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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-09-17 Bd Comm minutesItem Number: 4.a. i CITY OE IOWA CITY www.icgov.org September 17, 2019 ATTACHMENTS: Description Economic Development Committee: June 3 ��_,---.r.® CITY OF IOWA CITY .41. A 2111 MEMORANDUM Date: August 30, 2019 To: Mayor and City Council From: Wendy Ford, City Council Economic Development Committee Re: Recommendation from City Council Economic Development Committee Board At their June 3, 2019 meeting the City Council Economic Development Committee made the following recommendation to the City Council: Cole moved to recommend proceeding to City Council to establish the Forest View Urban Renewal Area. Throgmorton seconded the motion. The motion carried 3-0. Additional action (check one) x No further action needed Board or Commission is requesting Council direction Agenda item will be was prepared by staff for Council action S:RECform.doc EDC June 3, 2019 1 APPROVED MINUTES CITY COUNCIL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE JUNE 3, 2019 EMMA HARVAT HALL, CITY HALL, 4:00 P.M. Members present: Rockne Cole, Susan Mims, Jim Throgmorton Staff present: Simon Andrew, Eleanor Dilkes, Wendy Ford, Geoff Fruin Others present: Jimmy Becker, Kevin Monson RECOMMENDATIONS TO COUNCIL: Cole moved to recommend proceeding to City Council to establish the Forest View Urban Renewal Area. Throgmorton seconded the motion. The motion carried 3-0. CALL MEETING TO ORDER: The meeting was called to order at 4:00 P.M. CONSIDER APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE JANUARY 18. 2019 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING: Throgmorton moved to approve the minutes from the January 18, 2019 meeting as presented. Cole seconded the motion. The motion carried 3-0. Consider recommendation to City Council to proceed to establish the Forest View Urban Renewal Area: Ford stated that staff is seeking a recommendation to the full Council to start the process to create an urban renewal plan for Forest View. This would enable the City to consider financial participation in projects within this designated area. Ford noted that owners of the property approached the City regarding sharing in the cost of the infrastructure, including roads, trails, water, sewer, and storm water within this area. Staff believes there are at least two significant benefits to the project. The first is that there is assurance that the developer will provide good housing options and relocation assistance for the current residents of Forest View, and that this relocation will be offered in various forms — either relocation to a new manufactured home or relocation to one of the multi -family buildings within the redevelopment area, or relocation outside of the Forest View development. The second benefit would be the creation of the new Forest View Drive, which will provide much needed secondary access to the existing Peninsula and Mackinaw neighborhoods. Ford shared a map with Members, outlining the proposed roads in the new project area and how they will meet up with existing roads. The next step would be for the Council to have a Resolution of Necessity on their meeting agenda. The Planning and Zoning Commission would review the urban renewal plan to ensure it conforms to the comprehensive plan. There would also be a consultation with representatives of the taxing entities of the County and the School District. A public hearing would also be held, within a 30 -day time frame typically. Members then asked questions of staff, mainly regarding the urban renewal process for this proposal. EDC June 3, 2019 2 APPROVED Cole moved to recommend proceeding to City Council to establish the Forest View Urban Renewal Area. Throgmorton seconded the motion. The motion carried 3-0. Update on Potential Commercial Tax Abatement Program Development: Ford noted that Members recently received a memo map in their information packet that shows the Opportunity Zones that were implemented in 2017 and some potential Commercial Tax Abatement areas. The goal of the Commercial Tax Abatement areas would be to inspire the property owners in these areas to reinvest in their properties, whether by improving their existing property or building something new. Ford stated that staff is not far enough along yet with this proposal to bring it to Council but they wanted to share this update with the Committee. She reiterated that this abatement would be for commercial properties only and could be a sliding scale over five to 10 years. Ford continued, giving Members examples of how such a program might work. Throgmorton then spoke to this, noting that any economic development incentives provided should in part be designed to get the property on track for reducing its carbon emissions. He added that there should also be some clear benefit for low to moderate -income households. One of the top priorities for him is childcare, for example, and he spoke briefly to how such programs should benefit the community in certain ways. Staff and Members continued to speak to how this type of tax abatement program might work and what areas might be considered priorities for property owners to qualify. STAFF REPORT: Ford discussed Building Change, which is an FY19 program to help downtown and Northside businesses make improvements to their facades. There were three qualifying applications. One is the old Kresge building, which is 119 to 123 E. Washington Street, along with the old Younkers building to the west, where the Old Brown Bottle was. These two together are eligible for the maximum of $100,000. The other project is on Clinton Street, the McDonald Optical building. This will be a full renovation of the brick facade, repainting, and other elements. This project was at a $22,000 match. COMMITTEE TIME: None. OTHER BUSINESS: None. ADJOURNMENT: Cole moved to adjourn the meeting at 4:38 P.M. Throgmorton seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0. EDC June 3, 2019 3 APPROVED Council Economic Development Committee ATTENDANCE RECORD 2017-2019 Key: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused TERMm o 1 Co NAME EXP. V4_ %Q -4 o w w -I V j V V c0 w w Rockne Cole 01/02/20 X X X X X j X j X j j Susan Mims 01/02/20 X X X X X X X Jim Throgmorton 01/02/20 X X X X X X X Key: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused i CITY OE IOWA CITY www.icgov.org September 17, 2019 ATTACHMENTS: Description Library Board of Trustees: July 25 Item Number: 4.b. IOWA CITY PUBLIC LIBRARY 123 S. Linn St. • Iowa City, IA 52240 DIEEUoa Elsworth Carman • Pn mE 319-356-5200 • Fax 319-356-5494 • iepl.org BOARD OF TRUSTEES Minutes of the Regular Meeting July 25, 2019 FINAL APPROVED Members Present: Wesley Beary, John Beasley, Kellee Forkenbrock (in at 5:20 pm), Derek Johnk, Robin Paetzold (via Zoom), Tom Rocklin, Hannah Shultz, Monique Washington. Members Absent: Carol Kirsch. Staff Present: Terri Byers, Elsworth Carman, Maeve Clark, Patty McCarthy, Elyse Miller, Angela Pilkington, Tyler Tritten. Guests Present: None. Call Meeting to Order. President Beary called the meeting to order at 5:02 pm. Public Discussion. Byers said there was another meeting with the City of Iowa City about the hourly versus part-time permanent staff issue. Byers said custodial staff will be affected. Thejobs are under review; some may be permanent. A memo from City administration detailing the review will be presented to City Council on August 20, 2019. Approval of Minutes. The minutes of the June 27, 2019 Regular Meeting of the Library Board of Trustees were reviewed. A motion to approve the Regular Minutes was made by Johnk and seconded by Washington. Motion carried 7/0. Items for Discussion/Action. Policy Review: 101: Bylaws. A motion to approve the policy with the changes proposed by Board members was made by Johnk and seconded by Washington. Motion carried 7/0. Board Annual Report. A motion to approve the FY19 Board Annual Report with correction to the Trustee list, was made by Rocklin and seconded by Johnk. Motion carried 7/0. FY19 Strategic Plan. This is the end of the year report. Carman explained Project Outcome. No action required. FY20 Strategic Plan. These goals are used to help with budgeting. A motion to approve the FY20 Strategic Plan goals was made by Johnk and seconded by Washington. Motion carried 8/0. Staff Reports. Director's Report. Orientations for new Board members and new Foundation Board members have been going well. ICPL once again had a presence at the Johnson County Fair as part of the Public Libraries of Johnson County. Carman believes it is an effective way for staff to network with people from other Johnson County libraries and a nice outreach opportunity. Radio stations KCJJ and KXIC have hosted ICPL staff on morning live programs for some time; Carman participated for the first time this month. Children's Services staff are distributing 40-50 snacks per day. There are specific governmental rules about how, when, and what kind of snacks can be given to children. Community feedback has been positive. Currently, the Digital Media Lab (DML) has 224 registered members. There have been 1,312 sessions, which is when a member uses equipment in the room, not including classes. Staff have offered 77 classes each month. Carman is pleased with the diversity of patronage in the space. There was a partial air conditioning failure last Friday afternoon. We were able to get the AC unit to 50% capacity by the weekend, but it was a bit challenging. Carman said staff did a greatjob under the circumstances. Carman is working with Facilities Services to develop a plan to right -size the department as Council continues to discuss changing hourly staff to permanent/part-time positions. We are asking for hours to be added to current positions, and adding one new full-time person in Maintenance. Paetzold asked about the AC and wonders if we need to consider this budgetarily. Carman said we have been discussing this a lot; the units were not designed for the kind of heat we have been experiencing. The Building Manager is confident the equipment we have will work well enough and the hope is there will be better equipment available when it's time to replace our current system. Paetzold asked about the costs for changing positions; will the City cover the difference or is it the Library's responsibility to bear the extra cost. Carman said the City did not ask the department for any financial impact for this initiative. Paetzold would like clarification about the fiscal responsibility for these staffing changes. Departmental Reports: Adult Services. Paetzold asked about the decrease in Summer Reading Program registrations this year. Clark believes people do not register, even though they are participating. The teen numbers go up and down and she believes the final report will look more positive. Clark does think the construction on the Ped Mall has affected the summer reading numbers. Paetzold would like a comparison with the past couple of years. Pilkington said she will be reporting on this in her report in August. Community & Access Services. No comments. Development Office. McCarthy thanked Shultz, Beary, Rocklin, and Paetzold for their support at the Big Book Bash at Big Grove. The event raised more than $800 and both parties were pleased. Logsden said 100 people visited the Bookmobile that evening. We are hoping to be invited next year. Spotlight on the Collection. No comments. Miscellaneous. No comments. President's Report. President Beary had a few housekeeping items. He reminded members to be prepared and be on time for meetings, especially since public comments are early in the agenda. Also, he believes in letting staff do their work. Beary appreciates diverse input and will ask for it. He believes in asking questions and providing his opinion at the end. He suggested if a Board member is not sure, they should ask for clarification instead of 2 assuming you know what someone means. The Board dinner is postponed until September. Traditionally it has been held in August after the Board meeting. Announcements from Members. None. Committee Reports. Foundation Members. The FY2020 Memorandum of Understanding between the Friends Foundation Board of Directors and the Iowa City Public Library Board of Trustees was presented. This year, $238,800 in unrestricted money is available for grants and provides the foundation for the NOBU budget which Trustees may use for various purposes throughout the year. Communications. Email with Mary Gravitt. Johnk asked if there was any further response since the exchange included in the packet. Carman clarified there was not. Staff had already been discussing the Digital Media Lab before we received the communication from Ms. Gravitt. Paetzold asked if we looked at the bathroom issues Gravitt brought to our attention. Carman said we have. Disbursements. The MasterCard expenditures for June, 2019 were reviewed. A motion to approve the disbursements for June, 2019 was made by Johnk and seconded by Forkenbrock. Motion carried 8/0. Set Agenda Order for August Meeting. Director evaluation. Annual Staff report. NOBU. Adjournment. A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Beasley and seconded by Forkenbrock. Motion carried 8/0. President Beary closed the meeting at 6:06 pm. Respectfully submitted, Elyse Miller Board or Commission: ICPL Board of Trustees ATTENDANCE RECORD 12 Month KEY: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused NM = No meeting Meeting Date Name Term Expiration 9/27/18 10/25/18 11/15/18 12/20/18 01/24/19 2/28/19 3/28/19 4/25/19 5/23/19 6/27/19 7/25/19 8/22/19 Diane Baker 6/30/19 X X X X X O X X X O/E Off Board Wesley Beary 6/30/21 X X X X O/E X O/E X X X X O/E John Beasley 6/30/21 x x x x x x o x x x x O Kellee Forkenbrock 6/30/23 O/E X X O/E X X X X O/E X X O/E Janet Freeman 6/30/19 x X O/E X X O/E x X X X Off Board Derek Johnk 6/30/25 Not on Board X X Carol Kirsch 6/30/23 X X X X X X X X X X O/E X Robin Paetzold 6/30/23 X X X X X X O/E X X X X X Tom Rocklin 6/30/25 Not on Board X O/E Hannah Shultz 6/30/25 Not on Board X X Jay Semel 6/30/19 X X X O/E X X X X X X Off Board Monique Washington 6/30/21 O/E x x O X x O/E x x x x x KEY: X = Present O = Absent O/E = Absent/Excused NM = No meeting Item Number: 4.c. i CITY OE IOWA CITY www.icgov.org September 17, 2019 ATTACHMENTS: Description Telecommunications Commission: July 22 APPROVED Iowa City Telecommunications Commission 07/22/2019 Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 4 Minutes Iowa City Telecommunications Commission July 22, 2019 — 5:30 P.M. City of Iowa City Cable TV Office, 10 S. Linn St. - Tower Place, Level 3A Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 5:35 P.M. Members Present: Matthew Brenton, Gina Reyes, Adam Stockman, Andrew Austin Members Absent: Staff Present: Ty Coleman Others Present: Gerardo Sandoval Recommendations to Council: None Approval of Minutes: Stockman moved and Reyes seconded a motion to approve the June 24, 2019 minutes as presented. The motion passed unanimously. Announcements of Commissioners: Commissioners exchanged introductions with newly -appointed member Andrew Austin. Coleman announced that Commission member James Pierce had recently indicated he would need to step down from his responsibilities with the Commission due to conflicting commitments. Short Public Announcements: None. Election of Officers: Matt Brenton was elected as Chair and Adam Stockman was elected as Vice Chair by a unanimous vote. Post -franchise role of the Telecommunications Commission: Brenton summarized that since the City's franchise agreement with Mediacom had expired, the Telecommunications Commission's authority had been reduced and the group had been asked to consider its role going forward. Brenton said that a proposal to Council had been drafted which recommends that the City should look into the feasibility of municipal broadband. Coleman said that the proposal would be included within an upcoming Council information packet. Brenton said City Council members had expressed an interest in the topic in the past. He noted that one issue that had been brought up was that Iowa City does not own its own electric utility and that a lot of communities who had successfully built their own municipal broadband network had done so by "piggy -backing" off of their municipal electric utility's infrastructure. Brenton referred to the lawsuit that had been filed by Mediacom a few years back in response to the City leasing fiber to ImOn for the provision of Internet and phone services. Coleman explained that companies offering cable television service are required to operate under a franchise agreement and pay franchise fees. He said that ImOn was only intending to provide Internet and phone services and was therefore not required to obtain a franchise and pay franchise fees. Brenton said the courts had sided with the City and ImOn. He said ImOn had recently stated it planned to build out its broadband network and begin offering residential broadband service over the next couple of years. Brenton said he wasn't sure if competitive service providers such as ImOn would affect the Council's interest in looking into municipal broadband. APPROVED Iowa City Telecommunications Commission 07/22/2019 Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 4 Stockman said the group wants to first see if there is any interest by Council in municipal broadband. Brenton said that the proposal offers to set up an advisory board to look into the topic, but that if Council does not have an interest in it, then the Telecommunications Commission would plan to disband. Andrews said the potential for working on a municipal broadband proposal and gathering data for it was one of the things that attracted him to the Commission. Brenton said the proposal does not include that existing Commission members would automatically become municipal broadband advisory board members, but said he'd expect anyone on the Commission interested in becoming a member of the advisory board to have an opportunity to do so. Coleman said he said he would be including a couple of documents along with the proposal to provide information, including the excerpt from the Iowa Code dealing with municipal broadband and the City's Cable TV Franchise Enabling Ordinance. Coleman said a memo accompanying the proposal would suggest that the Council find a time to meet with the Telecommunications Commission to discuss and ask questions. Brenton noted that the proposal isn't to establish municipal broadband, but rather to make a recommendation. Brenton said it could be possible that the recommendation would be to not pursue it. Consumer Issues: Brenton referred to the issue described in the cable complaints report involving a customer who was not getting the speeds he felt he should have been getting. Brenton noted that the speeds are typically listed as being up to a certain speed. Coleman said some customers in the past have expressed that there was nothing they could do about receiving service that didn't meet their expectations and said that bringing in competition or discussing municipal broadband would help to address the concern of not having other options. Mediacom Report: Coleman reported that he had not received any information from Mediacom other than a notice that a few upper tier channels were being moved. Local Access Reports: Sandoval reported that PAN would be changing its hours based on current usage of the facilities. He said the PAN board has been aggressively looking at how PAN can continue its mission and said they had some promising leads. Sandoval said that activity at PAN increases when the school year begins. He said independent filmmakers had been using the facility and the podcast room had seen increased use. Sandoval said an upcoming project would be to provide a way to include video for podcast recordings. Sandoval said that PATV has been around for 40 years, starting at the City, and operating for 30 years as an independent non-profit organization. He said PATV's building is owned by Public Access, making it community -owned. Sandoval said PATV's funding has always been pass-through money from the cable company, passed through the City. Despite the current lack of a funding stream, he said that the City still contracts with PAN to provide the service so that community members can have a channel on which to put their content. City Cable TV Office Report: Coleman referred to the report the Cable TV Office had submitted in the meeting packet. He mentioned that the City's Rummage in the Ramp event would be starting soon and that Cable TV Office staff would be doing a Facebook Live event to highlight the event and to show people what's there as well as to inform the public of the impact the event has, including diverting items from the landfill and distributing the profits to participating non-profit organizations. Coleman said he had been working with the Johnson County Mobility Coordinator, as well as transit systems from Iowa City, Coralville, the University of Iowa, and Johnson County, to produce a series of APPROVED Iowa City Telecommunications Commission 07/22/2099 Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 4 short videos to highlight the public transportation offerings in our area as well as to provide some how-tos on things like planning your route and transferring between buses. Andrews commented that the video series is a good idea for new students coming to town. Adjournment: Stockman moved and Reyes seconded a motion to adjourn. The motion passed unanimously. Adjournment was at 6:05 p.m. APPROVED Iowa City Telecommunications Commission 07/2212019 Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 4 (x) = Present (o) = Absent (o/c) = Absent/Called (Excused) Gowder Bergus Brenton Johnk Pierce 08/27/2018 Meeting not held due to lack of quorum. vacant vacant 9/24/2018 x vacant x vacant x Paterson 10/22/2018 x o x vacant x 11/26/2018 Meeting not held due to lack of quorum. vacant 12/17/2018 x o x vacant x 01/22/2019 Meeting not held due to inclement weather and lack of quorum. vacant resignation Stockman 02/25/2019 x vacant x x o/c Reyes 03/25/2019 resignation o/c x x x 04/22/2019 vacant x x x o/c 06/03/2019 Meeting not held due to lack of quorum. vacant 06/24/2019 vacant x x x o Andrews 07/22/2019 x x x x resignation (x) = Present (o) = Absent (o/c) = Absent/Called (Excused)