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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-12-03 TranscriptionDecember 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page I Council Present: Champion, Dickens, Dobyns, Hayek, Mims, Payne, Throgmorton Staff Present: Markus, Fruin, Fosse, Jordan, Sandberg, Dilkes, Karr, Moran, Andrew, Davidson, Boothroy, Dyson, Adhikari, Rackis, Bockenstedt, Bowers, Knoche Others Present: Bramel (UISG) Agenda Items• Hayek/ Okay! Welcome everybody to the, uh, work session. Let's jump right in. First item is questions regarding agenda items. ITEM 3e(1) NORTH DODGE HY -VEE PURCHASE OF PROPERTY - SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING FOR DECEMBER 17, 2013 TO CONSIDER A PROPOSAL TO CONVEY APPROXIMATELY .75 ACRES AT THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE INTERSECTION OF N. DODGE STREET AND PRAIRIE DU CHIEN ROAD TO HY -VEE, INC. Throgmorton/ Matt, on Item 3e(1), which has to do with Hy -Vee. Uh, it has to do with conveying, uh, three- quarters of an acre basically. Hayek/ Yeah. Throgmorton/ I can't tell from looking at the maps what land would actually be conveyed and... and I can't tell what land would ... the City, uh, re ... uh, receive in return. I understand there's no money involved. It's to be an exchange of land. So ... Jeff, can you help... Dilkes/ A ... actually let me ... let me respond to that. Throgmorton/ Yeah. Dilkes/ We've been trying to get you a better map and we will get you one and give you more detail ... at the time of the public hearing. This is actually... this was all examined at the time that we did, um, the preliminary plat for ... at this location. Um, and we ... they are ...are dedicating to us about .53 acres, um ... and ... but we'll give you a better map, um... when we have the public hearing. Mims/ Thanks! Throgmorton/ Okay. Mims/ Yeah, I had the same thoughts. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 2 ITEM 9. FASTRAC FUNDING - ALLOCATING FUNDING FROM NOVEMBER 15, 2013 THROUGH JUNE 30, 2014 FOR THE FASTRAC PROGRAM. Champion/ I just have a question on Item #9 which is the FasTrac funding. Urn ... we allocated some money through Mayor's Youth Employment from our Aid to Agencies money for FasTrac, and also the money we allocated from the Aid to Agencies to Johnson County I think was also going to go to FasTrac. So this is the third funding for FasTrac from the City. Markus/ I think they were ... for the specific agencies, I don't know that it was for this specific FasTrac program designated. Stefanie, can you ... add to that? Bowers/ Urn ... that would be my understanding too, that the funding went to, um, Mayors, um... Markus/ Youth. Bowers/ ...Youth Empowerment program. And since the FasTrac program has ended, they're no longer eligible. My understanding is for that funding that would have went with that Aid to ... the Agencies. Champion/ And the money to Johnson County that was supposed to go to FasTrac too, that also got diverted? Bowers/ Was that to FasTrac specifically? Champion/ I, you know, I think so. I just ... I didn't have time to go back and look at it, cause I've been gone, but I just wanted to ask the question. Markus/ I, you know, I don't recall that. (several responding) Champion/ Okay. Markus/ ...I think that was for the ... the generic agency, and now their list of offerings has been reduced, uh, to eliminate FasTrac, and so Diversity Focus is going to pick up FasTrac and so the recommendation is to provide some of the funding, uh, to keep it going through the end of our fiscal year. Champion/ Okay. All right. Okay! Thank you. Hayek/ Thanks, Stefani! ITEM 3b(4) Human Rights Commission — October 15 Payne/ I have a question on Item 3b(4), which is the Human Rights Commission, uh, meeting minutes from October 15th. On page 2, under "Building Communities," it says, "Townsend provided an update on a meeting held with Steve Rackis," but it doesn't say This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 3 what the discussion was. Shouldn't their meeting minutes... say what the discussion was? It kind of led to ... and I don't ... I'm not necessarily saying you need to tell us what the discussion was, but ... I'm just thinking if we have meeting minutes it would be nice to know what the discussion was about, not just that they had one! Bowers/ And ... and I can go back and update those with more information. That's not a problem. Payne/ Thank you. Throgmorton/ But ... but I guess in the future, Michelle, what I hear ... I hear you saying, that it'd be good to know what the topics of discussion were (both talking) Payne/ ... right (both talking) Throgmorton/ ...not the details but (both talking) Payne/ ... exactly! Yep! Kind of a synopsis or... ITEM 8. STAFFING LEVELS IN HOUSING AUTHORITY - AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A RESOLUTION REDUCING CURRENT STAFFING LEVELS IN THE IOWA CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY DIVISION OF THE HOUSING AND INSPECTION SERVICES DEPARTMENT BY LAYOFF / SUSPENSION OF ONE FULL -TIME HOUSING PROGRAM ASSISTANT POSITION AND LAYOFF / SUSPENSION OF ONE HOUSING ASSISTANT POSITION Throgmorton/ I'd like to ask a question, uh, about Item 8, uh, staffing levels in the Housing Authority. Hayek/ Uh huh. Throgmorton/ Uh, it's ... it's my understanding it's very rare that we lay staff off, and I don't think we should do so. We don't ... we shouldn't treat it lightly. It's ... it's a significant action... seems to me. Uh, and I don't think we should lay people off without being fully confident that we really don't have any choice. Moreover, this particular situation comes as a complete surprise, at least to me. I had no idea that we were in a situation where it's possible that we needed to lay two people off. So I'm wondering why we're being told kind of out of the blue that we need to lay two people off, and of course I read the memo. I understand what's in the memo, but I strongly believe that we should defer action on this until we have a chance to kind of fully understand why the action's being proposed, and are fully confident that we need to take the action. I'm not fully confident right now. Mims/ I guess my thought on it, Jim, is that ... I think we've had other personnel things that have come and adding or changing the classification, I don't recall knowing about before it showed upon the agenda. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 4 Champion/ Uh huh. Mims/ Okay? And secondly, I think our role as City Councilors is ... is policy making, and we've got to be very careful, in my opinion, that we are not micro - managing the management staff of the organization. I mean, we hire the City Clerk. We hire the City Attorney. We hire the City Manager. It's their jobs to manage the staff and obviously there's certain things that have to come to us, um, because of either budgetary reasons or my understanding here it might also because ... be because of civil service rules and stuff. Um... so, I mean, if there's more questions about, you know, some of the things that are happening, I don't necessarily have a problem with that, but I do ... I do think we have to be really careful of that line of... Council getting into micro - managing the management of the City staff. Throgmorton/ But are we not being asked to approve a particular action... Champion/ Yes! Throgmorton/ ...and hence we are the ones that have to make a decision? Mims/ That's true, but I still think we are hiring the City Manager and if we have the confidence and respect for the person in that position, then ... I think, again, I think there's that line we have to be careful of in terms of how much we're getting involved, in terms of micro - managing things. Dobyns/ Eleanor, is it part of city governance that these issues are brought to Council as sort of a, um ... not a pro forma but, I mean, it's in our governance that they have to be brought to us, these sorts of issues? Dilkes/ Actually, in this particular case, it's the civil service law that requires that the decision be made by the Council. Dobyns/ And what is the intent and philosophy of why that ... law is the way it is? (laughter) Dilkes/ It was written (several talking and laughing) long, long time ago (several talking) Dobyns/ Okay! Dilkes/ I ... I can't really ... I could give you an answer (both talking) Dobyns/ No, that's okay (both talking) Dilkes/ ...but I don't think I should ... can do it off the cuff. Dobyns/ Well I'm just trying to think, I mean, why are we looking at this, and sometimes laws are like that. Um, there's now, uh, in ... I mean, if there was a compelling ... I mean, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 5 if.. if, for instance, if Eleanor had said there's a compelling reason why we as a Council have to oversee a, uh, appointed decision. Then I think, Jim, I could focus on what I'm supposed to be voting on here. Since I'm not really sure that anyone has a specific intent about what we a body have to question what the City Manager's office did. I guess I would go with Susan. I don't think we need to micro - manage. Uh, I don't think we have any direction here as to why this .... I think we're just voting on it because that's just kind of the way it is. Um, and I'm not so sure that's a compelling reason to me to mic ... you know, urn ... you know ... turn around the City Manager decision. Payne/ And it ... and if we ... if we did defer this ... that, from ... from my reading of the memo, they won't be able to balance their 2014 budget so we'll have a problem when we get to budget discussions in January. Dobyns/ Well, yeah (mumbled) Mims/ I guess the other question I would is.... Dobyns/ (mumbled and laughter) Mims/ ...you know, we voted on some of these before, and I think I'm the same place you are, Jim, in the fact that I don't want to see City layoffs. I mean we have ... we've cut some staff based attrition over the last couple of years and that is by far ... by far the preferable way of reducing staff and trying to gain efficiencies is through attrition. I mean, layoffs are devastating to people and their families. I do not minimize that one bit. I don't recall, and maybe I'm forgetting, but I don't recall you exhibiting this level of concern when we have made ... when we have voted on other personnel changes, and if it is simply because these are layoffs rather than the other kinds of reorganizations, then to me that says ... it's a micro - managing issue of a personnel issue. Because I don't think we've had those detailed discussions on the other ones. Throgmorton/ Well, let me present one fact, at least I think it's a fact. If it's not, don't ... I can be corrected, which influences why I'm making this suggestion. It's my understanding that right now we have something like 1,100, uh, housing vouchers filled, instead of roughly 1,215, which is what I've understood all along we've had, and it's my understanding that revenue ... a certain amount of revenue is directly associated with the number of housing vouchers filled, and it's my understanding further that ... news that, uh, that we're only at 1,100 vouchers has only recently appeared, and ... so if that's the case, I need to know if that's not true, if what I'm saying's not true. If it isn't, then you know I ... I wouldn't worry about it, but... Markus/ You know, Jim, knowing what your concerns were, uh, the Mayor passed some of those on. I asked Doug, uh, to do some additional research and he's put some of that information in a PowerPoint, cause I know you had some question about facts, so if you permit him to come forward and present that, I think he could clear that up. Throgmorton/ Okay. (several talking away from mic) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 6 Markus/ (laughter) This is tech by committee! (laughter) Boothroy/ I think I'm ready now! Uh, first of all, Jim, I think I expressed in the memorandum that ... that uh ... and I agree with everything you've said about layoffs. It's the last thing we want to do, and uh, it was very difficult, uh .... uh .... you know, I ... I don't ever want to be in this position again. Uh, we need I think to get some closure on this so we can move forward and heal as far ... as part of this process. Uh ... uh, I would like to acknowledge, uh, tonight that a couple of the staff are here tonight and, uh, I deeply appreciate the time, dedication, and hard work they've given to the program. This is no way a performance issue, okay? Uh... it is all about funding and I want to talk about that. I think that, generally speaking before we get to the slides, there are probably four things you need to know. Uh, number one, these are federal dollars and only federal dollars, and we have no control over what those federal dollars are going to look like, and sequestration had a significant impact in April. And that's why we're here. Uh, we didn't know sequestration was necessarily going to occur. Uh, so we were not happy to see that happen. Uh, number two, this is only the Section 8 program. This is not public housing. And what's important about that is the public housing, if we didn't have it, we would talk ...be talking about a far different recommendation with regard to layoffs. We were able to backfill the Section 8 reduction by about $100,000 in public housing funds. So you're not going to see that up here necessarily. But that's... that's... that's the number that... that you should keep in mind. Uh ... uh ... secondly, or thirdly, uh, the number of vouchers is 1,215. Our goal in ... in, uh, in 2014, and it's a calendar -year budget that we're talking about, so that makes it all a little bit confusing, is a 98% utilization rate, is to try to get those vouchers used, but this sequestration did not impact the number of vouchers that we have. So it does not impact the amount of affordable housing available for lease -up. So that's not part of this conversation, even though we will talk about utilization in a little bit, and lastly, we do want to move forward and look at how we can do, uh, our jobs with less people. It's ... it's, clearly more people ... we're going to have to share that work among ... within the organization. We've begun meeting to talk about how we can look at our work processes, how we can change them, how we can reduce them, or how we can maybe even cut some of `em out, if in fact they're redundant or unnecessary and that we've just been doing them, uh, because that's the way we've been doing `em over the years, and we've had the staff to do `em. So let's take a look at these ... these, um ... um... slides. Number one, um, I just mentioned, this is about federal funding, uh, the ... uh ... it was reduction only in the Section 8 program. There was a 70 %, uh, reduction in administrative fees as a result of the sequestration in April of 2013. Uh ... that was an impact, immediate impact on the program of about $140,000 gone. Uh, what the next bullet shows that, uh, the trend line over the last few years has been less and less funding, prior to sequestration. Sequestration in effect was cuts on cuts. Uh, what you see there is that, uh, there aren't ... it's not optimistic that we're going to see any increase in our funding, uh, over the next, uh, few years and in the memorandum I indicated that we should view this layoff as an indefinite. Finally, uh, we have been in conversation with Housing and Urban Development staff after they came back from their layoff, and uh, they of course say that ... that the sequestration is really the baseline. That level of funding is what we're going to see in 2014, 2015, and maybe farther out. So let's go This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 7 down and look at the, uh ... uh, the budget itself and it's at 98% voucher utilization, which is ... I'll show up a little later, which is pretty much where we are year in and year out, although sometimes we're at 99, sometimes we're at 95. 2014 revenue, uh, is projected at that number. The next line is the expenses are projected there, uh, and what you see there is a ... a shortfall deficit of $131,559, uh, the, uh, reduction in two FTEs saves $136,445, and we see, um, our ... $4,886, uh, surplus at the end of the year, at the end of, uh, 2014. I view that as a break -even budget. Okay? I don't view ... view that as ... as anything other than that. So let's take about ... let's take a look at the utilization and how it factors in, uh, and it does ... it wasn't included in the memorandum because we didn't think it had a significant impact on our decision with regard to layoff, and I'll explain why. True in 19... in... in 2013, and we're not quite through the year, but at this point in time we are at 94% utilization, which is, uh, where we should not be. There's no question about that. Uh, next bullet, at... if we... during 2014, if... or, 2013. If we had been able to achieve a 98 %, um ... uh, utilization rate, we would have earned an additional $27,668. That's not enough to cover the shortfall. Just doesn't make it. We cannot ... in other words what I'm saying is, we can't issue our way out of this. And why can't we? When the ... we can't, uh, exceed 100% of our utilization, uh, and, uh, I think the other contributing factor to the problems that we've had this year is that, uh, bullet number four, 99% of the rental occupancy rate ... 99% of the rental occupancy rate in Iowa City, I don't have that typed correctly! I was reading it (laughter) uh ... the rental occupancy rate in Johnson County for 2013 was at 99 %. That means there was 1%, uh, supply of housing out there, and... frankly, that's not I% that's going to be probably qualify for families. It's going to be less than 1% and maybe a 1/2 of 1% or a 1/4 of a 1 %. So it's a very tight housing supply. Going down to the next level, we'll talk about utilization and ...and what's happened in this last year. As you'll note, we did have a closed waiting list until October 11th° uh, of this year. Uh, the first bullet's important because HUD requires applications, uh, to be taken essentially by date and time of application. What's that mean? That means that we have to go through the existing waiting list before we get to any new applications that might come by opening it up. We did not clear that existing waiting list until the end of October. The next two bullets are for comparison purposes. Uh ... in 2012, CY2012. Actually that should be 2013. Uh, the, uh, the voucher utilization rate was 99 %, which is exceptional. During that year, we processed in terms of additional new applications, 181 for the entire year, and we maintained a 99 point... actually 9% utilization rate. This year, in 20...I guess maybe those numbers were right. Maybe that is 2012. Champion/ Yeah, they're right! Boothroy/ Okay, you're right! I had it backwards! This year in 2013, uh, our ... our utilization rate was 94 %. We process 854 applications to date. That's approximately 85 per month, and we still are only at 94 %. The point of that... of those two bullets is to indicate that we really haven't been sitting on our hands and not over - issuing. We have (both talking) Throgmorton/ (mumbled) Boothroy/ ...we have been making the effort. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 8 Throgmorton/ What ... what do you mean by you ... you process (both talking) Boothroy/ Well, what we do is we send out notifications to people that they're eligible for the Section 8 program. They come in and they... and they... and we determine their eligibility so they can get a voucher and go out and look for units. Okay? The last bullet, right now on the street we have 150... approximately 158 applicants, uh, in the process in some way. Uh, either actively looking or in... in the process of finalizing, uh, their eligibility. Uh ... uh ... we are, uh ... tomorrow as a matter of fact, cause I had this conversation this week with ... with, um, Heidi Wolf, our Section 8 Coordinator, going to be issuing some additional, uh, letters indicating that they've come to the top of the waiting list. That will be the first time we've drawn off the new waiting list that opened in October 11th of this year. And we're sending out approximately 186 letters. We have ...we are going to continue to flood the applications, uh, because at this point the ... the vacancy rate is so low, it's ... I believe it's so difficult to find the housing unit, we'd have to have as many people out looking and even more people than we normally have. This is a ... this is an extraordinary situation with regard to ... to lookers, and uh, not being able to lease up, uh, in a ... in a year. We just don't have that kind of experience, at least not ...I mean, I've been doing this from 84, so this is pretty unusual. Mims/ Doug, I've got a question. Just ... it's kind of interesting. You said in 2012 you had 181 applications processed and you were... Boothroy/ New applications! Mims/ New applications, okay, now I ... you can't go over the 1,215, right? Boothroy/ You can't, yeah, you can't be over ... over, uh... Mims/ Whatever it is. Boothroy/ ...leased, yeah. Mims/ Okay. So I guess my question is, for 2013, does that mean if you processed 854 applications, that we had that much turnover in voucher system in 2013? Boothroy/ That's correct. Mims/ ...wow! Boothroy/ And keep in mind that the 186 that we're going to be sending out here recently, if you add that to 854, we're actually at ... pretty close to 1,000! Right? No, we're actually over 1,000! So ... uh, it ... I think it ... we ... we had a lot more of a ... in the June, July, August time period there was a significant, uh, drop and we were already losing after April of last year, we be ... we dipped below, uh, the 90 ... uh, we started out the year at 99% and we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 9 started dipping down after April into the 93 %, uh, category, and we've just not been able to catch up since that point in time. Mims/ Do we have any idea what's happening to that housing that people are leaving? Are those landlords no longer accepting Section 8? I mean, if people are having a really hard time finding stuff (both talking) Boothroy/ ...no there's ... we ... over the years we've tried to figure out why people leave the program, and there's ... lots of reasons! Uh, change in family status, uh, a ... uh, more income, uh, just moving to a different state. Uh, just some people just drop off ...off the radar and don't tell us where they're going or what they're doing. So there's ... and it's almost impossible to have a survey to find out why people are ... are, cause it's a private arrangement between a tenant and a landlord, and we just don't know sometimes why people are leaving. But there's a lot of different reasons for leaving the program. Mims/ But I guess my ... the point of my question is, do we have any idea if...if there's a lot of people out there right now with applications... Boothroy/ And there will be more! Mims/ ... and they can't find housing, do we have any idea what has happened with the landlords that did have people there and who now have left? I mean, if we've had a turnover of 854 people, theoretically we have 854 units that did have (both talking) Boothroy/ It ... it wasn't 854 people turnover. We've over - issued, uh, over - processed in order to make up that 70 ... that gap between 11- something and ... and 1,215. So, uh, in order to... since we're having trouble getting people to ... to ... to lease -up, we keep issuing more vouchers in hopes that by sheer numbers of vouchers in the field, somebody's going to in effect get lucky and get a unit, and bring our numbers up. That's... that's how we do that. So, uh ... historically the Housing Authority, uh, you can't go beyond 100 %, but we... we've had months that are below 95% and in order to make up that month we over -issue our... our supply of people looking and the next month we might be at 105. But the average of the two can't be over 100. Mims/ Okay. Boothroy/ And so we have some months that are, uh ... uh, substandard and some months that are a ... above. If we go above 100 %, then we ... then we're in violation of HUD rules and there are penalties for that. Um... (unable to hear person away from mic) Sure. Rackis/ Susan, just ... just a clarification, uh, of the 854 people we pulled off the waiting list, I know at various points in time that staff was seeing maybe 50 %, like if they got 100 applications, they might see 50% that didn't even respond to them. Mims/ Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 10 Rackis/ That's why we had... Mims/ Okay. Rackis/ ...that's why we had to kind of keep churning through the numbers. So not 854 people got a voucher. Mims/ Okay! Rackis/ And I think a lot of the reduction in the program is, early in the year a lot of people went off the program voluntarily, whether that was due to income or they just went off the program. There's terminations. There are people whose vouchers go, you know, they don't utilize the voucher. So there's, you know, any number of rea ... people die! And that's how we lose ... lose families. Mims/ Yeah, I guess I was thinking that the 854 meant you were issuing (both talking) Boothroy/ Yeah, I'm sorry, I missed ... I missed what you were saying there (both talking) Mims/ Yeah. Okay, thank you! Boothroy/ ... next ... next slide, urn ... you know, as I ... that first slide remember we've seen this trend happening and so in late 2... in 2012, uh, when we had a... a staff leave, we did reduce by one FTE through attrition, because that ... but we didn't have any other since then attrition occur. Uh, after sequestration, uh, we did, uh, shift, uh, and remember at the beginning of 2012, we were being told by HUD and others, sequestration ... well, I'm not even sure it was on the radar at that point, but even if it was, it was not going to happen. Well, obviously you know, hindsight is 20/20. So, uh, after sequestration occurred, then we began shifting as much as we could that is legally allowed under the HUD regulations to the public housing to backfill the shortfall, and that's where we get this $100,000 approximately. Then we looked at all of the line items that we have and I mentioned a couple. Travel was cut to the bone. It's practically non - existent in the ... in the proposed budget, but I think there's a point I want to make here — software maintenance for example for our HAPPY program is about 15 grand a year. In order to, on the sh ... in the short-term, provide space to only have the reduction that we're talking about, you know, we shifted a lot of this stuff around, but it's not sustainable in the long - run. We ... we, the software maintenance for HAPPY is now being charged against our public housing cap funds. The public housing cap funds pay for water heaters, pay for roofs, pay for window repair, pay for all of these things, and it's been reduced by 18 %! So while in the short-run for one or two years we can shave off that 15 grand and we can take travel to 5 and save 20 here, cause we're really talking about being on the ... on the ...on the margin when we're making these changes, we can't sustain that! We gotta have those things back at some point, and I think we'll see those come back in a ... in a couple years. Once we get to a point where we have a better, uh, cash position. The goals for, uh, 2014 then are ... are the 98 to 100% voucher utilization. I ... I think I probably passed over that point previously, but over the ... since 2009 to 2013, uh, our average voucher This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 1 I utilization in the program has been 97.7 %. So, we're using the 98% as a ... a number that sort of is realistic in terms of what we have been able to accomplish over the last three or four years. Uh, we're ... we are meeting with staff to look at the ... our work procedures, our processes, and we have, uh, we're looking at automation, uh, and ... and other client software, uh, and we're trying to, you know, do as much as we can, uh, to support and... and we want to support staff through this most difficult situation. Um ... but at the end of the day, uh, the cut, uh, the seques ... sequestration cut was really — not to use a, I guess I'll use a (mumbled) cliche was the straw that broke the camel's back because prior to that, we were able to make payroll, but barely. After that, the wheels came off, and we waited until the fall because we thought, uh, before we address this layoff issue, and we didn't want to talk about it and create all kinds of panic within the organization. You just don't ... have a three -month conversation about `do we' or `don't we,' you know, I mean I think you have to deal with it in the way we did, but we were waiting to find out what happened, how the people in Washington were going to resolve our budget issues. And I think we all know what happened. The train went off the tracks, and we ... we, they made sequestration the bottom line, uh, it was agreed to, and it's ... and it comes up again for conversation, uh, January 15th of 2014. But it's an election year and ... and I ... I can't imagine that we would see anything change. The thing about layoffs is that, uh, if... something spectacular were to happen and we were to get a change in our funding levels, then we would revisit this, cause the positions have not been eliminated. Okay? But at this point, uh, I'm not optimistic that we're going to see any changes in the next two to three years. Uh, there were a couple other questions that I ... that were, uh ... uh, sent in and I just should address this briefly, and it came up a little bit here. One was about landlords. Uh, we have ... um ... uh, currently 373, uh, landlords with active tenants on the program. Uh, we still have in our computer that since 2011, uh, we have a total of 561 that have been active on and off since 20...2011. So we've had a pretty good participation, uh, on the part of landlords. I still believe that this is primarily a supply issue. Um ... in terms of...the question was raised about in terms of current work load. Uh, we haven't resolved that yet internally in terms of how we're going to balance this. Um, we believe that ... well, currently the current workload is about 250 clients, and these are averages, per ... per, uh, HPA. Uh, I believe that could get as high as 304, uh, depending on how we ... we resolve how we're going to share all of this. Um ... we did, uh, look at other housing agencies that have gone, you know, they're all in the same kind of boat with regard to cutbacks, and we got numbers from Des Moines and ... and uh, other large agencies like ourself. Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Sioux City. And in Des Moines, uh, a ... a HPA equivalent handles 496 cases, and Cedar Rapids 431, and in Sioux City 280. So I think ... I think, uh, it is possible, uh, to manage this increase in workload, but I think we need to manage it smart and we need to manage it in a way that we can still meet our clients' needs and... and that is our highest priority. Um ... I don't ...in terms ... I guess I don't have anything else. Is there any questions? Payne/ I ... have a question. Boothroy/ Okay! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 12 Payne/ Will these ... the two positions, will they have the ability to ... in those, in the three years, bid for other jobs in the City, or just in your department? Boothroy/ It... it's by position and uh... seniority. So if they've held the position before, they can bid into a position that may not be the same position that they had previously. In other words, if they have experience in that position, they can bid back into it. Dobyns/ What does bid mean? Is that like a lateral (both talking) Boothroy/ Well, I ... I mean (both talking) they... they... they get preference. I think that's a jargon that we use but I ... I think it's they get preference to the position. Dobyns/ (mumbled) Boothroy/ Um, it is all done according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement. I don't have any say in how that sorts itself out. It's all contractual. Dobyns/ (mumbled) ...gets bumped. (several talking) Eventually someone gets bumped. (several talking) Boothroy/ Now, you know, if you want me to present this, I assume, at the formal meeting I'll do so and uh, try to keep it as, you know... Champion/ It was very helpful! Thank you. Dickens/ Yep. Boothroy/ Kind of explains (both talking) Hayek/ ...I mean, I ... we may need you to. I don't know what kind of public input there will be. Boothroy/ Well, I'll be here! So... Hayek/ So... Boothroy/ ...we can do it! Any other questions about, uh... Hayek/ I ... I guess my thought is ... is ... is consistent with what ... what I've heard so far. I mean, I ... this ... this looks to me like a last step, or you know, last ditch, last measure, uh, approach to a difficult situation that ... that is caused by the situation in ... in ... in Washington. Um ... and ... and uh, I guess ... I'm ... I'm reluctant to have us ... que... question, uh, or ... or interfere with what ... what I think is, urn ... really the role of...of our City Management office in deci ... in making personnel... decisions throughout the year, and those do come to us throughout the year and ... and uh ... and so I ... I would be reluctant for us to ... to question this. I'm glad to get this report. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 13 Mims/ Uh huh! Hayek/ Um, and I now know more than I did, uh, when I ... when I was reading the agenda. Um, but ... the merits of.. making the cuts, um, s ... from my perspective, really are secondary to the ... the basic Council/Manager form that we follow, and ... that was the first thing that came to my mind when I ... when I ... when I read this. And we do ... and they, I know ... I understand why this is before us, the civil service requirements, etc. But, we take these up from time to time and I ... in other departments. I think the broader picture is ... you know, we know what's happening with the feds, but we also see what's happening in Des Moines and with ... with property tax reform, and as I understand it, we have ... you know, the multi - family backfill that we were anticipating is not happening. Markus/ That's correct. Hayek/ Which means the impact that we talked about earlier this year from property tax reform is going to be felt by cities like Iowa City sooner. Um ... I mean, I ... that's ... that's ... that', A... Dobyns/ Stay tuned! (several responding) Stay tuned! But we knew that, we knew that years ago that we would have these issues before us. Hayek/ Yeah. I mean, I think our goal should be ... and I think this is reflective with what staff has done so far is to avoid layoffs, uh, where, you know, where possible and to ... to, uh, position ourselves for the future, um, through attrition, uh, in every possible instance to ...to avoid situations like this. Boothroy/ And we ... we believe that we've stopped it at this point, and that, um, we have some latitude to, uh, wait for additional attrition within the organization to make the ... make some additional considerations. But I don't think we'll see that for another three or four years. Hayek/ You know it's not really ... it's not necessarily relevant to this particular one, but you know, something that comes up from time to time is our Parks and Rec department and we keep taking on more and more parkland and we have not had an increase, commensurate increase or any increase to my knowledge in... in the staff required to manage our property. Throgmorton/ I ... I'd like to say very briefly that, uh, I'm really not happy with this, uh, action, uh, and ... mainly because we're all very conscious that we have an affordable housing problem in our city, and my sense is that this regardless of what the ultimate cause is undermines our ability to provide housing that the most vulnerable people in our city can afford to live in, uh, and that's not an action I like to take and want to take. Uh, and I (both talking) Boothroy/ I think... (both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 14 Throgmorton/ ...need to be absolutely certain that ... that the program is being administered as well as it can be administered, and you know, Doug, that I've been a big supporter of our housing program. Everything I've said over the past two years has been absolutely in ... in support of it, so I need to know it's being managed well. Boothroy/ Well, you're speaking to the choir, Jim, because I've been supporting this program since 84 and (both talking) Throgmorton/ I know you have! Boothroy/ ... and ... and I ... and I am absolutely committed to ensuring its success, and I agree with all those principles that you talked about, uh, but at some point when you lose revenue to the level that we've been losing it, uh ... um ... I think people did talk at the time with sequestration going through — it's not just housing. It's other areas of the federal government, and in some cases, you know, like with, uh, air traffic controllers, they stepped in and ... gave `em a reprieve, but not here. Mims/ I guess the only additional comment I would make is I don't agree with your comment, Jim, that in doing this we are negatively impacting the ability of vulnerable people to get housing. I mean, I think from what Doug has said, the staff is still going to be able to do their job and we're not cutting the number of vouchers, we're not cutting the housing, public housing, anything like that, so I ... I strongly disagree with the comment that we are not serving those most vulnerable who need affordable housing by doing this. Boothroy/ We're going to have to redefine ourselves and our work processes, and I think that's throughout every HUD organization in this country, and this is a wake -up call in that regard. Champion/ Yeah, I think you have to be careful that you don't blame our department for the lack of funds. I mean they also cut food stamps, I mean, come on! Food stamps! So I mean it's... talk... talk to your Congress people. Boothroy/ It's a tough time! Dobyns/ You know, Jim, there are other ways to get at affordable housing. I think you have to be adept at responding to the political whims from the State and the federal, and I think that's... they're doing it. One door closes, Jim, there may be another door that opens. You and I've talked about some of the options that we will be talking about, um, I think we can't be sturgeon in how we respond. I think we have to change. We'll look at other options! Mims/ ... have to. Boothroy/ Okay! (several talking) Thank you. I'll see you later! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 15 Hayek/ Uh, all right, we're way behind here and we're probably going to have to make some tough choices. Anything else on the agenda? All right. Can we get through ... the Landfill and the sidewalk ... in the next... Markus/ Why don't we start with Landfill. That's an update, and then if we want to continue the discussion, cause I think that there was some policy discussion that we wanted to have on sidewalks, so I would encourage Rick to kind of just give you a brief update on where we are with Fiberight and then see what the clock looks like. Dobyns/ We're rushing through a Rick Fosse PowerPoint presentation (laughter and several talking) Hayek/ It can't be done! Update on Landfill Alternative Technology RFP: Fosse/ I'll put down a fast forward here (laughter) Um, as I said, this update in the process on the ... on the, uh, alternative technologies out at the Landfill and a 60- second rewind to where we've been on this. A little over a year ago, Fiberight came to you at a formal Council meeting and uh, asked to, us to consider a long -term waste supply agreement, uh, based on our proximity to their Blairstown plant. Um, it looked like an interesting process. We wanted to learn more about it. In December we did a site visit at their demonstration plant, uh, to make sure that it's compatible with ... with our site out at the Landfill, and in March of this year we made the decision to move forward with a Request for Proposals for ... for not just Fiberight but, uh, any of the other technologies that are moving down this path. Uh, in August we reviewed that Request for Proposals with you, and uh, one of the things that's unique in this proposal process is that when we get to the point where we're at now, we ... we narrow down to a single, preferred contractor, we're coming back to you and the reasons we did that in this ... this request and not typically in others is because of the ... the wide variability in technologies that could possibly come out of the other end of this. Could be gasification, incineration, fermentation, uh... anaerobic digestion (laughter) but as it turned out, we ... we only got the one proposal and that was (several talking and laughing) from Fiberight (laughs) and uh, so we still need to come back to you for that formality of ... of declaring a ... a preferred contractor, and look for that on the ... the December 17th agenda. That potentially could have been a difficult decision if we'd had different technologies to chose from, uh, so right now it's just a formality and once we're past that, enables us to go forward and begin the negotiation process of terms and price, and if we're able to ... to come to an agreement, uh, we will be back to you with a long -term contract for waste supply for which you all can consider, and .... and I'll also comment that if we are able to come to an agreement on this, this will represent a real paradigm shift in how we deal with solid waste inside our county and our service area, and as such, we have some very interested parties in this, uh, specifically, uh, City Carton because it'll impact on ... on how we handle our recyclers, as well, our recycling as well, and from ASCME, uh, because of how this could impact the way that we pick up our garbage and recycling and how we process it. So we've had conversations with both those, uh, entities. We're sharing the information that we have This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 16 in the proposals. You may hear from them — I just want you to be aware of that. Um, so are there any questions? Throgmorton/ Do you have any sense why we did not receive any other applications, or proposals? Fosse/ I ... I think it's because at the, uh, for ... for one of these emerging technologies to ... to consider an area, um, there's gotta be a compelling reason and, you know, Fiberight is considering us simply by virtue of our proximity to that ... that, uh, ethanol plant that they were able to buy very inexpensively because it was shut down. Uh, for the other major technologies to come in here it'd represent a significant investment, in an area that's really kind of sparsely populated when you look at the rest of the United States, um, but we did have a pre - submittal conference, and at that conference, uh, when we looked at the people who were there and we believed that five different technologies were represented. So we did get nationwide interest, uh, but only one that ... that was willing to put a proposal in, and uh, we did require a deposit with that proposal. People needed to put their money where their mouth was, as we wanted only serious proposals, and that's what we got. Champion/ Great! Dobyns/ Rick, when you bring in... information to us later about the downstream effects of this, uh, could you also add in how this might affect recycling for large apartment, uh, complexes and things like that? Fosse/ Yes, that's where we see one of the potential strong benefits. Dobyns/ Yeah, okay. Bramel/ Rick, what ... what's the deadline on like making a decision with ... with Fiberight? Is... is there like a... are they looking for an answer, um, within... X amount of period or... or do we have time to, you know, look at, uh, you know, other options or anything like that or ... or how does the process work? Fosse/ Fiberight is anxious to move forward with this, but you know, long -term agreements involving hundreds of thousands of tons of solid waste are ... are important things, so we're going to want to move at a pace that we're comfortable with, um, and ... and make sure that we don't lock into something that we regret. So we ... we hope to be back, uh, in spring, uh, with ... with something. Bramel/ Okay. Cool! (mumbled) Fosse/ Any questions? Markus/ I think we're constantly looking, as we look at this, uh, proposal for exit strategies, uh, which means basically keeping our current operation in place, and how you do that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 17 without driving up the cost to the consumer at the same time you're looking, or evolving this particular process. So it's kind of a tricky time for us to kind of consider maintaining what we have and exploring and maybe implementing this new technology at the same time. So, we ... we want that exit strategy to protect ourselves, to protect our solid waste operations. Fosse/ Shall we move on? Hayek/ Yeah, let's do that. Discuss Sidewalk Repair Program: Fosse/ Okay, as a minimum, we'll get through the introductory remarks. I want to give about five minutes of background on our sidewalk inspection and repair program. Uh, before I get started I want to introduce Kim Sandberg who administers the program for us, and you all know Ron Knoche our City Engineer here, so they're there, uh, to observe this. Uh, first of all I ... I... (laughter) Hayek/ Just to be clear, sorry, we ... we have about 12 or 13 minutes and then we gotta break (both talking) Fosse/ Okay! Hayek/ ... just ... proceed! Fosse/ So we'll ... go as fast as I can! (laughter) Okay. So, fortunately, you know, this shot is not in Iowa City. This is a lame vacation photo that a public works director brings home (laughter) uh ... this is more on the scale of the things that we deal with here in ... in Iowa City, excuse me, um, so getting through ... oops! Getting through the background, one of the first things I think that you need to identify when you work with a regulatory issue is ...is what are our obligations, and what are the limits of our ... of our authority. Uh, the State Code lays out the responsibility for maintaining public places, including sidewalks and that ... and that defines that that rests with the city, uh, but the State Code also enables us to, uh, require the abutting property owners to maintain the sidewalk and do the repairs. Uh, so that's... that's our obligation. Our authority is established by the City code, where we take advantage of that enabling, uh, language in the State Code so that we have an ordinance that we can, uh, have the adjoining property owners fix the sidewalk. So that's... that's the limits that we work within for our obligations and authority. Uh, a few statistics. Uh, we just looked at the past two years and we averaged 1,633 squares of sidewalk marked on 448 different properties so if you got marked, it was an average of about three squares. Susan, got you? Mims/ Just got one! Fosse/ Okay, just the one? You were lucky one then! (several talking) Um, 78% of the property owners contracted to have the work done themselves; 22% for whatever reason, uh, con This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 18 ...uh, relied on the City's contractor to repair the work and ... and have that done. Uh, when the City pays in these situations, of course along City property, if...if we're inspecting an area and there's City property there, we do inspect that. Across alleys, we pay for that, uh, damage caused by tree roots, uh, the ... from trees that are within the public right -of -way, uh, we pay half cost repairs on 8 -foot side ... 8-foot wide sidewalks and these all combine to about 6% of the sidewalks that are marked each year that the City ends up footing the bill on. Um, this is the sidewalk inspection form. I asked Kim to pull one out just at random and ... and interestingly this is ... this is Eleanor's sister's house (laughter) um, so it's ... it's a good example (several talking and laughing) there's no advantage to ... to being friends or relatives of City officials, uh (laughter) it shows that we got the repair criteria down below here and then it...it indicates the types that are marked, and you know, when we send these out, people go out and they look ... they look in their yard at what's been marked and occasionally, uh, people will ... will have a different opinion than we do, so they'll either... they'll call or send us an email or through some other means let us know that they (laughter) uh, with the decision that's been made there. And I want to play out the (both talking) Hayek/ Eleanor, you gotta talk to your sister (laughter) Fosse/ You know, I know the person whose property this is, and ... and is a good person, but there's something about having your sidewalk marked that brings out emotion in folks, uh, so ... and ... and let me show you why. It ... it's hard, uh, for ... for folks on this. I'll just show some quick examples. We'll go through `em quick but uh ... here's a sidewalk that's marked because of a displacement, uh, whereas on the neighboring property, it's not marked, and the reason for it is they went out and they did grinding and they got it within the ... the acceptable means. Uh, here's an example of spalling, uh, where it is marked, but on a neighbor's property, that's not marked because that does not exceed our thresholds. Uh, here's an example of a cracked panel. It's marked because the ... it's cracked to such an extent and it's becoming loose and coming apart. Uh, this panel was not marked, uh, because it's stable and it's been sealed. So, you know, there's... there's a lot of judgment that needs to go in to marking these when the inspector's out there, and... and we do this with temporary employees. We send college kids out there, uh, armed with (both talking) Champion/ Well that explains it! Fosse/ ...armed with the worksheet! Yeah, Kim does a very good job of...of coaching these people and helping respond to, uh, disputes that occur. Here ... here's another one, you know, it's got a piece missing over here. Maybe that's the 2- square inches the sign was talking about. Uh, but here's one that wasn't marked, because, you know there's just not enough missing there and this ... this lip here does not exceed the threshold. Uh, one thing I do want to point out that we see a lot of in the northend is this ... this, just disintegration of the sidewalk and it's a really interesting construction technique that was used up there that has about three to four inches of a low -grade concrete base with a skim coat of high - grade concrete that's held up very well, until like the last ten years, and it's just disintegrating out there because that ... that sub -base is broken down, but you can see that This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 19 that skim coat is ... is less than a half an inch thick and that's what's been holding up all these years. Um, so we'll take a quick look at the timeline of our program. Prior to 1997, we went out and we inspected on a complaint basis, and we do not only the, uh, the location of the complaint, but we do the whole block, cause we're out there anyway and also sometimes people rat on their neighbors when they're in a dispute to get sidewalks marked and then everybody in the block gets theirs marked. Uh, in 1997 we implemented a systematic means of inspecting the entire city by district. We put ten districts in place, and this ... this was a result in partisan case law in Iowa, I believe it was in Dubuque, that uh ... kind of established an obligation to do this on the part of cities. Uh, in 2006, we had completed the inspection of the entire city. We'd had it in place for ten years. Uh, in 2009 we amended our criteria that we use for inspecting. Uh, first of all the ... the criteria for a displaced crack went from three- quarters of an inch to an inch, and part of that is because of the expansive soils that we have in Iowa City, just depending on how wet the soil is, these cracks can vary in ... in elevation. Uh, so that we ... we raise that to an inch, and we also introduced three new criteria, uh, that ... would, that you could fix with patching, instead of replacing the entire square of concrete. We're seeing a lot of concrete replaced that was just ... for a relatively small defect. And patching materials have progressed over the years and now that we're coming back, at least on a ten -year basis, we can monitor those patches and see how we're doing, so we're allowing that ...that patching to occur. Uh, our next milestone will be in 2016 where we will complete our second full inspection of the city, and uh ... a quick metric of how we're doing on this is looking at claims against the City for trip- and - falls, and I've broken this down by ... by decade, and if you look at the 1990s, remember our program started in 97 of the systematic inspections and things have trailed off significantly. We have a very strong defense now, uh, for when claims are submitted, and we have better sidewalks out there because of the inspection program, so we ... uh, we're getting the outcome that we were hoping for. So with that quick introduction, we'll open it up to discussion of the program. Throgmorton/ Rick, what's the average cost per property owner for repairs, and what's the range? You know, minimum, maximum. Fosse/ You have that on the top of your head, Kim? Sandberg/ (away from mic) I don't and it's hard to know (unable to hear) Hayek/ You'll have... sorry! (both talking) If you could come up to the mic, we just have to get it recorded (both talking) Fosse/ So our ... our, each square of concrete is ... is 16- square feet, and do we bid that by the square foot? Sandberg/ We bid it by the square foot, but it depends, I mean, there's 8 -foot sides... sidewalk out there, 5 -foot sidewalk as Susan had. She had one square where somebody else could have their whole sidewalk marked. So an average amount, it's just kind of hard to determine (several talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 20 Mims/ And mine just needs to be patched. It doesn't have ... the whole thing doesn't have to be taken out, so... Sandberg/ Um, the bids that we received this past year were the lowest that we've ever received. It was 4.25 a square foot for four -inch thick sidewalk and six -inch thick sidewalk was 4.50 a square foot. It's been about $1.50 higher for the past, um ... oh, probably for the past five, six years. For some reason we just had a contractor who really low bid it this year. Throgmorton/ So it's $100 per panel? Fosse/ ...times three, that's (both talking) Sandberg/ This year it was around $75.00 for a four -by -four square. Typical years I would say it's more around $90, $95 for a four -by -four square. Throgmorton/ Okay, so I ask the question because, you know, this is the main reason why I brought the topic up, uh, some time ago. It ... it has to do with the fact that most of these repairs — tell me if I'm wrong — occur in older core neighborhoods. Sandberg/ Not necessarily. Throgmorton/ I ... I'd like to have some facts on it, if they're available. Champion/ She doesn't live in an older core neighborhood. Throgmorton/ All right, so ... I, my, you know, if I'm wrong, I need to be told I'm wrong, but surely, I mean, when I walk around an older core neighborhood, I see you know lots of pink lines saying this needs to be repaired, this needs to be fixed, whatever. A lot of that! I don't see it when I'm walking around in other neighborhoods. All right, so that's one thing. So then I'm ... that makes me think that the cost of repairing sidewalks is being unfairly born, at least that's the argument, I might be wrong again, unfairly born by people who own property in our older core neighborhoods and that runs completely counter to our objective of stabilizing and enhancing our older core neighborhoods. So... Champion/ I'm not sure that you're right. I mean, I'm sure you're right that there are more marked sidewalks, but eventually those newer neighborhoods, those sidewalks are going to start to fall apart too. Mims/ I was amazed at how many got marked in our neighborhood this summer. There's a lot! Fosse/ When the program started in 97, uh, we started with worst first, and that was south of Highway 6. So that was the worst neighborhood citywide at that time. And then we've worked through since then. Uh, now that we've been through the city, at least once, uh, your observation may be correct that now those are the ... the oldest sidewalks out there This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 21 and they're all up brought up to similar standard, it would stand to reason that they may ...may go, uh, may degrade at a higher rate. Throgmorton/ Another thing I'm conscious of, and I get this from people I've talked to who live in especially the Northside Neighborhood, is that ... it's really hard for ordinary people to understand why a particular thing is marked and another particular thing is not marked, even though they look exactly the same. Fosse/ Uh huh! Throgmorton/ So the ... it's just, it's incomprehensible in many cases, and it seems arbitrary and it seems, urn ... well, incomprehensible and arbitrary, I'll just leave it at that. Fosse/ Yeah, and that's why I showed you that series of slides because it...it is difficult to distinguish some of those differences, and it's difficult for our staff when they go out and ...and make a judgment call and ... and many of those are judgment calls. Uh, if you take away that subjectivity, I think we end up replacing a lot of sidewalk that doesn't really need to be replaced. Markus/ And ... and when you were showing the slide, you showed a form that has multiple different reasons why a sidewalk square would be replaced. Fosse/ Yes! Markus/ And so that gets noted when you ... you leave the notice at somebody's door. Fosse/ Correct. Hayek/ Rick, how much time do we give someone to do the work once we've flagged a sidewalk? Mims/ One year! Fosse/ Oh! Hayek/ Or I should ask the Chief Offender here. Mims/ Think that's what mine said (laughs) Sandberg/ During the summer the sidewalks are marked, and they're given to May 15th of the following year to complete the repairs by. Mims/ Okay. Hayek/ Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 22 Fosse/ And we also give (several talking) usually a year in advance, don't we, through the neighborhood newsletters? Sandberg/ If there's an active neighborhood cause we do divide the area geographically by the neighborhood associations. Fosse/ That allows people to do some patching and grinding in advance. If they chose to. Throgmorton/ So here ... here's my question to the Council ... why not have the entire program conducted by the City with the City paying for it out of property tax revenues so that the cost can be fairly born by all the property tax payers throughout the city, rather than being born on people who happen to live in older neighborhoods. Mims/ I don't think you've yet proven the fact that it's being unfairly born by people in older neighborhoods. Throgmorton/ Fair enough. So I'd like to have some information that'd be helpful, at least I believe it would be helpful to have some facts, at hand... not right now. Champion/ Well it would seem that you'd be right (both talking) Throgmorton/ ...about where ... where these repairs are taking place and whether some significant difference in, you know, where they're occurring, and if not, then what I'm saying is completely irrelevant and I'm okay with that. Markus/ But, Jim, you know, the alternative, you know, source that you're suggesting for revenue is the very source that (laughs) is driven, is going to be driving down. How do you ... how do you balance the book by ... by using property tax when we know that through property tax, uh, reform that amount of revenue to the City is on the decline, I mean, it ... we estimated it at $50 million a decline over ten years! I mean ... I don't know that that's a reasonable alternative source of revenue to take care of the sidewalk issue. And what that means is, you're going to use that up against all other expenditures out of the General Fund. Which ones do you think are going to suffer? Hayek/ Why don't we (both talking) Markus/ Here we are purporting to be a walkable community, and we're not going to keep these sidewalks up? It's, to me, across the country it's a ... it's an adjacent, uh, benefit to the primary property and that's why they've always been done that way, primarily across the country. Unless you're flush with a lot of money! Hayek/ Why don't we do this... Throgmorton/ Well, Tom... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 23 Hayek/ ...cause we gotta ... we gotta disband and let them re ... reconfigure. What I would suggest is if you can get an answer to Jim's question about where this ... if...if there is an answer to be gotten, but ... and then let's work session it again, and come back and have a little more fluid discussion, armed with those facts and then figure out where to go. Throgmorton/ Okay. Okay, thanks. Fosse/ Sounds good! Hayek/ All right! So we'll end the work session. Shall we take up after the formal? (several responding) I mean we ... I guess we are. (RECORDING ENDS FOR FORMAL SESSION) Information Packets: Hayek/ So let's try to get through this. Payne/ Ten minutes! Hayek/ Sure. (several talking) So we left off with the sidewalk repair program, and we're going to bring that back at a future work session and get some answers to Jim's questions. That brings us to the info packets. First is, uh, November 14th. Any, uh, any questions from that one? Throgmorton/ IP #3, which has to do with, uh, secure storage services for homeless individuals. You ... you and I communicated by email about this, Geoff. I just wanted to double - check. Do we need to formally respond to your recommendation or... Fruin/ As long as there's, uh, you know, an acknowledgement of the process that we're suggesting and you ... you feel comfortable with what we've laid out, we'll go forward with it and bring that back to you after we get, uh, responses, if we get any. So, if we don't hear objections, we'll move forward. Throgmorton/ Yeah, I ... I'd say, you know, full speed ahead. Mims/ Yep! Hayek/ Yep, we'll see what ... what happens with it. Other questions on that info packet? Throgmorton/ Uh, IP #4, it's a memo about state flood mitigation and reinvestment district programs. I think you alerted us to the second of..of those two, Tom, uh, it, uh, as I understand it, it would enable cities to capture state sales in hotel /motel taxes from new projects and reinvest them back into certain defined districts. Markus/ Correct. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 24 Throgmorton/ I don't know about you, but it sounds like a terrible idea to me. So, uh ... (laughs) just observing it. Too bad, uh, somebody'll use it and ... I don't know if...I don't know if it applies here, but I don't like the program. Fruin/ Yeah there's two separate programs. One the flood mitigation (both talking) Throgmorton/ I'm not complaining about the flood mitigation. Fruin/ Okay. So the reinvestment districts is separate. That was a economic, uh, development initiative that the State put out. There's a ... I believe $100 million worth of funds, uh, that they will distribute over a period of time to ... two cities on a competitive process. So we're evaluating options internally on whether we want to apply for that, and what that application might look like. Markus/ I think you might change your mind by the time it's all done (several talking) Throgmorton/ Could be! I look forward to changing my mind about a lot of things. Thanks! Hayek/ By the way, just a quick welcome to ... to Simon Andrew, who's moved up, uh, administrative assistant position and ... and our new intern, Asha Adhikari, who's also in the City Manager's department, uh, or office. Uh, known you, Simon, for quite a while. Asha's back there. And she... she has helped me with a couple of things, uh, as has Simon and I've been very impressed and we're glad to ... maintain... Markus/ As are we! Hayek/ ... strong... strong leadership in that department, so ... look forward to that! Okay, uh, November 21St info packet. All right. Going once, going twice! Mims/ Gone! Hayek/ Gone! November 27th Throgmorton/ IP 49, it's a ... a November 25th email from Jeff Davidson to me, uh, stating that a particular individual, uh, well, he names the person who tore down three buildings on south Dodge Street, near Bowery. Uh, I take that... the... the demolition of those three buildings to be, uh, at least on first glance to be a worrisome sign that we're not doing enough to stabilize and improve our core neighborhoods. We mentioned ... we talked about this briefly during our strategic plan session. Connie, you weren't there but... I don't know what to do about it, but it ... I think it's a worrisome sign and ... we should be looking into it. Hayek/ I agree with you, and um ... I think if you looked at the zoning designations in some of our core neighborhoods you'd be surprised to see (both talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 25 Throgmorton/ How much can happen? Hayek/ Yeah. How upzoned they are, so to speak. Payne / And it happened right over here on Washington too, I mean. Hayek/ It did and when you, you know, look no further than the ... sort of College and Governor area, just east of there and ... and the huge structures that we see there, relative to single - family homes in an otherwise historic district. Uh, so I don't know what we do with that, um... Payne/ Is it something that we ask the Planning Department to show us a map of these things, where there's houses now but it's zoned for multi - family so we can kind of see it, and should we think about... can we think about changing zoning or... Markus/ Yeah, I think what you'd have to do is you'd have to identify areas that are likely candidates for ... for this kind of activity, and ... and then the serious part of that, um... decision is the down- zoning decision. Hayek/ Right! Markus/ To protect `em! And ... and I can tell you, you know, over the years, uh, prior to my arrival, uh, staff made some recommendations on those things. We got pushback from property owners, so you know it's not without its peril in terms of (several responding) engendering a response that, you know, you would expect when somebody has their property down - zoned. Throgmorton/ Yeah and tell me if I'm wrong about this, but if...if we did proposed down - zoning, and if a certain percentage of property owners basically objected, then we need a super- majority to go through with it, right? So there's a big obstacle for sure. Hayek/ Well, and then you get into the moratorium if you go far enough down the road and dealt with that but ... but this is an important thing that I think we should be looking at. (several talking) ...what the appropriate approach is but uh... Dickens/ Gotta start somewhere! (several talking) Hayek/ ...yeah. Markus/ Sometimes the unintended consequence of that is that you spur development at a much more rapid pace. Hayek/ I know it! A race ... a race to the demolition... is what you can provoke so... Throgmorton/ Demolition derby! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 26 Hayek/ Do ... Tom, do you want to ... (several talking) Markus/ I get it. We'll have a discussion at our staff meeting about it. Hayek/ Okay. Champion/ But I think when you look at ... when you look at doing that, it is ... it isn't easy to do, but I'm not so sure it's any more difficult than Historic Preservation overlays, which have been a constant battle in this community, and I think anybody who (several talking) has no objection to `em anymore! But, right! (several talking) Hayek/ Maybe that's another angle! Payne/ Ready to go home! Champion/ Yeah, it's ... it's important. Hayek/ Okay. Mims/ Um, IP5, Chamber banquet. Marian, will you put me down, please? Throgmorton/ Yeah, me too, please. Mims/ (mumbled) Karr/ Matt waved too? Mims/ Matt waved, yeah! (laughter and several talking) Payne/ Did you get enough? Hayek/ You lucky devil! Uh, thanks for those articles, uh, IP6 and IPT I thought those were very interesting. Mims/ Yes, they were. Dickens/ He's busy talking. Hayek/ Uh, anything else on the 27th? Okay, Council time. Council Time: Payne/ Didn't we already do that? (several talking and laughing) Dickens/ Jim, you've got something to say. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 27 Throgmorton/ Yeah, I do. Two ... two things ... but I was waiting to see if anybody else had something. I believe... things went awry during our last meeting when we were deciding whether to reappoint a particular member to the ... to the Human Rights Commission. Champion/ (both talking) ... same thing! Throgmorton/ So I'm not blaming anybody. I just think things went awry. And ... and I believe that in the future, whenever anyone wants to deny, well, whenever there's a consideration of not reappointing someone to a board or a commission, we should discuss that in Executive Session, for precisely the same reasons that we discuss personnel matters, because things could possibly be difficult to talk about. Hayek/ So denial... Mims/ Can we legally? Throgmorton/ No... Dilkes/ I have ... I have answered no to that question in the past, I mean, I can certainly look at it again. Mims/ Cause they're not actually a City employee. Dilkes/ Yeah, I ... I think that'd be a tough one. Hayek/ And you're talk ... Jim, you're talking about ... uh, denial of reappointment, not just ... yeah. Somebody who's presently a Commissioner. Throgmorton/ Right. Right. Champion/ (mumbled) ...about that because, uh, it didn't go my way. That isn't the only reason I'm going to bring this up. Uh ... but Michelle was not privy to the discussion we had at the work session, and then because... ordinarily we don't have that much discussion about ... a commission appointment, but because it was kind of a lot of discussion, kind of a heated discussion at times, because she was not privy to that, I felt offended that she was able to vote on it. Now... Payne/ But I heard the discussion at Council. Champion/ No, we didn't ... the discussion was at the work session. Payne/ I ... I know there's usually typically more and probably in- depth, but (both talking) Champion/ ...I'm just asking... Hayek/ It did complicate it that we didn't have her, um, participation. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 28 Champion/ And so I think... Hayek/ That's a fair point. Champion/ ... if you're going to... if you're going to participate in the Council meeting and vote on things that were discussion at the work session, you need to also be part of that work session, or you excuse yourself from that particular vote. Mims/ I don't think we can enforce that, can we, either. Hayek/ Well, I think it's a fair point, but it's ... it's a very rare... Champion/ It's so rare. It's not happened in 16 years, okay! Hayek/ ...yeah. Mims/ ...be happy! (laughter) Champion/ I'm not going to leave and be happy if they don't change that rule! (laughter) I'll come back and pester you at every meeting! Dickens/ Promise? Mims/ Well if it's only happened once in 16 years, I think we're doing pretty well. Champion/ Yeah, well we haven't ordinarily had people participate on the phone before. Dobyns/ We have one more meeting, Connie. We'll see what we can do! (laughter) Mims/ How much more damage she can do! (laughter) Hayek/ Other Council time items? Throgmorton/ Um, yeah, there was ... I think there was one other... Hayek/ ... a second one, Jim. Throgmorton/ uh ... I'm trying to read ... no, never mind. Meeting Schedule: Hayek/ Meeting schedule. Karr/ (clears throat) I had re ... responded back to the inquiries about the School Board meeting. And they do meet traditionally on the second and fourth Tuesdays. So if we would stay This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013. December 3, 2013 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 29 with the first and third, generally speaking unless there are some circumstances for special meetings, that would not be a conflict. Hayek/ I say we do that. I think it's what the public is used to, and it would provide that consistency that we talked about at strategic planning. (noises on mic) Mims/ Well, and especially now with people being able to phone in if they, you know ... we don't have very many people missing very often, and the ability to participate electronically if you really have to, I think... Dobyns/ Thanksgiving, uh, November 2014, is that ... would we have a ... would we have a Tuesday Council meeting before Thanksgiving (mumbled) (several responding) Okay. Karr/ No! Dickens/No, we wouldn't have a conflict. Champion/ ...plan your calendar that far ahead? Dickens/ Yes he does! Hayek/ That's a lot of turkey basting! (laughter) Dobyns/ I've got the radio show beyond my ... my term! (laughter) Karr/ Then starting April lst as noted in the, uh, memo, we'll prepare a year -long, uh, first and third Tuesday, and take a look at it, and if there's issues come up and we can deal with `em. Pending Work Session Topics: Hayek/ Pending work session topics? Anything on that? Okay. Upcoming events, Council invites? Upcoming Events / Council Invites: Throgmorton/ I'll mention one thing. Uh, on behalf of the Council, I'll be going to the Regional Workforce Investment Boards meeting on Thursday, and Michelle will be there too I think, although she won't be doing it on part of the Council. She's... she's appointed by the Governor. Payne/ I'm going to be ... (both talking) on the phone. If they need me for a quorum, cause I'm going to be in Des Moines that day. Hayek/ Okay. Think that's it. All right. Thanks everyone, uh, let's end the work session and go home! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of December 3, 2013.