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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05.03.21 work session minutes COUNCIL WORK SESSION May 3, 2021 3:20 p.m. Harold E. Getty Council Chambers Members present: Boesen, Amos, Feuss, Grieder, and Juon. Mr. Morrissey and Mrs. Klein arrived at 3:25 p.m. 159844 -Juon/Amos that the Agenda, as proposed, be approved. Voice-vote Ayes: Five. Motion carried. 159845 -Juon/Amos that the Minutes of April, 29, 2021, as proposed, be approved. Voice-vote Ayes: Five. Motion carried. Mrs. Klein and Mr. Morrissey arrived at 3:25 p.m. Objective: Discussion regarding RAGBRAI activities. Tavis Hall, Executive Director, Experience Waterloo, provided an overview of RAGBRAI activities planned. He explained the route that RAGBRAI will follow in order to bring riders to downtown Waterloo. Riders will be staying in Exchange Park and will be arriving there through the trails system. On the way out of town they will travel down Lafayette Street. The RAGBRAI organization committee will putting out educational marketing to help drivers understand where the riders will be traveling and help them understand that bicyclists are required by law to travel on the street. The number of food vendors will be limited downtown because the committee wants to encourage riders to patronize local businesses. May 15th they will be looking for 350 volunteers to help work the event along with event sponsorships. Mr. Morrissey questioned if communication will go out to churches on helping serve meals and breakfasts. Tavis Hall explained that communication will be flowing through Experience Waterloo and their media sponsor KWWL. Objective: Discussion on an agreement with Bird Rides, Inc. to provide e-scooters in the downtown area. Jessica Rucker, Main Street Waterloo, explained that they are looking to Kate Schumaker, Bird Rides, Inc., explained that their mission is to make cities more livable by providing a transportation alternative to the community. The company started in 2017 and are now in 150 cities globally. She provided an overview of the vehicles. They are capped at 15 mph,you have to download an app on your phone, and are geo-fenced to use the e-scooter within a specific location. The cost is averaging $5.00 per ride. The e-scooter does not have a dock, meaning they don't have to be returned to the original location. Clutter is part of their responsibility and they use education, discounts or rewards, and nudges to encourage proper riding behavior. The company would partner with someone who lives locally to be the fleet manager. They would want to launch on June 6, 2021, with 50 e-scooters and look to grow to 150 e-scooters. Mayor Hart questioned the liability to the city. Kate Schumaker commented that Bird would indemnify the City in the event of any incidences and will add Waterloo onto their insurance policy. Mr. Morrissey questioned what is the city's buy-in for the program. Page 2 Kate Shoemaker commented that there is zero cost to the city to get the program started and that they would be paying sales tax to the city for each of the rides. Mayor Hart questioned if the fleet manager would be hired locally. Kate Shoemaker confirmed. Mr. Morrissey questioned if this would involve city staff time. Kate Shoemaker commented that questions and complaints would be the bulk of the city staff time and that they will partner with the city to help prepare an announcement to the public or have the local news station cover it. The city can be as involved as it wants to be or not very involved at all. Mayor Hart commented that Jessica Rucker is leading the efforts with city staff for internal review of ordinances and policies as well as from other communities. Mr. Morrissey questioned if the e-scooters could travel anywhere or would there be established boundaries. Kate Shoemaker explained a boundary would be established around Waterloo and that it could be modified at any time. If scooters attempt to leave the boundary,the scooter would be stopped and the fleet manager would be notified. Micro boundaries within the broad boundary can also be implemented during special events when high foot traffic is greater. Jessica Rucker commented that the plan is to start this in downtown Waterloo then possibly look at expanding it to areas outside the community. Mr. Morrissey questioned how they deal with people riding these without a helmet. Kate Shoemaker explained that they highly encourage helmet use. The city can mandate helmet usage but that may discourage ridership. She explained that 15 mph is comparable to the average bicyclist is travelling. Mrs. Klein questioned if these are available 24 hours a day. Kate Shoemaker explained the standard hours of operation are 4:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Those hours can be edited as needed. Mrs. Klein questioned if one employee is able to work those hours. Kate Shoemaker explained that one employee should be able to handle 100 Birds. If they need help they can hire someone but they are a contract employee with Bird. Mrs. Juon questioned if the Birds have no docking station, how is clutter managed. Kate Shoemaker explained the ways they encourage riders to park e-scooters in certain locations. Mr. Amos questioned if the program generates any revenue for the city. Kaite Shoemaker explained that sales tax and applicable per-ride fees and any business or license fees in the contract. Mr. Morrissey questioned how the scooters handle on gravel. He pointed to the new method of patching potholes, which leaves gravel on the road. Kate Shoemaker explained that you would not want to go down a full gravel street, but going over gravel is fine; you just don't want to hit deep pothole. However, the driver should be exercising care when driving. Page 3 Mr. Morrissey questioned what happens when someone is intoxicated while driving the Bird. Kate Shoemaker commented that laws governing operating vehicles while under the influence would apply. Jessica Rucker explained the next steps for rolling out the program,which include reviewing city ordinances and policies. Objective: Discussion regarding- establishing an incentive plan for accessible, affordable childcare in Waterloo. Mr. Grieder introduced Mary Janssen of Child Care Resource &Referrals of Northeast Iowa. Mary Janssen, Children and Family Services Director of Child Care Resource & Referrals, shared information about issues surrounding child care within the community. In the last five years, 34% of childcare providers have left the field. Twenty-one hundred children in Black Hawk County need care versus the places providing care. The Black Hawk County Child Care Coalition has been working to tackle the issues. Mrs. Klein questioned how many providers are currently in Waterloo. Mary Janssen explained that the data was totaled by county but that she would work to break it down to Waterloo. Mrs. Klein questioned the process to become a registered childcare provider. Mary Janssen provided an overview of the process. Mr. Grieder provided an overview of the resolution, and explained that it asks Community Planning and Development to develop an incentive package for businesses to provide childcare to workers or for someone to start a childcare facility. Mr. Morrissey questioned who is involved in the Community Planning and Development department to work on this. Mr. Grieder explained that he would ask the department head to develop a plan on how to make the program work. Mr. Morrissey requested an explanation of the wording of the resolution. Mr. Grieder provided an overview of the language. Mr. Morrissey questioned what would stop non-registered people from raising an issue of that the program is not fair to them because it excludes them. Mr. Grieder explained that it should free up funds to get them into the registered system. Mrs. Klein commented on the impact this might have on grandparents who wish to provide care for their grandchildren without the state's interference. Mary Janssen commented that there is a big difference between being a grandma or friend providing care and someone providing unlicensed childcare in their home. Their organization promotes quality of care and safety for children. Another difference with registered vs. non- registered is they have agencies to help the registered providers. Mrs. Klein questioned how many deaths have been recorded at registered facilities. Page 4 Mary Janssen stated she does not have that figure available but knows the numbers are less than those deaths occurring in non-registered facilities. She will work on getting the figures to Mrs. Klein. Mr. Grieder clarified that the resolution is not a punishment for anyone. It is an incentive to help people provide childcare in Waterloo. Objective: Discussion of an ordinance amending the enforcement of fireworks. Mr. Boesen provided an overview of the changes proposed to the fireworks ordinance. He explained that any city employee who has the ability to write a ticket could write a ticket for fireworks. The ordinance allows tickets to be written year round as municipal infractions. Mrs. Klein commented that she eagerly supports this. Mr. Amos question if the city employee could write a ticket both on and off the clock. Mr. Boesen commented the city attorney could best answer that question, but he would think that they could only write tickets while they are on the clock. Mr. Morrissey commented that he has not yet seen a copy of the enforcement policy that was discussed two weeks ago and wants to see it by the next meeting. He questioned where it says that a police officer could not write a ticket year round currently. He also questioned the budgetary impact of having, for example, code enforcement employees write a citation for fireworks. Mr. Boesen explained the current language and how his proposed changes would help to clean that up. Objective: Discussion of an ordinance proposing changes to Title 9, Building Regulations, Chapter 12, Dangerous Buildings, of the City Code of Ordinances. Martin Petersen, City Attorney, explained that the proposed ordinance change is a deletion of an outdated code section. 159846 -Juon/Grieder that the meeting be adjourned at 4:45 p.m. Voice-vote Ayes: Seven. Motion carried. Kelley Y:`elchle Kelley Felchle City Clerk