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ITEM 3. PROCLAMATIONS
ITEM 3a Domestic Violence Awareness Month — October
Hayek: (reads proclamation)
Voparil: Kristie Fortmann-Doser, Executive Director, and Missie Forbes, Development
Director, will be accepting the proclamation. (applause)
Forbes: I'd like to Mayor Hayek and the, um, Iowa City City Council for recognizing, um,
October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This event began as a one day
event in 1981 where, um, workers, and uh, advocates came together to support
one another in the work that they did, uh, to combat the effects of...on men,
women, and children, um, who have been affected by domestic violence. In
1989, Congress enacted a law proclaiming that October would be Domestic
Violence Awareness Month. Um, this year we have chosen a theme of a
bystander intervention, um, that focuses on how we as a community can help, um,
when we recognize signs or improper behavior, to be able to ... if you see
something, say something, and we have many events that have taken place so far
and um ... other upcoming events as well. Um, next ... on the 15th we'll be showing
Private Violence at the, um, Iowa City Public Library with a panel, following, um,
and that is a documentary about domestic violence and the effects that it has on
families. Um, and then we also, uh, will be awarding the Pat Meyer Vision
Award to recipients at the end of the month at the Public Library, again with a
luncheon. We welcome all of you to attend, as well. So again, thank you for
recognizing October as DV Awareness Month. And I'll turn it over to Kristie.
Fortmann-Doser: So the first thing I want to say is I want to say thank you all to the Council
Members. I ... I cannot emphasize enough how the support of this community
makes such a tremendous difference in the lives of the victims of domestic
violence, and uh, many of you have either been to the shelter itself, or have been
to our new ... our new digs, uh, at 1105 S. Gilbert Court. You all were tremendous
supporters in, uh, helping with that collaborative project, but I ... I do want to say
that, um, we've gone through a lot of change, uh, in how we serve victims of
domestic violence in the state of Iowa. Many of you are aware that a couple of
years ago the state went through a restructure, and our service area was doubled.
We went from serving four counties to serving eight counties. So we now go
from interstate 80 all the way south to Keokuk. Keeps us pretty darn busy, and
our services have jumped pretty significantly, but what I wanted to say is part of
the reason that happened was because of the strength of our community support.
Right now, um, about 24% of our funding comes from local municipalities and
donors, individuals who want to make sure that victims of domestic violence have
the resources that they need. And so I wanted to start by saying thank you. The
next thing I want to say, and ... and this goes back to, um, what Missie was talking
about in terms of looking at, um, how we help, how we support. See something,
say something. It's a critical message. Domestic violence is one of those crimes
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that is unique. It's unique because the perpetrator of this crime has more access,
has more knowledge, has more leverage than any other perpetrator of other
crimes. This is somebody who knows you better ... than you sometimes know
yourself. This is the person who has access to everything in your life that is
important to you. It knows your strengths. That person knows your weaknesses.
They know the things you're proud of, the things you're not so proud of. They
have access to the people you love more than your own life. They know where to
find you at any given moment. So for us, having emergency services, like our 24-
hour hotline, that resonds ... responds to about 18,000 calls a year, um, our
emergency shelter, which shelters about 350 women and children a year, and our
outreach services, that serves about another, um ... 1,900 men, women, and
children a year. I cannot say how important it is to have that and that we thank
you for your support.
Hayek: Thank you. You do very, very important work in our community, and in other
communities, and we appreciate what you do.
Fortmann-Doser: If anybody has any questions, we're happy to answer them, but ... if not, again,
thank you!
Hayek: Thank you! (applause)
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ITEM 3. PROCLAMATIONS
ITEM 3b National Hispanic Heritage Month — September 15 thru October
15
Hayek: (reads proclamation)
Voparil: Stella Hart, on behalf of the Human Rights Commission is accepting. (applause)
Hart: Thank you on behalf of the Human Rights Commission.
Hayek: Thank you for being here.
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ITEM 3. PROCLAMATIONS
ITEM 3c Fire Prevention Week — October 4 —10
Hayek: (reads proclamation)
Voparil: Lt. Scott Goolsby accepting the proclamation. (applause)
Goolsby: Honorable Mayor and City Council, thank you for this proc ... proclamation. We
are ... during Fire Prevention Week, we, uh, make a large effort to go to all the
Iowa City schools and put on approximately a 30 -minute program. Um, we're
about half way through that right now and it's been a pretty good success this
year, and the big theme of that, of course, is "Put the Beep Where You Sleep."
It's very important! Uh, for the rest of the year we ... we do fire prevention, uh, it's
just not ... we just focus on the schools and the kids for this ... for this week, and we
appreciate this proclamation and thank you for your support!
Hayek: Thank you! Keep it up! (applause)
Botchway: (mumbled) one of the schools, um, I can't remember which school right now and I
can't remember the particular fire, uh, men, but uh... um, did a neat dance that's
very, um ... uh, the whip-n-naa-naa (laughter) at one of the schools that I think you
really did a good job, and uh, really kind of had the kids enthused and listening in,
uh, about what you were talking about.
Goolsby: Thank you! Um ... we have some very creative people on the Fire Department.
We have a very... diverse, creative group and uh, it was a privilege to work with
these gentlemen. Um, when he brought that to my attention, it was actually ... it
was my ... it was my show this year and he brought that up and said, well, I'd like
to have the kids do the naa-naa and uh, you know, sometimes the firefighters will
sneak some stuff by and ... so it's like ... I'm not really sure about that but ... (laughter)
it has been wildly successful and the kids (laughter) the kids, uh, getting their
attention. They seem to really like it and I think that that's been taped and will be
on Public Television (laughter) So thank ... thank you for that comment. I really
appreciate that.
Payne: Can you demonstrate? (laughter)
Hayek: Can Kingsley? (laughter and several talking) All right! Thank you, sir!
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ITEM 5. COMMUNITY COMMENT (ITEMS NOT ON THE AGENDA)
Hayek: This is the opportunity at each City Council meeting for members of the audience
to address the Council on items that are not on the agenda. So if there's
something that's not on this evening's agenda that you would like to bring to our
attention, I invite you to come forward, and our standard practice is to ask you to
sign in, to verbally give us your, uh, name, and to keep your comments to five
minutes or less!
Gravitt: My name is Mary Gravitt and I'm here about my community. Uh, two things
have come to my attention this week. I'm still up on ... I'm still waiting for the
answer to the bus shelters on the outbound Towncrest route, cause that's very
important, very close to my heart, cause I don't think it's fair that we have to stand
outside in the weather when there are shelters available and shelters in places that
don't need 'em, but my main concern tonight is the Mall bus. The Mall bus no
longer goes into the Sycamore Mall, and this is concern of my fellow citizens, my
human beings that live in my ... my area and my neighborhood. Now ... it ... they said
that I've heard the Mall bus is not going to Sycamore Mall anymore because
there's too many children wondering around, I guess, with their parents, and this
is dangerous, but I want to know how many people ... how many children has the
Mall bus either murdered or injured. The Mall just didn't get there yesterday!
And that bus didn't, you know, the bus has always, as far as I know, gone into the
Mall. Now Lucky's is on the other side of the Mall. The bus stop is
at ... McDonald's. You have to carry your groceries clear across that lot, and in the
winter, that lot is icy. It ... it's covered with snow, and you don't even know how to
get out of it, cause I've had another complaint. This person said they slipped all
the way to the bus stop. Now you don't have enough people to keep the sidewalks
clean because you can't even handle downtown. And then too that bus stop. I'm
still complaining about that bus stop, across from... Kirkwood. Now, I got a
Google picture about how safe it was, but human nature tells you when people get
off the bus, especially those young people mostly that go to Kirkwood, they're
gonna cross the street in front of the bus. So that there's a traffic coming from
Lower Muscatine and off Sycamore. You're gonna have to do something! Either
move the bus down, bus stop down to Deforest, and what really — pardon the
expression — pisses me is that that road is practically brand new! The cement is
still green. So ... you gotta take into consideration when you let people design
things that you don't go out and look and check it out for yourself. It's nothing
like the human eye and Google pictures don't do it for me! But ... that bus has to
go back into the Mall. Lucky's, uh, has ... begin to lay off people, cuttin' their
hours back. The business has slowed down. The newness has worn off. So it's
time to be considerate of the human beings in my neighborhood. Like I said when
I wrote my letter, that ... we talk about race but there's only one race, and that's the
human race. So me as a black person talking about the problems that my ... my
neighbors face, it's not about black people! It's about everybody who lives in the
community, every human being that has to stand outside in the rain, snow and the
slush and wait for a bus! And Towncrest has never benefited from anything from
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the City! I'm sure HyVee paid for their own stuff. The banks paid for theirs. So
it's about time Towncrest got treated evenly and the ... and the people on the south
side got something for their tax money. Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you for your comments.
Beadleston: Hi, my name is Joy Beadleston and I'm here ... to make a comment, um, to support
Mary Gravitt's and my community also. Is ... supposed to be on the south side.
Um, I live by Eastdale Plaza and I ride sometimes the Mall bus and other, um,
transportation, but the issue is that, um, the Mall bus is a huge issue with the
community. Um, as we saw at Kirkwood last week when there was a public
meeting, um, with some of the candidates that are running, um, many people in
the audience... commented by their claps in support of Mary's, um, issue that she's
bringing to the attention, that's part of the community's issue obviously. So ... um,
the Mall bus has been rerouted many times with the construction project that
lasted about three years, I believe, two and a half, um, along Muscatine, Lower
Muscatine and First Avenue, and now we have, you know, of course the whole
city's pretty much under construction, but now First Avenue has a big issue with
the train that's going to be rerouted and the bridge and all that, with the separation
project. So, the Mall bus, again, is rerouted, um ... the cold is a huge issue in Iowa.
I know there's global warming. It's a little warm this time for October, but the
cold is starting to come and it's ... it seers right through your clothing. I know some
people, um, are elite and lucky enough to have North Slope coats and under -
armor and all that, but not everybody has that, and so you sit and wait for buses
that are often in the winter very delayed. Um, I know the bus drivers do their best
to try to be on time, but ... the fact is they're very late sometimes. So people ... that
ride the bus are sitting outside and waiting for long periods, and there's no shelter,
and especially now. They used to take shelter inside the Eastdale Plaza, was one
of the few options, and now with the buses being moved all the time to temporary
spots, there ... you know, there's no protection at all, and the Mall bus going into
Sycamore Mall shouldn't be an issue because the Coralville bus goes into one of
the busiest malls (laughs) around ... the Coralville, uh, Mall and don't seem to have
a problem there. So I wouldn't accept that, if that is one of the issues, and again,
no one has returned a call to me about this. I've made calls again about, um ... this
issue and I have not received a call back (laughs) Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you. Can we have staff look into that? Thank you. Anyone else?
Calkins: Good evening. My name is Marilyn Calkins and I'm here this evening both as a
private citizen and as a member of one of Iowa City's faith communities, and ... I'm
talk ... want to support the Supervisors' ordinance on raising the minimum wage,
uh, earlier when the sixth graders were being presented with their certificates and
read their paragraphs, they all talked about being helpful and caring about others.
And so as ... as part of my faith background and the teachings of all the major faith
traditions, caring for those around us, caring for the people in our neighborhood is
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part of the teachings and part of what we all say we live by, and so that's why I
support this ordinance and I hope that you will do so also. Thank you.
Hayek: Thank you for your comments.
Landry: Good evening. Doyle, Landry. First, wanted to thank you very much for listening
with regard to the ... uh, addition and the correction and the eventual resolution
with regard to 136 S. Dubuque. But I have to ask ... because I keep listening. This
will be the second time and this wasn't planned. It just ... (mumbled) sitting,
listening. Sometimes !when you kick the can down the road it becomes a larger
issue. More on that in a minute. I would like to think that Miss Gravitt's issue is
very solvable. It's a ohe-hour issue. Literally. I put that up there because ... on
October 1St, the Chicago Tribune pre... presented a very inflammatory editorial that
didn't name race, but it particularly... it blamed African American and Latino
aldermen for the violence in their wards. It's all on the web site and it's ... it's
created a ... (laughs) It's all on the web site! And I often think, what if the same
type of conversation Happened here? The only difference is the individuals being
accused would be white. So I like what Miss Gravitt said about this is for part of
the human race. It acually changed what I was going to say, because we're now
nine months into when you ... to the day when you started talking on ... on your
January 6th meeting about changing the conversation, Iowa City as it relates to
race. And we ... are nope months in and there's no plan. One of the columnists for
the Chicago Tribune, �n African American defending her own newspaper —
maybe it was for job security, um ... s ... specifically has asked for the individuals
who (mumbled) what's the plan? I say that because the State of Illinois there is no
budget. It's unprecedOnted and the least people who don't have connections,
people who are not, uin, wealthy are the ones that are losing out. It's the same
thing that happens hefe, but in a different way that if you're not welcome it ... or if
you don't know how tb, um, write an email that gets everyone's attention, you fall
through the cracks. May not be paying attention to this ... this one, but there are a
few homeless individv als who are out there who weren't there a year ago. And if
you knew their story, for those of us who are journalists, we dig deeper for the
story. There are individuals who are now on the streets of downtown Iowa City
who weren't there a year ago, and for me that's shameful. Because in a
community like this, We should be able to ... catch and keep one another. So ... I
implore us if we are tt+uly talking about a better Iowa City that you can't fix what
you won't face and it ran be uncomfortable staring at a former colleague who may
be out of a job or ... coining back every three, six, nine months to topic of race
because once again, you can't fix won't you won't face. So in my five minutes,
like I said, Miss Gravitt's, uh, opening changed what I needed to say. Three
months from now will be a collective year and we're going to be obviously having
the conversations abojat what Shelter House and the temporary shelter, etc., and
again ... what do we doi to change it permanently for the good? This is Iowa City.
Surplus. Aldermen, excuse me, elected officials who get along, but we keep
kicking a can down the road that's solvable, and we can do better than that.
Thank you.
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Hayek: Thank you for your comments. Anyone else? Okay! I will move on to Item 6,
Planning and Zoning Matters.
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ITEM 6. PLANNING AND ZONING MATTERS
ITEM NO. 6a ORDINANCE CONDITIONALLY REZONING APPROXIMATELY
18.66 ACRES OF PROPERTY LOCATED SOUTH OF HERBERT
HOOVER HIGHWAY, FROM COUNTY MULTIFAMILY
RESIDENTIAL (RMF) TO 16.75 ACRES LOW DENSITY SINGLE
FAMILY (RS5) AND 1.91 ACRES MULTIFAMILY (RM -12) (REZ15-
00014 / ANN15-00001) (SECOND CONSIDERATION)
Hayek: Moved by Payne, seconded by Dickens. This is 2nd consideration. Any Exparte from
last reading? Any one from the audience?
Dilkes: Can you hold on for a minute. Is there expedited actions on this..?
Hayek: There isn't on this one. There is on the next one. Hayek: Roll call please...
Hayek: Second consideration passes 7/0.
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ITEM 6b REZONING BENTON ST / RIVERSIDE DRIVE — ORDINANCE
REZONING APPROXIMATELY 1.45 ACRES OF PROPERTY FROM
COMMUNITY COMMERCIAL (CC -2) TO RIVERFRONT CROSSINGS -
WEST RIVERFRONT (RFC -WR) ZONE LOCATED AT THE
NORTHWEST CORNER OF BENTON STREET AND RIVERSIDE
DRIVE (REZ15-00015) (SECOND CONSIDERATION)
Hayek: This is second consideration and there is a request for expedited action.
Mims: I move that the rule requiring that ordinances must be considered and voted on for
passage at two Council meetings prior to the meeting at which it is to be finally
passed be suspended, that the second consideration and vote be waived, and that
the ordinance be voted on for final passage at this time.
Botchway: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Botchway. Discussion? Anyway from the
audience? Tracy, are you coming up or are you doing (laughter) You're not
up ... you're up for the next one! (laughs) All right (laughter) Sorry to call you
out. Further Council... we're on the motion to collapse here. Further Council
discussion? Roll call, please.
Mims: Move final adoption.
Botchway: Second.
Hayek: Pass and adopt moved by Mims, seconded by Botchway. Discussion? Roll call,
please. Passes 7-0.
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ITEM 7. UNIVERCITY SALE, 1104 EAST BURLINGTON - AUTHORIZING
CONVEYANCE OF A SINGLE FAMILY HOME LOCATED AT 1104
EAST BURLINGTON STREET
a. PUBLIC HEARING
Hayek: This is a public hearing. The hearing is open. (bangs gavel) We have a special
presentation for this.
Hightshoe: Hi! On your agenda tonight, um, you'll see the conveyance of 1104 Burlington
Street. This marks a major milestone in the UniverCity Program. It's our 50th
home sold and I'd like to welcome, um, our new homebuyers coming back from,
um, Dallas to make their home in Iowa City. We have Daniel and Ann Marie
here (applause) so they are our 5e homebuyer! We thought this would be a great
time to discuss, um, where ... how we came about the UniverCity Program, our
major accomplishments, and where we go from here. Should we turn down the
lights or no? Okay. Um, as you can see this is 1104 Burlington and it's our 50t`
home. The program came about, we had a I -Jobs grant back in 2010. Um, the
purpose of the ... the I -Jobs grant was to address some of the concerns down in the
University area. The high cost of housing, pricing out of a lot of homebuyers into
the area. Um, people want to work and live in the ... by major employment centers.
We also saw lock ... lack of investment in the University -impacted neighborhoods.
Um, it only took about two minutes driving around downtown Iowa City when we
saw some properties that, you know, were in disrepair. There was lack of
investment, um, there's a lot of issues we're trying to resolve through the
UniverCity Program. The University -impacted neighborhoods are those, as you
can imagine, that are close to the University, have a high percentage of student
rentals, on the east and west side of the river. The goal of the program has always
been neighborhood stabilization. These are the three goals that we applied for the
grant and these are the three goals that guide us today. We want to preserve the
neighborhoods around the University. We want to make sure they're sustainable.
The people who want to live by the University are given opportunities, that they
can if they want to live near our downtown and be part of our downtown
community, and we want to reinvest in these neighborhoods. The program
works ... we have, um, lending partners, our area local lenders. We get below-
market interest rates from them. We purchase the properties. We look to any
funding source that we can find to invest up to $50,000 in property, or $50,000 in
rehab for those homes. We work with local contractors. We bid it out. We ... we
sell the homes to income -qualified applicants. There's been some confusion about
income, and that's my next slide, so I'll go into that. Um, the reab ... rehabilitation
funds are a grant to the homeowner, and when we sell the property, we reimburse
the lender and we put a deed restriction on that home. Um, for the I -Jobs it was
10 years. We've moved to a 20 -year. So that home will remain owner -occupied
for the next 20 years. All homebuyers to date had to be below 140% of median
income, unless that home ... like when we were converting triplex or duplexes back
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to single-family, those are expensive. We can't sell the home for less than 190, so
in those cases we went up to 160% of median income. We have a his ... what we
provide the sell price based on the funding source for the rehab, so if we use
CDBG or Home Funds, then the homeowner couldn't be over 80% of median
income. If we use the Housing Authority like we did for 16 homeowners, they
had to be below 80% of median income. And the original I -Jobs, the 26 homes,
they have a ... went by (mumbled) owner -occupied, which ... it doesn't translate
directly to how we do our HUD -meeting income. It's about 90 to 110% of
median income based on household size. So there's a element of affordability but
not all. Um, our primary goal is stabilization of these neighborhoods. We've
purchased 56 homes since 2010, and you can see clusters in the Douglas Court
area, Governor Street, Burlington, and north Gilbert Street. Um, the program has
a lot of benefits. Um, we're providing homes, um, by ... where people want to live.
They can reduce their commuting time. Um, we've ... we've increased the tax base
by over $1.2 million by the homes that we've sold to date. Also, like I said,
um ... the neighborhood stabilization component is huge. They become invested.
What I love seeing is after we've rehabbed a home, we start seeing neighbors who
now feel it's more comfortable. They start taking the risk. They in ... invest in
their home. And we've won about eight historic preservation awards, and not all
that we did. Some of the homeowners that bought our homes continue to invest in
the property. Um ... and we're ... we'll basically partner with anybody, so ... um,
Friends of Historic Preser ... Preservation, Habitat... Salvage Barn, our area lenders.
We worked with the Neighborhood Associations at the beginning in the choice
and the selection of the homes that we ... that were ... that were purchased, and my
favorite part is just showing what we did. Um, we used the flood buy, I mean it
was a bad time for a lot of people, but we were able to use the materials from the
flood buyout into the UniverCity Program, reducing the cost of the rehab. So we
salvaged furnaces, granite countertops, toilets, vanities, trim, you name it ... if we
could restore it, then... basically get it and use it, we did! Um, my ... the great part
is like seeing the before and afters of these projects that we do. So, this one won a
historic preservation award. Um, some of the conditions of the homes that we
buy, you know, we have to evaluate, um, you know you're looking at competing
goals. You're looking at accessibility, affordability, historic preservation,
sustainability, and we only have $50,000 that we can put in. So, it's a choice of
what we do and we try to balance those competing goals, but we always do the
code, um, code enforcement issues like plumbing, electrical. We encounter
new ... knob and tube. We take that out. Um, if there's ... if there are major
foundation issues, we repair those. Once we get the basic things done, and I love
like what we find in some of these homes before we rehab (laughter) um, we
make some major transformations. This one I recall it was in the Douglas Court.
It was a vacant home. We purchased it, um, we did rehab. We used, um, granite
countertops that we salvaged out of the, uh, home on Normandy, and the kitchen
looks beautiful and it was an affordable... it became a very affordable home to the
next homebuyer. Like I said, we have used 8.5 million from local lenders. That
triggered $9 million in sales for this program. Over 2.5 million completed in
rehab. State I -Jobs was about 1.3 million of that. Housing Authority with some
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federal funds was 190. CDBG and Home. So basically for our investment we
have triggered and leveraged millions of dollars, um ... and talking about when
we're trying to reduce congestion and retuc ... reduce density in some of these
neighborhoods. Um, we've converted six duplexes and a triplex back to single-
family homes. I wanted to bring up what ... what the Miller -Orchard
Neighborhood, cause this is a condensed neighborhood. Has about 50 homes.
We renovated nine homes. We increased those nine homes assessed value by
14%, while a citywide average at the same time was 7%, and in the neighborhood
we increased the assessed values of 347 over that time period. What's great for us
is that not only are the homebuyers have a lot of positive comments, but the
neighborhood is starting to see it. Um, so I asked some of the neighbors if they
could give me their feedback on the program and I ... I received this from Paula
(mumbled), she's a Miller -Orchard resident. And then from Josh and Meg Jacobs
on Burlington Street. This was the comment. From here, like I said, we have 56
homes. Um, the 51th... 51" I guess (laughter) I talk too fast! (laughs) Um, will
be ... is on your agenda. That'll be our next sale. We have five homes after that,
and then just today we signed a purchase agreement for our 57h home, and that'll
be at 321 Douglas Court. So we've budgeted about two to five homes at this point
going on forward. Um, so we're very selective in where we choose those homes,
and then if you have any questions you can always reach, um, staff about it. Any
questions?
Dobyns: Tracy, 140% is the upper level, um, for the average median income. What's the
average, uh, buyer of a UniverCity home ... over the last two years?
Hightshoe: Due to the funding sources, I'd say that an average would be about 100% of
median income. And then it, like I said, if the funding source dictated it, we went
below 80%, and now we're selling those homes, um, like the Douglas Court
homes almost primarily to ... all to people under 80% of median income. We can
sell a home from 150, 160 below. We try to, you know, accomplish that we can
offer those homes to people with lower incomes, but when we're converting like
those large homes and we have to ... we took us 200 grand to (mumbled) buy them,
we can't sell them (coughing, unable to hear speaker) they wouldn't be able to
afford those homes, so we go ... we go to a much higher income level.
Mims: I just want to say I think this ... has been a fantastic program. I know you've
worked really hard on it, Tracy, as well as a lot of other staff, but I mean the
combination of neighborhood stabilization, um ... reinvigorating these buildings,
getting them owner -occupied versus rental, I mean, some of the pictures are just
incredibly dramatic from what they were when the City bought them to when we
ended up selling them and ... obviously for some people this is an opportunity to
gain a home that they might not otherwise have been able to afford and I realize
that varies depending on the house, etc., but ... um, you know, that's one of our
goals and one of our ... one of our, uh, parts of our strategic plans is that
neighborhood stabilization, and I think this has just been a really, really good
program.
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Hayek: Some, you know, some have suggested that, you know, you can't accomplish
much with ... with a handful of homes. Um, and you know to that I would say that
stabilizing and strengthening these neighborhoods can only be accomplished one
home at a time, and these 50 homes have an outsized impact because you see
what occurs in the vicinity of those homes.
Hightshoe: We've tried to cluster them so you see an impact within that neighborhood.
Hayek: So I hope we continue this indefinitely. I ... I, and I hope we can restore the
partnership with the University, which was a funding partner, and ... and maybe
will be again in the future. Urn ... uh, but ... but this is great and, uh, you know, a
picture's worth a ... a thousand words (laughs) and I want to welcome our
new ... new residents to town and congratulate you, as well!
Throgmorton: I ... I'd like to say I admire the whole program, but I especially admire what's been
done in Miller -Orchard. Uh, I think, uh, looks like 10 houses or thereabouts,
uh...
Hightshoe: Nine. We've done nine.
Throgmorton: ... have been converted there, or ren... renovated there, uh, and that strengthens the
Benton Hill Park. It ... it enables that other, the new development on, is it Orchard
Street, uh, the ... the co -housing project...
Hightshoe: Uh huh!
Throgmorton: ... which hope... hopefully (both talking) will move ahead, and justifies putting
more money into the, uh, the other developments at the corner of, uh, of Benton
and south Riverside Drive. It ... it's a ... a ... what's the right word I'm after? Uh... I
can't think of the right phrase, but ... it ... it's a .... an incremental transformation that
leads toward improvement instead of the other way. So I really admire it.
Botchway: I would encourage as well, I mean, um, you know, uh, you know traveling a little
bit and ... traveling a little bit more now as well, um, you know you see cities, and
previous cities I've lived in before where, you know, you see the degradation of
homes in neighborhoods and this is, you know, really been transformative and,
you know, mouths dropped on a couple of these. You know, I didn't know if
there was a bus that would then be moved away, you know, for a couple of these
pictures as well. Hopefully everybody watches the home makeover (laughter)
show, but um, but yeah, this is amazing work. I'm inspired. Um, there's some
stuff that I need to get done in my own home, so I'll be talking to you as well
(laughter) um, but uh, appreciate the hard work that you've put into this, and you
know, everybody else that was involved.
Throgmorton: Virtuous circle is the phrase I was trying to come up with. (laughter)
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Hayek: All right! Thanks, Tracy! Uh, this is a public hearing. If anyone else wishes to
address us, certainly can. Otherwise I'm going to close the public hearing. (bangs
gavel)
b. CONSIDER A RESOLUTION
Mims: Move the resolution.
Dickens: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Dickens. Discussion? Roll call, please. Passes 7-
0.
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ITEM 8. DEBT MANAGEMENT POLICY — RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE
DEBT MANAGEMENT POLICY FOR THE CITY OF IOWA CITY
Mims: Move the resolution.
Botchway: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Mims, seconded by Botchway. Discussion? We have a staff
presentation. Dennis!
Bockenstedt: I have a presentation prepared. Uh, good evening, I'm Dennis Bockenstedt, the
Finance Director for the City. Get this cued up. Uh... tonight for City Council
consideration is an ... revised and enhanced debt management policy. Uh, the
purpose of the debt management policy is to help provide guidelines for the
issuance of debt, and it's also helped to keep the property tax rate lower and to
assist in maintaining the Moody's triple-A bond rating. It's also to help comply
with the FCC and IRS oversight, and to help maintain a strong financial and debt
management. Uh, the proposed policy contains 12 separate sections. Uh, topics
included in those sections include, uh, debt limits, uh, debt structure, uh, method
of sale, uh, the credit rating, and a new annual reporting requirement. Uh, Section
1 of the proposed policy covers the general provisions of the policy. It sets the
allowed uses of the debt, um, the allowed uses under the policy would be for
capital improvement projects, firefighting equipment, affordable housing
developments, and economic development projects only. Uh, for capital
improvement projects, uh, that would be funded with debt, they must be part of
the five-year capital improvement plan. Uh, the policy would also set pay-as-you-
go financing as the preferred method of funding for projects over the issuance of
debt. Uh, the general provisions also set the Finance Director as the responsible
party for compliance and monitoring of the policy. Uh, Section 2, uh, discusses
the debt limits. Uh, for general obligation debts, there is a 5% State legal limit on
the total assessed value. Uh, this policy imposes a stricter limit of 1 %s% of the
total assessed value and sets a goal for the City to try ... to strive to reach a .75% of
total assessed value, which is the Moody's, uh, triple-A benchmark. Uh, further
limits in the policy, uh, set that the debt service levy would not exceed 30% of the
total property tax levy and also that revenue -secured debts, uh, such as, uh, water,
revenue bonds, and the sewer revenue bonds, uh, the net revenues of those
utilities, uh, would be at least 1.25 times the annual debt service. Further
limitations, uh, the policy would disallow the use of annual appropriated debt to
circumvent the limits that are in the policy. Uh... the outstanding bonds, uh, that
are subject to the debt limit, the City currently has 12 outstanding issues, uh, of
general obligation and tax increment revenue bonds that total, uh, just under $62
million. When we take a look at those outstanding bonds versus the State legal
debt limit, and this is over the last 10 years, uh, the green bar, uh... is the top part.
You can see that the legal debt limit has risen over the last 10 years, whereas kind
of the, uh, the light blue bar, the bottom set, that's the outstanding bonds, has held
steady, and is ... has decreased slightly over the last 10 years. What that translates
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into is that the, uh, net bonded debt, over the percentage of the total assessed
valuations has decreased over that period of time. So for the last 10 years that,
uh, the percentage of debt or total valuations has decreased from 2 %s% down to
just over 1 %. Uh, the red bar on this chart represents, uh, the limit that is in the
proposed policy of 1 'h%. Uh, the green bar, uh, is the goal that we would strive
to achieve of the .75% of total valuations. Uh, for the debt levy limitation, uh, the
current, uh, total property tax levy, or I should say the City property tax levy is
$16.65 per $1,000 of value. Uh, the debt service levy is $3.92 per $1,000 of
value, or 23.6% of the levy, uh... the limit that is proposed in this policy is 30% of
the levy. Uh, for outstanding revenue bonds the City currently has six
outstanding revenue bonds, uh, three sewer bonds and three water bonds, totaling
$47.6 million. Uh, when we look at the revenue bond coverage, uh, which is, uh,
utilities net revenues, or revenues minus its expenses, first is its annual debt
service and for fiscal year 14, if we take a look at the water, uh, revenue fund here
or the water utility fund, it has a net revenue of $7.1 million. It had an annual
debt service of $4.6 million, or it had a coverage, a bond coverage, of 1.52 times.
Uh, for waste water it had a coverage of 1.41 times, and this policy sets the
requirement that the utilities would cover at least 1.25 times their annual debt
cost. Uh, Section 3 of the proposed policy, uh, discusses debt structure and debt
terms. Uh, for term length, the policy sets for GO bonds a standard length of 10
years and revenue bonds extend to a length of 20 years. Uh, under no scenario
should the length or the term of the bonds exceed the life or payback of the
project being funded. Uh, also for debt structure it sets a preferred, uh, payment
method as a rapid repayment; however, the general rules and what we've
generally use is a level debt sort of schedule. Uh, this policy would allow for
balloon structures, uh, backloaded principle, or increasing payment structures;
however, a financial plan would be put into place to demonstrate repayment of
those bonds. Uh, the same is true for variable rate debt. These purchases and
other obligations, uh, they should be, uh, limited and specific purposes, and
financial plans would be put into place to demonstrate the repayment of that debt.
Uh, other topics covered include the short-term debt. It would also be limited to
specific purposes and require financial plans. Uh, the policy discusses the
selection of consultants. We do use a bond counsel and a financial advisor. And,
um, and also sets the preferred method of sale. Uh, for general obligation debt it
would require, uh, that money to be competitively bid. Uh, for other types of debt
it may be placed privately or negotiated, if it's in the City's best interest. Um,
other topics covered in the policy include refundings. It sets a minimum, uh,
savings requirement in our ... before we'd perform a refunding. Uh, it prohibits the
use of derivatives and requires the investment of bond proceeds, uh, be consistent
with the City's investment policy. Uh... Section 8 discusses the City's credit rating.
Uh, the policy would set Moody's as the preferred, uh, credit rating agency for the
City. It also sets a goal for the City to strive to maintain its triple-A bond rating
and also strive to obtain at least an A3 rating or higher for its revenue bonds. The
policy also discusses use of credit enhancement; however, the City has not used
much credit enhancement in the past, such as, uh, insurance. For the, uh, City's
bond rating, which this last year was triple-A and has been for... approximately the
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last 39 years, uh, you can see that that places the City in the upper 6 %2% of cities
nationwide. And, it is, uh, places Iowa City as only one of two cities in the state
of Iowa that maintain a triple-A bond rating. Uh, each year when we do our
general obligation bond issuance, uh, Moody's issues a rating report. Um, and
from our 2015 rating report, uh, Moody's, uh, the rationale they gave for giving
Iowa City a triple-A rating was that we had a growing tax base, uh, benefiting
from the presence of the University of Iowa, that the City has a healthy financial
profile, characterized by ample reserves and prudent management, and the City
has a moderate debt burden with rapid principle amortization. Uh, that report also
lists the strengths of the City, is that it has a stable economy, uh, a healthy
financial profile with ample reserves and prudent management, and significant
revenue raising flexibility. It does list as a challenge to the City, uh, that it has a
smaller tax base. Iowa City is one of the smaller triple-A entities in the country,
and that we have lower socioeconomic indicators. Uh, what could make the
rating go down? Uh, deterioration of the tax base, uh, could make the rating go
down. Uh, reductions in the City's financial reserves could make that rating go
down, and a growth in the City's debt burden could make that go down. Uh,
Section 9, (mumbled) discusses, uh, continuing disclosure. Um, the City does
have a separate post -issuance compliance policy to, uh, assist with compliance
with IRS regulations. Uh, we are currently considering a, uh, a new policy for
continuing disclosure. Uh, requirements of the FCC to help comply with those
laws and regulations, and also mentions, uh, the compliance with our disclosure
and bond holder certificates. Uh, new to the policy, in Section 12, is an annual
reporting environment to the City Council. Uh, the policy would state that, uh,
within 210 days after the year end, uh, management would provide the City
Council, uh, a report that summarizes the debt, uh, statistical information,
outstanding bonds, uh, revenue bond coverages. Uh, it also, uh, summarized
upcoming bond issues and any other material events or relevant information. And
to summarize, uh, the purpose of the debt management policy is to help provide
guidelines for the issuance of debt, to help keep the property tax rate low, uh, to
help maintain the Moody's triple-A bond rating, to comply with SEC and IRS
oversight, and to help maintain strong financial and debt management. And I'll
try and answer any of your questions.
Dobyns: Could you pull up the slides again, Dennis, and go back to ... 8, I believe.
Payne: Slide 8 or #8?
Dobyns: #8, uh, Roman numeral 8. Sorry! Go ... go another page. Keep going, sorry!
Okay! Challenges (clears throat) Smaller tax base and lower socioeconomic
indicators relative to similarly rated entities. So that means for like Moody's
ratings, triple-A bond rating, we are ... um, an unusually small tax base.
Bockenstedt: That's correct. They do give us credit for the valuation of the University of Iowa.
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Dobyns: That's a fact, but I'm struggling to figure out how that might... recommend what
sort of policies City staff might be recommending to us on that basis.
Bockenstedt: As far as the challenges go?
Dobyns: I mean it's a challenge. There's a suggestion there that it's a problem,
and ... probably we should effect policy formation going forward, and ... I'm trying
to think what that might be.
Mims: Growing the tax base (several talking)
Dobyns: I know it seems obvious, but I just want to ask, um...
Bockenstedt: I mean I guess that would be the ... the policy would be to grow the tax base (both
talking)
Dobyns: So there must be a problem, I mean being...
Bockenstedt: Well, the larger the tax base, uh, I think they view that as the greater ... the security
for the coverage of the debt. The larger the tax base to raise revenue from, and so
when you have a smaller tax base, uh, I believe it's their belief that it'd be more
difficult to raise revenue from the smaller tax base. So, um ... being a smaller tax
base, it would generally be more difficult for us to raise revenue than if we were a
larger city or a larger, uh (both talking)
Dobyns: Even though we have a great Moody's rating (several talking) Yeah.
Hayek: Well you know (both talking)
Bockenstedt: ...they take a lot of factors into consideration and they implemented a scorecard,
uh, the last couple years that kind of quantifies, uh, those factors, and so, um,
when they took a look at those statistical factors, and they size it up. You know,
they kind of take everything into account as far as your credit worthiness. Um,
and when we compare ... when they compare us to other entities, we are smaller
and they see that as a little more of a risk because of our ... our revenue generating
capacity.
Payne: Do they also compare your ... somehow compare your tax base or your valuation to
your debt, so you have a ratio, and because of that ratio, that's part of the reason
why? I mean our debt isn't really high compared to our tax base. It's (both
talking)
Bockenstedt: Right. Right, it ... I mean that's ... one of the indicators we were looking at as ... as
part of the policy would be to ... is when you look at that tax base (mumbled)
amount of debt we could issue, um, you know, they look at that ratio and actually
we are higher for triple-A entity, even though ... when you look at a lot of our
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comparatives we seem extremely low. Uh, most triple -As do, uh, use pay-as-you-
go funding, uh, over the issuance of debt.
Hayek: And we ... and we start to some extent with one hand tied behind our back because
some 40% of our land base can't be taxed. It's the University campus and ... and
other exempt institutions.
Bockenstedt: That's correct.
Markus: But I ... but I'd say that you ... you have to bump up and look at your strengths, and
one of the ... one of the strengths that, um ... you can counter some of the tax base
with is maintaining a substantial, uh, fund balance. I know around the country
there's a lot of pressure on cities to reduce that fund balance, uh, in part with an
argument to return it to the taxpayer, but yeah, you can return it to the taxpayer,
but if you notch down in terms of your bond rating, your debt cost is going to go
up! So ... we ... we take ... we pay a lot of attention to that and Moody's in this
scorecard that Dennis is talking about ... came out with a provision that they want
us to maintain a 30% fund balance. I think we were probably closer to 25
previously and so we've ratcheted up our requirement for a 30% fund balance, as
well. I think the other thing is, um ... when you look at those tax ... or those
challenges, the smaller tax base, you say well grow yourself into a larger tax base.
The challenge that I see in the state of Iowa is, tax base is grown with the use of
TIF. And so you have to be prudent in the use of TIF. The problem in using TIF
to grow your tax base is the tax base growth is used to retire the tax increment
financing that's used. So ... you can't just grow yourself out of this situation,
especially when you get into a crisis. So you have to look at these things before
you get into the crisis situation. Now what's a crisis here in Iowa? A crisis here
in Iowa is the tax reform that has occurred and will start to really take effect I
think this year and potentially, uh, with the drop of the backfill. So we think
during this upcoming legislative session, cities in general have to ... have to get on
board and really work with our legislators to make sure that that backfill doesn't
go away. You know the history in the state of Iowa. When they create backfills,
backfills typically tend to, uh, disappear at some point in the future when the short
term memory of most people fades enough so that they can slide that through, and
you know in listening to the State budget commentary that ... that they're running
into some fiscal challenges themselves, so they look for things to start to go after.
So, that I think is going to be one of the big challenges in this upcoming
legislative sessions.
Bockenstedt: And I would say not all entity can be everything, uh, that Moody's wants. Um, I
think we, with our policy development we've tried to focus on our positives and
mitigate some of our negatives, um, and so I think that's where we've tried to
focus on the things that we have control over, that they think are positive, cause
we can't control the economy, we can't (coughing, unable to hear speaker) growth
of our tax base, but we can control the amount of debt we issue and the amount of
reserves we keep on hand.
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Markus: So the other priority is this lower socioeconomic indicators. Just think for a
minute who the other triple-A is in the state of Iowa. It's West Des Moines. And
you look at the per capita income of the, you know, the average resident in ... in
West Des Moines, it's substantially more. That's ... to me that's one of the
attractivenesses of Iowa City because it has a diversity, but that diversity causes
us some challenges in terms of service delivery and the types of services we
provide, that West Des Moines does not provide. So ... we have to, you know, that
goes back to the comment about prudent management. We have to make sure
there's a revenue stream associated with the services we deliver, to make sure that
we can afford those things that we're doing, and you know, we're a Big Ten. We
try to do a lot of things for the full range of our community, across culture, across
arts, across ... uh, inclusive... inclusiveness in different parts of our operations,
so ... those are all things that I think make Iowa City what it is, but by comparison,
there's other jurisdictions that tend to have more inherent wealth than we do. So, I
think we're doing remarkably well to maintain a triple-A bond rating.
Throgmorton: So we're being asked to approve a ... a debt management policy, uh, I have a lot of
confidence in Tom's skill and your skill, Dennis, but I do need to ask some
questions because we're being asked to approve a policy, right?
Um .... it ... (mumbled) I don't fully understand the consequences of what we're
being asked to approve. In other words, what if anything is new in this policy or
is it just assembling things that have been done in the past, or are you asking us to
change certain aspects of policy? That's the first question, and then the second
would be, if you're asking us to change policy, in certain specific ways, what are
the ... what are the potential consequences in terms of our policy choices. Will we
be constrained in certain ways? Or not. You know, I don't know ... it's the first
time I've seen this policy, right?
Bockenstedt: Well, uh, the previous debt ... our debt policy was ... was, uh, just maybe a half a
dozen lines in the annual budget.
Throgmorton: Right.
Bockenstedt: Um, it was not a substantial policy. It just hit on a few key points, a few key
indicators. Sothis is a ... a substantial change in the ... the development of the
overall policy. Um, it is possible that it could place restrictions on some of the
activities you would do or funding that you would chose to do in ... in the future,
um ... but (mumbled) the reasons that those limitations are put into place is to help
control the overall level of the debt. So you know without those indicators or
those limitations, there would be nothing that would, um, check the issuance of
debt or the amount of, um, obligations that the City would incur, and so the intent
isn't necessarily to ... to prevent you or stop you from doing that, but it would give
you indicators when you would be moving away from what has given the City its
triple-A bond rating (coughing, difficult to hear) consider to be prudent. So, um,
this really is a compilation of...of some of the things we've done well. I think
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some of the goals we should strive to achieve, such as the, um, the overall debt
limit and there's been a lot of changes in the Moody's rating in the last couple
years. There's been a lot of changes in the IRS. There's been a lot of changes in
the SEC, and so the ... the regulation from the Internal Revenue Service has ... has
increased and the SEC regulations have increased dramatically. Um, they've been
very proactive, uh, in their, um, how they're perceiving and handling municipal
debt. So ... from our perspective when we see what's going on around us, what's
going on with federal regulation, um, what's going on at the State level, what's
going on with Moody's, uh... you know, we felt it's only prudent that we be
proactive in what's going on around us and set policies and limits that we think
are going to help address those issues. Um, and so that's really what the intent of
this is, is to say ... things are going on, we need to get, uh, you know actions in
place so that we can be proactive, rather than reacting to what's going on around
us, and ... if we do start to incur high levels of debt or we see changes in our tax
base or there's other indicators that may (coughing, difficult to hear speaker)
direction, uh, that would see a Moody's downgrade, then this would be more
(mumbled) paying attention to that, then coming back later and saying, well, what
happened, how did this ... how did we get here, because when you get to that point,
often times it's too late to fix it.
Throgmorton: Okay, thanks. So, but ... if..if this would constrain, uh, this ... if adoption of this
policy tonight would constrain the ... the policy choices that are available to the
Council, either this Council or a future Council, I ... I wouldn't want to approve the
policy without really understanding it, and you know, this is a first impression
kind of thing, in terms of seeing this whole policy assembled into one document.
Not saying it's bad cause I don't know! It's ... a lot of it sounds, you know,
perfectly on ... spot-on, but ... seems like a major policy and so if there are major
constraints built into it, I want to know what they are and ... and I wouldn't want to
approve 'em without really understanding how they play out.
Markus: What I'd say to you, Jim, is first off the governing board, that's you, um, has
control of this policy. Going forward if you feel this policy is over ... over
restrictive in a particular initiative that you wish to create, what this policy does is
gives you the juxtaposition of...you know, what ... what you're proposing to do
versus the consequence of what you're proposing to do. It doesn't, um ... it doesn't
absolutely restrict you, uh, from ... e ... eventually amending this policy to
accommodate it, but it gives you ... a ... informed, uh... um ... piece of information
about the decision you're making, and so I don't think it nec... it unnecessarily
restricts you. I think what it does is creates a responsibility and makes you
understand what the consequences of your decisions are. So, when you go down
a ... a path about any particular policy that's associated with a revenue stream, it
forces staff to look at, well, how are we going to pay for these things, and if we're
going to pay for this and it causes some problem over in another part of the
budget, we will be able to say that. We'll tell you that, and so at least you'll have
an informed, um, decision to make about if we really want to do this, it does have
consequences, and you know, every ... every policy we make has consequences
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both intended and unintended. So I ... personally I think this is a responsible way
to go about, uh, operating your business, and ... and financial policies, if you pick
up our budget document right now, you'll see we have financial policies
about ... just about everything. And what they do is guide you. I don't think they
necessarily restrict you.
Botchway: Just to be clear, you do have that analysis as far as, you know, making a
determination, you know, if something was to be funded (mumbled) something
was supposed to be funded from another side of the budget, you would still have
those conversations. That just .... we're just kind of codifying it into some type of
policy. Okay!
Markus: Yeah, and you know ... we have this same discussion every year during the budget
process. You know, do you want this or do you want this? You have to
prioritize. We can't ... we can't possibly deliver everything that everybody wants!
So it comes down to choices and priorities. And that's what we use the strategic
plan for more than anything, is to help prioritize how you're going to spend those
funds.
Payne: I have more, just a general question. Um, if...go forward a couple slides. You
talk about ... you said it ... you started the slide that said what's new in the report, in
the ... in here, and it was ... was a table, I think. No, keep going. Oh, you're going
the wrong way, I think. I want to go towards the end (laughs) Sorry!
Bockenstedt: That's all right.
Payne: There! So 210 days after year end you'll provide an annual report.
Bockenstedt: Correct.
Payne: If I told my employer seven months after the end of the year I'd provide them a
year end report, they would flip out. So, my question is is why did you pick 210
days?
Bockenstedt: Well, it wasn't out of a hat (laughter) So...
Payne: It what? (laughter)
Bockenstedt: It was not out of a hat! (laughter) Our ... our (several talking) our, uh, financial
part of our comprehensive annual financial report is audited and finalized by
December 31St. So right now they're in the middle of compilation of that. It's
a ... it's a fairly comprehensive financial document that's put together, very
technical. Um, it goes through an audit process and then that is required to be
submitted and published to the (mumbled) by the end of the year, by December
31St, six months after the year end. So they give you six months to compile,
prepare, and publish your financial report. From that report, there's a lot of the
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data information that is required to complete the statistical analysis. Uh, the
compliance for our bond disclosure requirements from ... for pretty much all of our
bond disclosures... is one month after that, or thereabouts. So this is all based on
the timing of how long it takes to compile and publish the financial report and the
timing of our bond disclosures to our bond holders, and so it only makes sense
that we would provide the Council with the same information that we're providing
to our bond holders and other interested parties.
Payne: Can we add a word in there?
Bockenstedt: Okay (laughs)
Payne: Say 200 days after fiscal year end, because I read that as after December 31 sc
When ... when you set it, that's what I thought it's going to be July before we see
this.
Bockenstedt: I'm sorry. It's after fiscal year.
Payne: Okay! So ... I ... I think that would make it clearer in the expectation.
Bockenstedt: Okay.
Mims: I would just comment that ... having gone through the City budgeting process now
six times, I think, since I've been on Council, and ... working through the debt, uh,
policy that we've just kind of had talked about or had in the ... in the annual report
and stuff, I think this is just an incredibly, incredibly good, strong document for
the City going forward. Um, as you mentioned, Dennis, changes on the federal
level with the regulatory agencies, um ... looking at things much differently than
they have before. Sometimes a little strangely, but nevertheless we have to deal
with that. Um, with Moody's changes to their scorecard, um, in making it more
difficult. We saw this past year a number of cities who lost their triple-A bond
rating, who really hadn't had anything necessarily go bad or different with them,
but the way the scorecard changes they ... they lost their triple-A rating,
recognizing how important that rating is to us and the interest that we pay, um, at
such lower rate because of having that ... that, and in earnest, Tom, as you said, you
know, this is a policy which we all know the Council can change at any time,
but ... having this codified this way and having staff looking at our budgeting with
these metrics in mind and bringing that repeatedly to the Council's attention, um,
that ... to run this large, complex organization in a ... in a financially astute manner
given changes in property tax at the state level and all the other things I just
mentioned, and keeping those limitations ... I mean ... it just makes sense that it
keeps that thing front and center so that we hopefully don't go off and do anything
kind of crazy, which puts us, um, in financial jeopardy. So, um, I just really
wanted to say thank you to Dennis and all your staff and the rest of City staff. I
think this is a ... this is a really important document. I think a lot of people won't
understand its importance cause they just don't ... they don't get into the finance end
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of stuff, but I would say from my perspective this is maybe one of the most
important policies we've enacted in a long time.
Hayek: And you know we ... we have not had a conversation for quite a while on ... on the
changes on the horizon in terms of property tax reform and ... and uh, fuel tax
and ... and things like that. Um, been dealing with other issues. But that's an
incredibly important conversation for us to maintain going forward, and I think
this helps us ... I guess, uh, solidify the discipline, um, with which we, um ... uh, are
preparing for ... future changes. You know, whether it's property tax reform or
otherwise, and this is something we've been very careful about the last couple of
years because we ... we know this is coming, um, and cities around the state will be
facing, um, greater and greater challenges to their—to their budgets, um, because
of these changes. We're getting ahead of it, urn ... uh, and we have to maintain
that ... that prudent, disciplined, uh, approach and I think this encapsulates that in
a ... in a really effective manner. I applaud you for it.
Throgmorton: So, I want to say I recognize, um, Susan's financial expertise and I, uh, admire it a
lot, so it influences me a ... a lot, but I also want to say with regard to what Tom
said, in response to my own comments, that urn ... in ... at some point in the future,
I'd hate to see the Council be told they cannot do something because it violates
this policy, and ... and, Tom, you ... I understood you quite clearly to say that's not
what would happen. One would say instead (both talking) if you do, there'll be
these kinds of effects, and (several talking) may not want to do it.
Mims: And then the Council could change the policy if they felt that strongly about it.
Throgmorton: Yeah. Yeah.
Hayek: Yeah, I mean we ... we can chose to be proverbial drunken sailors (several talking)
and that, you know, but ... but (several talking) that occurs. (laughter) No offense
to the Navy! (laughs)
Payne: No different than the Comprehensive Plan, if, you know... it's... it's a guide! If we
want to change something, we change the plan so we can change what we want to
do in a certain area. So, I mean, it's ... it's a living document that can be updated as
needed to ... fit what you want to do as long as you understand the
consequences ... of either.
Botchway: One of the things I will say though, um ... cause I agree with everybody's point. I
think it focuses on ... I don't know how to say it any other way than transparency.
Obviously we're a transparent... we're providing this information. It's good
information. You know, we're able to understand it. Obviously Susan has a great
expertise to understand it even more, but ... there's gotta be some level of how we
go about it. I mean (mumbled) speaking about the annual report as well, because
of the level of detail that goes into it, providing like a quick hits, as far as, um,
you know, the casual reader to the packet or the casual, um, person to come to a
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meeting, whatever the case may be, so there's some level of understanding,
because I think that sometimes we ... we get into that back and forth ... maybe not
get into a back and forth, but we have some concern from the community that
we're not being as transparent as possible. Um, but I think a lot of it ... lot of times
it comes from just the ... the level of detail within the document that makes it so
tough to kind of have that conversation.
Mims: But I think related to this, Kingsley, one of the things that has really helped in that
transparency when it comes to ... the budget of the City is the City Manager's
executive report or whatever you call it, Tom, that goes at the beginning of the
financial document. I mean, that ... I think maybe it's now expanded to 10 or 12
pages (laughs) but still it is ... to me it is an incredible synopsis of what is in the
other 400 pages and the kind of major changes that are taking place and the ... and
maybe some of the major concerns or things that we need to be looking out for
going forward, um, so for anybody who doesn't have the time or interest or
expertise or whatever, you know, to read those 400 pages, which is probably
99.9% (laughs) of the community who doesn't want to spend that time, if they
would take the time to read that 10 or 12 page executive summary that the City
Manager puts at the very front, it ... there's an incredible amount of information
there about how we are financing City operations. And I'm sure Dennis probably
(both talking)
Bockenstedt: I'll say that one of the reasons that the documents are so large. Uh, one, the City's
finances are immensely complicated, but also it is because we disclose so much
information. You know, if we wanted to cut the document in half and eliminate a
lot of the disclosures we are making, it may be easier to read but you
know ... there's a lot out there that people was ... people want to take the time
and ... and look into it, there's a lot of information. So we're really disclosing as
much as we can.
Botchway: And I'm not advocating for that. I think it was more along the lines I forgot about
the executive summary so that ... that is a great document that kind of focuses on
the (mumbled)
Hayek: Thanks, Dennis!
Dobyns: You know, Jim, I think we have wide discretion what the City Council can do.
Um, the Iowa code as it's legislated or is interpreted by law, you know, we have to
follow that. The City Charter, we have to follow that. But when we have
something like this, um, I think that informs us what we should do in the future.
But going forward, if a future City Council, um, wants to change this, it should
have full discretion. This merely informs them what we thought in the past. Um,
and I take a look at the Comprehensive Plan in a similar fashion.
Hayek: Okay! Further discussion? Roll call, please. Passes 7-0.
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ITEM 9. (EXTENSION OF IOWA CITY DOWNTOWN SELF -SUPPORTED
MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT (SSMID) A/K/A IOWA CITY
DOWNTOWN DISTRICT) - MOTION SETTING A PUBLIC HEARING
FOR NOVEMBER 10, 2015, ON AN ORDINANCE TO RE-ESTABLISH
THE IOWA CITY DOWNTOWN SELF -SUPPORTED MUNICIPAL
IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT FOR A PERIOD OF TEN YEARS IN
ACCORDANCE WITH IOWA CODE CHAPTER 386.
Hayek: Item 9, uh, regards the Downtown Self -Supported Municipal Improvement
District. Uh, Mr. Dickens and I will step back and let Mayor Pro Tem take over.
Mims: (laughs) They're kind of scooting back (laughter) (reads Item 9)
Botchway: So moved.
Payne: Second.
Mims: Moved by Botchway, seconded by Payne. Discussion? I'm just excited
(mumbled) no one else is going to say anything. I'm thrilled to see this. I'm
thrilled that it's for 10 years. Um, from anything I have seen and read, it has
sounded like downtown property owners, um ... are really seeing the benefit of this
and there was much less, um, discussion, disagreement about it this second time
around, and I think that's indicated, um, by the fact that they're doing it for 10
years and ... um ... any other comment, either from Council or the public?
Botchway: I would agree. I mean I think just a level of, um ... you know, we were at the event
the first hour. I mean not to focus on that particular event. I'm giving away some
things, but um, I think it was just.. just the kind of...energy, revival around the
downtown I think is important. The only thing that I will say from my notes is,
you know, I think I've talked about this. I think Nancy does an incredibly job...
incredible job. I think the Chamber kind of in connection with that as well. Um,
just the thought of whether or not we can do that in other areas, and I know that's
specifically focused on whether or not the businesses decided to do that in that
area, so I do understand that, and I don't know what Council could do to weigh in,
but ... because of the success of it and ... seems continued successive as well, you
know, if there was a possibility of doing that, you know, for the businesses kind
of around Sycamore Mall area, Towncrest area, you know, the west side, I mean
there's some ... some things that I would like to see from that standpoint, but I
agree. I mean, it's exciting, um, you know, I'm always interested to see what
they're going to do next, um, you know, with the art and everything else. It's
great!
Mims: Yeah, I just think, you know, their addition of staff and they just keep adding
more to their plate all the time I think in terms of their efforts, um, for the
downtown area, so ... Geoff, do you have anything to add? I know you serve as our
liaison to that, so ... you've been very instrumental in helping with that too.
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Fruin: Um, actually Wendy Ford right now is our ... our board liaison (both talking) but,
um, I think it's safe to speak for all of staff and ... and say that it's been, um, a great
partnership with the Downtown District and it's nice that we have a unified voice
down there. It's great to have the University on board and it's ... allowed us to
pursue some things that I don't think we otherwise would have been able to
pursue.
Mims: Roll call on this or ... (mumbled) All those in favor say aye. Opposed. Sounds
like it was 5-0 in fair. Thank you.
Hayek: Thanks, Susan, and uh, in case you're wondering, uh, Council Member Dickens
and I both, um, either rent or own businesses in the downtown district and
therefore had to recuse ourselves.
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ITEM 12. HOUSING CODE - ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 17, ENTITLED
"BUILDING AND HOUSING," CHAPTER 5, ENTITLED "HOUSING
CODE," TO SUPPORT NEIGHBORHOOD STABILIZATION BY
PROHIBITING FURNITURE ON ROOFS, ADDING STANDARDS FOR
EXTERIOR BUILDING AND FENCE SURFACES, REQUIRING
SCREENING OF DUMPSTERS ON MULTI -FAMILY DWELLINGS AND
UNDER CERTAIN DECKS/PORCHES, LIMITING THE STORAGE OF
LANDSCAPING/CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL, AND REQUIRING
GFCI PROTECTED OUTLETS AND CARBON MONOXIDE
DETECTORS. (FIRST CONSIDERATION)
(
Payne: both talking) Move... sorry!
Hayek: That's okay!
Payne: (both talking) Move first consideration (laughs)
Mims: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Payne, seconded by Mims. Discussion?
Throgmorton: Yeah, I've ... I've expressed concerns about, uh... um ... property owners who live in
the homes that they own, and about ... if we're... they're facing financial difficulties,
if they're ... if they're having the housing code enforced against them that might
create difficulties for them. But in our work session discussion earlier, uh, this
evening, uh, I think it became clear enough that financial ... City financial
resources are available to help such owners, uh, and ... to ... to make exterior
improvements when ... when required. So if I understood that correctly, uh, then
I'm happy to support this.
Mims: I think you did, Jim, and I think the other thing ... also that's really important is I
certainly have the perception that (coughing, difficult to hear speaker) the on -the -
ground staff really understand what our goal is with this and really want to work
with those homeowners and are not out there to be, um, you know, difficult
and ... and that sort of thing, but really to help people with their own homes, as well
as then how that helps the neighborhood and so, um, I have all confidence that
they'll make every effort to work with people and make them aware of assistance
if they need it. Because the last thing we want to do is be forcing people out of
their homes because we are putting additional requirements on them.
Throgmorton: I think it's crucial.
Mims: Yeah, I agree.
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Hayek: And I would say the homeownership piece is ... is one piece of it (mumbled)
fraction of it, most likely. Urn ... uh, and I'm glad to see some ... some budgetary
allocations and on-going monitoring of...of that, but um ... you know, a lot of this is
the rental units and (several talking, sirens in background) urn ... and quite frankly
we have a lot of units that are ... are...
Rummey: Excuse me a minute. Could you please speak up? I'm hard of hearing.
Hayek: Okay, I'll try!
Rummey: Can't hear a thing you're saying!
Hayek: Okay! Thanks for letting me know! Um, a lot of this is ... has to do with rental
units and um, in this community, uh, given the ... the housing demands that we
have and the student population, the growing student population, uh... uh, the
amount of wealth a property owner can extract from a rental property, um, is
significant. And, um, I think with that comes a responsibility to maintain that
property, especially in areas where the balance between rental and owner -
occupied is ... uh, is ... is an issue. You know, I ... I also think it ... we ... we tend to
have, um, lower expectations in terms of what the exterior aesthetics should be,
um, of...of property and maybe it's unique to Iowa City, but ... but 1 see other
communities that ... that, we, you know, that often look better. And I think ... I think
that's a matter of some ... that's a matter of, uh, setting higher expectations, you
know, especially in light of the fact that a lot of money's being made in these
properties. Um, not by all landlords, but by many of them. Um, and ... uh, I think
it's a reasonable set of expectations, it makes sense, and just as we, you know,
spent time looking at the University partnership, uh, program, um, where we are
making impacts on ... on neighborhoods and promoting neighborhood stabilization,
I think this measure, uh, combined with effective enforcement will ... will have
another, um, will ... will add another tool so to speak, uh, in the ongoing effort to
stabilize and strengthen the neighborhoods that are most vulnerable.
Throgmorton: Well said, Matt. I completely agree with you. Everything you said there.
Hayek: Okay, any ... anyone from the audience? Yes!
Beadleston: Yeah, I'd just like to .... my name's Joy Beadleston. I'd just like to thank you,
Matt, for bringing that up because it is a huge issue. In this city there's a lot of
property owners that don't even live in this city and are making huge profits off of
tenants, especially, um, people that are at risk, um, people on disability, um, and
fixed incomes that can be made homeless by the abuses that happen where people
are told they have to clean their carpet, their deposits are taken for painting their
apartment when maybe they've lived there 10 years, and it's supposed to be the
person's responsibility that's the owner to pain the apartment or clean the carpet.
So I think, um ... as a city we need to help make people who do rent more aware of
their rights, um, through the Human Rights Department possibly, um, but I totally
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agree with a lot of the things that you said. I think Iowa City is a great city, but
there's a lot of, um ... really run down (laughs) apartment buildings inside and
outside, and that we could do a lot more to make our city... more... more beautiful,
you know, planting trees, planting flowers (mumbled) even one flower pot can,
you know, add a lot of, um ... a lot of, you know, comfort to people in the city to
see beauty and not just run down places with overflowing garbages and things
like that, so I just wanted to thank you for bringing this issue up cause what you
said is very true. Thanks.
Hayek: Thank you. Yes, ma'am!
Rummey: I'm a journalist. We've been in print for 30 years on social systemic problems.
Hayek: Could you give us your name first (both talking)
Rummey: ...sociology (both talking)
Hayek: Could you give us your name first, please?
Rummey: My name is Jan Rummey. I am very real, and the U.S. government will tell you
so. I used to work for the U.S. government. Uh... I am very, uh, concerned about
Iowa City. And what I see every day. Where I am at, you have people with four-
year degrees who are working for $7.50 an hour in food lines, who should be
working for NASA. I have people working full time who can't pay their rent in
the cheapest place in this town. How can they ever buy a house, uh, with this
going on? This is a very serious problem! And it ... and the phrase that's going
around ... that everybody's saying in our group, who are journalists and who are
writers, it just isn't necessary to be doing this to people. And uh... in a $17 trillion
economy, where every man, woman, and child could have a million dollars apiece
and have to see stuff like this. I lived in three third -world countries, uh, during
the Vietnam era, where old people had no retirement and they just died in the
street and the rats ate 'em. People had no workmen's comp. They had no health
care. If you didn't have any money, you died. If you went outside the family, you
were dead. They had no welfare. There was nothing. Third -world ... we're getting
to be a third -world country. And uh... uh, if you're going to deal with housing,
you're going to have to start dealing with the economy. And uh, local economics
and uh... the disparity of 647 to 1 now. An executive will get $647,000 for every
$1,000 a worker will get. When I was around in 1948, it was 47 to 1. And you
had the doctor living with the garbage man in the same neighborhood.
Hayek: Ma'am, if I could interrupt and ... and ask, do you have a comment on the housing
code itself? That's what we're voting on.
Rummey: Well, uh, I want to say one more thing. We have been to town to town to town on
city hall meetings and we don't go to 'em anymore and I want to tell ya why.
Because the city hall has their agenda and then you end up with the one ax issue
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grinders at the end, toward nothing ever gets resolved. What we had in print 30
years ago could be printed again today because nobody has ever addressed any of
the major issues in 30 years on housing and going to the economy because of this,
you know.
Hayek: Ma'am (both talking) please let me interrupt again. At every Council meeting we
have a community comment section at the front end of the meeting and you're
welcome to speak for five minutes about any issue of concern (both talking)
Rummey: Well last time you turned the microphone off and we (mumbled) microphone off,
so we're not gonna do that here.
Hayek: Well I...
Rummey: I pay your welfare check ... with my tax money and you have to listen to the
community here. I'll sit down and behave myself and do the same, please.
Hayek: Thank you for your comments. Anyone else? Further Council discussion? Roll
call, please. Passes 7-0.
Voparil: Motion to accept correspondence.
Botchway: So moved.
Throgmorton: Second.
Hayek: Moved by Botchway, seconded by Throgmorton. Discussion? All those in favor
say aye. Opposed say nay. Motion carries 7-0.
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ITEM 17. CITY COUNCIL INFORMATION
Hayek: We'll start down with you, Kingsley.
Botchway: Nothing.
Throgmorton: I wish Mary Gravitt had not left because several days ago I was lucky enough to
be able to ride the Towncrest bus with Mary and it was a fascinating and
enlightening experience to see her get on the bus, greet the driver who knew her
very well, greet seven or eight passengers in the front — all of whom knew her
very well — and she said, 'I've got a City Council Person here with me (laughs)'
and you know, she introduced me to people and then there was all this
conversation among Mary, uh, me and the other people who were present on the
bus, and as we were driving along, riding along in this bus, she pointed out
particular locations where bus shelters are needed, where sidewalks need to be
extended, where curbs need to be cut, and so on, and I don't know that she's right
in every instance, but I can tell you, she knew ... the particulars of that route.
And ... and the same's true with regard to the Mall line which she told us about
tonight. And in, I don't know, social theory, you would appreciate this maybe,
there's a term called 'ground truth.' So she was 'ground truthing' the claims that
she has presented to us before. So ... I'm guessing City staff have ridden with her
before. If not, I ... I think that'd be a really good thing to do. And ... and see if there,
if they agree about particular locations for shelters, etc. Anyhow, thank you,
Mary!
Mims: Nope!
Dickens: Just like to thank Doug Alberhasky and all the, uh, volunteers for this weekend's,
uh, Brew Fest. I know Kingsley was there and he was quite an award winner in
the games, I understand. Uh, over 5,000 people, I believe, that attended this
weekend. So it was a really fun event and tomorrow night the Chicago Cubs start
the fantasy, so we gotta hope they win tomorrow night! (laughter)
Throgmorton: They're going to win the World Series this year, you know (several talking)
Dickens: It was supposed to be Houston and the Cubs in "Back to the Future," so we're
ready!
Payne: Um, I just want to mention, uh, piggyback on what Matt just talked about for all
of the openings on the commissions. Since Kingsley didn't bring it up — he
usually does — but I would urge anyone and everyone to go onto the web site, the
City's web site, and look at those commission vacancies and um, apply for a ... an
open position!
Dobyns: A community member, uh, asked Michelle Payne and myself yesterday, um,
regarding some concerns that when Hancher opens the City's construction, the
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portion of the Gateway project that will be affecting Park Road and the Park Road
bridge will, um, hinder, um, what everybody's looking forward to is the grand
opening of Hancher. After verification with City staff, um, I can say that, um, the
portion of the Gateway project that will be working on Park Road will be
completed by that time. So it'll actually be better than it is now, and it'll be fully
optimized and ready for the new crowd. Also, Park Road bridge will exist as it
currently does. It will not be, um, narrowed or constrained in any way. The new
bridge will probably be at some level of construction next to it, but the old Park
Road bridge will be fully operational, as it is now, when Hancher opens.
Hayek: (several talking) ...too many frogs in my throat, uh...
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ITEM 18. REPORT ON ITEMS FROM CITY STAFF
a) City Manager
Hayek: City Manager?
Markus: Uh, just a couple things. We're in the process of, uh, doing interviews for our
new Park Director and we're also in the process of doing interviews for our Water
Superintendent. I think it's kind of interesting to note that when I started almost
five years ago, one of the things the City Council, uh, asked me to do was work
on a succession plan, and so we went back and checked some numbers, and I
think ... of the management, um, supervisory, department head staff ..(coughing,
difficult to hear speaker) we were right about 57% turnover (several responding)
that period of time. So your... estimates of the potential turnover were
pretty ... pretty accurate in terms of that succession, and I would report that I think
that the people we're bringing in are, uh, certainly up to the task of...of delivering
services. So I feel quite good about the turnover that's occurred and the, uh,
people we're bringing on to deliver the services for the City.
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