HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-10-15 Transcription Page I
Joint Meeting
Johnson County Board of Supervisors - Iowa City Community School District- City of
Iowa City- City of Coralville- City of North Liberty- Other Johnson County
Municipalities and School Districts
Monday, October 15, 2018
Emma J. Harvat Hall 410 E Washington St, Iowa City
Reception 4:00 p.m. - Meeting 4:30 p.m.
3. Discussion/update of the following:
a. Flood Update (All)
Throgmorton/The first topic is a flood update, and I can say at the start of last week I sat in on a
meeting. Ashley, you were present on this mee....a phone meeting (both talking)
Monroe/Yes!
Throgmorton/ ....with people from the National Weather Service, the USGS, the Corps of
Engineers, var....the County, various entities, about the height of the res....the inflow
rate, the outflow rate, the height of the river, their expectations and all that kind of thing.
So it looked mighty iffy back then, but I also noticed a really terrif....a very high quality
coordination among all those entities. It was really impressive to see and I was very, very
pleased to see that, and we got lucky with the weather! So, uh, things are not,right now,
anywhere near as bad as we feared, right? But, Geoff, I don't know if you were...or Ron.
You gonna give us a little bit of an update?
Knoche/Yeah. Uh, so today's conference call the National Weather Service, uh, gave us a great
forecast so, uh, seven days of pretty much dry weather. So we're lookin' a lot better than
what we were. Uh, the forecast right now for the reservoir is to crest at 710.8. Um,
the....you're all familiar the...the top of the emergency spillway's at 712. So, um,we're
.....we're gettin' close but, uh,the....the Corps of Engineers feels confident enough, uh,
they're gonna hold their 12,000 CFS outflow, uh, which ends up bein' about 12,500 when
you get where the elevation of the....of the reservoir is, over top of the, urn, outlet pipes.
Um, you know from a local standpoint here in Iowa City, our mitigation projects have
worked perfectly. Um, where the river was at, uh, a week and a half ago,uh, Dubuque
Street would have been flooded. So, urn, you know, I....as we see how that....how that
impact has been,um, and then the...uh.....uh, drain and the pump structures that we have
in place at Rocky Shore and at Westside, uh, levy, both worked well for us. (mumbled)
Been a good test. Luckily it was a small test of our....of our system, but it...but it's
actually worked pretty well and I agree, Jim, uh....um, coordination that we've had with
Johnson County, Emergency Management, and all of the other players has....has been
very(mumbled) as we've worked through (mumbled)
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Rettig/Ron, did they say what the inflow is?
Knoche/Uh,today's inflow was just over 14,000. So we're startin' to come down again. Urn, I
believe,uh, that we're gonna crest at the reservoir on the 17th or 18th I think was the date
that they had out there. Um, they're gonna hold it at 12,000. They're gonna hold it at
12,000 until they get down to the conservation pool. So it's probably gonna be, you
know, a month yet before it's actually down where they want it at.
Rettig/Thanks.
Throgmorton/ Okay, so....do any of the other entities wanna chime in, say anything about the
flood or....their responses to the flood and so on?
Friese/I'll say a quick kudos to, uh, the EMA and Jack and everybody down there and their
handling of it. It was spot on exactly the way it should be.
Throgmorton/Okay! The next item is an update on the State of Poverty Forum. Johnson
County? Anybody from the County wanna talk about this?
b. Update on the State of Poverty Forum(Johnson County)
Sullivan/Yeah I'll start that. Um, so on Friday we had a...uh, summit, if you will, where we
had...heard from four different experts from four different groups in Iowa that talked
about some of the impact of, uh,poverty on this community. Uh, we heard a lot of data
points. We talked a little bit about what the poverty level even means and how we can
apply that to....to various programs, etc. Urn, it was all very, uh, enlightening I thought.
Lot of good information. There were staff from, I think almost every entity represented
here, had....had staff people in the room. Urn, and now we're moving forward to talk
about, well, now that we have this information how can we move forward? What are
some things we can do? And so we've got three different, um,work groups, if you will,
that are gonna be meeting. They are dealing with, uh, one's with income, one's with
childcare, and one's with affordable housing. And so if you would like to, uh, serve on
one of those, uh, you're more than welcome. Uh, we just wanna get your names so that
we, uh,we're only able to have, uh, at a first meeting we're only able to have something
like 20 to 25 people per group because of the way in which it's going to be facilitated.
Uh, which by the way is from, uh, Jim Swaim, who some of you might know as the
former Director of United Action for Youth here in Iowa City. Uh, so Jim's gonna be
facilitating these groups, uh, three of'em, 20 to 25 people each. Urn, each group will be
on that specific topic. So if you're most interested in childcare,try to attend that one.
Housing, try to attend that one. The, uh, meetings are November 8th,November 16th, and
November 30th. And I apologize, I can't match up which(several talking)
Carberry/ (both talking) I can. Um, Childcare and Inter-Generational Poverty, Thursday,
November 8th, 8:30 to 2:30, Midwest One Bank, penthouse room. Uh, light lunch will be
served. All these meetings are at the same location, same time—8:30 to 2:30. Income,
Employment and Education, Friday,November 16th, 8:30 to 2:30, and Affordable
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Housing, Friday,November 30th, same time, same place. If anybody needs this,
uh....and probably need to RSVP to Lynette Jacoby. Uh, and if you need that email....
ljacoby@Co.Johnson.Ia.us.
Sullivan/So thank you to everybody who,uh, either was in attendance themselves or had staff
people there. Urn, I think it was valuable information and we'll see where we go!
Carberry/Turnout was huge,packed house!
Sullivan/Yeah!
Throgmorton/I was really struck by the importance of childcare and I....I don't have data, I
didn't take away data with me, you know,that I brought into the meeting today with me,
but just to hear them talk....the speaker talk about childcare and...and it's effects,the
absence of childcare or the cost of childcare or the accessibility,or the lack thereof, of
childcare was al....all pretty powerful.
Carberry/And we should note, if you didn't attend but you're interested in some of this data, it is
all on the County's web site. So every presentation we had, all the presenters', uh, info
and all their slides are there, so you can go to, uh, www.johnson-county.com and it's
right on our front page. (several talking)
Rettig/Back....backslash poverty(/poverty). (several talking)
(male)/Somebody recorded the whole event though I think.
Carberry/Yeah, it was also recorded. We have(both talking)
(male)/...think it's been posted yet.
Carberry/So that's all there. There's a thing right on the front page you can click on.
Throgmorton/Any further discussion about the state of poverty in Johnson County?
Rettig/I think it's safe to....we know that transportation and healthcare are also,would have
been two more work groups. Those are bein' worked on in other ways, and healthcare,
obviously,beyond our local government control. So we expect those to be part of the
final report,but just not in these work groups.
Throgmorton/Good deal! Movin' on! Okay, so next item is,uh, facilities master plan update
from the District.
c. FMP Update(ICCSD)
Roesler/Yep,uh, I'll handle that one. Um, so we are officially in the phase of our GO bond, um,
dollars that we're spending. Uh,we had...the two projects that just finished up that
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opened this school year were, urn, Longfellow Elementary, and if you haven't been able
to see that yet, I highly recommend it. I know, uh, Mayor Throgmorton was there. I
know Pauline's seen it. Um, I know Bruce was there, urn, that day,but it's a beautiful
building in the inside and, urn, they did a great job making it look old but new(laughter)
if that makes sense. Urn....and then also West High, uh, had their first, um,phase 1B,
which was,um, they have a new cafeteria there which is able to serve all the students.
They have a culinary kitchen now, uh, that students will also be able to use. They have a
new practice gym, uh, a new dance room, um...yoga room/uh....cheerleading room, and
they have a new weight room there, which is all good. They also have an elevator, which
is.....allows them to access the second level of their main gym now, so there's seating up
there, urn, which they didn't have in their main gym before. Urn,handicap accessible
seating. Uh, also we're meeting there tomorrow as our education group. So the whole
Board will be able to see it, if they haven't been out there yet, but the....that one looks
really good as well. We have four projects underway right now. Well, four projects that
started at the beginning of the school year. Uh, we're building Grant Elementary out in
North Liberty, uh, Liberty High phase 2, which is all the athletics outside is getting done,
urn, the football field is ready. I think baseball and softball and track and soccer and
tennis are all getting done, uh, right now. Uh, Lincoln Elementary is well on its way, as
well as Mann, and you can drive by that, those two sites and see it,uh, going up and, uh, I
always like to say you see the walls go up pretty fast, and then the inside takes a long
time to get done. So, uh, it's kinda neat to drive by those two places at night because
you'll see the lights are still on in some of those and you can see some of those empty,
urn, walls and right now Mann, the inside is completely gutted. Urn, we expect those all
to be done,those four projects all be done by the end of...or the beginning of the next
school year. Uh, we also broke ground on North Central, Southeast, and Alexander. Uh,
those are all getting, uh, updates and, uh, expansions. Urn, the only one that we haven't
started yet is Tate High. That one....that project carne back, uh, overbid....little bit
higher than we expected, so we're sending it out for rebid. Um,that was supposed to be
a mid-year start, but that one's been pushed back just slightly. And then recently we just
approved the, um, schematic designs for the Grant Wood, Kirkwood, and Liberty High
phase 3, which is the extra 500 seats, urn, at that school,to bring it up to 1,500 capacity.
So we,uh, got a few irons in the old fire right now,but everything is so far been on time
and....and we're gettin' it....we're gettin' it done! So....(mumbled) biggest update right
now.
Carberry/I saw there was an article I think in the Des Moines Register about the top 10 football
places you need to see, and Liberty High had already made, uh, the list of top 10 places to
watch a high school football game, so congratulations on....not that high school football
is the end all and the be all, but it's, uh, it's a....kudos to, uh, you guys for that.
Roesler/Thank you.
Throgmorton/I'd like to say bravo for Longfellow,the additions and renovations at Longfellow.
I think y'all did a brilliant job, and....you're doin' great on Mann, you know, the walls
are up almost completely now. But I have a question for...about Horace Mann. And
maybe Steve'll have to answer this. There's now a tail of fence goin' out from the part
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that is, uh, I don't know....the.....the District's property that seems like it's part of the
park but it's actually District prop....property, but the...the tail of the fence goes in to the
park quite a ways, and I have no idea what that's for and I figure somebody does (laughs)
Murley/(speaking away from mic) construction fencing.
Throgmorton/Well, it's construction fencing, but it's....it literally is a tail that goes due west, uh
(unable to hear response, away from mic) to the....to the north/south sidewalk. It does
that far almost. I thought Board Members knew all this stuff(laughter) So if you let me
....let us know, Steve, that'd be great. Any questions for Paul or any of the District
folks? Okay. Moving on! Also for the District, attendance area, voluntary transfer
policy, and school pairing update.
d. Attendance Area,Voluntary Transfer Policy and School Pairing Update (ICCSD)
Godwin/I'm going to take that one (several talking, noise on mic) So the last two of these
meetings we've reported our work, uh, in the District to ensure we've got equitable
learning environments in our elementary schools in particular. Um, and since the last
time we met, we've been doing a lot of work, uh, exploring, uh, in particular voluntary
transfer, eliminating that policy, uh, with a few exceptions, and we've also been looking
at some targeted school boundary changes, uh, that would go along with the elimination
of voluntary transfer. So we've been having work sessions, uh, every Tuesday. Um,we
had a community session last Thursday, um, at Northwest Junior High on the questions,
uh, community members have around the voluntary transfer policy change. Uh, we've
got a draft, uh,policy with those exceptions. We'll be talking about those at a work
session again tomorrow, and our goal is to vote on that on the October 23`d, uh, Board
meeting. Um, tomorrow at a work session we're also looking at, um, some targeted
boundary changes to, again, our goal is to bring our elementary schools more in line with
our superintendent goal of around 50% student population of free and reduced lunch.
Um, and so,urn, we're out of bounds with that goal and so the actions that we're taking
are trying to bring us more in line with that. So we're looking at the change around
voluntary transfer and then some targeted boundary changes. We'll be looking at a....at a
set of, a proposal from the,uh, Administration, after a lot of input from the Board over
the last few months, um, and uh, we'll be discussing, um, the boundary changes at the,
uh, October 23th Board meeting, at the November 13th Board meeting, and our goal
would be to get to the point, um, of being able to vote on that,uh,November 27th. So,
um, I know that it feels like we're moving quickly. We've been doing a lot of research
and... and work on this. Um, we do feel a sense of urgency,uh, at the School Board and
the Administration to,uh,bring some of our, uh, getting closer to our....our goal of that
balance, um, and so we are, uh, looking to move quickly, um, on the....on the voluntary
transfer and a few boundary changes. That would go into effect in the 2019/2020 school
year. Um, there's been a lot of discussion, um, we've talked about it at the last joint
entities meeting,there's been press coverage around the...question around, uh,pairing
schools, and we did a lot of research on that and....and we've decided that we will
prioritize our time initially on the voluntary transfer and these boundary changes because
if we're going to make changes for 2019, we need to get those decisions made so we can
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begin the communication and implementation process. Urn, but we haven't given up on
paired schools by any means. Uh, after the new year we're going to pick up those sets of
discussions,uh,have community, uh, meetings, go to elementary schools, talk to those P
....PSTOs, get some more information, uh, from, uh, teachers, principals, school staff,
parents on the,urn, the benefits and some of the challenges with pairing schools and if we
come to the decision that we believe that's a positive way of helping us move forward in
our equity goals, our goal would be to vote on that around the main time frame of 2019.
Um, knowing that that kind of change would take a....a longer time to implement, um,
we wouldn't see a pairing go into effect until the earliest would be the 2020/2021 school
year. So, um, still very interested in that as a....as an option, um,just haven't completed
our research process on that yet. Urn, couple other things I would just note that, urn,
while a lot of the attention has been around whether it's voluntary transfer or boundary
changes, um, we're also very focused as a School Board and an administrative team
around,uh, our climate, uh, within school buildings, and so to that effect there's been
already a couple of years of implicit bias training that we've been taking our teaching
staff through. Urn, we're looking at continuing our practices of...restorative practices, uh,
to try to help us,uh, in our disproportionality from a discipline perspective for example,
um, and so we obviously still have a goal around recruiting and retaining teachers and,
uh, administrative staff of color and that's a big area of focus for us as well, and so we'll
just....we wanna recognize that we're not just moving students to try to help us reach our
goals around, urn, equity. We're doing a lot of things around culture too because that's,
uh, what's going to sustain the change and really get the benefits that we're looking for.
So, um, I would ask my colleagues if there's anything you'd like to add to that overview
of the work that we've been doing, um, and certainly we'd entertain any questions from
the audience too.
Roesler/I'd just add that we, urn, Janet mis....mentioned implicit bias training and we did take
as a board, we took, um, two Sundays, six hours total, and went through,uh, a condensed
version of that training ourselves, which was really, um,helpful. I think everyone got
something very positive out of that work.
Cole/I'm curious about the voluntary transfer. I know that that's primarily concerned with non-
FRL students transferring out of I think high FRL schools. Would you though still allow
FRL kids if they would like to transfer out, or is it just the plight equally to both FRL and
non-FRL, cause it seemed to me that it will allow the FRL kids the opportunity to go...
would maybe be a good...if it's possible, it may not be.
Godwin/(both talking)No, no, it's actually one of the things that we'll be talking about at work
session tomorrow. We got some input on an exception, urn, last Thursday when we met
with community members. This notion of, um, if there's a student in a, uh, who for
example is not eligible for FRL,but would want to transfer to a school that was, um...uh
....uh....not a low poverty school,that that's an exception that we might wanna grant,
because it's helping our equity goals, and so....and vice versa, um, if there's a student
eligible for FRL, wanted to go to a low, uh, a low poverty school....I get those mixed up!
I'm sorry I'm saying it wrong. I hope I'm not being confusing. But we...we're looking at
that exception tomorrow, because these kinds of changes that help us meet our equity
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goals, we think makes sense, and so, urn,we've had some advice from counsel, we're
looking at how we would implement it in a...in a way that's, um...uh, objective, urn,
and....and.....and easy to administer as well, and so we'll be talking about that tomorrow.
It's absolutely one of the exceptions we're looking at.
Salih/Yeah, I just wanna highlight the same thing because I was trying to ask the same
questions,because like, uh, you know some,uh, community, like Sudanese community,
they reach out to me askin' about this because they just heard about it and, um, they are
transferring their kids from like some schools to a school that have lower, you know
(mumbled) like, uh, free and reduced lunch. Uh, the same thing if they can still be there,
especially some of them saying like my kid's, she gonna be a sixth grader next year, why
should I transfer them from the elementary(unable to understand) another school, you
know, this doesn't make sense, but if that's gonna be like an option that will be great.
Godwin/The....the transfers that move our equity goals forward is one of the exceptions that
we're looking at and there's a sixth grade capstone too. So (both talking)
Salih/Exactly, especially if they already like transfer their children, they don't need like (unable
to understand) which is gonna help.
Foster/And is there a....a.....an exception for foster care situations. I would assume that you
guys would put that, include that as well....for foster care? Okay. And then are you
holding community input sessions on the boundary changes?
Godwin/Well we're just discussing them for the first time tomorrow, and so we'll see how that
work session goes,urn, and....and yes, our goal would be to have at least conversations
with the neighborhoods that are, um, being discussed, so that there's more transparency
there.
Salih/For the school pairing are you going to start by only...I heard about Longfellow-and
Twain, and what about the rest of the school? Is this like every year, do you have phase
for this?
Godwin/For the pairing, yes. Urn, so we're....we're,we....we've been discussing Longfellow
and Twain as...as sort of an example to help us think through what the various
implications would be from a teaching staff perspective, from an operations perspective,
from transportation before and after school, those sorts of things, and so we used it as sort
of a case study around the pros and cons and what the impacts would be, and so when we
pick up our work on pairing schools after the new year, urn, we'll....we'll get into that
more specifically, look at more specific schools,um, and decide if there are other
opportunities in the District for that to make sense. So, urn, right now I would just say
we have not made any decisions on pairing schools. We're still in our....in our research
phase and....and trying to determine if that's something we want to do to try to help us
meet our equity goals. Urn, and then,you know, once we get more, uh....clear on, after
....after the voluntary transfer, after we understand what these boundary changes look
like, um, if those get approved, our.....our balance looks a little bit different and then
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that'll help us drive the pairing schools and whether we still need to do that or not, and
then look into the details of how to implement that.
Salih/(unable to understand) sense,but do you have a timeline for that?
Godwin/Our....if....if we're going to pair schools, our goal is to make a decision on that, urn, by
May of 2019. That's our goal today, urn, and so we'll be doing this pairing school work,
uh, in earnest after the new year, and again it would not be implemented....the earliest
would be 2020/2021 school year.
Salih/If nobody I gonna go again (laughs)
Godwin/Please do! (both talking, laughing)
Salih/Uh, I just try to (unable to understand) You know I just wanna highlight what I been
hearing from the minority community,because, you know, even though (unable to
understand) is really awesome and you know like that what we wanna see, but also if you
ask the people who go out to the communities and starting these meetings,the meeting
like completely would shift from like the concept of school pairing and people start
talking about the equality (unable to understand) discriminations, uh, you know, low
income families (unable to understand) their kids are not achieving the Iowa assessment
test and you know there is no help. There has been discrimination by teachers, you
know, it will shift completely to that, you know, uh, kind of concept, even though I'm
talking about completely different thing, and they....they thinking that their priority first
to help the children and they think that if you...if you being (unable to understand) the
kids some kind of help to achieve, you know, the....the, all the tests like Iowa assessment
test and those kind of things. Um, I don't know how it is gonna be (unable to understand)
even though it's good, but I'm afraid if the people gonna say no to it, even though other
people who are not minorities saying no (unable to understand) completely different. But
you know that's why we don't wanna add like more news to this side, uh, you know, if
there is a way....if the people can say like....(unable to understand) a way that tell them
....this is really something gonna be good in the futures, but at the same time everything
that you worried about, we are like really wanna work on it and, uh, I....I don't know
how we gonna do it, but I.....I really don't wanna see like more news from the minority
added to other news that we don't want it to happen. Yeah.
Godwin/It's....it's fair, and urn,we have a lot more work to do on pairing schools, but also we
have a lot of work to do on our climate, and I think some of the points that you're raising,
urn, are around our climate, urn, and why we're trying to focus on implicit bias training
for our teaching staff, and we'd love to be able to see that implicit bias training extend
out to our secretaries and nutrition service workers and...and educators, I mean anyone
who's in a school building interacting with families or students, that implicit bias training
I think is really important, um, to help us know how to be culturally responsive and how
to work with all of our students and families, and so urn, I think if....if all we do is move
kids and don't prepare ourselves and....and train ourselves and....and continually focus
on our culture,urn, then we might be doing a disservice to students,um, and so I think
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we're trying to balance the....the culture work along with some of the balancing in our...
hitting our....our balance goal and to be mindful that these things have to move together
or we run a risk of not being successful, and....and potentially hurting students (both
talking)which is the last thing we wanna do.
Foster/Janet, has....have all of the teachers had the implicit bias training?
Godwin/We're in year three. I think we're still working through....not everyone yet but by the
end of this year, is that right, Steve?
Gross/Well...not to...to jump in(both talking)but the new teachers and new staff, and so that's
kind of(mumbled)permanent staff have all been through,but at like Northwest we hired
16 new teachers. So those 16 teachers obviously haven't had it, but it...it was,uh, I think
two years ago, uh, and I don't think City High has gone through it either. Uh, I know at
the secondary level,uh, West had and Liberty started this year, and I think City was
slated to this year. Is that right, Steve? (unable to hear response)
Godwin/I think by the end of this year, we are....our goal is to have taken all of our teachers
through implicit bias training, but then it's....it's not, it shouldn't be a one and done.
You know, uh, this needs to be something we continually practice, as well as extending
out that training to (mumbled) and other building staff.
Gross/I'll just add real quick just from my day job that the District's done a great job because
we've done this climate survey with the University of Iowa. Dr. Brook comes, uh,to
every school, goes over it page by page with the staff and the admin. So it's been a
very....and that's been I think year two or three now that that's been happening.
Throgmorton/I....I'd like to build on this conversation by asking a question basically. So....this
morning I,uh, spoke briefly,making welcoming remarks at the CIT training for public
safety officers, and...CIT, crisis intervention training. So...afterwards I talked with Steve
Dolezal from the Sheriff's Office and, uh, along....during the conversation he said
something like, yeah, we....we're now thinking about branching out and providing this
kind of CIT training to other people who might, uh, benefit from it. So basically I'm
wondering whether the District has done any CIT kind of work, or has thought about it,
uh, in....in terms of intervening in situations, de-escalating situations so that instead of
them becoming violent or contentious they....become better,right? Uh, I...I joked about
it with Steve and said, well, maybe we need that for some of our City Council meetings
too, but nonetheless I'm....I'm basically wondering whether y'all have thought about
that.
Murley/(several talking) (away from mic,very difficult to hear) .....the District has and so, uh,
all staff in the District go through that. (unable to hear) ...um, and that's the de-escalation
process that all staff(unable to hear)
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Throgmorton/QBS? What's that mean? Quality....(unable to hear response) (laughter)
(several talking in background) Okay, so you're doin' somethin' like that already
(several talking) Yeah, excellent.
Salih/Implicit bias training is great,but you guys have a way to make (unable to understand)
took it or anyone else took it? How you can measure if that was very effective or not?
Godwin/Well one of the tools is the climate survey, uh,that we're doing is, you know, over time
that should be....we should be seeing improvements in some of the results coming out of
that climate survey,how students are feeling. Are they feeling singled out? Are they
feeling supported or not? And so that's definitely one of the tools,um, from a
measurement perspective. Um,there's probably others, but that's the one that comes top
of mind.
Salih/Okay.
(male) (both talking) ...behavioral solutions. (several talking)
Throgmorton/Okay, any further questions for Janet or anybody else on the District concerning
this topic? (talking in background) I guess not. Okay, so general entity updates. I think
this is an opportunity for anybody from any of the entities but let's see, I don't...the
County want to say anything else?
e. General Entity Updates
Carbery/ Sure,just a couple things. Um (clears throat) we're ending a, uh,road construction
season and trail construction. Uh,things are moving forward. Uh,we've had some
weather delays. Uh...um,but hopefully, uh, with the dry weather that we've (laughs) been
forecasted we....maybe catch up and extend that, uh, road construction season, and uh,
complete the things that we were supposed to be completing this year. Um, we're
working on,um, we did have a....a new comprehensive plan that we did earlier in the
year. Now we've moved on to the unified development ordinan....unifred development
ordinances or also known as the UDO, which, uh, really put the meat on the bones, and
uh,that'll be, uh, about an 18-month process,just like the comprehensive plan was, and
then of course, uh,the(mumbled)that you mentioned, CIT,Access Center,uh, the place
known by 16 different names, um....and (several talking, laughing) none of'em work
(laughter) and, uh, we're moving forward on that. I believe that,uh,the land has been
rezoned. Closing date (several responding) It hasn't been rezoned?
Mims/No.
Throgmorton/We're doin' our public hearing tomorrow.
Carbery/(mumbled) in the process of. I should probably let somebody that's, uh, that's on the
committee,uh, Rod, give that update(laughs) Or Susan! (laughs)
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Mims/Yeah, it's....it's on our agenda and it's gonna be deferred. Urn, there's a glitch with some
signatures so, urn, that'll come back to us at our next meeting to start that rezoning
process.
(male)/ ...multiple owners or something like that (both talking)
Mims/Yeah, there...there was actually two....there's a little extra piece of land that people didn't
realize when we first started with this, it had to be added to it and it's not owned by
exactly...by the same entity, so to speak, and so there's a bunch of signatures that have to
be gotten and it's taking a little time, so....we'll get there!
Carberry/Thank you.
Mims/Yep!
Carberry/That....that's all I had, unless somebody had anything else to add? Yeah, go ahead!
Friese/Uh, we are almost finished with the,uh, bid letting process on the west barn. I think
we'll know something more about that by next week and we hope to have it....
construction started this winter and finished by May.
Carberry/That's at the historic Poor Farm.
Friese/Yeah, Johnson County Historic Poor Farm, and if you haven't seen our cool new sign, be
sure and drive out there and see it at sunset. (several talking)
Sullivan/ (mumbled) one other thing, which is that,uh, voting is going now (mumbled) aware of
that and, uh, it's real slick and easy to vote at the County Auditor's office, come down
any day, 7:45 to 5:30 (several talking) Yeah, 10 minutes tops you can get in and out.
Uh, and that'll be, uh.....not only be easy for you but it'll probably reduce the number of
phone calls you get. So (laughter and several responding)
Throgmorton/My wife Barbara and I both voted today, thinking about that. (several talking)
Carberry/And that's all I had. Anybody....Janelle? Anybody else? Okay, thanks!
Throgmorton/How bout Coralville?
Gross/Yeah, we've got a couple things, and uh, as Mike was talking about, the road construction
as the season is....is kind of ending, but with the good weather it's kind of extending as
well. So,uh, First Avenue in Coralville, we're switching over to reconstructing, uh,the
eastbound lanes, so that's, uh, or the east lanes. Um, Coral Ridge Avenue, actually the
detour will end and we'll be back on the main road. So those are the two main
thoroughfares that are seeing a lot of, uh....uh, progress. On a couple public works
updates, uh, we're just about finished with the, uh, water, uh,treatment plant. Uh, and
we've just started the new waste water, uh, facility, and I think the....kind of the cool
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thing,just also, uh, next week we're having two certificate of need, uh, hearing for two
40-bed, uh, rehab hospital, inpatient facilities. Uh, you know as the population's agin'
there's a massive need, uh, for that. So there's two different private hospitals that'll be
pursuing, uh, two facilities in Coralville. And so I've got(mumbled) uh, Meagan or....
Rettig/What happened with the Clear Creek trail this summer,how far along is it?
Gross/To, uh, to finish?
Rettig/Yeah. (several talking)
Hayworth/(difficult to hear, away from mic) ....Interstate 80 construction under the bridge,
under the bridges, but the work out to the, uh, softball complex'll be completed yet this
year.
Rettig/Okay. Thank you, Kelly.
Throgmorton/Okay, how bout North Liberty? Terry?
Donahue/Besides pouring concrete and trying to drain water from the Kansas Street canal
(laughter)we've been trying to work through that as best as possible. Our waste water
plant will be, uh, dedicated this coming Thursday. Also in the council meeting next week
we'll start exploring driving a new sewer line under the interstate to the land on the west
side of I-380 for development over there.
Throgmorton/Okay. I should give Iowa City a chance to....Ron, could you....oh, sorry (several
talking)
Sullivan/Will that be at Penn Street or where will that go under?
Donahue/Just north of Forevergreen Road.
Sullivan/Okay, so that'll be south.
Donahue/That'll be our southwest loop. Thanks for questioning.
Throgmorton/Any other questions? All right, so for Iowa City, Ron, would you tell us a little bit
about the road construction around here?
Knoche/The Gateway project is...is coming to an end. Um, we'll hopefully have four lanes of
traffic available to us to Park Road for this weekend for homecoming game. Um, there'll
be some(mumbled) as we move forward as they finish up the side work on that,but uh,
that's the plan right now. Um, the overlay projects continue. Uh, the Burlington Street's
done. Uh, we're on to Governor Street right now. Uh, I don't believe we'll get the final
(mumbled) for this winter, unfortunately, as they finish up the curb ramps and get the
utility work done, uh, and then Myrtle's...is under construction right now, the intersection
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Myrtle, Highway 6, Riverside Drive,urn, that project will also, um, continue into next
year. Uh, that project did....it also includes an overlay from, uh, Sturgis Corner all the
way through to the Coralville strip. So, urn, that'll be overlaid next year.
Throgmorton/Thanks. Any questions for Ron or Iowa City? Okay. How bout, oh I don't know,
Hills?
Kemp/Urn, we completed several projects this summer. Extending our, uh, waste water
treatment plant. Uh, Main Street was completely repaved and downtown was redone,
based, uh, on funding from an SRF project. We put in a new, uh, water....(several
talking) splash pad. So, those were our big projects. Survived RAGBRAI. (laughter)
Throgmorton/So next summer are we gonna have this meeting at the splash pad?
Kemp/We certainly could! (laughter and several responding) Well we'll hopefully have
benches in by then. Yeah. (several talking)
Throgmorton/Any questions for Hills? Okay! How bout Tiffin?
Berner/Uh, I could give an update but Doug's here and he lives and breathes everything there
and does it every day so I'll....I'll turn it over to Doug. You warm give `em a couple
updates on our big projects.
Boldt/(difficult to hear, away from mic) ...waste water treatment plant, uh, expansion is....is
comin' along. I don't think we'll get it quite done before the winter, but uh, our phase
two which will double our capacity, uh, should be done shortly after that.Uh, couple of
projects that the weather has really, uh, hampered us to the point where I'm not sure if
we'll get some paving done before the winter or not, but if we don't we'll have to make
sure we make them passable, obviously, for the snowplows and everything like that. For
that, and then we've got a couple projects that we're working on,just kind of in the
hopper that we wanna bid on over winter here, uh, for next year. The biggest one though
is the roundabout at, uh, Park Road and Highway 6 is supposed to bid January of 2019
and we are doing everything that we physi....physically possibly can with the DOT to
make sure that that stays (mumbled) get that done.
Throgmorton/Any questions for Tiffin? How bout U Heights?
Fromm/Uh, we're working on a, uh, comprehensive plan update and probably the biggest thing
and people ask me about all the time is the....Courtyard Marriott, and uh, construction'll
begin in about three weeks. Uh, it was delayed a little bit. It's, urn, six stories. They
added a restaurant rooftop, and so that delayed the construction start date because of
engineering and architect adding an extra, uh, elevator and, uh, they have to beef up the
footings,the...you know, that. So that delayed it a little bit, but the land is clear over
there. Uh, you know, it's just on the other side of Kinnick, before the railroad track, that
area in there. It's four and a half acres and, uh, it's still on track to be hopefully finished
in December of 2019. It's 140 beds, you know, of rooms. I'm always thinkin' hospitals.
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It's rooms (laughter) and...anyway, it's pretty exciting that's goin' on. Any questions
about that?
Throgmorton/How bout Swisher? Anybody here from Swisher? Does the District wanna say
anything else? All right! Anybody else wanna say anything else about anything?
(laughter and several responding) Well, whatdaya think the headless bicyclists would
say? (laughter) Why did I lose my head? (laughter) Where did it go? Has anybody
seen it? (laughter) Okay,well we need to figure out when we're going to meet next and
what time. I guess we'll meet at 4:00 and 4:30, you know, for the formal part of it, but
what about a date and location? Kellie, where....
f.Next Meeting Date and Time
Rettig/I think it's supposed to come to the....to the County because you took over because of
elections. So that's the part I know.
Throgmorton/Okay! Can you (both talking)
Rettig/It should be January 14th if we follow our normal pattern.
Throgmorton/January 14th (several talking)
Rettig/Monday, January 14th.
Throgmorton/Any objection to that date? (several talking in background) Sounds like a deal!
Would anyone like to make,uh, anybody in the public like to comment on anything,uh,
of relevance to this group? I'm hearing a lot of silence (laughter)be a very good thing.
We don't need a motion to adjourn but it looks to me like we're....that's where we're at.
Thanks to all of you for coming. Enjoy the rest of the day! (several talking in
background)
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint
entities meeting of October 15, 2018.