HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-08-06 TranscriptionAugust 6, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 1
Council Present: Champion, Dickens, Dobyns, Hayek, Mims, Payne, Throgmorton
Staff Present: Markus, Fruin, Scott, Dilkes, Karr, Davidson, Bentley, O'Brien, Knoche,
Fosse, Gannon
Agenda Items•
Hayek/ We are now in the work session. I want to welcome everyone! We've got a number of
items to take up this evening. The first is questions from Council regarding agenda
items.
ITEM 2d(5) 100 BLOCK OF EAST WASHINGTON CONSULTANT AGREEMENT —
AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO
ATTEST A CONSULTANT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY OF
IOWA CITY AND HDR ENGINEERING FOR A MASTER PLAN STUDY
OF THE 100 BLOCK OF EAST WASHINGTON.
Throgmorton/ Matt, Item 2d(f), the master plan study for the 100 block of Washington Street.
Uh, I wonder if staff could, um, help us understand specifically why HDR Engineering
was chosen, and what they will be asked to do other than assess the Jefferson Hotel.
Davidson/ Yeah we're gonna (both talking)
Hayek/ Does ... has this item been removed?
Karr/ No, 2d(6) the Normandy Drive.
Hayek/ Okay. Okay.
Karr/ Okay?
Hayek/ Yeah, 2e ... 2e(6) was removed.
Throgmorton/ 2e(6) is gone, huh?
Hayek/ Yep.
Karr/ Normandy ... the Normandy Drive restoration project is delayed. It's removed.
Hayek/ Okay.
Mims/ Okay.
Hayek/ Go, sorry, Jim, I interrupted (several talking)
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Davidson/ ...is the number. Um ... the ... this project originally ... uh, commenced in a discussion
between the City and the University, uh, regarding the property that the University owns
in the block. Um ... it's been broadened to include ... the other major property owners in
the block, one of whom has recently transacted and the new owner is now involved with
us, as well. The ... the building that includes the, uh, the Den, the Running Wild store,
and Discerning Eye. We have a new owner, but the new owner's working with us. Um,
those four entities agreed that a comprehensive look at the block, uh, was the correct way
to proceed, and I ... and I ... and specifically that south block face, although to the degree
that the entire block is impacted, that will be taken into consideration. There's also a fifth
smaller property owner in the block, Hands Jewelers. They will be involved as a, uh, you
know, as a principle in the project, but ... but don't have a funding interest in the project.
Uh, it was the consensus of the group, and the University felt very strongly that HDR was
a good selection. Both the City and the University are ... have been pleased with the work
HDR has done in the downtown and Riverfront Crossings master plan, uh, both the
original ... the original sub -area study that HDR did that we had the big public meeting
and then the ... the follow -up that was ... has been adopted within the last six months. Um
...we told HDR we expected that to be reflected in a positive price for the services, uh,
because of the work that they'd already done and we believe that the price you have
reflects that. Uh, and as I ... I do want to emphasize that the University felt very strongly
about HDR. Um ... the ... the Midwest... Midwest One Bank, since we originally started
the discussion, has progressed quite a bit in their ... their own facilities planning, which
you heard the presentation late in the evening at one City Council meeting. They have
continued though to want to be involved in this study, um ... when ... they have a series of
dominoes including the rehab of their historic building, which is ongoing already.
Construction of the new office building in Riverfront Crossings, and then the townhouse/
parking project that we'll be involved in. Once all those dominoes happen, they will use
the what I call `old timers,' the old Younkers' building, uh, where they have some
temporary offices in there. Now they'll use that to basically stage all those construction
projects and move people into that building, but once everything's done, then that
building will probably be made available for redevelopment, and that's why they
continue to want to be involved in the project. Any other questions about what's
proposed and ... and clarifying maybe what is and is not part of the project?
Dickens/ Just one question, when the study's done it will be available for anyone to look at.
Davidson/ Oh, absolutely (both talking) Yeah, and what the University anticipates, Terry, is that
... the ... the final report will then enable them to issue a ... an RFP...
Dickens/ Okay.
Davidson/ ...for the Jefferson Building, depending on what comes out of the study. Could be a
repurposing as a hotel, could be something else, but they logically think an RFP then
would ... would come out of that and then they would ... they would proceed on their own
with that. Anything else? Thank you.
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ITEM 4e ZONING CODE AMENDMENT — AMENDING TITLE 14: ZONING
CODE TO ALLOW THE BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT TO GRANT A
SPECIAL EXCEPTION FOR A NON - CONFORMING USE OR OTHER
UNPERMITTED USE THAT HAS BEEN IN EXISTENCE FOR OVER 25
YEARS TO BE REBUILT UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, EVEN IF IT
IS DESTROYED OR DAMAGED TO MORE THAN 75% OF ITS
ASSESSED VALUE.
Payne/ I have two questions that you might want to answer (laughs) as long as you're up here!
Um, Item 4c, which is the zoning code amendment.
Davidson/ Uh huh.
Payne/ Um...
Davidson/ And I think text amendments we're allowed to talk about at the work session, right,
Eleanor?
Payne/ Yeah, it doesn't say that we can't so ... um, this is the one where... allowing the Board of
Adjustments to grant a special acceptan ... exception for a non - conforming use, or other
unpermitted use that has been in existence for a long period of time. Isn't ... that the way
we eliminate non - confirming uses is...
Davidson/ It is!
Payne/ ...through that. So...
Davidson/ It is!
Payne/ So...we're going to put something into our ... that doesn't eliminate non - conforming (both
talking)
Davidson/ We ... we are going to enable a ... through your action, you would enable, uh, a non-
conforming use that was determined to be a positive influence on the neighborhood,
hypothetically the Hartley's property, um, to continue through action of the Board of
Adjustment. You're enabling that to happen, but it would eliminate sort of the automatic,
if it's ... if it's, uh, destroyed beyond 75 %, uh, of its, uh, of its value, that the use would no
longer be allowed.
Payne / And the catch there is, they're reviewed on a case -by -case basis by the Board of
Adjustment...
Davidson/ Absolutely!
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Payne/ ...so every single one gets reviewed (both talking) as ... okay. And then ... the other one
that I had was ... I gotta make sure it doesn't say we can't talk about it. (laughter) Sorry!
Um, it is ... my notes on top of the number, number 5, Wild Prairie Estates, Part 5 outlot.
ITEM 5 WILD PRAIRIE ESTATES PART FIVE OUTLOT — AMENDING THE
SUBDIVIDER'S AGREEMENT FOR WILD PRAIRIE ESTATES, PART
FIVE, AUTHORIZING THE CONVEYING OF AUDITOR'S PARCEL
2013038, AND ACCEPTING THE DEDICATION OF A PORTION OF
OUTLOT B, IN SAID SUBDIVISION AS PUBLIC OPEN SPACE.
Davidson/ And I actually brought a picture ... in case there was a (both talking)
Payne/ (laughs) You thought somebody might have a question on it?
Davidson/ There! Yep!
Payne/ Um... so I have a couple questions I guess. Why would we have accepted in the first
place the developer's agreement? It doesn't make sense to me to dedicate something that
we don't want or need. And, since they did get dedicated to us, but we never took it over,
are we getting any dollars for the sale of the property?
Davidson/ Um ... no, because it's not our property yet. So we're not being compensated for the
property because it has not, at this time, be ... been dedicated. Uh, this is Wild Prairie
Estates subdivision. To orient you, just off the map here is Weber School, just to orient
you. So Rohret Road would be down here. Um ... this is the County Poor Farm property,
the Joint Emergency Communication Center would be just up here. Oh, here's Highway
218, you can kind of see it and Hunters Run Park. The intent here has been that
eventually the Willow ... right now the Willow Creek Trail terminates, well, just on the
other side of Highway 218. Eventually to be extended under Highway 218, and then to
come up the Willow Creek corridor and that's ... and through Hunters Run Park, which we
already own, outlot C has already been dedicated to the City and the trail would come up
through here, and then this is outlot B that Item 5 pertains to. And, the owners of the
subdivision have for some time felt that basically they overcompensated the City for
these outlots, but as part of our develop ... our existing adopted development agreement
that we have with them, uh, it... it states in the materials that you received that it... it
vastly exceeded it. Exceeded by several orders of magnitude the amount that under the
Neighborhood Open Space ordinance they would have been required to dedicate. Okay?
So ... essentially what we negotiated with them, and Eleanor, if I leave anything out or
misstate, please... please, uh, correct me, is that we ... our ... our main objective with this
outlot is to get the Willow Creek Trail extended up through here onto the County
property where eventually it'll extend up to the County Poor Farm and terminate at a trail
head there. Okay? That's in our existing Willow Creek Trail plan. This ... I believe it's
this individual right here, wants to purchase this portion of the outlot. Okay? So it will
be reconfigured to essentially chop that piece off and the developer will sell this to that
individual and the developer will receive all the money for that and then proceed to
dedicate the outlot ... nothing in this action will keep us from extending the trail up
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through here. Quite frankly that was property that's probably beyond what was needed
for the trail extension. Um, and the outlot then reconfigured to not include this property
will be dedicated to the City, still exceeding quite substantially the amount which under
the Neighborhood Open Space ordinance they would have been required to dedicate.
Dilkes/ Michelle, maybe I can just add a little bit. We've had discussions with this developer for
probably five or six years now about ... how to resolve, um ... what they saw as an over -
dedication of property at the time of the subdivider's agreement and ... and ... (both
talking)
Davidson/ ...they agreed to!
Dilkes/ ... which ... which they agreed to, right. But the ... but, and we have not ... and they have
each year come and wanted us to, um ... call it a donation, um, and ... and we've not been
willing to do that because of the subdivider's agreement. Um, but this is, I think, actually
a good... good resolution of that because we're keeping the property that we need for the
public purpose, um, which is the trail, as well as I believe some storm water utility
function. Um, and ... they're being able to sell it off to that, um, so it's ... and that's why
we're amending the subdivider's agreement. We're just not ... to ... to do ... to do this.
Payne/ So it's a win -win basically, for ... from the City's point of view.
Dilkes/ (several talking) I think it's a good result ... cause we've been ... we've been dealing with
it for a number of years now.
Hayek/ And we take about a half acre of marginally useful land off of Parks and Recs'
responsibility.
Davidson/ (several talking) It'll be on the, I mean it's not going to generate a lot of property
taxes, but it's technically back on the tax rolls.
Hayek/ Yeah, but I'm thinking more of a maintenance.
Davidson/ Yeah, we (both talking)
Hayek/ ...not really going to serve the public benefit to have that little dogleg.
Payne/ The picture definitely helps!
Hayek/ I agree!
Payne/ Thank you!
Throgmorton/ Jeff, what's the story with outlot A?
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Davidson/ Outlot A ... I don't believe is City ownership. (both talking) I think ... I ... my
recollection, Jim, was it was instead... intended for some kind of an estate home ... out
here. I don't think it's been further subdivided. Um, I think it's maybe... there's kind of
an estate home right here on this large lot, and I think that's what this was for as well.
Throgmorton/ But that was not dedicated to the City, right?
Davidson/ No.
Dilkes/ I don't believe so.
Davidson/ No, it's a... it's an outlot for a private purpose.
Hayek/ Thanks, Jeff!
Davidson/ Okay, I'm almost sure it's not part of Hunters Run Park, because otherwise it
wouldn't have that label on it.
Hayek/ Okay, other agenda items?
ITEM 2d(1) CDBG DEMOLITIONS PROJECT, CONTRACT #7 - ACCEPTING THE
WORK FOR THE CDBG DEMOLITIONS PROJECT - CONTRACT #7
Mims/ I had a question on 2d(1). Uh, this is a CDBG demolitions' project contract #7. Just what
is it? Wasn't really any description in any of the material, so I just curious what...
Knoche/ That was the final demolition of the homes that we purchased, the CDBG buy -out
program.
Mims/ Okay!
Knoche/ It's just cleaning up and ... and getting it accepted.
Mims/ Okay! Thank you!
Knoche/ Uh huh.
ITEM 7. SOLID WASTE COLLECTION FEES - AMENDING TITLE 3, ENTITLED
"FINANCES, TAXATION & FEES," CHAPTER 4 ENTITLED
"SCHEDULE OF FEES, RATES, CHARGES, BONDS, FINES AND
PENALTIES," SECTION 5 ENTITLED "SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL," OF
THE CITY CODE TO INCREASE OR CHANGE RESIDENTIAL SOLID
WASTE COLLECTION FEES.
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Throgmorton/ Matt, on Item 7, solid waste collection fees. I've had some people ask me why the
fees need to be increased, and I think it probably would be good to have that addressed,
not just here but in the formal meeting as well.
Markus/ I think Dennis is going to be addressing that so ... probably as a part of the formal
meeting. Unless we call him in.
Throgmorton/ (mumbled) Okay, good.
Hayek/ You okay with that?
Throgmorton/ Yeah!
Hayek/ Okay.
Markus/ We'll see if we can track him down for you.
Council Appointments:
Hayek/ Other agenda items? Okay! We'll move on. Item 2 is Council appointments. We have
an appointment to make for the Board of Adjustment.
Mims/ I recommend Constance ... I don't know how to pronounce the last name.
Hayek/ Goeb maybe.
Mims/ Goeb (mumbled)
Champion/ Those were two highly qualified candidates. It's really hard to make a decision.
Throgmorton/ I agree. I think they're both ... they both appear to be very highly qualified. Erin
Shane apparently's moved ... moved here six months ago. She's a trailing spouse. For
somebody who's teaching at the University. And ... uh, she has a huge amount, well,
huge —15 years experience as a City planner, most recently in Bloomington, Indiana. So
I ... I'm going to talk with her. I'm very curious to meet her and all that kind of stuff, but
Connie Goeb, I don't know her really, but ... but she's applied previously. She served on
the Human Rights Commission and so on. Seems to me like she'd be a good appointee.
Mims/ Yeah.
Hayek/ Fine with it? (several talking)
Dobyns/ ...is there a concern about, um, Erin being here for only six months? I'm trying to...
Mims/ It is for me. I ... I guess when I (both talking)
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Dobyns/ I'm just trying to read the panel.
Mims/ I guess when I see ... two or more very qualified individuals, and you've got one who also
has applied for other positions previously and not been appointed but is qualified for this
one and (both talking) has resided here longer...
Dobyns/ And that, okay!
Mims/ That tends...
Dobyns/ All right.
Mims/ ...to be a bit of a bias for me. I mean...
Champion/ Has lived in the County for longer than that.
Mims / Right. Yep. I mean, both very good but ... yeah, you come down to having to make a
decision so...
Dobyns/ Yeah. Okay. I'm neutral, I just wanted to know.
Champion/ I can go with either one, definitely.
Throgmorton/ Good! I agree completely and that tilts the balance for me.
Mims/ Yeah.
Throgmorton/ But I do think Erin Shane brings a body of experience in a comparable city,
another college town, Big Ten college town, that we should try to take advantage of in a
mutually satisfactory kind of way.
Mims/ Well, hopefully there'll be other openings that she might be interested in, as well.
Hayek/ Well, and staff reached out to her, uh, and presumably will do so again when there's
another opening, so ... okay! We'll go with, uh, Constance Goeb. I think that's it... uh,
okay, the next item is SEATS, uh, review staff opinion.
ITEM 7. SOLID WASTE COLLECTION FEES - AMENDING TITLE 3, ENTITLED
"FINANCES, TAXATION & FEES," CHAPTER 4 ENTITLED
"SCHEDULE OF FEES, RATES, CHARGES, BONDS, FINES AND
PENALTIES," SECTION 5 ENTITLED "SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL," OF
THE CITY CODE TO INCREASE OR CHANGE RESIDENTIAL SOLID
WASTE COLLECTION FEES.
Markus/ Did you want to talk about the waste disposal fees before we jump into SEATS?
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Bockenstedt/ Did you have a question?
Markus/ ...tracked Dennis down.
Champion/ (mumbled) I think we should do it at the formal meeting when people are watching.
Throgmorton/ Well, he ... somebody went after him so Dennis came. So, if you all don't mind.
Brief ...uh, some people have asked me why the solid waste fees need to be increased, or
why they're being increased. And, I don't have a great answer other than you know
fiscal pressures but could you help me (both talking)
Bockenstedt/ And that's the exact answer, due to the increase in operating cost, uh, especially in
refuse collection. That's why the fees are being increased.
Dickens / And in the past we've kind of let `em go a little longer than maybe they should have
so ... to keep on top (both talking)
Bockenstedt/ ...three years since the last increase in the solid waste fees, so it's been a little
while.
Markus/ So we're looking at these annually during the budget process. We did talk about this,
and this is just now then the implementation of the actual fee (mumbled) during budget.
Throgmorton/ Would the increase in these fees, um, have any potential to increase the amount of
recycling or reduce the amount of waste that goes to the Landfill?
Bockenstedt/ Well, I suppose there's always that potential. I don't know that I can speak...
Markus/ I think their mainly a recovery of costs at this point.
Throgmorton/ Yeah.
Markus/ ... not a new initiative.
Payne/ The yard waste sticker ... that will, the fee will go up on April 1St
Bockenstedt/ Yeah (both talking) printing will...
Payne/ Can you purchase a sticker before April 1 St, so I could purchase a sticker (both talking)
Bockenstedt/ Yeah, you can still purchase the stickers...
Payne/ You could ... people could still pay last year's fee as long as they purchase it early.
Bockenstedt/ Yeah, and that's when the printing will be done on the new stickers. So...
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Payne/ (several talking) I'm looking to save money!
Mims/ Stock up! (laughter and several talking) ...ravine next to my house!
Hayek/ Thanks, Dennis! Okay, let's get into SEATS here.
Review Staff Opinions Regarding Half- Priced Fares and Sunday Service for Paratransit
Users (SEATS) (IP3 and 4):
O'Brien/ Okay, good evening. Uh, here to discuss the paratransit services contract, the 28E
agreement that we currently have with Johnson County to provide our paratransit
services. Uh, the reason we're discussing this is ... effective Sep... September 30th due to
the 28E that we passed, um, it is set to eliminate the half -fare and the Sunday service
provisions of the services we provide. Um, we're also required to give 30 -days notice to
the County, uh, for any changes that happen. So that's... so now is kind of the time where
we need to get back and discuss that, uh, prior to, uh, that September 30th date. So, just a
summary of the current 28E. On ... on June 18th, um, we passed, which was a revision of
the June 4th, uh, passing of that 28E agreement with Johnson County. Uh, it did take
effect July 1. Um, under that current contract... okay, looks like it's getting cut off a little
bit. Uh, under that current contract, effective September 30th, the half -fares and Sunday
service would be eliminated, and we were also directed at that time to evaluate funding
scenarios for that half -fare and Sunday service. Uh, so that's what we're back here to
discuss. Um, some changes that have occurred since June 4th, 2013 ... um, one of the first
things I want to discuss is that Coralville, shortly after we passed our contract, they had a
meeting where they eliminated the Sunday service portion of their services. Um, that
goes into effect September 30th of 2013. And one thing that, just to note as we're going
through these discussions is what that means is that all Sunday, uh, overhead and
operational costs will now fall on Iowa City because we're the only person that provide
that service. So, full fee for the dispatcher, um, maintenance staff to have on hand, things
like that, um, that are overhead costs related to the services provided, uh, will all fall on
Iowa City now. Uh, another change, and we discussed it briefly the last time I was here
and that's property tax reform. Um, so just a reminder that Transit receives 2.9 million
annually and that's through our Transit Levy. Um, those funds come from a levy that's
set at 95 -cents per 1,000 and it's currently maxed out. We ... we can't add any additional
funds to that. Um ... Dennis has made presentations, uh, related to the impact of the
property tax reform, um, so I had him do just for Transit, and ... and according to the
projections, this will result in roughly at minimum a $900,000 loss, uh, with the potential
to reach $3 million, depending on how ... over the next 10 years, depending on, uh, how
...how things are backfilled, if they're backfilled, when the backfilling stops, um, as well
as what our growth rates are. So, uh, $900,000 at minimum, 3...$3 million, um, would
be the max that's projected.
Hayek/ And, Chris, you're referring only to the ... to the (both talking)
O'Brien/ That's only to the Transit Levy. Um...
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Throgmorton/ And, Chris, you're referring to a 10 -year period?
O'Brien/That's over 10 years, so roughly about $90,000 on average per year. Starts out lower,
obviously, and then gradually works its way up. Over those 10 years. Um ... another
change is that we took over maintenance, of the paratransit vehicles. Um, the estimated
budget for that was $108,000 when we started. Um, due to some unanticipated condition
of the buses that ... when we got them back, we're expecting roughly about a $75,000 to a
$100,000 increase to that budget. Um, based off work that we're doing right now.
Payne/ Is that a one -time hit? Or over time (several talking)
O'Brien/ Um, we'll get into that a little bit later. That's for this year, um, so for FYI 4, we
backed that out then, uh, for two reasons. One we think we'll be caught up. Two... uh,
we received funding for four new vehicles that will replace the four oldest ones, which
will take down some of the maintenance. And we show that in the ... in the projections in
the ... the table that's later.
Hayek/ (several talking) But we're... where'd these buses come from? These are the...
O'Brien/ These are the ... the ones that...
Mims/ County?
O'Brien/ So the County utilized our buses for the service and they were in charge of everything
from... operating to all maintenance of those vehicles. So those are the ones we got back.
Hayek/ Okay.
O'Brien/ Um...
Payne/ So the ... these dollars were not in the last presentation you showed us.
O'Brien/ No...
Payne/ Okay.
O'Brien/ ...the budget numbers we had were roughly maintenance was going to be in the $108...
$108,000 is roughly where we landed. Um, after... receiving the buses, we towed in two
of the bus ... three of the buses on day one, July 1St
Mims/ Had to tow them in?
O'Brien/Yeah. Two of `em at 7:00 A.M. So as soon as our service started we ... we towed two
of `em in. Um, we've had to replace a transmission, we've had to ... so we've had several
things that we didn't anticipate that have ... have taken effect.
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Mims/ So they were in such bad shape they had to be towed (both talking)
O'Brien/ Yeah, we do have some vehicles that ... so the ... the average age is about five years, um,
five to seven is usually what you see. Ours are just past that, for four of `em. Um, but
yeah, the condition of not those four but ... but some additional ones, uh, were in a
condition that we didn't anticipate when we received those. Worn brake lines, uh, doors,
steps that needed repaired. Uh, so there were several items that needed... needed
addressed.
Payne/ So on July 1 st the bandaids fell off?
O'Brien/ On July 1St we realized what the bandaids were doing and we addressed those.
Payne/ Okay (laughs)
Mims/ So were those buses, those vehicles, still being used by the County for transportation up
until July 1't9
O' Brien/ Yes.
Mims/ Thank you.
O'Brien/ Um, as I ... and then the last bullet point is that we received funding for four
replacement vehicles to replace our ... our four oldest which I believe are 2004 models.
Um, the local match for that will be $48,000. Uh, it's about 80...80/20, 83/17% is the
funding... funding match so ... about (both talking)
Dickens/ Is that per bus?
O'Brien/ No, that's total. So $12,000 per bus.
Dickens/ Okay.
Champion/ How many miles?
O'Brien/ What's that?
Champion/ How many miles do these usually run?
O'Brien/ Um...
Champion/ Without falling apart.
O'Brien/ ...yeah, it's about 24,000 a year ... is what we put on those. Um, so anyway, these are
things that have happened since we made our initial decision. I just wanted to brief you
on those as we ... we go through this, so ... uh, couple recap slides. I know you guys have
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seen this several times as we've gone through this. Uh, once again we like to point out
what's required, what's provided, urn ... hours of operation, how they have to match,
things that we do above and beyond, um, any questions on ... you guys have seen this a
lot, I know, so if there's ... odds are you're... you're pretty familiar with that. County...
this is once again a, kind of a recap slide. Um ... just to kind of tell the story of where
we're at now. Um, County participation, urn ... has dropped about 67% between 2013 to
2014. If you remember we had requested, as a group, Coralville, North Liberty, Iowa
City, about $305,000 was what we requested going into ... into discussions and $200,000
is where we landed. Um ... after ... after negotiations. So about $105,000 less than we
originally, uh, had requested. Here's kind of a recap of...of some stats that were given
related to half -fares and Sunday service. Um, noting of course that 90% of our trips
qualify for half -fare; uh, what our current rate structure is; what our current cost per ride
is; um, Johnson County and Coralville do not offer either half -fare or Sunday service.
Um, and then the estimated budget impact, if you were to take into account a full year,
not ... not the current three- quarter that we're at right now. Uh, for Sunday service, one
thing I do want to note here that's changed, uh, we're expected to see that Sunday service
cost per ride, uh, go from $37 to $42 due to Coralville ... eliminating Sunday service, if
we were to maintain those services (coughing, difficult to hear speaker) overhead costs
falling all to Iowa City and not being able to spread those out over the two entities. Um,
which basically results into a $77,000 budget rather than $68,000 budget impact.
Dickens / What do we charge for Sunday service?
O'Brien/ I'm sorry?
Dickens/ The participants, what do we charge the riders on Sundays?
O'Brien/ The same current rate that we (both talking)
Dickens/ ... still the $2.
O'Brien/ Uh huh. Um, here's a slide that I just kind of wanted to spell out kind of what some of
the questions come up as far as how revenues, uh, equate to our operating budget. So, I
backed out everything for fixed routes. So I backed out capital expenses, and ... and just
got down to operational expenses. So just to run the services that we currently provide.
Um, backed out the paratransit. Um so just for fixed route, that's about, just over $5
million. Fare revenues equate to just under 27% of that total amount. Uh, if you
remember from our budget discussions in past ... we're shooting for a goal of 30, um, to
have our fare revenues cover 30% of our operational costs. Uh, the property tax levy, if
you remember in past discussions, 43% was kind of the number we threw out. That's of
our total ... total budget. Um, if you look at just the operational costs for a fixed route, it's
about 56.5% of the ... the operational costs. Some of that, because of how our funding
comes through, the excess then goes to cover the difference in para ... paratransit, uh,
paratransit services. Um, and then federal, state, other revenues, for example from Court
Street Transportation Center make up the balance of our... our fixed route budget. Um,
so you contrast that with paratransit where more or less fare revenues make up just under
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12% of our total revenues ... of our total operational costs. And then the County funding
we received is 9% of the paratransit operational costs. Um, so here's just FY14. In the
slide later on we do 14, 15, 16 to kind of show a three -year trend, but this is taking
different scenarios, uh, for FYI based off of having only three - quarters of a year, based
off the increase, uh, with Coralville dropping Sunday services, um, and this is what FYI
could look like. So option A ... is if we maintained Sunday service and half -fares
throughout the whole year. Uh, option B is if we maintained... half -fares but not Sunday.
Option C is if we maintain Sunday, but not half - fares, and Option D is if we eliminate
both, which is what currently on September 30th is scheduled to happen. The way we
have things laid out.
Payne/ The way this is, is we're in the hole no matter what we do.
O'Brien/ Yeah, and that doesn't take into account ... any issues with the property tax reform,
which in FYI 4 ... excuse me. It wouldn't take ... FY15 obviously is the first year that
could take effect. So there would be no ... there's nothing in there for property tax.
That's just, with the maintenance costs, with everything else, this is what we're looking
at ... under those scenarios. When we get to the later slide, it'll kind of show what we
have, kind of the thin margins we're running at in those ... those additional years as well.
And then I also wanted to let you... so obviously all those would come under the Transit
reserves and, which are currently at 4.3 million, um ... those funds are utilized. Some of
`em are restricted; believe the unrestricted funds are around 2.8 million. Uh, the
restricted funds have to be used for ... uh, bus replacement, and those are funds that have
come from... uh, like Court Street. They're certain funds that have to stay within Transit
to be utilized for capital and operational expenses. So ... um, but ... bus, um, matching
funds for buses, matching funds for if we ... we ever get funding for a facility, those are
the types of things that we're looking at.
Hayek/ Chris, do I understand... from looking at ... in the percent increase...
O'Brien/ Yeah!
Hayek/ ...the blue line there ... that if...if we ... uh, hold on to Sunday or hold on to half - fares, or
hold on to both, um, we increase our funding over the last fiscal year by anywhere
between 19 and 28 %, just to get to those losses shown at the bottom of the chart?
O'Brien/ Yes.
Hayek/ Okay.
O'Brien/ So those are the differences in ... so that's if you take what the operational costs are in...
in the annual budget for services, which is the first line up there. Divide that by what the
prior years were. Or, I'm sorry, taking the difference and dividing it by what the annual
budget in FYI was to show that percent increase. Under ... under each of the four
different scenarios. Yep. Um, this is just a recap of our original ... and to go back ... you
know, I do have a spreadsheet that shows the different year breakout... of the property tax
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reform implications, if anybody wants to see that. That's... that's an extra, uh, I loaded
that spreadsheet on here, as well. If there's questions. This is just a recap of our original
staff recommendation, and just to remind you, what's actually in the document that was
approved. So these are right now set to take effect September 30th . And that's to
eliminate the half -fare, uh, to eliminate Sunday service, and to maintain door -to -door
service, and these are all ... these were what were our original recommendation, uh, to
Council, um, for the contract, the 28E, with Johnson County. Uh, this is just a recap
slide. Sothis is ... uh, something that you saw last time and multiple times prior. Any
questions about that original staff recommendation? Before I jump to the phased
implementation? Okay? Um, so another scenario (clears throat) based off the direction
we had last time, uh, was to look at phased implementation of that, um ... of the changes,
meaning to phase out the half -fare, uh, the scenario that ... that we've shown here is to
maintain half -fares throughout all of this fiscal year. So through June 30th of 2014 (clears
throat) um, so beginning July 1St, 2014, we would increase to a three- quarter fare. Um,
and then six months after that ... so we'd have about roughly an 18- month, uh, phasing of
those fares to ... going from where they are, when we were to start FY 14, before we got to
a full fare for the paratransit, eliminating that half -fare, and that would take effect January
1St, 2015. Um, and we also want to note that any fixed route fare increases would also
effect that paratransit fare, cause as you raise your ... your fixed route fares, your
paratransit fare can be double what your fixed route fare. So we just wanted to note that,
for example, if you raised your fixed route from a $1 to $1.25, how that would impact the
paratransit fare, just so that that's out there for everybody to see. Uh, to phase out
Sunday service, um ... what we have in here is to maintain Sunday service through
December 31 St, so extend that out another three months from where we are now to allow
time for private entities, any non - profit agencies, churches to assist in providing that
transportation. And then we'd also maintain door -to -door. That's ... door-to-door, I
mean, I'm not hitting on it because that's something that we've agreed to maintain
through the entire process. Questions on the ... the next slide is kind of the table that
shows the financial breakdown. Um, so we can go back and forth if you guys have
questions. So under the phase implementation, what I did for this one is I ... I just took
that scenario that we (mumbled) and took it out over the next three years. So 14, 15, and
16, uh, to show what that impact would be, um, so obviously in FYI if we went with
that phased approach, um ... we have a net fund effect of, uh, basically $141,000 deficit in
year one. Uh, we'd have a ... just over $41,000, uh, on the plus side in year two, and in
year three we'd be around ... just around $24,000, just under ... based off projections of
budgets, um ... and with that, so what I did, so FYI my entire maintenance cost I backed
that off in 15 and 16, um, to kind of the normal operating budget that we ... we
anticipated. Um, I did not take into account, once again, any of the property tax reform.
That's not in there. And that's what the ... the financial projection would be as of right
now.
Dickens / And is that based on a fuel cost average or...
O'Brien/ We did a 3% increase across the board to both operating costs as well as, urn ... County
participation, which is what's the cap on their contract. We currently cap their, um, the
growth rate at 3% as far as what they'll contribute back.
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Dickens/ (mumbled)
O'Brien/ So if we go up 10, they still go up 3.
Hayek/ Can ... can you describe the net impact relative to what the original staff recommendation
is? For FY14?
O'Brien/ Yeah, so ... the original staff ...so, that's just a few slides back. So 141 ... um...
Mims/ (mumbled)
Hayek/ Yeah, so ... yeah, $32,000 and some change is what your...
O'Brien/ ...so $108,000 difference between...
Hayek/ Okay.
O'Brien/ And what that equates to are ... uh, that phasing out of the ... so the half fares, um, not
taking any of that into account, which our recommendation was to phase it out as of right
now.
Hayek/ Yeah.
O'Brien/ So that $90,000 plus an additional ... urn ... $20,000 in ... in what the Sunday service
impact would be.
Throgmorton/ Chris, you noted... (mumbled) noted at the bottom of the second chart, uh, refers
to, what, a $4.3 million reserve.
O'Brien/ Yes.
Throgmorton/ Can you describe that for us a little bit better? (mumbled) $4.3 million sitting
somewhere? What's... what's the purpose of the reserve? Help us understand why...
O'Brien/ Right.
Throgmorton/ ...we shouldn't just temp ... for one year take a hundred or so thousand dollars out
of it for this phased out ... phasing out...
Champion/ We are! That's where that money's coming from.
Mims/ If we do the phased.
Throgmorton/ (both talking) ...if we approve it.
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Champion/ Oh, right.
O'Brien/ Right, the original... so, as an enterprise fund, once again, my original proposal was
based off... financially looking at my budget and coming with a presentation of how to
maintain a balanced budget for Transit. So those funds, what they're utilized for, that
$4.3 million, are any bus purchases that we have. We're responsible for the local match.
Uh, the paratransit vehicles, now we're responsible for the local match. Uh, facil ... we're
trying to save up to provide the local match, uh, if and when the facility... as you know
we're on a dump site over on the corner of, um, the Highway and Riverside. So those
funds (both talking)
Markus/ Project ... and projected costs to that is what?
O'Brien/ Is between $15 and $20 million for...
Markus / And our share would be what?
O'Brien/ 20% of that. So, $4 million on a $20 million purchase. Um ... so that's what those
funds are there for, and to cover any ... issues that arise year to year that we don't
anticipate.
Payne/ Only 2.8% of it can be used for... something other than capital.
O'Brien/ Yeah, I want to say ... I want to say we have $2.8 million that's restricted. I don't know,
Dennis, if you have that off the top of your head.
Bockenstedt/ (away from mic)
O'Brien/ Yeah, so ... um ... but ... yes, 2 point ... that 2.8 is restricted and can only be used for
certain items, but...
Payne/ I mean obviously you want, don't want to operate in the red because right now your
portion of a new building would take all but $300,000.
O'Brien/ Correct, and that would not allow us any for ... fleet additions, any additional services
we want to provide (both talking)
Payne/ We're not going to build a new building next year.
O'Brien/ Correct, no, and that's what we're ... we're trying to build the balance up so that we
have those funds available. Um...
Payne/ And in addition, if you're trying to get to 30% for non - paratransit. I don't know if you're
trying to get to something other than 30 ... the fees cover 30% of the costs.
O'Brien/ Right.
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Payne/ I don't know if you're trying to do that with paratransit too.
O'Brien/ Yeah, I don't know if that's realistic. At this point I can't say that would take...
Payne/ 20 %.
O'Brien/ ...that would take quite a ... a lot of change in order to get to that point.
Payne/ But, to do that you're going to obviously have to raise fees on regular transit, and when
you have ... so that's going to go this way, and we have ... property tax reform pushing you
this way...
O'Brien/ Right.
Payne/ ...you're going to have to push this way high to compensate.
O'Brien/ Yeah, and in the next slide we talk about some other things that we looked at in order to
... urn ... as we were going through this process — fixed route changes, and the reason you
don't see anything in there right now is due to the impact of property tax reform, we
anticipate that we're going to have to take a look at our routes as a part of that process
anyway, and that we felt looking at it, picking and choosing and ... and kind of just pulling
out a little piece here to cover certain costs for a while wasn't beneficial, but rather we
needed to look at it on a system wide approach and make sure we're looking at
efficiencies, not just pull this route and see what that impact is. By looking at the whole
system, urn ... and taking that system -wide approach to that we think is a more effective
way to do. Looking at the increase, you spoke of this, the fixed route fares, we obviously
implemented our first fixed route increase in 15 years on July 1 st of 2012. Um, and we
think that there will be additional fare increased required, especially, once again and I ... I
hate to feel like I'm beating a dead horse here, but result of our property tax reform in
order to preserve our services, uh, we think that's going to be something that we have to
look at anyway (both talking) outside of this.
Mims/ Chris ... do you know off the top of your head how we ... compare with other cities in Iowa
or of our size (both talking)
O' Brien/ ... our fixed route?
Mims/ Yeah, their fixed route rate.
O'Brien/ Right. When we ... when we did this analysis last year, there are ... there are some at
1.50, 1.25. So we're still on the lower end (both talking)
Mims/ Low side.
O'Brien/ ...with our ... with our fixed route.
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Mims/ Okay. Thank you. That's what I thought.
O'Brien/ Um ... general fund support, we took a look at that and obviously you know Transit's
getting hit. If you look at percentage -wise, the general fund's going to get hit substantial,
as well, with the property tax reform, and any funds that we feel were going to be
diverted from the general fund to cover this would either result in necessary service cuts
within the general fund or... or balances being cut, um, to the general fund balance, if that
was a route that ... so, um, that's where we felt that that phased approach, considering the
circumstances we're in, was an alternative to ... um, the original proposal that we made.
Throgmorton/ And yet there are other sources of revenue that potentially we could take
advantage, and I know this is going to be discussed in the budgetary process having to do
perhaps with the local option sales tax. I don't want to kind of...foreshadow how that's
going to be resolved, I have no idea...
O'Brien/ Sure.
Throgmorton/ ... but ... but uh, there are potential sources of revenue that should not be ignored.
Seems to me. Not (both talking)
O'Brien/ No, no, and I think there are (both talking) but as far as what I can look at right now
and say ... we have access to that — we don't have access to that right now and ... and that's
why we ... that wasn't one I could realistically consider when we know that that outcome
would have to be weighed in a... over a process.
Throgmorton/ Right.
Markus / And I... and I think the thing that you want to remember is that the Council doesn't have
unilateral discretion over that kind of a funding source. That has to go to a vote. And
so ... it's, you almost have to weigh the ... the cut side and then have that as a alternative to
the revenue side, if you're going to choose a revenue that requires voter approval.
Hayek/ Okay, so, uh .... we need to provide staff with direction (coughing, unable to hear
speaker) if this Council's able to. Seems like they've, uh, there ... my understanding is
that they...they continue to recommend what they recommended originally, um, but since
we asked them to come up with an option. What they're presenting, uh, would show for
FY14 about $108,000 cost to do the phase -in.
O'Brien/ (mumbled) yeah, that's correct.
Mims/ I guess my... feeling on this is we've got an enterprise fund and certainly we want to do
every (noise on mic) sorry! Certainly we want to do everything we can to, uh, have that
enterprise fund, uh, running, you know, with a balance budget. Having said that,
however, um, I think we're dealing with some of the most vulnerable parts of our
population, um, in SEATS population. And so to give not only those individuals, but
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other agencies and organizations within the community the time and opportunity to find
some ways to, uh, make up for these cuts, I'm in favor of doing, uh, the phased
implementation to allow for that to happen. I know it... it takes a hit to your reserves for
one year, um, but I think ... I think we've got the ability to deal with that and again,
because the vulnerability of this population, um, I'm in favor of going in that direction.
Champion/ I am too! I .... totally agree.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I ... I'm sorry, you were going to...
Champion/ No, that's all. I just ... I agree.
Throgmorton/ I ... I agree with both of you, and I think you articulated my views very, very well.
Uh, I ... I think if...if we were talking about a permanent continuation of these two
programs, I ... I'd be very concerned about it fiscally. Uh, I ... I'm much less concerned
when we think about phasing things out. I do want to, uh, ask one ... one follow up
question having to do with the recommendation, or suggestion that comes from Bob
Welsh, who's uh been just great on these kinds of things for so long. Uh, his suggestion
is that we ... I don't know, work with some, uh, a group of students at the University or
some other group to study how the elimination of half fares would affect SEATS riders.
You know, what the ripple effects would be on them, and if we could do that without any
significant cost to the staff or to us fiscally (laughs) I ... I'd really like to see that done.
So, anyhow, I ... I support what you said, Susan.
Dickens/ I agree with the phase -in too, and I also think we need to look at the private sector
(mumbled) discussed earlier. Talked to Tom a little bit before, uh, he's going to think
about it a little bit and see what we can do, whether we talk to the, you know, the
Chamber or, you know, Iowa City as a whole, if there's some way to help fund people
that need it the worst, whether we can raise some money. As Tom said, sometimes
administering the money can be more expensive than actually the money raised, but...
I ... I think it's something we need to look at, as a private sector if we feel strongly enough
about it, we need to do something ourselves about it, as well.
Hayek/ Looks like, uh, there's already a majority on this. I ... I'm not in support of the phased in
approach, um ... uh, but I want to get something accomplished and ... and ... and it sounds
like ... it sounds like we will. I'm ... I'm not because, you know, the County has never
offered a half fare or Sunday service to its residents. Um, Coralville has never offered a
half fare and now they're eliminating their ... their Sunday service. Um, and ... and as we
talked about at earlier meetings, our peer cities around the state, including places like
Ames, uh, don't... don't... don't do half fares, um, and ... and I don't ... and I would ... I
think Iowa is ... is ... is, Iowa City is no better and no worse than ... than these other
communities in ... in Iowa that have, that offer, uh, para ... paratransit. Um, and the
expenses are worse than originally estimated, uh, whether it's the ... the hit to our buses on
day one or the property tax reform or some of these other things that Chris has talked
about. Um ... so ... those are my concerns. That's why I would support the original staff
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August 6, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 21
recommendation, but there's already four and I think we need to just get to a point of, uh,
conclusion on this issue.
Champion/ I ... I just want to, just bring up one more question that bothers me about the half
fares. I mean, I know we're the only one that offers them, but what conditions do we
have on our, uh, fixed route half fares or ... freebies or, what do we do with that?
O'Brien/ Right, we're required by FTA to provide a reduced fare, off -peak pass for individuals
that qualify. Um, and that's just something that we're required to offer and that we do
offer. We have a half fare, um, based off, um... elderly, disabled pass that we offer
during, so for mid -days and evenings, and weekends, um, that's something that we also
have for our fixed route.
Champion/ But we don't have such a thing for paratransit because it's all prime -time basically.
O'Brien/ No, we just ... that's just not a requirement by FTA due to the ... I think what FTA looks
at is the cost to provide those services, they're so high, that they don't stipulate that
requirement on the ... the paratransit...
Champion/ Okay, thank you.
O' Brien/ ... end of it.
Champion/ Thanks.
Dobyns/ My concern about the phased, um, is that (clears throat) I just don't feel the City should
be in a position of having to mollify changes that have been made at the state and the
county level. Um, decisions have been made there. I think it needs to be passed through,
and I agree, it's not what I would have wanted, but it was the will of the legislatures in
those jurisdictions that, um, the private sector started to participate and ... you know,
slowing this down, I think, shields the private sector from having that opportunity. So
I ... I, that's why I would not support the phased.
Mims/ Yeah, my only response to that would be, again, I think we're dealing with some of the
most vulnerable people in our population and giving ... a little bit longer opportunity to try
and find some accommodations and some adjustments for that. I mean, I ... I hear what
you and Matt are both saying about what the County is ... is doing and what Coralville is
doing, or rather, not doing, and how much more we have been doing, urn ... but I think
just to try and give people a little bit more time to find some adjustments is worthwhile.
Champion/ Well ... yeah, I think you're right. We're not Coralville and we're not the Board of
Supervisors.
Payne / And I (both talking) I guess I agree with Matt and Rick that ... while I feel compassionate
for ... this group of riders, urn ... it's not like we just told `em yesterday, you know, they've
known about this for some time. It ... we didn't implement it on June, or July 1. We
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already gave an implementation date that was past that, and ... I ... I don't, I mean, like
Sunday service and ... even Coralville's part of it now. You know? We're ... we're going
to eat what they ... because they stopped it too? I mean, I ... this just ... thing after thing
after thing that we're eating (laughs)
O'Brien/ Yeah, and ... and we're not necessarily eating Coralville's portion. It just makes our
portion... because obviously their service goes away, but our ... our (both talking)
Payne/ Our portion goes up!
O'Brien/ ...goes up, correct. To provide that service.
Mims/ But you know that raises another question though because when we had that discussion
before the comment was made that if Coralville or the County doesn't have Sunday
service. Are we then going to limit our Sunday service to only within Iowa City?
Because typically if we took ... my understanding was if we took somebody from Iowa
City to Coralville...
O'Brien/ Right.
Mims/ ...then it was Coralville's responsibility to bring them back, so when you looked at the
billing and the cost, basically Iowa City covered one -half of the trip and Coralville
covered the other half of the trip, because you ... whoever initiate... wherever it's initiated
from. So I guess that does raise a question then for me. Are we going to allow Sunday
trips into Coralville or into the County where now we have to pick up both ends of it?
Champion/ Good question!
Mims/ (several talking) I would say no.
Champion/ No.
Mims/ I would say we would offer Sunday service, but limit it to Iowa City.
Dobyns/ You mean destination and...
Mims / Right!
Payne/ Couldn't go outside the city limits, is that what you're saying?
Mims / Right, because at least previously we only were eating half of that trip on a Sunday
because Coralville was having to return the individual, based on the budgeting is ... if I'm
understanding it correctly.
O'Brien/ Right.
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Mims/ But now we have to eat both parts of the trip, at a higher cost because we also have the
entire overhead.
Markus/ Chris, can you... can you estimate percentage -wise what percent (both talking)
O'Brien/ Yeah, the majority of the trips happen within, you know, 73% of the trips are ... are
church trips ... that happen on a Sunday.
Mims / And is that within Iowa City? (both talking)
O'Brien/ ...most of those happen within Iowa City. There are some that cross borders, but very
few. Um ... I don't have that exact percentage off the top of my head, but it's ... it's minor
in the ... and I guess I'll be honest, I ... didn't anticipate we would take people beyond our
borders and certainly into the county I didn't think was something that ... because we, that
never happened before anyway because they didn't provide any sort of service on
Sundays.
Mims / Right.
O'Brien/ And all those were county rides, so that never happened.
Mims/ Okay.
Dobyns/ If you originate in Coralville and your destination is in Iowa City, what is the fare?
O'Brien/ It's a Coralville trip.
Markus/ We wouldn't be providing it.
O'Brien/ Correct! There would be no service (several talking) on Sunday.
Dobyns/ Okay. All right. Just as long as it's...
Payne/ But that extra, the 30 ... the difference between the 37 and the 42, that $5 is the overhead.
That's not going to go away (both talking)
O'Brien/ Right. (both talking) You still have to have that dispatcher there. You still have to
have the...the labor responsible for providing those potential rides or the rides that are
already scheduled. So...
Dickens/ For three months (mumbled)
O'Brien/ That's correct. (several talking)
Markus/ Yes, it's ... and that's the overhead portion. That's not the cross jurisdictional issues.
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Mims / Right.
O'Brien/ Yeah, and when I was showing those, that was to show if we didn't touch it, here's
what we're looking at long -term. Not just over that, you know, I did show the three -
month period obviously, but...
Payne / Right.
Hayek/ Okay. So I think we have four ... four, uh people in support of going with the phased
approach, outlined by staff. Do you need other ... uh, input?
O'Brien/ No, if you're comfortable with that exact phasing, I can move forward with that and get
information out to the County and...
Hayek/ Are there any other questions? Jim (both talking)
Throgmorton/ I'd just like to thank Chris for preparing the ... the PowerPoint presentation,
sharing it with us ahead of time. Uh, I certainly found it very helpful to be able to look at
it and think about it and communicate with you about it.
O'Brien/ Uh huh.
Throgmorton/ So, it's good job, thank you!
O'Brien/ Thank you.
Mims/ Agree!
Hayek/ I think it would be helpful as this goes out for the public to understand that ... that not
only are we taking a ... a hit on top of what we had originally calculated, based on the staff
recommendation, that $108,000 spread...
O'Brien/ Right.
Hayek/ ...but we're also increasing our budget over FY 13 by now 24 %...
O'Brien/ Yes.
Hayek/ ...as opposed to the original 13. So we're spending more and losing more to accomplish
this.
O'Brien/ Simultaneously, yes.
Hayek/ Okay. I just ... I think it's important because we'll ... we'll, there probably will be,
um... some unhappiness about even, you know, about... about a... a temporary phase -out
as opposed to a making... making a more permanent arrangement, so...
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O'Brien/ Understood.
Hayek/ ...so those are ... those are important. So, okay! Thank you. This is a very good
presentation.
O'Brien/ Thank you!
Champion/ Thanks, Chris.
Hayek/ Okay. Next item is, uh, Landfill technology.
Staff Review of Landfill Alternative Technologies:
Fosse/ Let me first try and get the, uh, let me (away from mic). There we go! The battery
needed to be goofed with.in order ... for that to work. Um ... what we want to do tonight
is ... is visit about the request for proposals that's out for alternative technologies at...at
the Landfill and this is a conversation that began about a year ago, uh, at our August 21 St
work session, uh, representatives from Fiberight were here and shared with you about
their process that they've developed, uh, for converting munic ... municipal solid waste
into ethanol, and at that meeting they expressed an interest in entering into an agreement
with the Iowa City Landfill, uh, to use our municipal solid waste as a feed stock, and that
certainly seemed like a good idea so we endeavored to learn more about it. We made a
trip out to look at their, uh, demonstration facility, and uh, then we were back and ... and
talked to you all at our March 19`" work session of this year, and talked about the, where
we were in the process, uh, reported on our visit, and confirmed continued interest in that,
and then got the nod to go ahead and develop an issue and an RFP, uh, for services
because at this meeting we also talked about the procurement requirements that are
necessary to enter into such an agreement, and we ... you know, we can'[t just sit down
with a single company and talk about this because it's a long -term agreement with
significal ... significant financial ramifications. So our goals for tonight is ... is to give you
an update on our progress, uh, on that ... on this, and then also share with you the
fundamentals of that RFP, uh, so that we can ... you all are in tune with it and, uh, give us
any feedback that you have on it. Um, this is basically the RFP and it ... this is what we're
asking for, and it looks kinda complicated, uh, but in less than five minutes you're going
to understand it completely, so let's (laughter and several talking) I do, I do! It's easier
than it looks! And we're going to begin by ... by looking at some pictures of what these
icons represent. So you can visualize the processes that are occurring. Uh, the Landfill
scale house, I think most of you are familiar and have been there. That's where the waste
enters the Landfill. It ... it's categorized, it's weighed, and it's ... it's sent to the
appropriate part of the Landfill. Uh, the Landfill cell itself, again, that's a familiar site
for you that accepts about 400 tons per day of waste. Uh, recycling markets, yeah, we're
all familiar with the ... the curbside type ones, you know, paper, plastic, cardboard, uh, tin,
that sort of thing. Uh, but this also includes stuff like white goods, electronics, uh, our
composting facilities, small engines, carpet — all this stuff that we divert out at the
Landfill and keep it from going into the Landfill. Now these last two icons here represent
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the ... the, uh, components that we're looking for with this request for proposals, the RFP.
The first three already exist and you're familiar with those. So the ... the first is the
municipal solid waste management facility, and... and this is some sort of facility that...
that would be housed at our Landfill site, and that's where the initial sort would occur,
uh, where they get out more recyclables and, uh, and begin to refine the feedstock that's
necessary for the waste to enter the facility. So, uh, once that ... that fuel is ready to go, it
leaves the site and... and goes to another location that will not be at our Landfill, uh,
where the waste to energy facility will be, and that's where there'll be some sort of
conversion to an ... an energy product. That can be ethanol, it could be electricity, refuse
dri ... derived fuel, uh, syn gas. There's... there's a variety of things out there and ... and I
might mention that that's really been one of the challenges for us in writing this RFP.
Typically when ... when we put together request for proposal we're buying apples, and
only apples, and ... and we can write a very tight request based on that. Um, because of
the different technologies that are out there, uh, we might get... get apples, oranges,
bananas, or fruit we've never even heard of yet! And it's hard to write a ... a request for
proposals that encompasses those things and then has the flexibility, uh, and ... and room
for negotiations after the proposals are received to talk about the finer points of those
things. So that background, the ... the pictures, the visualization — let's go ahead and...
and look at that chart. We'll break it down a little bit. Uh, this is our operations as they
exist today. Our waste comes into the Landfill, goes to the scale house, it's ... it's
categorized, sorted. Some of it is directed to the recycling markets. The majority of it
goes down to the Landfill cell. As I said, at a rate of about 400 tons per day. Uh, and the
request for proposal is going to try and introduce these two facilities into our process, and
the way that will work is ... is once ... once these are in place, we can ... we can cut off this
...this, just direct sending the waste down to the Landfill and then put in place, uh,
there'll still be some initial sorting here, but the majority of the waste is going to go over
to the municipal solid waste management facility. Uh, some of it is still going to go
directly to the Landfill. If it's a special waste, as best as containing, uh, there may...
depending on the process, they may not be interested in things like bricks, you know,
most demolition type materials, they ... they're not interested in that. That'll go directly to
the Landfill. And in all likelihood, we'll continue to send some of the stuff directly to the
recycling markets. Now once it's in this facility, uh, they'll do a further sort because it's
coming out of the trucks now. They can get at it all to ... to extract more of the
recyclables. Get those to the markets. Uh, once it's out of the truck, there'll be some of
the stuff that they don't want to send on as feedstock to their, uh, their energy to waste, or
waste to energy facility, uh, but the majority of it is going to leave the site as feedstock
and head to that waste to energy facility. And depending on the process, they will
produce an energy product there. As I said, could be ethanol, electricity, syn gas, uh
(mumbled) fuel. There... there's a number of things out there.
Champion/ What's that gas ... what'd you call it?
Fosse/ Syn gas. It's a synthetic gas. It's very much like...
Champion/ Oh, right, okay. I thought. Right ... I know!
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Fosse/ Okay. And there'll be a couple by- products from that, as well. There'll likely be some
more recyclables that are derived, uh, from the process there and there will also be some
waste from that. So our overall goal here is to reduce what's going into the Landfill cell,
and at the same time significantly increase what is being directed to the recycling
markets, and introduce this new component, and that is using our municipal solid waste
as feedstock for an energy product. And hopefully we ... we can accomplish all of those
things. So when we're ... when we're considering all this stuff on the right side of the
page here, we're going to need some criteria to evaluate that against, and uh, that is all
outlined in the request for proposals and uh, short of reading all this to you, I'll hit a few
of the highlights here, and that is, you know, we're looking at... at qualifications, net cost.
You know, that cost is an important component of it because we have pretty reasonable
rate, uh, tipping rates, tipping fees out at the Landfill right now, and we may get some
very environmentally enticing proposals, but it may do things we don't want it to, to our
...to our refuse rates. So all that will need to be considered. Uh, we're going to look at
the financial depth and stability, look at their past record. Uh, here's an important one.
The carbon footprint, emissions, and other environmental impacts of the total operation,
because what we do not want to do here is ... is further our goal of reducing Landfill
volume at the expense of other environmental parameters. That is, we might improve one
problem, but make another problem worse. So that's where we've got to ... to look at the
total process and ... and make sure we're making a good decision here. And ultimately
we'll look at their plan to expand and maximize the recycling and recovery as well as
minimizing waste. All those things are important to us, and then you're welcome to ... at
a later time read ... read all the additional detail that's there. Uh, the schedule for this is,
uh, there are a number of different milestones along the way. I'll just key on a few of
those. The ... the, uh, the proposal is out on the street already. It went out mid -July.
We've had the pre - proposal conference out at the Landfill. We had about 20 people
attend that, uh, representing probably around five different technologies. How many
submittals we get, we have no idea. Uh, the proposals will be due on September 12`x'.
Uh, there will be a fair amount of back and forth as we work toward refining a proposal.
Ultimately what we hope to do is to ... to bring to you a contract, uh, before the end of this
calendar year, if that's possible, so that we're all working with the ... the same Council
here, and uh, whether or not we can accomplish that goal I don't know, cause I explained
earlier, this is ... it's a complicated process. It's... it's... it's not something that we've
taken on before. It's a lot of ..lot of new territory for us. So with that background, I'll
open it up to questions. Do you understand this now? Does it make sense?
Champion/ Yes! I like the colors!
Fosse/ Good!
Champion/ What, uh (several talking)
Dobyns/ Oh, go ahead, Connie!
Champion/ I just wanted to ask just a general knowledge question. How many tons of garbage or
whatever you want to call it, waste, goes into a cell?
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Fosse/ Into a cell? It ... it really varies.
Champion/ Because of compacting it?
Fosse/ Well (mumbled) no cell is identical in size. Um, so ... some of our past cells, we've been
getting five to seven years out of it, and we put about 110 to 120 thousand tons per year
into that cell.
Champion/ Thank you.
Dobyns/ (both talking) ... assume you're a left -brain engineer and when you choose the width of
those arrows, you're very intentional about quantity.
Fosse/ That's a good assumption. (laughter)
Dobyns/ So ... take me look at the green recycling, um, it looks to me that you could ... it's
suggesting that we're going to ... quintuple the amount of recyclables that go to recycling
markets because you can recover it farther down the line.
Fosse/ Yes! Uh, one of the things that's working in our favor here is we recently had a waste
characterization study done by the State, and they're looking at what is in our waste
stream that's being landfilled, and there are a lot of recyclables in there. Uh, if we can
get at those, we can ... we can significantly increase the amount of recyclables that... that
are harvested out.
Dobyns/ So what's going to happen at the Landfill scale house? I mean at the beginning
unacceptable waste. When that person looks way down at my car and sits there and asks
me, well, do you have any unacceptable waste? I... (laughs)
Fosse/ Well, the sort that will occur is if it's just regular waste, it'll go on to the ... to the MSW
management facility, but if it's, as best as containing, it's got a special waste
authorization, they're not going to want it. If it's construction demolition and debris, if
it's furniture, you know, they're not going to want that, or a refrigerator. So those visual
sorts will occur at the scale house, uh, but the second line of defense there is once it's
dumped on the working floor of this facility, they'll see other stuff that they may not
want, and that's where it...it makes its trip down to the Landfill.
Dickens / What percentage are we talking about the difference between what's going to the
Landfill and what won't go to the Landfill now, and second question is, is this a net zero
cost? Sending it to them, and they make, I mean, they pay for the facility and they
(coughing, difficult to hear speaker) money on most of it, except for the energy part or...
Fosse/ Yeah! Let me cover both of those. Uh, the first one, if...if you base it on Fiberight's
proposal, and every proposal will be different. They anticipate roughly a 70 to 80%
waste diversion rate. So we'd be putting in, you know, roughly 30% of the ... of the waste
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that's currently going into the Landfill. As far as the cost, we won't know that until we
see the proposals. Um, if you recall, what ... what Fiberight presented to you a year ago
this month, they were talking about accepting that waste at...at something less than our
tipping fee now. Uh, but until we ... we address this in a competitive situation, we don't
know exactly what that will be. Other questions?
Mims / Are there other municipalities that you've been able to find that are doing something
along this line that have helped you in terms of...how we might want to approach things?
Fosse/ This ... we ... we have shared documents back and forth with Cedar Rapids, uh, some of the
things that they've done. Uh, Marion is... is looking at... at, uh, a partnership with
Fiberight. Uh, beyond that we're not seeing a lot of action within the state of Iowa yet.
This is ... this is truly cutting edge technology, and just by ... by happenstance by our
proximity to Fiberight's, uh, first commercial scale production facility in Blalrstown,
we're here. We're a part of it!
Mims/ Okay. Across the country you haven't ... had the chance to come across anything in
particular, I mean...
Fosse/ Not yet!
Mims/ Okay. Thanks.
Dobyns/ If more municipalities in Iowa participated in this, then would that improve the local
market for the, uh, waste, the energy product for this and lower costs?
Fosse/ You would expect that as ... as the technology evolves and there's more of this out there
that the ... the rates will become more favorable for the municipalities as ... as competition
for feedstock increases. Yes.
Payne/ My question was, you said this is cutting -edge. Is it so new that it's bleeding edge, or is
it truly cutting -edge? (laughter)
Fosse/ Well that's one of the ... that's one of the things that we're going to need to assess when
we make ... make a decision, but one of the things that is in our request for proposal is a
bond, and if we chose a company, we enter into a contract with them, a good faith, and
after ... I think the period is a year, and they're unable to deliver on what they said they
were going to deliver, they forfeit the bond to us. So they've got it ... they've got to put
UP-
Payne/So ... so we're protected at ... through that.
Fosse/ Yes.
Payne/ Okay. Great!
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Fosse/ We want to, as a minimum, protect us against our expenses in going through this process.
Hayek/ And I assume part of our environmental assessment, again to ... to determine whether the
environmental savings to this don't create environmental costs elsewhere, we would look
at things like transportation, because now you're moving stuff that was already
transported to the Landfill to their Blairstown or some other site.
Fosse/ Yes, that's part of that carbon balance.
Hayek/ Okay. Okay! Thank you, Rick. Appreciate it.
Fosse/ Thank you! (several responding)
Information Packets:
Hayek/ Uh, next item is Info Packet. We have two. First is July 25`h. Any questions there?
Payne / What did you say? (mumbled)
Hayek/ July 25th Info Packet.
Payne/ I'm sorry! I was ... almost asleep!
Dickens/ You were visiting over there!
Mims/ There's not a whole lot there.
Hayek/ (several talking) Okay.
Payne/ Oh, I did have something on that 7/25 packet. It's IP5, which is the Iowa City Gateway
Project.
Champion/ Oh, right!
Payne / And my question is this — it, the memo says that ... um, we're going to have a couple
presentations in September, and ... I guess I find when we have big, what I call big
presentations like this at work session, it seems like everything is jammed into too short
of period of time. We don't, and we don't get thorough discussion, and would this be
something that would be better to have its own meeting? So that we can have thorough
discussion? And feel like we're not rushed through something?
Mims/ Well I think that's a really good question, cause I think there's a lot of discussion that we
need to have. So I think it's important to look at ... what else we have or to try and
minimize what else we have on those work sessions.
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Payne / And I ... and if there's anything else on the work session at the same time, then it just
doesn't ... the other things just don't seem to get the attention that they deserve and ... I
don't know, I just...
Champion/ There's going to be two presentations, right? I can't remember. I read `em, but
maybe ... first presentation can be at a regular work session. Then as we get more
complicated into it, I think you're right. I think we need a separate work session.
Throgmorton/ Here ... here's the problem. I ... I think Michelle's got a good idea here because
what we need to do is hear the presentation from the staff.
Payne/ Uh huh.
Throgmorton/ And then ask lots of questions of the staff, lots of questions I think, because it's
fairly complicated kind of thing. And then go away! And think about it. And talk to
some other people. You know, and just process it. And then come back together, and
then we ... then we can deliberate. So I... think we do need to set aside time, explicitly
for the, uh, for the Gateway Project. (both talking)
Dobyns/ Well I disagree. I'm just gonna ... I'm gonna talk about meeting creep. Um, I mean, I
like our present consideration that I ... I just don't think we need to add to the time that
City Council needs to deliberate on issues. I would agree that we should separate them
out so we have a meeting where we can ask questions, and so we can think about it, talk
with others, let City staff answer our interrogatives, and then come back. I would
strongly recommend we keep with the two meetings in the context. Remember, we
increased work sessions from 5:30 to 5:00. Remember we had that discussion? So we
could include these more robust discussions. Um ... I ... if...if we're going to have
multiple meetings, let's start at 5:30, guys, but this is why we started at 5:00.
Champion/ Well I agree with you, that we should keep this ... I think the initial presentation we
should keep at a regular work session. And then after that presentation we can decide if
we're going to need more time for it. But I agree with let's don't start out with more time
(both talking) cause we will use as much time as is available. (mumbled)
Hayek/ How ... how many, um ... how many ... work sessions do you, or how many meeting
opportunities do you foresee us having before we reach any sort of a decision point?
Fosse/ Our initial plan is that ... that we'll send out in advance at least one packet, possibly two
packets of information for you to begin to digest and get your arms around this. Then
we'll have, uh, two work sessions. First one to give some background information of
what we've been through to date, uh, identify what decisions need to be made, what our
options are, and ... and uh, some of the factors that go into ... into the decisions there. And
listen to what your questions are, kind of like what Jim described, and also give you all
some time to contemplate, uh, between the two meetings, and then get back together and
talk about this again in more depth. Ideally we ... we were hoping two meetings and then
following that second work session, at the formal meeting we would do a resolution, uh,
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memorializing the decision. Uh, if you feel you're at the point where you want to make
that decision at that point.
Markus / And you can always continue that discussion, I mean, I think ... once you get to that
point, you're better informed as to how much more time you need...
Champion/ Right!
Markus/ ...if there's questions that require us to do more research, we can get you to that. I ... I
think it's premature to try and decide a ... a schedule, and I think two work sessions is
what has been contemplated. It's been kicked a little bit because now we have an
additional review that we're undertaking. Uh, and so ... I mean, this thing has been
reviewed a lot! Um, not by the Council, uh, we need to get it to the Council so the
Council can start that deliberation, but you can move from meeting to meeting to
determine how much, how many more meetings you need. You don't (both talking)
make a decision until you're ready to make a decision!
Mims/ Yeah, well and I think with the idea because of the complexity here and the different
options, you know the fact that staff is planning to get us a lot of that information ahead
of time so we have an opportunity to look at it and... and I guess I would encourage, you
know, Council when we get that to, you know, potentially send que ... questions back to
staff as soon as you can so that that would expedite the whole process so that they can
come prepared to answer those questions, even at that first meeting. Um... and then see
how far we get there and then ... um, you know, I would hope we can get through it in two
meetings but ... um ... (several talking) but I agree with Michelle from the standpoint — I
think we need to make sure we've got plenty of time to really get all the information and
deliberate it.
Payne / And I don't want it to say, well we'll just talk about it after the formal meeting and it's
12:00 at night and we're trying to make a decision.
Mims / Right.
Payne/ I mean, it's ... you just don't think well at ... after you've been up for ... 20 hours.
Hayek/ Well it seems to me as long as, you know, from time to time we get these big ticket work
session items and I think staff does a good job of...of protecting those work sessions and
not allowing other agenda items to creep into the work session. So that we preserve as
much time as possible to ... to deal with an issue we know is going to take time, and
secondly, you know, as long as that ... that formal action vote is not time sensitive, I
mean, I don't like going into things with a foot out the door, but if we had to, we could
say we're just not ready to vote ... you know, depending on how it goes, versus you gotta
vote tonight or we lose such and such grant or whatever the ... issue might be.
Um ... that'd be my suggestion.
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Payne / And, I mean, it doesn't mean we couldn't start at 4:00 or 4:30 too, I mean, we could
lengthen the time that we were here on the night of the ... work session. It doesn't have to
be a different meeting on a different night, you know, we don't need to talk about it for
ten hours probably, but... (laughs)
Mims/ Well once we get through the first one we'll have a better idea of what we need.
Dobyns/ Yeah. I'd rather have that. Start early.
Payne/ I ... I agree with that. See where we're at.
Hayek/ Okay.
Payne/ Maybe it'll just come together and it'll gel and it'll be easy!
Hayek/ Sure! (several talking and laughing) Uh ... (laughter) I'm going to move on to the, uh,
August 1St Info Packet. Is there anything on that?
Mims/ Yeah, I just wanted to say I, uh, was pleased to see this, um, juvenile justice certificate
program, and that we've got, uh, staff participating in that. Will be interested to see kind
of what comes back from that, um, so was really pleased to see that.
Throgmorton/ I agree, and I'd like to praise the Chief, the staff, and whoever else was involved.
Markus/ We'll pass it on!
Hayek/ Um...
Champion/ And I like the idea they have to come back with a project.
Mims/ Yes! I do too!
Champion/ I think that's really a good idea (several talking)
Hayek/ Yep. Kudos on the "Bicycle Friendly" uh...
Mims/ Yes!
Hayek/ ...progress. That's ... first in the state. I didn't know that! Anything...
Mims/ Just a reminder of that meeting tomorrow. I don't know if...if any Council Members...
I'm going to make, uh, the Postal Service meeting at 10:00. I'm going to ... come down
for that. (several responding)
Hayek/ Yep, I was going to mention that tonight at the meeting.
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Champion/ It's here, right?
Mims/ Yes.
Markus / Right here.
Payne/ Is it going to be recorded so it's on ... televised?
Karr/ That hasn't been contemplated. No it isn't ... it isn't a City meeting. They asked to use the
space, so...
Payne/ Yeah, I ... just, I can't some so...
Karr/ I think there'll be coverage.
Payne/ Okay! Thank you.
Champion/ Maybe they're going to tell us they're going to close that Post Office too! And we
won't have one, period!
Hayek/ Okay. Just a second, I just screwed up here!
Mims/ Council time.
Hayek/ Yeah. There, thank you. I usually print these suckers out! (laughter) Council time!
Anything for, uh, Council time?
Council Time:
Throgmorton/ I ... I think I want to, mention one thing briefly. I recently watched a YouTube
video of Jeff Speck... speak about place - making. He's the author of a book called
"Walkable City." Uh, it's a really interesting, valuable video, a YouTube kinda thing
where he was making a presentation at a place- making conference in Oklahoma City.
About 50 minutes or so, but if you do a YouTube search for Jeff Speck and look for
place - making conference. There it'll be.
Payne/ Have you read the book, Jim?
Throgmorton/ I haven't, but it's all very familiar stuff actually, but... but... but, uh, I've talked to
other people (both talking) I have not read the book.
Payne/ I have the book at home. It's my next book to read.
Hayek/ Well we expect a report!
Payne/ (laughs)
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Dickens/ It'll be graded! (several talking and laughing)
Markus/ It'll be your project! (laughter)
Meeting Schedule:
Hayek/ Okay, meeting schedule. Do you want to confirm who ... who's up for KXIC. That's on
the Info Packet.
Champion/ Aren't I up tomorrow?
Throgmorton/ I have the 21 St
Champion/ (mumbled) change.
Dickens/ (mumbled) I'm not until September so I'm not...
Hayek/ You are...
Mims/ 7th is Champion.
Hayek/ There ya go!
Champion/ That's me!
Karr / And then Dobyns the 14th. Throgmorton the 21St
Pending Work Session Topics:
Hayek/ Got it! Okay, pending work session topics.
Upcoming Events /Council Invitations:
Throgmorton/ There's the Creative Corridors' invitation with regard to Diversity Focus. Uh, that
looked pretty interesting to me.
Dickens/ Is that August 20th?
Throgmorton/ Uh, I think so.
Dickens/ Is that the one they just sent the...
Markus/ You have staff attending.
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Hayek/ We're having staff attend, and they've been in contact with us. They're looking for
funding and ... and staff has ... has, uh, been communicating for, gosh, maybe a year about
that. So there's a ... there's a dialog there... underway.
Payne/ How bout (both talking)
Karr/ Just a ... just a reminder of the ICAD annual meeting on the 291h. I've heard from some of
you, not all. If you'd like a seat at the table, please let me know.
Payne/ Does that mean yes for you?
Hayek/ Yes! That's a ... (laughter) That's not just a (laughter) If you could please! Okay! Take
a 20- minute break and take up the formal! Thank you!
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