Happy New Year! This marks the start of my second year on City Council -- I've found these annotated agendas to be really helpful for thinking through these council packets, and since some people are actually reading them (!) I'll keep doing this. I hope also that future City Council candidates find these useful for getting a better sense for what goes on at City Council meetings, and to formulate their own positions on city issues.
This week, we'll be discussing amending the budget (Item #2), voting to rezone the land north of Aldrich Elementary for housing, filing the Greenhill Road Traffic Study (#8) among other things. I'm especially interested in hearing your thoughts on #12, which is a contracted massage therapist. It's convenient...it's popular...is it appropriate? For the interested, there's nothing on the agenda related to the PSO program.
Before the Council Meeting, at 6:15, the council will have a joint meeting with the P&Z Commission to discuss the Capital Improvement Program (CIP), which is a massive, multi-year plan to prioritize & fund major, one-time items (as opposed to payroll and ongoing operations). Worth catching! Join us in person at City Hall, on Channel 15, or streaming on YouTube.
Call to Order by the Mayor
Roll Call
Approval of Minutes
1. Regular meeting of December 17, 2018. This action simply enters the minutes into the official record as an accurate reflection of what transpired at the meeting. No concerns.
Administration of Oath to Public Safety Officers
Agenda Revisions
Special Order of Business
2. Public hearing on proposed amendments to the City’s FY19 Budget. This action is primarily to provide $4.3M for the cost of land acquisition for the South Cedar Falls Industrial Park, which Council previously approved. My understanding is that this isn't an agreement to increase the city budget, but instead to use cash reserves due to the timing of the project, and those cash reserves would then be recharged next year. I am only OK with this because it seems that this was an unplanned expense, where a limited-time opportunity arose, and it made sense to take advantage of that.
a) Receive and file proof of publication of notice of hearing. (Notice published December 18, 2018)
b) Written communications filed with the City Clerk.
c) Oral comments.
3. Resolution approving and adopting amendments to the City’s FY19 Budget. This action allows the amendment to actually occur. No concerns.
4. Public hearing on the proposed rezoning from A-1, Agricultural District, to R-1, Residence District, of property located to the north of Arbors Drive and west of Richard Road. This would change the zoning of the land north of the new Aldrich Elementary to allow homes to be built. No public concerns were noted at the P&Z meeting for this. No concerns.
a) Receive and file proof of publication of notice of hearing. (Notice published December 27, 2018)
b) Written communications filed with the City Clerk.
c) Oral comments.
5. Pass an Ordinance amending Section 29-107 of the Code of Ordinances by removing property located to the north of Arbors Drive and west of Richard Road from A-1, Agricultural District, and placing the same in R-1, Residence District, upon its first consideration. This is the first of three readings required to make this zoning change official. No concerns.
New Business
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.)
6. Approve the recommendation of the Mayor relative to the appointment of Brooke Croshier-Sidebotham to the Visitors & Tourism Board, term ending 07/01/2019. No concerns. I work with Brooke at UNI and believe her temperament and experience make her a terrific fit for the board. Also, I noted she isn't a Cedar Falls resident, so I had to look up the eligibility requirements in Municode. Per the code, she's eligible since she's employed in Cedar Falls. Learned something new!
7. Receive and file the Committee of the Whole minutes of December 17, 2018 relative to the following items: This action enters the minutes into the official record, as an accurate reflection of what transpired at the meeting. No concerns.
a) Recognition of Art & Culture Board member Joni Krejchi.
b) Greenhill Road Traffic Study update.
c) Middle Cedar Watershed Plan update.
d) Bills & Payroll.
8. Adopt the Greenhill Road Corridor Traffic Study. This study contains recommendations for various intersections on Greenhill Road from Hudson Road to Cedar Heights Drive. Because it says "Adopt", I take it to mean the Council is committing to the recommended actions, which I believe would be premature. I will move that this resolution change to "Receive and file the Greenhill Road Traffic Corridor Study" so as not to imply council commitment to the consultant's recommendations for these intersections. Further public discussion is needed, at a per-intersection level, in order to make informed decisions about the future of Greenhill Road.
9. Receive and file Departmental Monthly Reports of November 2018. Among other things, I learned that the Recreation Center had 60+ massage appointments in November, which I'll also discuss in #12 below.
10. Approve the following applications for beer permits and liquor licenses: The council must approve all alcohol permits. No concerns.
a) Second State Brewing Company, 203 State Street, Class B beer & outdoor service - renewal.
b) Cedar Falls Family Restaurant, 2627 Center Street, Special Class C liquor - renewal.
c) Panther Lounge, 210 East 18th Street, Class C liquor - renewal.
d) Wild Hare American Bar and Grill, 2512 Whitetail Drive, Class C liquor & outdoor service - renewal.
e) Holiday Inn & Suites Hotel/Event Center, 7400 Hudson Road, Class B liquor & outdoor service - new.
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.)
11. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of the renewal of an Advertising Agreement with Lee Enterprises, Incorporated, d/b/a Courier Communications, relative to recruitment advertising. How do we know that this advertising is effective? I will find out how we are determining which outlets to use for recruiting. Do we record how applicants found out about the open position? If we are, I would like to see a summary of that information and to have it included in future council packets.
12. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of an Independent Contractor Agreement for Massage Therapy Services with Ashley Kay Parcel. (Page 116-119) I know these kinds of services have been in place for a while (and are quite popular as I saw in #9 above), but on a principle level, the government ought not to be competing with private industry, or to 'pick winners and losers' in a free market. It's the same issue I had with the vote to allow the city to provide bookkeeping services to Sturgis Falls Celebration and the Cedar Falls Community Foundation last year. Private entities can do that...let's let them. Regardless of whether massages are done by a contractor or a paid city employee, by this resolution, massages become a city service. Is that really an appropriate government service?
13. Resolution approving the concept of potential improvements to Pettersen Plaza, as recommended by the Parks & Recreation Commission. This action allows fundraising to begin for the $50K+ estimated for improvements to the public space on College Hill, next to Jimmy Johns. No taxpayer funds would be directed to the project, but some city staff administrative time is required. I support city efforts to give our public areas a better sense of 'place'. No concerns.
14. Resolution approving and authorizing the expenditure of funds for the purchase of lockers, counters, shelves and related equipment from Midwest Storage Solutions, Inc. for the Public Safety Facility. Pretty self-explanatory. No concerns.
15. Resolution approving the Certificate of Completion and accepting the work of Benton's Sand & Gravel, Inc. for the 2018 Permeable Alley Project. No This allows Benton's to be paid for one of the new alleys to improve stormwater runoff into Dry Run Creek, at a cost of $68.5K. The "contract amount" listed on page 146 is $87.5K, I'll ask if that was just an estimate, or if that's actually the final cost for the alley work.
16. Resolution approving the Certificate of Completion and accepting the work of Feldman Concrete for the 2018 Public Sidewalk & Pedestrian Trail Improvement Project. This action allows Feldman to be paid $129.5K for work on public sidewalks and trails (not sidewalks in front of private property). No concerns. I'd still like to see a sidewalk placed in front of the Hearst Center for the Arts, because it's tricky to get to cars parked on Seerley in winter.
17. Resolution approving the Certificate of Completion and accepting the work of Feldman Concrete for the 2018 Sidewalk Assessment Project, Zone 9. This action allows Feldman to be paid $33.9K for repairs to sidewalks on private property. The city has been taking a new approach to these kinds of repairs...as I understand it, the construction cost is usually less when done as a big contract, than if a property owner contracts for the work themselves, and then the assessment allows the cost to be paid off over several years via property taxes. Hopefully, this puts less stress and burden on residents...I'd be very interested in your thoughts on this. As I see in #18 below, most property owners are still choosing to do their own repairs.
18. Resolution approving the Final Statement of Expenditures for the 2018 Sidewalk Assessment Project, Zone 9. This follows #17, in that is says 70% of property owners repaired their own sidewalk, while 30% had the city do it. If the cost is less for a contractor to do the work, then why would residents not want to do that? I'll ask. Also, every property owner is being charged $88.60 for "Traffic Control". That doesn't seem fair, since some properties needed traffic control while others didn't (it's the second to last column on page 175). If I were one of the homes that needed sidewalk repair, should I be paying for a service I didn't receive?
19. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of an Owner Purchase Agreement, and approving and accepting an Owner's Temporary Grading Easement for Construction, in conjunction with the West 1st Street Reconstruction Project. This action allows the city to purchase part of a property on West First Street for the expanded Highway 58. No concerns.
20. Resolution approving and authorizing execution of a Professional Service Agreement with Confluence, Inc. relative to the Gibson Property Master Planning Project. This approves $137K from the new South Cedar Falls Urban TIF District (which Council approved in mid-2018) to build out a plan for how to best use the 150 acres of city-owned land near the intersection of Hudson Road and Highway 58. While this is in no way "urban renewal", the language of the state law also includes using this process for city "economic development" which is what the city is looking to do here. I believe there is value in capitalizing on these properties' proximity to the often-travelled Highway 20; it's a matter of balancing this value against the sprawl that will result if inappropriate uses are incorporated here. But this kind of master plan will be needed in order to have that discussion, so I have no concerns about the funding of this comprehensive document.
21. Resolution authorizing advancement of costs for an Urban Renewal project and certification of expenses incurred by the City for payment under Iowa Code Section 403.19 relative to the South Cedar Falls Urban Renewal Area. This action would allow the city to do an internal loan of the $136K for the plan in #20 above since the city doesn't actually have money in the TIF Fund to draw from (since it's so new). It's reasonable to expect that this loan will be paid back since the TIF will be getting property taxes from that area in the future. And the Economic Development Fund, which is intended for this sort of effort, does have the funds available to cover it. So, no concerns.
22. Resolution setting January 21, 2019 as the date of public hearing on the proposed FY2019-FY2024 Capital Improvements Program (CIP). This is an important hearing, and I hope residents will attend if they're interested in the city's planned major projects and how the city expects to fund them. No concerns about the date..
23. Resolution receiving and filing, and setting January 21, 2019 as the date of public hearing on, the proposed plans, specifications, form of contract & estimate of cost for the Place to Play Playground Project. No concerns about the date.
24. Resolution receiving and filing, and setting January 21, 2019 as the date of public hearing on, the proposed plans, specifications, form of contract & estimate of cost for the 2019 Street Construction Project. No concerns about the date.
Allow Bills and Payroll
25. Allow Bills and Payroll of January 7, 2019. No concerns.
City Council Referrals I have no referrals.
City Council Updates I have no updates.
Executive Session
26. Executive Session to discuss Legal Matters per Iowa Code Section 21.5(1)(c) to discuss strategy with counsel in matters that are presently in litigation or where litigation is imminent where its disclosure would be likely to prejudice or disadvantage the position of the governmental body in that litigation.
Public Forum. (Speakers will have one opportunity to speak for up to 5 minutes on topics germane to City business.)
Adjournment
| Council Packet Link | |
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| Meeting Date | 01/06/19 |
