense is paid for. (mumbled) hard to say! Um, under the
capital improvements there is a $18,000 expenditure for PC hardware, and that is, um, to
replace all the computers in our computer lab used by participants. We have seven, uh,
Mac computers in there. Um ... they've just... outlived their lifespan, uh, and this is an
item that will be paid for by Friends of the Center. Um, in the revenue section, um, you
may have noticed with interest that, uh, last year we ... the grant application I submitted
asked for $70,000, and this year the grant application I submitted asked for $59,215. Um,
the reason is this year the amount I asked for was calculated based upon the number of
members who are County residents living in unincorporated areas of Johnson County.
Um, the grant request also requested that rather than the funding being drawn from their
General Fund, that it be drawn from their Rural Fund, um ... it was felt that this was a
more equitab ... equitable approach to funding, and it, uh, opened the door to approach
other municipalities for funding in the future, and that ... that is why that was done that
way.
Markus / When ... when we made the request in the past for $70,000, we represent about 50% of
the tax base for the County General Levy. So if the County were to have passed a
$70,000, $35,000 of it would have come from the residents and taxpayers of the City of
Iowa City. So the thought process went, well why don't we ask them to use their Rural
Levy and only ask for reimbursement for those individuals that were outside of the, you
know, in the rural area, and have it come from that fund. I'm sure that's going to be a
challenge. I did have a chance to talk to their chair, and he does understand our issue
about General Fund, Rural Levies, and you know, obviously they have a concern shifting
everything right over to the Rural Levy right away, but it's one of those equity issues it's
in my mind that we have to continue to pursue. So that's where that came from.
Kopping/ The charts that are presented, uh, in the back of the book, uh, or in the last section of
the, um, budget, um, book are really pretty self - explanatory. Um ... so I don't ... you
know, you can read as well as I can so I'll ... I think I'll just open it up for questions at this
point.
Hayek/ Are you ... I assume the Center is engaged with the Community Foundation, um, with, or
maybe ... I don't know, maybe they aren't, but with planned giving and ... and charitable
donations, that sort of thing, um, that might be something to consider, uh, or for the
Friends of the Center to consider.
Champion/ They are, aren't they?
Hayek/ I think they...
Kopping/ Our Foundation is in ... the Friends of the Center maintains the Senior Center
Endowment in the, um, Johnson County Community...
Hayek/ Okay, so it is! All right. (mumbled)
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Dobyns/ Linda, on page 142 under your `total receipts,' which one of those line items is Friends
of the Center? Um ... is it like under `miscellaneous revenue,' or...
Kopping/ It's under, um. ..'contributions and donations.'
Dobyns/ Okay! Thank you. Um, the other question I had in terms of utilization of the, uh,
Center, is that, um... one of these pages it said there were, uh, in terms of encounters, uh,
105,000 per year, I believe.
Kopping/ Number of visits?
Dobyns/ Right. Visits, yeah. Um ... the, um ... that's about 400 a day, more or less. Now if
someone goes to ... is that program (both talking)
Kopping/ ... duplicated count.
Dobyns/ What's that?
Kopping/ That's a duplicated count.
Dobyns/ Explain that!
Kopping/ Uh, that means if you came in in the morning and you went to a literature class, uh,
and then in the afternoon you went to tai chi, you'd be counted twice.
Dobyns/ Okay. All right. Thank you.
Payne/ On page 139, there's a bullet point on there, right underneath the, uh, the box. It says
`class fees will be increased to cover the costs associated with online registration.'
Kopping/ That's correct.
Payne/ Typically we think online registration should be cheaper, because you don't have a
person taking the registration. So can you just give us an explanation and a w ... why
online registration is going to cost more, is it to pay for the software program or...
Kopping/ The software program charges for online registration, a certain percentage, um, and...
it's been my experience in, uh, that online registration, you know, if you go to pay for
example your license registration online, there's a convenience fee associated with that.
Um ... and that's along the lines we were thinking of. Um ... and what we were ... what we
were thinking of is just trying to cover the cost of the registration, the total cost of the
registration fee.
Payne/ So it pays for it.
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Kopping/ So it pays for itself, yeah.
Payne/ Um ... so will people still be allowed to register for a class without doing it online?
Kopping/ Yes, of course. Yes. And for a class that has no fee associated with it, they will be
able to register for that class for free. It only will involve a class with a registration fee.
Payne/ Thank you.
Hayek/ Other questions for Linda? Okay. Thank you! Thanks for coming down!
Kopping/ Thank you.
Hayek/ Um, what do you want to do with the...
Karr/ Do you want to do City Attorney next?
Hayek/ Uh, yeah...
Markus/ Yes! That'd be good!
City Attorney
Dulek/ Good morning! I'm Sue Dulek with the City Attorney's office, and in preparing, uh, for
this morning I thought I would look to see what Eleanor said last year, and uh, thought
I'd just quote her first few sentences. And she said, uh, for my budget, it's pretty self -
explanatory. You can see that most of my budget consists of personnel expense. I have
six talented, brilliant, dedicated, hard working employees. (laughter) Well, Eleanor
didn't say that, but she did say she has six employees (laughter)
Karr/ She meant to! (laughter)
Dulek/ And, um, of the four points I'd like to make this morning, I'd like to start with the staff.
Uh, and it is a very experienced staff. Eleanor and I have been practicing law, uh, for
over 25 years. Uh, Sarah Holecek for about 20 years. Eric Goers for about 15. Sarah
Hektoen for a mere eight, and we have two support staff — Mary McChristy has been with
the City for over 20 years and Kathleen Thornton, uh, just two. Uh ... and in turning from
the staff, I want to talk about the funding for that staff, and that's a second point. Most of
the funding does come from the General Levy. There's some small, uh, revenue receipts,
so to speak, from what is referred to, and again, I'm on page 173 is where the City
Attorney's budget is, is intra -city charges and for some of the work we do in our office,
we in fact charge other departments, uh... generally having to do with enterprise funds,
work we would do for parking, the landfill, those sorts of things are charged back and we
get some receipts into that. And I do want to note ... in terms of the General Levy, that
does provide for Eleanor and the rest of the staff, except for Eric. Eric's, uh, salary's
paid for out of the Torte Levy, and that appears in Kevin's, uh, budget. So in ... in turning
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then from the costs, uh, which you can see, I want to talk about the services that are
provided for, uh, those costs. That is, what is the City and what are the citizens getting,
what kind of bang are you getting for your buck. In my opinion you're getting a great
bang for your buck, and you just simply cannot look at the dollars that are, uh, shown
here, and if you want to compare for example what Cedar Rapids' city attorney's office
or Coralville's or another (mumbled) because we do almost everything in- house, and that
is a tremendous bang for your buck. For example, we are insured up to a half a million
dollars. That means all claims up to a half a million dollars, are defended in- house.
When a City driver gets in a car accident, we defend it. Somebody slips and falls in the
park, we defend it. When a police officer is, uh, alleged to have, uh, used excessive
force, we defend it. Secondly, uh ... outside of collective bargaining, and I'll talk about
that later, personnel is a huge, uh, time, uh... um, use of our time. Uh, and so you have
the union grievances. You have civil service hearings. You have the day -to -day, uh,
disciplinary matters. That is all done in- house. All the property acquisition, you've
talked about the UniverCity program, 26 houses bought and sold — everything done in-
house. We're beginning to, uh, we bought the four for the next program in- house, and
we're soon to sell the first of that. Again, all done in- house, along with all the property
acquisition for all the Public Works' program, uh, done in- house. And the last point is,
what we do in -house is the economic development, that's a huge concern, I know, of
Council's, but when you have these private /public partnerships, they tend to be legally
very, very complicated and but for the bond work, it's all done in- house. So, although
I've said we do almost everything in- house, of course there's a couple of things that we
don't do. One of which is bond work. There's two or three attorneys in the state of Iowa
that do it. We'll never do that in- house. We do not do collective bargaining. Um,
there's been a long time, attorney out of Milwaukee, Steve Rynecki who has been doing
the work for years and years and years. He's getting older, nearing retirement. Tom and
Eleanor have talked about it. They mentioned it last year at the budget meeting —
beginning maybe to do that in- house. Those expenses in the next couple of years will be
minimal because as you know, we've wrapped up the collective bargaining agreements,
uh, for the next three years. But although again we don't do the collective bargaining, all
the related work — the enforcement of those contracts — we do in- house. Another thing
we don't do in- house, the only case we have going on of that sort right now, is with the
Judd brothers. It's a specialized commercial litigation and we've contracted with the
Simmons firm to do that. With that said, Sarah Hektoen, uh, is spending a lot of time and
is very, uh, involved in the case. Uh, why? Because should the City find itself on the
receiving end of a lawsuit like that in the future, we'll do it in- house. So those are the
points I want to make, uh, I, uh, in closing though I do want to say we're all looking
forward to Eleanor's return on Monday. Clearly the office is not the same, uh, without
her. So with that said, I'm more than happy to ... answer the questions that you may have
about, uh, what we do.
Markus/ You know, the um ... it, this is a relatively new experience for me to have in ... in-house
counsel, um, to the degree we have, and so when I first looked at it I went, `Wow!'
That's a, uh, impressive operation that we have here internally. Always had done ours on
a retainer basis and always had really good luck with the retainer basis, but I can tell you,
um, I don't have ... you know, I have nothing but praise for the people I work for, with,
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and sometimes for (laughter) uh ... we get that straight now once in a while! Um, with the
attorneys, they, um, they jump right into these issues, um ... they understand, uh, what
we're looking for, they're very responsive, and what we're trying to do with the legal
staff is integrate them, uh, earlier into different, really complicated decisions, especially
as Jeff 11 tell you, some of these community development, uh, economic development
issues are very complex, and Eleanor and her staff have been very responsive, uh, very
helpful in helping us navigate our way through those issues. In personnel areas, uh,
Sarah Holecek has been a ... a quick study on Mr. Rynecki and she is, in my opinion, very
capable of picking up that responsibility, um, so ... the transition, you know, I wasn't sure
quite how that would all work here, but I've figured out my way through it and they've
figured out their way through me, and so I think the relationship has developed to a very
strong relationship with this department, and I think that there's real value in the team
...Eleanor's put together (mumbled)
Mims/ Well, and I would just add that over the years, I've only heard very positive things from
the legal community, you know, in Iowa City and the area for the staff that we have, and
you know, how experienced and what a great job you all do so ... you have a lot of respect
out there as well.
Dulek/ I'll pass that on to Eleanor and everybody else. Appreciate that!
Hayek/ You know, 40 years ago, uh ... my father was the City Attorney and it was a ... it was a...
outsourced part-time position, um, and he had this tiny office, uh, above, uh ... in the ...in
the Paul Helen Building, um, and he had two phones. He had one general phone and then
he had a City phone, uh, that somehow had a direct link down here or something like that,
but ... but everything, you know, all ... all the ... it was such a smaller operation and there
...the complexities were so, uh, different, that ... that it was done that way, um ... uh, but...
but to compare that era to the breadth and scope of what the City does now and the
complexity, uh, of...of the work we do now. I mean, the economic development is just a
prime example of .. of... of how things have become so complex. Um... uh, I... I think
this bang for the buck, uh, analogy is ... is an accurate one. Um, and ... and the office is so
responsive, I think, um, and I think it's playing a... a crucial role, uh, in our efforts to
break down silos and... and bring departments together at the front end of projects so that
we're more efficient and we're more responsive, which I think... saves everybody time
and money in the long run.
Dobyns/ You mentioned in -house fourteen times, Sue, so I think I figured out it was an em...
emphasis item, um ... how did we evolve from, um, you know, John Hayek's day to today
when we started do it more in- house. Was that an intentional development, um ... to do it
that way in our City Attorney's office?
Dulek/ Marian probably with ... has more institutional, uh, knowledge in that, but certainly from a
financial standpoint, if you want to start paying defense counsel $300, $350 an hour to
defend a case, as opposed to Eric Goers at probably $30 an hour, uh, when you look at
his employee benefits, I mean, it only makes sense, but ... but certainly Kevin and/or
Marian could answer that question. I'm sorry, Rick, I don't know.
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Karr/ I think Sue probably hit on it. It was a ... a conscientious effort. We took a look at, uh,
retaining of outside counsel. We also noticed that we were playing a little bit of catch -up
that had the ... had an attorney been involved earlier on in the stage, perhaps some of our
needs for outside legal advice may have been avoided, and we took a look at just the
economics of scales, and uh, discovered that it was indeed worth... it was to the benefit of
the City that we do, um ... we always had a City Attorney's office. The full -time, the City
Attorney himself or herself was located out of the building. We had assistants in- house.
So what we did is we brought the City Attorney, per se, back in- house.
O'Malley/ I'd like to add that the expansion of the office occurred when the City decided to, um,
especially on the claims and work comp, when the City decided to be ... to be self - insured
back in 1986, uh, we developed a program in -house to do our own insurance and claims,
versus paying outsiders for that. And ... uh, at that time we still used some staff from...
from your office, from your dad's office, but we worked our way into building a bigger
office to handle those ... those issues, and then, uh, property acquisition and uh, our sewer
plants... expansions required a lot of legal work, and it was much, uh, to our advantage to
do it in- house.
Hayek/ Okay!
Dulek/ What timing!
Hayek/ That's it, yeah! (laughter) Thanks!
Dulek/ Thank you!
Hayek/ And thanks for, uh, ably running the office in ... in, during Eleanor's absence. That's not
lost upon us! Okay, so why don't we pause...
Karr/ ...recess the work session and convene a special formal.
Hayek/ We shall recess the work session. (BREAK FOR SPECIAL FORMAL and LUNCH)
Hayek/ All right, so we are resuming our budget work session. Tom, you wanted to make some
mention?
Markus/ Yeah, I wanted to, uh, correct the record as to the employer contributions for the two
different pension systems. I, um, subtracted when I should have been, uh ... uh, not
subtracting. For IPERS, the contribution is 8.93 for the employer; plus 6.2 for FICA,
equaling 15.13% to payroll for the employer contribution. For the ... um, Municipal Fire
Police Retirement System of Iowa, the employer contribution is a full 30.12 %. It's
actually a 15% difference, which when you think about it is 100% more for the MFPRSI
contribution. So, I want to make sure that was corrected. (several talking) It's a huge
difference.
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Hayek/ (mumbled) FICA.
Markus / And... and I think you can trace that, uh, to different benefit levels, different coverages,
uh, medical conditions that are... automatically covered in that... in that pension system
versus the IPERS system. So, uh, it's a significant mandate and a significant difference
in cost, and something we do have to address. So I want to be clear on the record.
Hayek/ Yep! Okay, thanks!
Champion/ I think you need ... I think you need to add something to the regular employee though,
IPERS. Don't we pay our share of Medicare too?
O'Malley/ Everybody pays Medicare.
Champion/ Oh.
O'Malley/ That's 1 point (both talking)
Markus/ I'm just trying to separate the pension differential. (mumbled)
Hayek/ Okay, what do we want to take up? Since we've got Jeff here, should we jump into that?
(several responding)
Planning & Communit y Development:
Davidson/ Whatever you would like, uh, Mr. Mayor and Members of Council. Jeff Davidson,
Director of Planning and Community Development. Uh, pleased to have the opportunity
to spend a half hour or so just, uh, discussing the Planning Department budget. Um, you
know, obviously we work very closely with you on a regular basis, uh, probably more so
than any other City department. Uh, we know you all personally. Uh, you're, I think,
quite familiar with the things that we do, so I certainly don't want to, uh, elaborate on
anything that doesn't require elaboration, but ... but clearly, uh, just kind of stepping
through the programs of the Planning Department may clear up some misconceptions
about something, certainly want to answer, uh, any questions you have about anything
going on in our department. Uh, the ... um, Planning Department budget is largely a static
budget from the previous year. I can't think of anything that is a significant difference
(clears throat) excuse me. You may recall ... uh, couple of years ago we had, uh, probably
what were the most significant changes in that we went from 19.5 to 17.5 full -time
equivalent, uh, staff positions. The human services coordinator position was eliminated,
uh, and the historic preservation planner position was eliminated, and basically we came
up with, uh, ways that we could alternatively provide those services, and I can elaborate
on those, uh, but there hasn't been anything of that magnitude that is proposed for the
upcoming budget, very similar to, uh, last year's budget. Um, as I mentioned, 17.5, uh,
full -time equivalent positions, and that includes, uh, you know, one thing that I like to
point out is that there are probably five, a total of five positions in the Planning
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Department that are truly the traditional planning department, uh, of long -range and
short-range planning and administration. Uh the other things that we do in the Planning
Department, is certainly not, uh, totally foreign to have them in the Planning Department.
If you go to other cities, sometimes they are, uh, sometimes they aren't, but things like
economic development, neighborhood services planning, certainly the Metropolitan
Planning Organization, uh, even the federal programs — the management of the CDBG
and ... and Home programs, it's not necessarily typical to have those in a planning
department. They have evolved that way here. I think it works great. Uh, I think we
have a wonderful department, and one of the things that we have tried to do and I ... and I
really give Tom and now Geoff credit is ... is in the last couple of years, we've really tried
to flatten our organization. Uh, some of that's been from necessity. There's just too
much stuff that we deal with now for everything to have to go through me. And so we've
really tried to flatten things, taken advantage... take advantage of some of the talent we
have in the department, uh, put people in charge of things, and make sure that the ... they
are ... left in charge of them, uh, and there's plenty of examples and I think you're familiar
with, for example, the ... the management of the College - Gilbert, uh, proposals that we've
been doing. John Yapp's taken that on; done a great job. Uh, the Towncrest
redevelopment initiative, Tracy Hightshoe — even down at the associate planner level, uh,
is in charge of that, doing a great job, and it's been very gratifying for me to ... to
basically empower people and see... see them respond, and I... and again, I give Tom a lot
of the credit for encouraging us to go in that direction, and it... and it helps us manage,
which what is an enormous number of projects, and uh, we can discuss any of those that
you'd like but, uh, that's something that ... that's really been a ... a great thing for ... for the
department. Uh, we also work... with every other department in the City, in the Planning
Department, and so, uh, that's... that's part of the fun that we have and ... and also it kind
of the ... the tentacles of the Planning Department I think touch all the City organizations,
cause we're obviously in charge of how the City grows and develops, and that affects the
water plant and the sewer plant and all the other organizations of the City. So, um ... with
that, I've just got some notes, uh, scribbled. Uh, you see the org chart there. I ... I
mentioned the administration division — that's myself, uh, Janet Dvorsky, Joy Bayshore,
and then Kay Ireland is the engineering technician, who's not actually located in the
Planning Department, but partially funded by Planning, partially funded by Engineering.
Um ... and we try and kind of make sure everybody's got the tools that they need to ... to
do their jobs. Um, urban planning division, uh, 2.5 FTEs. I think you know all the
people — Sarah Walz, Bob Miklo, Karen Howard in that division. Um, they are in charge
of the current and long - range, uh, planning for the City, um... several boards and
commissions, uh, Planning and Zoning Commission, uh, the Zoning Board of Appeals,
Board of Adjustment, uh, the Historic Preservation Commission, all of those established
by legislative statute, um, because of ..of how our local ordinances are set up. Um, we
also have, um ... well, we have a number of boards and commissions that operate out of
the Planning Department — also Housing and Community Development, uh, the
Neighborhood Council, all of the MPO, uh, Metropolitan Planning Organization policy
boards and technical committees, uh, and then of course the City Council Economic
Development Committee that three of you are Members of, all operate out of the, uh,
Planning Department. Um ... urban planning then, uh, obviously oversees the growth of
the community, comprehensive planning, uh, the zoning ordinance, subdivision
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regulations, um... we have, you know, we meet with you regularly (mumbled)
contentious issues, I mean, that is a division where, uh, it's a matter of managing
different expectations and perspectives, uh, every... every issue requires a great deal of
time, uh, and effort. That's just simply part of that. I think we've really made some
progress in the last couple of years, again, coinciding with Tom's tenure here of trying to
streamline some of our operations, and... and clarify some things, making, uh, sure that
things, especially... well, and we can get into the economic development stuff in a
second, but ... but making sure that ... that it's clearly indicated what your expectations are
in terms of how we ... we manage things and ... and I think that's really helped our
relationship with the development community. That's been a special priority of Tom and
Geoff s and one that I think we've made a lot of progress on, and you guys may ... may
want to chime in on that. Uh, in terms of historic preservation, as I mentioned, we no
longer have a full -time preservation planner. Uh, we have a part-time contract employee.
We're able to operate that aspect, uh, at about 25% of the cost that we did have with the
full -time employee, and you know, it works fine. We have a good person in there. Uh, I
will say the development community does not get the service that they used to when we
had a full -time person who was always there, but uh, Sherry's there on Fridays, uh, I
think the developers are starting to get used to that, uh, you know, Bob handles things,
uh, during the week when Sherry's not there, but it's a streamlined operation, but it
fulfills all of our statutory requirements, uh, we have 11 historic and conservation
districts, totaling 1,187 properties. So if there's exterior fagade, uh, renovations
proposed, that basically has to go through that ... that aspect of...of our organization. Uh,
56 landmark buildings, and of course we have another historic district under
consideration right now. You've passed the first reading of the Jefferson Street District,
which'11 add four more blocks, uh, if that's, uh, ultimately approved. Uh, neighborhood
services, 1.0 FTE, uh, and I would add because it's certainly appropriate in both urban
planning and neighborhood services that ... at any given time we have between five and
eight, uh, interns, typically from the Planning Department of the University, uh,
occasionally other departments of the University, uh, and we really, really rely, I mean,
it's... it's a wonderful relationship because, uh, we can provide kind of the mentoring and
some of the resume fodder that is great for these ... these people in terms of their learning
the profession, but we also come to really rely, and for example right now you'll notice
staff reports with Andrew Bassman's name on it. (mumbled) a young person who, uh,
does a great job for us. We trust him. Obviously we need to, you know, it's not like
having a regular staff person but we really rely on these folks. Neighborhood services is
one where Marcia at any given time has an intern that assists her, with both the ... both the
neighborhood services planning and the public art program. Um, neighborhood services,
we have 33, uh, neighborhood organizations and you know at any given time the focus is
on probably five or six neighborhoods that receive probably 8 to 90% of Marcia's
attention because they're the neighborhoods that have the issues, they're maybe
perceived as the more at -risk type neighborhoods. Marcia has personal relationships with
the neighborhood coordinators and very much a... a two -way, uh, communication, um,
and... and we're able to accomplish a lot of really great things. You know when my
predecessor in the Planning Department, uh, and I decided that focusing our
comprehensive planning efforts on the, seeing the city as a... as a network of
neighborhoods was really a way to engage the public and ... and it has just worked out
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fabulously in that respect. I mean, the issues are frequently contentious. It's not like
everybody always agrees on things, but a way to get people interested in what the City
does is to relate it to their own personal neighborhood, and that's what we try and do, and
Marcia has a big role in that. Uh, public art then is actually, you know, shown in the
budget as zero FTEs because it's staffed by Marcia and myself, principally by Marcia.
Um, and we have actually been able to, uh ... uh, add a few bucks into the budget this
year, but I want to emphasize — no change in our program philosophy with ... with public
art. It's not like we're going to be doing more projects necessarily but, uh, I believe
there's... there's been $10,000 put in there so that we can take advantage of grant
opportunities, uh, we can partner with the private sector, um, we can take advantage of
donations, uh, which then require some City expense, and we can maintain our existing
inventory, and some examples within the last couple of years we were able at Willow
Creek Park to establish the couple of sculpture garden, which is really... really great along
the trail system there. That was donated art that ... that, and then Parks did a great job of
helping us with that. Uh, we ... we this ... this past year partnered with, uh, Marc Moen on
the mural on the side of the Dubuque Street ramp and again, that was a matter of taking
advantage of, uh, donation basically by the private sector, and so we want to keep that
kind of thing going. We're not going to be doing any, um, you know, $50,000 projects
where we invite artists in to give proposals. We just don't feel like that's where we're at
right now with the policy for the program, but we are going to take advantage of
opportunities. Oh, another one would be the expansion of the Literary Walk into the
Northside Market Place where there were grant funds available through the Great Places
program. We matched on an 80/20 basis, and were able to get that expanded down into
the area and implemented along with the streetscape project down in that area. So we'll
...we'll continue to take advantage of those kinds of opportunities, pending any change in
the program philosophy that ... that Council, uh, gives us. Um ... the, uh, Community
Development, um, division, you can see there has several tentacles off of it, uh, the ... the
human services functions, um, for the City of Iowa City basically when that was removed
from the Metropolitan Planning Organization and it was basically determined that
Coralville and the County and Iowa City would sort of do their own things internally and
JCCOG, excuse me, MPOJC would still be a ... an umbrella organization for things that
required that level of...of oversight, but otherwise, uh, Steve Long and his staff take care
of the human services, preparing the aid to agencies budget that ... that is in the budget
this year. For example, uh, that's done by Steve and his staff now instead of the ... the
MPO. Uh, the CDBG and Home programs are ... are still a focus. Uh, you know, we are
trying... one of the things we're trying to do is devote Steve and Tracy a little bit more in
economic development, uh, and lessen their necessity for overseeing CDBG and Home
programs. We're trying to put some threshold requirements in for projects so that we're
doing fewer larger projects, uh, which frees up some of their time. The administrative
expense for a $10,000 project and a $2 million project are about the same, and so, uh, if
you do 40 small projects or five big projects, it's a lot more administrative time with the,
uh, the smaller projects. So we're, uh ... the forecast for the funding, we don't know for
sure pending what they do in Washington. But we're looking for things to remain static
or a slight decline. You ... there is a table that shows a 35% decline, uh, in your budget
and that is because of a special, uh, allocation of program income that we received from
the Aniston Village project. It was over a million dollars that ... that basically inflated us
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for one year. So it shows a big decrease, but in fact the decrease is going to be more
modest or remain about static. So, uh, and Steven and his group do a ... a huge, uh ... um,
great job with that. Uh, flood recovery and mitigation is obviously, uh, declining, and in
fact we would be about closed down now if it weren't for the new Homes program, the
program that the State established that replaces the tax base loss from the buyouts, um...
otherwise the ... the buyouts and the business assistance programs are phasing out, and we
will co ... coinciding with the new Homes program being completed. We're in the fourth
phase right now. I think we're doing 30 or 40 more houses. Uh, once those
administrative requirements are done, then the two staff people will be phased out, as
well, and they've been funded purely through the federal grants up to this point. Uh,
housing rehabilitation, uh, you did get a, uh, a memo in your materials, um, that Geoff
and Tom asked us to prepare. You know, the rehab programs, I think they kind of fly
under the radar a little bit but uh, we have both federally funded and uh, locally funded,
uh, rehab programs, and I won't go into any great detail. You have that information, but
uh, this is something that certainly is consistent I think with the, uh, neighborhood
stabilization, uh, economic, or excuse me, strategic plan, uh, priorities. Uh, and
something that we're really proud of, uh, makes a lot of improvements out in the
community, uh, for... for residential dwellings, in both targeted neighborhoods and non-
targeted neighborhoods. If you have any, uh, questions, I would be happy to answer
those, but otherwise, uh, those are, uh, fully funded, again, along with the UniverCity
Neighborhood, uh, Partnership program, which has been really well received and uh, is in
your budget, uh ... uh, for the upcoming year, and then to be an ongoing program, as well.
Answer any questions about that ... if you'd like. Otherwise the rehab programs, uh, are
very well received and typically we have more demand than we do, uh, funds available.
Uh, oh I did want to just quickly mention that in terms of the buyouts, the residential
rehabilitation and the business assistance flood, uh, mitigation programs, we will have
spent about $24 million in federal funds. So that's been a big investment in getting the
community back on its feet, and now we're of course transitioning in the completion of
the big capital projects right now, which, uh, Public Works is in charge of Uh, economic
development then, we did touch on. Uh, you do have a separate budget item ... for all of
our tax increment financing projects. Those all go through you, and especially the three
of you on the Economic Development Committee take special scrutiny of those, um, you
know, we're very ... I think all of us feel like we can stand up and defend any of our TIF
projects, um ... you know, Iowa City, um. ... the ... the, let's see if I can get this right.
The ... the taxable, total ... Iowa City's percentage of the total taxable vol ... value in
Johnson County involved in TIFs is about 3 %. Uh, about 85% is in Coralville and North
Liberty, so we feel like we are using TIF responsibly. Uh, and will continue to do so, in
fact we advocated, uh, both City staff and our lobbyists for the preservation of the TIF
program, because it is our main economic development tool to use and so we'll continue
to do that, um ... and when we talk about, uh, capital projects tomorrow (clears throat)
excuse me, on Monday, um, we'll ... we'll get into some of the specific, uh, economic
development, um, projects that we have, and some ideas we have about TIF, and ... and
especially something that we haven't done a lot of but ... but we at least want to propose
doing and... and in fact if you go back to the original TIF statute in the 80s when it was
passed by the Legislature, it was intended to allow cities to do public infrastructure
projects that would then spur private development, and for Riverfront Crossings
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especially, we have some ideas that we would like to discuss with you about doing
exactly that with some... some TIF funds. So, um, and then as I mentioned with respect
to economic development, obviously that's a priority for Council, priority for strategic
planning initiative, um... Tom very succinctly when... when, pretty early on when he was
here, said, Jeff, I want your whole department to know that they're involved in economic
development, and uh, I think that's been a great message to send to us and one that we've
really taken to heart, and I think genuinely we do have the whole department, in one way
or another, engaged in economic development activities. Increasing the property tax
base, having the community grow in a responsible fashion, and creating jobs.
That's... that's, those are the metrics basically that ... that we use when we're, uh, doing
the various things. It's... it's, you know, it's a... if you look in your budget document, it's
a 1.0 FTE assigned to economic development and nothing could probably be further from
the truth. Uh, I ... I spend at least half of my time in that... and... and others in the
department are spending a lot more, as well, and we are... that... that is one thing that
shows up slightly differently in your budget is that the funding of Tracy Hightshoe and
Steve Long's position is ... is a little bit more local funding, a little less federal funding.
To ... to reflect accurately what ... what they are doing. They and Wendy are both trained
up in the financial analysis stuff, uh, through the National Development Council who we
have on retainer to assist us and so they're, uh, great people for doing that work and ... and
we're getting a lot of ..lot of good work done. Um, and then finally, Metropolitan
Planning Organization.
Metropolitain Planning Organization — Johnson Cogply (MPO):
I think most of you are up to speed. You participate... either you do currently or have in
the past, participate in the MPOJC. Uh, basically a wholly -owned subsidiary of the City
of Iowa City. Iowa City provides slightly over 50 %, uh, of the funding for that
organization. Fulfills the federal transportation planning requirements, and then whatever
else, uh, they're asked to do, which has been everything from the Joint Emergency
Communication Center to ... to, you know, studies of the solarian aquifer that kind of
thing, but anything that we determine, uh, that there's a community -wide basis for
looking at, we use MPOJC. Uh, John and his folks do ... do a great job, not only fulfilling
the ... the MPO functions, but then also doing things exclusively for Iowa City, such as
John is right now overseeing the, uh, College - Gilbert, uh, corner, um ... traffic
engineering, uh, again, not traditionally part of an MPO, but one that we've decided here
works best done that way, and so we work with Public Works on that and Darien and...
and the others do a great job with that. Uh, one other things that we're ... well, we'll talk
a little bit at CIP is our geographic information system. We're a little bit behind the
curve on that but I think we're ... we're getting up to speed, uh, Kris Ackerson is actively
involved in coordinating some of the City's activities in that respect. He's a real smart
guy, uh, you... you might remember with the Affordable Housing, uh, analysis model,
that was one where it's a GIS -based system and Kris was able to bring a lot of expertise
to that. We hope to use that for more things in the future, I mean, it's a matter of
managing data and being able to display it and hope to do more of that in the future as we
ramp up. So that's a very brief overview. Questions?
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Dobyns/ Jeff, in the next few years where do you anticipate needing to add to your department,
in terms of personnel?
Davidson/ Well, you know, I'm not different than anyone in the City, Rick, in that we'd all love
to, you know, we could all identify places, um, we're not expecting to do that, quite
frankly. What ... what we want to be able to do is the combination of keeping our existing
staff intact. If we can do that, complemented by some of the contract employee things
that we've been able to work out. I think that's a model that'll work for us, at least in the
next couple of years.
Throgmorton/ I'd like to spin off, uh, of that particular question, Jeff, um, the ... the more we, um,
promote a higher density development, um, in ... in our city, the more important high -
quality design becomes, seems to me. So ... I ... I don't want to make a point about this
particular budget, but when I look ahead, it seems to me that we need to perhaps enhance
our skills, uh, with regard to landscape architecture, architecture and urban design. Uh,
you know, the individuals a lot better than I do and what their abilities are, but I ... I don't
know that anybody on our staff really has great skill in those areas. So...
Davidson/ That's... that's a good point, Jim. The position that we did lose a couple years ago, we
had determined, Bob Miklo and I, to fill with an architect, uh, for the exact reason you
stated, the ... the need to have that type of expertise in our department. Um, the person
who provides those services now is a contract employee, does have some of those skills,
but oriented pretty much exclusively to historic preservation. Um ... that, the former
person did assist with design review, where that comes into play. Those, that ... those
skills are no longer available. You know, I do think we have some good skills there.
Could they be enhanced? Probably. I guess it's a matter of finding, you know, exactly
where we're going to land in terms of what we can afford to do.
Dobyns/ So did you, I mean, Sue Dulek's rationale for why City Attorney's personnel should be
in- house. I'm wondering from what Jim said, anticipating a need for ... you're contracting
out for landscape architecture. That person puts most of their time into historic
preservation, but my sense from what Jim's question is that we can anticipate a growth
area, but you don't mind contracting out.
Davidson/ Um... it... it's working fine. Initially, Rick, there was some consternation on the part
of the development community in that they couldn't come in five days a week and drop
in like they had been and have someone there who could provide the services for them.
But you know, I think they're all up to speed now. Uh, I think they understand the
financial, uh, constraints the City has. Um, and so ... so I have to tell ya my perception is
it's working fine, doing it this way. It's not providing the same level of service that we
were, but it's working fine. Um, if we keep adding historic districts and adding
properties, uh, you know, we may have to ... to revisit that, um, if there becomes a desire
by a majority of the City Council that we do put greater, uh, analysis into design type, uh,
things, um, then... then we may need to ramp that up, but... but for the kind of the way
we're doing things right now, I think we're appropriately staffed.
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Markus/ Let me, uh ... wade in! Um, first off, it seems to me that the burden is on the developer
to enhance the design, and that our end of the process is that we have to have regulations
in place that require elevated design, and that then we review that through the different
boards and commissions and the staff we have, and the other thing I would say to you is,
we're doing a complete redesign or a design evaluation of our whole downtown area, uh,
with consultant services to accomplish that. So every time somebody comes in for a shop
in the downtown, they don't have to do a streetscape proposal. That's all going to be laid
out from a landscape standpoint. But architectural review, um ... to me starts with ... with
the requirements that we do require an elevated design in terms of the materials used and
architecture and so forth. I think what's happened is we haven't required architecture
design in some cases, um, and you can see it around this community, um, that has led to
really, uh, very stark, bleak, uh, design of some of our multiple family structures that
could have fit into neighborhoods a lot better than they did. So I see if from a regulation
standpoint, not from a staffing standpoint. I see it from the burden being on the
developer, not on the City. And ... we get the regulation in place, we can demand that.
They can ... they can create that. The last thing I would think we want is some sort of
rubber stamp or, uh, entirely consistent architectural design or, uh, I mean, we can't get
it, I mean, most urban environments look for eclectic design, different elements, but
quality, and you get that by establishing quality requirements in your regulations. And I
think we can do that.
Mims/ Jeff, I'm going to change directions a minute. Going back to the money, and I don't
know for sure if it's state or federal on the new Homes program to replace some of the
stock lot from the flood. How exactly is that spent? I mean, I'm assuming the
homeowners have to pay for the homes. I mean, who's getting that federal money I
guess?
Davidson/ You ... you know, it would probably the best thing would for us to just provide you a
memo that lays out exactly...
Mims/ Okay!
Davidson/ ...how it's done, because I'm not the administrator of that...
Mims/ Okay.
Davidson/ ...program obviously. Why don't you let us provide that to you ...
Mims/ Okay, that'd be fine.
Davidson/ ....find out exactly. It's ... it's certainly been something that has kept the contractors
in business during the housing lull since 2007 and it's worked out great for us, but rather
than stammer and stutter through a response...
Mims/ That's fine!
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Davidson/ ...let us get you something that lays it out specifically.
Mims/ Okay! That'd be fine. It doesn't need to be incredibly detailed. I'm just kind of
curious ... who's getting it (laughs) (several talking) You know, because people are
paying for it (both talking)
Champion/ ...buy the houses.
Mims / Right, people have to buy the houses, so I'm just kind of curious where that state and/or
federal money was going.
Davidson/ My understanding is it's in the form of a downpayment assistance and we'll (both
talking) elaborate and lay ... lay out for you exactly how that works.
Mims/ Thank you, Jeff. Appreciate it!
Hayek/ Two, uh, two questions. One, is the UniverCity program, uh, personnel expense a... a
shared expense? Does that ... do we provide that or ... or is there...
Davidson/ Yeah, we have... we have (both talking) two main staff. I mean, we have a committee
of folks who — volunteers — in addition to City staff, who go out and look at the candidate
houses when we're looking for houses to buy and we really appreciate, um, all the effort
and the time that's spent doing that, so it's a group of folks locally who have some
expertise in that. Once a house is under rehabilitation, uh, David Powers from our rehab
staff, principally does that. And while ... and during the year while we were doing 26
homes, he was almost ... he was almost 100% on that. He'll be back to doing part rehab
programs and part UniverCity neighborhood partnership in the upcoming year. So it's
... it's existing staff but it does take away from some of the other, uh, things that we can
do. We also have a couple of staff, uh, flood recovery person, uh, Doug Ongie, and then
an intern, Claire, who actually show homes to people and ... and ... and start in some of the
detail stuff of basically making the sale of the house. Once a house is then, uh, got a
purchase offer on, the City Attorney's office becomes involved, and Sue and ... and her
folks are helpful in that. So, it's ... it's basically a cobbled together group of existing staff,
Matt, that ... that pull that together.
Hayek/ And in terms of the University's financial contribution (mumbled) do their dollars go to
simply acquisition and rehab? Do they go to that plus the personnel?
Davidson/ All... also down payment assistance for University employees.
Hayek/ Okay. But I ... I, so...but in terms of our personnel expenses, are those expenses born by
the City of Iowa City or jointly?
Davidson/ Jointly, because some of the University's funds are used for that.
Hayek/ Okay.
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Davidson/ The University is pretty much providing money for the program. All of the staffing is
done by the City.
Hayek/ Got it! Yeah.
Markus / And there'll be 12 houses this upcoming year. Ten funded by the City and then two
funded by, um, Housing Authority. So ... and we ... we looked at those numbers. I
actually want to ramp it up higher, but we looked at the staff and what the staff's
capabilities were. We literally have a staff that goes into these buildings, evaluates the
work that needs to be done, put a spec together, solicits proposals from a list of, you
know, building contractors that do this kind of work. They then come back in, do the
work, we check it, we clear it before payment is made. So, we're involved pretty heavily
in this program, but it's one of those programs that Jeff 11 tell you that our neighborhoods
have really been very supportive of. They ... they bring the proposals directly to me.
They, I mean, when they see a house, Steve Long walks up and he says, `You know, what
do you think about this?' and I ask him, `Well what's the basis for why you're, you
know, strategizing in this neighborhood.' He usually has a very good strategy, you know,
to counter the ... the, maybe the predominance of rental in those areas. So it's pretty
strategic and it's ... and it does cross a lot of departmental lines.
Fruin/ And I think that shows up if you look at the map that's in the Info Packet on ... on the 3rd
There's color dots to indicate where those investments are, and the yellow is the
UniverCity and you'll see `em very clustered in about four or five areas, and ... and Jeff
and I and Steve and I have had conversations, just about the anecdotal comments that you
get from the neighbors. Uh, Jeff shared with ... one with me the other day with just the
increased number of people trick -or- treating in those areas, and we hear that kind of
thing, and that's... that's when we start to get the sense that these targeted approaches
really make an impact.
Markus/ I tell ya, the other university towns in the Big Ten, um, were really interested in this
proposal. We've actually had, um... one city come out, one of the other university, East
Lafayette come out and actually look at that and some of the other programs we're
working on.
Davidson/ Yeah, the West Lafayette folks actually went and looked at some houses that were
under renovation with us. They loved the program.
Hayek/ Yeah. So then my other question was on ... on, you mentioned earlier, CDBG and Home
and... and trying to shift from... you know, multiple, smallest projects which require a ton
of oversight to more impactful, larger projects. Could you elaborate just a little bit on
that?
Davidson/ Well, you know, we ... we still use City Steps as our guide, overall policy guide, uh,
for the kind of projects that we want to do, but we ... they have established some
thresholds for getting larger projects, uh, that are basically for people making application.
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Now there are some slightly higher thresholds. I mean, they still enable some pretty
modest projects to be done, but it's just ... it, s simply a lot easier on our administrative
burden if we're doing 50,000, uh, $50,000 projects than $6,000 or $7,000 projects.
That's the order of magnitude I'm talking about.
Hayek/ Well that ... that makes sense, and I recall being a member of HCDC and ... and seeing,
you know, project after project in the ... in the very low dollar range and seeing the
amount of staff, oversight, maintenance, you know, and over... you know, and monitoring
involved in it was ... it was substantial. Uh...
Davidson/ Yeah, and we have an impeccable record for managing those projects, I mean, I'm
totally impressed when the auditors come and ... and ... and pass with flying colors, but it
is a lot of administrative time, and quite frankly, it's ... it's staff time that I would like
spent on some other things, as well, so in terms of my managing the department, I'm
delighted in the direction that we're going there.
Mims/ Yeah, one last question on the UniverCity program, and I know we've seen this before.
What are the restrictions on the own... on the purchasers of those properties?
Davidson/ There ... there are income restrictions, um, and there are ... there is scrutiny given, and I
don't know, Susan, if it's... if it's an actual... can eliminate you from eligibility, but we
try and find people who work in areas that are workable or bikable to downtown. People
who are oriented to downtown employment — University employment. I think by far the
majority of people are employed by, uh, the University, which of course keeps the
University interested in the program. So those are the kinds of things, but there are
income, uh, restrictions on the people (both talking) and then there are also restrictions,
of course, on the resale of the home (both talking)
Mims/ ...that's, yeah, that's more what I was getting at!
Davidson/ ...for, I believe it's a five -year period, uh, we (both talking) basically main... maintain
those eligibility restrictions (both talking)
Hayek/ I think it was longer than five! (several talking)
Davidson/ Is it longer than five? (several talking)
Mims/ Okay.
Davidson/ So that ... that ensures the...
Mims/ That they're not just going to turn around in five years and sell it for a profit and ... we're
right back where we were. Okay. I ... I was thinking there was something like that; I just
couldn't remember! Thanks!
Champion/ And, Jeff, can you just tell me just very quickly, what ... how houses are picked up?
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Davidson/ Uh, we hear a ... a lot from people contacting us who gotten a little older, I'm tired of
rentin' this place, it's a money pit for me, hey I heard about this City program — so they
call us and... and uh, offer the house and we decide if it's something that fits into our
program. We'll occasionally see houses for sale, talk to the property owner, see if we
can, uh, make a purchase. Um, that's easier done in certain neighborhoods than other
neighborhoods. Obviously in the north side is where it's the most difficult, and we've
done some great houses in the north side and we tend to spend a little more money on
those, but we're able to focus on some blocks that have really needed some help and, uh,
make some, uh, make some improvement there. Uh, you know, it's been a... it's been a
lot easier done in the, uh, Douglas Court area and ... and that area's just improved
tremendously, but there hasn't been the competition for student housing down there that
there is in, uh, College Hill and ... and North Side.
Throgmorton/ (mumbled) letter like you did, I don't know, roughly two weeks ago and
(mumbled) interest.
Davidson/ Exactly, yep! Once we knew we were going to have the additional homes we did that.
Anything (both talking)
Hayek/ I think Jim's, uh, comment about... about design and then Tom's follow -up about
approaching that from a regulatory perspective, makes a lot of sense, and as we ... as we
focus on our neighborhoods and as we look at the legacy of years of...lack of oversight
and ... and the substantial changes to our ... our fragile neighborhoods and we go about
things in a smarter way, um, that ... that design aspect, in addition to some of the zoning,
uh, and building code issues that, you know, Susan, you've talked about recently, um,
that all makes a lot of sense to me, and I think it's part of a broader package that we can
put on the table, and your department has a critical role in that, obviously.
Throgmorton/ Matt, a related point is that, um, the ... the more dense development comes, you
know, the ... the more high - quality design matters but also the more important it is to have
high quality small bits of open space, pub ... parkland within the more dense development,
and I know the Planning and Zoning Commission discussed this with regard to the, uh,
downtown Riverfront Crossings amendment to the Comprehensive Plan, about how
...how important that kind of open space, parkland is. So that ... that's what I meant by
urban design. It's important to have some attention paid to ... to the larger landscape. Not
just the individual building but how the building's relate to one another and so on.
Davidson/ Anything else about the Planning Department?
Hayek/ Thanks, Jeff!
Davidson/ Okay, thank you!
Hayek/ Let's move on to Parking!
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Parking:
O'Brien/ Good afternoon! I have a cold so I may be stopping occasionally to have a drink of
water here. (coughing sounds in background) Sounds like someone else is too. Um
(clears throat) Going to start off with the parking budget and uh, kind of going back to
last year when I... when I was in the same position, talking about the budget,
um ... parking didn't have a lot ... lot of changes going on and transit there are a ton of
changes that we did in transit — moving it over from a, um, General Fund to an Enterprise
Fund operation. This year we're kind of the complete opposite. Where in transit a lot of
the ... the things we're looking at for this coming year are the same, uh, but parking's had
a big swing in the type of things that we're ... we're looking to do and a lot of changes that
we're making, um, and I think this document that, kind of the new budget document that
we're puttin' out is, uh, certainly compared to even like three, four, five years ago, gives
so much information now it makes it a lot easier for (others talking) information and get
that kind of information so ... obviously put a lot of work in and ... and did a great job on
that. Uh, but as far as our department, uh, responsible for overseeing the parking and
transit operations for the City of Iowa City. Um ... and even with the strategic planning
thing, initiatives that we have, you know, I think it makes a lot of our decisions easy in
tying everything back to, does it fit into one of these priorities as you're looking at the
strategic plan, and I think within our department, um, a lot of the things that we do tie
into your economic development, neighborhood stabilization when you were talking
about transit and... and a lot of the residences in downtown for parking. Uh, looking at
customer service, obviously with the parking and transit, a huge emphasis on customer
service, uh, and changes that we make so, um, and starting with parking, even though this
is going to be the one that's kind of the ... the bulk of my presentation today, um, I'm
going to summarize just a little bit and I know you guys have a lot of this information,
but I... couple things I wanted to emphasize and summarize in parking, and that's to make
sure everyone understands it's an enterprise fund. Um, and then to make sure that
everyone understands that, um, when I say we have four parking decks, obviously we
have five, but Court Street Transportation Center is actually a transit asset and doesn't
touch the parking fund. So all those funds that come into Court Street, actually stay
within transit and those, the revenues, expenses, etc., are all covered in the transit part of
the operation and not parking. So um ... parking is a, excuse me (clears throat) a seven -
day operation, uh, responsible for parking in decks, on- street, off - street, um, adjacent
neighborhoods to the downtown for, um, no parking corner to here, no parking Monday,
Wednesday, Friday; odd /even, um, lot of the maintenance aspects, um, we've taken on a
lot of snow removal in the downtown now, which is something three, four years ago we
really didn't do, um, to where we're clearing out the parking stalls to ... and .... and a lot of
the crosswalks, uh, we're starting to touch on bicycle facilities, sharrows, covered
parking facilities for bicycles — starting to move into that area even though we're very
early into that. Um ... and start ... the bike racks and making sure they're well maintained,
uh, making sure they're painted, and making sure if there's additions we fund those, put
those in place, get `em installed, um ... we have, like I said, four parking decks in the
parking fund. Court Street Transportation Center would be the fifth, uh, seven parking
lots, um, and some of the highlights, just over last year and over, um, of things we have
coming up that we're really excited about. Um, the LEED project, you guys are familiar
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with from a couple years ago when we, uh, took down all of our current lights and, er, all
of our older lights and put in LEEDs. It's resulted in about $55,000 savings, uh, between
the two departments, about $45,000 on the parking side, another $10 to $11,000 on the
transit side in that one facility. Um, so that's been a great project for us. Uh, ZipCar,
obviously we're, uh, we're about six months into the ZipCar operations as far as bringing
ZipCar onto campus, uh, and to the City. Uh, we started off with ten cars, um, anybody
that saw, they actually were purchased by Avis, uh, this last week. We've spoken with
everyone — none of the ... the ZipCar name's not going to change. The operations not
going to change. It actually, uh, opens up the ability to have more vehicles available is
actually what it's going to do. Um, and they're looking to add some at the hospital so we
might see a... an influx of some more vehicles to get up into the hospital area, um, and try
to get that... that client base going. Excuse me.
Hayek/ While you're on the ZipCar, is there a juncture at which we will consider whether we
should continue using on- street sites?
O'Brien/ Yeah, probably after the ... we're going to evaluate after the first year. See if we can
move some of them to the decks, once they've established themselves, um, specifically
the ones on Linn Street, we would look to move into either Tower Place or, um ... the
Dubuque Street facility, um, and then the ones at Iowa Avenue, um, if we don't move the
others into Tower Place, um, cause those are a... a very obviously high profile location,
um, but down on Linn Street there's... there's certainly less cause of the ... the parallel
parking of some of those stalls. There's less ... there's less vehicles available down there.
So we'd look to move those into some facilities after year one.
Dickens / Any Zip trucks?
O'Brien/ Uh, actually you can get trucks (mumbled) there's SUVs. There's certainly an option,
and I think as the programs evolve (both talking)
Dickens/ ...I've had people ask me about, you know, a truck — they just need it for a day or...
O'Brien/ We were going at it from the, trying to be fuel efficient with the vehicles that we bring
on and... and, um, so I think that's something down the road as you add more vehicles
you might try to broaden your perspective to have those types of vehicles around for, um,
because we actually do get a lot of long weekend rentals, so ... and a lot of it is multiple
students going out of town, is what we've heard, um, going shopping out at Target with
multiple ... so if you're doing that in a Prius, that makes it kind of tough to haul a lot of
stuff back so ... uh, down the road that's something that they could look at. Um...
obviously last year we switched, um... switched some of our maintenance operations and
...and converted over to privatizing some of that with ABM Jam... Janitorial, uh, we've
gotten a lot of positive feedback, uh, the hotel, we had a meeting with them the other day
and the first ... we walked in and it was a completely separate topic, um, like hey, before
we get started, I just want to let you know how great the facilities look, um, so that's been
a successful program for us. Um ... we just awarded our mobile license plate recognition,
um, few weeks ago. That's in process now. We're just going through the planning
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phases of getting that set up on one of our vehicles. Um ... and those are some of the
things obviously over the past year that we've had, um, over the past two years the
parking division, uh, of our operation has, uh, reduced our FTEs by 6.5, uh, over the last
two years and we haven't dropped any of our actual operations. Um, if you look at the
transit side, we had another five, uh, so we've reduced by 11 1/2 FTEs and maintained
the same level of service so far. Um... some things that we have coming up this year that
we're really excited about, uh, we've gotten the ambassador program and I know Mike
spoke before me. I don't know if he touched on the ambassador program, um... so a lot,
but a lot of... shouldn't say a lot of cities but what cities are starting to do, and some
universities, is ... instead of parking enforcement cashiers, maintenance you have what are
called ambassadors and what they do is their ... their focus toward kind of an all
encompassing customer service of the downtown, so they ... there's events going on, they
give instructions, they give directions, uh, they clean up things that are ... so it's kind of a
full effort between, uh, parking, uh, Iowa City PD, and Parks and Rec to coordinate
efforts to ... to create an environment. A lot of `em call it `clean and safe' programs for
downtowns, um, where you have people available that are uniformed, that are
recognizable, that you can ask for directions or for help, but they're also there to clean up
so if...if somebody throws a McDonald's bag on the ground, You ... you pick it up, or if
there's graffiti on a ... on a trash can, you clean that up. Things like that, so ... that's a
program we have going that we're really excited about. Um, we're in the early phases of
that. Uh, we've been partnering with, uh, the Downtown District on some ... some
different projects. You've probably seen some of the marketing efforts in the ramps, uh,
it's just a small ... that's kind of the starting point to ... there's going to be some kiosks,
um, possible on some of the glass in our elevators. You're going to see, I think, different
things happen as far as marketing with the Downtown District. Um ... and then the first
hour is free, which I know has been mentioned briefly, uh, in the budget document. I'm
going to go into a lot more detail on that now. Um, but first I'll refer you to something
that we're really excited about. It's a complete change in how we operate obviously, um,
any time I say the word "free" I obviously kind of cringe and buckle, um, but I think this
program's a great program, and it leads I think to a lot of things that we feel are more
sustainable operationally for ... for a parking department to ... to actually operate with.
Um, especially when you start talking about your on- street operations, uh, Geoff s been
an integral part of that as we've gone through this process. Um, so I'm sure he'll jump in
here as we go through this part of it, but, um ... so for the first hour -free portion, um, just
to give a little background. Um, starting in June really of last year ... well, six months ago
June, um ... we were approached... Geoff was approached by the Downtown District, uh,
they wanted to talk about parking, uh, cause obviously it was one of the focal points they
had as they were establishing the Downtown District, um, from that ... uh, we held
multiple meetings where we talked about ... kind of gave an educational presentation of
here's how the parking system works. Um, we had a couple sessions where we did that
and I think that was really beneficial to them because there's always the perceptions of
what actually goes on in parking, how much money there is, so we took `em through our
finances, um, expenses and revenues; we took `em through our policies and our
procedures and why we do different things, and uh, Geoff, jump in here if you ... but I
thought that was really helpful for them to ... to get that ... that base knowledge, um, and
then they kind of broke away, came back at us with here's five priorities that we have as
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far as what we would like to see, um, and those priorities were to improve access to
parking, enhance the convenience, uh, to encourage turnover, um, for the on- street
spaces, to entice people into the facilities and to have sort of a... an overall markus
...marketing component, uh, for ... for parking in downtown. Um ... so after we ... we kind
of got their priorities, we stepped back. Mark Rummel and I put together a plan that we
thought met, um, all of those. Met with Geoff to kind of cover all of the information in it,
and then went back to the District and said here's... here's what we think we can do. Um,
and so the ... the actual plan, we call it first -hour free, um, and it's exactly what it ... what
it sounds like, where we would go first hour free in all the decks that are currently
cashiered. So Capitol Street, Dubuque Street, um, Tower Place, and then we would add
Court Street Transportation Center on to this, as well. We would have to do some ... some
capital improvements that need to be involved, so there'd be four of them. Uh, the reason
we're not doing anything with Chauncey Swan to start is because we just don't know...
until we know what's going in at College and Gilbert at that location, we're going to hold
off until we see what actual development goes in there, and then make a decision on how
we proceed at that point. Um, so the first hour in those decks would be free, um, hours
two plus, so everything after that would be a dollar per hour. Currently it's 75- cents.
Um, but the biggest change is in the on- street rates, and this is something for those of you
who have been in these seats for a while, I've been pushing for for quite a while. It's to
get that separation between your on- street and your off - street rates. Um, any time you
have them exactly the same, which ours have been for... for an extended period now,
there's no incentive for people to utilize the decks. So your ... your surface parking,
which is your prime, your high -demand spaces is the exact same price as your... what
people perceive as not quite as ... as desirable parking. So we're looking to raise those
rates, um, in the core, so just in the downtown core area. Excuse me ... (clears throat)
from 75 -cents to $1.50 an hour. Um, keep in mind we've... we've talked to the
Downtown District about all of this so they're aware of this and we've had multiple, uh,
public input sessions, um, where we've ... uh, had multiple media outlets that we've
talked to about this. Um, and then it's a dollar an hour in the areas that are just off the
downtown. So kind of the high- demand, non -core areas of downtown. So like Market
Street, uh, all the way up Clinton Street, those are really high -demand meters because of
all the University dorms and ... uh, and University events. So we looked to make those a
dollar an hour, and then 75 -cents everywhere else, which it's currently 50. Um ... there
also will be changed to our expired meter citations. So currently we have the program
where we have a zero dollar citation and then there's one $5, two $10's, two $15s, two
$20s, and then a $25, and then it resets every six months. Um, so what we look to do
is ... it'd be something similar but we would eliminate that ... that second zero dollar
citation. Uh, cause what we're finding is people are utilizing that as a ... a free, it's not
changing the behavior, which is something that we're looking to do with those citations,
um, is to change people's behavior and get them to ... to park correctly, make sure they
either feed their meters if they're on the street or park in the decks. Um, and we would
kind of...uh, ramp up as far as how fast it accelerates to the 25, so ... we would go zero,
then $7, then $12, then $15, $20, $25. We'd eliminate the duplicates, um, and once
again, we're trying to remain as we go through this process, um, and one thing I should
have mentioned up front so when you're talking about the first hour of free, our average
standard exit's three hours. So the minute you take that first hour off we lose a third of
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our ramp revenue, which is like 40...a large percentage of our actual operation. Um, so
we're trying to maintain revenue neutral because we only, uh, when we were taking
our ... the Downtown District through this process, and our margins are about 2...
$300,000 a year. So we have to ... have to really stay close to revenue neutral when we
make these changes. Um, so that ... the citation structure, the ... the meter rates, all this
play into getting that first hour free in the decks. Um, there'd be no changes to permit
fees. We feel the permit fees are at a place that ... that they should be. Um, and that any
additional, um, any additional fees we think would be a deterrent for people, um, and we
think that we don't want to discourage people from utilizing the permits and from buying
permits, um, and for businesses to maintain those. Um, so the permit structure will
maintain... will be maintained, uh, the way it currently is. Uh, there's a lot of capital
expenses that'll be required in this. Lot of technology we need to purchase. Some of our
meters, you've heard us throw that around for a little while, so those are meters that you
can either pay with a credit card, single- space; could be multi - space; could be other one,
um, or pay by cell, uh, pay with a mobile app. There's different mobile apps out there.
Um ... and then Court Street Transportation Center, we would need to ... to add equipment
to that facility cause currently it's like Chauncey Swan. Um, other places that ... that
currently do this, Lincoln, Nebraska; Eugene, Oregon; Akron; um... Cedar Rapids; the
day after ... the day after we announced that we were having these public input sessions,
they ... they came out with their ... their plans to go first -hour free so ... Cedar Rapids is one
and then Tucson, Arizona. So this is something, it's a model that's been tried and been
successful in a lot of different places. Um, and we're really excited about moving
forward with it. Um, so we'll have some RFPs that go out this spring, um, to get some
demos going of different products so we can see, uh, get some feedback from the
downtown businesses, the people that utilize the services downtown, and see what they
think about the different products, um, and then make a decision on, are we going multi -
space, are we going single -space meters? Um, and then there's a lot of different mobile
apps out there, um, one of which we're actually talking to now, um, it's a... it's a... it's
BONGO like, where it's ... it's a real -time data like BONGO is, except it's parking data.
So You ... you pull up the app and it tells you that there's 77% of the spaces are open at
one deck, maybe 2% at another. So you know just to directly drive to the deck that has
the more openings. Um, and you can even as you get more technology on the street,
excuse me, as you get more technology on the street, you're able to, um, add those on-
street spaces to that, so people can see where there's open spaces on- street, uh, and off -
street, and make their parking decisions instead of circling the blocks looking for
different parking, um, parking spaces.
Hayek/ Chris, uh, um ... is your, you may have mentioned this, but is your team looking at, um,
with respect to the on- street parking, the, uh ... modifications to the limit of time you can
stay at (both talking)
O'Brien/ Um, limit is one of the discussion points that we really haven't got a definite feel for
what people want to do. We've done both sides (coughing in background, difficult to
hear) We'd like to see a change, um, we'd like to see it stay at one hour, and I think
that's one ... I think people are a little nervous to make that jump to ... uh, from one hour to
two because of... of being nestled into a campus environment. Um, the nice thing is with
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this technology that can ... that switch can be made any time. So if you don't start with it,
and you decide you want to, it's easy to change. It's actually just sittin' down at a
computer and typing that you want to raise the rate, or the terms of these different meters.
It's also something you can do where you can stagger it. So from 8:00 to 5:00 it's... it's
one and one of the things that ... that I was getting to here is, um, extended enforcement
hours is another piece of... of the puzzle of... of extending the enforcement hours until,
um, 9:00 P.M., 7:00 P.M. — somewhere in there — um, because right at 5:00, as all of you
know, downtown just gets influxed with cars that don't move. Um, there's no turnover.
Um, and we ... we think with the way that the downtown's evolving and ... and there've
been some restaurants that have approached us, uh, have approached Geoff, um,
about ... not being able to move into a space because of...of the lack of turnover with the
parking. So, uh, we're looking to extend those hours. So let's say after 5:00 you can
make `em two hour terms. Um, or you could do on Saturdays where it would ... so you
can set all that up, um, from your PC, uh, from your server, and ... and all of that's
adjustable on the fly, so ... um, some of the other things that we're doing. Um, obviously
we ... we looked at St. Pat's and we decided to put that project on hold. Um, so right now
we're in the process of evaluating sites to see if, uh, what we want to do and what type of
development's going to take place and what projects are going to come through before
we make a final decision on that. Um, College and Gilbert, obviously we're going to see
what kind of effect that has on the system, based off what moved into that, and that could
accelerate or ... or ... or not, depending on what ... what type of project moves in there.
Um, our plans to put another facility in, um, what it would make us do is, uh, re- evaluate
kind of our permit allotments and things like that but... once again that's... because of the
turnover we get at Chauncey Swan, those are things that we do anyway. Um ... think
that's everything with parking, unless you guys have any questions. (mumbled) parking
operations.
Mims/ I have a couple of `em. On the citations with the changes in those elevating more quickly,
was there also or is it part of the proposal to reset those every year instead of every six
months (both talking)
O'Brien/ ...it'd be annually. I ... I might have skipped over that.
Mims/ Okay!
O'Brien/ ...I was hoping that I had said that, but it's ... it's every 12 months instead of six
months.
Mims/ Okay. That's what I thought I'd heard.
O'Brien/ So you get the one warning, um, and then it...
Mims/ Then you'd better do it right! (laughs)
O'Brien/ Well we hope the ... we can educate you along the ... the way in that process, so...
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Mims/ The other question I had was the, urn ... mobile license plates recognition.
O'Brien/ Yes.
Mims/ I know there's lots of concern out in the public about this kind of technology being sued,
so I guess I'd be interested in just having you clarify the intent of the use of it.
O'Brien/ Sure. It's really no different than what we do now. Um, what we do now is when we
write a citation, we snap a photo of the license plate and of the vehicle in place, so that
when an appeal comes up, someone says, I mean, back three years ago before we really
did this it was, "I wasn't there at the time, um, wasn't my car, I wasn't parked where they
said I was," um, what these ... the way we do it now, we snap a photo, it's right on our
handheld so it ties it to the ticket, uh, so you go into their file and I can, let's say I pull up,
uh, Kevin's[ account. Kevin's got a violation. There's three photos that show his license
plate, that show how he was parked and in violation. So if he were to appeal it and say...
we would just print off the tickets, or email the tickets to him, along with the photos and
say, `Here it is.' What this technology does is a mobile portion of it, um... so we're
collecting that data, as far as, um, when we write a citation, if we're driving down an area
and let's say we chalk a car. And that's... that's primarily... there's two reasons that we
went this route for efficiency, um... one is the way we do Chauncey Swan and Court
Street, our officers have to pull a report at the pay station. Walk up the entire deck, walk
down the deck, pull another report, and then see which one ... oop, I wrote a ticket on that,
but they paid it. Then go find that car, pull the ticket off it, uh, and then they leave and
go to the next facility. Uh, with this, you drive up through and it pulls up ... it actually ties
into our... our software, shows which ones are in violation, you write the ticket on that
car, move on, drive through. You're out in... a tenth of the time it takes us to walk
through that facility.
Mims/ (both talking) So no record...
O'Brien/ ...no different than what we're doing, um, other than we're able to ... so let's say we're
going to chalk a car, we ... we record that data too. We'll chalk the car, auto -chalk it so
we have that information in our database. Then when we go back if that cars in the same
place...
Mims/ Uh -huh.
O'Brien/ ...we write it a citation, and it's all based off the license plate.
Mims / And so the only data that you were going to be keeping is data for cars that are in
violation, basically the time, the location, and the license plate of that car.
O'Brien/ That are in violation, and that are parked in timed zones.
Mims/ Okay.
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O'Brien/ So if your ... so for example, street storage... every four to eight hours we come through
so when we drive through an area, it will chalk that car through GPS, and then when you
come back if that car's in the same place, you'll write the citation on that car.
MimsP I think you understand where I'm going with this.
O'Brien/ (both talking) Absolutely! We have... (both talking)
Mims/ ... concern that people have of the privacy and...
O'Brien/ Yea, absolutely, and it's (both talking) something where you would purge the database
of all the data that isn't ... isn't tagged to some sort of violation or...
Mims/ Okay. Thanks!
Champion/ I ... I don't have any questions, but I just ... oops! (noises on mic) Wanted to
commend you that since you've been in charge of this, you've been willing to try new
things. You're not afraid to try things or... or be innovative, and I thank you for that.
O'Brien/ Yeah and I ... I appreciate that and ... and we've ... we've tried, there's so much
technology out there and so many things that you can do with it and ... and I think
especially now that we're partnering with the Downtown District and having that ... that
communication back and forth, it makes it a lot easier to make the changes that you need
to make, when you know what it is they're looking for, and I think that that's... that's
helped out tremendously too. Um, and obviously Geoff s communication with the ICDD
is, and with us, through this process, has been ... has been, uh, kind of spurred that along,
so...
Hayek/ And you... you've taken a... a historically pedestrian, pardon the pun, uh, area of
government and made it more dynamic and I mean, you can see it with ... with the things
that are being tried and the relevance to our focus on downtown and... and helping
downtown district get on ... you know, off to a good start. There... there's such a strong
tie in with your ... with your group.
O'Brien/ Yeah, we're ... we're pretty ingrained in how the downtown flows and how it operates,
and obviously we want to be a help but not a hindrance when that ... when that happens.
So I appreciate...
Mims/ Well, and just part of strategic plan in terms of customer service of the City. I mean, this
is ... this is a way that probably more people are ... see themselves impacted by the City
real quickly and easily is the difficulty or ease of parking and parking tickets, etc. So
it's ... it's a really frontline area that way.
O'Brien/ As tech -savvy as everyone's getting anymore and how everybody lives by their mobile
device, and I know this isn't a phone but it's the closest thing I had. Mobile devices and
what's on it, uh, the more data that you can push out, whether it's through BONGO,
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whether it's through some of the applications (mumbled) um, Mark Rummel and I are
working on, whether it's through those — all of that information is great for people and it
makes it a lot easier for them to utilize your services so ... that's something we continue
to ... to push for. Which is why when you look at the ... uh ... when you go through out
budget sheet and you see our capital, or our ... our revenue balance, or fund balance
dropping, been a lot of capital projects that we're doing over these ... these two years.
Um, we've had a lot of automation in the decks. We've got a lot of, um ... the ... the smart
meter technology is ... is expensive, but there's so many ... that's why we've been ... there's
a lot of things that we've done, made choice we made as far as when people decide to
leave our organization whether we rehire for it or not, is based off of, okay, there's a
technology that can help us be more efficient here so we haven't replaced that. Knowing
that we would have some of these expenses come up and that some of those processes,
while it might be a large upfront cost, is a quick pay -back because there's ... it's replaced
certain functions that we did, uh, before with ... with personnel. Um, and if you look at
the 2016 budget, um, they have that projection and it shows that we're dipping again.
One thing is is that we put in ... we put in the budget for a, uh, another deck going in and
the debt service that goes with it, but no revenues from that deck were put in. So even if
you put in the revenues, similar to what Court Street Transportation has, I mean, there's
an additional $700,000 in revenues that would be in that. So we wouldn't quite be in the
red at that point, so...
Hayek/ Do ... do you, uh, do you have a bottom number for cash balance that you don't want to
go ... don't want to go below?
O'Brien/ I don't ever like to dip at all, but um, we're mandated ... I forget what the ... Kevin, do
you know what the percentage is of our...
O'Malley/ You have a 100...1.25% bond covenant that you have to maintain on your, uh, yearly
operations, and right now I think you're about 1.6 or something.
Hayek/ This shows a, I don't know, 30 or 40% drop over the last five years, I think. Uh, in terms
of cash balance in parking.
O'Malley/ The, uh, the bond covenants only talk about operations, and so they're not looking at
capital outlay. So that part, uh, so as long as his revenues are paying for his personnel
services and uh, supplies, we're okay.
O'Brien/ Well, and we had the St. Pat's project which we actually went through the full design
of that, and then put it on hold, before it went to construction, and that was ... you know
over a million dollars in design fees, um, we've put over a million and a half into our
parking decks to automate those processes, um, the smart meter technology'll probably
run us in the $750 -8,000 range. Um, but without that you can't move forward with the
first hour free and be successful with it. Um, there's just so many things that tie into that
...that type of technology, so ... um, once we get passed, you know, 14, there's not many
more, I mean, we've replaced everything we've got really at that point. Um, our
enforcement mechanisms, our on- street and our off - street facilities, so...
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Champion/ I especially appreciate the new elevators.
O'Brien/ And the elevator ... we did an elevator upgrade, as well, that ... thank you again for... I
forgot that one! Um, any more parking questions? Transit, um, once again last year was
certainly a big year for transit. Um, we done our first fare increase in 15 years last year.
Uh, we moved from the, uh, General Fund to an enterprise fund operation, um, so that
was ... was certainly a big change and ... and uh, made some changes to the General Fund
overall, that I think were beneficial. Um, we've replaced 40% of our fleet with ... with
new buses over the last few years. We've got two more coming ... we just took two,
delivery of two in November and we've got one big bus and one mini -bus coming, um,
this year again that we've got funding for from, uh, federal government, um, we carry
roughly around two million riders a year still. Uh, we were at 1.97 I think last year. Um
...provide complementary paratransit services, which is, uh, mandated by FTA for the, to
mirror your fixed route operations. The Seats contract expires at the end of this fiscal
year. We're currently in negotiations, uh, with them for ... for future years. As far as a
contract, we'll certainly be coming to you when we have final numbers on that. Um...
other than that there's... there's really not many changes to ... to what we did last year.
Um, some of the highlights — once again I mentioned that we've, over the last two years
we've reduced our FTEs at transit by 5.0. Um, and that kind of spreads over different
... different mechanisms — maintenance, customer service, uh, an MTO, the body shop,
which, uh, that was one that, uh, that was $105,000, uh, line item. Currently through half
the year we've ... we've, the body ... the body work done is around $37,000, so it's about a
30% drop, uh, in expenditures by ... by switching, uh, and privatizing that. Um...
BONGO's still a very popular mobile app, once again I ... I know I'm stressing a lot of the
technology changes we've made. Another, the next level kind of of that, our next
enhancement for BONGO will be, uh, automated trip maker, where somebody will be
able to hop their PC or mobile device and say, I'm at point A, I want to get to point B,
how do I do it? And it would provide ... and that would across all three systems —
Cambus, Coralville, and Iowa City — uh, since we're all three in that... in that software
package. We've got a joint project going with Coralville now to replace our fare boxes,
uh, those...RFPs come in on the 8th, um ... some changes to legislation that ... that have us,
I mean it's great to get a... it was great to get a transportation bill done, but Iowa took a
beating, when Map21 came out. I know you've been briefed on it, so just basically I just
want to reiterate the ... the capital expenses was one that Iowa took a beating. Normally
get around $5 to $7 million, um, that was taken to zero and Iowa's got the 47th oldest
fleet in the country as far as, uh, bus operations go. Um, they have found ways, the DOT,
um, maneuvered money around, uh, for this upcoming year to ... to make sure that we're,
it was $3 million that they put back into the fund, uh, through different... different
mechanisms, um, so there will be some capital expenses, just not at the level that ... that
we have been doing lately. Um, obviously Court Street, I mentioned, uh, first -hour free
is impacting the operations at Court Street, which is once again, a transit operation. Uh,
we will be automating that facility. Um ... and the ... the, like I said, the Seats contract.
Uh, one of the things that recently popped up, um, we've been... recently we've started
discussions with Coralville, um, U of I Cambus, and Johnson County to talk about just
overall efficiency of our operations. Um, one of the things looking at ... especially fixed
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route is one of the things we're starting to focus on, as well. Um, so that you don't have
a Cambus, a Coralville bus, and an Iowa City bus following each other through the same
areas of town, when one of those or two of those resources could be utilized somewhere
else. Um, so that's something that we're looking at. Um, those discussions, we've in the
very early stages of that, but I wanted to make you aware, um ... other than that, no ... no,
uh, no fee changes. No personnel changes that we have coming up. We ... we did reduce
by a half a FTE this year, but that was just somebody had left and we, it was a customer
service position that we're able to, um, float with the service, or the people we already
have, so we just did not rehire for that position. Transit questions? Did we get the ... did
we put an updated...
O'Malley/ That's a good point! Uh, our transit page in the book, on page 245, uh, is incorrect.
It's to the fund balance, um, the budget (mumbled) revenues and expenditures very well,
but it doesn't work cash balances, when we switch from this being a General Fund
activity in 2012. So have a ... we had about a $3 million balance in the General Fund that
was transferred in to transit. So that $420,000 is closer to $2.5 million for ending
balance. And he has a bus reserve of about $1.6 million.
O'Brien/ Thank you.
Throgmorton/ Chris, how ... how are the route revisions working out?
O'Brien/ Um, good and ... um, especially now that we're starting to talk to Cambus and
Coralville, um, about, um ... how we can all be more efficient, I think that's taken a whole
different... whole different appeal to us now, because we're ... we're talking globally and
not ... possibly pulling out of areas that maybe we currently service because there's
adequate service there with ... with other, um ... um, with other providers for those, so with
Cambus and Coralville. Um, we've ran ... there's several modifications that
we've ... we've run through, um, that we've presented to our ... that we're in the process of
presenting to our drivers to see what their... as the ones who are frontline and drive these
every day. Are they doable? Um, after that process, then we'll ... we'll go public with
those and say, here are some concepts, kind of like we did with the parking changes.
Here's some concepts. Now let's hear what your thoughts are on it. Um, and we'll have
multiple because obviously if you're looking at a whole transit system, that's a lot of
information to ... to get out there. Um, so we'll be doing it in pieces, um, but now, like I
said, now that we've started discussions with Cambus and Coralville, it's kind of slowed
things up as we want ... we don't want to present this ... this big rollout just to only pull
some of it back and have ... have more changes. So urn ... that's kind of where we're at
with that. I know it was a long - winded answer to say still in the process but ... we're still
in the process. So...
Dobyns/ Chris, when was the last time, uh, we discussed a loop route?
O'Brien/ Um ... well, we've discussed a lot of loop routes, but you mean...
Dobyns/ But one that's maybe (both talking)
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O'Brien/ ...overall like a long-term ... that's one of the things that we're looking at, as far
as ... um, and it's something that came up, um, for ... I'm sure all of you ... I was part of the
Diversity Committee and... and going through the process of the Diversity Committee,
um, and that was one of the ... the big points that was made there, was that routes that
circulate, um, and aren't tracking and going back and forth along the same routes, but
circulating through different areas of town, uh, without going through the downtown
portion. So that's... that's part of this process.
Dobyns/ Okay. All right.
Dickens / And any more talk on Sundays ... I still have people contacting (mumbled)
O'Brien/ Yeah, and I ... once again, Sundays, you know, at this time because of the ... the cost
um, I think we'll have a better feel once we get through the process of where we're at
revenue -hour wise, and that's really how we base it is how many revenue hours are we
utilizing. Once we get a little bit further through this process and understand how many
hours we're dedicating to the routes we're proposing, we'll know if ..if that's something
that's feasible, um, but certainly that's something that's always going to be on the radar
and I... and I think that it's only going to get stronger as... as time moves on, so that's
something that we're keeping on the...
Markus/ It's one of the items that's come up in the Diversity Committee, and... and one of the
things, as Marian'll tell you that we kind of threw out there is looking at alternatives.
We're not convinced that a fixed -route system on Sundays is going to haul enough
people. But maybe there's a system where You ... you work cabs, you subsidize, uh, you
serve some underserved, uh ... uh, areas and ... and uh, people, but um, to get into a full
transit system, you know, I ... when we ... when we get those kinds of requests, we've
gotta be insistent on doing a business paper, a white paper, to show whether we can
support those things, uh, before we jump into `em and ... and that's the kind of skill set
that Chris brings to these types of discussions so ... (both talking) ...there may be a way
to ... to ease the concern without... preselecting the solution.
O'Brien/ Yeah, there's... there's voucher programs out there, and obviously one of the pushes
we've been making with, uh, recently is the, um ... having more of our user fees cover our
operational costs, trying to get up in that 30% range. Um ... you know, from the Sunday
standpoint, and this is one of the items I've presented is the cost per ride really elevates,
um, because of the cost of the large route, and if you're not... you're not... so, it'd be a
matter of the type of service, as Tom said, uh, might not be a big bus, but certainly some
type of, whether it's a voucher program, whether it's mini - buses, whether it's...
Markus/ Chris, um, did you talk about SEATS at all?
O'Brien/ I, yeah, I ... well, that we're in negotiations with them currently. Um ... they had made a
first proposal. We're going back to them with a counter, um ... we have a budget number
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in there that I feel comfortable with, um, moving forward. Um, as far as where I think we
can land. So...
Champion/ How long are we from relocating the transit facility?
O'Brien/ Well, you know, I talked about Map21 briefly and ... and with the lack of capital
funding, that's a ... that's a tough one, cause that's ... we're talkin' a $15 to $20 million
facility, um, and while our reserves I feel are healthy, we ... we can't cover that, um, so
it's a matter of trying to find funding that I think right now this year, next year, it's going
to be tough. Um, but we are... we're... we've done a feasibility study of, uh, of a site
selection. We're in the process of, with Kumi and with... with Brad Neuman out of the
Planning Department doing a, um, a needs assessment so that we can have that document
read, so that as funds start to ... funds look like they're available, we'll ... we'll be ready to
go. So that's ... we're still in process there, so I ... I can't give you a timeline because I
just ... I just don't know.
Dobyns/ What is about ... this is about moving the downtown (mumbled) area (both talking)
O'Brien/ (both talking) ... she's talking about our facility out on Riverside, Riverside and the
highway.
Dobyns/ Oh, okay!
O'Brien/ Off the Public Works and Transit site out there. Yeah. (several talking)
Hayek/ Okay! Thanks, Chris. Excellent presentation!
O'Brien/ Thank you. (several talking)
Hayek/ Okay, why don't... why don't we, uh, we'll do Airport now, uh, and then we have to
catch up with Clerk, Manager, Finance, but then we're done. Yeah. Great. So maybe
we'll do Airport and take a quick break and then finish up with everybody else?
Markus/ Yep!
Hayek/ All right.
Ai rport:
Tharp/ Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, Councilors, um, as far as the Airport operation budget, I ... I
think with some of the things that we're seeing this year is ... is we're seeing the impacts
of initiatives that we've started over the last couple years. You'll remember I think last
year, maybe late 2011, uh, the Airport Commission and the City Council came to an
agreement on the use of... of funds from the sales of Airport Commerce Park land where,
uh, 70% of that was immediately, um, used for debt reduction and, uh, principal loan
payoffs, um, some of the other 30% were ... were available for Airport uses, and if not
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they, um, would also be used to debt reduction. And we've had a couple land sales since
then so one of the biggest things with our operation budget this year, um, our General
Levy ask has been reduced about 28 %. Uh, we've gone from $100,000 asking to I think
this year it's just over $72,000. Urn ... so I...we're pretty proud of that. We're happy
that ... that, uh, that Airport Commerce Park lands are moving. There's obviously extra
benefit to that. It's land being, um, pulled out of the, uh, essentially the tax exempt status
and put back on the taxable rolls, um, and it's ... it's helping the Airport out. Obviously,
uh, at the peak of our ... our operational debt, I think we were paying about 25% of our
operations to debt service, and now that's down close to about 10 %. So it's ... it's
certainly, um, enabling the Airport to, uh, better maintain the facilities, and uh, and
maintenance of the facilities is also one of the great challenges of the Airport. Uh,
several of our buildings, including the terminal building, are 60 years old so with that,
um, age of buildings, it just comes up with, uh, increased maintenance costs on ... on those
structures, but ... uh, some of the other things that are ... that are going on, again, uh, a deal
with the initiatives of, uh, been happening over the last few years are fuel sales are
actually at their highest peak we've ever seen. We're ... we're doing about 250,000
gallons of fuel sales total, um, our ... our jet fuel sales which ... which usually translate to
the business category aircraft, the business jets, uh, business type activities have
increased, uh, tremendously since the runway extension, um, has been completed. Um...
(clears throat) excuse me. Um... and we, uh, economic development side, we've been
able to work with, uh, the FBO, Jet Air, the fixed base operator, um, they are the Airport
concessionaire. They do aircraft maintenance, fueling, charter, uh, sales, and um, they've
leased a piece of ground and they've put the, an additional 80 X 80 building, um, up on
the field to, urn ... better facilitate their operations. It increases some storage capacity, uh,
for the business aircraft that are coming in. Um, as well as some, uh, long -term capacity
storage for, uh, aircraft that want to be at the Airport permanently. Um, through that
we've also had some rent... some rental increases. We've been able to construct a couple
of extra box - hangars, uh, so in the last year we've actually added about 12,000 square
feet of additional aircraft storage, uh, capabilities. Um, that's helped to, uh, increase
the ... the amount of revenue that our operations are able to generate, um, and again,
decrease, uh, the General Levy support that's necessary for the Airport. And that's
primarily it. The rest of the budget is ... is primarily a maintenance and upkeep, uh,
scenario. You know, with our buildings we have 59 T- hangars, and several other, uh,
corporate - office style, um ... uh, corporate hangar with offices that, uh, just need lifecycle
adjustments and carpets, uh, infrastructure with hangar motors and ... and cabling to make
sure that hangars are operating in a safe, uh, a safe manner. Um...
Dickens / What is our total debt?
Tharp/ Uh, right now I believe, well, at the end of this fiscal year, I believe it'll be just over
$800,000. Um...
O'Malley/ That's correct. He paid off, uh, two outstanding loans that were, they were 35 -year
loans, so the, uh, commercial areas is paying for itself. (several responding)
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Champion/ Just out of curiosity, when you say you have an extra 12,000 square feet now for
hangar space, how many planes can ... how much ... how many square feet does a plane
take?
Tharp/ It ... it really varies on the size of the plane, but (laughs) typically, urn ... a ... a standard jet
that uses the ... the Airport now will have roughly an 80 -foot wing span, so you've gotta
have essentially a... a 80 -foot by about 40 -foot long square to block off and that's, uh,
I'm trying to do the rough math — what about .... 1,000 square foot for a plane. Um,
smaller ones, uh, they ... the hangar that Jet Air built, that 80 X 80 could fit anywhere
from four to about eight aircraft, depending on the size.
Champion/ I was just curious. Thank you.
Hayek/ So are you seeing what the ... with the runway extension, um, can you quantify the
change we've seen in terms of aircraft using our facility that weren't before?
Tharp/ I..I really don't have numbers on the aircraft. The best way we have to track it is
essentially our fuel flowage, um ... in the past before the ... the extension was completed,
we ... we typically did about 200,000 gallons of fuel sales, um, so that's gone up 25% and
we're ... this year we're seeing, um, what appears to be another, uh, increase in that. We
should be above 250,000 by the time the ... the calendar year finishes up, but um ... that
...that's our best way to translate the ... the usage as far as additional aircraft, bigger
aircraft, and... and the aircraft that we're using the Airport filling up on... on fuel at the
Airport is ... is there so ... um...
Hayek/ What ... so and ... and if 250,000 gallons of fuel are purchased on site, what ... what's the
net cash to...
Tharp/ We get 10 -cents a gallon, as our, uh, flowage fees for, um. ... essentially the use of the
Airport fueling facility. So ... um, that gets about $25,000 to the Airport.
Hayek/ Any questions for Michael? Great! Thanks. It's nice to see some of these changes, uh,
bear fruit!
Tharp/ Thank you!
Hayek/ Okay, why don't we take a five- minute break, come back and finish up with the, uh, with
the remaining items and get home. (BREAK)
City Clerk:
Hayek/ Okay! Let's resume our budget work session. Um... (several talking and laughing)
(noises on mic) So I guess, City Clerk's office is up!
Karr/ Um, the budget for the City Clerk's office is on page 166 through 168.
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Payne/ Thank you!
Dobyns/ Thank you.
Karr/ You're welcome! (laughter) Um, as a Council appointed recording and record keeper, um,
my office exercises and has the opportunity to exercise all the powers and duties assigned
by State Code, City Charter, and City Code.
Mims / And anything else Marian decides!
Karr / And miscellaneous other things as decided, yes! Um, currently, um, we ... that includes
Council meeting minutes, which are available on the internet, um... uh, disc, stream, etc.
Uh, Council meeting transcriptions, uh, resolutions, ordinances, um, that also includes the
filing of subdivisions and as, uh, you heard today from your HIS Director, Doug
Boothroy, uh, we will be in Project Docx, Phase 2 involvement, which will involve
subdivision submissions, uh, being handled through the new, uh, e -plan submission. Um,
we also, uh, my office handles City project folders, legal publications, board and
commission minutes and meeting packets, and that is something over the last year you
saw a little bit of a change. We tried to go with a uniformity in distribution of all boards
and commissions minutes, which allows, um, the complete packet, as well as the agenda
to be on line. Um, once they are online, they are archived, um, in the Clerk's office so
that that information is kept in one source and one location. We will work with the
individual board and commission staff then on accessibility and also duplication of
storage, which is a ... a huge factor right now. Um, cemetery records, um, I'll speak to
that a little bit, uh, later but uh, we're looking at some new initiatives going on this year
and they are included in the budget. Uh, we handle cigarette licensing, beer and liquor
licensing — which includes exceptions to the 21- ordinance, um, sound equipment permits,
um, this year we are also in the process of converting all beer and liquor licensing, um,
electronic information that was currently held on an old vax system, which is no longer
being supported into permit plan. This will enable all of the information to be available
24/7, not only to the citizens but um, enforcement, complaints, and inquiries regarding
those are often made after traditional office hours, and uh, this will allow Police
Department accessibility to that information 24/7, as well, in their cars. Um ... we also
handle, uh, taxi company and driver information, and licensing /permitting, and (several
talking) yes! Yes, true, and you've just been involved in that and we are just finishing
up, um, the last, uh, part of that enhancement, and one of the main features is that it will
change the licensing period from March to May. Uh, I'm sorry, March to June, uh, and
that will better match surrounding communities and ease in, um, the... inspection at a... at
a non -peak time of year for both staff, Equipment Services, as well as the companies
themselves. Uh, we also handle dancing permits. We're the main storage for, uh, deeds,
abstracts, City contracts. We staff, uh, Police Citizens Review Board, up until this year
the Youth Advisory Commission which Council did eliminate but we also are doing, um,
the Ad Hoc Diversity Committee, as well. Um, we also provide notary services, but also
election, um, services, and that'll be covered as well when I hit the highlights of the
budget, which is next! Basically the budget is unchanged from previous years. Um, what
you will notice is an additional, um, every other years is a City Council election. I know
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that will surprise all of you! Um, but that City Council election then, uh, is about
$70,000 a year. So there's a $70,000 expenditure in there. Um, to handle the City
election and a primary. It does not count any additional or special elections that may be
needed. Um, that typically is based on ... it reflects about a 5% increase and um, the
actual costs are billed precisely after the fact, and the amount reflects, as I said, the
preliminary and general election for three Council seats coming up. Uh, in addition to
that, there's $2,000 in there, which is the conversion of microfilm rolls to, um, electronic
storage, um, I was listening with interest to a number of staff as they were talking about
the changes and ... you know, when I first started with the City it was great to go from
hand - written to typed, and then it was great to go from typed to microfilm or to non -hard
copy, and now we've gone where the microfilm is ... is becoming obsolete. We can no
longer have ... get equipment that reads the microfilm, so now we're converting the
microfilm into an electronic means. When we do that, that will also enable then more
accessibility to those documents online. Right now, what we have available is 1995
forward. As we convert more, we'll convert them right into the same procedure that will
then open it up for the general public and whoever else wants to access them. Um, two
additional budget items. Uh, one of them if $3,300. This is what we talked about briefly
when we, um, had the evaluation of .. of my office, and that was, uh, that includes a
program that allows the Oakland Cemetery, for us to share data, images, and maps, etc.,
um, 24/7 so individuals will be able to look for, um, cemetery information whether it's a
genealogical type of a search, or whether it's a search to see what is available, what is
close by, what is ... not. Um, that will also enable us to, uh, not ... no longer type cemetery
deeds information. We'll enter the data in and as we enter it, it'll translate right into the
deed that we can issue at that time. Um, and then finally there is a modest, um, amount,
about $3,000 in there for the Police Citizens Review legal counsel. That is a legal
counsel that is independent from the City Attorney's office and that we budget each year
for. That fee, that reflects no increase. It's a straight hourly fee, and that fee is obviously
dependent on the amount of time that independent counsel is required to do, whether it's
through the independent, uh, complaint process that are filed, or whether it's, um,
presentations that are given. That's the City Clerk's office! Questions?
Hayek/ Good work! Thank you! It... it's always a good reminder to, uh, get the list of things
you're responsible for. Okay, unless there're any questions, we'll move on! Who's
next? City Manager?
City Manager's Office:
Fruin/ Yeah, we're gonna jump right into the Manager and ... and not to scare you, but we have
seven budgets in the Manager's office to go through. So we're going to do them
lightening round in maybe three or four minutes here. (laughs) Uh, we've got City
Council first, and uh, City Council's on page 162. Uh, and there's really... really no
change to report here. There's actually a decrease in your budget from current year.
That's a reduction in travel and training and a couple of one -time expenses that we don't
expect to see again. So, we'll just move on to the, uh, City Manager budget, which is
165. Uh, 165 is um, our ... our primary office, uh, Tom and Adam and I and uh you'll see
a ... a slight increase. That increase is ... is, uh, just a reflection of the standard labor costs.
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There's no increase in, um, significant increase in any of the, uh, supplies, or services'
line there's actually some decreases in ... in some of those, uh, more discretionary line
items. We did eliminate a paid intern position last year, so there's a little bit of savings
factored in there. Uh, moving to, uh, the bottom of page 165 is the communications
office, um, that's new. If you look, there are no numbers for 2012. Uh, there are three
people in that office. When that was created, those three people were taken from other
areas of the organization, so these were not new employees. Uh, two were taken from the
document services division of Finance, which was eliminated with last year's budget
proposal. We also brought one up from the, uh, IT department. And, uh ... uh, those three
positions are reflected in this budget, and uh ... at your meeting on Tuesday, you'll
actually see a recommendation to, um, reclassify one of those positions down a little bit,
and that's a reflection of a ... a, one change I wanted to mention here. Uh in the past we
have employed a web developer, listed here as electronic communications specialist to,
uh, basically write our own, the code for our own web site, a homegrown web site. With
that position leaving, we've decided to ... to take that a different direction. We're going to
have a ... uh, seek private services to redesign our web site in the coming year and uh,
we'll be able to down ... uh, reclassify that position down because we won't need to pay
for those highly technical web skills. We'll get more of a generalist position, which will,
uh, we'll be able to recruit at a lower level. Any questions on manager or
communications, page 165? Okay. Uh, I'm going to jump to Human Resources, which
is page 170. Karen Jennings is the division head that, uh, runs, uh, oversees that office,
and uh, there is a reduction of employees in this, um, budget proposal. Uh, currently
they're authorized at four positions and we're going to be, uh, rec ... we are
recommending, uh, movement down to three positions. That's actually already taken pa,
uh, place, um, they, uh, one of their human resources assistants left and we have replaced
that position with a temporary employee and that arrangement, we think, is going to work
out just fine for that department. So there's some, uh, personnel savings associated with
that. A couple other small changes to note here. Um ... we have provided some extra
funding, about $12,000 a year, um, to outsource flex ... flexible claims' processing. We
were doing that in -house and uh, we think it'll be a little more efficient use of, uh our
staff's time to, uh, take that, uh, to a third party provider. That's, uh, in the works right
now, uh, and reflected in both the current year and ... and uh, future budgets. And then,
um, something that was taken out of the budget, uh, several years ago, maybe three or
four years ago, was the, uh, employee, uh, appreciation holiday luncheon, uh, that we
used to do, and ... and perhaps some of you attended in the past, and that was taken out,
uh, I think it's about a...$4,000 or $5,000 expense and ... and we think it would be a good
time to introduce that back and um, start to, uh, I guess ... once again encourage our
departments, our employees, to get together in that type of environment and build those
relationships again. So ... that's in the budget for this coming year. That's human
resources. Uh, Adam Bentley's going to take you through the rest of the Manager's
budgets.
Bentley/ Bambi control (laughter) Uh, deer mitigation plan has been in place since about 1996,
1997. Uh, we actually did our last shoot in December of 09, January of 2010. Um, so
far, uh, as I'd mentioned, we haven't had a count, a proper deer count. We weren't able
to do it last year because the DNR couldn't... they could fly the helicopter, but they
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couldn't see the deer on the ground because it requires snow cover in order to be able to
see the little deer in the woods! So they couldn't do it. So we actually didn't get a deer
count, but we do have deer strikes. Deer strike numbers are within the mid -20s, which is
actually fairly, um, which is kind of common. It's not necessary... not necessarily (both
talking)
Champion/ ... a deer strike?
Bentley/ Car strike! Sorry! Yep, automobile strike, and that has been consistent. We used to
have deer -car- automobile strikes probably somewhere in the mid30s and 40s per year.
They've been in the mid20s for a number of years now. So ... um, we will go ahead and
keep in $50,000, $2,000 of which to pay for another deer count with the DNR, and then
$48,000 is what we paid for White Buffalo to come in. They were our contractors for
...for any kind of, um, deer ex ... mitigation executions that we would like to perform, and
um, and so that ... that, um, we'll ... we'll maintain those dollars in the budget. Uh, Human
Rights, uh, cities of over, I think 20,000 or more, have to have a Human Rights designee.
We have two Human Rights' staff, uh, upstairs, um ... they also have a ... a part-time staff
member and sometimes they have an intern, as well. Uh, there ... they essentially
investigate potential human rights' violations in the city, uh, and determine best cause,
uh, courses of action based on those complaints. Um, there's no major change in their
budget, um, at all. Uh, other than just the typical, uh, increased costs of labor essentially
that ... that we go through. And then finally on page, uh, I should probably say deer
control was on page 89. Uh, Human Rights was on page 174, and then cable and
broadband on page 290. Um ... they provide programming for the City of Iowa City and
community events, uh, across the city. They have about six and a half, uh, equivalent
full -time, uh, four full -time and then, uh, two part-time essentially. They're primarily
funded through a franchise agreement with Mediacom. Mediacom pays us, um,
infrequently throughout the year, uh, frequently throughout the year, but not ... not
necessarily on an annual basis. Um ... the biggest change to this division is we've merged
two funds together and so, um ... there'll be a larger increase in the TV administration
fund, uh, but there's no, uh, nothing deviating or nothing changes, uh, nothing increasing,
uh, between the funds other than that. And then, uh, recognizing costs, the cable fund
works ... they pay the General Fund about $100,000 every year to, uh, compensate them
for administrative costs that we have since they are essentially, uh, they don't receive any
support from the General Fund, and so ... um, we've increased that to $200,000 per year,
recognizing that, uh, those costs haven't gone up. Uh, their payments haven't gone up
for a number of years, and uh, they have a pretty healthy reserve. So, other than that, that
was cable.
Markus/ You may want to mention what we're working on with the public access television.
Bentley/ So, in 2017...18, the franchise agreement with the City of Iowa City and Mediacom
will essentially be expired. And we expect that that agreement will probably move from
a local agreement to a state agreement, and essentially, um, that would cut the funding
for, uh, cable, um, substantially, and so we are working with, uh, we've kind of begun the
conversation with cable and Public Access Television, to determine a way if there's... if
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there's some way to kind of involve these two organizations to find efficiencies, and uh,
see if we can work an arrangement between the two to see how we can move forward in
the future. While the ... while the, uh, franchise agreement doesn't end in 20 ... or, won't
end until 2018, we want to make sure that we have a plan to move forward and... and
something that we can rely on moving forward before that... before that time and that
contract expires. So...
Markus/ There ... there is a tradition of this very hard separation between the two, and when you
break it down, you start to look at, uh, where the expenses are, um ... there seems to be,
uh, the possibility of duplication in terms of filming, in terms of studio space, and so my
objective is ... is if there is a potential to start to utilize the same facilities and maybe some
of the same personnel that do that, but remain or... or maintain, rather, the distinction
between the two and what they can and can't do, um, that ... that will give them extra life
because at some point in the future, the amount of revenue that's going to come in is
going to diminish to the point where it's possible that PATV, you know, could be
severely hampered in terms of their ability to exist. Now, in other places that, um, exist
around the country, and I'm trying to remember the acronym that's used.
Fruin/ PEG.
Markus/PEG access, and that's exactly how they deal with these issues. So that the public access
TV comes in and uses the ... the, um ... uh, municipal channel equipment and vise versa,
and they share the equipment, they share the studio. We have two distinct facilities. And
we have two distinct staffs. And ... to me that doesn't make a whole lot of sense going
forward, especially when you can anticipate a decline in revenue, and rather than wait for
the crises, it seems to me that we should start the dialog, which we have, um ... there's
some trust issues there. You have to build some trust in these things to make sure that
people understand that you're not out trying to, you know, dissolve or involve their
operations, but I think once we get to a level where they understand that there's... there's
actually a mutual benefit in this, and it'll actually extend their life. Um, I think they ... I
think they'll figure it out. But ... they have to be assured that ... I think that that's what our
intentions are so that takes time to develop that kind of relationship, but ... we're working
towards that.
Payne/ I don't understand why ... the franchise would go to the state level rather than a local
level.
Fruin/ Cause I think rather than, um, negotiating with each individual city on specific, um,
franchise fees, they'd rather negotiate with one state to do it.
Markus/ Franchising is controlled through the ... the State at some level, um, telecommunications,
um, franchising, there's a constant debate at the state level and at the federal level in
terms of legislation and they're trying to constantly remove, um, where that ... that
franchising and control takes place and uh, at some point in the future they ... they, uh, the
cable company has the opportunity to move to a state franchise arrangement if those
chose to so... (several talking) We can get you more of the history of that, uh, actually
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we have a pretty strong expertise, uh, in our director, and uh, we can have him come
forward at some point and explain this to you.
Payne / And changing that ... the way that franchise works, the state isn't ever going to come and
say you have a $1.6 million fund balance. We want part of it. Because we're going to
have the franchise at the state level now. I mean, they're ... that can't happen, can it? I
mean, it's our money, right?
Markus/ You know (laughter) I've been around long enough to ... to not say it can't happen
(laughs) (several talking and laughing) I mean, they could look at that (several talking)
Yeah, well and... and there's ways to go about that. Right.
Fruin/ And ... and just to clarify, the ... the state isn't forcing this move. It'll be the, um, the
company's decision whether to go local or state, but it's clearly in their advantage to go
state route, and then if they do that, there will be a reduction in revenue. So, the ... the
company's actually, um, in other jurisdictions in Iowa have already gone the state route.
So we know ... we know where they're going to go. They just have to wait for this local,
um, agreement to expire. Or for another set of conditions to ... to give them the out.
Markus/ Exactly!
Fruin/ So if .. in other words, if another competitor comes in, they can opt out of the local and go
state, cause that other competitor could come in and presumably take the state
arrangement, and so from kind of an equity standpoint, they would have the ability to opt
out of the local and go state, but assuming that does not happen, and given the cable
industry, I wouldn't expect a competitor to come in here at this point. They'll wait till it
expires in 2018 and then make that move.
Markus/ In franchising, uh, at the municipal level, you really can't have exclusive arrangements.
They're supposed to be non - exclusive. So somebody can always come in and compete.
The problem is the infrastructure investment for a competitor to come in doesn't make a
whole lot of sense to do that unless the technology advances to the point where it could
be wireless or some other approach or... you know the satellite approach, and so if
somebody were able to come in and do that, they'd come in and they'd come in under the
state franchise fee. Well then the local, uh, provider of our current service, Mediacom,
you know, moved to the same just to be competitive. Even though, you know, a ... a lot of
their infrastructure's already depreciated. But... they're... they're not going to want to
pay a different fee than their competition pays.
Hayek/ Okay! Any other budgets under your purview, or did you actually go through all of `em?
(several responding) Okay. Kevin!
Finance:
O'Malley/ Last but not least, um ... Finance Department is found on page 176, and I also want to
point ... give some credit now to my staff. They did a great job putting together all this
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information besides our normal, uh, skeleton information, as far as numbers. Looks very,
very nice and is very readable. Uh, I also want to point out on page 176 the division
manager's the controller (away from mic) we don't have our, uh, org chart up but we're
in... (several talking) Thank you! But we have Robin is our Comptroller, Robin
Marshall; Gary Kahn is our ITS Coordinator. He's in, uh ... um, the internal service
funds. And we have Mary Nichal in our Purchasing — Mary Nichal Hegwood, and we
have, uh, Melissa Miller, our Revenue and Risk Manager. Um, these people'll be
staying. I'll be leaving! (laughs) So, uh, just wanted you to be aware of their names
and... and what they do. I also asked them to, uh, besides the highlights that are in the
book, to give me some quantifiable information. So I want to start with accounting.
Well, let me back up. I want to also mention that ... that uh ... being, my background is
accounting and income tax and details with numbers, and I've always enjoyed, uh, the
accounting system because it's a double entry system, created by some genius in the 15th
century, and so uh ... I've kind of leaned toward that. Budget, on the other hand, is a
single -entry system and it's kind of a whack -a -mole system (laughter) so, um, we're
always chasing numbers in November and December, trying to make sure they're the
right numbers. So, I want to, uh, please forgive our errors that we have. They're not
intentional. But the essence of budget is the tax rate, and so that's what we focus on
being correct. Uh, as far as accounting (mumbled) the other ... the other, um, over-
reaching subject that ... that Tom mentioned before is we're ... the Finance Department is,
uh, in the midst of a seat change or a generational change as far as technology. The
software that we have, uh, that creates our payroll systems and our HR systems and uh,
general ledger systems is, uh, circa 1982, and... and utility systems. So that's pretty
outdated and uh, some of it is still functional, but the people that created it left. So we
...we've known for a long time that we needed to move to another platform, and it's
...we've had some fits and starts but it ... we're on our way now and it's taken quite a bit
of effort on ... on the part of all our staff. So in addition to that major change, they have to
do their daily work and ... to highlight we have in the accounting division we have two
individuals in charge of accounts payable. Now, um, I've always thought of accounts
payable as ... as our customer service to the vendors and the community. If, and so I
always wanted to pay them, uh, I learned this a long time ago and ... that they send you a
bill and you have a problem with it, unless it's a major problem, pay the bill and work it
out with the customer. So what we do is we make sure the bills are right, and to do that
we ... we take the time and obviously computers are a lot different... when I started
everything was hand done, uh, so ... it's easier to check that kind of stuff. Anyway, we...
we go through about 20,000 checks a year, and that value is about $67 million. So, um,
that's to me it's important to get those people paid and a lot of that money stays in the
community and... and provides indirect economic benefit. We also, uh, have advanced to
using a lot of p -card transaction, which is also part of our accounts payable system. We
have about 9,600 transactions for about $1.4 million. Those are more smaller supply type
activity. Uh, payroll which, uh, this organization as a ... has a significant amount of, uh,
services that provided through our employees. We have a $40 million payroll that's done
bi- weekly. Uh, with that we have about 1,300 W -2s. Uh, grant reporting, we get a lot of
inter - governmental revenues Tom alluded to in ... in, earlier and Jeff Davidson also, uh,
we had $26 million in federal grant money that came into the City last year. It was in 95
different grants, and besides gap accounting, we also have to a ... abide by what they call
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A 13 3 federal grant reporting so it's another layer of, um, recording and reporting that has
to be done to satisfy the State and we have one employee doing... one and a half
employees doing that. Uh, the other thing that I always like to mention is it's our 27th
year of getting the Certificate of, uh, of Excellence in Financial Reporting. Uh, part of
that is the audit and that the auditors do, but that pretty much says whether our statements
are presented fairly. The other aspects are that we are statutorily bound to do certain
things and most people start with the beginning of the book. I go to the back. That's
where the management findings are, and... and the State statute findings. And for the last
four or five years we had no findings at all, which uh ... I ... I feel is pretty, pretty good.
Because my colleagues are listening to us, our internal control, cause sometimes they...
they go their own way and we have to ... we pay for it with a finding. So, there's no
dollar value, it's just to me it's a ... it's a inference. Uh, onto purchasing on page... 184.
None of these budgets have any changes other than in... in, uh, finance admin, where
people, the numbers are the same but the people will be different. Uh, and purchasing,
with the adoption of... Council's adoption of the purchasing policy that helped kind of
corral some of the de- centralized departments who were, uh, who may have not ... who
could have been purchasing things, uh, without a full regard to equity among vendors.
And so now ... with Tom's, uh ... uh, him coming here and the policy being half ...half-way
done, him and Geoff helped Mary Nichel push that through and now we have, uh, we're a
busier purchasing department and... and I appreciate that. I think vendor equity is also,
uh, a big concern there. And Mary's department is ... is doing quite a few more requests
for bids about another $500,000 up to $2 million now, but they're doing an additional
$500,000. That's a lot of kind of hand- holding different departments to make sure they
understand the purchasing language. We also, uh, want ... I'd be remiss if I didn't let you
know that we work with Legal quite a bit to make sure our purchasing documents, um,
are fair and accurate and readable. Kind of get it on the front end so we don't have suits
on the back end. Now the revenue division — most of our divisions are... are support
services for the rest of the City, but the revenue division does meet the public, uh, they
provide, uh, customer service for about 25,000 utility customers, and about 1,200 landfill
customers. Uh, they have been automating for the last few years. Uh, we're, well, more
than a few. The last 10 years we've been pushing web services and um, they have about,
uh, 2,500 ... their walk -in customers are down, um, but their, uh, their utility customers
are up about 11.5 %. So, m ... more and more web payments are coming in. The other
thing that we see is, uh, I think Mike Moran mentioned it and Linda Kopping that their
software is, uh, it's no longer in -house at the City. It's being housed on the web so that
software is software as a service, which is a technology that ... that's, uh, I think is ... we
should be getting into. The only issue I have is I like to control the cash box, and those
companies are controlling the cash box. They have the City's cash and I, so I made sure
that when we structured agreements with them, that we're protected, that surety bonds in
place, etc., and so that we pull in our cash about once a week or once every two weeks,
depending on the agreement. Uh ... I want to jump to ... I think those are all the General
Fund ones. I'd like to jump to page 305, the internal service funds. (several talking)
305! That's, uh, several of the ... internal service funds act like business funds for the
support systems, for the... different governmental and business type, uh, budgets. It's
more of a centralization also, uh, concept we pay it back. We do have one person, uh,
that is, uh, was not replaced that went to the communications office ... for 14. I'm sorry,
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that was the person who ... the last person who was in our, uh, who created the 1983
programs. She retired in June of 2012 and will not be replaced in 14. This is, uh,
changed quite a bit. I mentioned earlier, generational change. I ... I came here, there was
only one computer, one PC in the building and I had to fight to get the second PC in the
building. Uh, we did have a mainframe system that cost couple hundred thousand dollars
and ... and everything was a dumb terminal and it, everything... technology has changed,
uh, quite a bit in those 27 years, and I was fortunate enough to lead a lot of those changes,
um, I took over the, uh, data processing department in 1990 and kind of shifted
everything away from mainframes to, uh, PCs and LAN technologies. Also I had some,
uh, great employees over the years from a three- person department to now a 10- person
department, but uh, we took advantage of technology at every corner and um, it's gotten
down to, uh, as I think Chris O'Brien said, everything's on the phone now, and that's
what we see now happening is the desktop computer is now starting to become
antiquated. And so apps have to be rewritten. The... everything also has to go through,
um, still has to be carried on a wire or a fiber, even though it may be, uh, wireless at one
point. So I asked, uh, ITS what ... what's been going on in their area, and this is the part
that also kind of drives me a little nuts. Uh, I started and 10 meg was a lot of storage
(laughter) and uh, now we've got 8.9 terabytes, and I feel like everybody's hoarding, uh,
photos on ... on the servers, and this just ... it's just bothersome for me.
(Dickens)/ City Clerk!
O'Malley/ (laughs) No, we got her off the system! Anyway, uh, just ... we have 46 servers now,
um, 46 application servers. With about 4.4 gigabytes of data for backup. We ... during
2012, our email system processed 2,400,000 messages, roughly 200,000 a month, and
we've increased mobile devices. Uh, back in 2010 there was only five. Now we have
157. So we're ... we're keeping up with the, uh, this new generation, I should say. Uh, as
I said, desktops are going down. Uh, we still have 486 that we are supporting. We have
applications, uh, 28 applications in fire, uh, I'm sorry; 28 applications in police; 12 in
fire; 12 in parking; and 11 in housing and four in public works. Urn ... the other thing that
I feel good about is back in 1992 we decided, uh, we made an offer to the City Manager's
office that, uh, instead of continuing with Qwest, which is now Century Link, and using
their phone system that we create our own phone system, and I had the staff that, uh,
could handle that and so we did ... we began our first, uh, fiber optic plant throughout the
city, and uh, since then the, all our traffic signals are now on fiber optics. We are, uh, we
have a joint relationship with the city, uh, the County, the School District, and University
are all on the same pipe. We have the sheath, and they have strands within the sheath,
and now we're at, uh, up to ... uh ... let's see ... I think we have 36 buildings now that are
connected with, uh, 1,100 active ports, and we... we are the, we manage that and we
receive some revenue from maintenance on that from those different entities, but that was
one of those that we knew we ... the payback was eight years on a telephone. We were
surprised at all these other initiatives came up and ... not too surprised but we were
monetarily surprised and ... which helped us. Now we've been advocating fiber
everywhere we go and uh, and we're getting quite a return on that. Well we, I think we
have two left. Um, oh yeah, one agency I missed was the Joint Emergency
Communication Center and the ... the second one was the Iowa DOT. We're also partners
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with them on the interstate. Um ... the telephone system that we started now has 548,000
calls, in -bound calls, and ... and about 1,204,000 out ... out-bound calls. So, uh, the ITS
division, uh, they... all the guys sit in little cubicles. There is one woman down there, but
uh, they, uh, pretty much what you would think on TV. They're pretty stereotypical.
They talk a certain language. Um, and since ... I enjoy going in there, trying to be human
around them (laughter) The other, uh, internal service funds that we manage is, uh,
purchasing also manages the ... excuse me, I jumped ahead. Revenue also manages the
risk management department. Now I used to be risk manager when I first came here so
I ... I kind of help out and also Cindy in my department helps out, uh, there are no changes
in that. This is one what, uh, Susan, uh, Sue alluded to, you know, the in -house
attorneys, the use of those, um ... we were in a hard market in 1986, 1987 and with the,
um, assistance of, uh, our insurance agents, the Johnson County Independent Insurance
Group, at the time it was I think AW, uh, Wilson, uh, which is now with Wert and
Ambrisco. They ... I partnered with them and they helped me go to a... get a package
from Lloyd's of London and we created our first, um, self - insured retention plan, and we
started out small with $200,000 and so we built that up and we started using, uh, creating
in -house staff and uh, so now this fund is ... is audited every year. It's actuarially done
every year and it's helped us quite a bit, uh, as far as managing our claims. Um, and, uh,
Melissa is the risk manager and the, uh, the revenue manager. I have one employee in
there. I think I got an employee in there in 1995, uh, worker's comp and safety
regulations, uh, and the federal government was pushing quite a few and we couldn't
keep up so we ... and ... and we knew other people were being, um, penalized by OSHA,
so we decided that if we hired an employee and help, uh, keep everybody safe and... and
coming into paper compliance, if nothing else, uh, we would be better off, and so we
have about 400 hours of safety training every year, done through our, uh, safety... safety,
occupational safety health specialist. Uh, as I was mentioning, our central services/
purchasing, they have some small internal service funds working here. They used to have
larger ones but we've downsized, uh, in the last 10 years, um ... I also want to note that we
do still have a non - public, uh, safety radio program, uh, system that was, uh, supported
by ITS and... purchasing, or central services here, bills the University for their use, uh, we
used to have the ambulance also on there, but now all we have is Cambus. Uh, this fund
pretty much it works with, um... with copiers and printers and uh, mail, some of the more
centralized services. There's no staff in the health insurance reserve, uh, it's just other
areas that I manage pretty much by myself, but I ... as far as the finances. I also work with
the Human Resources on, uh, on policy, the one change in the health insurance reserves is
because our balances are very good, I decided we should try to go up from $100,000 self -
insured retention to $125,000. I also want to make note that as Tom said, I gotta have
the ... give the employees credit, the collective bargaining. The structuring of those, uh,
new contracts, with them paying more on the co -pay, uh, more on the ... the monthly
premium and on the deductible has, uh, changed our..our premiums. So, I want to give
credit where credit is due and so that's why we didn't raise, uh, the, uh, premiums this
year. That's about all I have unless you have any questions. Thank you for your interest.
Hayek/ Thank you, Kevin.
O'Malley /And those (both talking) lessons.
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Hayek/ ...you got a little time left here, but uh ... I think one of the reasons you don't get
questions is because there's such faith in your operation.
O'Malley/ Thank you (several talking)
Mims/ Speak for yourself! (laughter) Very thorough as always!
Hayek/ Okay. So we've hit all of the, uh, departments, um ... do we want to have any discussion
time or ... wrap up then get out of here?
Miscellaneous:
Dobyns/ I have one issue I wanted to bring up. Um, regarding the Senior Center. Um ... I
watched the Senior Center over the last 30 years and I have some issues with the
programs, the people, and the place. Um, the programs are pretty good. They're robust,
uh, they're some that are a little bit extra, but um ... as far as the people, I think Linda,
when she presented earlier today mentioned that there are some... problems in trying to
get the full demographic of seniors in the Iowa City area to participate in the Senior
Center. Um, she alluded to desperate, you know, attempts that they've made over the
years and those years have been many decades in the making. Um, my own knowledge
of the area is that there is some value to considering other options regarding, uh,
centralization of senior services and programs, um, within a community, even one the
size of Iowa City, based on my knowledge of what's going on in other areas of the
country. Um, my main concern is the place, the fact that despite all these many years, the
square footage of the area within the Senior Center, I think, is really under - utilized.
Umm, in terms of, uh, the amount of people that go in. You may recall I did ask Linda
some questions about, uh, the utilization. I also checked in, um, with Mike and his
report, as well as the Library, and, um, these supported programs don't necessarily have
to be done in that place. Um, the place could be repurposed. Certainly they could, you
know, my feeling is they could downsize in terms of the programs in that specific center.
Um, as we perhaps discuss, uh, the University and the City collaborating in some areas
within the Wellness Center, in terms of having some programs there as well. I think
connecting wellness, both in terms of activity, recreation, and uh, programs is ... is
something that's been replicated elsewhere, and I think we should look at, and that's
currently what can happen when we have these programs in one site and recreation
services in another, and so I would ask is, you know, part of the budget items because the
Senior Center currently is ... is heavily subsidized by the City and you know I would
request that we take a broader look, um, at some of these issues with how we're, um,
appealing to the seniors within our community.
Markus/ We'll study it!
Mims/ I think those concerns certainly fit in with the concerns that we've expressed over the last
year or two, particularly as Tom has gotten here and we've looked at equity in, uh,
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covering costs of the services to people outside the area. And, you know, that's certainly
been one that we haven't gotten solved yet.
Hayek/ And, Rick, you ... you've mentioned this before and I ... I've talked to you about it before,
and I ... I think you've got some interesting thoughts, uh, and... particularly well - informed
ones, I would... informed ones I would add given your professional background, and you
know, it... if there are better ways to reach that population. If there are better ways to
collaborate with other service providers. If...if the use of that facility is an ... you know,
isn't being optimized, there are a whole panaplea of, uh, of issues to discuss but it sounds
like it's something worth looking at, exactly what approach that takes I don't know but
that would be for staff, I would think, to ... to zero in on. It's an interesting concept!
Champion/ I think part of the other problem with the Senior Center is it's used for the lunch
program, can't remember the name of the company.
Dobyns/ Yes. It's sort of a...
Champion/ They don't pay any rent or anything. They don't even pay utilities I don't think!
Markus/ Well, I, you know, I took a hard look at that when I first came and I tell you, I walked
away from that saying...
Champion/ It's impossible!
Markus/ ...I would be ... more heartless than I'm described right now (laughter) if I were to try
and extract any kind of revenue from that service.
Champion/No, I know!
Markus/ ...that service is about as bare bones as you can get.
Champion/ But it's another thing we're subsidizing.
Markus/ Well, but ... it ... you know, the clientele it serves, despite the fact that it's beyond our
geographic limits, I mean, they're doing... they're doing a, uh, a huge job for people that
job cannot provide for themselves.
Champion/ I'm not saying we should get rid of it. I'm saying it's part of the problem. I'm not
saying (several talking)
Dobyns/ You can separate out that very important program from other programmatic areas that
are currently done at the Senior Center.
Markus/ There's... there's lots of nuances to ... to try and figure out if there is a different
configuration that can work. I mean, this isn't something, and I don't think, uh, Rick is
asking that this be, you know, resolved in the next week. I think this is something that
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you're asking that we study and we look at alternatives and consider, you know, how...
how service delivery could be delivered in... in alternative ways, and that's something I
...I think we could look at. Um... again, I think that there's other opportunities. We've
done things for the same ... the same way for a long time, and it never ... it never hurts to
really take a look at, you know, other opportunities that exist for us.
Hayek/ Especially at a time when ... when we forecast an increase in the senior population, and
we've identified that population as critical for economic development. I mean, we're a
...we're a mecca for re ... retirees, um, and everything that comes with that. And so it's a
good time to think about how ... how best to do that kind of work.
Markus/ Well, and when you're talking about, you know, centralized service versus
decentralized service, is there ... is there any study that shows that, you know, seniors will
utilize a facility closer to their neighborhood. Now, if that's the case, at the same time
we're working with the schools on you know the potential for opening up some of their
facilities for community, you know, it's not a bad thing to have, you know, seniors and
children, uh, you know, and the mentoring potential and all of those types of programs,
and ... and using some of those community facilities in that fashion too. Maybe there's,
you know, maybe we make a whole new model out of this instead of just, you know, re
...repeating what's been done.
Dobyns/ Yeah to target seniors that I would want to perhaps facilitate with funding, uh, are the
kind of seniors (mumbled) you know, uh, functioning, it's very difficult for them to get
downtown. Um, that demographic of seniors is physically, emotionally, financially able
to partake a lot of City services in the community that already exist. And they don't
necessarily need as much of that programs, um, it's the kind of demographics that
Linda's trying to reach now and struggling to reach, um ... that, um, you know, from other
areas of .. in the country. Generally decentralization in neighborhoods. Um, like you
mentioned, perhaps in schools or in other, uh, faith communities could be better utilized.
Throgmorton/ You would think linkages with the Library might also be, uh, advantageous and
could be part of this, um, initial inquiry.
Dobyns/ Well, similar to last week, uh, when she was talking about this, um, a technology week.
I ... it was not lost upon me that, uh, a lot of seniors are very interested in that program,
and that was at the Library.
Mims/ Well, and I think your comment, Rick, too that ... is really important I think as staff looks
at this too is potentially making connections with the faith communities in terms of space,
because they might very well have space that could be utilized during the daytime, during
the week, for senior programming, whereas you know, in the neighborhoods, that might
be something that we could utilize and so...
Dobyns/ Acknowledging separation of church and state provisions, but...
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Mims / Right, but I mean, if you're talking about going in and paying rent or whatever, I mean, I
think ... I was just sitting here thinking okay, where could you do some of these things that
are decentralized, where we're not putting in a huge capital expenditure for new facilities.
You know, where do you have some of those spaces? Lots of times in your schools there
might be some things we can do in there, yet at the same time during the daytime, is
when they often are full. I mean, there are certain programming you can do that bring the
kids and the elderly together, but if you're talking about specific programming for the
elderly, then the school during the daytime isn't necessarily going to work and the
evening time is when those individuals don't want to get out. They can't travel as easily,
you know, we don't have as much bus service. So what other spaces are available during
the daytime that we might utilize. So I think we have to look at all options there.
Hayek/ Any other comments? Questions? Okay, so uh, we're set to meet Monday at 1:00 back
here, don't forget! And uh, we had a good productive discussion today and get out of
here just a little bit early! Have a good rest of the weekend!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council special
budget work session of January 5, 2013.