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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes-12/15/2008• • December 15, 2008 The Council of the City of Waterloo, Iowa, met in Regular Session at City Hall Council Chambers, Waterloo, Iowa, at 5:30 p.m., on Monday, December 15, 2008. Mayor Timothy J. Hurley in the Chair. Roll Call: Cole, Getty, Hart, Greenwood, Steve Schmitt, Welper, Reggie Schmitt. Moment of Silence. Pledge of Allegiance: David Meeks, Executive Director of Human Rights Commission. 128303 - Reggie Schmitt/Steve Schmitt that the Agenda, as proposed, for the Regular Session on Monday, December 15, 2008, at 5:30 p.m., be accepted and approved. Ayes: Seven. Motion carried. 128304 - Reggie Schmitt/Steve Schmitt that the Minutes, as proposed, for the Regular Session on Monday, December 8, 2008, at 5:30 p.m., be accepted and approved. Ayes: Seven. Motion carried. Mayor Hurley recognized Sergeant Brooke Carter, Officer Cory Allspach, Officer Augustin (Gus) Farmer, Officer Dustin Lindaman, Officer Joseph Saunders and Officer Thomas Shuster for receiving the Sullivan Brother's Award of Valor. CONSENT AGENDA 128305 - Reggie Schmitt/Steve Schmitt that the following items on the consent agenda be received, placed on file and approved: a. Resolutions to approve the following: 1. Resolution approving Schedule AP642, pp. 1-82, dated December 15, 2008, in the amount of $1,499,973.27, a copy of which is on file in the City Clerk's office, together with recommendation of approval of the Finance Committee. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1106. b. Motion to approve the following: 1. Nancy Gulick, Community Development Coordinator, to attend National Community Development Association Winter Legislative and Policy meeting and Iowa Entitlement Representatives meeting in Washington, DC on January 27-30, 2009, with costs not to exceed $2,170.00. c. Beer/Liquor License Permit Application Class C Diamond Bar, 313 West 5th Street (Renewal) (Expires 12/30/09) (Includes Sunday Sales) The Locker Room, 1918 Hawthorne (Renewal) (Expires 12/31/09) (Includes Sunday Sales) Karma Bar, 309 West 4th Street (Renewal) (Expires 1/8/10) (Includes Sunday Sales) Fernando's, 728 Commercial Street (Premise Update) (Expires 1/28/09) d. Outdoor Service Area Application The Locker Room, 1918 Hawthorne Chaser's Pub, 3005 University Avenue e. Dance License Permit Application Fernando's, 728 Commercial Ayes: Seven. Motion carried. HEARINGS & BIDS 128306 - Steve Schmitt/Welper that proof of publication of notice of public hearing on Purchase of Ambulance Module, as published in the Waterloo Courier on November 27, 2008, be received and placed on file. Ayes: Seven. Motion carried. December 15, 2008 Page 2 Hearings & Bids continued 128307 This being the time and place of public hearing, the Mayor called for written and oral objections and there were none. Steve Schmitt/Welper that the hearing be closed. Ayes: Seven. Motion carried. 128308 - Steve Schmitt/Welper that "Resolution confirming approval of specifications, bid document, etc. in conjunction with Purchase of Ambulance Module", be adopted. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1107. 128309 - Steve Schmitt/Welper that "Resolution authorizing to proceed in conjunction with above purchase", be adopted. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1108. 128310 - Steve Schmitt/Welper to receive, file and instruct City Clerk to open and read bids and refer to Fire Chief for review: Bidder Bid Amount Emergency Vehicle Sales & Services, Alexander, IA Ayes: Seven. Motion carried. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 128311 - Getty/Hart $118,370.00 that communication from Leisure Services Director transmitting recommendation of award of contract in the amount of $30,000.00 to Iowa Fence Masters, Inc. of Waterloo, Iowa in conjunction with 2008 Dog Park Fencing Project, Portion A, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving award of said contract", be adopted. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1109. 128312 - Getty/Hart that communication from Superintendent of Central Garage transmitting recommendation of award of contract in the amount of $157,717.00 to Stivers Ford of Waukee, Iowa in conjunction with Purchase of Seven Ford Crown Victoria Patrol Cars, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving award of said contract", be adopted. Prior to a vote on the above motion, the following comments were heard. Councilperson Steve Schmitt noted that the council has talked about some kind of local preference for local vendors on and off over the last year. Councilperson Steve Schmitt pointed out that one vendor from Waterloo was 1.6 percent higher and another vendor from Hudson was 1.4 percent higher than the bid received by Stivers Ford. Councilperson Steve Schmitt stated that while he respects Councilperson Welper wanting to get the low dollars on items like this, that is $157,000.00 going to the city of Des Moines. Economists talk about dollars turning seven to tens times. Councilperson Steve Schmitt stated he recently read in the paper that cities similar to our size, Council Bluffs and maybe Davenport, are looking at instituting some kind of local preference. Our company competes with Cedar Rapids and Dubuque, and he thinks this is something the council should look at. Mayor Hurley reminded council members that the resolution is just a recommendation, and council can do something different if they wish. Following comments a vote was taken on the above motion with the following result. Ayes: Six. Nays: Steve Schmitt. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1110. • • • • December 15, 2008 Page 3 PETITIONS FROM PUBLIC 128313 - Getty/Hart that communication from City Planner transmitting request of Robert Fischels to rezone from "C -1,C -Z" Conditional Zoning Commercial District to "R-4" Multiple Family Residence District property generally located at 209 Brookeridge Drive for the purpose of establishing a child care facility, together with recommendation of approval of Planning, Programming & Zoning Commission, be received, placed on file and "Resolution setting date of hearing as January 5, 2009, at 5:30 p.m. in the City Hall Council Chambers on the above described request", be adopted and City Clerk instructed to publish notice of same. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1111. DOCUMENTS 128314 - Cole/Reggie Schmitt that communication from Building Official/Maintenance Administrator transmitting Change Order No. 1 for a net increase of $12,554.29 for work performed by Aduddell Restoration & Waterproofing, Inc. of St. Paul, Minnesota in conjunction with Park Avenue Parking Ramp Renovation, be received, placed on file and approved and Mayor authorized to execute same. Ayes: Seven. Motion carried. 128315 - Cole/Reggie Schmitt that communication from Building Official/Maintenance Administrator transmitting request of Aduddell Restoration & Wain p'toofing to extend completion date to May 30, 2009 in conjunction with Park Aven�Ye Ramp Renovation Project, be received, placed on file and approved. Ayes:' Seven. Motion carried. 128316 - Cole/Reggie Schmitt that communication from Superintendent of Waste Management Services transmitting Professional Services agreement with AECOM Inc. at a cost not to exceed $12,000.00 to study the feasibility of creating a Transfer Station/Convenience Center, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said agreement", be adopted and Mayor authorized to execute same. Prior to a vote on the above motion, the following comments were heard. Councilperson Steve Schmitt complimented Councilperson Welper all his efforts regarding the transfer station and all the information he put together last week, but the initial part of the presentation was the problem we have at Chamberlain, Eveland and Jordan and a number of our other recycling sites turning into neighborhood dumps. We talked about possibly curbside recycling, and we wanted to look at the transfer station as economic savings and maybe saving some time going back and forth to the landfill, which was a great idea, but it was mentioned that we would still have the recycling centers. Councilperson Steve Schmitt asked if there is a thought that the transfer station is going to affect the dump sits because if that is part of what we are talking about doing, he doesn't thiri)`1±at'is going to happen. Councilperson Steve Schmitt stated he talked to'Cedar Falls and some other folks, and he thinks what is going to have a positive impact is having the recycling centers in well lit, well traveled areas and having people around. They have their recycling centers at Wal-Mart, Fareway and other places that are lit up. We talked about possibly moving the Chamberlain site out to Hy -Vee or out to Logan Plaza, but apparently there was resistance to doing that. Councilperson Steve Schmitt stated that he thinks part of the problem with our recycling centers is they are located at fairly out of the way places once it gets dark and not well lit. Mayor Hurley responded that in terms of existing drop-off sites, if the transfer station takes light, there is no quick pro quo that we would shut down the existing sites. The hope would be that a transfer station might lighten the load on them. In a few years, we might be able to say we don't need this one or we don't need that one, but one doesn't depend on the other. We could have a transfer station and recycling sites at the same time. Councilperson Welper noted that station/convenience center. We want the problem that we are having at our a place where people can take their place. the motion is creating a transfer to build a transfer station to eliminate dump sites, and the convenience center is recyclables, so its all one unit in one December 15, 2008 Page 4 Documents continued Councilperson Steve Schmitt stated regarding the $12,000.00 cost there is the question of the financial condition of the city given what is going on in the state and on the national level. Councilperson Steve Schmitt asked if we pursued all other options as far as where that $12,000.00 might come from. Mayor Hurley commented the $12,000.00 is not coming from the general fund so its not coming from property taxes. The proposal right now is to use the Waste Management enterprise fund. Councilperson Steve Schmitt stated Black Hawk County Solid Waste Commission has excess fund that he thinks might tie together with this project. Mayor Hurley stated that as far as he is concerned this is something the city could step up to the plate. If the feasibility study says this is very attractive and we decide to have it built, the Solid Waste Commission is some place the city would naturally go; for funding. Mayor Hurley noted the Sanitation Department bonds for projects,every year, and there is interest from those bonds that could easily pay for, this agreement. Mayor Hurley reminded council that two council's ago, the mayor and staff were directed to use the Black Hawk County Solid Waste funds for the Vision Iowa projects. Michelle Weidner, Chief Financial Officer, stated the sanitation fund is pretty solid right now, and we are exploring this as a City of Waterloo option right now. The Solid Waste Commission has had a number of years to consider this. The city has asked and asked and there isn't one yet, so we feel that we want to explore the feasibility for doing it for our citizens. Other cities have done it for their own citizens. Ms Weidner stated that maybe once we have the study, we will explore partnerships and funding of construction, but she thinks we need to figure out if this is viable to begin with. Councilperson Greenwood asked in general in other cities is there a funding stream with this and is there a usage fee in using the transfer station. Mayor Hurley replied he thinks it is a pay as you go. Councilperson Greenwood asked if the city would still have neighborhood cleanups in conjunction with the transfer station and the recycling center. Mayor Hurley responded that would seem reasonable. Although, if everybody were to use an asset like this, theoretically you would not need any or as many neighborhood cleanings. Mayor Hurley stated that we would not consider eliminating the neighborhood cleanups just because we have a transfer station/convenience center. Following comments a vote was taken on the above motion with the following result. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1112. 128317 - Cole/Reggie Schmitt that communication form Leisure Services Director transmitting agreement with Struxture Architects at a cost not to exceed $12,200.00 for structural analysis and design services at Riverside Stadium, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said agreement", be adopted and Mayor authorized to execute same. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1113. 128318 - Cole/Reggie Schmitt that communication from Leisure Services Director transmitting five-year Golf Course Pro Shop Agreement with Andy Devine Golf, Inc. for Iry Warren Memorial Golf Course, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said agreement", be adopted and Mayor and City Clerk authorized to execute same. Ayes: Seven. w` Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1114. • • • • • December 15, 2008 Page 5 Documents continued 128319 - Cole/Reggie Schmitt that communication from Leisure Services Director transmitting five-year Golf Course Pro Shop Agreement with Monte Meyer Pro Shop, Inc. for South Hills Golf Course, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said agreement", be adopted and Mayor and City Clerk authorized to execute same. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1115. 128320 - Cole/Reggie Schmitt that communication from Leisure Services Director transmitting one-year Golf Course Pro Shop Agreement with Skip Holton d/b/a Skip's Pro Shop for Gates Park Golf Course, with four annual renewals, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said agreement", be adopted and Mayor and City Clerk authorized to execute same. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1116. 128321 Greenwood/Steve Schmitt that communication from City Planner transmitting contract for Jumpstart Small Business Assistance Program with Karlson's Auto Sales, 2014 Black Hawk Street, for $3,349.01, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said contract", be adopted and Mayor authorized to execute same. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1117. 128322 - Greenwood/Steve Schmitt that communication from City Planner transmitting contract for Jumpstart Small Business Assistance Program with Waterloo Tent & Tarp Company, Inc., 3105 Airport Boulevard, for $28,250.00, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said contract", be adopted and Mayor authorized to execute same. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1118. 128323 Greenwood/Steve Schmitt that communication from City Planner transmitting amendment No. 1 to contract for Jumpstart Small Business Assistance Program with JSA Development LLC, 604 Lafayette Street, adding $5,000.00 for energy efficiency for a total of $55,000.00, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said contract", be adopted and Mayor authorized to execute same. Ayes: Six. Abstain: Cole because the principal of JSA is on the Board of Directors of the company she works for. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1119. 128324 Greenwood/Steve Schmitt that communication from Leisure Services Director transmitting agreement with Black Hawk County Gaming Association for grant in the amount of $590,000.00 to be used for Riverfront Stadium Renovation, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said contract"', :be adopted and Mayor and City Clerk authorized to execute same. Ayes: Sever. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1120. 128325 Greenwood/Steve Schmitt that communication from Assistant City Engineer transmitting acceptance of sanitary sewer and paving for Shadow Creek Crossing, Phases 1, 2 and 3, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said documents", be adopted and two-year maintenance bond be received and placed on file. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1121. December 15, 2008 Page 6 Documents continued 128326 - Greenwood/Steve Schmitt that communication from City Planner transmitting Supplemental Development Agreement with NCN Limited Company for redevelopment of three condominiums in the former Winterbottom Supply building located at 25 Westfield Avenue, with a minimum assessment of $690,400.00 and 100 percent tax rebatements for seven years, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said agreement", be adopted and Mayor and City Clerk authorized to execute same. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1122. 128327 - Welper/Steve Schmitt that communication from Building Official/Maintenance Administrator transmitting Completion of Project and Recommendation of Acceptance of Work performed by Pries Roofing at a total cost of $209,140.00 in conjunction with 2007 Roof Repair Program, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said documents", be adopted and two-year maintenance bond be received and placed on file. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1123. 128328 - Welper/Steve Schmitt that communication from Building Official/Maintenance Administrator transmitting Professional Services Agreement with VJ Engineering at a design cost of $6,500.00 and inspection service cost not to exceed $3,500.00 for roof repair or replacement at Waterloo Center For The Arts, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said agreement", be adopted and Mayor authorized to execute same. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1124. RESOLUTIONS TO BE ADOPTED 128329 - Steve Schmitt/Greenwood that communication from Superintendent of Traffic Operations transmitting request to temporarily limit parking to two hours between 8:00 a.m.. and 5:00 p.m. in the 200 and 300 blocks of East 4th Street, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said request", be adopted. Prior to a vote on the above motion, the following comments were heard. Mayor Hurley noted that the council received a copy of an e-mail from John Hayes objecting to what is being proposed for the 300 block of East 4th Street. Councilperson Cole stated that for 23 years she worked in downtown Waterloo, parked in downtown Waterloo and knows from personal experience if you are an employee in Downtown Waterloo, it is a lot easier to park on the street all day long and plug the meter than it is to park in a parking ramp. Councilperson Cole stated she understands why we are doing this temporarily until we get our parking meters in place and will support this resolution.' Mayor Hurley asked Sandi Greco, Superintendent of Traffic Operations, when the new meters will be on the street. Ms. Greco responded the meters have been ordered, and they are hoping for delivery sometime towards the end of January. Due to the weather, if we can get our posts in and the covers, staff will start installing them right away. If not, installation will probably have to wait until March. Ms. Greco noted that signs will put up saying that parking is limited to two hours between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Following comments a vote was taken on the above motion with the following result. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1125. • • • • December 15, 2008 Page 7 Resolutions to be Adopted continued 128330 - Reggie Schmitt/Cole to not forgive request of Waterloo Community Schools to forgive weed assessment in the amount of $1,130.00 and sewer assessment in the amount of $15.55 for the former Lincoln Elementary School located at 942 Newton Street and recommend the Waterloo Community Schools take the individual to small claims court. Prior to a vote on the above motion, the following comments were heard. Councilperson Hart asked if council can tell the Waterloo Community Schools to take someone to small claims court or is the motion actually just not to forgive the assessments. Mayor Hurley responded the motion is not to forgive the assessments with a recommendation to the Waterloo Community Schools. Mayor Hurley stated its just advising them to pay the assessments and then go to court. Councilperson Reggie Schmitt stated the reason for the motion is that the City Clerk has to send a letter to Waterloo Community Schools informing them the council is not going to forgive the assessments and because the recommendation is in the motion, it can be included in the letter. We are talking about taxpayers' money whether it comes out of the school levee or property taxes, and that is why the suggestion is made for them to take the individual to small claims court. Councilperson Hart stated he is okay with the motion to not forgive the weed assessment, but he has a problem with telling the Waterloo Community Schools to do something. Following comments a vote was taken on the above motion with the following result. Ayes: Seven. Motion carried. 128331 - Cole/Reggie Schmitt that Mayor Tim Hurley's recommendation of salary adjustments for certain non - bargaining employees to be effective January 1, 2009, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said salary adjustments", be adopted. Prior to a vote on the above motion, the following comments were heard. Mayor Hurley explained that council authorized $96,000.00 in this year's budget to be used for gap closure payments. The budget was approved in March, then the floods came and he didn't get the proposal done, then he made a conscientious decision to wait until the half-year mark to save some taxpayer money. In the meantime, Bob Stringer, Human Resources Director, gave him some comparable salaries for similar positions in other cities, which were the cities of Ames, West Des Moines, Dubuque, Council Bluffs and Iowa City. Mayor Hurley stated he tried to make the $96,000.00 reach as far out into the non -bargaining unit, salaried employees. Mayor Hurley stated his intention and focus was on the position and not the people, and his intention is to leave this city at some point in a better competitive position when it comes to attracting and retaining professional and semi-professional employees. Really all employees, but we are dealing with non -bargaining unit here. Not every city has exactly the same job descriptions as we do. Sometimes there was maybe only one or two figures to compare with and then he was relatively subjective but driven by trying to address as many of the positions as he could. There are handful of City of Waterloo salaried, non -bargaining unit positions that are at or above the average of the other cities. The base salaries for the comparative cities were from Fiscal 08, and they are over a year old and don't recognize the fact that there were likely increases in those cities of anywhere from 3 to 4 percent, so the gap is even bigger. Mayor Hurley noted there were a couple of departments, where maybe there were more than one person in a position, and he gave the option to the Department Head to determine how they would distribute that same amount of increase. Mayor Hurley stated if we to want to close that gap from where we are at to where the average is and we only want to move 20 percent, it would have cost $180,000.00 and we only had $96,000.00. Mayor Hurley stated he did incorporate the benefit factor. Some of the dollars will go into enterprise funds for this year, but going forward they will be borne by those enterprise funds. Councilperson Welper thanked Mayor Hurley and Mr. Stringer for all the work they went through to come up with these figures to make Waterloo competitive with other cities. Councilperson Welper noted if you wanted seven different answers, you could have all seven members of the council doing the same thing, but we would still be arriving at approximately the same number. December 15, 2008 Page 8 Resolutions to be Adopted continued Councilperson Cole concurred with Councilperson Welper and stated she thinks that we need to move towards closing the gap because our city's salaries are embarrassing, even if we look to that little city up the river our salaries are way low. Councilperson Cole stated she feels that performance reviews need to be done for city department heads. Mayor Hurley responded he thinks he will be ready to make that jump for the next fiscal year. Councilperson Reggie Schmitt stated he supports this distribution as it spreads the $96,00.00 amongst 77 positions and moved those positions closer to the average. Councilperson Reggie Schmitt noted that the city still has 17 positions that are paid less, they are $10,000.00 under the average even after we do this. Councilperson Hart asked about the $8,200.00 for the administrative secretary position. Mayor Hurley responded that amount is for nine secretaries as he did not list them individually. Their current salary is $36,088.00, and he is suggesting that each one of those administrative secretaries receive an $800.00 increase. Councilperson Greenwood stated he would support increasing the salaries to make them competitive. Councilperson Greenwood stated this is his seventh year on the council and prior to that he was on the Black Hawk County Compensation Committee for about 12 years. He knows its terribly important to keep the salaries competitive to keep people in the public arena here because they are very valuable and loyal employees,and he thinks they need to be rewarded. Councilperson Greenwood stated he supports performance reviews, and he would also support going to outside people to put the process together for the first year or two, if needed. Councilperson Greenwood stated he feels its important to be able to do the performance reviews and to pay the position accordingly to the performance. Councilperson Getty stated he concurs with the rest of the council. We have been doing this for server years, and he is happy to see the salaries starting to come up. Councilperson Steve Schmitt stated he agrees with what everybody else has said, and his only reservation/concern is what has happened in our city and our region in the last year. Councilperson Steve Schmitt stated that while he thinks we have a great staff and great group of people, he is just a little bit concerned that we are having this discussion at the same time we are talking about our initial offering to the rest of the city employees. Councilperson Steve Schmitt that that as we look at 2009, he feels anything we can do to hold down our costs and manpower, our primary costs ultimately will be beneficial to the taxpayers of Waterloo. Councilperson Steve Schmitt stated that one of the challenges we have talked about Waterloo has in competing with other cities is our tax rate is typically the first thing or one of the first things that we talk about. Mayor Hurley responded that he was conscience of that, and his conscientious decision has saved the taxpayers about' $48,000.00, and he will come back to council about some suggestions on that in a separate proposition. Mayor Hurley stated he knows there will be those out there who might question why this at this time or that it might be an in your face kind of thing, and its nothing of the sort. We are woefully behind in our salaries for like positions and we lose good people. There are department heads sitting in this room struggling to find qualified professionals to even express an interest in the City of Waterloo employment. Mayor Hurley stated the alternative to him is if we don't, we won't get good people, and we will take a bigger chance of even slipping further in terms of attacking that very high tax rate. Following comments a vote was taken on the above motion with the following result. Ayes: Seven. Resolution adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 2008-1126. 128332 Cole/Reggie Schmitt that communication from Building Official/Maintenance Administrator transmitting request to extend existing plumbing'ran"'d HVAd;,licenses to June 30, 2009 and new schedules for electrical, plumbing and'.HVAC'permit fees, be received, placed on file and "Resolution approving said request", be adopted. • • • December 15, 2008 Page 9 Resolutions to be Adopted continued Prior to a vote on the above motion, the following comments were heard. Councilperson Getty stated he is totally opposed to the increase in permit fees. We are talking about a 30 percent increase on almost every permit, and he thinks at a time when the city has been hit with unemployment, the economy, and when spring comes and people start to reconstruct or rebuild, we are going to hit them with a 30 percent increase on permit fees for the City of Waterloo. Its absolutely absurd that we are going ,to raise them 30 percent, and he thinks its wrong at this time. Councilperson Getty stated he knows the arguments are going to be, we have lost money and our inspection department needs this money and we are trying to raise money, but not on''tlie back of the poor people that are being hurt. Look around and see how many homes are being built outside of Waterloo and how many we are doing inside of Waterloo and wonder why. There has to be a reason why, and this is one good reason. Councilperson Getty stated he cannot support the increase. Mayor Hurley stated that we are behind in housing, and that is why we came to council and requested permission to go ahead with the Endeavor housing study to get some of that off the ground and get our share of housing. Mayor Hurley reminded council that the last five years we have exceeded $100 million in building permits every year. Even taking out Isle's permit from a couple of years ago, we have broken records each year and we are continuing at that pace right now. Mayor Hurley stated he is afraid if we don't do this $30,000.00 or $50,000.00 projected by Mr. Cutwright that we would lose revenue the next two years which would be borne on the backs of those poor people for property taxes, and not by fee revenues unless we lay people off. Councilperson Getty stated every year since he has been on the council, the Building Department has raised more money than they budgeted, and they put it back in our general fund. Councilperson Getty asked when that is added in and everything is said and done and Michelle Weidner does her work at the end of the year, have we ever been in the hole. Mayor Hurley responded not in the Building Department. Councilperson Getty stated it doesn't make sense that all of a sudden we are trying to cure all of our ails and all of our troubles. The City of Waterloo has had a terrible year. The catastrophes from the floods, the snow and the ice is going to cost us some money and maybe our earnings this year might be down, but he is against putting it on the backs of people who want to start to rebuild. Councilperson Hart asked if an analysis with other cities was used to get to the 30 percent increase and is this consistent with surrounding areas. Lou Cutwright, Building Administrator/Official, stated that looking at surrounding cities, this is consistent with their permit fee structure. The permit fee structure from Iowa City utilizes the volume method as far as the total volume of the cost to calculate their permit fees. Mr. Cutwright stated when you look at a normal home and calculate the permit fee on the plumbing, electrical and heating as opposed to the other items it is consistent. As a matter of fact, the new adjusted fee is below that which a normal home in Iowa City would calculate for their plumbing, electrical or heating. Mr. Cutwright stated this permit fee will bring us more in line with paying for the actual inspection for a home right now. We charge $7.00 right now for a permit fee for a water heater. When they are installing a water heater, sometimes our inspector has to go back two or three,;t;imes because corrections need to be made, and it costs approximately $17.00 for ..ea.ch.._inspection run. On the average we lose a lot of money, and what has been making up that difference is the building permit fees themselves that is the actual structure permit fee. Mr. Cutwright stated this will get our plumbing, electrical and heating areas so that they can stand on their own. Mayor Hurley asked how long has the existing fee structure been in place. Mr. Cutwright responded it has been five years. Mayor Hurley asked if this was discussed with any of the contractors. Mr. Cutwright stated he has been in contact with our chief inspectors in each one of those areas. They have not had a board meeting, but it seemed to be prudent to present this to council now because we are going to be losing quite a bit of revenue in dealing with licensing. The state will be starting to handle the plumbing, electrical and heating licensing, which we currently are doing, and this will not make us completely whole but it will start the process of doing that. December 15, 2008 Page 10 Resolutions to be Adopted continued Councilperson Hart asked if basically.` right now when someone goes out we are losing money, and Mr. Cutwright responded absolutely. Mr. Cutwright stated basically we are depending upon the building permit fees themselves to cover a lot of these areas. This brings us closer to making those pots of dollars that waive those fees that are generated in whole because of the amount of fees that we are losing from contractor licensing. Mayor Hurley asked if council authorized that we back off on permit fees for flood effected homes. Mr. Cutwright responded yes they did. Mr. Cutwright stated that those individuals who take out plumbing, HVAC or electrical permits on flood impacted property will be refunded 100 percent of their fees. It is not putting a burden on them because soon as the final inspection is done, they will be refunded those fees. In response to a question from Councilperson Steve Schmitt, Mr. Cutwright confirmed the refund is for residential property only. Mr. Cutwright noted the fees will take effect on January 1, 2009. Councilperson Steve Schmitt asked if we will be giving any kind of notice to the contractors. Mr. Cutwright responded notices cannot be sent to the contractors until after the council has adopted the new fees, and then they will send out notices, which would be about a two week notice. Councilperson Steve Schmitt asked abtYut X11 the bids and proposals out now. Mr. Cutwright stated we will handle it in', `ti'ie 'same way as the electrical ordinance. Those contractors who have had bids and contracts out with the present fee schedule will be honored. Any of those who bid after this particular date or after the date of January 1, 2009 will have the new fees. Councilperson Getty stated that Mr. Cutwright's presentation talked about Iowa City. He would like to see what Cedar Falls, Evansdale, Hudson, and Black Hawk County are charging for these types of things. Mayor Hurley asked Mr. Cutwright to survey those cities for their fees. Following comments a vote was taken on the above motion with the following result. Ayes: Three. Nays: Getty, Hart, Greenwood, Steve Schmitt. Motion failed. ORDINANCES TO BE ADOPTED 128333 - Welper/Reggie Schmitt that "an Ordinance amending the 2008 City of Waterloo Traffic Code to lower the speed limit on Memory Lane from 25 mph to 15 mph", be received, placed on file, considered and passed for the first time. Ayes: Seven. Motion carried. 128334 - Welper/Reggie Schmitt that rules requiring ordinances to t be considered and voted for passage at two prior meetings be suspended. Ayes: Seven. Motion carried. 128335 - Welper/Reggie Schmitt that "an Ordinance amending the 2008 City of Waterloo Traffic Code to lower the speed limit on Memory Lane from 25 mph to 15 mph", be considered and passed for the second and third times and adopted. Ayes: Seven. Ordinance adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 4934. 128336 Hart/Getty that "an Ordinance amending the 2007 Waterloo Code of Ordinances by repealing Chapter 3, Electrical Regulations, of Title 9, Building Regulations; and enacting in lieu thereof a new Chapter 3, Electrical Code, of Title 9, Building Regulations (adopting the 2008 National Electrical Code)", be received, placed on file, considered and passed for the first time. Ayes: Seven. Motion carried. • • • • December 15, 2008 Page 11 Ordinances to be Adopted continued 128337 - Hart/Welper that rules requiring ordinances to b*'consdered and voted for passage at two prior meetings be suspended. Ayes: Seven. 'Motion carried. 128338 - Hart/Greenwood that "an Ordinance amending the 2007 Waterloo Code of Ordinances by repealing Chapter 3, Electrical Regulations, of Title 9, Building Regulations; and enacting in lieu thereof a new Chapter 3, Electrical Code, of Title 9, Building Regulations (adopting the 2008 National Electrical Code)", be considered and passed for the second and third times and adopted. Ayes: Seven. Ordinance adopted and upon approval by Mayor assigned No. 4935. ORAL PRESENTATIONS 128339 - Josh Wilson, 1518 Brookside Drive, Cedar Falls, Iowa, and owner of property in Waterloo at 4410 Hoff Road. Mr. Wilson stated he was runner-up in the 2007 At - Large School Board election. As a candidate for the school board, he learned the ins and outs of the Waterloo Community Schools, and the ins and outs of politics. Recently, he joined the ever-increasing group of young people to leave Waterloo when he moved next door to Cedar Falls. Tonight, he is here to address a couple of his concerns and offer some suggestions on his behalf on how we can cut down on that group of people leaving our town. In an article in the Waterloo Courier on December 4, 2008, the Governor appointed a Generation Iowa Board stating they recommend young `p'edple 'across Iowa be appointed to voting positions on city boards and commissi"ans dealing with economic development and quality of life. After examining Waterloo's boards and commissions, there is a lack of youth on these boards. Mr. Wilson submitted an article stating that Waterloo continues to decline population wise as Cedar Falls gets bigger. A comment was made that where this is happening the school district's enrollment continues to remain stable. Another article in the Courier specifically states that Longfellow Elementary School will be closing in two to three years due to declining enrollment in the district. Mr. Wilson submitted several other articles from the Courier along with Waterloo Community School District's annual report which will show that their enrollment has done just the opposite as it continues to decline. Waterloo continues to pay $2 million to school districts in neighboring communities for the increasing amount of students who open enroll out of our district into neighboring towns because parents who live in the district continue to lack confidence in our school system. This is a big, big problem, and we need to stop and be more proactive now and work with the schools. Mr. Wilson stated he would agree that Waterloo's economic engine is humming. However, in order for the engine to get any use you must have a population to drive it. Mr. Wilson read one of his favorite internet blogs: "Waterloo needs some serious cleaning up. From the inside - out. From the North to the South. From the schools to the streets. From the young to the old. From the minorities to the majorities. From the rich to the poor. It will take a village and unfortunately a generation or more to get this done, but there is no better time than now to start." Cole/Welper that the above oral comments be received and placed on file. Ayes: Seven. Motion carried. ADJOURNMENT 128340 - Welper/Reggie Schmitt that the Council adjourn at 6:45 p.m. Ayes: Seven. Motion carried. re Nancy ckert, CMC City Clerk