DISCUSSION: APPOINTMENTS TO THE IOWA CITY AIRPORT ZONING COMMISSION
Lehman: Other items on our agenda here. Next item is Appointments to the Iowa City Airport and Zoning Commission. Carol, you had some clarification?
Peters: Yes, I spoke with Marian Karr. Over the years what has happened is, with the various Supervisors being appointed and then their term may end and they may not run again, or for some reason it may change within the Board who would sit on this Johnson County Iowa City Airport Zoning Commission Members. The terms have gotten a little off. In order to rectify that, if the Board would be willing to appoint Mike Lehman to a term that ends in 2005. You did appoint Mike earlier to this. Your other representative is Bob Saunders and his term is just fine. It would be just the term of the Supervisor that sits on this Commission that needs to be changed.
Stutsman: Carol, I was under the understanding that this was always the Board Chair that was appointed to this. I didn’t realize that it was for a number of years. What I’m getting at, is that I was appointed last year and I thought because Mike was the Chair this year we needed to appoint him. I would like to go back on this Commission if it isn’t just…
Peters: Just a representative from the Board.
Stutsman: Right, right. The reason being is that, when I was on last year, they started doing this process of looking at the airport plan and things and it was… I kind of would have liked to follow through on that in doing it. The reason I didn’t speak up then is because I assumed that it was always the Chair that served on that Commission.
Lehman: Now that you’ve read the fine print you want to stay on it.
Stutsman: Yes. I’m just curious to know what they are going to come up with. In starting that process, I would like to continue.
Lehman: I don’t have a problem with that.
Stutsman: Is that OK? All right.
Lehman: It’s an ongoing process and you’ve got your feet wet a little bit, stay on it then.
Peters: We’ll put it on next week then, not just for the term but for the appointment also.
Stutsman: OK. Is that OK with other Board Members then?
Neuzil: I’m glad you’re able to work it out.
Peters: With people coming and going, sometimes when you’re looking at a 4 or 5 year term it kind of gets off a little bit.
Lehman: We’ll put that on for action next Thursday.
Stutsman: OK. So, this is a term ending…
Peters: December 3.
Stutsman: It’s not a year term.
Peters: It’s a 5-year term.
Stutsman: A 5-year term. But, could my term have started last year when I served on then?
Peters: It could have, yes. But, what we’re trying to do right now is just straighten them out so that everybody is on the same page.
Stutsman: OK. Then, I will stay out of it and you straighten it out. Just put my name on the dotted line.
Peters: OK. That sounds like a deal. Thank you very much.
MINUTES RECEIVED: EAST CENTRAL IOWA COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS FOR JANUARY 25, 2001
Lehman: OK. Next item is Minutes Received from the East Central Iowa Council of Governments for January 25, 2001. Move down to Other Reports and Inquiries. Volunteers to start?
REPORT (HARNEY): ATTENDED MENTAL HEALTH/DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES PLANNING COUNCIL ORIENTATION; ATTENDED SIXTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT MEETING; ATTENDED FARM BUREAU MEETING; ATTENDED; ATTENDED ELECTED OFFICIALS MEETING; AND ATTENDED MENTAL HEALTH/DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES MEETING
Harney: I can.
Lehman: OK, go ahead Pat.
Harney: I’ve had a lot going on this last week. I’ve got part of that from the 6th Judicial ready. Thursday, on the 15th, we had the Johnson County Mental Health and Disabilities Services Orientation at the office on North Governor. I attended that and certainly other Board Members did. There is an overview of the Mental Health and Disabilities Project and how that works and the staffing and how they operate, which was very good and very informative. It was presented by Elaine Sweet. Like I said, it was an overview of the services and providers both. So, we had pretty good insight of what was going on. On Friday the 16th, the Department of Corrections, I met with them in Cedar Rapids. That was a Sixth Judicial Board of Directors meeting up there and Gary Hinsman. I pretty well covered what we had talked about up there with their problems and what was going on with the jails and things like that. I had mentioned at the Drug Court that that pretty well looks like it’s not going to proceed. They would like to try but the available dollars just doesn’t seem to be there. Woodbury County is in the process of working with some of this drug court and mental health court issues. They possibly are getting a pretty good grant to try that there. So, we’re kind of watching to see what is happening there. It is in the making in Iowa and perhaps it may proceed, but it’s got to depend on the legislative dollars that’s available. The State is looking at cutting back 3-5% over the next 2 years in the whole area of corrections. So, they’re struggling, but yet at the same time they’re trying to expand and they’re cutting where they can. With the increasing jail population it’s pretty hard for them to cut back on their expenses. The Department of Corrections is also working with the Canadians on projects. That’s pertaining to sex offenders. That’s around the United States, its entirety and in Canada, where they are looking at ways to study the sex offenders. If there is some way that they can predict their risk, their level of chance to a risk and re-offend and see if they can come up with some data where they come up with better ways to monitor the sex offenders. Cedar Rapids is looking at adding a 100-bed treatment facility for offenders. Not just sex, but that’s for alcohol and other related offenses up there. It’s kind of an outpatient where they can go out on a work release and come back in. They’re looking also at adding a 25-bed facility at Oakdale up there at Coralville. That’s to try to provide more services and try to cut down on the jail populations. The State jail population is also overcrowded and they are trying to get some people out and back working in the community (inaudible) to keep them in jail, at least as many of them as they can. Mike and I, on the 19th, met with the Farm Bureau. A lot of discussion there about the jail budget and our regular budget issues and things that are going on within the community. There are a lot of questions and a lot of good statements made. People are concerned generally with what is going on with the Jail and with the budgets and the counties and the State as well and they are very active in that area. Tuesday we had an elected official meeting here at the Administration Building. A lot of discussion and information on the freedom of information and public records and email and so forth discussed at those meetings. I don’t want to take anybody else’s reports here. We decided that all of the elected officials in the County will be involved in a future strategic planning session for the County. That will include any elected official here in the County, provided they are willing to participate. Had a Mental Health and Disabilities meeting at the Administration Building on Tuesday the 20th. Director Elaine Sweet was looking at different ways to conduct a satisfaction of services for consumer’s case management. They’re looking at a computer program to more effectively handle and track case management. West Music there is a group here. Of course, they got their accreditation, the Mental Health did, a 3-year accreditation, which is a real feat. It’s the highest level of accreditation they can reach. They attained that and they’ve done a lot of work up there. There was a group here from West Music. They attended with approximately 20 persons, who were involved with the Sound Reach Choir, mental disabilities and so forth. They were real proud to present and do 2 or 3 songs for us here. It really shows what West Music is doing. They are doing like 20 people involved in that program here in Iowa City and there is 60 in Cedar Rapids. You really missed a good opportunity to see what really happens with West Music and those people. It was really great. On the 21st, which was yesterday, Sally and I attended a Mental Health and State Corrections overview, which was in Cedar Rapids. It gave us an entire overview of Mental Health and how it works within the prison systems of people being released and how they monitored those individuals. Also, how the correction works from the beginning of someone going in until it ends. It was a very good meeting. I think we learned a lot there.
Lehman: OK, great, thanks, Pat.
REPORT (STUTSMAN): ATTENDED MENTAL HEALTH/DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES MEETING; ATTENDED COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE MEETING; ATTENDED HEALTH DIRECTOR SEARCH COMMITTEE MEETING; ATTENDED LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS FORUM
Lehman: Sally?
Stutsman: OK. To add to Pat’s comments about the meeting that we attended yesterday, it was a great overview and it was a good first start to get discussion going between the Mental Health System and the Department of Corrections. What we’re finding is that there is a lot of overlap and so many people that are in the correction system really have mental health issues. It was good to kind of get an understanding of where both systems are coming from. We were involved in a discussion in the afternoon about these people that fall through the cracks. What it boils down to in so many of these cases is who is going to pay for it. What it seems to be is that there just needs to be more money put in the system to deal with these individuals that are released from prison and certainly still have some treatment needs. But, it was a good first effort. I think there is probably going to be more that comes from that in seeing how both the systems can work together. I applaud ISAC and the Department of Corrections for bringing that meeting together to finally get people at the table and talking together. Let’s see. Terrance and I attended the Communications meeting last Thursday. We talked about the internal newsletter, the external newsletter, then also spent some time talking about some things that the Committee wants to work on for the next year. We just did kind of a brain storming session. Some of the things that we talked about were developing a press packet, developing a speaker’s bureau, working with a radio show on KCJJ. Talking about a permanent display area downstairs where we would highlight different departments, talking about video taping different departments to use with the speaker’s bureau to kind of talk about what each department does and then being able to use this on the internet. Talk about having a speaker come in to talk about dealing with the media and having department heads come in at regular Board Meetings to update the Board and the public about various departments. Updating brochures and things of that sort. If you think of anything more ideas. What we’re going to do is put this list together and bring it back to the Committee and then decide which things we really want to focus on and put some people assigned to these different things. It was a real good brainstorming session. We kind of tried to tie it in with what the Board has done with strategic planning and have that be a part of this discussion. Also talked a little bit about the Fair. We are going to have a booth at the Fair again this year. So, we’re just beginning discussion on how we’ll work with that. Also spent just a little bit of time talking about maybe having a County picnic this summer sometime. The Holiday event was so successful that we decided we’ll move on to a spring summer event. So, stay tuned. We’ll give you an update on that as news progresses. We’re looking for new members to that committee. So, if any departments know of anybody that would like to be a part that, it’s a fun committee. It’s a working committee and yet everybody has a good time, too. I attended a meeting last Thursday afternoon. The Communications meeting was Friday. Thursday afternoon I participated in a committee meeting with the Health Director Search Committee. We finalized the ad that will go in to the papers concerning the replacement for the Director of the Health Department. We also finalized the text for a brochure that will be distributed talking about the position that will be mailed out to anybody that is interested in the job. Or anybody that might be thought to be a good applicant for the position. Talked about where we would advertise. This will be a national search, so we talked about advertising in some journals, as well as some newspapers and things. Then, revised the schedule that we already realized we are a little behind schedule, so probably a replacement won’t be in place till maybe sometime in August. I attended a league forum last night. I was one of the panel members on the forum. Basically, they had a number of questions that they wanted addressed by a member of the Board of Supervisors. Let’s see Steve Atkins was also there, as well as Kelly Hayworth, David Korea, who was a substitute for Tim Shanahan, who could not be there, as well as Brandi Forbes from Solon. The questions related to what each of the entities were doing as far as comprehensive planning, as far as trails development, what kind of 28E Agreements we had in place, or contracts with other governments and also talked about our growth projections. So, after we gave our overview, then it was opened to questions from members of the audience. A couple of things that were asked I thought had relevancy for the Board. I just kind of want to bring your attention to that. There were a number of issues concerning water in the County and in the North Corridor in particular. I know that we are doing some monitoring through the U.S. Geological Survey in the North Corridor as far as well monitoring. I talked to Graham a little bit about this, but I wonder if it wouldn’t be appropriate to have an update on that. I know we have done that for several years. It’s a long-term monitoring system that is in place. But, especially for new Board Members and for the public, I think it might be good to have them come in and report where it’s at and see if there are any other concerns the Board might have that we might begin to look at addressing. Another area that was talked about is, what services that maybe we need to look at on a regional basis. That might be something that might be good for our small cities meeting to start a dialogue to see if there aren’t some areas that we maybe should look at as far as more regional cooperation. We do, do some things already as far as when you look at the SEATS and the Sheriff contracts and things. But, there might be some other areas that we can recognize some efficiencies if we all work together. There also were some questions and discussions about sewer and water districts in the rural areas. Just wanted to bring those issues to the Board’s attention. I finished up working on a subcommittee to address some concerns from a court hearing called a Southside Woodbury Court Hearing that has to do with placement commitments and requiring that there be language in the code to alert individuals that they do have an appeal process. If there is a commitment hearing placement is determined and if the client isn’t in agreement with the placement that they have a process in place so that they can appeal that hearing and have it reviewed. What the subcommittee did is drafted some legislation that will be forwarded to the Governor’s Office for review and then forwarded to the legislature to address this. This hearing, or the language that came down after the hearing, said that this had to be addressed in the Iowa Code this year. So, we were kind of on the fast track to get some things put together. So, we’ll see where that goes but that could have some ramifications on the local level. If there is a decision made by the CPC and the client isn’t in agreement there will be a means for the client to appeal that decision. That’s everything that I had. Terrance, I don’t know if you wanted to add anything more.
REPORT (NEUZIL): Attended communications committee meeting; ATTENDED CITY DEVELOPMENT BOARD HEARING; VISITED WITH LINN COUNTY SUPERVISOR LU BARRON; UPCOMING HAWKEYE LISTENING POSTS
Neuzil: Well, with the Communications the only other thing I was going to add is that if you pick up an advertiser this week, in the insert there is a really neat section about 2 really good looking guys in there.
Stutsman: You mean Harry’s picture?
Neuzil: Three good looking guys. Yes, Harry is in there, too. But, there is an insert in the Advertiser this week. So, pick one up and you get to learn a lot about Johnson County and Johnson County Government. You get to check out Pat and I. As well as Harry Graves. So, you get to see our nice mug shots. I attended the City Development Board Meeting in Cedar Rapids. Pat Harney and I had an opportunity to go to that. That was held at the Eastern Iowa Airport in regards to the Tiffin annexation. As we are all aware, the State Board did reject that annexation. I hope that in the very near future, Johnson County will be able to revisit with the City of Tiffin our Fringe Area Agreement to learn about their new growth areas to see if we can kind of get this issue resolved with our Planning and Zoning Department. Some other highlights, yesterday I went up to Linn County and visited with Linn County Supervisor Lu Barron yesterday. I’ll be joining her and area delegation, people from Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, to Washington D.C. That is this coming weekend. I’ll be in Washington Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I wanted to meet with Lu because, number 1, she has been up to the Washington D.C. area before, has presented county issues to our area congressmen as well as our State senators. We discussed some of the issues that we hoped to be able to present to them in regards to welfare reform, Medicare, brown fields, transportation, work force development. There are a lot of issues that are on the plate at the County level that we potentially might be able to get some federal assistance. One of the areas that I am real concerned about, and I know Pat has been working night and day on it, has to do with mental illness in our jail facilities. I’ve had an opportunity to talk with Donald Murray, who is with the National Association of Counties, who is their rep. I’m going to visit with him about what some counties are doing across the United States in regards to jail alternatives, particularly with mental illness and to see if we can come up with some federal assistance if we come up with our own program. So, that was a real nice discussion. Also, we got to see the Linn County facilities and how nice they are.
Stutsman: It’s a mistake.
Neuzil: We’re driving a good bargain around here, I’ll tell you that, what they’re paying. But, so that was a good time. The other thing I want to remind people, I will continue to have my Hawkeye Listening Post. They are the weekly opportunity to have lunch and just discuss any kind of issues you have on your mind. Met up in Solon last week. Had a real nice discussion with the gentlemen up there and learned about some of the issues that he is concerned about. So, I want to remind you that this Friday, February 23rd, I will be at the Iowa City Johnson County Senior Center, in the front foyer or more likely in the dining area to have a great meal at the Senior Center. I hope you come on over there. Then, on Friday, March 2nd, I’ll be here at the Supervisors office. Thanks Mike.
Lehman: I was going to say, you might want to get into a cyclone listing post, too.
Neuzil: Is that right?
Stutsman: Oh yes. There is something about those Cyclones.
Neuzil: Pat and I are going to have a problem with that.
REPORT (THOMPSON): ATTENDED NUTRITION COMMITTEE MEETING; VISITED JAIL; AND VISITED COURTHOUSE REMODELING PROJECT
Lehman: Carol, did you have a report you’d like to give?
Peters: Yes. The Nutrition Committee met on Monday and we had a chance to hear from Theresa from Heritage talk about the goals that they are setting for more or less the long-term in regards to the (inaudible) living trust fund. Some of those goals do include nutrition. Mostly, the direction seems to be growth and home delivered meals. Looking at ways to make the Congregate Meals and also the home delivered meals more cost effective, like having standardized menus and doing bulk buying and things like that, those would all be pretty far down the road though, I think. We did have some good news. It looks as if, in spite of the bad weather, and the construction next door, there has been increased usage at the Senior Center sight and also increases in home delivered meals. However, the bad news is that the rural sites continue to dwindle. So, we gave some thought to ways that we could get communities to have other people besides elders come to those meal sites to bolster their numbers so that they’d have enough to be a viable site. The first one, Mike was going to contact the Hills Bank in Hills and see if some of the people who work there might be willing to come over a few days a week and have lunch. That would bolster their numbers to get us in good with Heritage. It would also be a good way for people in the community to get to know some of the senior people and vice versa. If that works, we might try some other experiments like that. The other thing is that the long awaited steam kettle has been ordered and is on its way. Then, yesterday, the Senior Center Commission met and we heard again about the skywalk, which could be finished as early as August. One problem that is going to come in now is that the alley is going to be closed a lot, which is going to create a problem for the Senior Dining program. Linda also mentioned that they are moving along on the kitchen and remodeling the dish area in the kitchen, which has been an issue that we’ve been promoting for quite a few months. In regards to their accreditation, which is continuing, they’ve completed all of the committee meetings now and the Governor Subcommittee has recommended that we revisit the 28E Agreement. They have now some specific concerns with it. I think we’ll be getting a letter in a few days asking us to reconvene the committee to talk about the 28E Agreement. They also are asking for the City Council to change their resolution that sets up the Senior Center Commission in order to exclude elected officials and directors and board members of participating agencies from being on the commission. So, that will be continuing.
Stutsman: Carol, shame on you for being such a rebel rouser.
Thompson: I was trying to get along. Yesterday I visited the Jail. One of the cellblocks happened to be empty because they were doing some repair. They had moved the prisoners elsewhere. So, I actually got a chance to walk around it and that was quite an eye opener. The paint problem is continuing. But it turns out that there is a new kind of epoxy paint that Sherry used on the walls that they remodeled. So, maybe we’ll be able to try that in one of the cellblocks and see if it works. It will still require that people be moved out, but not for as long. It looks as if it is going to be fairly indestructible. I was amazed. People had thrown things at the ceiling so it looked like Stucco up there. They have carved out pieces of the cement blocks around the various vents. We have a lot of minor repairs and also equipment replacement that is probably going to be showing up after we finish the extensive repair into the building. One example is those mattresses that inmates sleep on when they are overcrowded. The floor mattresses are all cracked and stuffing is coming out of them. Dave said the jail inspector mentioned it, but he didn’t actually cite us for it. So, probably we should be planning to replace those next year. I don’t know how many of them there are, but they cost about $40 a piece. A lot of the bunks, which are metal, have rusted through and don’t look very safe anymore, so we are going to have to replace some of those fixtures in the building, which is probably going to be some expense, but nothing like the roof. Then, yesterday, I also had a chance to go over to the Courthouse and see the remodeling over there. You should go take a look at it because now you can see what it is going to be like. They’ve got walls up and you can see where the fixtures are going to be. So, I recommend a trip over there. That’s all the report I had.
Stutsman: Carol, I remembered my question now. This 28E, is that the 28E with the Senior Center and Johnson County?
Thompson: Yes.
Stutsman: OK.
Thompson: It’s the one that sets up the procedure by which we are sort of a partial sponsor of the Senior Center and pay the 20%. We also have a lease agreement with them that covers the space that we use there.
Thompson: Nobody has talked about revising that.
Lehman: OK. That’s all?
Thompson: Yes. That’s all.
Lehman: Thank you, Carol.
REPORT (LEHMAN): VISITED COURTHOUSE REMODELING PROJECT; ATTENDED ICAD MEETING; UPCOMING MEETING WITH TOWNSHIP TRUSTEES; UPCOMING BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING
Lehman: Carol, this reminded me, I was up at the Courthouse the other day and it’s kind of interesting. It’s interesting to see the after effect, if you’ve had a chance to get up there. I kind of like to see the work in progress. It’s kind of interesting. The plaques today got up. I know it’s an inconvenience for some of the staff up there and stuff. But, I think they’ll be much appreciative of it when it is all said and done. Tuesday morning, the 20th, I attended the ICAD, the strategic planning, the Iowa City Area Development. It’s more of a learning process to find out and help identify and to critique the need and the purpose of the Iowa City Area Development and how they go about fulfilling those 2 areas of identification and clarification of duties. I’ve been on it 2 years. It’s interesting what people know that I don’t know. It kind of helps formulate your ideas about what the purpose of that group is. So, it’s well worthwhile. Just a couple of items here for a reminder, we’ll be interviewing, we’ll have 4 more interviews this Friday, tomorrow, for Facilities Director. Also, on Tuesday, March 27th, it’ll be an informal meeting of the township trustees, the clerks and the Board of Supervisors. It’s primarily for review of the township trustees and clerks duties to be held at the 4H Fairgrounds on the 27th at 7:00. We’ll have Jeff Zacharis-Jutz from the Iowa State Extension. He’ll be reviewing some of those duties of comments from Janet Lyness. She’ll be citing some of the examples and stuff, things that trustees and clerks get into. Some of the decisions they have to make and some of the guidelines. Basically a review of the policies, procedure and mutual concerns. I know people always ask, they bring up something off the wall, but it’s something they’ve had to face and they look for questions and guidance on them. So, well worth your while and this is kind of going with… This is a review for existing township trustees and also for newly elected ones. It helps deal with the issues out there and it’s something that is very important and sometimes the general things, such as taking care of cemeteries and things like that. A lot of times they get into property defense disputes. So, it’s well worth your while if you can attend that. I believe that’s all I have.
Stutsman: Do you want to announce the budget hearing?
Lehman: Yes. The budget hearing has been scheduled for March 6th at 5:30. The public hearing will be televised, not live, but it will be available. I encourage the public, if they have questions, to attend or call us if something they’d like to have us possibly mention in our session here. People have questions and I know a lot of times they look at the final impact, but sometimes they need to get into the nuts and bolts, the line items, what the dollars are actually being budgeted for. Any other announcements we need to catch?
REVEREND BOB WELSH: IOWA CITY/SENIOR CENTER 28E AGREEMENT; AND SENIOR CENTER PARKING ISSUES
Lehman: We’ll go to inquiries from the public, reports.
Welsh: I’d like to comment on Carol’s report of the Senior Center Commission, in relation to the 28E Committee and that recommendation. I hope that you all will consult with County Attorney, Pat White. Carol, what I was saying was that I hope in relation to the 28E Committee that you all will collectively consult with the County Attorney as to why he suggested that that discussion end and that committee not meet anymore. I think I would rather leave it at that then to tell you what my assumptions were. But, I think that there needs to be some basic understandings to have a productive dialogue. I think there were some basic principles at that point that needed to be clarified. So, I’m just urging you to look at that, as well as the Committee structure to make sure there is equal representation on that committee. I was amused that they made quite a point that the recommendation to change the makeup of the Senior Center Commission of the resolution was not directed towards anybody on the Commission. It’s very clear that they do not like the fact that you have chosen to appoint a member of your body to be on that commission. Which is something that again, the County Attorney and I have recommended to you for several years and that you finally got around to doing this year to improve the dialogue. I think that one of the evidence of the value of that is Carol’s report to you right now. I think there is value in terms of your being at that table. In connection with that, one of the things is in relation to the parking plan. There are 2 items that I would hope you might address in relation to the whole parking proposal. The present proposal is that there would be 50 spaces left open until 11 a.m. in the morning. So, when all of the spaces are taken except 50 prior to 11, the sign will come up that it is full. That will allow people after 11:00 at least 50 more people to come in. My hope is that it’s clarified. I think you can help the City do this. That 50 and 11 may need to be adjusted. I think it is imperative that when people come to the Senior Center, like for Senior Dining and other activities, that they not find full no space because it’s all occupied by other citizens at this point. One of the real purposes of that ramp was to make the Senior Center more accessible. So, I would hope that in your dialogue with the City, as they look at that proposal, that you would express that hope that that 50/11 would be a flexible figure that would be adjusted based on experience. Quite frankly, nobody knows at that point. The other concern is handicapped parking spaces. The present plan is that all of the Senior Center parking would be in the ramp except some at Chauncey Swan Plaza. Some handicapped persons have expressed to me some concern that they have difficulty parking in ramps. I’m not handicapped, so I don’t have that personal experience. But at the present time there are spaces designated for Senior Center Handicapped parking on Linn Street, it seems to me the plan is to eliminate those.
Stutsman: Aren’t those going to be there anymore?
Welsh: No. They would be handicapped parking spaces, but they would be metered for anybody to use. Someone has suggested to me that the handicapped parking spaces, a few of them for Senior Center persons, would be best on Washington Street, because there is the ground level entrance there rather than the steps on Linn Street. That really, I think, is better for the handicapped persons. But, I’m just expressing the hope that in your dialogue with the City, that that flexibility on that 50/11 could be adjusted and that consideration be given to having some handicapped parking spaces for Senior Center participants on let’s say, Washington Street. An alternative is, if they want those to be metered spaces is that they would just not ticket anyone who is parking in those spaces that had a Senior Center sticker, that way, those meters could be used by the general public at other times. But, those are concerns. I do think that Carol my observation has made a good contribution. Here again, that gets back to that 28E Agreement. Does the City just pass a resolution that says, hey this is the makeup of the Commission without dialogue? I think that’s an integral part of that 28E Agreement, is what is the basic purpose of the 28E Agreement is to do things jointly, if there is not a joint aspect or a partnership. So, again, I guess those are things I would like to repeat. I’m urging you to talk with the County Attorney about that in terms of that basic philosophy and the makeup of the Committee. But, I think there are some advantages in looking at that 28E Agreement. But, I think there needs to be some better groundwork than what was previous.
Lehman: Thank you Bob.
Thompson: I didn’t hear all of Bob’s report, so maybe he already said this. But, I should have mentioned in my report that the money to pay for the parking plan is built into the City’s budget, so it’s already part of the 20% that they’ve notified us of. Part of our increase for this year would be that additional parking money. They won’t be asking us for any more money.
Welsh: In the Senior Center budget there has been $6,000 in the past. That amount is being increased to I think somewhere around $21,000. What Carol is saying is that is in the Senior Center budget. As in the past, you have paid 20% of the $6,000. You are now paying 20% of the $21,000 plus or whatever that figure is.
Stutsman: Is that for parking spaces?
Welsh: No. The parking proposal is that persons would buy a permit for $50 a year or in 6 month intervals of $25 for a 6 month permit. That would be the alternative. If some of this is slightly wrong, don’t hold me to it. I’m going from memory. There is an option of $10 a year to park at Chauncey Swan Plaza. But, in addition, there is a $.20 charge per hour on that alternative. There are not reserved spaces in the ramp that is proposed. The Senior Center would be purchasing a number of hours, like the Sheraton Hotel purchases a number of hours. So, it’s the number of hours that they are purchasing. It’s a calculation as to how many hours. They base this on a survey that they did in the old parking lot before the construction. I’ve got some problems with the methodology, but that’s why I say, I don’t think anybody knows what the demand is going to be. But, there will not be any special reserve spaces that say, Senior Center parking. It will be, people need to come and find a space in there. There will be 50 spaces held open at 11 a.m. so that people coming to the Senior Center at 11:00 or shortly thereafter would be able to find a space and be (inaudible) full. Now, whether or not that is a sufficient number, whether or not 11:00 is the right time, in fairness I think they set the 11:00 rather than the 11:30 because of the change of time for classes. I think they realize that one of the real competitors for those spaces is going to be your students. I happen to believe that if you’ve got one space and you’ve got 2 people who need that space, who want to use that space, I would give preference to those who are seniors.
Lehman: OK. Thank you Bob. Anything else from the public? Anything else from the Board? If not, I believe we stand adjourned. Thank you.
Adjourned at 11:41 a.m.
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Casie Parkins, Recording Secretary