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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/05/1996City Council Work Session February 5, 1996 4:15 p.m. Large Conference Room Members present: Mollenhoff, Anders, Getty, Jordan Members absent: Krizek, Collier, Murphy It was moved by Mollenhoff, seconded by Jordan to approve the agenda as proposed. Ayes: Four. Absent: Krizek, Collier, Murphy. Motion carried. Bob Bamsey, RUST Environment & Infrastructure, provided an update on the Water Pollution Control Improvement Project. The project has been using the partnering concept throughout design and construction. The partnering members include city administrators, city council members and water pollution control plant staff along with the design engineers, contractors and industrial user representatives. The partnering group has jointly worked on developing the project concepts, reviewing alternatives and reducing cost factors through group input. Improved communication between the design and construction engineers, plant staff and construction crews have enabled several change orders to be made netting considerable savings for the overall project. The partnering group met and established the theme of "None of us are as smart as all of us" to set the common goals for the project. Weekly progress meetings are held with plant staff, engineers and the construction contractors. The anaerobic lagoon is operating at ninety percent reduction of BOD and the cover and gas system are under control. Two projects are remaining to complete needed improvements to the lagoon site. A gas line will be extended as part of the interceptor project and an emergency standby generator is in the design stage. The staff and Rust are continuing to pursue options in harnessing the energy created by the lagoon. The sewer use ordinance will address what waste is allowed into the system by industrial and residential users, establish pretreatment standards to regulate industrial waste streams and to set up rates for industrial classifications that will be established in the new ordinance. The draft of the proposed ordinance has been sent to the DNR for comments and revisions will be made upon their response. Murphy now present at 4:45 p.m. The overall project schedule was reviewed and projects are expected to meet the consent decree deadlines set by the DNR and EPA. The actual bids have come in well below the engineer's estimate by approximately $2,000,000 overall. Gary Schellhorn, Treatment Operations Superintendent, provided a slide presentation of the construction progress for the river diffuser installation and the excavation and progress on the flow equalization basin. It was moved by Anders, seconded by Murphy to adjourn the meeting at 5:00 p.m. Ayes: Five. Absent: Collier, Krizek. Motion carried. Susan Fangman City Clerk COUNCIL WORK SESSION February 5, 1996 5:00 p.m. Large Conference Room Members present: Mayor Rooff, Jordan, Murphy, Getty, Anders, Mollenhoff. Members absent: Krizek, Collier. Also present: Chuck Angel, Darrel Wenzel, and Charles Reed. Moved by Murphy, seconded by Jordan that the Agenda, as proposed, be approved. Ayes: Five. Absent: Krizek, Collier. Motion carried. Chuck Angel, Chairperson of the Waterloo Cable Commission, reviewed the process of the renewal of the franchise agreement with TCI of Northern Iowa. The process was started approximately two years ago with nine years remaining on the current franchise. The commission hired Barry Orton, Professor of Communications at the University of Wisconsin, who is considered an expert on cable franchise agreements and ordinances. Professor Orton worked with the commission using the new franchise agreement TCI has with Cedar Falls. Numerous meetings were held with Professor Orton, the commission and the City Attorney. The agreement with TCI of Northern Iowa extends the current franchise term for a period of fifteen (15) years, expiring on June 30, 2018. TCI agrees to completely rebuild the cable system by December 31, 1999, with at least 40 percent completed by December 31, 1997, 80 percent completed by December 31, 1998 and the balance to be completed no later than December 31, 1999. The system shall have a minimum of 77 channels. If the city enters into a franchise agreement with any other company, the provisions of that contract must be reasonably comparable to the contract with TCI of Northern Iowa. Councilperson Getty asked when the National Weather Channel will be put back on cable television. Darrel Wenzel, General Manager of TCI of Northern Iowa, stated the council will have to approve an amendment to the current ordinance. He is recommending that the Weather Channel be put temporarily on Channel 9. Mayor Rooff suggested putting the Weather Channel on Channel 2 when it is not being used by the public access users. Mr. Wenzel stated that a customer survey showed that 70 percent responding wanted the Weather Channel brought back and to get rid of public access programming. Mayor Rooff suggested that we have Channels 2, 7 and 9 and should be able to get the Weather Channel put on one of those channels. Mr. Angel suggested cutting C -SPAN to 12 hours and putting the Weather Channel on for 12 hours using Channel 9. Mr. Wenzel responded that the city can do what they want with those three channels depending on how the city wants to structure public access. Councilperson Getty stated that he is not interested in extending the contract with TCI of Northern Iowa if there is no Weather Channel proposed for all the customers until 1999. Councilperson Anders agreed with Councilperson Getty. Anders questioned the 15 year length of the contract and inquired if we could go 5 or 10 years. Getty reiterated that he does not have a problem extending the contract but the upgrade does not even start until 1997. Mr. Wenzel stated that in order to put the Weather Channel on one of the public access channels, TCI would have to negotiate with the Weather Channel and the council would have to authorize using whichever channel they want to put the Weather Channel. Mayor Rooff asked which is the least watched channel, and Mr. Wenzel stated C -SPAN. Councilperson Mollenhoff stated that our neighboring community has a better cable franchise. Mr. Wenzel stated that the proposed agreement and ordinance would give Waterloo the same cable services. Mayor Rooff asked Mr. Wenzel to propose a solution to the Weather Channel problem. Mr. Wenzel suggested having the Weather Channel from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. Council Work Session February 5, 1996 Page 2 and C -SPAN from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Channel 9. Council Members suggested that citizens would rather have the Weather Channel from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. It was moved by Anders, seconded by Jordan that Mr. Wenzel prepare a proposal for the council to use as a guideline to allow cablecasting of the Weather Channel. Prior to a vote on the above motion, the following comments were heard. Councilperson Getty stated that if Mr. Wenzel can have a proposal ready that another work session be scheduled for February 12, 1996. Mr. Wenzel asked that the Weather Channel not be tied to the proposed contract. He is willing to work with the council and the Cable Commission for a solution to the Weather Channel problem. Councilperson Jordan stated that the proposed agreement is a "trump card" and a negotiating tool for the Weather Channel. Following discussion a vote was taken on the above motion with the following result. Ayes: Five. Absent: Collier, Krizek. Motion carried. With no further business before the council, it was moved by Jordan, seconded by Murphy that the meeting be adjourned at 5:45 p.m Ayes: Five. Absent: Collier, Krizek. Motion carried. Susan Fangman City Clerk City Council Work Session February 5, 1996 5:30 p.m. Large Conference Room Members present: Mollenhoff, Anders, Getty, Murphy, Jordan., Members present: Collier, Krizek Also present: School Superintendent Arlis Swartzendruber, School Board members Pam Miller and Carolyn Braley. It was moved by Jordan, seconded by Mollenhoff to approve the agenda as proposed. Ayes: Five. Absent: Collier, Krizek. Motion carried. School Board President Pam Miller reviewed the most recent profile of Waterloo School District students. The school district enrollment is down almost two thousand students in the last ten years. Approximately four hundred fifty students have been lost due to the state's open enrollment statute change. Waterloo has the highest number of students in families receiving welfare in the state of Iowa. Fifty-eight percent of the students receive a reduced fee or free lunch. Councilperson Murphy indicated that the Des Moines school district established one school as a totally free program which would alleviate the need for bookkeeping staff in the lunch program. Miller explained that the free lunch program is federally funded and would still require record keeping to apply for the federal funds. The income records for the free lunch program are also tied to access of Title One funds for remedial reading and math programs. The number of special education students has increased from eleven percent in 1985 to fourteen percent in 1995. Federal law requires that accommodations be made for students with severe medical or mental disabilities. The school district also offers expanded learning programs for talented and gifted students and advanced placement classes on the high school level. The advanced placement classes allow students to gain college credits for classes taken during high school. Superintendent Swartzendruber asked if the city is working on any tax incentive plans which would encourage residential. development. Braley pointed out that the city needs to offer incentives which would attract new residents to the east side of Waterloo to spread more evenly the population growth areas. Swartzendruber stated that in his opinion the spread between the "haves and have nots" is widening in our city. Councilperson Mollenhoff stated his support of the cooperative efforts that the school district and city have undertaken. Mollenhoff expressed the opinion that Bunger Technical School is a great asset and feels there is a need for technical training of this type. He also feels that the parental support this program has is a great asset to the school district. Pam Miller explained that when the operational review was completed for the school district the school board identified a number of problems with the Bunger Technical School. The school district needs to address a broader group of students needs than the Bunger School can accommodate. The question was then asked why the concept can't be established as part of the curriculum in the two high schools. The technical school is very expensive to run and isn't cost justified when it requires a million dollars to meet the needs of a small group of students. Councilperson Getty asked that a quarterly meeting be established with the school board and city council to allow open discussion of the problems and solutions facing each taxing body. The school board will be sharing its five year financial plan with the city to allow coordination of efforts in the long term goals for our Council Work Session February 5, 1996 Page 2 residents. The city clerk was directed to establish limited committee meetings on February 19th to allow for a joint meeting of the school board and city council on that night. With no further discussion it was moved by Mollenhoff, seconded by Murphy to adjourn the meeting at 6:30 p.m. Ayes: Five. Absent: Collier, Krizek. Motion carried. Susan Fangman City Clerk