HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-05-15 Transcription Page 1
Council Present: Botchway, Cole, Mims, Salih, Taylor, Thomas, Throgmorton
Staff Present: Fruin, Monroe, Andrew, Dilkes, Fruehling, Seydell-Johnson, Morris,
Dyson, Grier, Knoche, Havel, Sitzman
Others Present: Stewart, Wu (UISG)
Discuss scope for the RAL Recreation Center improvement project fIP3 of Info Packet
5/101:
Throgmorton/We're gonna start the City Council work session for Tuesday, May 15, 2018. The
first topic is to discuss the scope of the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center improvement
project. Uh, who's gonna start, Juli or Ron or....Juli!
Seydell-Johnson/Good evening, uh, Juli Seydell-Johnson, Parks and Recreation Director, um,
here to get some input from you on the Rec Center renovations. Um, most of this
information was in your packet, so I'll go through it fairly quickly on the slides here.
Um, we're talking about Robert A. Lee Recreation Center here near downtown. It's a
building that we have been slowly renovating and trying to spruce up over the last two
and a half, maybe a little bit longer, but since I've been here. When I came it was,
especially the upstairs was fairly dark and dingy, and not a lot of people wanted to hang
out there. Well, we've made a lot of really conscience efforts with the resources we've
had to make it an open, lighter, inviting space. Uh, if you spent much time there recently,
we have families coming back, we have families spending time in our upper lobby, urn,
the new railings that we had with the latest renovation have been very popular. New
stairs that are safer and meet our accessibility guidelines, and then we did the two new
restrooms downstairs, which we didn't have fully accessible restrooms before that, and
we now have two off the game room. So we've had a number of smaller improvements
made, um, and we'd like to talk about the next phase as we go on. Um....footprint of the
building, um, Gilbert and College with our new neighbor headed high above us (laughs)
to the north, but urn,just a really nice location. We have a lot of people working in
downtown,walking through the building, stopping in, coming to work out. A lot of
families coming for swim lessons, uh, lot of use at the gyms at different times. One of
the areas that hasn't been used very much is our racquetball court, and what's now the
game room, although I understand it's had several different uses in the history of the
building. Right now it has a couple of pool tables and a....a fuse ball table and couple
other things,but uh, used occasionally but not on a regular basis. Um, so we were, this
project would look at....creating a new space out of those spaces, renovating them into
kind of one large box space which I'll show you, uh, a....a drawing of in a minute. The
other priority of this next phase is to provide...uh, accessible changing area off the pool
deck. So right now there is, although we have two accessible restrooms, they don't have
showers in them. So parents coming with a child of the opposite sex that want to change
in a space and shower for the pool, that's difficult to do right now. Um, so this would
solve that....that problem for us. You can stop me for questions as we go. So, uh, some
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of the pictures here on the bottom show, uh, the current game room, the access to the
racquetball court has been problematic. It's been named in two prior studies as one of the
primary issues with our building and public use of our building. Uh, it's just an awkward
space. We have some storage back there. It's...it's awkward. Some of you saw it on our
tour, uh, last winter. Um.....and not used very well at all. So, what we're envisioning is
creating one larger space, uh, with those two smaller areas. Um, and then providing, as
you can see here, providing a new access from the outside, off the current loading dock,
although this is all preliminary design. That would be, uh, things we'd have to, um...look
into further as we move on through design. Um, and also providing an access to the
outside, kind of up there in the northeast corner. Um, there's the possibility to do some
daylighting and get some windows in to get some natural light into the area. Uh, so one
of our questions for you is, uh, we're envisioning this as a space for a non-profit to come
in and do some programming, bring some more use into our building, um, we had some
preliminary discussion about who that might be but we'd like your input and direction on
do we choose that now or do we choose it after the space is, uh,built out. Um, the other
areas that we'd like to consider in the phase two renovations,these are some of the...the
issues that we have in the building. The top left corner is probably our number one
question in the Rec Center(laughs) where is the men's restroom? People stand in the
hallway up there and say `where is the men's restroom?' (laughs) The signage, the
access is odd, um, and it's truly not accessible as far as, uh, an ADA accessibility, some
of the fixtures and that sort of thing. Same with the woman's restroom on the upper
level. Um, the other issues with the upper level, uh, our previous ADA study showed a
number of items within the staff office areas that are non-compliant. Phase one we fixed
all of those in the main office area, where my office and, uh, Tammy and Chad and Kumi
are located. Urn, but we have all these other offices that have been, um, kind of fitted
into closets or at one time I think there was, uh, dressing rooms cause it...the social hall
was used for a...um, for a stage or for a performance area. So it's had some different
uses. The offices are....aren't considered ADA-accessible and there are security issues
and just kind of overall use issues with having them kind of squirreled away in these
little....little areas. Um, the middle picture on the bottom shows the sound panels in the
gym. Um, if you've been in the gym recently it looks better than it did back in January.
Um, we painted those with like three coats of paint, but they're still old and they still look
pretty ragged, uh, we'd like to get those replaced as part of this renovation. The other
thing on the upper level would be to, uh, contemplate moving the kitchen. So right now
the kitchen is between meeting room A and B, uh, but....the, it's not used very much
back there. It's used by one of the churches that uses the building on Sundays. Most of
the uses we get for serving meals now happen in the social hall, and a lot of....a lot of,
uh, requests for that use. So this plan would show moving them to an area kind of close
to where the elevator is. Uh, right now it has four staff offices. That would become a
new catering kitchen. We don't envision this to be a full-service commercial kitchen by
any means, but just a nice, um, serving space, probably for warming items, dishwasher,
that kind of....maybe (laughs) but mainly just having a lot of counter space for final
foo...food prep or potlucks. Lots of places to plug in the crockpot cause every potluck
we have we blow the circuit (laughs) as we go on. Urn, and that would move some of the
offices to what is now meeting room B,um, and then we would reconfigure those spaces
down there. So that's....so the....the options with phase two of the building right now
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would be to do the priorities are the....the changing restroom area off the pool deck, and
then the racquetball, game room area, and then one of these two projects. So either this
one, which is the upper level, which would be the restrooms,moving the kitchen,
reconfiguring the offices, urn, kind of bringing everything on the upper level up to
accessibility standards, urn, and....um, making it more usable for the public. For option
two I want to show you as, uh,just an idea, get some feedback on this. Um....I think my
....pictures....okay! Urn, and this is....was brought to us by the architects we've chosen
for this project(mumbled) introduce them, they're here—Justin and Josh from OPN
Architects are the, is the firm we're planning on using. Um, they showed us this concept
during their interview and I want to show it to you and get some real feedback on it, do
you think it would work or not. So the lower level pool locker rooms right now are a
traditional locker room set up. If you haven't been there in a while, there's a men's and a
women's with the various open kind of changing rooms and open shower areas. Urn,
toilet enclosures, but generally just two big open spaces in each one. So this is similar,
although this shows some walls in different places, even right now. The new concept
they showed us was what if we took that same space and made it into eight individual
changing areas, or eight individual, um, restrooms. So each one of those areas would
have its own door. It would have its own toilet, sink, and shower. So each one would be
a self-enclosed, urn, shower area. Big enough probably for a family of four to go in and
use together. Urn, the thought being....and then lockers on the outside. There is a kind
of a.....another shower area in the middle for people that come without needing to
change, you know, a lot of the swim lesson kids come in their swimsuits already. They
could just shower and simply go on the pool deck. Um, very different concept. I'm not
sure it's been done to this scale, urn, in any other public pool facility. Urn, you do see it
in some family changing locker rooms. They'll have a men's locker room and a
women's locker room, and a smaller family one in the middle. Um, been kind of
shopping it around to some of our participants and our staff; and so far the answer is
'Wow, I never thought of that,' but 'Yeah that could work,' um, even with the day
camps, with the large group of kids coming in, they think this would be something that
would actually be helpful to them because, um, they have a lot of kids that wanna change
and have privacy, even at a young age. So....
Botchway/ Can you flip back to the prior image?
Seydell-Johnson/Yep!
Throgmorton/Tryin' to figure out where that is.
Botchway/I know where it is, I just wanted to.....
Seydell-Johnson/ So it would take the same kind of corridor space, and I....and this is very
preliminary designs. There's lots of things we'd have to....kind of shuffle around and
still figure out probably. It's more in the concept, do you think the individual....it would
be very inclusive and, um....from a maintenance side, it'd be awesome for us because
right now we don't have any female custodians. So if something happens in the women's
locker room, we have to close it to....to address it during the day. Urn, this is open and
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so if something happens in one of the...the restroom shower areas, we could close just
one, either to address it for cleaning or for maintenance concerns.
Botchway/ Going back to Jim's point, I think I am confused where this is at. So this is near the
pool area or....
Seydell-Johnson/Right. This is (both talking)
Botchway/ ...if I walked in from, um, the, where the gym is, or where the, yeah, where the gym is
(both talking)
Seydell-Johnson/That would be right here. You would walk in here. These are the stairs to go
upstairs. Right now you would come and go to the men's locker room right about here.
So that you would just continue down this hallway,just a little bit, it would be a new
hallway, um, back here, and a new line of...where the current locker rooms (both talking)
Botchway/Oh! Okay.
Seydell-Johnson/Yeah.
Botchway/ I got confused. I thought we were talking about inside the pool area.
Seydell-Johnson/No. (both talking) ...replace the current locker rooms.
Throgmorton/It would be men's and women's joint locker area with separate rooms?
Seydell-Johnson/Uh huh.
Throgmorton/Is that correct? Yeah.
Seydell-Johnson/So it's essentially a hallway out here with, uh, lockers. I don't think there's
any way we would need this many lockers,but uh, lockers out here. So in this common
space,probably some benches for people that want to sit down,just change shoes or
whatever, but then to actually change clothes and shower for swimming or after a
workout or something, you would go into one of these individual areas. And essentially
one person per area or a family.
Mims/Comparing this to the...to the previous one, it looks like you're keeping about the same
number of toilets. I mean you're not(both talking)
Seydell-Johnson/I think so, and we would probably have to per code, right, so we would have to
work that into the design. Yeah.
Throgmorton/ So you want us to process other stuff and then come back to this? What are
your....what are you thinking?
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Seydell-Johnson/Urn, it's up to you. I can show you one more slide then you can process away.
How bout that? (laughs) Urn, the other thing I wanted to show you is our idea on some
of the signage. Um, the other.....the other comment or question we get often in the Rec
Center is just where is anything(laughs) urn, and we've been slowly working on signage,
but we'd like to see more of a graphic, larger, overall signage, directional signage,um,
throughout the building, in a fun sort of graphic way. These are just examples,but um,
this would be another part of the project. So....
Botchway/Juli, is that question five as far as which one first?
Seydell-Johnson/More, yeah....or how would you like us to make that decision when we have
full information. We don't have a cost estimate on the locker room change right now.
Urn, we had one from last year on the upper level, urn, but....the first part of this study
will give us cost estimate and feasibility as to, you know, how....how that would work.
Fruin/ I think the....the biggest part of this work session tonight is to make sure that you're
comfortable with the way in which we're continuing to move forward on the Robert A.
Lee Rec Center remodeling. Urn, and Juli outlined several different projects we need to
do, we intend to do, but if you've got grander visions for....or a different direction, we
kinda need to know that now. Um specifically when it comes to the project that....
that she moved up in the CIP pro....in the CIP process, we need to focus really heavily on
that, urn, game room piece where....staff is suggesting that it's a good opportunity to
partner with a non-profit that has a complementary use to the Rec Center. I think that's
where we need most of the direction, and then the...the other things like the locker rooms,
urn, signage and some of the other, um....projects that, um....that Juli mentioned. If you
have strong opinions on those, let us know. Otherwise we're gonna continue to prioritize
those like we have been, and that's gonna be based on cost opinions and our own internal
priorities that...that, uh,primarily the Parks staff has from working in that building on a
day-to-day basis.
Botchway/ (mumbled)
Throgmorton/I'd say start with the....the racquetball (both talking) Yeah.
Seydell-Johnson/Okay, so back to the racquetball court.
Throgmorton/Yeah, what....what are the options? What could we put in there?
Seydell-Johnson/The primary one that's been talked about has been the Bike Library. Um, we
have not, staff has not talked with them directly, uh, at one time they talked about it being
something of a maker-space or something like that, or an arts, you know, an arts space
open to the public. It could be just about anything really, I mean we're....we're
envisioning it as kind of a....an open box at this point with better access. Um, we would
like to see it, in my vision it would be a non-profit opero....operating it so they could
have hours similar to the Rec Center but maybe not completely the same, and they would
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have access to it when they, urn....cause they would have individual access from the
outside...for it.
Botchway/Would we be able to close off that space so they would have additional hours, or
hours that are different from the Rec Center?
Seydell-Johnson/(both talking) ...except it doesn't have a restroom.
Botchway/Okay.
Seydell-Johnson/ So
Botchway/ So I can, I guess, start, cause I'm excited about this. I know we talked about it a little
bit at, urn, kind of the, uh.....the, urn.....something where you walk around with
people....
Seydell-Johnson/Tour.
Botchway/Tour! There we go (laughs) Could not remember that small word! (laughs) Urn,
I'm in favor of option one. Urn, I think we...I think it's been mentioned (mumbled)
couple of times and I've, you know, I have no reason why it shouldn't be,but I....I do
like a process by which we go out and hear from interested non-profits for this space, urn,
and so that would be my preference, and then I think,just in answering one and two, as
far as the financial expectations, urn, I would....I would want some type of.....because of
the space and....I have I guess another comment about some additional spaces, but I'll
wait till the end. Urn (mumbled) subsidized rental space, um, you know, similar to what
we would, uh, provide for our non-profits, urn, now, or currently. I mean I know that
most of the stuff is free, but for the fact that they'd be staying there, whoever that would
be, would be staying there for...a....a longer period of time than what we would normally
have for rental space, then I would say some type....some type of fee to give it some
level of value,um, as well as, you know, electricity and some of those other things. So
that would be my comment to that.
Throgmorton/I'm a little unnerved about what you said at first. What I understood you to say
was that you favor the Bike Library.
Botchway/Yeah, so option one was create a generic box space, solicit proposals from non-
profits, select and allow selected non-profit build out the space.
Mims/ So he didn't say the Bike Library.
Throgmorton/All right.
Botchway/ Oh, I said I was interested in the Bike Library, but I'm interested in opening(several
talking)
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Throgmorton/ ...I heard, that you wanted to hear(both talking)
Botchway/I just, yeah, I just didn't wanna, you know, the comment is `Kingsley hates Bike
Library,' I just wanted to make sure (laughs) I....I like the Bike Library,but I'm
interested in opening up for(both talking)
Throgmorton/ So kind of like soliciting for proposals (both talking)
Botchway/Correct (both talking) Yeah.
Throgmorton/What do the rest of you think?
Mims/I guess my question is....is with the timing and the cost. I mean if we don't select one
now and you do the generic box and you've gotta do additional build-out depending upon
who's selected to use that space, do we have any idea how much that's increasing the
cost or time until somebody can get in there, versus if we spend.....a couple of months
figuring out who it was going to be and thus could actually design and build it out for
them from the get-go, does that save us time and money?
Seydell-Johnson/Justin, do you have a(mumbled)
Bishop/Yeah, Justin Bishop with OPN Architects. Um, I think there would obviously be
synergies if we knew everything day one to...to plan from that standpoint. Um, so it's a
little hard to...to answer that,uh, quantifiably but to say, um, we could make sure that
we're not doing anything that would have to be undone I think that would be the
approach that we could take. And depending on the how the timelines work out, um,
there could be time to....to not be totally disconnected from the original construction as
well. So....
Seydell-Johnson/I was kind of assuming that we would, uh, our project would include the basics
of this space, and whoever was chosen as the non-profit would be expected to do
anything specific with inside....inside the space that they needed for their operations is
kind of how I was thinking of this too. So I don't think it changes our cost. It might
change the cost for whoever moves in, whether it's something that can be done during
construction or has to be retrofitted afterwards.
Throgmorton/Do we have any sense of...what other non-profits might be interested in using this
space, and how they might use it?
Seydell-Johnson/We actually don't know.
Fruin/Yeah, I'd say the Bike Library is interested, and then,uh, we probably over the last couple
years had....two, two or three other maybe suitable non-profits that....that may work. I
don't know what their financial capacity would be to particularly build out this space.
Um, but ArtiFactory is one that's approached the Council over the years, looking for a
permanent space in the downtown area. I would presume that they would be interested
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in....in this type of space. Um,but we would....we would strongly recommend that it's a
complementary use to the Rec Center. So when we talk about non-profits, at least in my
mind, Bike Library, maker-space, that has a...Rec Center tie to it, um,whereas a...more of
a social service agency, it's not really what we'd be looking at here.
Seydell-Johnson/I mean you want to think of....this will be a fairly large, open space. So that's
why either of those, the maker-space or the Bike Library seems to be a really good fit
because it'll have high ceilings and it'll be a fairly large, open area to work in. So....
Cole/Can I jump in here?
Throgmorton/ Sure!
Cole/ So I basically have three comments and the rest of it I'm pretty neutral on and I'll go along
with the group, but the first thing is in terms of the proposed non-profit, I strongly feel
that we should support the Bike Library. Urn, at the outset. I think in part because it's
such a nearly perfect fit for this particular location. And while I'm familiar that maybe
there could be other non-profits that could possibly utilize it, I think the Bike Library's
uniquely situated. First of all to Susan's point, I think the Bike Library has a well-
established fundraising track record and operational history. Um,they've been around
for a significant period of time. I'm very confident that they would be able to assist us
with, um,with fundraising. Urn, second, um,they have a historic presence downtown.
Up until four or five years ago they were up there at the old John Wilson Sporting Goods
store,um, and they did a wonderful job of utilizing that space, recycling bikes, those sorts
of things. It aligns with our carbon reduction goals, urn, in terms of reducing our auto
usage and to do that to provide low-cost bikes which is their mission and I think is terrific
for. It has a community policing function to it, with what we've done with our bike
program, uh, that we can connect to the Farmers Market as well as our local foods. I
actually got my own bike from the Library....Bike Library once when I was at Farmers
Market. And happened to run into Morel Heck and here I am,having the same bike four
years later. Um, so I just think there are so many really unique aspects to that particular,
urn, entity, uh, and of course we would have to get the particulars, um, you know,
assuming that....if we were able to get direction for the Bike Library, we could see
whether that would work out, where they could actually carry through on fundraising,but
I'm really....I'm very confident they could. They're a very well run organization. Um,
bathroom, supportive of the inclusive concept I would like to get a sense of what the cost
is. So if we get, as we all know, bathrooms in other contexts can be extraordinarily
expensive. Urn, so really would,before making the final decision really like to get some
cost parameters to that, and finally,with the kitchen—hallelujah! That is so awesome.
Urn,we really, really need it, uh, for all the work that I've done and other people have
done on this table, um, you know, that has been a huge need with the kitchen that we
currently have just doesn't work for social events, and I think so to get a kitchen that's
adjacent to the social space is sorely overdue and I can't wait for events to be hosted
there once that space is available. The only comment, if possible, um, to maybe upgrade
it a little bit. You mentioned the commissary concept. There is a real need for a
commissary style kitchen, whether we could partner with other organizations that need
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that type of facility, I'd at least evaluate that if the budget allows. Other than that I think
everything looks good. Urn, I think to Geoff's point about, you know, do we want to
maybe even have a grander design? Of course we would always like grander, bigger,
better, um, but I think in terms of where we are, in terms of the budget, I'm very
comfortable with what staff has identified before in terms of making this inv...investment
without taxing the budget.
Mims/I'm not exactly sure what you were referring to, the my comment, Rockne, but I was just
asking timing and money and I'm not....
Cole/To your point about....to answer your question then, um, in terms of money and the
financial component to various variables, that's important aspect, and I think that we'll be
able to have the non-profit hopefully have some fundraising component....
Mims/Okay!
Cole/ ....when they're...and I think Bike Library's uniquely situ...not uniquely but they have a
track record on that, so I'm confident that they could do that.
Mims/I think there's been a lot of support for them, but I think in all fairness to all the non-
profits out there that are....have any relationship to recreational activities, I think we need
to put....some sort of announcement, application process or something out to everybody,
urn, and not have it kind of predetermined and have people come back later and say, hey,
wait a minute! We would...we would have loved to have had an opportunity for that
space but we didn't know anything about, that it was even available. We may very well
come back to the Bike Library, but I just think from a process standpoint we need to
really reach out and give other people an opportunity to express their interest, and
potentially financial viability of...of, uh,building out the space and/or continuing to rent
afterwards.
Cole/Okay.
Mims/Ur....I'll come back to the other issues afterwards.
Throgmorton/Susan, what are you....what are you imagining we would ask them in these
requests for proposals? You know, how detailed, how thorough, that kind of thing.
Mims/Well, I think staff could answer that question a whole lot better than I could,but I think
just on, uh, first blush I would say, one, are you even interested? You know,here's the
space that would be available. Urn, you know, you'd have to be open basically the same
hours that the Rec building is, cause there's not going to be a bathroom available, so that
would be a limitation. You would have an external,uh, entrance. So one, do you have
any interest. Number two, you know, what is your mission? Is it related to recreational
services, cause that is our number one priority, urn, what are your funding capabilities,
because there would be some costs associated with building out the space, and then if we
are assuming that they are also going to provide some ongoing rental income for the
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space, to the City, then what is their, you know, what is their capability to....to rent the
space. Urn....
Botchway/Yeah, I think that would be a,just first blush for a start, I mean it would seem like
this would be somewhat similar to RFP where, you know, we would....we would solicit
potential,um, we'd have some criteria that we'd like to move forward, a lot of....using
all the points really Susan just mentioned, especially highlighting, um, considerations that
we know are deficiencies within the space, ala bathroom, urn, time of day and other
things. I would also mention, urn, you know, going....going back to our strategic plan,
focusing on the diverse element, how are you, again, in the same sense of the Rec Center
as well, catering to diverse populations just to make sure that that's a part of the
conversation, as well, I mean....I....I think that these are things off the top of my head. I
think that ultimately, you know, it'd be better to have a separate conversation from that,
but I do think that, you know, we could ultimately....quickly put together criteria that we
could have some type of RFP process.
Thomas/I'm....I'm inclined to go with the generic box space, option one, um, you know I think
the Bike Library has very compelling, uh, case for sure, but I think just in the, on the
matter of fairness, I think it's necessary to put....put the word out, see what we get back.
Uh, so that's....and I think....I think we've laid out at least preliminarily what, you know,
could.....how we could frame it.
Salih/ I just want to talk about the kitchen. Um, I just really hoping if the kitchen can be like I
know that maybe you guys thinking about just kitchen that, small kitchen that (unable to
understand) serve the food from for the event, but I really have this idea if we can have
(unable to understand) kitchen on the Rec Center that have a license to cook at, because I
know a lot of family who are really good on cooking,but they cannot....they cannot have
a license in their house and because have to be separate kitchen, and also I know the
Crisis Center have one, but it always busy. But if the City can do something like this, so
that our immigrant family and low-income, they can have another....even the number
of...even sometime they have a member that they can cook, they can just come and rent
the space and cook there for the event. I just (unable to understand) idea to think about,
will be great because we gonna help a lot of people in the community.
Botchway/I would agree.
Fruin/One thing to keep in mind, if you're not....if you're not familiar, we do have a full-scale
commercial kitchen in the Senior Center, and if you haven't seen it, we can certainly
arrange for some tours. That's largely unused and has been since Elder Services moved
out...moved out of there four or five years ago, but it used to be where all the Meals on
Wheels, uh....uh, were....were prepared and cooked. Um, again, it's largely not used for
anything but serving anymore. They don't cook there. And we've really struggled at the
Senior Center to figure out how to use that space. We've explored some different
options, but nothing's really stuck. So...if the idea is something that's....unrelated to the
adjacent use of the social hall, like a, um, a test kitchen for entrepreneurs or,
um....whatever it may be, we might want to consider what we have there now, and focus
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the Rec Center side on the....the complementary use to the, urn, the social hall. Not to
say that you....you couldn't do both, but commercial kitchens are very, very expensive to
build and if we have one that's unused right now, I think we need to....we should focus
on that.
Botchway/Hey, Geoff,to that extent, is it....what's the, what's the adjacent space? So I know
the...the commercial (both talking) Is it similar to the size of the social hall?
Taylor/Yes.
Monroe/Not as large,but close.
Botchway/ Okay.
Fruin/And that's one of the challenges with using the kitchen at the Senior Center is because the
Senior Center's programmed so much, and it is directly adjacent to the assembly room,
you...you can have some conflicting uses that....
Salih/ Yeah, it really doesn't matter, as long as we have one available for the, you know,
community to use. It doesn't matter would be in the Rec Center or the Senior Center.
Yeah.
Throgmorton/ So it might be worth working with the Director of the Senior Center, or Acting
Director of the Senior Center(laughter) See if there's some trial, uh, use of the kitchen
that would, uh, fit with what Maz has in mind, uh, you know, I don't know. But we...we
wouldn't want to just leap full bore into it, but we could just check it out.
Salih/Yeah....as long as we have one existing we don't need to spend money on it, yeah.
Taylor/I think that's an excellent idea, and a good use of the Senior Center too.
Salih/Uh huh.
Monroe/There may be some complications, uh,just some...just because some appliances will
need repairs before we could use it full scale, um, the walk-in coo....the freezer is not
operational. Uh, the group that uses it now for serving doesn't need it, so we've decided
to shut it down. So we need to make some repairs if we are going to use it, but we can
absolutely explore what that could look like and.....
Salih/Yeah, we can just spend a little money there so we can have like kitchen for the public.
Yeah. (laughs)
Monroe/I'm sure they would like to see it used more fully but...just have to see!
Salih/ Great! Thanks!
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Throgmorton/Yeah. Good.
Taylor/I'm in favor of the open box, uh,plan and particularly leaning towards the Bike Library,
but I do like, um, Susan's comments about opening it up, uh, for proposals (mumbled)
establishing some criteria to...to gauge, urn, the interest also, uh, in that space if...if it
turns out that the Bike Library's the only one then....then so be it, but if there are others,
then gaging how it's going to fit, uh, and....and weld in with the Rec Center and your
mission.
Throgmorton/Well it sounds like there's considerable support for that. So that's probably the
direction we need to move. I....I'd like to suggest that we want to make sure that we
aren't saying....let's open things up to get proposals, brief proposals from a variety of
non-profits, knowing that we want to install the Bike Library there. So we have to make
sure we have an open mind about that. (several responding)
Salih/Yes!
Mims/Regarding the other, uh, remodeling, I guess depending, you know, not knowing all the
dollars involved, I guess my....tendency for priority would be on the....the pool area
locker rooms. It seems like over the last two or three years we've had, you know,just a
number of complaints about, you know, accessibility and....and you mentioned, Juli, you
know, parent with opposite gender child and, you know, kids get to a certain age that
they're uncomfortable and other people are uncomfortable with, you know, a boy of a
certain age going into the women's locker room or a father tryin to take a daughter
and....no place really to go. So, urn, lot of other things I'd like to see done (laughs) but
um, again, given....given costs and what other constraints, I think that would be my first
priority, and I....if we're not giving up.....the number of spaces in terms of showers
and....and toilets and that sort of thing, I really like this concept. I think it, you know,
you've got closed doors, you know, you've got that hallway, I think people could and
should be very comfortable in terms of being able to use that.
Taylor/I agree. Currently it...no offense,but it just seems sort of dark and dingy, and I've
always disliked kind of using(both talking)
Seydell-Johnson/(laughter)
Taylor/ ...and....and the design, the new design, it looks so open and kudos to you for...for
planning that cause that looks very nice.
Seydell-Johnson/ I think we have a number of questions that need to be answered before we
make this final decision, but we just needed to know is that...is that an idea you're open
to, cause it is so different than what we've done in the past.
Taylor/ I did have some questions, Juli, though in the information that was given. There were a
number of like safety issues that I thought are like really high priority,uh, that even
mention some vinyl tile on the ground floor has known asbestos in it and those kinds of
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things and breaker issues and lighting, urn, no...lack of sprinklers, uh, the, uh, outside
railing ramp that the, urn, anchors are corroding and....(both talking)will that be
incorporated somehow in whatever plan you choose then or....
Seydell-Johnson/Yeah, that's an old report, so a number of those (both talking)throughout the
years and with each project we do....we do as much of that as we can. So, uh, a fair
amount of those have been taken care of—the railing outside, the....the tile in the lower
level—no we have not because as long as it is....is fastened to the ground, the asbestos
isn't an issue. It's only if we decide to....we have gotten quotes a couple times to do that
and have not done that yet,but urn, all those things are on our watch list and we are
incorporating them each year as we do other projects, little bit of lighting here, little bit of
this, urn, the things that we proposed for the next phase are things we can tackle in larger,
urn, chunks that I think makes sense.
Botchway/I would agree as well, urn, my only question, urn, I think is, you know, it's been
spoken about before as far as related to cost, and so obviously if it's some exorbitant cost,
I think we need to reconsider what that would look like. Urn, but also...so I know we
talked about the...pool area as well. Is that a part of this or....
Seydell-Johnson/Um, in the final part of this memo it says that there's....there will need to be a
separate project for the swimming pool in the future, urn, primarily for the, kind of the
guts of the swimming pool, the....the, um pumps,the filtration system. That is also
nearing, I mean it's an older building. That's nearing the end of its useful life as well. So
you will be looking at a fairly substantial project, urn, for the swimming area. We have
it, I think, for 2022 right now, urn, kind of penciled in for that, but....so the only thing
this does with the....with the swimming pool area is, urn, address the locker rooms, and
that on-deck restroom.
Thomas/One question I have is, you know, we're being asked to choose one or the other.
What's...for the one that if we were to not, as this is set up, we would not be choosing one
of these two options. When would it be phased in? What's the timeline (both talking)
Seydell-Johnson/That would be my question for you! (laughter) But actually I'm not actually
asking you to make a choice tonight. I'm asking for your priorities or your....how would
you like us to make the decision between the two when we have the full information.
Obviously budget is one of the concerns. We're not sure of the price of those lower level
restrooms, urn,whatever we do we want to be able to pair it with our top priorities, which
are the....the racquetball/game room space and the on-deck restroom, urn, so that right
there will probably limit which of the two,but just to get a sense of upstairs, downstairs—
which one....which one seems like a higher public priority to you?
Thomas/Cause I'm personally having a little trouble, urn, prioritizing them. I know the...the
kitchen....the catering kitchen concept, I think is....something that sounds quite valuable.
Uh, not to mention, you know, we saw the staff offices. They're....kind of shoe-horned
in...into places where it's really not practical for....for using as office space. So I don't
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know, it all (laughs) you know I...I don't know what the overall cost of the projects, if we
were to do everything, would be and if it's necessary to phase them, but....
Seydell-Johnson/And we'll certainly find that out as we go through the first phase of this. Our
list is long, I realize that. We've been knocking....Geoff keeps (laughs) I say that every
day, I'm like I have so much I want to get done (laughs) I have so much, so much. He
says you gotta bite it off little by little, and we've been trying, and we are, and we will
continue. Um.....we're tryin' to get enough planning done so we have realistic price and
estimates on all of this so that you can help us plan for beyond this phase,um, cause there
are areas we haven't touched yet within the building, um, and as the use continues to go
up, I think there's things that we will want to continue improving, urn, to make it a better
public...even a better public space.
Fruin/You're kinda gettin' an inside view to our budget meetings (laughter) This is, these are
the discussions that we have, and we struggle over these just as....just as you are, and this
is just one facility. You know we could go to Mercer and give you a similar list there, or
we could go to pretty much every park and....and give you similar lists. So, what's in the
budget right now, I....I don't have it in front of me. I'm goin' off memory here, but we
have this...this project in the budget, and we won't be able to do everything. Um, we'll
get as much done as we can, and then we have the big pool project in 2022, I believe is
correct. Outside of that, we have an annual rec...Rec Center improvements line item,
that's fairly minimal, that allows us to check the boxes of really small issues that come up
and maybe some accessibility issues. Um, like handrails and fixtures and that sort of
thing,but um, we won't be able to do all this, and there's not another line in the budget as
of right now to take that next step. Cause we...we feel that next step really needs to be
the....as Juli said, the guts of the pool.
Seydell-Johnson/One question that we haven't talked about that I want to make sure we get an
answer from too is, uh, during the budget process you wanted us to also do a feasibility
study for a second story, or an additional story, and we're wondering if there's more
information or...um....more direction on that part of the....
Botchway/So I know that was me, or maybe...I'll say it was Jim,urn, during the budget(laughs)
during the budget process, uh, really wanting to.....you know, I'm not gonna....I don't
wanna talk super long about it, but you know....l feel like one of our things that we need
to value the most, especially in an ever-expanding city is our.....our space, and I feel like
the Recreation Center has an opportunity to expand outwards, and I don't know
northwest, whatever....or I guess it's not north, but east, west, whatever direction it is,
um, to have that expansion outward and to the parking lot in general, but I think I also
talked about wanting to expand up as well. I'm not talking 12 stories, but I'm talking,
you know, one or two stories, again to accommodate, and I appreciate maybe the set up.
I don't think Jim and Pauline....um, talked to me about this, but um, you know, we just
had a conversation recently,um, albeit you know, with not many members of the Black
community,but some members of that community, talking about the desire for more
space. I do think this is an opportunity, and I do....I know there's other pieces of the
project that does...do (mumbled) community space as well,but I do think provides us an
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opportunity to have a....an additional space or more space for community usage, and I'm
not just focused on, you know, urn,just Black families. I think it's....I think it's a part of
there are entire diverse community that could potentially use this space, um, in different
ways. I....I know we talked about it briefly from an entrepreneurial standpoint, urn, how
this also could be used as kind of an experimental space for a lot of our diverse
community members that work out of their homes with clothing,jewelery and other
projects, that just need an opportunity to do something, and....and have space to do that,
and I think some of the, uh, economic development staff are working on some of those
things, and there's a thing in the parking lot over on the southeast side, so things are
happening, but again going back to that space piece, I think there's an opportunity that,
urn, I don't want us to limit, urn, and just, I mean I might be maybe thinking like this
year, but if we're able to do some type of study. I know this speaks to the parking lot, but
I'm actually thinking about going up as well. I do think it provides an opportunity that I
do not want to pass on, at least from a planning standpoint. Maybe not necessarily next
year. Additionally basketball courts (several talking)
Seydell-Johnson/I knew that was corning! (laughs) So a preliminary study that just gives us
some fairly basic cost estimates and...and make sure that nothing that we're doing with
the racquetball/game room area would preclude us from....doing something in the future,
is that a fair way to state it?
Botchway/Correct.
Fruin/Juli, can you clarify the...the previous study that we did, that anticipated the expansion
coming out into the parking lot. That was from the gym.
Seydell-Johnson/Yeah,that is in the, um, 2012 study. I don't....I actually don't have a whole lot
of information. I don't know if Kumi or Chad, either one (mumbled) (several talking in
background)
Morris/ So in the 2012 study when it looked (mumbled) facilities,uh, review and also a master
plan study for the whole city, um, and looking at a variety of different facilities. One of
the things it suggested in that was to expand over the parking lot and still have the
parking spaces below,but also having, uh, potential future recreation space. There was
some concern in that study about being able to expand up. So....but it was a pretty
limited review.
Throgmorton/Up over the existing building?
Morris/That's correct. So, um, in the study what it recommended was to....if we were to look at
expanding, was to look at expanding to the east of the gym presently and over that
existing parking lot.
Salih/I don't get that. You mean like....on the top of the area that existing building or on the
parking lot, if we extend it?
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Seydell-Johnson/It would be (both talking) right, so you would look out over....that parking lot
would be almost like building a parking ramp over the top of it,but it(both talking)
instead of parking. So a second level with parking underneath or....does that make more
sense?
Salih/ Sure, yeah.
Thomas/The existing parking is in the flood plain, is it not?
Seydell-Johnson/Yes it is.
Thomas/Yeah, so that would have to remain. Yeah, that's a fairly si...the parking area's are,
based on my estimate, almost .8 acres, I mean it's a sizable amount of land. It's about
half the site....looked like, so I.....that....that seemed very promising, uh....and I don't
know what level of discussion has taken place in terms of thinking about....that.
Seydell-Johnson/I think it was very preliminary at that time, so....
Cole/ I guess I would support that, as long as the cost to do that additional study would be too
expense.
Seydell-Johnson/Uh, we include it in the scope of our contract with(both talking)
Cole/Let's do it!
Throgmorton/At one point, and I'm not....Kumi, I need your help on this, but at one point,
roughly four, five years ago, there was some....developer interest in building a....I can't
remember how tall the proposal was. Let's say eight stories, I don't remember. An
eight-story building next to the bridge, the College Street bridge, over the parking lot,
with, uh, the parking lot being used as parking space and maybe another for parking, I
don't remember, but then above it,uh, a mixed-use facility of some kind. Uh, I....were
you referring to that,just when you talked about the master plan? Okay, thanks. So,
Kumi's shaking her head no. So, anyhow, I just...I, yeah, I couldn't remember whether
that was....
Fruin/That's nothing we're considering anymore.
Throgmorton/Right. Okay.
Seydell-Johnson/So, in your...in your, um, what we sent out, the packet information, there is the,
um, study from.....I guess I doesn't,the RDG study, and the....three pages from the end
shows, has the drawing that shows what they were considering.....
Throgmorton/Thanks!
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Seydell-Johnson/.....and it's basically one basketball court that would come out to the east.
Um....
Throgmorton/Well I guess I.....I don't see any harm in, uh, doing sort of an exploratory study
about the cost associated with going up one floor,uh, above the existing building. But
the more we think about adding space there, either by goin' up or goin' out over the
parking lot, uh, we're talkin' about more time and there're gonna be lots of things unfold
around here that are...will be affecting what kind of services we would want to provide
there. Um....yeah. They would (laughs) affect what kind of services we would want to
provide there. And....and even how much parking we would need. I don't want to get
too ahead of the game here but....so, I....I think a preliminary study would be
appropriate, but.....only preliminary. Do....do you hear some clarity from us up here?
Fruin/Yeah. I think we have what we need.
Throgmorton/Is there anything else we should,uh, process that would be helpful to you?
Seydell-Johnson/I think we've gotten the feedback that we need to....to move forward at this
point, so....
Fruin/So what....what we'll probably do, I'll want to talk with Juli and her staff,um, as we get
through the process with OPN and we develop our recommendation, we'll certainly come
back to you, have that discussion. I think what you're really gonna need to look at is...
you know, you're probably going to have to have that expansion discussion again, if
we're not able to go up for whatever reason, and our only option is to go out,then you'll
need to know that. You'll need to know what you're doing, what the City's going to be
doing, with that racquetball space. It may impact our ability to expand outwards. And...
and we won't really know that till we get deeper into the analysis. In regards to the, urn,
the selection of the non-profit, um, I don't think that's anything we need to jump into
right away. We'll talk about process and questions to ask and, urn, we'll check in with
you one...one more time before we go out, uh,just to make sure we're askin' the right
questions and framing it the way,uh, which you want us to.
Throgmorton/Yeah, I would think a request for proposals from non-profits should....not be
burdensome for them.
Froin/Sure.
Throgmorton/Yeah. (several talking in background) Okay! Good deal! Thank you, Juli!
Seydell-Johnson/We are excited to move forward. I just want to say that, I mean everything we
can do in that building, it's....it is being used by the public. It's fun to see them in there
every day. So thank you very much.
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Throgmorton/Yeah. And thank you, Justin and Josh and Kumi. It's good to see y'all again.
You too, Chad! (laughs) Okay, we can move on to the next item, which is clarification
of agenda items. Who has....who needs clarity?
Clarification of Agenda Items:
Botchway/Can we pull,uh, agenda Item 4e(5) for separate consideration?
Throgmorton/Maybe. What is it?
Fruin/Was it 4e(5) (several talking)
Throgmorton/4d(5)?
Taylor/4e or 4d?
Botchway/ I meant 4e.
Taylor/The Mormon Trek.
Botchway/The Mormon Trek.
Throgmorton/ Sure, and how's it been revised? I see that it has been.
Fruehling/I believe it's just a project name.
Throgmorton/Oh!
Botchway/And the only reason is to highlight it and make a couple comments. That's it.
(several talking) Yeah,just a couple.
Throgmorton/I was gonna say somethin' about....(several talking and laughing)
Fruin/You want us to....we'll just come up and...and Ron or Jason can give you a quick
overview of what that project is and you can state what you need or ask questions.
Botchway/If you want to, yeah. I mean it was more, I mean I know you've talked about it
before and so I don't wanna rehash it. I just wanted to pull it to maybe more highlight it
for the community and make a couple comments.
Dilkes/We don't have to pull it. They can just do that during the Consent Calendar and then we
can vote on the whole thing. I mean you can highlight....you don't have to vote on it
separately, I mean you can if you want.
Botchway/That's fine. I can do it during the consent part of the agenda too. Okay.
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Throgmorton/ So you gotta make sure I don't move too quickly on that. Get votes and then
suddenly you can't say anything.
Botchway/ If you see me starry-eyed and not sayin' anything (laughs)
Salih/I just wanna ask you, uh, if I wanna comment on....(unable to understand) can I do it like
during the....
Throgmorton/During discussion (both talking) ...there's a motion to approve and a second and
discussion, and...so you can bring up any of the items there, yeah.
Salih/ Sure. All right.
Throgmorton/Just identify the item, say you know, 4e(5) or whatever the number is.
Salih/ Sure. All right. Thanks (mumbled)
Fruin/You really want to pull the item if....if you want to have a dissenting vote, if you want to
vote against it or if you've got questions that you think would be beneficial (both talking)
Yeah. If it's just a comment then....
Salih/Comment and suggestion (laughs)
Taylor/ (mumbled)
Salih/Yeah, it's not like a voting or (mumbled)
Throgmorton/In the end, you will be voting up or down, but for the whole Consent(both
talking) Right.
Salih/No, that's fine.
Throgmorton/Okay, other items?
Mims/I...just have a question on rationale on 4d(7) and....Kellie, this has no negative (laughs)
repercussions on you. This is on the City Clerk contract amendment. Urn, I was just
curious....why maybe we weren't looking at making this adjustment over a number of
years, to gradually bring the maximum back down in line with other administrative
positions. I.....I fully understand and support that Kellie....and the rest of the people in
the office have done an outstanding job, and Kellie has not been able to take vacation and
has accrued a....probably a lot of additional vacation from the time Marian left to...they
were understaffed and then getting up to speed on her job, I guess my question is why are
we leaving this so that the maximum payment....it's leaving it up at 320 hours instead of
say over the next five years bringing that maximum down to match the rest of the
administrative....it just seems like to me that would be a little more logical.
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Dilkes/Well the City Manager has a contract that has a different level of vacation payout, so it's
not an unusual thing to do. So we just kind of used that as a....as a model.
Mims/Okay. I guess I just misinterpreted the first sentence. I was making the assumption that
they were all more in line. So, okay.
Dilkes/Yeah, I mean....
Froin/I think all three of ours are probably different.
Mims/Okay. (several talking)
Dilkes/I have more vacation (both talking)
Mims/Okay. I withdraw my comments.
Taylor/I wanted to comment on that item,just to say that I hope we can give her some vacation
soon,particularly maybe in June when, you know, we're not having any meetings in
June, so hopefully.....hopefully you can take some time then soon! Much deserved time!
Throgmorton/Am I right in understanding there are no cost implications?
Dilkes/Potentially at the end of the employment you're increasing the....(several talking)
Fruin/All the vacation hours get bought out, so if you....if you exceed your cap,they're gonna
....she would get paid,just like any other employee for those vacation hours. If you can
accrue more, there's a....there's a chance that if you keep that accrual high,when you
separate employment, you're gonna be paying out that vacation at a higher wage rate,
um, the difference is probably fairly minimal, um, but you'd be paying a little bit more.
Throgmorton/Okay. Other questions?
Cole/I was gonna bring up correspondence if that's okay, Jim.
Throgmorton/Well (both talking) maybe we could hold off. I....I know I have a couple
questions about, you know, the specific items, so....let me do them I guess and....see if
there are others. So anyhow, Item 4d(1), uh, Chief Grier....I, this is really a question
about the strategic plan....for the Fire Department. So....yeah, looks like a good plan and
everything. I....I see, you know(laughs) so I don't have any criticism of it really. The
one thing(both talking)
Grier/That's good!
Throgmorton/Yeah(laughs) is that I did not see any explicit reference towards sustainability...
and about what the Fire Department is doing to further our sustainability objectives. So
let me say a little bit more,uh, related to that. I think the whole idea of protecting the
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city, neighborhoods, houses, etc., from fire damage is part of sustainability(laughs) so
(both talking)
Grier/Certainly!
Throgmorton/...everything you do is directly related to it in that sense. But in other ways I....I
don't see anything, uh, in the strategic plan related to sustainability. For example,
anything havin' to do with carbon emission reductions. Course if you don't have any
fires (laughs) you're reducing carbon emissions (laughs)
Grier/Really!
Throgmorton/But...you understand so.....
Grier/Absolutely!
Throgmorton/Uh, so I would hope that.....oh, I don't know, in my ideal version there might be
an addendum to the....to the strategic plan, indicating how you see that the....the Fire
Department could help advance those sustainability objectives, and I think you've already
been doing some work related to the....to it,with regard to the....the,uh, climate action
plan and development of it, but I don't know. I...I haven't, I don't know if you've had
that conversation.
Grier/We can certainly, uh, we look at it every year. Well actually we look at it all the time,but
we do an update with the spring planning meeting and that's certainly something we
could work into our, uh, our sessions that we do.
Mims/Probably one of the biggest ones is pass the strategic plan now and that is, I mean, Fire
Station#4 was LEED certified, so I mean that was a big deal (both talking) at the time.
Yeah, and rebuild of#2 so (both talking) Certainly they've done a lot. My guess is
you're not gonna do a whole lot with those fire engines on sustainability (laughs)
Grier/Yeah. I mean we're certainly cognizant of what....what you're talking about and....
Throgmorton/What do they get, about .3 miles per gallon (laughter)
Grier/You don't wanna pay the bill, that's (laughter) No, but I....point taken, we will certainly
look at that.
Throgmorton/I was thinking also about equity, in terms of tryin' to diversify the....uh,the mix
of employees in the Fire Department.
Grier/Yes.
Throgmorton/And I know there's reference to that as an ambition within the strategic plan.
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Grier/Uh huh.
Throgmorton/Your strategic plan. Uh, but we take it very seriously and I'm sure you know that.
So....
Grier/Absolutely!
Throgmorton/Yeah.
Grier/Yeah, I think those camps that we're focusing on we're trying to get to folks when they're
younger, and we're certainly looking at ways that we advertise our openings and trying to
reach a greater population. Across Iowa, our requirements and testing are minimal, 18,
driver's license, high school graduation. So we try to get as many folks to apply as we
can. So we will continue our efforts, we're working with,uh,Karen and her staff to
make sure that we get the word out far and wide.
Throgmorton/Yeah. Good deal!
Taylor/I was happy to see,uh, kind of your stress on safety and well being of the community, as
well as the safety and continuing education of....of your firefighters, cause I think that's
....that's a good thing and I'm....I'm excited that in our budget we're going to have that
new training tower for ya, so I'm excited for that (both talking)
Grier/We're excited as well (laughs)
Taylor/Yes, so that's good!
Throgmorton/Any other questions for Chief Grier? Thanks!
Grier/Great, thank you so much!
Throgmorton/Yeah. I have another agenda item. You mind if I go into that? So Item 4d(5).
This is the resolution pertaining to McCollister, the engineering services' contract. So
my question really is one of timing and coordination. I'm wondering where in the
process the consultant will be coordinating with Opticos, because Opticos, I don't know,
beginning after July 1 will be developing form based code. Yeah.
Fruin/Yeah, I couldn't give you that answer now cause Opticos isn't under contract. Um, as
soon as we could get them on board we'll make sure they're....they're talking and we
have the benefit of the previous Opticos study that....that the, um, AECOM,
who's....who's doing the McCollister Boular....Boulevard design for us,they will have
and they'll be able to reference that previous work, but.....they can't really collaborate
with Opticos until we get them under contract. From a timing standpoint, I think there's
ample time. I'm lookin' at Jason and Ron, um....we do hope to get Opticos to you,um,
in a....in a proposal for an agreement with them in July at some point. So, you know, the
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design of this roadway's gonna take place in the fall and the winter, to be bid out and
constructed next year.
Throgmorton/Okie dokie. Thanks!
Taylor/I had a question on 4e(4), the Melrose Avenue fiber optic extension. Since it extends
through portions of University Heights, do they benefit from that at all and if so would
they be obligated to help fund it?
Fruin/That's a good question. Um.....I'll have to....I'll have to get back to ya on that.
Taylor/Okay! Thanks, Geoff. (several talking) Oh!
Throgmorton/He got back to ya! (laughs)
Knoche/As a part of our agreement with University Heights, they would have the ability to use
the fiber,but there would be a separate agreement, besides what we're already allowing
for the use of the right-of-way. So if...if we would....if they would want to use the fiber,
there would be another agreement that we'd have to have with them, for that use.
Taylor/Okay. Thank you!
Fruin/Thanks, Ron.
Throgmorton/On 4e(3), which is the Creekside Park improvement project. And a public hearing
on a request for bids. I....I was a little confused about.....whether the cost, the $563,000
cost, was for the base scope of the bid only or whether it included the six alternates or,
you know,part of the six alternates, or whatever. (laughter)
Seydell-Johnson/We think it's just the base (laughs) Just the base.
Throgmorton/All right, well that answers my question! Thanks! All right, any other questions
about core items in the Consent Calendar? Or I mean on the agenda? Rockne?
Cole/So correspondence, um, you know whenever Mary Gravitt writes I always pay very close
attention, in addition to all the other ones, but I was particularly concerned about, uh, the
profane language at the Iowa City Public Library, um....don't know the age of the people
involved, but it seems like there's been young people, we've had an issue with having
alternative spaces and I think this sort of underscores the need for that. Um, so I don't
know if, Geoff, you could comment on how has it been at the Library lately in terms of
disciplinary issues or what's being done, because it's certainly.....we're trying to balance
two different needs here. I think one the need for a quiet library, and the other thing is
underscores a need for teens to have a place where they can enjoy, and of course enjoy
the Library too, as long as they respect the rules on that, but....but that does concern me
in terms of what she identified.
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Monroe/Sure! Urn, so when we had our staff meeting last week, Susan Craig had addressed this
issue and responded to it. Urn, as far as we're aware, no staff person was iden....was
alerted to these things occurring, in which case,urn, you know, we were assured that
Library staff would have....would have addressed it at the time. Um, and then the second
component of that, of the...apparently they were described as not just young people but
just a general, urn, non-observance of....of, you know(both talking)
Seydell-Johnson/ ....they came from the Rec Center and then went to the Library (laughs)
(several talking) It was adults. It was an adult couple having an argument with each
other. They'd been kicked out of the Rec Center and continued that behavior in the lobby
of the Library. So....
Cole/Okay.
Monroe/We haven't heard yet, urn, any concerns about disciplinary issues (both talking)
Cole/There's been no uptick you've been able to identify?
Monroe/No, I haven't heard that, uh, you know we may experience a difference in....in activity
at the Library, especially as we go and roll into summer programs, um....that it'll get
busy. So we'll...we'll just have to keep our ear to the ground and....and see what, uh,
what that looks like.
Cole/That's it!
Throgmorton/Anything else about agenda items?
Taylor/Again on correspondence, I was touched by the letter from the parent of one of the
students that received the....the student award,uh, I don't think in all my time I've been
on the Council we've been giving those awards, that's one of my favorite things to do,
but I don't think we've ever received a formal thank you for it and that really touched me.
That was nice.
Throgmorton/Yeah, it was very sweet.
Thomas/I was pleased to see the Gary Klein, 4f(9),mentioning the pedestrian....not pleased in
that he was mentioning the traffic fatalities,but that it was on....his, he was conscious of
it, you know, it's something that I know I've been emphasizing on Council and....um,
you know it....really for this thing to...to gain traction, it's going to require, in my view,
the...the understanding and concern on the part of the community as a whole. So seeing
that, urn.....that...that may be something people are becoming more concerned with.
Throgmorton/Right. We're gonna move ahead to the info packets. May 3rd.
Mims/ Oh, quickly before we jump to that, the rest of the agenda, I did have a question. On
the....rezonings, I had heard via the grape vine, and I don't know if there's any truth to
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this,that one of the five property owners for the historic landmark designation that had
not protested previously had since protested. Is there any truth to that?
Mikes/There were questions that they had and my understanding is they met with staff this
afternoon and resolved those, so they are not going to make a....object! It wouldn't have
been counted as a protest(mumbled) majority purposes, but that's my understanding.
Fruin/That's correct.
Mims/Okay! Thank you. I just wanna make sure, Jim, we didn't...you kind of jumped from
correspondence to the info packets, if...did anybody have any question on any of the rest
of the agenda items?
Throgmorton/Oh I don't know, that's....I asked that question several times so I don't(both
talking)
Mims/Well I....you'd kind of gone through it in order and I just wanted to make sure that people
had that chance. All right, fine.
Information Packet Discussion FMav 3,May 101:
Throgmorton/Uh, well I'm not hearing anything about....not hearing anything about the May 3'I
info packet, so how bout May 10?
Salih/Yeah, for May 10.....I would like to ask about IP5. You know, I know that you guys met
with group....whose those group CEDAC, what that group?
Throgmorton/Hold on. Sorry, um....about IP5, is that what you said?
Salih/Uh huh.
Throgmorton/(both talking) ask the question again.
Salih/You,uh, I guess group of you guys went and met with them. I just want to know what the
group like CED is the group. What...what that?
Botchway/It's, um....can't remember the acronym off the top of my head now.
Throgmorton/I....I don't remember the acronym so....
Salih/Okay, uh....
Mims/There's a refugee alliance that was there, as well as Joan VandenBerg from the School
District and....and Colleen from Kirkwood.
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Salih/You mean the group is like....the member, those the member that was telling me (unable
to understand) Kirkwood (unable to understand) member of that group or.....
Mims/I'm not sure what the acronym you're....okay, way down, on the bottom of page 1,
CEDAC?
Botchway/Yeah, so CEDAC is Community Education Advisory Council. Um, I believe it's the
group that Joan VandenBerg is associated with and she was a part of that meeting. Urn,
as well as other members. She also plays a dual role cause she's with other members as
far as the Refugee Alliance as well and so....that's where that CEDAC came from. That
was from one of the participants. It wasn't from Jim.
Salih/ Sure.
Throgmorton/So let me say a little bit more about that particular info packet and the email that I
sent and....uh, which conveyed an email from Colleen Schmitt and had....had those two
reports. I didn't realize the way they were going to appear in print. So the key report
was, what was titled"The Issue Brief, Educational Access for LEP Adults in Iowa City,"
and the other was more.....it was related but not directly focused on what our
conversation, uh,had to do with. So I thought,uh, Susan, you and Kingsley can,uh, say
whatever, uh, tell me if I'm wrong about this, but I thought it was really good, fruitful
conversation, uh, and the main point that I got from it is adult learners of English....are
havin' a lot of trouble finding.....uh, accessible, uh, reasonable cost, um, places where
they can get the kind of training they need to learn how to converse in English and then
be able to get jobs, etc., uh....uh, by having that kind of ability to speak English, uh, well
enough. So....Colleen presented us with ideas.....a.....about what could possibly be
done. We....we discussed that at length and I think the bottom line we came up with was
that it would be helpful to co-convene a series of....a cluster of stakeholders who could
begin talking about what could be done to help adult....um....uh, learners of English. So,
how we would proceed I don't know. In fact that was the question I was gonna ask you
(laughs) is do you have advice about how we should proceed, and I...I hadn't had a
chance to talk with Geoff about it either, but uh....it seems pretty clear that there's a
significant problem for a significant number of our residents, and that we should be
involved in coming up with a....a solution to that problem. But we can't do it by
ourselves. So....hence the idea of co-convening something with other stakeholders. Like
the School District, like Kirkwood, like, um, I don't know, the County. I don't know
who else. So....do any of you have ideas about how we could proceed? Kingsley, you
and Susan and I haven't really had a chance to talk about that since we held the meeting.
Mims/Well,my take away from the meeting was that Joan and some of the others there were
gonna start working on trying to co-convene something. They were going to reach out to
Mark Nolte at ICAD and some other people, um, that we had mentioned. So I guess I
was kind of of the mind of sitting back and waiting to hear from Joan and others who
might be....trying to get something like that organized. So.....I think we talked about a
lot of different....different resources and...and clearly the fact that this is not, um, as you
said, Jim, this is not something that the City....can do or....nor is it our responsibility, but
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we certainly are interested in trying to help work on the problem, um, and find....find
ways to coordinate with others. Um, so I think Joan was kind of taking the lead on
making some of those contacts.
Botchway/Yeah, I think that was happening, you know, trying to develop a stakeholder group to
discuss these issues more in-depth. I mean I think for me, a clearly or a more clearly
articulated plan as far as, urn, I think that the need, um, I mean you kind of articulated
already, um,was you know how do we.....how do we incorporate a more diverse
workforce when we have,um....uh, individuals in our community that have so much
talent,urn, that isn't being utilized, and you know one of the ways to do that is provide
training and classes. Um, to that end, um,but there were some other comments, or there
was a long list of additional things, childcare and some other stuff, that I think, again,
what is the...what is the focus, and I think that....that part I....I would want to see a little
bit more clearly drawn out,just so before we kind of go into a little bit deeper
conversation, urn....we know kind of where we need to be involved.
Salih/I just would like to say just that we include like some people who already are doing
something like this,but uh, not necessarily they have(unable to understand) or the
funding or the resou...the resources for like many people in the community because they
can(unable to understand)people, uh, such as, uh, some churches. The International
Woman group, they doing fantastic job, but you know, sometime they do it only one day,
two day is not enough and the Center for Worker Justice, also they doing English classes,
and if we can involve those people because they already started,but not necessarily being
like really....covering all the community or like reaching out to all of them because they
don't have that capacity to do so. Uh....
Mims/I think part of what they want to do is kind of get a data base of who's doing what and not
start from scratch, but utilize....
Salih/Yes!
Mims/ ...already working and figure out how to fill the gaps and...and add (both talking)
Salih/ ...great idea. Yeah.
Mims/And we did,we talked the fact that childcare and transportation were also issues, not just
the classes themselves,but um, the accessibility(both talking)
Salih/Sure! Yeah I just would like to really, you know, show a support for the step that you
guys take to do this and try to help the people advocate.
Throgmorton/So I'm wondering if it would be helpful to have one of our members, one of us,
be....reach out to Joan VandenBerg and Colleen Schmitt and...sort of be the link?
Temporarily at least, between what they're doing, like you said, Susan. I'd forgotten that
particular part of our conversation. So...so that we're remaining in contact with 'em and
finding a way to move ahead, rather than simply sort of passively waiting.
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Cole/Why don't we tell 'em that we're interested in what the feedback and suggestions are
and....and working with them in an ongoing process in terms of recommendations and
they can come back to us with additional recommendations that we can more effectively
serve. Um....
Mims/I don't think they're coming back with recommendations, Rockne. I think it's more, at
this point, co-convening a lot of different stakeholders, and I think we should be a part of
that convening to make sure that they're not just giving us recommendations, but we are a
part of building any of those recommendations.
Throgmorton/Yeah,that's what I thought too.
Botchway/Yeah, I mean....(sighs)
Mims/I'm not volunteering, I'll tell ya that right now! My calendar is full. I mean....between
the Access Center. Now they've asked me to be on the executive committee, as well as
the steering committee, and everything else, I....I can't add another thing. I'm
comfortable with the fact that Joan was starting to pull this together and would get back
to us, but if you want somebody to be reaching out more actively and doing that, it's
going to have to be somebody other than me.
Botchway/Well, that goes....my second point is down the drain(laughter) My first point, I...I
do think we have a little more work to do, I mean not to put Maz on the spot, you know,
if Maz....I wouldn't say that I'm....I wouldn't say that we need to set up that liaison just
yet. I'm more interested in how they're collaborating with odu....other entities, I mean
my....my first thought process is, you know, obviously was talking about training,there
was some conversation about funding which is I think why primarily we're there as well.
I would love to see just a schedule as far as what the classes are and what the training is
currently happening, um, across the....across the city/county,to just get a better
understanding of, you know, where the needs currently exist, um could it be that, um,
people have been working on this need, additional resources, I mean this is one of those,
you know,partnership conversations, and I know Susan's talked about it in the past and
I've tried to mention as well, as far as, you know, different groups, I think, get into
situations where there's different areas of need around a focus group, and it's really a
larger,potentially systemic problem, and that other entities are working on, and then you
know, we may support this organization, but this organization hasn't seen the support. I
want to see more of a connection,because I mean I guess....looking at it from a
workforce standpoint, I think it's very beneficial to our community, and I definitely think
we should step in, and I think that, you know, from a....just in general, how do we
activate, um, more employment opportunities in general for people that are here. I think
it's awesome! Um, especially from a diverse standpoint, but I....I would say that they
need to do just a little bit more work as far as connecting the dots a little bit, um, and I
would say, going back to Rockne's point, we would say we're....thank you for, you
know, sharing that information. We're considering your request. We'd like to see you
reach out to other diverse stakeholders,um, and get some more, um, information, um,
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and....and provide a more clarified need and then come back to us with more
information. I think we should....I think we could leave it on them to come back with a,
to us with more information instead of having a liaison. I do think Maz should reach out
and say, hey, here's some other groups that are part of this conversation that need to be a
part of this conversation as well. I just think we're...we're too far, we're not....it's too
early! Just want to wait, from a project management standpoint, we're just...they're here,
we're here. I just want them to be right here, so we can....be closer. Thinking of like
Hitch! (laughter)
Salih/ I agree!
Throgmorton/All right, well I can write Colleen and Joan, and say, hey! Keep us posted on
what....what you've been able to do in terms of identifying other stakeholders and taking
further steps. Yeah. Okay. Anything else in the May 10 packet? Listening posts!
February 8, uh, IP #8. So, uh,we planned to hold a listening post in May. May's half
over.
Fruehling/I just didn't know, I mean....location.
Throgmorton/Yeah, so you identified two, Farmers Market down here or the former Baculis
Mobile Home Park are two possibilities. There might be others.
Taylor/I....having lived over there previously, I don't know where the person had in mind for
Baculis, which is now actually Cole's. They have an office space there which has a
lower level, but I guess we'd have to check with Eddie Cole and see where....if there's a
space there. I mean that's an excellent idea, although the other, I mean, cause the aspect
of that is that both of those,the....what was that(mumbled) Baculis are very heavily
populated with Hispanic folks and it would be nice, but then we perhaps would need a
translator too, to...for them to feel a part of it and express their concerns.
Cole/What date were we thinking of?
Throgmorton/Well we had no specific date,but we(both talking) sometime in May is what our
tentative schedule called for.
Cole/Yeah, I would support the mobile home park, and I'd be happy to do it if...that'll work.
Throgmorton/So we'd have to reach out to Eddie Cole, I think,to see if it's okay to...come on to
the mobile,uh, home court. Uh, and then try to pin down a date.
Taylor/I would join Rockne there too, if....
Salih/You said this is,will be on May or when?
Throgmorton/Well if, you know, if we can schedule it in May that'd be great, but it's the 15th
already, so maybe it'd be early June. (several talking in background)
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Salih/If in May I can do it. But....if not, that's it.
Throgmorton/Yeah. So, uh, I think, Rockne, do I hear you volunteering? Pauline, I hear you
volunteering. So....
Mims/I would just be curious if there's others who want to do it. I think, Pauline,you've done
like(both talking)
Taylor/I've done a lot of'em!
Mims/ ....four or five (both talking)
Taylor/...cause nobody ever volunteers (laughs) so I say I'll do it! (several talking)
Throgmorton/So Maz is interested.
Salih/Yeah,but try to do it like May...May, the end of May.
Throgmorton/Yeah, I'm sure we'll be able to find another person if that's necessary. Sure.
Salih/Yeah. Sure.
Throgmorton/All right, any other items in the May 10 packet?
Cole/ So I just wanna bring up IP7. A lot of people have been reading about the efforts of
Faculty Forward, and what I would request is that our Mayor,uh, submit a letter in
support of recognition of Faculty Forward, urn,which for those of you who don't know
out in the audience,there's a....ongoing issue at the University of Iowa related to non-
tenure faculty,um, and working conditions for non-tenure faculty, who are long-term
employees of the University of Iowa. Um,want to anticipate a couple concerns that
people may raise. One obviously employment issues are very sensitive involving other
entities, um....that said,this does involve a number of people who reside in the City of
Iowa City, a major employer. It's been a very public event, and a letter, Jim, you're
extremely diplomatic. The letter would be very simple, uh,just to sort of recognize and
support both the University and recognizing their tough budget times that they're in, but
at the same point, I think it's important that we stand behind organizing efforts, cause
that's ultimately what this appears to be, organizing efforts of workers throughout the
community,whether it's in academia, low-wage workers,they're major issues. So I
would ask that we would do this, um, and I think that we could do it in a very diplomatic.
Jim could keep it extremely short. Um, and then ultimately there's a process in place that
will take place, and it would be addressed to President Harreld. Um, this has manifested
itself. There was a sit-in within the last week, um, it does appear to be percolating up and
I think it's important that we stand behind the workers,um, regardless of their
educational level,their income level, where they're at, and we not pick and choose,uh,
which labor issues we want to get involved in. I think it is appropriate for us as a body to
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do that. So....this would be similar in some respects to the I-380 issue. Urn, I don't
know whether Jim would want to give us some feedback in terms of a letter but we'd
have to get support from the rest of Council before we would authorize the Mayor to
write such a letter,but I would like us to do that.
Throgmorton/I think this is a pretty complicated topic. Was it just today or yesterday in the
Press-Citizen there was an article about faculty freezes....or freezes on faculty and staff
pay at the University. (several talking) Unless they,uh,the University's just had,you
know, the mid-year budget cut and only part of that was restored for the forthcoming
year. And I understand there are considerable variations in opinion among the people
who teach at the University, and of course there're tenure track professors,there are non-
tenure track teachers and lecturers, adjuncts, etc., and I'm absolutely certain that, uh, the
adjuncts and lecturers are underpaid. That's pretty clear and has been clear for quite
some time,but it's not clear to me how to resolve that issue, and it's, um....you know,
it's....it's....it's its own internal thing too, where the....the administration and faculty and
others in the University have to figure out through their own processes how to proceed, it
seems to me.
Cole/And I understand that, Jim, but labor issues are always complicated. There's always
complications in terms of budget in terms of these issues, and I don't think we have to get
into the particulars, but just support of....just support of Faculty Forward and the
University of Iowa during this process. We won't weigh in on any particular topics, um,
and I think we can do that.
Mims/I think the minute you write this letter and....and I.....I'll give you a little bit of
background, I mean when I was at Kirkwood, I was President of the Faculty Association.
I was chief negotiator for a number of years, so I've been on....been there in that labor
part, and we were in the same situation. Our part-time faculty were not unionized and by
law they could not unionize. And what we really struggled with was the administration,
uh,not adding full-time positions,but adding part-time positions, and we also sat
there...and we also sat there at the bargaining table, looking at what the State was giving
Kirkwood for a budget, and knowing that what they were(laughs)trying to do was keep
as many faculty in the classrooms to provide the classes that were being demanded. Um,
by people trying to attend and get an education. And they...they were in...in a real catch-
22 situation, which was incredibly crappy for the part-time faculty.
Cole/Uh huh.
Mims/And so I...I get that and I understand it and I know a number of people who are in those
non-tenured positions, and....and I've had letters from faculty. I don't feel as a City
Council with particularly....and I think you articulated incredibly well, Jim, as
complicated as this is and the number of different pieces involved with it,that there's any
way for us to send a letter that does not absolutely look like us trying to get in the middle
of the University's business,where they have a very complicated issue to try and work
through. I....I don't care how diplomatically it's written. I think it is absolutely gonna
be seen as a criticism of the administration at the University of Iowa. Um, and I think for
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each of us to express our own views and individual support in ways, I think, is fine. I
don't think that it should come from, officially from the Council.
Throgmorton/What do the rest of you think?
Thomas/Yeah, I....I tend to agree. I....I'm very sympathetic. I just...it does seem like a very
complex issue, um.....that, you know,just....to put it on the other foot, if the City were
involved in a similar situation, um,how would we feel if an outside entity were to....
Cole/I think they should! (laughs)
Thomas/Um...I just don't know(both talking) I....I just don't know if we have any insight, uh,
but I certainly sympathize with the situation.
Taylor/I think, I mean I think you used the word diplomatic, and you're right, Jim is usually
very good about that in...in any sort of, um, communication with anyone. Um,but I think
if it was more just simplistic,just encouraging, uh, the powers that be to....use good faith
efforts to....to work with this group, that if they want to be represented by a union,uh,
don't do things to discourage that. We don't have to say ya gotta pay 'em,ya gotta give
`em vacation, ya gotta do their benefits. We don't have to talk about their contract issues,
but just saying that, uh, use some good faith efforts and...and work with 'em on
organizing. That's all! Of course that comes from an organizing blood (laughs)
Throgmorton/They're underpaid! It's not good. It should be changed.
Cole/ So I got two!
Botchway/Yeah I mean I would agree with Pauline and some of the comments that have been
made, and John,you know, I think that, I mean I think we're...we're talking about,um,
just providing some type of response, I think, is important,urn,but not to the level,
Rockne, that I think you're speaking about. Um
Cole/I'm satisfied with any letter.
Botchway/Yeah, I would say to that(both talking) I would say to that point(both talking)
Cole/ ...both parties.
Botchway/I....I do think we should do a letter. I do think we should, um, weigh in, cause I've
received some of that communication, and there is a....there is a personal part of me. I'm
currently an adjunct professor as well. Not at the University, so I don't have any conflict,
urn,but I do think it's important to, urn,just highlight, again, some of the things that, the
struggles that we worked through. I mean I think that when we were deliberating, we
took a good faith effort to extend, um, a lot of our contracts,based on the fact that we
were hearing some things from,um, Des Moines and so, you know, we've....we've done
some of that work, and the University has as well, and so I think we can craft a letter that
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isn't, you know, we're the City telling you what to do, and it's more, hey,we're
supportive of whatever efforts come from this where both parties can be....both parties
can benefit. (several responding) And, you know, word it from that standpoint, and then
highlight, I can see a....a sandwich effect. Not sandwich effect but more like my
sandwich, where there's heavy meat on the, in the, on the top, you know, the focus on
union rights, the focus on our relationship with the University, and talking about how
each of us can work together, and so three paragraphs, boom, boom. I'm not saying I'm
going to write it,but you can (laughter)
Salih/You gonna write it! Yeah, I mean I guess I agree with Kingsley. I support, you know,
sending like letter of support, yeah.
Throgmorton/Well I hear four people, uh, saying I should write such a letter, so I'll draw upon
these alleged diplomatic skills (laughter)
Cole/You're very diplomatic, Jim.
Throgmorton/(several talking) ...write such a thing.
Cole/You do an excellent job!
Throgmorton/Well I...you know, a person can be diplomatic until a person's not(laughter) and
then it all falls apart. So okay. So if.....if, I really like some of the language you used,
but I didn't get it all written down, and I know if I ask you to repeat what you said you
won't be able to do it. (laughter) Could you...can you take a stab at kind of revisiting
the...the way you phrased that?
Botchway/Let's talk after, we can talk about it after. Yeah.
Throgmorton/All right. That sounds good to me. Okay, okay, let's see, uh.....any other,
uh...um, information items from the May 10 packet? Um, I' m gonna guess the answer's
no. Can we go through Council updates on assigned boards, etc.? Maybe we can start
with John, move to the left.
Council updates on assigned boards, commissions and committees:
Thomas/Um well, uh, I did want to mention at ICAD there were, uh, two presentations and
I'm looking for my notes. I have kind of a pile here so I....I'll just have to, uh, refer to
my memory and that is, uh, two presentations. One by the CEO of ACT. Uh, and the
other by an organization, a company, um, IDx I believe they're called. Uh, they work on
retinal technology, uh, kind of automated medical procedures, is that right, Geoff?
Froin/Yes.
Thomas/It was a very interesting contrast, which is why I thought it would...I'd pass it on to
you. Uh, IDx is....is doing quite well. Uh, the FDA just approved one of their
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procedures. Urn, in terms of local connectivity, there many...many of their employees are
from the state of Iowa,university-educated here. Uh, and so it's a very positive
experience hearing their story. And then that was followed by ACT,uh, which is going
through what seemed to be pretty dramatic changes in their organizational structure. Uh,
and their mission. They're moving beyond, not that they're leaving behind assessment,
but working on, uh, expanding their services because assessments are no longer
necessarily required at universities and...and admissions so, you know, how can they help
with diagnostics of, uh, you know, the educational process before it comes to the
assessment point. Uh, this is leading to issues of mergers and acquisitions that ACT is
pursuing and so the business model and the structure of the business seemed to be in flux,
which may have significant impacts on employment in Iowa City in the long term. So it
was kind of a....a very candid conversation or presentation by the CEO. Urn, and uh, you
know,ACT....ACT like IDx kind of had local origins. So...it was interesting, the
contrast between the two presentations were pretty startling and I...I think there was
certainly some concern after his, the ACT presentation as to the future of ACT and the, in
the city and, you know, Geoff, I don't know if you....have anything to contribute to this,
but it was.....you know, ACT and Pearson are two and three in terms of employment in
Iowa City, so this is a fairly major employment issue that we could be facing.
Fruin/I think you summed it up well. The bottom line is it's an industry that's rapidly changing,
that the model that they have followed for so long is....is no longer gonna be relevant
going forward, so they're reinventing themselves, and anytime you go through that
process, everything's on the table and um, I wasn't at that particular meeting, but have,
um, heard those comments and....and....um, I think it's....you know, we have to express
our support and our interest,but at the same time, we have to know that they're....they're
evolving,uh, and they're changing and....and, uh, we hope they continue to do that here,
but....you know, as we saw with Procter and Gamble, these....large companies, whether
they're home-grown or not,they....they have to make decisions and (mumbled) what's
best for, you know, their particular business interests. Urn, so we're gonna do everything
we cad...I know....we can, I know ICAD and others will do the same, to express our
support and...and make sure that they stay here and they grow here, uh, that's all we can
do.
Throgmorton/Okay! Rockne?
Cole/I don't have any update with the City of Lit board.
Throgmorton/Maz?
Salih/Uh, I don't have....because the SEAT Transit,they just meet like every three months, and
the next one will be on the 2211a
Botchway/Nothin'.
Throgmorton/Okay. So I attended a public,um, no (laughs) Partnership for Alcohol Safety
meeting, as did Simon, as did, uh, Chief Matherly, on May the 8th. And the group did
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some brainstorming to identify priorities for the 2019/2022 alcohol harm reduction plan.
And Chief Matherly provided a really fine overview about the work that the
neighborhood and downtown officers are doing and will be doing. And there were some
other things but those were the key topics,right, Simon? Yeah. There's also gonna be a
CVB board meeting, Convention and Visitors Bureau board meeting, on the 17th, two
days from now. I've asked Pauline to join me at that so she can get a sense of how that
meeting goes. Also, as...this has nothin' to do with committees or boards, as promised
I've....I have completed a final revised draft of the letter concerning the widening of I-
380. I shared it with Geoff. Uh, I think we can move ahead with it now to try to set up a
working group conversation with other mayors, and....and other interested parties. And,
yeah, so....move ahead on that! Anything else?
Mims/Urn, as I mentioned, the....Access Center committee continues to meet. We had a....a,
urn, Steering Committee meeting yesterday, yeah, yesterday morning, and they have
asked me since Iowa City is kind of a key player in this, with the amount of money we've
committed for the facility,they've asked me to join the executive committee as well. We
did have, urn, a number of us participated in a closed session with the Board of
Supervisors, I believe it was last week. It was closed. Basically all I can say is closed
under State law, allowing closed session for discussion of potential property, urn, dis...
purpose of discussing pro...potential properties. Urn, so other than that,things continue
to move along and we're getting some,we've got a full-time, um,project manager now
working with the group. I think that's really going to help, especially with Jessica
Peckover having left. We needed somebody to kind of fill her shoes. And, urn, looking
to set up some, uh, sub-committees within the Steering Committee to work on various
things from facility to,uh,policies and procedures and codes and stuff, the healthcare
codes for reimbursement and those kinds of things. So....and still discussing name,
because that's a huge issue. So, we'll see where that lands.
Throgmorton/Okie dokie! I think we can call it quits...for now and get back together for the
formal meeting at 7:00.
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