HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-09-16 TranscriptionSeptember 16, 2014 Iowa City City Council Work Session Page 1
Council Present: Botchway, Dickens, Dobyns, Hayek, Mims, Payne (electronically),
Throgmorton
Staff Present: Fruin, Bockenstedt, Dilkes, Karr, Davidson, Yapp, Miklo, Boothroy, Hart,
Fosse, Hargadine
Others Present: McCarty, Neal (UISG)
Hayek/ All right. Why don't we get started. I want to welcome everyone to our work session.
Uh, Michelle Payne is, uh, on the speaker. She's home sick, but has graciously, uh,
agreed to attempt to participate by telephone. Are you there, Michelle?
Payne/ (laughter) I am, but I had to take it off mute (laughter) Yes, I'm here. Thank you!
Hayek/ Okay, you sound great (laughter) I'm kidding!
Throgmorton/ Hi, Michelle!
Hayek/ Ah, and before we get started, I just want to thank, uh, everybody here at the City, uh, for
their good wishes with respect to my dad's passing. He loved the City, um, and working
with, uh, everybody associated with it and your gestures were ... were very much
appreciated, uh, and it's good to be back in the saddle! So ... with that, let's move on.
Uh, first bullet point is questions regarding agenda items. Anybody want to get started?
Questions from Council re: Agenda Items:
Mims/ Yeah, if I can find `em (laughs)
Botchway/ Yeah, I mean, mine's page numbers.
ITEM 3d(2) PROCUREMENT OF BODY WORN DIGITAL CAMERA
SYSTEM AND STORAGE SOLUTION - RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING
THE PROCUREMENT OF BODY -WORN DIGITAL CAMERA SYSTEM
AND STORAGE SOLUTION FOR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT
ITEM 3f(5) David Noerper: Wedge Closure
Throgmorton/ Well, waiting for them, I'd like to pull two items from the Consent Calendar. Uh,
one is Item 3d(2), about body warn digital cameras. And ... it might be helpful for me just
to state the questions I have about it that, uh, the Chief could address during the ... the
meeting. The other is Item 3f(5), which is an email from David Noerper, about the
closing of The Wedge, and I've already communicated with Geoff about that.
Hayek/ Um, can we remove pieces of correspondence from... Consent? I mean...
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Karr/ You certainly can, but you also can discuss it, I mean, you're just accepting it, not acting
on it.
Throgmorton/ R ... right, and I'm not proposing any action about it.
Karr/ Okay. Okay.
Throgmorton/ I just ... I know there's some questions out in the community. I'd like to ask those
questions, and I've already put them to Geoff by email (several talking) prepared for
them.
Hayek/ What ... what if we during ... what if we didn't remove it but during discussion of the
Consent, just take that up?
Throgmorton/ Can do!
Hayek/ And then remove the ... the other one, which is ... um...
Mims/ Body cams?
Hayek/ Body cams, because that is action.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, and maybe for the Chief's, uh, benefit I should state, uh, like two or three
questions that I would like him to address during the ... the formal meeting. Is that okay,
Matt? (both talking)
Hayek/ Oh, yeah, absolutely!
Throgmorton/ ...just state them for the Chief? Yeah, so ... one, Sam, is how will the recorded
video images be used? And who will have access to them? Uh, the other is how long
would the visual information be stored? And there might be other questions that
members of the public would have, but those are ones that I'm aware of and that come to
my mind.
Dobyns/ Jim, can you repeat which ... which one this is?
Throgmorton/ Sure! That's Item 3d(2).
Dobyns/ 3d(2), thanks!
Throgmorton/ About, uh, body worn digital cameras.
ITEM 3d(8) PUBLIC WORKS EXTERIOR WASHOUT, PCC ACCESS ROAD
AND STORM SEWER - RESOLUTION AWARDING CONTRACT AND
AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST
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A CONTRACT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE IOWA CITY PUBLIC WORKS
EXTERIOR WASHOUT, PCC ACCESS ROAD AND STORM SEWER
PROJECT.
Hayek/ So we also ... since we're in the Consent right now, uh, 3d(8) needs to be, uh, removed.
This is a, uh, the Public Works' exterior washout project, and as I understand it, staff
wants to move that and not reschedule it at this time and just ... take it up when we get to
it.
Karr/ We'll bring it back for action later.
Hayek/ Okay. So we would be rem ... so we'll need a motion on #3 to remove 3d(2) for separate
consideration, and remove 3d(8) with no action. And then during discussion of Item 3,
Jim, we'll bring up, uh, the letter. If that makes sense!
ITEM 3d(9) WILLOW CREEK STREAMBANK RESTORATION -
RESOLUTION AWARDING CONTRACT AND AUTHORIZING THE MAYOR
TO SIGN AND THE CITY CLERK TO ATTEST A CONTRACT FOR
CONSTRUCTION OF THE WILLOW CREEK STREAMBANK RESTORATION
PROJECT.
Payne/ Matt, I have a question on 3d(9).
Hayek/ Okay.
Payne/ My question is, it's the Willow Creek streambank restoration, and my question is, the
engineer's estimate was $202,000. The low bid was about $98,000. The other bids are
all over $100,000, like... $187,000 and $195,000. Are we concerned that there's
something missing in Carter & Associates bid by any stretch of the imagination, I guess?
Fosse/ Michelle, this is Rick Fosse here. Um, we did have that concern and our staff talked with,
uh, Carter & Associates about that to make sure that they fully understood the scope
and ... and by all appearances they do. This project just fits well within their schedule and
... and they're able to give us a... a very good price on that.
Payne/ Okay! Thanks for the explanation.
Fosse/ You're welcome!
Hayek/ Other agenda items?
Throgmorton/ Matt, since I'll probably be making that motion, what was the second item, about,
uh ... the first was, uh, move to have it pulled for separate consideration, and then second
item was what?
Hayek/ 3d(8). (several talking)
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Dickens/ ...it'll be brought back to us at a later time.
Dobyns/ So you're just gonna batch `em together, Jim (mumbled) make that ... motion?
Throgmorton/ That's what I'm thinkin' yeah.
Dobyns/ Okay.
Throgmorton/ Okay.
Hayek/ What ... I could also just read it. Want me to just read it, and then you could move and
someone could second? Let's just do that. Okay, other agenda items?
ITEM 3f(1) Nancy Bird: Mobile food vendor pilot
Botchway/ I think Jim brought up the one that I was going to bring up, as well. Um, the only
other one was ... I know this is beatin' a dead horse, but 3f(1), uh, the mobile food vendor
pilot. Obviously I understand the concerns of the downtown brick and mortar businesses,
um, but, uh ... just looking for ... making sure that we don't, you know, kind of poo -poo on
this one and move past it, is just my major concern. Urn ... uh, just because it is, you
know, it's more of a kind of millennial student type of thing and it is kind of in a place
where not ... not a lot of millennial students hang out, um, so moving it closer to
downtown or even moving it closer to ... towards the river, I think, would, um, be a better
place, but I just want to make sure that we're not ... just dropping it. So, that's all.
Fruin/ We'll come back to you with the full report and right now I have Alec Bramel who you're
all familiar with, our former UISG liaison. He's doing some research for us, uh, as our
intern on ... on other ordinances and we'll ... we'll bring a synopsis of those to you, uh,
after the pilot. I will just let you know, because I ... after I provided you the update in a
...in the last Info Packet ... a couple Info Packets ago, we did have one more vendor drop.
So we started with five and now we're down to three.
Dobyns/ What kind of research you doing, Alec? You gaining weight? (laughter)
ITEM 8. MITIGATION ON DEMOLITION OF HENRY SABIN SCHOOL -
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION OF A
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT (MOA) WITH THE FEDERAL
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (FEMA), THE STATE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA (SHSI), IOWA HOMELAND
SECURITY AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT
(IHSEMD), THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA (UNIVERSITY), THE OFFICE
OF THE STATE ARCHAEOLOGIST OF THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA
(OSA), AND THE CITY OF IOWA CITY (CITY) REGARDING THE
RELOCATION OF THE UNIVERSITY'S SCHOOL OF MUSIC
(UNDERTAKING), RESULTING IN DEMOLITION OF THE FORMER
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IOWA CITY COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT ADMINISTRATIVE
OFFICE BUILDING, FORMERLY THE HENRY SABIN ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL ( SABIN SCHOOL), LOCATED AT 509 SOUTH DUBUQUE
STREET, IOWA CITY.
Botchway/ And then the other question, sorry, was um ... the Evan ... no, not Evan Heights. Was
the ... Henry Sabin School. Um, I just wanted to make sure that I was reading everything
correctly. Um, that we didn't have, um, any particular stake in any of this process. It just
kind of came to us at the particular time, and that's what it said. I just wanted to make
sure that was clear.
Miklo/ Yes, um...
Botchway/ Okay.
Miklo/ ...Bob Miklo from the Development Services Division. Um, the, uh, FEMA came to us
and said we'd like your input on this. They made it clear that the decision to remove the
building was not within our purview. They wanted input from the Historic Preservation
Commission on what might be done to mitigate the loss of the building.
Botchway/ Okay.
Miklo/ (mumbled)
Botchway/ Cause I've gotten questions about, um, why is the City, you know, destroying the
building and I wanted to make sure that it wasn't us doing that. Okay.
Hayek/ That's a good point!
ITEM 5c. EVAN HEIGHTS — RESOLUTION APPROVING A PRELIMINARY
PLAT FOR EVAN HEIGHTS. (SUB14- 00015)
Hayek/ I don't know if there are going to be questions on 5c, which is Evan Heights, but we can
talk about that during the work session if there are questions.
Throgmorton/ We can?
Hayek/ We can.
Throgmorton/ Oh, well ... it's a pretty (mumbled) or sticky wicket it seems to me. I wasn't
prepared to talk about it during the work session, but uh...
Hayek/ Well we don't have to! But...
Throgmorton/ Yeah. Um...
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Hayek/ It's not a rezoning.
Throgmorton/ Well, uh, what's the... (mumbled) The definition of a `common facility,' seems to
be ... uh, significant. So ... either now or later ... I ... I need to know what the Code ... how
the Code defines `common facility,' or `common facilities.' Uh ... guess that, you know,
that ... that has significant implications for what I would chose to do.
Dilkes/ I think there's pretty clear absence of any common facility in this situation. (mumbled)
generally common facilities are going to be infrastructure that spans a number of lots,
um, such as water, sewer, or road infrastructure. I think there was some suggestion at the
P &Z meeting that the mailbox cluster would be a common facility. I think... that's...
clearly not contemplated by ... by the ordinance. So...
Throgmorton/ Uh, equipment that the, uh, land developer owns and uses to develop the land is
not a common facility?
Dilkes/ Nope!
Throgmorton/ Plans that, uh, the developer use ... produces in order to decide how to subdivide,
uh, his property?
Dilkes/ Plans that he uses?
Throgmorton/ Well, the ... the...
Dilkes/ I...1 think the best way I can say it, Jim, is I don't see any common facilities here.
Throgmorton/ What I mean is ... we have, in this instance, one developer... who owns a
significant... what, is it three -some odd acres of land.
Dilkes/ 3.95 I believe.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, and ... and he's choosing to subdivide it in a certain way, which means he's
already engaged in some planning for (both talking)
Dilkes/ A subdivision is not a development activity under the sensitive areas ordinance. A
development activity is a disturbance of ground.
Throgmorton/ Okay, and ... on ... on this, uh, three -point some odd acres of land, he's using ... uh,
the... identical pieces of equipment to, uh ... grade the ... the land, uh, and ... and thereby
make it, uh ... uh, developable in the way that he (both talking)
Dilkes/ I think that would be an incredible stretch to identify a common piece of equipment as a
common facility for the use of all these lots. Again, I think you need to think about
infrastructure — streets, water, sewer — that kind of thing.
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Throgmorton/ You seem to be defining `common facilities' as, uh ... um ... infrastructure owned
and operated and managed by the City.
Dilkes/ No, not necessarily. I think if you look at the definition, it talks about, um ... we're
talking about the definition of `tract,' and if you look at the definition of `tract' and you
look at the examples that are used there for a `common facility,' I think that is what gives
definition to what a `common facility' is, and ... and I just ... I think the easiest answer is I
don't see one of those here.
Mims/ I mean, I would agree with that. I ... I don't see anything common facility. I think ... like
P &Z, I'm sure a lot of us are concerned about this and ... um ... sensitive areas and all that.
I ... I think it goes back to looking at how some of those ordinances are constructed, and is
it something that as a Council we ... want to go back and take a look at, and this is kind of
an unusual situation, it sounds like, but is it something that we want to make sure ... if we
feel this is slipping through, like I think some of the P &Z people did, if there's a loophole
that we feel is there, then I think ... we need to take this up after the fact and try to have
staff plug the loophole. But I ... I would certainly agree with Eleanor that equipment and
things like that are, yeah, don't constitute facilities as much as we might like to find
something (both talking)
Dilkes/ I mean, I think if you don't like the result, then you need to amend the ordinance (both
talking)
Mims/ Right, that's...
Dilkes/ ...but I think the ordinance interpretation is quite clear.
Mims/ Yeah.
Hayek/ Yeah.
Mims/ Yeah, that's my point. I think if we don't like what's happening, then we've gotta go
with what the ordinance is now, but then we need to go back and say do we want to
relook at, you know, redo the ordinance.
Botchway/ Well I guess when does that happen? So I mean, could we amend the ordinance and
then ... I'm confused about how that works. So if we ... if we do want to amend the
ordinance, then do we (both talking)
Mims/ I don't think you can hold this hostage to a change in ordinance. I mean, if...if he's made
an application that fits within... Eleanor's the attorney, that fits within the current
ordinance, I don't see how we can turn it down.
Dilkes/ Yeah, that's right.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, there's no doubt about that.
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Mims/ I mean ... that's like saying I don't like what you're doing so I'm going to go change the
law so then what you're doing is illegal. I mean...
Botchway/ Well effectively we're doing that just ... we're possibly doing it. It would just be the
other way around. So we would be ... we'd ... we'd be saying that, you know, the loophole
that's being created is not okay, but do it after the fact.
Mims/ No. I think if there's a loophole ... and what he's done fits within that loophole, I think we
have to approve this.
Botchway/ Okay.
Dilkes/ You've not ... you've not placed any moratorium on development.
Mims/ Yeah!
Dilkes/ So the existing statute supply, or the existing ordinances apply to the application in front
of you.
Mims/ Yeah!
Throgmorton/ If...uh, if we're going to consider the possibility of, uh ... amending the ordinance
to ... to deal with this particular difficulty, I would say there've been at least two other,
uh ... um ... I ... I guess subdivision plats, uh, that are ... or rezonings that have come to us
that in my view, at least, urn ... ran counter to the fundamental purpose of the sensitive
natural areas ordinance, and yet we ... I ... I felt like I had to vote for them because of the
way the existing ordinance was written. So I would think we would want to revisit...
those... components as well. Uh, and I'd have to kind of look back over, you know, our
experiences to remember exactly what they were (both talking)
Dickens/ ... other First Avenue (both talking)
Throgmorton/ One was on First Avenue and the other was in... in my view at least was the one
up by your house. I've forgotten the, you know...
Payne/ But, Jim, this isn't the rezoning. This is a subdivision plat.
Throgmorton/ Well true, so ... so what I just mentioned, Michelle, would have no direct bearing
on this particular proposal ... for the reasons that Eleanor already articulated and Susan
mentioned. Uh, what I'm referring to is if we're going to, uh, instruct the Planning and
Zoning Commission or some other body to look at the sensitive natural areas ordinance
itself, I ... I would think we would want to expand the charge to include some other things
that we've already experienced in our... in the last three years, at least.
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Hayek/ Yeah, I... you... you'll probably get through your... all seven of us to... to, uh, to, you
know, to agree to a work session, what would be a policy change, um, and look at that,
but um ... as it relates to this ... this item, you know, that ... a policy change would, or an
ordinance change, would ... would, uh, come after that. Uh, and frankly I think we ... and I
don't know that there's disagreement, but I ... I think we expose the City to risk if we,
um ... uh ... try to ... squeeze that into consideration of, uh, a pending agenda item, a
pending, uh, application, um ... uh, you know, that we're to vote on this evening.
Dickens/ So we want this process to move forward (mumbled) I know this piece, but I think
Jim's saying we want to ... put this thing on the table, that we want to look into it. If
there's enough ... and I think I'm interested, and I know you are, and I think we've got
enough to...to put it, to move it forward.
Hayek/ And I'm not ... I'm not convinced that there is something worth changing, but to the
extent that there is confusion or disappointment, that we saw at the P &Z level, and
potentially at the Council level, I think that suggests...
Dickens/ More clarification.
Mims/ Uh huh.
Hayek/ More clarification and ... and drilling down as necessary.
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I mean ... it certainly was an issue for the Commissioners.
Hayek/ Yeah.
Mims/ So ... okay!
Fruin/ We can place that on pending. I think what would be helpful for us in preparation for that
is if you could share any examples that you, uh, Jim, you mentioned there's two examples
there. If anybody else has examples, uh, it's a ... pretty complicated, technical part of the
Code and I think it'd be most productive to ... to work from those concerns or ... or
examples that (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...I can say one thing I've wondered about is ... wh ... whether, well, whether there
have been any amendments to that ... to the sensitive natural areas ... areas part of the Code
in the approximately 20 years since it was first adopted. And if there were amendments,
when they were ... when the amendments took place and ... wh ... what the amenth...
amendments constituted.
Fruin/ Okay!
Hayek/ Okay. Other agenda items? All right, well, let's move on! Next item is an update from,
uh, Rod Lehnertz representing the University on, uh, construction items! Hello, Rod!
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University Construction Update:
Lehnertz/ How's everybody tonight? (several responding) Well ... uh, I was invited to come and
give you an update. Now, some of this may be old hat to some of you, but uh, a lot is
happening at the University of Iowa. And, uh, so we thought it best to get everybody up
on the same speed, same page, with respect to the, uh, development on our campus. Uh,
and it's not a complete picture — we'd be here all night, but ... (laughter) What I wanted to
do is first get us caught up on the flood Our flood recovery where we stand right now,
this is a ... a, an old aerial photograph model showing that inundation back in 2008, and
our ground -zero with respect to the impact of our campus. Uh, you can see our ... our
totals are expected to grow. Total impact about $900 million. Uh, we're, um ... we're at
about ... about $350 million complete today, but about $550 million in contracts at this
point, so, uh, that doesn't sound like a long ways to the finish line, but a ... a majority of
the work is related to construction, and that's where we're gonna see most of the totals,
uh, build up, uh, towards completion ultimately — physically, visibly — in 2016. There's a
lot more those who are familiar in working with FEMA and working through these
processes, it goes long past that, but uh, we will be where we hope to be by 2016
physically. Uh, some of the projects to note, on the recovery side. Of course Art
Building West, uh, was the first building to be complete and run through the entire
FEMA process, uh, a symbol for our recovery, uh, but at the same time, it brought half of
the school of Art and Art History and left the other half at the forman ... former Menard's
space, making that feel even further away from the campus. So there's a big drive by that
department to stay whole and to get back to the main campus. Our Iowa Memorial Union
still has one floor down, the lower level, which is primarily the student floor of that
building is still closed. Currently under construction. And what you can see in the
image, uh, the inset is the curved wall on the river side of IMU. That represents the front
edge, the tallest edge, of a floodwall, a permanent floodwall being constructed to encircle
the entire facility. Uh, it so happens that the height, uh, and our heights of remaining ... of
protection are remaining consistent on campus to ... the 500 -year flood plus two -feet in
coordination with an approval by FEMA. It, uh, so happens that makes the top of this
flood wall even with, uh ... the ... floors that include the main lounge at the left side of this,
the original part of the... of the Iowa Memorial Union, and the River Room. Uh, that
means that when we're done, as you can see in the rendering, we'll have a plaza that will
exist for the first time for indoor and outdoor event space in the building, which makes
the ... the wait somewhat worth it. We hope it'll be a better building, and a protected
building from future flooding. Its next -door neighbor, Iowa Advanced Technology
Laboratories is currently going... undergoing a reskinning. Uh, FEMA recognized that
behind the skin of the Frank Gehry Building we had damage and the only way to ... fix
that is to remove one panel, and the only way to remove one panel on a Frank Gehry
building designed in 1992 before technology had caught up with his design ideas, uh, is
to replace all the panels, and so we are ... and you can see it coming down Market Street,
you can see a brand -new shiny copper, uh, shell on the east side of the building. All of
that is reskinned. Now, the technology has changed. That was the first kind of building
like this that he did, uh, moving through history toward Bill Bough and his museums
there and others in ... in L.A. Uh, this will mean that we've got new technologies in those
walls so that they do prevent leaking and other things, uh ... uh, we often joke we'll have
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our first, the first Frank Gehry building that doesn't leak! And, uh (laughter) we're
looking forward to it! Uh, we continue to operate the building, uh, incredibly important,
uh ... work going on in there. Laboratory work going on, on a daily basis, and the
building is to some degree at risk during this period. So we're hurrying to finish that
project this next year. Uh, across the river the 1937 theater building, as where the arrow
is designating it a new floor, a new enclosure on the top of the building so that all the
mechanical and electrical systems are being taken up to that floor. The building is too
close to the river. It can't be protected from water itself, and in our negotiations with
FEMA, this means we will minimize damage so we are hardening the lower level,
moving mechanical, electrical systems up to the roof, and that will keep the systems
working, even if the building takes on water. But, um, it is not a building that can be
guaranteed to be dry into the future. Theater is operating in the building and we're
finishing that ... that up. I don't show here an image of Mayflower, but everybody's seen
Mayflower and ... and the protections there are somewhat similar to what we're doing at
IATL — permanent flood wall. Uh, I might mention that both Art Building West and the,
um ... uh, IATL building are being protect ... are protected, will be in IATL's case,
protected by this invisible wall, where we're able to quick - assemble a wall that in Art
Building West's case, in 18 hours it was a 12 -foot tall wall protecting from, uh, future
flood risks. Uh...
Mims/ Rod (both talking) quick question?
Lehnertz/ Yes, please!
Mims/ On Mayflower, with the wall that's gone in there...
Lehnertz/ Yes.
Mims/ ... is there going to be any facing or anything on (both talking)
Lehnertz/ ...there isn't. We've talked a lot about it. Of course we're ... we're, um, limited in a
lot of the flexibilities we can do and the cost points for FEMA in the negotiation has a
very tight project related to what we could do to protect the building. Um...
Mims/ A mural (laughs) Something other than that large gray wall! (laughs)
Lehnertz/ ...urbanism? Uh, it's ... you know, we've talked about, uh, painting or possibly, uh,
doing things. If we did anything that would be a statement on it, we'd do it with Iowa
City. Uh, I mean, there's been some talk of murals and other things, and you need to be
careful about what you do to introduce the creative endeavors of that. We also still have
to coordinate the ultimate meeting points related to the, uh ... um, Gateway Project and uh,
and we're working... it's... it's been a good partnership. We're working with the, um,
City staff on that and have a member of our team actually on that team, so, uh,
coordination is high.
Hayek/ Rod, with the theater building...
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Lehnertz/ Yes.
Hayek/ ...that you cannot protect from water. What does that do to your insurance and those
(both talking)
Lehnertz/ Well we're ... we're blanket covered, which has been a challenge through this. One of
the interesting, uh, closeout requirements for FEMA, up till this point in history, has been
if a building is recovered by FEMA, it has to be insured, which sounds pretty simple until
you realize that our entire campus is protected under one blanket policy, as is every other
university in the country. And, um ... the closeout by definition says you have to have
every building individually insured, and we had other institutions, uh, in the New Orleans
area and in New York watching as we, uh, battled that determination and, um ... uh, it
came back successful that we're able to, uh, protect the campus as a whole. In that case,
it's under our blanket policy. Now we also have federal flood insurance and individual
flood insurance, associated with the river, uh, corridor, but what we're doing, it's not
unlike the ... an old version of the boathouse project, which has to be close to the river, uh,
because of its function. We redesigned it after the 2008 flood so that the lower levels are
triple - layered plaster and the ... the elevation of outlets moved up, and again, mechanical
systems moved up. So that it becomes a matter of...uh, cleanout more than it does repair.
In the case of the theater building, we will have to make some tough decisions about the
potential of either doing some temporary protections around that to keep water out, or
uh ... uh, purposefully flooding it, where you can fill it up at those last moments with
clean water rather than what comes across, uh, the bow of the building, uh, with the
riverwater that we've seen before, the silt and other things that are really damaging to the
interior. So, some of those elements are still going to be a response factor. You know,
we're still gonna have elements of this campus, even when we're fully fortified, where
we're going to have either HESCOs or sandbags, but each year those are going to drop in
...in population on our campus in each building being protected, which is FEMA's rule.
They ... we ... we took the, um, we rebuilt the sidewalks on both sides of the Iowa River to
a level one and a half feet above the ... the 100 -year flood level. You know that for...
primarily that takes care of 95% of flood risks as we would think of them today, uh, and
it serves as a place to put the HESCO barriers if we have to have them, but we did that
project on our own. FEMA only funds individual buildings on individual sites. So that's
why each of these has a different scenario and a different set of rules, a different set of
restrictions, and ultimately different solutions. Uh, the three lost buildings, as we would
call them, the projects that were hit hardest and ... and certainly largest, uh, since that
time. I'll talk about each of these briefly. First the Art Building replacement, of course
the upper left. Uh, the way this site looked and river ... uh, and north Riverside Drive
looked in 2008, uh, with water more than nine -feet high at the street level, and then in
construction... shot of the replacement of the Art Building. Now you, if you drive by
you'll see the original 1936 Art Building survives. This was at mandate of FEMA, uh,
again the MOA solution for removing that building was to save it, and take the, uh,
additions that have been put on since 1936, uh, take those down. The building now looks
like it did, empty, but looks like it did when it was originally built, which is wonderful. I
mean, it includes Grant Wood's, um ... uh, studio in the building. The north most gabled
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structure was Grant Wood's studio. All of these are reasons the FEMA historian sought
to save the building. We will reprogram it. Now we're currently trying to take care of it
so it doesn't look like a ... a vacant building, which is tough when it's vacant, but
ultimately, um ... we're taking graffiti and other things that were put on during the
aftermath of the flood, when everything was much more accessible and cleaning it up,
and we will reprogram that building, decommission the lower level of the building, but
populate the rest of it. In the meantime, we're building 135,000 square foot replacement
for the Studio Arts Program, same architect who designed Art Building West, Steven
Holl. In fact their firm was on campus today. We were looking at mock -up finished and
dealing with some of the design issues with the project. This is the way it will look when
it's finished, looking from River, uh, north Riverside Drive and up River Street, and the
interior, it's taller than we want the building to be. Uh, because it's too small a site. Uh,
we, um ... we do not take property. We only offer to buy property, and we wanted to have
the building go further to the west, but the purchase was not available to us. So, we're...
we're trapped on all four sides and as such, it's a building that in this view is four - stories
tall, but there's an element that's on top of that to make it really at one point taller than
that, and to that end, Steven Holl designed these fissures in the design to get natural light
down through all four floors because it's a studio building that needs natural light in each
of the spaces. Uh, we'll be very proud of this building when it's done. It's a striking
design and ... and an interesting ten -year later version of a ... of a Steven Holl building.
It'll be finished, by the way, in 2016, in the summer, uh, prior to the fall semester. The
largest loss in FEMA history at the time as a single building was Hancher Voxman Clapp
at 300 ... over 300,000 square feet. FEMA recognized if it couldn't replace it on ... on one
footprint on our campus, there was not room, so they allowed us to split the programs
into two. The Hancher and then in this case about 60% of the building for the School of
Music. Uh, as you all know, we ... we took a ... a, quite a different site for music, and it is
at the, uh, corner of Burlington and Clinton Streets. It's site two of the, um, nine or ten
depending on how you define them, standing cranes we have on our campus. Should be
the State bird, I've been told — the crane. Uh, but, um... it's interesting. They're going to
start coming down off our campus pretty soon. As these buildings are enclosed we'll
start seeing them come down. Uh, the project continues forth on a very tight site. We're
thankful to the City and to the City's help on ... on this front. Clinton Street has been
temporarily, uh ... uh, blocked for both safety and productive measures in getting this
project done. All of us suffered through that, uh, horrendously cold winter, which stifled
a lot of these projects. In this case a project that was doing concrete while that was going
on. So we're still trying to get those issues ironed out and get back on track, but
ultimately this project will be finished early fall 2016, as well, rendering from that
intersection at Burlington and Clinton Streets. One of the great things about this project
is it's not going to be transformative only for our School of Music and for our University,
getting the School of Music and the Arts closer to the core of campus, but it is in the heart
of downtown Iowa City. The School of Music offers as many as 400 performances a
year by students, faculty, visiting scholars — almost all of them free — and now they're
going to be right down in the heart of Iowa City and I think it's going to be a real
transformational change for all of us. Uh, there's the 700 -seat recital space. It'll include
a large organ at the, uh, west end of the space, uh, also has a 200 -seat, uh, auditorium that
will have actually windows looking right over Clinton Street, and they share — just to go
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back one — they share that glass area will be student space during the day and then
animated at night as lobby space for both of the two. So it'll be a building that will have,
uh, upwards of 1,000 people associated with it every day, and uh, on the streets of Iowa
City. I think it's a ... it's a great thing for all of us. And then the one that gets more notice
than any other project we have, uh, our Hancher project. Uh, in it ... near its same
location. I'm often asked if it's far enough from the river, cause you can see it from the
river, so I cut that question off by answering it before anybody can ask it. In this, uh,
aerial site plan, you can see in the lower right hand corner a sidewalk that forks there, uh,
and that is just in front of the Iowa River. After the 1993 flood we rebuilt that sidewalk.
In the 2008 flood the water did not go over the top. At a 500 -year event it didn't go over
the top of that sidewalk. Um, the site that includes starting at the building is between
seven and eight feet higher than that sidewalk, and we have a drive that will run, uh,
along the riverside of the building, that can also be used for fortification against a flood,
but frankly at seven feet higher than 2008, uh, we'd be worried about other things. Um,
and other counties and probably other states. Uh ... in progress, of course, the symbolic
transformation when we were taking down Hancher, upper right, and bringing the
structure of this building into play; you can see the ... the concrete represents we're topped
out on the concrete; it represents the performance area, and we've begun the steel
structure that surrounds this building... will make for the entire complex. And in image
I'm told this will come up; in sound as I push this button (audio begins in background)
We're very excited about it coming... couldn't come soon enough for us. It'll be in the
spring of 2016 that project will be complete. We'll have some soft opening events.
Chuck Swanson will be checking all the systems and in the fall as the students return is
what ... in the fall of 2016 we'll gear up for the grand openings for that, uh, should be very
exciting. Um...
Throgmorton/ How giddy will he be? (laughter)
Lehnertz/ Uh (laughter) beyond belief! He's giddy every time we just talk about it! And, uh,
and rightfully so! It's been ... it's been great to have him on this. He's emotionally tied to
it and-and you know, the folks at Hancher, including Chuck, have done a wonderful job
to keep Hancher alive, uh, part of the reason that Cesar Pelly, the architect for this, was
selected was a statement they made apart from the fact that they're the most renowned
architect in the world with respect to performing arts centers, he said in the interview he
said, you know, Hancher is bigger than Hancher, and some people didn't know what that
meant, but anybody who knows Hancher knows what it means. It's not just the name of
a building. It's the name of an entire program, and something that through these six
difficult years, it's forced us to take it on the road, and that's been a good thing! We've
gone throughout the state and that's, uh, a positive and ... and does keep it alive, so we're
excited. Those three big projects that I just showed you, account for an estimated $402
million. FEMA's participation in that was a negotiated $266 million. Uh, what it means
when you see the great architecture of this. Now on the first day FEMA said you lost an
icon building in Hancher. You're owed an icon building back. Doesn't mean they're
going to pay for an icon building. (laughter) FEMA paid for the loss of the function that
occurred. The box that was lost, and the University understanding the gravity of those
kinds of projects, we wouldn't put them here if they weren't done right, and so the delta
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is the University's attempt then, as you can see (mumbled) saw about fundraising efforts
to try to help augment our ... our bills related to this, and no doubt these projects have,
um, slowed some of the other things the University would have done between then and
now, uh, for ... for a good cause. And then one that is especially challenging in its own
story, our ... our Museum of Art. You can see what a $500 million collection looks like
when it's on an island, because there it was in 2008. We were in ... in under one day able
to get the art out of the building, and uh, the ... the trick, the tough issue is that, uh, the
damage to the building did not, as those other ones, did not reach that 50% threshold that
FEMA has for ruled safe for replacement. So in this case, they will not replace the
building. Uh, we are in fact ... we've started construction on a recovery of the museum,
but not for a museum. We cannot insure our collection in the building any more. That's
been confirmed. So we're not going to return to that site, and you all know, uh, that our
intent is to endeavor to complete a... a private /public partnership and to centrally locate
this in a strategic place that serves, yes the public, but primarily the student population.
That's our first charge as it should be, and uh, we're in the midst of that RFP process.
We're doing due diligence currently and we expect in the next month or so we're going
to be preparing ourselves to update the Board of Regents and by virtue of that, we'll all
be on sort of lock -step for the next, uh, steps in this process. It's ... it's difficult. We...
we're out from underneath the thu ... the thumb of the federal government, uh, which is
a ... can be a good thing, but it also means we start with zero dollars. So, it's a
challenging project but, uh, certainly we expect, uh, nothing but the best from it. You
can see the ... the seminal piece, uh, Jackson Pollock's mural in the upper right -hand
corner. That went on the road after this. First it was at the, um ... uh ... uh, in first the
Quad Cities and then in Des Moines, and then to Los Angeles to the Getty Museum,
where the most renowned restoration program in the world took it, uh, took on a $2
million restoration project, all on their dime, and in this last March they un ... reunveiled it
to Los Angeles for a three -month period. It became the Getty Museum's, um, a
remarkable place ... by the time it left, it became the number one temporary installation in
the history of the Getty, passing a, uh ... uh, da Vinci installation that had been done in the
1990s, and during that time, um, critics that came to see it remarked that it is likely the
most important piece of modern art in the world. It is now in, uh, in Sioux City. We're
again sharing this throughout the state, and from there... Sioux City's its first stop on a
worldwide tour, and it will go to Europe, uh, to several notable locations, and then our
intent is to have it come back to Iowa City and the University, uh, when our museum is
complete.
Hayek/ Well on behalf of Peggy Guggenheim, I thank the University for hanging on to it and
bringing it back.
Lehnertz/ Not always been ... it's been tough at times (both talking) It's an interesting story as to
how we got it and how we keep it and many thanks to the Getty and others for... for
treating it so specially and making note of it.
Hayek/ What do ... what are your programmatic plans or intentions with respect to the building?
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Lehnertz/ Yeah, uh, our intent, and again, a lot of it is defined by our ability to fund this, uh,
it's ... it's not coming at a good time. You know, these kind ... this kind of opportunity or
challenge, uh, with the bills to be paid for the flood recovery. With, um ... um, funding
from the State tough. Uh, we, uh, have to look toward philanthropy and partnership
to ... to do the most we can do with it, but the intent first is to make sure that we
appropriately display the art, not just this piece but, you know, we have a collection of
14,000 pieces. So, uh, it's first display, a combination of display and programming that
make it a pertinent museum and make it one that is important but unique. I think having,
uh, our Director Sean O'Harrow who is, um, very interested in doing the right thing, but
also recognizing some of the shortcomings of other new museum projects worldwide,
and ... and it's not just about the building. It's more about the art, and ... and so we
don't ... I think there's a bang for the buck mentality...
Hayek/ Yeah.
Lehnertz/ ...with respect to this, so that's part of our intent.
Hayek/ And how `bout the old building? What do you think you'll end up (both talking)
Lehnertz/ Well, the old building isn't unlike the 1936 art building. We're going to reprogram it.
We're going to put something else into that building. It's a ... it's a, uh, significant
amount of square footage. It's the last remaining Max Abramovitz building on our
campus after the loss of Hancher (both talking)
Hayek/ Cool building!
Lehnertz/ ...Voxman/Clapp, and uh, we'll find a good suitor and a good, um ... uh, solution for
that building, working with the Provost, working with the Deans to get to the right
solution. Uh, it's going to take some time before anybody could move in, in that we're
recovering it, but the north half of it is actually being temporarily utilized with FEMA's,
uh, permission by the School of Music. Uh, we had no place for some of their orchestra
practice to occur and it was decided that on a temporary basis they could use the north
end of the museum building. And that means they're not moving until we finish that
music building in 2016. So nothing can really happen until we get to that point. There is,
uh, a quick shot of the Pollock at the Getty Museum and the notice it got on the front
page of the Los Angeles Time. Uh, quite a show. And so then some other projects, uh,
beyond the flood. Our John and Mary Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building. It's
the crowning piece of the modernization of our Health Science campus, started in 2002.
This is designed by the same architect, Charles Gwathmey who designed our Levitz
Center, uh ... we are proud to have it. It was his final major design. He died after a battle
with cancer, shortly after finishing the design. Additionally, uh, the Fraternal Order of
Eagles dedicated a $25 million gift to this project to, uh, locate their National Diabetes
Research Center in the building. It's now opened, uh, we continue to move researchers
into the building, and when they get ... when they gifted and dedicated that $25 million
gift, they said they absolutely expect that diabetes will be cured in that building. So we
look for it to be a historic building on ... on several fronts for us. Uh, and it's now ... we
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have a dedication for that building in October, but people are already working in the
building. Our first new residence hall since 1969, since 1968, uh, renown Slater Halls.
Uh, this is ... it says West Campus Residence Hall. This is the Mary Louise Peterson Hall,
uh ... uh, justly named after Mary Louise who did not want it named after till her family
started to bully her and ... and made her take the name but um ... uh, a great person to
represent not only us but the Board of Regents and ... and we're proud to name it after her.
This building will be complete next summer and we'll welcome students for the fall
semester 2015, 501 beds, and its, uh, its primary point to model for future efforts we
would have is it's anchored by something called Living, Learning Community. So every
one of those floors on that building host an area of study or an area of interest in that
glass area, seen in the middle, is where they come together. The RAs would be graduates
in that program and they fully immerse themselves in their areas of study or interest and
uh, it's been, uh, proven out as a great model nationally and we look forward to that
growing on our campus. The football operations facility, uh, just west of Kinnick
Stadium, it's scheduled to open this fall. Uh, we're working with the football team as to
which, um, which off -game or by -week we're going to move them in. Uh, but, uh, it's,
uh ...it's, uh, an important project for our football team and ... and one that is nearly
complete now and on the campus. And then the one that tends to make all the other ones
look small, uh, our Children's Hospital project. This is a master planning image that
shows ultimately three towers across the street from Kinnick Stadium. The two north
ones that say future are future and will come at some other date, but we wanted to plan
the entire area in unison, so we start with phase one, with the current effort, which is the
new Children's Hospital, and then the green area you see in between them is a park that
will sit on top of four -story underground parking structure, uh, that will connect all of
those, uh, towers, the Children's Hospital and future. You can see the construction site,
uh, we're just about up to the ground with the, uh, four -story underground parking
structure and we're about three stories from the top of the structure — it's actually from
this view, I think, four stories from the top of the structure of the Children's Hospital.
Ultimately this is what it will look like with that park in the foreground, uh, covering the
parking structure, and its proximity to Kinnick Stadium, uh ... uh, proud project for our,
uh, Children's Hospital, which is one of the top Children's Hospitals in the country and
the only one of the ranked that doesn't have a Children's Hospital. So when we have this
free - standing facility, the limitations are limitless with respect to what we can do in
serving the children of our state, and beyond, uh ... it'll be a difference maker for, uh, our
University and our state when it's completed, again, in 2016. Few projects that are on the
boards that we're working through — College of Pharmacy building, uh, which will start
to receive State funding next summer, uh, is a project that will replace the 1961 original
Pharmacy building. College of Engineering building was just approved by the Board of
Regents for us to move forward with that. At the right end of that is the existing
Seamen's Center project we have, and then this will continue to the south, along Capitol
Street, uh, kind of to the east of the Lindquist Center, and uh, about a 65,000 square foot
building, $35 million ... $37 million project, um, funded almost entirely through
engineering efforts and the revenues in generation of the ... of the institutes that are going
to be in that building. Uh, really our ... our, one of our fastest growing colleges on our
campus, and then the Psychology Seashore area, you're looking at a block diagram, not
architecture, of a building that would go at the corner of Iowa and Gilbert, as a gateway
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building to our campus, but one that, urn ... helps the people of Psychology who have been
existing in a ... in a building that's 115 years old, designed as a hospital, not as a academic
building. So, uh, we're continuing forth with the design on that project. That's a
whirlwind look at the biggest projects. We obviously had a lot of small projects too, but
I'd be glad to take any questions you might have.
Mims/ It's impressive!
Botchway/ Yeah, you have some beautiful buildings. I had two questions — one, uh, you know,
starting from I guess the floods, what... extra square footage have you kind of amassed in,
you know, kind of the moving of different buildings. So for example, the Music building
and other structures that you're looking at from now... or from then until now?
Lehnertz/ Yeah, so there are a couple of things to point out. From our master plan perspective,
we are in line with a lot of our peers. Have historically been in line with a lot of our
peers. Starting shortly after World War 11, the G.I. Bill and the impact on that in
American culture in... in higher education, we've been growing at a clip of about 2.5
million square feet every... decade. That, urn ... that has begun to soften a little bit, but uh,
it happens in waves in the 90s with a lot of research and classroom, uh, this last decade
was a lot of student services building — residence hall projects, the Recreation Center,
projects like that. Um ... the flood has certainly impacted this. Certainly from a workload
perspective it's elevated us, but we lost buildings and the replaced buildings, and we're
not replacing those buildings at a larger square footage. Uh, except for code allowances
that FEMA has. So, it's not that it's a bigger campus, uh, than ... than before that trend,
but certainly a transformed campus. Uh, I ... that's kind of an answer to your question.
Botchway/ And the other question, or now there's two now cause I thought of another question
when you were ans ... asking that. Um, regarding... obviously you're building new
residence hall for possibly the increase of students that you're going to (both talking)
Lehnertz/ Correct!
Botchway/ ... urn ... is there any particular work that, uh, the University's done with working with
the City as far, you know, the impact that that would have, um, just on transportation,
traffic, I mean obviously Cambus, you know, all those different things that I think need to
be addressed.
Lehnertz/ Yeah, it's a good question. You know, it's interesting, our master plan does
emphasize, as it always has and should, emphasize the encouragement of a pedestrian
... safe and friendly campus, uh, the introduction of a more bike, uh, traffic to our
campus, which we've seen from other peer institutions. There are pros and cons related
to that. There are some great quads on the Purdue campus that now have yellow stripes
all over them because if you ... if you walk in between those two yellow stripes, you're
going to get hit by a bike. The silent killer! You know, they go through that park so
often, they can't ... they can't figure out if it's a pedestrian or a bike area. I think we've
worked ... tried to, as the City has pretty closely with bike, uh, enthusiasts to try to find
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identified pathways. Having arterial streets through the middle of our campus, we've had
`em forever! So we're going to have them forever, and those do, as we all know, create
challenges for us. The residence hall, um, the Mary Louise Peterson Residence Hall,
was ... was planned for and built not because of this in ... intended growth of our campus,
but rather we are ... we were underfortified in the number of residence hall beds, uh, we
had. We have almost no ability to have returning students in our residence halls, and we
know peers do that, and we know statistically it's a benefit, and we actually know that
students are starting to come back to residence halls, beyond just their freshman year at
other universities. We've never done that because we don't have the capacity to do it.
Iowa State has 11,000 beds on their campus. We have 5,600, uh, and that's quite a
difference for two similarly sized universities. Uh, and resident universities. Um, we're
also ... we were also very outdated. Now, we have proposed to the Board of Regents a
second new residence hall, uh, just got permission to proceed with planning on that. At
the north end of the Madison Street, uh, on the former Iowa City Water Plan site, and that
is in response to our model to grow the number of students we have on this campus. We
are absolutely held to take care of the number of freshman we have coming on to our
campus, and at this point as some of you, all of you know, we have a lot of leasing
arrangements in Iowa City, uh ... uh, a lot of them for the residence halls, and it's not
ideal. They're not set up like we would do it for the community sharing and other things.
We'd be better off, especially with the freshmen, to keep them in the halls and ... and with
the growing number, we're going to have to. That's what this hall is generally doing, and
long -term we do have some objectives for increasing returning student interest on
campus, but to your point on ... on the mix between that and apartment - living and other
things, it's, uh, we all watch that market together. We all have, I think, some shared
interests in what that does. We've done work at the North Market area, for instance, to
change some patterns of... of off - campus living by students and... and I think some of
those have been successful, and uh, and yet primarily where we're able, statistics would
show our students are ... are retained more effectively, have better grades, better
relationships and other things if we can keep them in the hall longer, and other
universities have found this, as well, and so when you see us grow, it's not to, uh,
compete as much as it is to address what we have in the growing student population.
Hayek/ (both talking) Go ahead, Kingsley, go ahead and finish.
Botchway/ It was ... it was another totally different question.
Hayek/ Well yeah so let me ... let me then jump in. I ... um, that ... that last point about ... about
the, uh, plans to grow enrollment and the ... relative dearth of on- campus housing, relative
to peers, I mean, the ... the data I see suggests that we're pretty low in terms of how much
of our student body we ... we house on campus (both talking) and for how long (both
talking)
Lehnertz/ Correct.
Hayek/ Has all sorts of academic and other impacts.
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Lehnertz/ Sure.
Hayek/ Um, but as this, you know, in response to the charge from the Regents to ... to grow
and ... and the University's public response to that, which I think was appropriate, uh, it's
something we are watching and are concerned about because obviously the impact on our
near - campus neighborhoods...
Lehnertz/ Sure!
Hayek/ ...historically has been mixed and...
Lehnertz/ Yeah!
Hayek/ ... uh ... uh, how the University and the City collaborate to address these demographic
shifts with time (both talking)
Lehnertz/ ...yeah, and we need to maintain and I think increase our interactions on that and con
...especially with the shifting demographic and, uh ... uh, with more students potentially
coming on to campus and trying to get updated ... keep in mind, with this new residence
hall, we're only growing our lot by 140 beds because that College of Pharmacy building I
showed you is on top of the quadrangle. So we're taking the quadrangle down, um, to
build the College of Pharmacy building. So we're adding 501 beds and taking about 350
out, uh, so the number, that number, that hall improves the beds we have. It doesn't
make the number bigger. The next hall will make the number bigger, but that's intending
to just address the delta that we expect. Um, in fact the next hall does not address the
issue of attracting more returning students to ... to come and live on campus. That would
be a future effort, and there's no way for that future effort to happen without us, David
Kiepf and I and others, working directly with the City to ... to strategize together and
make sure that ... the ripples either way don't ... are positive, not a negative.
Hayek/ Yeah. Thanks.
Botchway/ The other question I had was, you know, obviously you have beautiful buildings by,
you know, renowned architects but what, uh, and this is just more ignorance than
anything else. What, uh, what efforts do you have as far as looking at sustainability and
as far as looking at, um, you know, environmental... efficiency features, um, since you're
having... since you have such a large footprint. I mean, obviously when you're talking
about efficiencies, you're talking about, you know, so many of the buildings we continue
to create as humans and...
Lehnertz/ Yeah.
Botchway/ ...just wondering whether or not that is, you know, in the plans as well, as you
know... and maybe more importantly, in your plans as you expand and (both talking)
Lehnertz/ ...not just a pretty building?
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Botchway/ Right.
Lehnertz/ ...yeah, uh, it's a great question, great observation, and one actually we're very proud
of Um, we in 2000...I believe it was 2011, 10 or 11, we instituted a ... a program to
require first of all that any new building and any major renovation would be at a
minimum LEED silver. Um, that became a Board of Regent requirement after we had
acted on this ourselves. Uh, we also have stringent energy code beating standards that,
um, take us below the required energy codes, uh, for our buildings to the point where, and
keep in mind, LEED points, a lot of LEED points are based on site, and you can't always
predict the site. If it's fully urban site, you don't get the runoff options you do at another
site that might have some green space where you can put rain gardens and other things in.
So, there's some controls there, but if you took a typical new building we've got, and
apply our standards to them, we have found our default is LEED gold. And in fact our
College of Public Health building, uh, that you see as you come into town on... on, um,
Highway 6 was our first academic LEED platinum building, and it's as high as you go,
and we're very proud... especially fitting for the College of Public Health to have a LEED
platinum building on our campus. We have what is called the 20/20 vision at the
University of Iowa. With all this growth, with all the grof...growth that's perceived in
the new buildings, and I'm talking about starting back with 227,000 square feet at the
Recreation Center. Brand new building. Still got the (mumbled) Brand new building,
added square footage of 227. Starting with that building and moving forward, we have,
uh, because it ... that was in 2010, we have an objective to hit 2020 and not have any more
energy consumption than we did in 2010. So in other words, no growth in energy
consumption on our campus, despite all the buildings I just showed you. And, uh, one
that's done through very careful design and green design, but it's also done through some
very aggressive efforts we've had to take the other 250 buildings we have on campus and
shower them with attention. We have what is called `the energy Hawks.' It's a
combination of our building and landscape services and our utilities group that have
assigned a team together and they methodically go through all of our buildings, first
hitting the big ones, but go through all of the buildings, everything from the, uh, the coils
to the con ... the steam connections, checking, uh, VAV boxes, everything, and finding
where we're wasting energy. We have one of the nation's first energy control centers in
our University Services building. Been a model for the country. We've seen
universities, cities come and visit that ... both of our last two Governors have come to see
it, because it is a national model. We have more than ... we have thousands of points
of... of metering on our campus, and they're able to route all of it through that one point
and we expect that in time that will become a 24- hour -a -day operation where we can
control buildings and know through our security systems if nobody's in the building, the
energy systems automatically go down, automatically start to go up as people come in,
and if...and there's a proactive effort to that. Through that metering system, we're able
to actually lock, and we're doing a partnership with Microsoft right now. We're the only
university they found far enough along to partner with them, where we're doing a
diagnostic program we're beginning with them, where we can begin to take every unit on
our campus and proactively identify that there's the smallest amount of vibration
occurring in that, that is a precursor to a failure, and we then proactively fix it so that no
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user becomes uncomfortable. There's no hot or cold (mumbled) and there's no delay. A
lot of our buildings are research buildings. If it goes down, it's millions of dollars of
research lost. So redundancy, cost effectiveness, the stewardship for that has just
ratcheted way up, and those are some of the tools we're using to ... and at this point we're
on track. We're halfway through that decade and we are ... we have not ... our energy use
is the same as it was in 2010. And uh, and we intend for it to remain that way with
aggressive work.
Dickens/ The Psychology building, it was recently in the news. Is that kind of on the back
burner a little bit now or ... where are we at (both talking)
Lehnertz/ No, our ... our, uh, our direction from the Board... it's... it's, uh, it's a project that is,
um, it is a current project not related to the Psychology building project. Project not
related to or ... or requiring appropriated State funds. The project we took to the Board at
this last meeting was the Seashore Hall modernization. The original University of Iowa
Hospitals and Clinics building, that 1899. That building is going to require State
appropriated funding for it, much like the, uh, Pharmacy building project that we're
advancing. Um, they, um ... zeroed out the asking for that, for this next year. It remains
our number one priority but the asking is something that's determined by the Board of
Regents, and we just follow their direction on that. We will continue to advance the
separate project, which is just a Psychology project, uh, funded internally to the
University, not by State appropriations.
Hayek/ Rod, this is fantastic (both talking)
Lehnertz/ Now you gotta hurry up and have a (both talking)
Hayek/ No, it's okay! This is important for us to see, and the ... the symbiosis between our
institutions is ... is ... is clear (both talking)
Lehnertz/ When I give a lot of tours on campus I talk about ... we ... we don't, there's no
University, no community that has a more intimate town- and -gown relationship than
Iowa City and the University, and um, we wouldn't be like ... we wouldn't be like any of
our peers if we didn't have issues from time to time, but I talk to our peers and talk to
visitors about the fact that it's ... it's never been better. We ... we partner ... on so many
things that are difference - making to the community, difference - making to the University,
and I think that benefit is lasting, and so you will hea ... hear people like David and myself
and Doug True and others always fight to make sure that our relationship is effective and
that we're looking for partnerships, because it's, uh, it's who we are. We're committed
as much to our community as our University, so ... that's important, and that's why we
appreciate all that you do on our behalf, as well.
Hayek/ Thanks, Rod! Thank you.
Lehnertz/ Certainly! (several talking)
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Hayek/ Thanks, David!
Botchway/ To that point, I had a quick question for Geoff. From the communications standpoint,
I know we talked about a strategic planning meeting. I know that Susan, I think you
brought it up, you know, um, what we do, uh, for lack of a better word, to brag about
Iowa City. It'd be ... it'd be good to incorporate, obviously, the University and obviously
what it does, you know, when I think about, uh, some of the questions that came up, um,
last year about, you know, what type of buildings we have that are LEED certified, from
the City's standpoint yeah, we had the platinum ... I think we have some building that is,
uh ... I can't remember, it's the one ... one and only in the State that's all aluminum? Is ... is
that correct? Or ... I don't (several talking) But it would have been nice to incorporate all
what the University's doing in, you know, protecting Iowa City, as well, because I think
it's important. So...
Information Packets:
Hayek/ Okay! Let's move on. We have two Info Packets. First is, uh, September 4th. Anything
on that of note?
Mims/ Just point out in case people haven't, uh, RSVP'd the Human Rights Commission
breakfast on ... what date is it? October 29th. Do you have me down, Marian? Did I
RSVP yet? Okay, thought I did.
Hayek/ I'm a likely. Need to...
Fruin/ If I can, uh, just chime in on that, because you'll be getting an invitation here probably in
the next week for an event that will follow immediately, and we ... we try not to do this,
where we're having back -to -back events that ... that you'll be invited, but there will be a,
uh, Blue Zones' event. Dan Burden is coming to town. He's a walkability expert and the
only dy that we could get him is the 29th. So we're going to schedule that, uh, at 9:00 on
that 29t . So if you are available to come after the breakfast, or if you're not able to make
the breakfast, but could make the 9:00 Blue Zones, uh, meeting, you'll be getting an
invitation on that.
Hayek/ Anything else on the September 4th Info? How bout the September 11 th?
Throgmorton/ Uh, maybe somebody should comment on IP #4, which is the Department of
Justice letter, uh, about... compliance with accessibility requirements. I ... obviously a
letter just kind of disappeared and nobody really knows ... what happened to it, but, um...
Hayek/ Yeah, I mean, I ... I can jump on it. Neither staff nor I have any recollection of it having
arrived. Um, and when it was brought to our attention we, um, I think it was the PC that
brought it to our attention and sent us this unsigned version of it, and um ... uh, staff is
working diligently on getting a response, which I expect will go out by sometime next
week.
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Fruin/ Early next week we expect a response to go out.
Botchway/ I had a question about ... just, I don't clearly have an understanding too much of the
entire breadth of what the Johnson County Aging Task Force does, but they looked at
Iowa City in particular for whether or not we were up to code as far as the ADA
requirements.
Mims/ We frequently get picked on.
Fruin/ Yeah, I ... uh, prior to receiving their letter in February we had no communication with
them. We had no indication that they were looking at this, um, so I don't know what
prompted, uh, their interest in this issue and why they decided to, um ... file that with the
Department of Justice. It's well within their rights to do so, but um, we didn't have any
communication with that particular group. Now if you recall at that time, there was a...
there was a conversation going on (clears throat) excuse me, at the Council table. We
were in budget discussions at that time and we were discussing the curb ramp budget, so
it was a topic of public discussion around that same time, but with that particular group
it ... we were ... we were surprised.
Dickens/ Harry ... Harry Olmstead that brought it to ... to us at that point, and he's a member of
that Commission, but he wasn't representing the Commission at that time. Yeah.
Botchway/ (mumbled) ...be clear, I just think it's weird that there's no ... from a Johnson County
Task Force, Johnson County, there's not ... it's just looking at one particular city. That
just ... I mean, I think that everybody should be ADA - compliant. (both talking) I'm not
saying that Iowa City shouldn't, you know, pick up the ball and do some stuff about it,
but it's just ... I just didn't get that. That was just weird and it didn't seem like there was
any type of...from all the reading or any of the discussion that was in the PC that ... that
wasn't talked about at all. I just thought that was weird.
Fruin/ Yeah, and when you see our response, um, you will note that a lot of the activity is being
coordinated at a regional level already. The ... the MPO is the one that has been
coordinating the, uh, curb ramp inventory, sidewalk inventory, bus stop inventory.
That's all being done at a ... at a countywide or an MPO -wide response right now. Um,
those of you that attend, uh, the... tomorrow's MPO meeting will get an update on that,
but it's something that ... that's been talked about for two or three years there, uh, in that
...in that venue. So, some of the response to the Department of Justice will describe that
larger MPO -wide effort, and then part of the response will be how we specifically
respond to issues that we encounter here in our jurisdiction.
Hayek/ You raise a good point, I mean, I think on this and many other issues, more... seems to be
expected of Iowa City than ... than of other communities, even after adjusting for ... for
size and things of that nature. I ... I think it's a bit unfair but, you know, having said that,
it's, you know, we ... we, uh, will respond, uh, to this and I thin ... the initial indications
are that the response will show considerable, uh, progress and ... and ... on this issue, and
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the data are pretty impressive! Um, so that'll go out early next week. I think it'll shed a
lot of light on ... on what we've done, um ... so...
Throgmorton/ Well one thing I've noticed in various conversations with, uh, with local residents
is they often ... uh, conflate the, uh, Iowa City area with Iowa City. So ... so they'll talk
about Iowa City — Iowa City needs to do this, Iowa City needs to do that — whereas in...
what they're really referring to is the whole area, but they often don't really know the
difference.
Hayek/ Yeah! Yep. Well and you know, on ... on this ADA example, you know, when we do an
asphalt overlay, which is what we do year in, year out ... roughly a third of those expenses
are ... are curb - related. ADA- compliance related (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...yeah.
Hayek/ Um ... I, you know, that's information that the public needs to get. Anyway...
Mims/ I would just comment on IP6, um, appreciation to Stefanie and whoever else from staff
kind of pulled together ... oh, I'm sorry! IP5. Um ... kind of all the information, various
memos, resolutions, etc., um, you know, that we have done related to diversity
over... gosh, I think almost the last two years she's got in here, just to kind of put front
and center again that this is important for the City and for the Council. Um, we're
making progress. We obviously still have a lot to do and are working on those things and
we'll keep working on things. Um ... but I thought it was nice to ... you kind of look at this
and you ... it's easy to forget all the different things that have been done and ... and action
that have been taken and resolutions and, you know, the Ad Hoc Committee, etc. So to
see, you know, basically 40 pages of, you know, documentation of our attention to this, I
think, is impressive.
Dobyns/ I was particularly impressed by the amount of time that, uh, community staff, police
staff have worked out in the community. I've been to several of those — the mosque and
Pheasant Ridge — but there've been, uh...
Mims/ Yep!
Dobyns/ ... a lot! That's a lot of time expended.
Mims/ Yep! So...
Throgmorton/ Yeah, I mean, I ... I'd want to echo that. I'm really Stefanie put that report
together, uh ... we have initiated, uh, quite a bit over the past three years and it's not been
easy! I'm ... I'm really happy we've done it (laughs) so it's really good to see Stefanie put
that report together for us. At the same time, there are lots of people in the community
who feel, as ... as we briefly discussed last work session, uh, that they don't ... they don't
really see much difference on the ground, in ... in terms of their day -to -day lives. So ... I
think it's helpful to keep that distinction in mind, at least. We are doing ... we've initiated
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some really good changes, and I'm very proud of `em! I'm really happy we've done
it ... but there are differing views out ... out in the community. So...
Hayek/ Anything else on the Info Packet? Okay, Council time?
Council Time:
Mims/ Uh, I'm going to Iowa League of Cities next ... next week, yeah (laughs) Marian's like
`yeah!' (laughter)
Dickens/ Yes you are!
Mims/ This month is flying by! So yeah, be at Iowa League of Cities next week, end of the
week.
Hayek/ And we've been asked, uh ... uh ... um, Rota ... Rotary has asked, uh, the cities involved
with the local option sales tax to provide education, uh ... uh ... uh, at an upcoming
meeting (mumbled) jump on that, and then I'm going to be speaking to them later in the
fall, just on general City issues. Um, and was also invited by the Triangle Club, which is
this ... you may be familiar with it. The ... the faculty group at, uh ... uh, on campus to
speak to them, and I'm going to do that in October, again on just general City issues.
I... anybody have anything else?
Throgmorton/ oh I'll mention one thing. The school that I used to teach in, the School of Urban
and Regional Planning, is celebrating its 50th birthday this coming weekend, and ... and
that Creative College Cities Conference is part of it. Uh, so I don't know, they're having
a big celebration at Kinnick Stadium Saturday night, and apparently they're going to
show ... I don't know, photographs or ... live images of people at the celebration on the big
screen out there at Kinnick. So, if you're walking by, Rick, you know (laughs) take a
look up at the screen! (laughs)
Hayek/ See your likeness up (both talking and laughing)
Throgmorton/ ... scary!
Hayek/ Okay! Meeting schedule.
Meeting Schedule:
Karr/ Uh, we've got two things. One is you were contacted about interest on how you wanted to
schedule the Court/Linn project discussion. Um, staff felt that perhaps it was too much
for a typical work session, and we were pretty well booked for a number of work sessions
through December. So the question is whether you would like to, uh, if you were
interested in entertaining an idea of a special work session dedicated to that purpose, and
if so, when. Think we were looking in late October or early November. So it doesn't get
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into the holidays where scheduling the presentations and weather becomes a little bit of a
logistical... issue.
Hayek/ Do you want to combine it like the day before or after a...
Karr/ I think that's entirely up to you (both talking) a special work session (both talking)
Hayek/ ... Tuesday on an off week?
Throgmorton/ Why don't we do a stand - alone. Anyhow, but I'm ... I'm totally flexible about
when we could do this.
Karr/ You were wondering, Matt, whether you wanted to do it, for instance, on a Monday
preceding a Tuesday, or whether you wanted to take an off Tuesday or ... whether ... yeah.
Okay.
Dickens/ Tuesdays usually are better.
Karr/ I'm sorry?
Dickens/ Tuesdays are usually (both talking)
Karr/ Are usually better?
Dickens/ I know you have the election coming up.
Botchway/ Yeah (both talking)
Dickens/ ... first week of November.
Throgmorton/ Oh, that's right! There's an election (mumbled) (several talking)
Dobyns/ So, Kingsley, are we looking for something preferably after election? Or is the...
Botchway/ Yeah, I mean it just can't be that week. I mean, that's just...
Mims/ How ... how soon do you think, I mean, is something like the 14th of October too soon?
Karr/ I defer to staff who's working on that.
Mims/ I mean that's ... three weeks out.
Davidson/ We won't be, um, I ... I don't know if Council's aware, but you'll be confirming the
finalists on the 7th at your work session.
Mims/ Oh, that's right, so it would be too soon (several talking)
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Karr/ So then you'd have to schedule it...
Davidson/ ...to notify people, I mean ...
Mims/ To travel, yeah.
Davidson/ I'm not sure ... there's one ... there's one Colorado firm, otherwise I think everyone
else would be driving, not setting up plane flights, but ... you know, week turnaround is
pretty fast.
Mims/ Yeah, that is.
Davidson/ Probably... probably the end of October would be (several talking)
Dobyns/ 20th, uh, too soon, Jeff? 28th of October?
Karr/ Tuesday the 28th.
Davidson/ The 28th, I think, would be plenty of time.
Karr/ Tuesday the 28tH 271H is you've got a joint meeting (several talking)
Davidson/ ...too close for you, Kingsley?
Botchway/ Yeah, I mean, is it ... is it during the day? Like is it going to be during the day, like
(both talking)
Davidson/ Oh, that's up to you guys, as well. I. I guess we had considered something this time
of day (several talking)
Botchway/ ... yeah, cause during the day I have, I mean, I have a... cause we work later in the
evening. Closer up to the election it's booked at night, but during the day (both talking)
Davidson/ Those provisions are completely up to you guys. (several talking)
Botchway/ 10:00, that would work!
Dobyns/ Monday mornings?
Karr/ Tuesday. It'd have...
Hayek/ We're going to try to go with a Tuesday.
Dobyns/ Oh Tuesday ... (mumbled)
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Davidson/ You would probably need ... I would say a ... a ... at least two, and hopefully not more
than a three -hour block of time.
Throgmorton/ I...
Davidson/ ...hoping to interview three and ... figure by the time you have one group leave,
another one come in, maybe an hour for each one.
Mims/ So is morning or afternoon better for folks?
Dobyns/ I ... I'm ... I'm at hospital duty the 21St to the 27th
Hayek/ How bout the 28th?
Mims/ 28th9
Dobyns/ That'd be, uh, during the day? Um...
Mims/ 9:00 to 12:00? I mean that way I'm just thinking if they have to come in, they can come
in the night before (both talking)
Davidson/ ... accommodate whatever you guys want to do.
Throgmorton/ 9:00 to 12:00 works for me.
Botchway/ That works for me.
Dobyns/ Sure. I...
Karr/ Tuesday the 28th, 9:00 to 12:00?
Throgmorton/ How bout you, Michelle?
Payne/ It's not the best for me. I'd rather do an afternoon like 3:00 to 6:00, but I guess I could
make it work.
Hayek/ That's (mumbled)
Mims/ I can do either one (several talking) Rick can't be here.
Hayek/ Well, wait, Kingsley can't do it.
Mims/ And Rick can't either. So...
Geoff/ I don't want to further complicate this, but just a ... a suggestion to consider. Um, thinking
back through the Chauncey process that we went through this, and just the public scrutiny
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that ... that went into that, uh, selection of the preferred developer. You ... you may want
to consider the public's availability to attend a early- morning, weekday meeting,
um ... I ... I know that's not your intention to skirt that. You're looking for available times,
but there ... this will probably generate... maybe not the same interest, but significant
public interest.
Throgmorton/ Well how bout after the election at night? (several responding)
Mims/ Yeah, that's a good point, Geoffl
Dobyns/ You know, cause...
Dickens/ (mumbled)
Throgmorton/ How does the l lth work?
Dickens/ That's Veterans Day.
Hayek/ That's Veterans Day and I'll be...
Mims/ Yeah, there'll be stuff going on that night.
Hayek/ ... at the dinner for that.
Throgmorton/ How bout a non - Tuesday (laughs) You know, like Wednesday the ... the 5th or
Thursday the 6tn .
Dobyns/ Monday the l Otn,?
Mims/ Monday the 10th works for me. I don't know ... I'm pretty flexible (both talking)
Throgmorton/ Works for me!
Payne/ I'm going to be out of town on the 10th, 11th, and 12th.
Botchway/ I mean, what about the 20th? If we're considering Mondays, what about the 20th?
Hayek/ Of...
Botchway/ October.
Karr/ October?
Dobyns/ The evening?
Dickens/ I will be in Chicago (mumbled) board meeting.
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Botchway/ ...a baseball game! (laughter) (several talking)
Dobyns/ No, no, this is the Cubs! (laughter) They don't do October! (laughter)
Dickens/ ...succession planning. Trying to get my father to retire!
Hayek/ Gotta go to Chicago for that, huh? (laughter)
Dickens/ I gotta go out of town and work on that!
Dobyns/ How bout... Thursday evening the 23rd9
Karr/ Thursday, October 23rd
Throgmorton/ It works for you?
Botchway/ It works.
Hayek/ How bout you, Michelle?
Payne/ I'm going to be in Effingham, Illinois, that week.
Hayek/ All right, we may not be able to ... tackle all seven of us. So...
Throgmorton/ What ... what did we, uh, did we decide anything about, uh, I like the ... the 5th
through the 7th. Well, the 5th or the 6th of November, Wednesday, Thursday night?
Payne/ If (several talking) if October 28th in the morning worked for everybody, I can make it
work.
Botchway/ Well I think that... Geoff brought up that point about considering the public wanting
to be a part of the process, and I think that ... killed it (several talking)
Mims/ ...I think that's a valuable...
Throgmorton/ Yeah, me too!
Payne/ Okay, you guys cut out after I talked so I didn't hear like two or three minutes of
conversation, so thanks.
Mims/ I think we're back to doing evenings, Michelle, just so the public can attend.
Botchway/ So what about the 5th through the 7th
Karr/ November 5th through the 7thq
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Mims/ Well I wouldn't go the 7t ". That's Friday night, 5t" or 6 th? .
Dobyns/ That's fine for me.
Throgmorton/ Fine with me.
Botchway/ Michelle?
Payne/ 5t" works for me.
Mims/ Okay.
Hayek/ People might be a little hung -over after the, uh, election. (several talking) And we
have ... and we have a long, well we have a meeting that evening. What about Thursday
the 6t"?
Mims/ Okay!
Throgmorton/ Okay with me!
Dickens/ Yep!
Mims/ All right, Thursday the 6t" it is, what?
Throgmorton/ (several talking) ... Michelle?
Payne/ That works for me too (several talking)
Karr/ Okay, 4:00 to 7:00? 5:00 to 8:00? 3:00 to 6:00? Or...
Mims/ I think we go 5:00 to 8:00 (several talking)
Dobyns/ I'll be late but that doesn't matter! I think we should start at 5:00. Just get you guys out
of here.
Hayek/ 5:00 Thursday November 6t "1
Mims/ Okay!
Davidson/ Thank you!
Hayek/ Thank you. All right, uh...
Karr / And I have one...
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Hayek/ Yeah!
Karr/ ...one quick question and just a confirmation. We'll be setting up the, uh, budget sessions
for the ... we're going to model them after the, um ... past successes we've had in past
years (laughter) We have one Saturday. Is there a preference on either January 3rd or
January 10th? The rest of `em will be incorporated into the off Monday /Tuesdays, and I'd
like to get that out to you the next packet. Okay, no preference?
Throgmorton/ I don't care.
Botchway/ I would say the 10th. Just because I might go home ... and normally I take coup...
couple weeks.
Karr/ Okay.
Mims/ That's probably better; getting a little further away from the Istl
Karr/ Okay. We'll do it. Thank you.
Botchway/ What time is that normally again? This is a whole day? (several talking)
Karr/ It's ... I think we schedule 8:00 to 4:00, typically. But I'll have that ... we'll prepare that
schedule and put it in the packet for you.
Hayek/ Okay. Pending work session topics? Anything on that?
Pending Work Session Topics:
Fruin/ We're likely to go with the Emerald Ash Borer presentation on the 7th, and we'll leave the
21 st open.
Throgmorton/ Geoff, is that going to address only, uh, these ash trees on City property?
Fruin/ Uh, primarily yes, but we can talk about some of the, um, issues that the community will
face on ... issues on private property through (both talking)
Throgmorton/ ...be helpful to do that...
Fruin/ ...expectations and, uh ... you know, some cities found that they have to get into things
such as permitting tree removal companies and things like that, and we ... we'll explore
those issues or at least touch on `em with you.
Upcoming Events / Council Invitations:
Hayek/ Upcoming events. We kind of went over that ... during Council time.
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Dobyns/ I didn't mention, we have the, um ... uh, Latino group, Chamber of Commerce (both
talking)
Mims/ Oh yeah!
Dobyns/ ...regional this Thursday, 5:30 to 7:30, open house at Billion Dollar Auto.
Hayek/ Dollar, where did you (several talking and laughing)
Dobyns/ Billion's! (laughter)
Hayek/ ...mixture between an auto dealership and a (both talking and laughing)
Dobyns/ I think it was a Freudian slip! (laughter)
Hayek/ Okay! Anything else? Okay! Good work. Take a break and come back at 7:00!
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