This council meeting will be covering a lot of administrative details which keep the city going (approving insurance rates, uniform suppliers, bids for projects, economic development grants, etc.). You'll see I have quite a few questions for staff about some of the details, but I don't see anyting I fundamentally disagree with here. Let me know if I SHOULD be concerned about anything on the agenda.
Hope to see you Monday night at 7pm at the council chambers...and if you're really feeling civic, join us at 5:55pm for Committee of the Whole; we'll be conducting board member interviews, hearing an update from the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance and Chamber (GCVAC), and a reviewing our bond sale bids.
A. Call to Order by the Mayor.
B. Roll Call.
C. Approval of Minutes of the Regular Meeting of June 4, 2018. No concerns.
D. Agenda Revisions.
E. Special Order of Business:
1. Public hearing on the City's FY18-19 Consolidated Annual Plan for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) & HOME Program. This hearing is for the public to express any concerns regarding how the city is planning to allocate funds from our federal CDBG grants.
a. Receive and file proof of publication of notice of hearing. (Notice published June 8, 2018)
b. Written objections filed with the City Clerk.
c. Oral comments.
2. Resolution approving and authorizing submission of the City's FY18-19 Consolidated Annual Plan for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) & HOME Program. I have no concerns with the use of these funds to help fund home restorations and emergency repairs for low-income residents, as this is what the program was designed for.
F. Old Business:
1. Pass Ordinance #2926, providing that general property taxes levied and collected each year on all property located within the South Cedar Falls Urban Renewal Area in the City of Cedar Falls, County of Black Hawk, State of Iowa, by and for the benefit of the State of Iowa, City of Cedar Falls, County of Black Hawk, Cedar Falls Community School District, Hudson Community School District, and other taxing districts, be paid to a special fund for payment of principal and interest on loans, monies advanced to and indebtedness, including bonds issued or to be issued, incurred by the City in connection with the South Cedar Falls Urban Renewal Area, upon its third & final consideration. No concerns; we discussed this in previous council sessions, and while I am not a fan of sprawl, I do see the value having this sort of development at Hudson & Highway 20. And HWY 20 is the southern edge of Cedar Falls's possible development possibilities/responsibilities, as the open land south of 20 is part of the City of Hudson. http://bit.ly/hudson-map
2. Pass Ordinance #2927, amending Chapter 26, Traffic and Motor Vehicles, of the Code of Ordinances relative to establishing a 35 miles per hour speed limit on Greenhill Road from Hudson Road to West 27th Street, upon its third & final consideration. No concerns about this speed limit designation for this new roadway.
G. New Business:
1. Consent Calendar: (The following items will be acted upon by voice vote on a single motion without separate discussion, unless someone from the Council or public requests that a specific item be considered separately.)
a. Approve the following recommendations of the Mayor relative to the appointment of members to Boards and Commissions: The mayor appoints new commission members, subject to council approval. No concerns.
(1) Jeremy Rosel, Art & Culture Board, term ending 07/01/2022.
(2) Mary-Sue Bartlett, Art & Culture Board, term ending 07/01/2022.
(3) Susan Langan, Human Rights Commission, term ending 07/01/2021.
(4) Andrew Morse, Human Rights Commission, term ending 07/01/2021.
(5) Kei-Che Randle, Human Rights Commission, term ending 07/01/2021.
(6) Jeffrey Zaputil, Human Rights Commission, term ending 07/01/2021.
(7) David Sturch, Metropolitan Bus Board, term ending 06/30/2021.
b. Receive and file the Committee of the Whole minutes of June 4, 2018 relative to the following items: This item simply adds the minutes of this committee meeting to the official public record; this would not be an appropriate time to debate the merits of the items disussed in that meeting.
(1) Water Quality Initiatives.
(2) Streetscape Project Update.
(3) FY19 Cash Management Report.
(4) Bills & Payroll.
c. Receive and file the Administration Committee minutes of June 5, 2018. This item simply adds the minutes of this committee meeting to the official public record; this would not be an appropriate time to debate the merits of the items disussed in that meeting. I have no concerns with the minutes being an appropriate reflection of the events.
d. Receive and file bids received for the sale of $6,585,000 General Obligation Bonds, Series 2018. No list of bidders is attached; this seems odd, because what are we receiving and filing then? I'll find out.
e. Receive and file the bids received for the 2018 Public Sidewalk & Pedestrian Trail Improvement Project. No concerns about the process or result. It's interesting to see the bids broken down into components....especially where the bidder's prices vary greatly...and to see how those compare with the engineer's estimate. For instance, with traffic control (Item #16), the engineer estimated $12K, and two companies bid at $5K while another company bid at $15K. I'd be very interested to know why there's a $10K difference there...would it result in a different "quality level" of traffic control, or are the pay rates for the workers just really different?
f. Approve the following special event related requests: No concerns.
(1) Street closures, Sturgis Falls Celebration, June 20-24, 2018.
(2) Street closure, Hearthside Drive, June 30, 2018.
(3) Street closure, Abraham Drive, July 4, 2018.
(4) Accel Triathlon, July 14, 2018.
(5) Parking variance, Teacher Festival, July 26, 2018.
g. Approve the following applications for cigarette/tobacco/nicotine/vapor permits: No concerns, except for smoking itself. Quitting smoking is a gift to yourself and your family! https://smokefree.gov/everytrycounts/.
(1) Bani's, 2128 College Street.
(2) Five Corners Liquor & Wine, 809 East 18th Street.
(3) Great Wall, 2125 College Street.
(4) Hill Street News and Tobacco, 2217 College Street.
(5) Kwik Star, 7500 Nordic Drive.
(6) Kwik Star, 2019 College Street.
(7) The Dragon's Cave, 2225 College Street.
(8) Tobacco Outlet Plus, 4116 University Avenue.
(9) ZSAVOOZ, 206 Brandilynn Boulevard.
h. Approve the following applications for beer permits and liquor licenses: No concerns.
(1) Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant, 6306 University Avenue, Special Class C liquor - renewal.
(2) Amvets, 1934 Irving Street, Class A liquor & outdoor service - renewal.
(3) NewAldaya Lifescapes, 7511 University Avenue, Class A liquor & outdoor service - renewal.
(4) Mulligan's Brick Oven Grill & Pub, 205 East 18th Street, Class C liquor & outdoor service - renewal.
(5) Texas Roadhouse, 5715 University Avenue, Class C liquor - renewal.
(6) Dollar General Store, 2921 Center Street, Class C beer & Class B wine - change in ownership.
(7) Kwik Star, 2019 College Street, Class C beer - adding Class B wine.
(8) Mary Lou's Bar & Grill, 2719 Center Street, Class C liquor - temporary outdoor service. (July 13-July 14, 2018)
2. Resolution Calendar: (The following items will be acted upon by roll call vote on a single motion without separate discussion, unless someone from the Council or public requests that a specific item be considered separately.)
a. Resolution directing sale of $6,585,000 General Obligation Bonds, Series 2018. This follows the vote of G.1.d. above; with no knowledge of what bids were received, I'd don't see how I could vote yes to approve the sale. Will work to get this answered before Monday night.
b. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of the renewal of the City's FY19-21 Long Term Disability policy and plan amendments with National Insurance Services. No concerns; the changes requested appear to be fair and wise. I'm curious to know why our long-term disability rate dropped from $0.37 to $0.33 -- usually you see these kinds of rates increasing over time, so we must be doing something right. :)
e. Resolution approving the Group Insurance Policy with Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield relative to the City's dental plan. No concerns.
f. Resolution approving an FY19 Health Plan Stop Loss Policy with Wellmark, Inc. No concerns.
g. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of a Client Authorization to Bind Coverage with Arthur J. Gallagher Risk Management Services, Inc. relative to Insurance Brokerage and Risk Management Services. No concerns for our insurance coverage (I'm leaving the details up to the experts!) ; the figures in the last few pages are very interesting, regarding city building values, overall payroll, vehicles, etc. I'd not see some of those figures before, and they're worth knowing (and especially seeing the three-year trends).
h. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of two Claims Service Contracts with Alternative Service Concepts, LLC. No concerns about this agreement for handling workers comp claims. Reading through these kinds of documents, I have a greater appreciation for the financial cost of administration ... everything has a price.
i. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of an Agreement to Support "Fulfilling the Vision" Campaign for Economic Vitality of the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chamber relative to an FY19 Economic Development Grant. This resolution provides GCVAC with $23K in economic development grant money from Cedar Falls taxpayers, as well as up to $20K in incentive money for bringing new buisiness into Cedar Falls. This part, item 5.b in the attachment, concerns me because it doesn't take into account businesses that shift between different cities within the GCVAC's boundaries. What's to say that Waterloo or Waverly couldn't provide a greater level of incentives to GCVAC? Not concerning enough to vote against this resolution, but something council should be considering.
j. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of an Agreement in Support of the College Hill Partnership relative to an FY19 Economic Development Grant. This grant provides $4K for lamppost banners and facade improvements in College Hill. My only question is, wouldn't the building owners be responsible for facade improvements?
k. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of an Agreement to Support Economic Development Program of the College Hill Partnership relative to FY19 Self-Supported Municipal Improvement District (SSMID) Funds. This release of $31K in SSMID money will help pay for the general operation and initiatives of the College Hill Partnership. You can learn more about the SSMID at http://bit.ly/college-hill-ssmid. No concerns.
l. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of an Agreement to Support Economic Development Program of Cedar Falls Community Main Street relative to an FY19 Economic Development Grant. CMS is requesting a grant of $10K for economic development programming, and $5K for streetscape improvements. No concerns.
m. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of an Agreement to Support Economic Development Program of Cedar Falls Community Main Street relative to FY19 Self-Supported Municipal Improvement District (SSMID) Funds. This would release about $203K in SSMID money for carrying out CMS's continuing efforts downtown. No concerns, and I support the expansion of the Main Street "feel" to the rest of downtown. You can learn more about the Downtown SSMID at bit.ly/cf-downtown-ssmid.
n. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of an Agreement for Banking Services with Farmers State Bank. No concerns, but I wonder if we should actually be seeing the names and bids of the seven bidders, as we do for all our other bids for city services.
o. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of an Agreement for Merchant Processing Services with Professional Solutions Financial Services. No concerns except for the same bid question as the item directly above; I was really happy to see credit card processing added to the Cedar Falls Transfer Station and the Public Library; are there any other credit card processing needs for the city? I also wonder if we use this (or could use it) for online payments to the city as well. I'll look further into this.
q. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of an Agreement for Purchase of Uniforms with ServiceWear Apparel. No concerns.
r. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of an Agreement for Purchase of Janitorial Products with Martin Bros. Distributing Co., Inc. No concerns.
s. Resolution designating certain streets for operation of off-road utility vehicles for the duration of one year. No concerns; I believe that in addtion to Western Home vehicles like Gators, this would mean that Western home residents could drive golf carts from their property to the main facility. Just curious...it would be an interesting way to not have to own a full car but still have mobility in that area.
t. Resolution approving and accepting the low bid of Feldman Concrete, in the amount of $122,877.68, for the 2018 Public Sidewalk & Pedestrian Trail Improvement Project. Approves the bid from Item G.1.e so that work can begin.
u. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of a Contracted Education Proposal with Hartman Reserve Nature Center relative to providing public outreach and educational programs related to improving water quality and stormwater runoff. Provides $1600 of CF taxpayer funds. No concerns.
v. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of a Change of Work Order No. 2 to the contract with Peterson Contractors, Inc. relative to the 2018 Street Construction Project. This provides about $219K to create the northern part of Cyber Lane in Technology Park. No concerns.
w. Resolution approving a Central Business District Overlay Zoning District site plan for façade improvements at 120 Main Street. Changes the color above the Runner's Flat from red to black and removes the gooseneck lights. No concerns.
y. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of a Memorandum of Understanding with Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments (INRCOG) relative to preparation of a Resource Enhancement and Protection (REAP) Grant Application for the Clay Street Park Water Quality Improvements Project. This would seek out funding a permeable alley and other drainage enhancements for Clay Street Park, expected to cost $192K. INRCOG would be paid 1.5% of the grant money if it's approved, but not receive payment if it fails to be approved. I'm only concerned about paying for services on speculation - if we get the $192K grant, INRCOG would receive $2880. Why not simply agree to pay, say, $2K for services rendered, and leave it at that?
z. Resolution approving five occupancy permits prior to the acceptance of the public improvements in Arbors Third Addition. This would allow people to move into homes in the Arbors, even though we haven't yet approved the public infrastructure for it. Since delays were due to construction of the new elementary school, and assuming there's no risk to public safety, I have no concerns.
H. Allow Bills and Payroll. No concerns.
I. City Council Referrals. No referrals.
J. City Council Updates. No updates.
K. Executive Session to discuss Property Acquisition per Iowa Code Section 21.5(1)(j) to discuss the purchase or sale of particular real estate only where premature disclosure could be reasonably expected to increase the price the governmental body would have to pay for that property or reduce the price the governmental body would receive for that property, following Public Forum.
L. Public Forum. (Speakers will have one opportunity to speak for up to 5 minutes on topics germane to City business.)
M. Adjournment.
| Council Packet Link | |
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| Meeting Date | 06/16/18 |
