HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-05-14 TranscriptionMay 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session
Council Present: Champion, Dickens, Dobyns, Hayek, Mims, Payne, Throgmorton
Staff Present: Markus, Davidson, Hargadine, Dilkes, Karr, Rackis, Fosse, O'Brien,
Bollinger, Rummel, Moran, Morris, Bockenstedt
Others Present: Brammel (UISG)
Chinese Student Introduction:
Page 1
Hayek/ Okay. We're going to get started with our work session, but before we commence with
our agenda, Council Member Throgmorton would like to do some introductions.
Throgmorton/ Uh, Fellow Council Members, City Manager, City Attorney, City Clerk, it's my
pleasure to introduce to you three, uh, Chinese students from the University of Iowa,
people as you know that I've been connecting with over the past several weeks to, uh...
strengthen our connections with the student population here in Iowa City. So I wonder if
y'all could, uh, stand up, come up to the microphone and briefly introduce yourselves.
Come on over here, and just speak into the microphone if you would.
Zhao/ Okay, hi! Uh, name is Jinyao Zhao. I'm from China. My city is Shenzhen is a harbor
city, very beautiful. I would welcome you, uh, all of you, uh, to go to my city to take a
travel over there. It's very beautiful! And uh, I'm a student majoring in Computer
Science and Business Management. I'm about to graduate in four days. (laughter and
several talking)
Throgmorton/ Isn't your home city where Apple Computers are made, MacIntoshes?
Zhao/ (mumbled)
Chen/ Hi, my name is Yaohui Chen and uh, I'm the President of, uh, Chinese Students
Association, uh, and the Scholar Association, and I'm from Shanghi, China, and I would
like to say Nihao, that means hello, everyone.
Hayek/ Hello to you! Thank you (several responding)
Tao/ Uh, hello, I'm Zitian Tao and Zitian in Chinese means `purple sky' so everybody call me
Sky, and I'm in Communications Studies and International Studies major, and I'm junior
here, a member of CSSA, means Chinese Students Association, um, we're (mumbled)
come to China.
Hayek/ Thank you!
Champion/ Thank you!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 2
Throgmorton/ Great! Thanks to all of you for coming. And, they're going to stay as long as
they want for the, during the meeting and maybe they'll get up at a certain moment and
take off, but anyhow, thanks for coming.
Hayek/ Great. We're glad to have you here! Okay, so we've got a very full work session
agenda. We want to make good progress through it. The first Council item, uh, or work
session item is questions regarding agenda items. Does anybody have anything?
Agenda Items:
ITEM 10. APPROVAL OF THE CDBG / HOME BUDGET - ADOPTING IOWA
CITY'S FY14 ANNUAL ACTION PLAN WHICH IS A SUB -PART OF
IOWA CITY'S 2011 -2015 CONSOLIDATED PLAN (CITY STEPS) AND
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT SAID PLAN AND
AMENDMENTS AND ALL NECESSARY CERTIFICATIONS TO THE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND
DESIGNATING THE CITY MANAGER AS THE AUTHORIZED CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER.
ITEM 11. AID TO AGENCY ALLOCATIONS FOR THE YEAR STARTING JULY 1
- ALLOCATING HUMAN SERVICES AID TO AGENCIES FUNDING
FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2014.
Davidson/ Uh, Mr. Mayor, while, uh, Council is gathering their thoughts, uh, if you have any
questions about the CDBG /Home, uh, budget item, uh, Tracy Hightshoe is ... is present at
the work session here. She's actually, uh, doing, um, the item after next. Uh, she will
not be at the formal meeting so if you have any questions about that particular item, um,
Tracy's here to answer those now. Thank you.
Hayek/ Sure. That's Item 10 by the way. Go ahead.
Karr/ Ten and eleven.
Hayek/ And eleven.
ITEM 5d(7) 2014 COPS HIRING PROGRAM GRANT- IN SUPPORT OF STAFF
RECOMMENDATION TO APPLY FOR THE GRANT AND IF
SUCCESSFUL CREATE SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS (SRO's)
WITHIN BOTH HIGH SCHOOLS.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, Matt, you know from previous conversations that, uh, I think we need to
pull Item 5d(7) from the Consent Calendar.
Hayek/ Yeah, and ... I think most people are aware that we intend to do that. So we'll need a
motion doing that and then we'll take it up separately.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 3
Dilkes/ You don't need a motion. You just take it off.
Hayek/ Okay. That'd be part of the motion, right?
Karr/ That's right.
ITEM 10. APPROVAL OF THE CDBG / HOME BUDGET - ADOPTING IOWA
CITY'S FY14 ANNUAL ACTION PLAN WHICH IS A SUB -PART OF
IOWA CITY'S 2011 -2015 CONSOLIDATED PLAN (CITY STEPS) AND
AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT SAID PLAN AND
AMENDMENTS AND ALL NECESSARY CERTIFICATIONS TO THE
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND
DESIGNATING THE CITY MANAGER AS THE AUTHORIZED CHIEF
EXECUTIVE OFFICER.
ITEM 11. AID TO AGENCY ALLOCATIONS FOR THE YEAR STARTING JULY 1
- ALLOCATING HUMAN SERVICES AID TO AGENCIES FUNDING
FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2014.
Hayek/ Um ... Jeff mentioned the ... the, uh, Home and CDBG ... stuff. Does anyone have a
question (both talking)
Champion/ Yeah, I do.
Hayek/ (noise on mic) Okay.
Champion/ (mumbled) find it.
Hayek/ (several talking) Ten and eleven.
Champion/ (mumbled) The only problem I had with, this is not the Aid to Agency. This is the
Home budget, remodeling budget?
Karr/ That's ten.
Champion/ Right! Uh, Tracy, I was wondering, um, why the Mayor's Youth Employment
wasn't given, uh, building funds. (several talking) Do you remember? I should have
called you on this but...
Hightshoe/ Is this under CDBG and Home or Aid to Agencies?
Champion/ Home!
Hightshoe/ The Home program?
Champion/ Yes.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 4
Hayek/ I ... I think it's under...
Karr/ I think it's under...
Hayek/ Yeah, it's on the public facilities. Is that what you're referring to?
Champion/ Yes, right, yeah. Public facilities.
Hightshoe/ I don't believe they've applied for ... a housing project. Are you talking about public
facility?
Champion/ Oh! Yeah. I thought I saw it.
Hightshoe/ Um, I don't have the ... do you have the (both talking)
Champion/ Okay. All right.
Hayek/ Well it shows up under the public facilities, uh, category. Is that what you're referring to
you think?
Champion/ Yeah, yes. Isn't that out of the Home funds?
Hightshoe/ No, those are Community Development Block Grant funds.
Champion/ Right. Yes.
Hayek/ It's not housing. It's ... it's for their facility.
Champion/ No. Right, it's for their facility. (mumbled)
Hayek/ Okay. And, do you have a question on that then?
Champion/ Yes. Why they were allocated money, um, because um, I have some problems with
it, that they duplicate services.
Hightshoe/ Mayor's Youth was, they were allocated $70,000 under the Community
Development Block Grant funds for some building renovations.
Champion/ Okay. Was it (mumbled) on what they (mumbled) ... going to do in that building?
Hightshoe/ Yeah, they are renovating the upstairs so they can move their offices upstairs and so
they can just do complete programming for, um ... um, persons with disabilities on the
main level.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 5
Champion/ Okay. All right. I just object to it. I'm not going to support it because they duplicate
services. (mumbled) actually drop (noise on mic) United Way for that very reason.
Thank you.
Hayek/ Are there any other questions on 10 or 11 that ... there's a lot of reverb here! Do you
guys hear (noises on mic) that we can, uh, get answered while Tracy's here.
Hightshoe/ Anything else regarding the H, uh, the CDBG and Home budget?
Hayek/ And then, just ... just to reiterate, on ... on 11, the Aid to Agency, uh, how long ago did we
as a Council determine that staff should come up with a recommendation and submit
them to us en masse?
Hightshoe/ This is our third year that the Housing Community Development Commission was
recommended to review the applications and submit a funding recommendation. So this
is your third year. Prior to that, it was two Council Members and a former full -time, um,
Human Services person, Linda Sieverson, that developed the ... the funding allocation.
Hayek/ Okay. Thank you, Tracy.
Champion/ But we're not discussing that now, that's a separate thing on the work session?
Hayek/ Yeah, you're right. I didn't realize it was (mumbled)
Champion/ Okay.
Hayek/ ...while I had her there. Okay, any other agenda questions?
ITEM 5d(14) ON- STREET PARKING METER SYSTEM REPLACEMENT PROJECT -
AWARDING CONTRACT AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER
TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A CONTRACT FOR
REPLACEMENT OF ON- STREET PARKING METER SYSTEM FOR
THE TRANSPORTATION SERVICES DEPARTMENT
Throgmorton/ Yeah, Matt, uh, Item 5d(14) which is about on- street parking meter system
replacement. Uh, a... a constituent asked me whether users can be confident that their
credit information will not be stolen by swiping the card or swiping something (unable to
hear)
O'Brien/ Sure, talking about having somebody place a skimmer on it? (clears throat) Yeah, we
actually have ... when we do our collections, that's part of...we do the same thing in our
parking garages to make sure when we go through we check, uh, to make sure no
skimmers are placed on the actual access equipment as you leave, uh, the parking
facilities. Uh, we ... weekly and sometimes bi- week ... or twice a week, we collect those
meters and we'll check it at those times as we ... uh, to make sure there's no skimmers
placed on those. Those parking meters.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 6
Throgmorton/ You're going to be here later on during the formal meeting (off mic, difficult to
hear) same question?
O'Brien/ Absolutely!
Throgmorton/ I don't know... it's part of the Consent Calendar though isn't it? (several
responding) (off mic, difficult to hear) ...that said publicly.
O'Brien/ Plus the actual credit ... just so you ... the credit card system's actually an internal ...the
slots the same width as the credit card. You'd have to have an external device in order to
have a skimmer on it. So it would be extremely evident, uh, on the meters that we're
proposing for that to be ... to visually seen so...
Hayek/ I mean if you want to remove it...
Karr/ You don't have to remove it if you just want to, in between the motion on the floor you can
clarify and then take the vote. You don't (several talking)
Throgmorton/ ...so maybe I'd ask you to come up during the formal meeting (off mic, difficult
to hear)
Hayek/ (mumbled) passing that during discussion I'll turn to you.
O'Brien/ Sure, yep, I'll be here. Thank you!
Dobyns/ (off mic, difficult to hear)
O'Brien/ Single space. That's... that's correct. The feedback that we got from the survey, uh,
the surveys we completed while we were doing that two -week trial where, uh,
overwhelmingly in favor of the single-space ... versus the multi -space units. So single
space is what we will have.
Dobyns/ (off mic, difficult to hear)
O'Brien/ Yeah, it was ... a ... yeah, thank you, that was ... that was a very ... that was a very fun, uh,
project and process to ... to get that kind of feedback as we were going through it, and it
certainly helped as we ... we went through the decision - making process.
Throgmorton/ (off mic, difficult to hear) ... with regard to the (mumbled) sensor technology.
O'Brien/ Yes.
Throgmorton/ Uh .... is there any chance that the data could be fed into, uh, immigration and
customs enforcements' database off somewhere else, or would it be contained entirely in-
house? Or is it completely irrelevant (off mic, difficult to hear)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 7
O'Brien/ Uh, all it does, it's a yes or no — is there a car here? It doesn't actually ... I don't ... it
would just ... it wouldn't know whose car it was or ... if it was a moped or a scooter or a
pickup truck or an SUV. It's just a yes or no — is there an object in this space? So the... I
don't ... and as far as where it's fed, um ... boy I guess I haven't ... I wasn't thinking of it
from that point of view, as far as that type of data, um, because we're not really recording
anything except a yes or no, so ... um, I'll be ... I can answer that too when I come'up.
Sorry about that!
Hayek/ Other agenda questions?
ITEM 5f(8) Petitions "Stop the planting of Prairie Grass at Thornberry Off -Lease Dog
Park" [Staff email included]
Dobyns/ (off mic, difficult to hear)
Moran/ (both talking) This came from Earthview Environmental. They approached us ... to do
this last fall.
Dobyns/ (off mic, difficult to hear)
Moran/ Correct. Yeah.
Dobyns/ (several talking) (off mic, difficult to hear)
Moran/ Correct. Correct. Yeah.
Dobyns/ (off mic, difficult to hear)
Moran/ Correct. Yeah. We met with `em yesterday and they ... they've withdrawn and DogPAC,
Johnson County DogPAC wanted to rescind that as well. So ... that ... that project won't
proceed forward.
Champion/ (off mic, difficult to hear)
Dobyns/ Yeah I was wondering (off mic, difficult to hear)
Moran /We just dropped the whole thing altogether. We thought this time we'll just let it settle
down and then maybe we'll come back and do that. We've got some other options that
we can look at. Uh, but there won't be anything that'll happen inside the park itself, in
the very near future or...
Dobyns/ (off mic, difficult to hear)
Moran/ Yeah.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 8
Hayek/ (several talking) Basically you ... you had feuding groups back and forth and...
Moran/ Yeah, basically. (several talking and laughing)
Hayek/ In Tipton of all places!
Champion/ I do think the matter of the tics was kind of an important issue though.
Dobyns/ Yeah. (noise on mic)
Hayek/ I don't know. Okay.
Dobyns/ The dogs won.
Hayek/ In any event... (several talking)
Moran/ Nothing changed!
Dobyns/ Thank you, Mike.
Hayek/ Thanks, Mike.
Moran/ Yep!
Hayek/ Other agenda questions?
ITEM 7g HOUSING COOPERATIVES AND FRATERNAL GROUP LIVING -
AMENDING TITLE 14: ZONING TO DEFINE ROOMING HOUSE
COOPERATIVES AS A TYPE OF FRATERNAL GROUP LIVING USE
AND TO SPECIFY THAT FRATERNAL GROUP LIVING USES ARE
ALLOWED BY SPECIAL EXCEPTION IN THE RNS -20 ZONE AND TO
MODIFY THE RESIDENTIAL DENSITY AND PARKING STANDARDS
FOR SAID USES TO BE CONSISTENT WITH THE DENSITY AND
PARKING STANDARDS FOR MULTI - FAMILY USES. (SECOND
CONSIDERATION)
Brammel/ I don't have a question but I have a ... um ... I have a concern and proposal for, uh, Item
7g, but for the sake of time I think I'll leave that for the formal. I'll address the Council
then.
Council Appointments:
Hayek/ Okay. (several talking) It's housing cooperatives and fraternities. All right, so we'll
wait til the formal for that, Alec. (several talking) Okay, anything else? Okay, Council
appointments. Uh, we have three vacancies in the Library Board of Trustees.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 9
Champion/ We had three people apply and they all seem really qualified.
Hayek/ Any con... and they meet the... (several talking)
Payne/ Gender.
Hayek/ ...exactly!
Champion/ Yes, right! I'm glad to see Jay reapply (several talking and laughing)
Throgmorton/ Yeah, me too. Yeah.
Dobyns/ Moving along!
Hayek/ Okay. That sounds good. And then, uh ... you guys are okay with Mr. Dickens, uh,
handling ICAD assignments. (mumbled) vet it now if you're not because (several
talking)
Throgmorton/ He's our man! (laughter)
Dickens/ I know where all you guys live! (laughter)
Champion/ I'm moving!
Markus/ It's a fun group. You'll enjoy us!
Hayek/ All right. Next item is Aid to Agencies recommendations. This is Item #11.
ITEM 11. AID TO AGENCY ALLOCATIONS FOR THE YEAR STARTING JULY 1
- ALLOCATING HUMAN SERVICES AID TO AGENCIES FUNDING
FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2014.
Champion/ Okay, this is another thing that I ... have some problems with, and what I'm going to
ask the Council to think about seriously is that we put this back in the Council's hands. It
didn't take that much time, and I was against taking it out of our hands anyway. I ... I'm
not going to make a big fuss about this because we did not give any criteria to this
commission on how the funds should be allocated. The main problem, again, that I have
is there are some new agencies and we ... we have so little money that it seems kind of
ridiculous to be funding new agencies. The other one again is the Mayor's Youth
Employment. Um, this is a total ... um, duplication of services. Says $6,000 is going
toward, what do they call that? Um, Fast Track? And also the money to the, um,
Johnson County Social Services is going to youth education for jobs and so to me there's
just an automatic duplication of services right there with, uh, about ... urn ... quite a bit of
money going to duplicating services. So I'm not going to support this either. Um... and
I wonder about Pathways. I mean, all these are really valuable services — don't
misunderstand me. But that is a fee - for - service organization, isn't it?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 10
Hightshoe/ Yes. It is based on fee - for - service. Our funds go to subsidize folks that don't have
the money to pay for full services so ... the money that they get will help, um, lower
income residents pay for the service.
Champion/ Okay. All right. Well I don't have any problems with that then. I just had problems
with funding new agencies. Um ... again, ARC is a new agency. And, so I'm not going to
support this either. Uh, because I ... I have some problems with it. I'm not going to go
into all the details of the problems I have because like I said we did not give this
commission any guidelines, and if we're not going to do it ourselves, let's please get
together at a work session and provide some guidelines for them. Because they're just
good citizens trying to do their job.
Dobyns/ Connie, are you recommending that we pull t he current recommendations and rethink it
or...
Champion/ Well, I'm not going to support (both talking)
Dobyns/ ... for next year (both talking)
Champion/ ..but I'm not asking you to rescind what's already been appropriated. I'm asking us
to either develop criteria or put it back in the Council's ... in the Council's hands. I think
this is (both talking)
Dobyns/ For next year? For next year?
Champion/ Yeah, it's a very important group of money. It's not that much money, and I ... I
don't see any reason to give somebody $2,000. I mean, I think we ought to be giving
them $5,000 if we're going to give `em anything. I mean, that's just my own personal
feeling. When you talk about a budget for a non - profit, a $1,000, $2,000 isn't ... is a drop
in the bucket. And I think (mumbled) filling out those forms probably takes ... eats up
that money! But those are just things I want you to think about. Like I said, I'm not
going to make a big deal out of this ... this year. I'm just not going to support it. For
reasons that I'm not going to go into all the gory details, but I would like to see the
Council get this back in their ... in their hands somehow, either with recommendations or
criteria.
Throgmorton/ No, I don't think ... I don't think I agree with ... with you about Fast Track and
Mayor's Youth, but I do agree with you about criteria, and it seems ... I've had some
conversations with people about this, Connie, and ... and it seems to me that what ... what
we need to do is tie the allocations to, uh, to our strategic planning initiatives.
Champion/ Exactly!
Throgmorton/ And so may... our next round of going through this stuff we can be more clear
about (both talking)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 11
Champion/ I'm not against Fast Track. I'm against ... it's duplicating the services that we're
giving money to the County for. It's the same thing.
Markus/ As a suggestion, maybe you could direct staff at some point to assist in developing
some criteria, bring it back to the City Council so that the City Council can give that
criteria, uh, to the commission (both talking)
Champion/ Well I, yeah, I would appreciate that. I won't be here next year, but I'll probably
come here to yell at you if you don't do something (several talking and laughing)
Markus/ I think it's kind of an advantage for the Council to be able to have a... another group vet
this for you, and ... and, especially if they have criteria to measure it against.
Champion/ Right!
Markus/ ... and then have it forwarded on to the Council. The Council still retains the right to
make the discretionary decision on which, where the money ultimately goes.
Hayek/ I'm certainly open to establishing some criteria. Does this follow City STEPS to begin
with?
Hightshoe/ Um ... no, not necessarily.
Hayek/ All right.
Hightshoe/ But what ... at the last Housing and Community Development Commission, the
commission... they've struggled with these allocations, and basically what you see if
pretty much a pro rata of what agencies have got. If we've increased funding or
decreased funding. The reason why they opened it up is because there was one point
where we had enough CDBG funds that that $100 or $105,000, um, we had extra money
we could allocate for new projects. We could use some of that public service money we
get through Community Development Block Grant to pay for new initiatives. Our CDBG
funds have been cut to the point where now everything goes to Aid to Agencies. So the
commission opened it up for agencies, but you do ... you ... you know, we have limited
funds and ... it takes resources from agencies that used to get funds. So we've back...
we've debated that and um, at the last meeting they did put a subcommittee together to
review the allocations, and I believe they wanted to meet with one or two of you to
discuss criteria or have it on another agenda.
Champion/ The other thing we used to do, we used to keep some money back for emergencies,
which we had to use several times. We let it accumulate to a certain amount, and then if
we didn't need it we'd redistribute it and started some savings again. We had a couple
times where we had a lot of fires and Red Cross was out of money and something else
happened to some other organization, and we had kind of this backup money that we
could distribute when ... as needed. All right. That's all I'm going to say about it.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 12
Hayek/ You know I would ... my preference would be if we're going to go the route of coming up
with some criteria is to have staff take a look at it. (several responding) I think CDBG
can, I mean, the ... the potential uses for it go ... go well beyond what we've done
historically, and I think it's worth looking at all the things we could do with it. So that
everything's on the table, and that would help inform whatever criteria we come up with.
Champion/ Exactly!
Hayek/ Assuming we can do that, I am grateful not to go through this process. I was on HCDC
for four and a half years and the amount of work that goes into vetting an individual
application on the part of that commission is significant.
Champion/ I'm not knocking the commission. Don't misunderstand me (both talking)
Hayek/ No, I ... I know you're not, but ... but I'm glad they're doing it. (laughs) If we want to
supply some ... some guidelines or criteria (both talking)
Champion/ Well I think that's important.
Hayek/ ...it would actually help them! So ... okay. Thanks, Connie!
Hightshoe/ Any other questions?
Hayek/ (both talking) Okay. Okay, good neighborhood policy. IP3.
Good Neighbor Policy (03):
Davidson/ Uh, good evening, Members of Council, Mr. Mayor. Uh, I'm Jeff Davidson, Director
of Planning for the City. With me is Neighborhood Services Coordinator Marcia
Bollinger. Um, the City has an existing Good Neighbor Policy, the intent of which is to
enable the land development process and specifically the legislative process that you all,
uh, are involved in, to run more smoothly, uh, by engaging the community early in the
process. Uh, we have a very participatory community and we feel that by engaging them
early in the process with the developer and City staff that we can hopefully accomplish
some things, gets some things worked out before it gets too, uh, you all, and ... and I'm
sure that all of you have observed that occurring sometimes successfully, sometimes
unsuccessfully, in terms of the issues by the time, uh, they get to you, and the is ... the
issues with the policy, it is a voluntary policy. It is not mandatory, and I'm sure you've
all noticed in the staff reports when you get, for example rezoning staff reports, that it
will say whether or not the developer has chosen, um, to engage the Good Neighbor
Policy. And when they do chose to engage it, Marcia is directly involved, uh, in
attempting to facilitate that process, but the way it's set up right now is it is subject to
basically the whims of the developer we're working with, and they have a great deal of
flexibility in terms of how they implement, um, the process. Um ... the ... the issues,
and ... and we ... we got to thinking about this more specifically, with the strategic, um
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 13
...uh, planning initiatives that you, uh, developed, we felt that ... well, neighborhood
stabilization is one that's there specifically. Also, uh, being a better consumer... having
better consumer representation for the community, that we felt both of these, that we
could do better with the Good Neighbor Policy. The ... the issues that we've had related
to the inconsistency is, uh, they include things like who's notified, um ... how ... how wide
the ... the net is cast in terms of notifying about ... people about meetings, when meetings
are scheduled. Sometimes meetings are scheduled so close to Planning and Zoning
Commission meetings that it's impossible to make any changes after you've engaged, uh,
the neighborhood. Um ... whether or not Marcia or other City staff are engaged in that
meeting, uh, typically we are not. Occasionally we are. Uh, one thing we have found
though is that the public perceives the information received at these meetings to be
accurate. They assume the City has okayed it, uh, and that there is some legitimacy to it,
which may or may not be the case. So, we have undertaken internally to, uh, re- evaluate
our, uh, procedures, and Marcia's going to quickly, uh, walk you through, urn ... uh, what
we are suggesting to you. There's nothing on your formal meeting agenda, but we are
looking for just some general consensus. We are suggesting that it remain a voluntary
policy. You of course have at your discretion to make it mandatory, if you wish to do
that. We are suggesting it remain voluntary, but we do think there are some specific
things that can be done to, uh, improve the process, and Marcia'11 step through those with
you right now.
Bollinger/ I need to qualify my comments by suggesting that it is not the majority of the
developers, the applicants who are ... we are consistently having issues with. It's those
who aren't typically involved in the Iowa City process and don't really understand it
necessarily. So, um, I like to think that I've worked out a pretty decent relationship with
some of the, um, developers, particularly MMS Consultants simply because they do an
awful lot of the Good Neighbor meetings, um, so they are kind of familiar with the
process and they know how to handle it, but it's just occasionally when we have ... um,
these ... the unfamiliar developers come in that don't quite understand, um, what we're
looking for here, and as Jeff mentioned, the ... the main reason this was established back
in... (mumbled) when was this? 98. So it was a long time ago, and we've been doing this
for quite a while, um, was to offer the opportunity for the developer to start talking with
the neighbors early on in the process so that if there's some major issues they might be
able to work with those issues and ... and adjust their application accordingly so that it
doesn't get to the point where Planning and Zoning or Board of Adjustment or you folks
are having to, um, see those battles fought in front of this podium here. So, um ... but
with the timing and with the fact that so many times the developers wait until absolutely
the last minute, that opportunity doesn't exist. They've, um, some of `em are doing, uh,
these Good Neighbor meetings the night before the Planning and Zoning meetings, um,
it's, yeah, it ... they might get a sense of where everybody's coming from, um, but they
haven't taken the time and effort to, um, to make any changes. So, um, notification
requirements, um, were one thing I was never sure exactly who was being notified. I
suggested that they go to everybody within 300 feet, all the property owners. The gap
there is that, um, property owners aren't necessarily those that are the most interested. It
could be the tenants (coughing, unable to hear speaker) units that are in that area. So I've
always made it, um ... a priority to get that information out to a neighborhood association,
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 14
if there is one in the area to let them know and to get that information out through their
email list or whatever vehicles that they have available. Um, the timing on the notice, as
well as the meeting, um, we're suggesting here let's at least require that they get seven
days notice for the meeting and then seven days ahead of the actual Planning and Zoning
or Board of Adjustment meeting that's occurring. Um ... the night before just isn't
working! Um, and then staff presence. There was no feedback necessarily that was on a
routine basis coming from those who were hosting the good neighbor meeting, um, I
think we're seeing more and more of that, uh, just because it's... it's... bound to be
worthwhile, but... it's important too to have staff there because I was hearing from those
people who were attending the meetings that there was misinformation being presented,
whether it was intentional, whether it was just because they weren't aware, um, I think
there needs to be a... a technician of some kind of available, not necessarily an urban
planning staff person but myself or anybody from the, um, Planning Department could
probably, um, fill that position. And then some kind of summary. Whether it comes
from the applicant. Whether it comes from the staff or a combination of both. That's
presented to the committee that's reviewing it, so they know what happened. So that's
essentially the, if we're going to do this, I'd like to see that there be some minimal
requirements in terms of how it's implemented. So it's consistent.
Davidson/ Yeah, and what Marcia's gone through is summarized in the six bullets that are in
the ... the information that you received. Um, what we are suggesting is that the process
then Marcia has outlined included in those six bullets that if...if a developer wants to
have complied with the City's Good Neighbor Policy, they are required to follow those
guidelines specifically and work with Marcia on implementation of those. They are still
free to conduct another process that is of their own making, but that would not constitute
complying with the City's Good Neighbor Policy, if they chose to go that route. Um...
and as mentioned, uh, basically we're here to say this is what we intend to do, unless you
...direct us otherwise. There's no formal action required.
Hayek/ Well, I think this is good. Um ... uh, and, I mean, certainly when these come to us and the
little `good neighbor' box is checked, it adds a ... an imprimatur of...of endorsement
essentially or ... or something, uh, godliness or, uh, you know, and so ... we want to make
sure that that's something we can rely upon in terms of knowing that neighbors were in
fact contacted, but I ... I have two questions. One is, if staff's in attendance at a meeting,
but the applicant is responsible for summarizing the input and providing it, is there any
mechanism to verify that ... what it was summarized reflects that staff person's ... um,
experience as well?
Bollinger/ I think we ... we would have that summary go to whoever, whatever staff person was at
the meeting. So that they can jive and make sure (both talking)
Hayek/ ...natural check and balance (both talking)
Bollinger/ ...yeah, um...
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 15
Hayek/ And then the second question is, um ... let me, this might be unwieldy, but should
consideration be given for non - property owners, but dwellers?
Champion/ Thought they said that?
Bollinger/ The renters, yeah. And the only vehicle for that would be the neighborhood
association, um...
Hayek/ Yeah, I know but ... unless they automatically within, I mean, most neighborhood
associations don't have immediate turnaround capability. They send out a newsletter
periodically. Maybe they have email blasts they can get out (both talking)
Bollinger/ ...more so are having email lists.
Hayek/ Okay.
Bollinger/ Um, but again, it...it is that rental population that doesn't necessarily get invested and
it's harder to (both talking)
Dickens/ Sometimes the owners (noises on mic) aren't the people that are living there and so
they don't, the people that are living there don't get the message.
Bollinger/ Uh huh.
Dickens/ ...from the owner, which is I found a problem (mumbled)
Davidson/ I mean, that is likely to remain a bit of an issue in... in that, you know, Marcia's
indicated that she works with the neighborhood presidents. There is some unevenness
from neighborhood association to neighborhood association in terms of the
aggressiveness of informing the ... the people who live in the neighborhood. You know,
that's likely to remain an issue, unless the City were to take that over, which would be an
enormous undertaking and we're really not suggesting that. Uh, we'll ... we'll continue to
try and work with the neighborhood groups.
Hayek/ Okay.
Payne/ So how does the developer get the list of addresses to send it to?
Bollinger/ As part of the application process they have to secure that through the County, um
...is it assessor's or ... yeah. There's a ... there's a ... a pretty simple system of gaining that.
But again, it's just the property owners. It's not...
Payne / Right. So I guess where my mind was going is ... does it say whether it's owner occupied,
and if it's not owner occupied just send it to resident at that address. I mean, at least it
would get there.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 16
Bollinger/ But it's the property owner's who can log the protest of rezoning.
Payne/ Oh, okay, so (both talking)
Bollinger/ ...tenants, so it's ... it's essential that the property owners know. It's ... it's important
to let the tenants know too. There have been some occasions where a single - family
neighborhood, say ... Miller Orchard has a lot of single - family rental units. I can easily
pull out and pull up those units and those addresses for the developer, and I've done that
in the past, depending upon what the issue is. Say with the co- housing development that
you'll be hearing about, um, we...
Payne/ But... anybody can come to a meeting and talk, regardless of whether they own the
property or not (several talking) so...
Bollinger/ Uh huh.
Payne/ I mean I wasn't necessarily thinking necessarily of who can lo ... log a protest, but more,
you know, who can voice their opinion. (several talking)
Davidson/ ...it's going to be through the neighborhood association that ... that the renters, uh,
are ... are notified, because as Marcia mentioned, there's (noises on mic) in terms of the
property owner and the right to file a protest.
Champion/ I think we had a really good example about renters influence and input with the
Dewey Street business. Lot of renters in that neighborhood, but they're a very strong
neighborhood association. And so a lot of people who showed up were renters, but that's
just a really strong neighborhood association there.
Hayek/ I would bet most renters are not on a neighborhood association list (both talking)
Throgmorton/ I think that's true, also.
Dobyns/ (mumbled) where it just says staff will be in attendance, and I'm trying to get an idea if-
that'll be a ... an active or passive presence. If the City staff member hears something that
they know, um ... to be discrepant, uh, from City policy, what is this per ... and ... and they
realize it and they feel fairly comfortable that they ... know it to be true. What will that
person do? Will they speak up in a meeting, or will they be more likely to report that
later to us, that there was...
Bollinger/ I think it's important they clarify things immediately. I don't want to...
Dobyns/ Okay.
Bollinger/ The whole concept, or the essence of these... meetings is to provide information,
quality information, and if it's not, and they're misleading people...
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 17
Dobyns/ Okay.
Bollinger/ ...it's...
Dobyns/ So the developer runs the meeting.
Bollinger/ At ... yes, at this point they do.
Dobyns/ And these meetings are not held here necessarily but out at, uh, community meeting
(both talking)
Bollinger/ Um, a lot of times they're (mumbled) elementary school.
Dobyns/ Okay.
Bollinger/ Um, meeting rooms. They do ... they've had some at the Library. They've had some
at ... City Hall, um, it depends where the development is.
Dobyns/ Okay.
Bollinger/ Might try to locate it as close as they can.
Davidson/ And what our hope is, Rick, is that depending on what ... if...if there's a particular
issue associated with a particular project, maybe there's a traffic issue. It makes more
sense for one of the MPOJC traffic people to attend. If there's a storm water
management, uh, issue, then maybe it makes more sense for someone from ... from Public
Works to attend. Uh, might be Marcia. Might be myself. We ... we hope to spread that
burden around because obviously if we're going to have a City staff person at every, uh,
meeting now, that's... that's a little bit of a burden and we would hope to spread that
around. If we can clarify things at the meeting, we're going to do that. It may be that the
person needs to come back, ask Bob Miklo or Karen Howard ... now the developer said
they're being required to do this. Is that true? And then we ... we might have to clarify
that later.
Dobyns/ Okay. Yeah.
Throgmorton/ The ... these are all terrific questions and points and, uh, I completely support
them, but I guess I want to bring up a, uh, a related but different issue. Um, has to do
with, uh, I ... I think we need to have much stronger, better policies concerning
developments in transitional areas, by which I mean developments at the edge of
particular zones when the other zone on the opposite edge is of a different kind. Uh, so
my sense is that we need ... we should require Good Neighbor meetings with a process for
a waiver, whenever a project would be sited at the outer edge of a zone, or within a
specified distance of an outer edge. So I don't know how that would really play out,
given all the different zones we have and how many edges we have and that kind of stuff,
I really don't. But ... but uh, we have certainly witnessed some pretty clear instances of
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 18
conflicts that could have been reduced in scope if we had had ... Good Neighbor meetings
in those contexts, but I ... I also want to say, I guess, I ... I've been to at least one Good
Neighbor meeting in which wildly erroneous information was communicated by the
developer. So I think it is really good to try to strengthen the process.
Dobyns/ Jim, one thing I like, like Matt mentioned, you know, if they have a Good Neighbor
meeting, it has the imprimatur of quality to it. Well if you make it, um, something that
has to be done, you're not quite sure who's being good and who's not. Um, if it is
optional and they elect to have it, I think the imprimatur remains. And I... and I like that
feature.
Hayek/ Is ... isn't, but to answer your question, isn't this triggered by any application to change
the land use? So, I would think that would include ... (several talking)
Mims/ ... make it mandatory.
Hayek/ Right, but I... (several talking)
Throgmorton/ ...know where you're going with this. Yeah, what ... what I am suggesting, and
maybe it's kind of in a different ballgame is we need to have better standards for
developments in ... at the edges of transitional zones. Or, you know, at the edges of zones
where there's a significant transition.
Davidson/ (both talking) But before... excuse me, Jim.
Throgmorton/ So ... so that ... that could well involve, Matt, a ... a situation where a developer has
a legal right to develop within the confines of the zone and the zoning code for that
particular zone, but it's right at the edge and would have spillover effects on the adjacent
zone that could be, uh, really upsetting to the people who live in the adjacent zone. So...
I think we need to figure out a better way of dealing with those kinds of transitional
situations.
Champion/ Well I agree with you somewhat. I think it was ... it'd be more important if the
zoning's going to be changed, but once the zoning's in place it doesn't seem that
important to me. (both talking)
Davidson/ Yeah, and remember there would not likely be any neighborhood meeting unless it
was done electively by a developer, if there's not a rezoning change proposed. Um,
once ... once a developer has the right to develop within a zone...
Champion/ Right.
Davidson/ ...they basically don't even deal with the Planning Department. They deal with the
Housing Department to come in and get a, uh, building permit or a demo permit or
whatever, and that is a very cookbook, cut -and -dry kind of, uh, analysis, not with the
discretion of a rezoning action.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 19
Throgmorton/ But ... but they still could be required, I think, couldn't it, tell me if I'm wrong.
Could be required to hold the Good Neighbor meetings, and then if they want to, they
could build to the maximum extent authorized by the code, or if they wanted to, they
could adjust their development proposal to take into account what neighbors have to say.
Davidson/ I ... I guess what it sounds like, and I'm going to throw this to Eleanor is that if you
were to make a neighborhood meeting a contingency of a building permit.
Dilkes/ (mumbled) think there's possibilities there. I'd have to take a look at it. I mean I think
...obviously you'd ... you'd have to condition the ... the vested, you'd have to define what
the vested rights were with respect to that piece of property. And, um ... so ... but I
mean ... it's certainly more problematic than it is (several talking)
Hayek/ ...think it gets to ... to ... to what rights the owner of that property already has by virtue...
Dilkes/ Well that's what I mean. I mean, if they don't... if... if they don't have the right until
there's a neighborhood meeting, you'd have to, I mean, you'd have to write that into the
code.
Champion/ Well I ... I...
Davidson/ What Marcia and I have been talking to you about would apply to legislative actions,
which are annexations, Comprehensive Plan amendments, and rezonings.
Champion/ Right. (several talking) No, I'm not for making those all mandatory.
Davidson/ (mumbled) right. (mumbled) Also Board of Adjustment actions. I should have cau
...clarified that. (several talking)
Mims/ No, I'm comfortable with the recommendations that have been made here. I think it's a
good improvement, and I think we, you know, go through that for a couple years and see
if we need any additional modifications.
Davidson/ We did, uh, review this as well with the City Manager's developers' round table and
got, how would you characterize it?
Markus/ I think they were supportive. One indicated that, uh, he'd like it to be mandatory, but I
think that was in part because I think he kind of saw that moving the responsibility to the
City staff away from the developer.
Champion/ (several responding) Ah ha! Right!
Hayek/ Okay.
Davidson/ Okay, we'll proceed then?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 20
Hayek/ Thank you, yeah!
Davidson/ Thank you.
Hayek/ Para - transit SEATS. Round 57! Chris! (laughs)
Para - Transit /SEATS:
O'Brien/ Okay, good evening. After months of negotiations (clears throat) uh, we're to the point
where we have met with staffs from Coralville and the County to, uh, begin drafting a
28E agreement for para - transit services for the City of Iowa City, as well as, uh,
Coralville, who also contracts with North Liberty, uh, to be provided by Johnson County
SEATS. Um, we're actually to the point now where we need to have discussions about
some details that, uh, are policy decisions and want to go through those with you tonight.
Um, so there'll be a couple update items, a couple recaps, and then we'll get into actually
the decision - making portion, uh, of this. Um, so where are we now? Um, there've been
multiple meetings, uh, among staffs from Coralville, North Liberty, uh, Johnson County,
and Iowa City to discuss, uh, the 28E agreements, and potential I should say 28E
agreements, uh, as well as an exchange of letters outlining what I think everybody
interpreted were the, um, the outcomes of those discussions and ... and this is just a
summary of bullet points, um, and Matt, jump in if there's anything you want me to add
from, uh, the discussions and the meetings we've had, but these are kind of the main
bullet points that were touched on, um, by all the entities in the letters, and that's that, uh,
Johnson County's to provide $200,000 for mandated para- transit services. This should be
split between Iowa City and Coralville. Coralville will then decide (mumbled) split is
with North Liberty, that's a part of their contract, um, and not ours. Um, and this is down
from $461,000 in FY12 and an estimated $463,000 in FY13. Uh, the agreement would
be for five years with an annual and maximum increase not to exceed 3% for Johnson
County each of those years. Uh, and either entity can opt out with 12 months, and that's
something we currently have in all of our contracts, and... and have always had with
them, um, regarding those 28E agreements. Uh, one of the other changes Iowa City will
be responsible for maintenance of Iowa City owned vehicles. Uh, all maintenance used
to be done out at, uh, SEATS handled all the maintenance before for Iowa City,
Coralville, and County, uh, vehicles. Urn ... that can be absorbed with the current labor
that we have, so we brought that in -house as a .... as a savings mechanism. Um, we'll
have an added expense then in our budget, which would be for parts. That's something
that we don't normally, uh, we didn't budget for before. So it's, uh, there are some
savings with ... about $52,000 I think as a savings in labor estimated with another 56 that
goes for parts, so ... um, Iowa City's to be responsible for all matching funds for vehicles
that Iowa City's responsible to purchase. So if we're replacing a vehicle, or we're adding
to our fleet. Uh, before the County was responsible for that local match. Uh, Iowa City,
because they're Iowa City vehicles, uh, we'll take that, and vehicles may still be used
across jurisdictional lines because we want to maintain the efficiencies of having that
system cover, uh, cover the area. So the Coralville, all of us have agreed upon that.
Those are really the main bullet points as far as what we agreed upon in general, uh, over
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 21
the last ... uh, several months. So the `what's next,' and this is where we kind of get into
the details for, where we have to break off from Coralville. They'll have their input,
we'll have ours, and we'll have separate contracts, and the things we need to iron out are
the hours of operation, uh, meaning days of week, hours ... hours of which; uh, fixed route
fare structure, because that equates directly to the para- transit fare structure and I'll ... I'll
touch on that. You can only charge two times what your fixed route rate is for para-
transit rides. And then the type of service — door -to -door, curb -to -curb — those are the
things that we ... we have to have discussions on. Questions about any of that before we
get into the recap? (clears throat) So, this is just a reminder. I had on my ... the
presentation we had last time. Uh, as a recipient of federal operating assistance from the
Federal Transit Administration, we're mandated to provide comple ... complementary
para- transit service. It must provide mirror service ... or must be provide service that
mirrors the hours of operation of the fixed route. You must provide curb -to -curb, and
you must charge a fare that no more than doubles the fixed route. Um, this is once again
the summary. We had this in a ... in a presentation before of what's required, and what we
provide, uh, those items in red are those that are above and beyond the ... the mandated
services, which are Sundays from 8:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M., uh, door -to -door service, and
uh, the half fare, which is a ... will be a dollar, um, as of right now because our fixed route
fare, uh, is a dollar. Two times for the para- transit fare would be $2, um, and that ... 90%
of our rides are the half fare. Um, and that's something that we've discussed throughout
this as well. Um, and these are, once again, we ... we provided this before, but it's just a
summary of the costs, um, and ... and what led to some of the increases. Uh, we did not
increase our fixed route fares from 97 to 2012. Um ... fixed route fare's currently a dollar,
which means the SEATS fare is $2. The average cost per ride for a para- transit is $16.
The average cost per ride on Sunday is roughly about $37. Uh, Iowa City offers the half -
fare, and once again 90% of those trips, uh, receive the $16 ride for a dollar. Uh, there've
been increased fuel costs, 45% over the last three years, uh, as well as increased
maintenance and higher than expected growth is what led to some of the ... the big
increases we saw. Uh, the Transit budget, the adopted FY14 budget — we wanted to
make sure we pointed this out, um, we put in a $1.2 million placeholder, and that was...
well, back in September, back in that timeframe, when we were still early in negotiations.
There was ... we hadn't really had much discussion, um, related to what the final cost was
going to be. We were more just exchanging, you know, emails and had no idea where the
final number was going to be. So we put a $1.2 million placeholder, uh, which was an
increase of 22 ... just over 22.5 %, uh, over our FY13 amount, and that ... that put us at a
net zero budget. Um... so .... I think it was like $24,000 surplus is where we were at, uh,
for a $6.5 million budget for FY14. (clears throat) Um, a break -even budget for FY14
we feel is unsustainable for future years. Uh, revenue and expense trends are going...
going up. There's some uncertainty as to ongoing federal and state support, um, and as
an enterprise fund, uh, when you're running that lean, there's uh, for example, uh, fuel
costs go up 10- cents. Excuse me (clears throat) that's a $19,000 budget hit, for the year.
For ... if it just goes up 10 -cents for ... for diesel costs. So, it has quite an impact, um, as
well as on- going, um, benefits, uh, cost of living increases and such. So I prepared, uh, a
budget outlining FY 12 and FY 13, and then there's four different scenarios for FY14.
Each of which shows a... shows an incremental change if you do this, this is what the
impact will be. And the things I want to highlight are the ... the green highlighted area,
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 22
which was the difference from FYI 3, so you can see we ... the City had paid 941 in FYI 2,
uh, almost 979 ... 979,000 in FY13. So the green line is the difference. The line just
below that, which is sort of a purplish color, um, didn't show ... well, I guess it shows
better up there than on my screen ... is the percent increase from ... from FYI 3, uh, the line
after that is just the flat rate. That's what it costs to provide the fixed route services
without taking into account para- transit. Um, the blue line then is the estimated total
cost, assuming the, some of the items up above. Um, and the red one is what the net
impact to our operations are. Meaning our ... um, our fund balance. Currently we have
just a $3 million fund balance for Transit. Um, so that red indicates what the impact
would be of... of those changes that we make as we go through. So, in column A, what
that shows, um ... are the basic operations less the fares because the County, the fares go
to the County and that ... that then is taken off what our operating costs are. And then that
$154,000 number is Iowa City's portion of the $200,000 that the County is ... is using as
their contribution to the services for Iowa City and Coralville. So Coralville would get
that remaining $46,000. So you take that 154 out, that would lead to a total cost of one
point... just over $1.3 million. Uh, and the end result would be, uh, $100... basically a
$140,000, uh, in the red, um, for Transit operations for that year. Um ... column B is what
we've agreed to, which is ... is to add maintenance to that and bring maintenance in-
house. So that's an additional $108,000 off, um ... off of the para - transit budget, but
another $56,000 would have gone into the Transit budget because of the parts, uh,
portion. So that would lead to a $81,000 deficit, uh, if that's all we did. So if we made
no other changes. Half fare is something that we talked about. Um, the estimated
savings for eliminating the half fare is a $120,000. So by implementing that portion of it,
uh, it brings the overall budget to, um, back into the black of $38,500, and these are
estimates of course, because... throughout the year. Um, and then for Sunday service, the
estimate was a savings of $68,000 if we eliminated Sunday service... which only brings
us to a net impact of $106,000 on ... on the Transit budget, and as you can see for a $6.5
million operating budget, that's only 1.6% of our operating costs. Uh, we have to pay for
each bus is about $400,000, um, so we have to pay the local match on that, which is about
20 ... between 17 and 20 %. Uh, potential facility, uh, well, relocation from its current site
to an additional site, um, 20% of that. We're talking $4 or $5 million for the facility
removal, just our portion, uh, of a $20 million project, so ... that's what we would be using
those ... those funds for in the, uh, in our reserve account. Questions on ... I know that's a
lot of numbers to throw at you. Are there any questions on (several talking) the red is ... is
kind of the key. The red and then the percent increases or the difference, however ... if
you like hard numbers or you like percent increases, whichever's easier for you to follow.
Dickens/ Rent is something new too that they've added.
O'Brien / They've called it out, you know, I was ... well I think too before we were negotiating
from a ... this is what we want the City to pay. I think this contract's kind of flipped.
What we're saying is this is what we would like the County to part ... participate with, and
then we just pay whatever the operating costs are going forward. So it's kind of a ... a
flipped contract as to how we've done it in the past.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 23
Dobyns/ So column C maintains door -to- door... service?
O'Brien / Correct.
Dobyns/ And a half fare is ... $2, I'm sorry (both talking)
O'Brien / One dollar.
Dobyns/ ... one dollar, one way.
O'Brien / Correct. The half, the regular fare would be $2 for one -way.
Dobyns/ And I suspect most users buy a roundtrip ticket ... on any given day? So it's a...
O'Brien / Yeah, normally...it...it depends, but yes, the majority would have ... or multiple trips.
Um, one thing, you know, if you're crossing jurisdictional lines though, that's point of
origin is ... is how the ride's charged. So if somebody is riding from Iowa City to
Coralville, and then Coralville back, that second ride would be a Coralville trip. At that
point. So...
Dobyns/ Was consideration given to on C, on splitting the difference and just making it ... I'm not
sure what `budget neutral' means but making so the net impact on Transit fund balance at
the red line is essentially zero, uh, by making it a $1.50?
O'Brien / Yeah, I ... I think once again, I think the point that ... the point I was ... I was going for
was that by operating at a net zero when you're an enterprise fund, meaning we're self -
supporting. We don't take any...
Dobyns/ Yeah, I know it's not (mumbled) (both talking)
O'Brien / ...to operate at that level would ... would be not sustainable (clears throat) for the future
years, cause just a slight increase you ... you lose an engine, um, you have a bus that has
some maintenance that needs to be done that's beyond the normal scope of what you
expect in a year. Fuel costs go up substantially. Then you're operating in the red pretty
quickly. And ... and that's something we're trying to afford, as well as trying to have
money to replace the fleet and (both talking)
Dobyns/ Ah, so that's why (both talking) in the black is for future (both talking)
O'Brien / Same as we operate parking, is how we're operating transit, which is, uh, it's a
business enterprise fund. Uh, funds used from transit are going to transit, and that's both
for on- going, or current on -going future operations.
Dobyns/ Okay.
Champion/ Chris (both talking)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 24
Markus/ Compare us to other para - transit systems that you're aware of across the state, does
anybody else do a half fare and (both talking)
O'Brien/ Nope, and that was something we were going to talk about when we got to the next
slide. I was unable to find anyone across the state, and even ... I was having trouble
nation -wide finding ... and I looked at Madison, Des Moines, Sioux City, obviously
Coralville, Cambus, uh, Cambus obviously has the zero dollar fare for the University.
Um... since they don't charge on their fixed route. Um, but I could not find ... half fares.
I was looking. I mean, when you look at the (both talking)
Hayek/ Let me...
O'Brien / ...when you look at the cost per ride, I mean, I ... I think that's the difference. A fixed
route ride averages just over $3 ... to provide it. Um, and then you're getting just over...
roughly under a third, uh, in the fare. Now you're looking at a $16 ride, sometimes more,
um, and you're getting a dollar for that. It's... $6.25.
Hayek/ I just want to clarify this cause I think it's a very important point. Is what you're saying
that ... as far as your research has shown, Iowa City is the only provider of para - transit in
Iowa that allows ... that provides for a half fare?
O'Brien / It's the only one I've been able to find.
Champion/ Does Coralville have a half, uh...
O'Brien / No.
Champion/ ...no. And what criteria is used for the half fare?
O'Brien / It's based off income levels, similar to what we use for our fixed route.
Champion/ Okay.
Payne/ So all of those ... A, B, C and D they still do door -to -door service?
O'Brien / Correct!
Payne/ So the ... the idea is we would still keep door -to -door service...
O'Brien / Yeah (both talking) and the next slide is what I would throw out as a recommendation,
and my recommendation would be to maintain door -to -door service.
Payne/ Yeah.
O'Brien / As we currently do.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 25
Mims/ Well certainly sounded like there were some disagreement with people whether that
would even save money, because people are going to sit there and wait for somebody to
get back into the house, just from a safety stand (both talking)
O'Brien / Right, there's that and then, you know, the FTA guidelines on door -to -door versus
curb -to -curb, they make curb -to -curb the... requirement... but it's curb -to -curb assuming
that no one requests additional services. You're not able to turn ... turn down services
requested. So ... um, it's just easier to across the board, to do a door -to -door program.
Mims/ Make sure they're safe!
O'Brien / Correct! Winter, slopes...
Mims/ Yeah.
O'Brien / ...curbs.
Dobyns/ Curb -to -curb for this population may be the minimum law of the land, but it's sort of
absurd. (several responding) ... for this population.
Mims/ ...would agree.
O'Brien / Now before when we were discussing, or we were more laying out options — here's all
of the options that you have and...
Mims/ Yeah.
Dobyns/ Chris, one slide, or two slides back, when it's $200,000 from the County...
O'Brien / Yes!
Dobyns/ ...when does that end? How many years does that go?
O'Brien/ We signed a ... this is a five -year agreement.
Dobyns/ Five years, okay! All right.
O'Brien/ Assuming that nobody opts out.
Dobyns/ (both talking) ...numbers are ... the 3% is static.
O'Brien/ Right, so next year would be $200,000 plus potentially another 3 %.
Dobyns/ Got it.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 26
O'Brien/ So if...keep in mind though if our operating costs go up 6 % ... we can still only cap it at
3, so once again another reason to ... to make sure you have some ... some flexibility in
your budget.
Throgmorton/ But it's really quite a significant shift from what we were seeing before in terms of
what ... what the County was... expecting and asking for, right?
O'Brien/ Well and absolutely, and ... and especially considering, I mean, the initial proposal was
for a zero after three years. That ... that would have been, had a substantial impact.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I ... I'd like to say that I'm reminded, uh, sitting here at the ... at this angle
looking up there, I'm reminded of Senator Sam Irvin back in the Watergate hearings
when he used to say, you know, I'm just a poor ole' country lawyer, and then things like
that. But ... because, partly because of the angle, this is a blur to me. I mean, I'm just
hearing a whole bunch of numbers and finding it hard to read, finding it hard to try to
read and then listen to you at the same time, and make sense out of. So, uh ... I ... I'd
prefer that ... we could see this stuff ahead of time instead of...looking at it all at once and
being presented, you know, with... data, expecting us, I think, to make some kind of
consensus decision about it.
Dobyns/ Well in fairness is that Terry and I are on the para- transit committee, along with Matt.
We ... we, the three of us have looked at this quite a bit. Those ... this hasn't been non-
vetted by at least members of the (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...that's good, that's reassuring, but (both talking)
Dobyns/ ...we have taken...
Throgmorton/ ...individual Council Member's point of view, at least mine...
Dobyns/ Sure!
Throgmorton/ ...it's not vetted. (laughs) I mean I haven't, you know, I haven't been able to
process it.
Dobyns/ What I would recommend is that Chris go forward and finish the presentation and then
Matt, Terry, and I can sort of speak (both talking)
O'Brien/ Ultimately we would have to come back to you with an approval of a ... 28E agreement,
preferably early June, um ... that would then take effect July 1, um, our contract expires
on ... on June 30th.
Throgmorton/ Uh huh.
O'Brien/ So we would be coming back to you again, um ... at that point. So ... as far as the next
slide ... it's what our recommendation would be based off the infor ... the numbers that I
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 27
provided. That we eliminate the half fare, uh, 90% of our trips qualify for half fare, as
I've stated. Um, unable to find other entities that offer this benefit. Um, I'm not saying
there aren't any out there. I just was unable to find them. Um, and then an estimated
$120,000 budget impact for FY14, um ... that $1 fare only covers 6.25% of the actual cost
of that trip, uh, for a $16 ride. Um ... the elimination of Sunday service. Once again, it's
not a mandated service. Um, the estimated cost is nearly $37 per ride, uh, and that would
be an estimated $68,000 budget impact. Um, I would obviously recommend we maintain
door -to -door service, urn ... as far as the Sunday service, you know, I can't confirm where
Coralville's going to go. My ... I have a pretty strong indication that that's the way
they're leaning and that's part of the discussion they're going to have, but I can't ... I can't
obviously commit to that, but that's the discussion ... a discussion point they'll be having,
and that we evaluate fixed route fares, uh, for FY15 and those years beyond to set up
a ... a plan of how we ... how we implement a fare structure, um, on those years going
forward, whether we... every couple of years have a... a fixed route fare increase to keep
up with some of the cost increases we see ... moving forward, because once again we've
gone 15 years without an increase and so we're ... we're still playing catch -up.
Mims/ Chris, we probably addressed this in one of our previous meetings, but on that Sunday
service that the ... the cost per ride, is that because we're typically paying overtime for the
drivers that we're seeing that significant difference between $16 and $37?
O'Brien/ No, it's ... it's, you're not spreading it out as much over a system that has a lot of rides.
So you have fewer rides and you still have your infrastructure in place. So...
Mims/ Okay.
O'Brien/ Um, you have the same infrastructure being dispatched, somebody... maintenance,
those things that ... hit heavy on a Sunday, that if you're spreading it out when Coralville,
County, everybody has service going in, you have 20 buses out rather than six.
Mims/ Okay.
O'Brien/ You're able to spread that out over so that cost per ride, plus it's ... um, you're doing a
lot more group rides during the week. Uh, you may stop at a group home and pick up
four, uh, individuals that are going to a location, where as now maybe one or two is...
there's... there's a lot of things that factor into that cost per ride.
Mims/ Do we have any idea on the Sunday service what percentage of those rides are for
religious services?
O'Brien/ No, we don't track ... we don't track people's individual needs (both talking)
Mims/ That's what I figured but I just was kind of curious if we had any idea of what percentage
of those rides were...
O'Brien/ We don't.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 28
Mims/ ...kind of tied to activities that only occurred on that day.
O'Brien/ Understood, and I would ... I would venture to guess that there's some employment
there, some church service...
Mims/ Uh huh.
O'Brien/ ...uh, there's some grocery trips, but I couldn't ... I couldn't speculate as to what that
percentage is.
Mims/ Okay.
O'Brien/ And I don't... honestly that's a question that's been asked of Tom Brays, and same
thing, they do not.
Mims/ Yeah. No, I... (both talking) that's what I figured.
O'Brien/ ...track that data.
Mims/ ...that's what I figured.
Throgmorton/ Chris, would it make a difference, uh, in terms of the sustainability, financial
sustainability of the system if some of these things were phased in over time? Like to
pick up on Rick's suggestion, or question, about fares, uh, whether ... um, there could be
an increase next year, an increase the following year, an increase the following year,
instead of a big shift in one year that would last for all five years?
O'Brien/ (mumbled) Once again, for that five years I'm not saying that there probably won't
need to be increases anyway ... just in order to maintain ... um, our overall budget from a
fixed route standpoint that would impact that, and I ... I understand your, um, that question
and ... and why you could do a phased approach and while, um, you know, when you're...
you're looking at operating in the red for ... for multiple years to get to that point. Um...
without any additional outside influences, um ... I'm not sure that would be something
that ... that I would consider sustainable either. Um, I think one thing we have discussed
is phasing it in later, meaning do we ... do we wait til September or ... to allow people... I
mean, we're already to June. By the time we would implement a contract to allow people
to get their, um ... habits changed if they need to or to ... to adjust to any changes we might
make to ... to not implement it July 1, when there's changes, but to have a ... maybe a
phased approach, that way moving in, um ... but we have not done any analysis on a ... a
$1.50, as Rick pointed out, or ... we have not done that. We've ... we've looked at the, um,
even like I said in making every one of these changes ft ill throttle, we're still
operating in a very narrow margin, uh, for a very large budget. I mean, once again, six
and a half.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 29
Hayek/ Well, I can't speak, uh, for Rick and Terry who have done a lot on this issue but I think
we should follow the staff recommendation on this. Um, staff has been working for...
more than half a year on this issue, and we ... communicated early on that the funding cuts
from the County would force us to look at, uh, ways to, uh, streamline our budget. Um,
these were precisely the, um, areas identified for potential cuts. So none of this is new
information, urn ... and ... you know, and I ... I don't think we have a choice. Quite frankly!
Um, this cuts it pretty close to begin with, um, if you're trying to maintain a sufficiently
healthy fund balance to anticipate the emergencies, or the heavy -duty capital expenses
that will, uh, no doubt come up and ... and that you've talked about before, Chris. Um,
you know, whether we..you know, what we do with our fixed route system going forward
is a big question mark, and I think all you're saying is that we should look at it.
O'Brien/ Yeah, I think that's ... and that'll, I think, as we talk about the Diversity Committee too,
that'll be some... there'll be some points of discussion that I think we need to have about
the overall Transit system anyway, about how we operate and about, um, the philosophy
that we use as far as how we operate Transit, uh, that we'll have at those times.
Hayek/ I mean, I think we've ... as a city, we have been very clear from ... from a ... from the
earliest, uh, stage that this would likely be, um, the route we're ... we're forced to take,
given the new budget reality on ... on this system. Um, so those are my thoughts.
Payne/ Well this isn't an obviously something easy and whimsical, I mean, it's a very hard
decision but ... you know, I mean, we can't operate in the red. A business cannot operate
in the red. I mean, you just can't ... cannot do it! So they have to make the tough
decision.
Dickens/ The only changes that really can happen would be at the County level, and that would
have to be a change in leadership and a change in attitude there, and we can't control that
at this time. But ... that's the only ... because that was where it all started was ... we're all
County citizens and we don't have a whole lot of choice in this but...
Champion/ The ... I ... I totally support the recommendations. I do have ... a problem with ... with
the half fare. Not that I think we can go to that. But I do think there are people out there
who really can't afford the $2, and maybe that's something we could look at that Aid to
Agency money for. Next year, I mean, there are people who really cannot afford the $2.
Hayek/ Potentially, yeah. And I think it's important to note, and this is the blue row up there,
that even with these cuts we're still increasing our contribution by what, 9 %?
O'Brien/ Correct.
Hayek/ Over the prior year?
O'Brien/ That's correct.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 30
Hayek/ And... and... and those increases I assume will continue, uh... (several talking) number. I
mean (both talking)
O'Brien/ Right, it'll be something in that...
Hayek/ Yeah, we're still pouring more money into this.
O'Brien/ Correct.
Champion/ Right! But $4 to get some place and come back can be a real burden for some
people. And I don't know how you draw the line, but I...it...it is a concern of mine.
Cause people using transit (both talking) are the least likely to be able to go (both talking)
O'Brien/ This wasn't something we came to easily, and as you can tell, those types of cuts were
the very last thing that we ... we looked at in order to try to get to that point.
Champion/ Well you can't have 90% of people on half fares!
Hayek/ I think it's smart to keep the ... the door -to -door.
O'Brien/ Agree!
Hayek/ It ... it's a community value that ... that was clearly articulated.
O'Brien/ Yep. Through that... throughout the whole process that was feedback that we got.
Dobyns/ Well I'm supportive of this too. At some of these meetings I wasn't sure I was
(mumbled) so many of my patients were in the audience telling me (laughter) um,
but... so I (both talking)
Champion/ Well they're not your patients any longer probably! (laughter)
Dobyns/ Yeah! I work with this constituency. I help `em into these, uh ... uh, vehicles and I
agree with the, you know, the ... uh, recommendations in column C because this fleet
needs to be maintained. They're very creaky. I also know how creaky the population is,
as well, and um, I've talked with them. I'm not certain from a sensitivity analysis how
much the elimination of the half fare is ... would really affect utilization, um, and I think
it's worth watching. Um, the rates over the next year and see how things go. So I
support all the recommendations.
Champion/ Yeah, I do too!
Mims/ I guess I would say a couple of things. Um, I'll support it. I'm not comfortable with it at
all. Um ... but if we're going to run it as an enterprise fund, then we need to run it in the
black. Having said that, you know, I ... I'm really concerned about, um, if we've got 90%
of the people that qualify for half fares, like you're saying, Connie, we've got people out
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 31
there for whom this is a real, real financial challenge, and ... I think we need to ... in going
forward look at some of our other funding mechanisms to potentially do some
backfilling. I mean, if we believe in taking care of our most vulnerable citizens, then I
think these are some of our most vulnerable, and I think we need to ... that needs to be
reflected in our priorities in terms of budgeting other, uh, other areas where we have
flexibility. Um...
Dobyns/ When would these go into effect, Chris? If we passed it.
Markus/ September 1 St
O'Brien/ September 1St is what we would recommend.
Dobyns/ September 0. So then four months we would, if we saw a significant drop in
utilization rate and there was staff concern that it was because it was a price sensitive,
um, you know use, what sort of things ... are there things that we could do?
O'Brien/ Contract is up for negotiation, I mean, we ... it's opened up basically every year, if...if
that's something someone's interested in, and one of...if you were to look at rates, that
doesn't impact the service provided by the County. That would be a ... that's a City
decision of how it goes into that contract. Um ... you know, really what they're looking at
is the ... kind of those five bullet... six bullet points we talked about at the beginning.
These are decisions where we can tell them we expect you to operate from this time to
this time, and that you charge this rate. Um, like I said, annually that's something that
can be rediscussed.
Throgmorton/ Susan, I agree with the points that you just made.
Markus/ Chris, you know, we had this conversation about the 90% and one of the questions that
was raised was how is it that 90% of the people can be put in that eligibility category.
What is the category you're using, and ... and if you were to look at any population, uh,
across the state, um, that uses this service, uh, for para- transit, what's the criteria that
would result in such a high proportion of persons. Is ... is age part of the criteria that's
causing... what... what is it?
O'Brien/ No, it's ... it's the same criteria, and we run these ... this information through, uh,
Johnson County, the Social Services, to find out if they qualify for, uh, food stamps,
Title ... uh, I'm trying to remember off the top of my head what it is, but there's three
different categories that they can qualify for, um, and that's what they use for our fixed
route too, to qualify for where they get the free or reduced rides for off -peak usage as
well. Um, and if...if you look at, you know, you're talking about elderly and the disabled
community, um ... those are...
Mims/ Could be low income populations.
O'Brien/ What's that?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 32
Mims/ I mean you're talking low income populations.
O'Brien/ Correct! And-and like I said, for our off -peak fixed route services, are qualifying for
that ... that program as well. Um...
Markus/ So is the presumption that if...if you were to look across the state, the ... the same
percentages would apply with that criteria?
O'Brien/ I would assume that you would (both talking)
Markus/ Not unique?
O'Brien/ I ... I think Johnson County has a ... they provide a lot of services. So I think you have a
lot of people that want to come to Johnson County, to Iowa City, because of the housing,
because of the hospital, because... there's a lot of reasons to come here for, if you have
...if you're elderly, disabled, to utilize the services that Johnson County provides. So I...
I think that is a portion of it, which you see in the spikes that we're starting to see, uh, in
the ridership in the County. So I think that's a portion of it, as well.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I ... I think as a moral value that's reflective of our community and the
people who live here that we should at least explore the possibility of backfilling this
pretty small amount of money, uh, in various ways. I don't know what those ways would
be. I don't know if we'd really want to do it, but I think we should explore it.
Mims/ ... explore it. I would agree.
Hayek/ Okay. Got your direction, Chris?
O'Brien/ Sounds like proceed is what I'm getting?
Hayek/ Then you come back to us with a...
O'Brien/ Yep, we uh, we'll add this in, take it to legal counsels, of...of all parties, and come
back with an actual proposed document, uh, in June.
Champion/ Chris, can you just refresh my memory because I couldn't read your thing either.
O'Brien/ Sure!
Champion/ Um ... by going, by getting rid of the half price, how much money did that bring in in
a year's time?
O'Brien/ $120,000.
Champion/ $120,000.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 33
O'Brien/ Which led to a $38,000 ... that brought us into the black from the red.
Hayek/ Okay! Thank you.
Champion/ Thank you.
Mims/ Thanks, Chris!
Throgmorton/ Thanks, Chris.
Hayek/ Next item is the initiative petition process. Um, turn it over to you at this point, Eleanor.
Initiative Petition Process:
Dilkes/ Sure. Okay, the purpose, as you can tell from the ... the memos I've given you now, the
purpose, um, of this discussion is to see how Coun ... Council wants to proceed in reaction
to what has been certified as a sufficient petition, i.e., having the correct number of...of
signatures. Just very basically, the, urn ... and ... and I'm going to set the initiative
referendum issue aside for a minute because I don't ... I think ... I think we can accomplish
what we need to do without getting into that discussion again. Um, but so basically the
three options are, one, adopt what's presented. Number two, adopt something similar in
substance to what's presented, or number three, uh, put it on the ballot for the vot ... voters
to decide. Those are the ... those are the basic options. Urn ... the petition addresses three
types of technology. One is the automatic traffic enforcement, uh, the red -light
enforcement that Council enacted, um... some time ago. Number two, the um, automatic
license plate readers and number three, drones or unmanned aerial vehicles I think they're
referred to. So when staff looks at this ... number one, we're not using the automatic
traffic enforcement, even though you've done the enabling legislation to authorize it, um,
there's been a lot of political wrangling with that, um, in Des Moines. Um, it's currently
tied up in regulations that the DOT is supposed to be issuing. Um ... we don't know when
that will hap ... when that will come out. Urn ... and so ... currently we're not using `em.
Um, secondly is the automatic, um ... license plate readers. And you can see from the
memo from the ACLU in response to my initiat ... initial memo. They had two, in
addition to the referendum initiative issue, and I'm going to set that aside for now. They
had two comments with respect to that. Number one, uh, that ... let me back up for a
minute. The use of these devices in the proposed ordinance is prohibited with the
exception, um, essentially of, um, the enforcement of a qualified traffic violation, uh, by a
"peace officer at the scene." Um... so the first issue raised by the ACLU is whether, um,
a peace officer includes a parking enforcement attendant, and I gave you my analysis of
that in the memo. I actually feel pretty confident about that analysis, not only from the
perspective of the statutory construction, but also from the perspective of what the intent
of the petition is. There's nothing in the petis ... petition to suggest for example that, um,
there is any particular concern about a parking enforcement attendant as opposed to a
sworn police officer issuing the in- person ticket. In fact, um ... if the concern is with
qualification to issue that ticket and having the judgment necessary to issue that ticket,
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 34
it's probably the parking enforcement attendant that has that judgment and not the sworn
police officer. Um ... so that's the first issue. The second issue is, um ... that as the ACLU
understands this, the uh, automatic, uh, license plate reader technology, um, their
concern, and ... and I've looked at their web site and I've talked to them about this, is that
with that type of technology you can gather a lot of data that is not, and store that data,
even though it may not be ... related to the actual violation for which there is an exception
in the ordinance. Um ... and they have worked with, um, I believe Sioux City and Des
Moines. Chris is here and ... and he's made those, or tried to make those initial contacts.
I don't know if he's been able to do that. Um, for ... uh ... for crafting a system that, uh,
gets the information for purposes of issuing the violation and then gets rid of it. Um, so
at least, um, our initial read is ... is that is something that we could craft. And so where
that leaves us is, um ... either by adoption of the ordinance as it's written, and frankly the
more I look at it, I think that's a possibility, or two, um, with some minor clarifications
that I think would be, um ... uh, similar in substance, um ... there ... there's really... there's
no impact on City operations. So ... so what staff would propose is that we come back to
you at the next, um, Council meeting with the proposed ordinance.
Mims/ Sounds fine to me.
Throgmorton/ Me too.
Payne/ Me too.
Champion/ Me too.
Hayek/ Yep.
Payne/ You seven? (laughter)
Dobyns/ Sure! (several talking)
Hayek/ I mean, the reality is even if we move forward with, um ... the ATE technology that we
have enabled, um ... referendum or not, the State is, uh, looking at it and, um, at some
point will tell the cities what they can do, and ... and uh...it...it renders, uh, our
proceeding with something like that of...of dubious value because we'd run into that. So
I'm ... I'm supportive of staff's recommendation and I...
Throgmorton/ Eleanor, in your memo you did say that should the Council want to do it two years
from now, it could revisit this and...
Dilkes/ Yes. I mean, I think that ... and that's crucial here is because we're only talking about
that two ... two year timeframe, and so when you look at the DOT proceedings and what
would have to happen in implantation, etc., I mean, you're almost out to that two years
anyway-
Hayek/ So you come back to us with a proposed ordinance?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 35
Dilkes/ Yep.
Information Packets:
Hayek/ Okay. Okay .... thank you! Okay, uh, Info Packet discussions. We have three Info
Packets, um ... April 25th is the first one.
Mims/ Not much there.
Hayek/ (mumbled) old city code, Marian. Do you want me to drop that off at the Library?
Karr/ We'll recycle it.
Hayek/ Um ... okay, nothing on the 251H May 2 nd? .
Mims/ Not from me.
Hayek/ Okay. Go ahead.
Mims/ I was just ... I was noticing the invitation for the reception for Fire Chief Andy Rocca and
it was a great reception!
Hayek/ Yeah, it was nice.
Payne/ Very nice!
Hayek/ Nice job, Tom, on that. May 9th?
Payne/ Are we going to talk about KXIC on this packet or is that some place else? Cause that's
(both talking)
Karr/ It's tonight sometime.
Payne/ Okay, cause that's in this packet. That's the only reason I was asking.
Dickens/ June 5tH
Payne/ No! I'm June 5th! (laughter)
Dickens/ June 19tH
Hayek/ Are we doing KXIC now? (several responding)
Payne/ Apparently! (several talking)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 36
Dobyns/ Are we going to discuss the (mumbled) the um ... the one we're pulling out of the
Consent Calendar, the resource officers in schools. Is that going to be discussed during
public? Or presented in any way?
Hayek/ Uh, let's take ... let's get KXIC done and then let's take that it ... item up.
Throgmorton/ Michelle, you going to pick up, uh, one or two of... for me?
Payne/ Um, what day can you do it?
Throgmorton/ The ... the question is what day can you do it. (laughter)
Payne/ I ... I can do June 5th. I think I can do June 121h also. Just a second.
Throgmorton/ (mumbled)
Mims/ I mean I can pick up one more in there too, if we need to.
Karr/ (several talking) Okay, so ... what are we trading so I...
Payne/ We're ... we already... we're not really trade ... you won't have to know a trade because we
already did the trade. (several talking) He already did mine. (several talking)
Karr/ Okay.
Payne/ Super secret!
Dickens/ So I've committed to the 19th
Payne / And I've committed to the 5th so far.
Hayek/ I think I can do May 29th
Karr/ Oh, okay. I'm sorry, the 5th is Payne? (several responding) Okay.
Champion/ I could do one of `em.
Karr/ And ... I'm sorry, Terry, what was yours?
Dickens/ 19th of June.
Karr/ Was Dickens. Okay, thank you.
Payne / And I'll do the 12th also. June 12th.
Karr/ 12th, thank you.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 37
Payne/ Until I call Jim the night before and say, `Oh, I'm going to be gone tomorrow!'
Karr/ So we have May 22nd and May 29th.
Champion/ I can do that!
Karr/ 22nd or 291h.
Champion/ Either one.
Mims/ Let her take the 22nd. I'll take the 29th
Karr/ Okay, got it. Okay, and I'll put a... I'll put it in a (several talking)
Mims/ Oh, Matt said he's got the 29th
Karr/ Okay. (laughter) So right now (several talking) so which one?
Mims/ She's got the 22nd.
Karr/ Yeah, so I've got Connie for the 22nd, Matt the 29th, Michelle the 51h and the 12th, and Terry
the 19th. And I'll put a memo in the packet.
Payne / Who's tomorrow?
Mims/ Me!
Payne/ Okay.
Champion/ Well I'm glad you're doing one! (laughter and several talking)
Hayek/ Okay! (several talking) Why don't we just finish the Info Packets and then if you want
to circle back to the SRO, um ... issue we ... we sure can.
Champion/ (mumbled) leave then.
Hayek/ So ... anything else on that May 91h?
Karr/ Um, there was ... IPT
Hayek/ Yep.
Karr/ Just to remind you, you want to do those evaluations prior to July 1. May looks to
be ... pretty full, given absences, and I didn't know if you wanted to do it on a separate
day ... rather than ... or ... or whether you wanted to start your work session... earlier in the
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 38
day and have... and have your... special formal with evaluations and a work session, and
then a formal.
Mims/ I'm flexible other than ... I have realized I will not be here for our meeting on June 18tH
I'll be out of town. I will miss that one.
Hayek/ What if we shot for sometime the second half of June?
Karr/ Okay.
Hayek/ That would be a stand -alone meeting?
Karr / And a stand -alone meeting.
Mims/ I probably won't be here. Those last two weeks of June, I'm out almost the whole thing.
(several talking)
Hayek/ All right well that ... then that's not going to work.
Karr / And ... that's fine, I mean, I can put it ... we can put it off ...I know that was just one thing
you wanted to do, prior to July 1. We can put it off into ... take a look at July schedule?
Mims/ I mean, I'm good the first half of June, it's just starting the 18th on I'm (both talking)
Hayek/ Should we do the first half of June or the first half of July? (laughter)
Dickens/ (mumbled)
Throgmorton/ I'm gone til July 6th for what it's worth.
Karr/ I know there's a number gone ... do you want me to provide some options? Why don't I
contact each of you...
Hayek/ Yeah!
Karr/ ...provide some options and we'll come back. How's that? (several responding)
(laughter)
Hayek/ All right, thanks, Marian! I think that's it for the, uh ... Info Packet for May 9th. Correct?
Champion/ Uh huh.
Hayek/ Okay. Um... okay. Rick, do you want to take up the school issue?
Agenda item (cont.):
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 39
ITEM 5d(7) 2014 COPS HIRING PROGRAM GRANT- IN SUPPORT OF STAFF
RECOMMENDATION TO APPLY FOR THE GRANT AND IF
SUCCESSFUL CREATE SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS (SRO's)
WITHIN BOTH HIGH SCHOOLS.
Dobyns/ Sure as far as discussion of the, uh, Sam?
Hayek/ I mean, I think we're going to hear from the community this evening.
Throgmorton/ I would think so.
Dobyns/ Yeah, I just wanted to know if Sam's going to have an opportunity at the public
(mumbled) You just want to chat about that a little bit, Sam, about the SROs?
Hargadine/ Sure, and good evening. (several responding) The reason I'm here is because of on-
going discussions we've had with the Iowa City School District administration. We've,
uh, talked ... we first probably felt one another out of probably about a year ago, and we
agreed to, uh, table that discussion until, and if, the federal government would open up
dollars to help pay for, uh, an SRO program. They've done this in ... in years past, and
given some of the national incidents that have occurred, uh, it was likely that they would
turn on those federal dollars again, and that has happened. The, um, the discussions with
Mr. Murley, um, have taken place. He is in favor of, um, proceeding with the grant
application, as are both of the high school principals. He would not proceed forward to
discuss this with his Board if he did not have both of those two principals, um, on board
as well. One of the, um ... I looked up the, um ... National Association of School Resource
Officers web page, and I just ... right off the top it says, "SRO programs across the nation
are founded as collaborative efforts by police agencies, law enforcement officers,
educators, students, parents, and communities. The goal of SRO programs is to provide
safe learning environments in our nation's schools; provide valuable resources to school
staff; foster a positive learning environment; foster a positive relationship with our
nation's youth; and develop strategies to resolve problems affecting our youth with a goal
of protecting every child so that they can reach their fullest potential." A couple of those
sentences might sound familiar, because you heard `em before, in a... in a recent report by
the Ad Hoc Diversity Committee as it pertains to recommendations for the Police
Department to get involved with positive relationship building. And that's ... the SRO
program is probably where I see us being able to do that, um, so much better, so much
more, uh, effective than any other program that we can come up with. You'll probably
hear a lot about statistics, about how, um (clears throat) there's no proof that SROs
reduce crime, that ... or they'll make your school safer. There's no proof that ... uh,
conversely to the other side, as well. What I would suggest though is ... if we are there,
and in fact it's ... it's highly likely that if there are guns in a school, and you've got an
SRO in a school (mumbled) probably going to increase our reports of...of guns in a
school because you've got an officer there that has now found `em. The option there is to
ignore that. We ... some of the, these ... these are from Iowa City statistics from 2012. We
had 92 total calls involving juveniles. 62% of those calls came from the schools. So we
are in the schools already. We're being called there to help them deal with a variety of
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 40
issues. They also hire us to attend all ... most of their sporting events, especially the high
school sporting events. So we're there, in uniform, armed already because it makes them
feel safer. We provide a presence there, um, during those athletic events and ... the
principals and the Superintendent want that same ... feeling or participation in their
schools during the day. That point I'll open it up for... questions.
Dobyns/ Are these, uh, resource officers, Chief, aren't necessarily walking around in their officer
blues and staring at faces, packing heat. I mean, they ... there's a difference. It's sort of
like our Downtown District officer. These people have a different intent. Um, is that...
that's sort of the sense I get.
Hargadine /Other than they'd be packing heat (laughter) Um, that's one of the things... almost
everything about this is negotiable, except that one. That ... that's one thing I probably
would not bend on. The reason we're putting them in ... the schools is potentially to, uh,
subvert a catastrophe and they need to be tooled, uh, they're trained to use those tools and
we need to keep them with that.
Dobyns/ But my sense, the presence of a firearm is very much organized around the contact,
that's why that officer is there, and so ... they're there for different reasons, different
interactions...
Hargadine/ Absolutely!
Dobyns/ ...and style.
Hargadine/ To collaborate with the school officials, and to get to know the students.
Hayek/ As ... as I understand it, they, I mean, they can be called away to other parts of town from
whatever school they're sitting in at any time, right? I mean, it's ... it's a ... it would be a
beat essentially, in addition to the ... to everything else the PD does.
Hargadine/ Well, it would but since the school ... we're asking that the School District fund the
match.
Hayek/ Yeah.
Hargadine/ And it's an expensive match. And so the expectation would be that they would be
assigned to those two ... they would have offices, um, with phones and computers, in ... in
each one of those schools. Now, if they ... let's say if they found out something, uh, there
was a disturbance about to break out at a junior high, then yes, they could go attend that.
So, um ... it depends on how much time they spend in those other schools, but their ... their
primary job is to be in those schools.
Hayek/ Okay.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 41
Hargadine/ Urn ... you ... you do have summer breaks, uh, one of the expectations would be, uh,
vacations. If you're going to build a house. Those all things happen to ... need to occur
during the summer break, just like ... just like teachers adjust their schedules, that would
be an expectation with the person selected this. And... and likely did with the Downtown,
um, beat officer, where we ... we had somebody from the District, uh, participate in the
interview for the selection process. I see that the affected, uh, principals being in on that
selection, as well.
Throgmorton/ Sam, what ... what are the goals of the program and how would we know if they're
being accomplished?
Hargadine/ The overall goal, like ... I think would be to provide a safer place, um ... less bullying,
uh, that's really probably something that's measured best by the, um, the staff and the
students that attend there now. And, one of the issues you hear frequently is the level of
bullying. We ... we may or may not ever have the catastrophe that makes the front pages
nationwide, but we do have a lot of other issues. And ... I think we, just like we ti ... track
statistics on juveniles extensively anyway, urn ... that is something that we could... we'd...
we would have to track that, uh, towards the end of the grant period to see if it's
something that either the District or the City wants to continue on with that program,
because urn ... when grant funds wear out then ... then, uh, there's the impact on the
budget, obviously, that occurs. Um ... as some of the studies that I've seen suggest, the...
cause some... some of the crime statistics may go up, because now you've got an officer,
uh, on site. Uh, if... if guys used to go out into the parking lot over the lunch hour and
smoke some dope, now you've got an officer close by that's... gonna run into that.
Where as now, uh, you may not. So, um...
Markus/ At this point what we're doing is applying... asking for authority to apply for the grant.
One of the things that the Chief and I had a discussion about and it goes directly to your
question, uh, Jim, is what are the goals and objectives of this program, and it seems to me
that what would be fair to the Council would be for, uh, the Police administration and the
School administration to sit down and to define what the goals and objectives are, and to
develop some performance measures for what we would expect this program to be. So
that if we were to receive an offer of a grant that we would have those in place as a part
of the grant agreement.
Throgmorton/ Yeah (mumbled) (several talking) Part of my concern, Tom, is that, uh, if we
authorize the application for the grant, and we get the grant, I think it's extremely
unlikely we would refuse the grant. So this is a crucial moment, seems to me, with
regard to this. The second thing is, I ... I'm concerned, and I think you alluded to this,
Sam, that having, um, an officer at City and an officer at West, basically full time, might
actually increase the criminalization of behavior in those schools. And I'm also
concerned that, um, we've had in this community in the past, before you arrived, uh,
considerable divisive debate over the possibility of introducing armed officers into our...
into City High. Uh, I can't remember exactly when this occurred. Connie, maybe you
remember.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 42
Champion/ Yeah, I remember, I was on the School Board at the time (both talking) and we ... we
voted it down. Um ... but I think times are different, and I'm surprised to hear that both
principals now are in favor of looking at this. So I'm certainly going to vote to enable
this grant to be applied for. I think the ultimate decision is going to be up to the School
Board. And so I'm going to allow them to make that decision. When it comes to them.
Mims/ From my perspective there's... there's a number of crucial issues with this, and I will
certainly support going ahead with the grant, and I would agree with you, Connie. I think
times are very different. Um ... to me some of the things that really come to the forefront,
and I hope, you know, as the ... with the City involvement and with the School District,
you know, if we were to get the grant, is that this really is an opportunity to do
community policing, that ... it is crucial, and you mentioned this, Chief, that the principals
be involved in those interviews, and selecting... officers who have the personality and the
temperament to work with young people, and ... um ... and use good judgment and I would
want to see, I think, as Jim has kind of referred to, some sort of metrics that, you know,
what are our goals with this program, and you know, what are we looking to get out of it.
You know, we've just had a referendum in the community that turned down the Justice
Center. Uh, there were a number of groups that kind of coalesced around... against that,
but one of the groups was looking at the disproportionate minority representation in our
justice system. Um, and so I think it is just ... I have here an article and it'll be in
Council's next packet. I ... sent it to Tom, uh, this past week. It's from the National
League of Cities, uh, and it is `city leadership to promote black male achievement,' and it
talks about the ... the dire situation that we are in in this country, and the complexity of the
problems from home life to economics to job opportunities to the justice system, etc.,
and ... and I hope that when we look at this as a Council we will then have some pretty
serious discussion about how we maybe can take a real leadership position, as Iowa City,
and really start to ... to look at this and try and address some things that maybe we can be
a real leader on this and have some impact, and so ... when I look at this, I see this as an
opportunity for us to take a leadership position, but that means we've got to get the right
people. We have to have the right expectations. It means, to me ... that maybe every time
they catch a kid smoking dope out in the lot they don't charge `em. Um, you know, it... it
becomes a judgment thing. It becomes a mentoring thing. It becomes ... how can we help
these young people regardless of ethnicity, but to engage them and make better decisions
and have role models so that we can hopefully keep more and more of them, um, out of
the justice cen ... system. You look at this documentation. It talks about particularly with
the black males, um, suspension and how that leads to them just dropping out of school.
Uh, the more you suspend `em, the more likely they are to fail, the more likely they are to
quit school, they can't get jobs, we've got `em in the justice system, we've got `em in
prison for the rest of their lives. So, I will support this. I ... I do think, like you said, Jim,
I think we may have a lot of very, uh, divided discussion in this community about it, but I
think this is an opportunity for us to take a real leadership position in trying to build some
ties between our police officers and the youth in this community that could really benefit
us long -term, but I think it's essential to get the right people, and we get the metrics that
we're going to use to see if it's successful in the long haul.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 43
Dobyns/ And as part of that leadership position, um, if we get data, if this grant is awarded and if
the School Board, uh, accepts it, and the numbers do go up, I think it's going to be
difficult, Jim, to determine, I mean, is it because there's criminal activity that occurs there
and has never been discovered, or are we criminalizing activity that... should be, you
know, um, judged that way. Um ... that's going to be a tough decision (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...pay attention to what you measure!
Dobyns/ ...but then...yeah, yeah, because as you know, scrutiny will increase the numbers.
We're going to have to discern why that is.
Markus/ In... in addition to the report that, uh... Susan brings up, there's a report called the
Justice Quarterly and it's, um, the ... the title of the article is "Police Officers in Schools,
Effects on School of Crime and the Processing of Offending Behavior," and it goes into
exactly the issues that you bring up, Susan, that others, you know, the criminalization of
the, you know, the potential of the criminalization of the typical disciplinary program in
the school system. The one thing, um ... this study does conclude is that, uh, speculations
that the presiden ... presence of SRO officers may unjustly rob students of their right to, it
says contrary to speculations, their right to a public education through increased use of
suspension, expulsion, or may contribute to civil rights violations by disproportionately
impacting minority or special education youth. Study found that students in schools that
add police officers are no more likely to remove ... be removed... transferred or suspended
from school as a result of an offense than are students in schools that do not have the
SRO program. The other thing that, and this is, and Jim provided me with this ... this
analysis. Um, the other thing is ... is, as ... as to SROs in general, and there's 17,000 of
them across the United States. Uh, the main conclusion of the research that was
undertaken was that more rigorous research on this topic (laughs) is, uh, is necessary and
it's very difficult to draw conclusions, which leads me to the conclusion that before you'd
actually enter into the agreement, and I think, um, Eleanor, we'd probably want to
consider some sort of 28E with the School as to the proportion that each is going to pay
for this ... this system. We need to define pretty specifically what the role of those
individuals are, if in fact we're going to have them in the schools. Um ... and I don't think
I can overstate that. I think that's really critical.
Throgmorton/ I think we probably need to be clear also in any potential 28E agree ... E
agreement, uh, we need to be clear about who the officers would be accountable to. If
they're paid for by the School District, which your memo says, who would they be
accountable (both talking)
Markus/ Well they're, you know, I ... I've had, um, the occasion to work with SROs in a number
of jurisdictions across the country and, uh, they report to the, um, the, uh, Police Chief,
just like any police officer does, but like so many, uh, employees in the organization that
formally through the organizational structure, uh, report to that department head. They
have a liaison relationship back to the schools so they have a lot of direct, um,
relationship building and contact, uh, with the School administration in the respective
school that they serve in. So that there's that kind of relationship that evolves and has to
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 44
evolve in order to ensure that, um, the objectives of both organizations are met, but I
think it's ... it's important that we have a pretty clear statement about the respective roles
of the officer, the School, and the City in this ... in this system. If you're going to go in
that direction.
Throgmorton/ Well... there... there's more that could be said about this, but I'm conscious of the
time.
Hayek/ Yeah. Well and it'll be ... we'll pull it from Consent anyway. Okay. Thanks, Chief!
Hargadine/ Thank you!
Council Time:
Hayek/ Okay, let's wrap up and then... get 10 or 15 minutes to prepare for the 7:00. Um... any
quick Council time items? Uh, Tom and Geoff and I went to meet with Governor
Branstad and Lt. Governor last week on rail, and...
Throgmorton/ You were on the rails?
Hayek/ ...we, yeah, we continue to make the case, um ... uh, and I think ... I think it ... he's waiting
to see what these studies show, in terms of bringing the service out to Des Moines and
points west. Um ... so we'll keep you posted on that but ... drove out there ... for a 25-
minute meeting (laughs)
Markus/ Yeah, and ... and the other thing I would report out today is that we learned that the, in
the... conference committees, the multi -modal fund, uh, and transportation funding, uh, to
a large degree on rail transit has, uh, freight rail transit has been removed from, uh, the
budget at this point, which was not necessarily a good sign. We have notified our
delegation of the problem with that, um, but more importantly, they're getting very close
to, um, an agreement, um, on commercial property tax reform, and I asked Dennis
Bockenstedt, our, uh, Finance Director, if...if you'll allow him about three minutes, just
to run through about four key elements of the, uh, proposed change and the fiscal impact,
and he does have a brief analysis of what that impact would be on Iowa City. I would
compliment Johnson County. Johnson County, um, pulled together a... a number of
jurisdictions and we evaluated, um, the impact on our various levels of local government
here and so they will also be notifying our delegation, as to the fiscal impact, uh, for the
County and ... and adjacent counties, and other cities within Johnson County. So with
that, I'd ask Dennis to just comment about the fiscal impact, and as I understand it, this
would take place fiscal year 15, which starts July 1St of, uh, 2014.
Bockenstedt/ Yeah, these, uh, negotiations are currently underway, uh, right now, and I think this
is kind of based on the latest information we have, and so we ... we pulled this together,
and ... and I'll try and give you some analysis here of...of...our understanding at this
point of how this is going to move forward. Or ... um, the first column on this is the effect
on multi- residential property and this is the effect of commercial apartments, um, assisted
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 45
living facilities, and ... and other types of, uh, multi- residential facilities that there would
be a new classification created. Um, I think the proposal at this time is a, uh, 10 -year
phase out, um, so that that 10 -years from now would be taxed as residential property
rather than commercial. Um, the ... the first year of fiscal year 15 impact on that ... from
the last information we'd seen that it would be treated as commercial that first year, and
then that phase out would begin after that. They've not laid out a phase out plan, but
we've kind of estimated that it would be 5% a year over 10 years, which would bring it
down to, uh, the 55% mark, which is where we estimate the residential roll -back would
be at that time. Um, so the impact of just that change alone, uh, would not have any
impact on 15, um, however, uh, in 16 would be about $300,000, then increase up to fiscal
year 24, the impact on that year would be about $3.5 million, uh, to the City budget. So
um, this would be phased in over a 10 -year period of time. It'd give us some time to
react to it, but the ... the ultimate impact would be rather substantial. Um ... the next
column over is the reduction from a 4 %, uh, growth limit on, uh, property taxes or on
residential property to a 3% limit. Um, this is really based on a formula that was put
together by the city of Des Moines, uh, and Iowa League of Cities, uh, that projects out
the, uh, roll -back factor versus the current law, versus the change in the law. Um ... and
that change in the roll -back factor, the impact on the revenue we would receive, uh, in
fiscal year 15, that first year would be about $300,000 in that first year. Um, ultimately
as you go out and 10 years from now, the difference would be about a 5% difference.
Under the current law the roll -back factor would be say 60 %, uh, versus under ... the 4%
and (mumbled) 3% limit there would be a 55% roll -back factor. So about a 5%
difference, and of course that accumulates... year over year over year over year, so that
first year impact, say it would only be $300,000 but after that accumulates over a 10 -year
period, the impact actually accumulates to a rather significant dollar amount, um ... there's
a subtotal on those two because those two proposals, as they are right now, would not be
backfilled or replaced by the state in any way. It would just be lost revenue to the City.
Um, it would impact our operating budgets into the future, and it would just be the new
environment in which we're operating under. Um ... the next set of proposals after that is
the change in the commercial, industrial roll -back factor. Uh, right now they're looking
at a 5% reduction, and actually right now commercial, industrial are both taxed at 100%
of their value. So essentially in 15 that would go to a 95% value, and the year after that
it'd go to a 90% value, or taxed at 90% of its value, and right now under this compromise
that's where it would end. After two years it would go from 100 to 95 to 90, and
commercial, industrial would be taxed at 90% of its value instead of 100 %. Uh, the
current proposal at the state level is to backfill those dollars. Um, this, however, is only
guaranteed at this point for one year.
Champion/ (laughs) Of course!
Bockenstedt/ So it's a rather (both talking)
Hayek/ Quite a guarantee!
Bockenstedt/ Yeah, a short guarantee, um, so ... on that spreadsheet, the cost of that first year
would be about a million dollars if it was not backfilled at all. Uh, their proposal's to
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 46
backfill that. The second year, the next 5% reduction would kick in and the cumulative
effective is about $1.5 million, um, there's no guarantee that they would backfill those
dollars. So we could be back, you know, a year from now saying fiscal year 16 we now
have to make up for a million and a half dollar, uh, loss in our budget. And ... like I said,
those second two columns, the accumulation, uh, those are ... proposed at this point to be
backfilled, uh, for one year a guarantee, and then some form of backfill into the future.
Um, however that is always subject to change. The cumulative impact on that is ... is for
the fiscal year 15, uh, about a $1.3 million impact on the budget. We may get a $1
million backfill of that at this point. Um, moving forward, it'd be about $2.4 million, 3. 1,
3.8 ... ultimately in fiscal year 24 the City would lose about $9.4 million in that fiscal year
alone. Um, cumulatively, it's about $52 million over the 10 -year period. Um, and ... and
these are estimates. The County hasn't finalized this fiscal year, or its 2013 assessment
data, and ... my understanding are the negotiations are still underway at this point.
Hayek/ Okay.
Bockenstedt/ So...
Hayek/ Thanks, Dennis.
Champion/ Who are they hoping to benefit?
Hayek/ We better take a break here and (several talking) come back (several talking) Okay.
We'll end the work session. We can take up what's left on the work session after the
formal (mumbled) there's really hardly anything left.
BREAK FOR FORMAL SESSION
Pending Work Session Topics:
Hayek/ Okay. Uh, work session. The only things we had less were pending work session topics.
Throgmorton/ I have a couple questions real quickly. Um ... when are we likely to receive, uh,
recom ... your response to the Ad Hoc Committee's, uh, recommendations?
Markus/ Well I'd see that certain people are quoting that it's going to be the June 4th meeting, but
I think we're planning for the second meeting in June.
Throgmorton/ (loud noise on recording) okay.
Markus / And we also have a, kind of a side recommendation about staffing, and we'd like to put
that on at the same time as we report out on the recommendations from the committee
itself.
Throgmorton/ Good! And ... and do you have any idea when the sustainability assessment's
likely to come to us?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.
May 14, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 47
Markus/ I've seen the ... the report from Brenda. I've seen kind of the initial ... out of that. And
so that's ... that should be coming shortly.
Upcoming Events /Council Invites:
Hayek/ Anything else on pending topics? Okay. Upcoming events, Council invites. Okay.
We're done ... with a marathon meeting!
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work
session of May 14, 2013.