11-18-19 City Council

they were participate with us we'd ask

you to stand at this time please thank

you your honor

Heavenly Father we we thank you for this

game thank you for our beautiful city we

pray for our first responders as always

that they risk their lives every single

day for us we pray for the folks that

are out sick today and that you'll

you'll be with them and be with their

families and just bless this meeting and

bless the upcoming election that see

your will will be done and your name we

pray amen amen

let's call the meeting to order and I

will ask the clerk to please take role

coleman Mandelbaum here got here County

here Westergaard here great here you got

a Polk compliment right all right before

we switch to item two quickly Matt I

want you we have a new person in the

audience that we kind of announced last

time but maybe I'd like to have you

I think I saw Malcolm back there

introduced Mountain and it'd be my

pleasure

this is Malcolm hankins first City

Council meeting as our new assistant

city manager he and his families moved

here from Aurora Colorado

so everybody Malcolm is back the room

he's he comes with a great wealth of

experience in Community Development in a

few different cities in the in the West

at southwest so I think he's gonna be a

great addition we were really excited to

get him congratulations Malcolm

alright item two on the agenda is

approving the agenda as presented and/or

as amended and let me quickly check

there are a couple of amendments and

changes item 10e is withdrawn by the

city manager item 10a is withdrawn by

the city manager 11 1 an 11 Roman

numeral 1 and Roman numeral 2 11 both of

those were also withdrawn item 23 is

corrected it says 8000 reduced size of

the permanent easement and 24 is

corrected 250 dollars item 42 a was

added this is a renaming of a Mike

McPherson tennis courts to the Birdland

sports park tennis courts and the

sponsor is council member Coleman item

49 is corrected it's an ordinance

effective date will be January 1 of 2020

there is a an additional extra item at

the direction to direct the city manager

on the on a tax levy and we'll go over

that as the extra item other than that I

think if somebody gives a little bit

kind of question first I'm sorry

sure did we have to take action on the

East Village parking garage I pulled it

okay okay I think I actually just pulled

off the whole rate of item 49 then I'm

the speaker okay but yes I am all right

I know you're going with that I'll move

item 2 okay item 2 has been moved on

paper I post item passes

item 3 is approving the consent agenda

tonight those are items 3 through 50 and

generally we take these there routine

items and are enacted as a single roll

call unless either a member of our

Council asked to pull one for further

clarification or discussion or someone

from the audience asked similar

questions in once and clarification so

for this evening again items 3 through

50 item

for B and for Z council member kulmann

votes no item for J council member

Coleman was to speak item five County

votes no item seven Coleman wishes to

speak item 42 Coleman and Westergaard

wish to speak at him 43 mandelbaum

wishes to speak in item 49 council

member gadelle will speak are there any

other items anyone would like to have

pulled again those are items 3 through

50 I'll move it all right seeing none

items been moved 7 0 motion carried

virgin all right

item 4 is approving alcohol beverage

licenses and J in this case is district

it's at 2:16 court Avenue and they are

asking for AC liquor license mr. Coleman

thank you I I doubt Sue Ann is here I

noticed this over the weekend we've been

back and forth with resident actually

several residents about violation of the

noise ordinance at this facility and I

think there was a dispute between our

zoning officers and the business

operator as to whether or not they'd

allow in so under our current ordinance

to check some of that stuff we have to

have access to the facility Chris do you

know if that got worked out or I don't

know when their license expires but I

think even if we delay if they have a

right to continue until we take it up

next I'd like to delay action on this if

we could Josh a few weeks and give our

zoning officers all the leverage they

needed thank you sir raise it up

I'll write the motion on for J then is

to what would you say mr. continued so

we're going to continue this item till

the next meeting

that'd be great 7-0 motion carry

okay the next one is item 7 this is a

public improvement is approving Iowa

Department of Transportation I dot

agreement for resurfacing and second

Avenue

Iowa for 15 from Euclid Avenue to North

West 72nd Place Council communication

number 19 - 489 mr. Coleman thank you I

take this off bill and I have had the

chance to talk a couple of times as have

many of us over time I I I have limited

times that somebody already pointed out

I'm down to my final three meetings and

I've served on the long-range

transportation plan for the region

through the MPO the last year plus it

takes and in the coming weeks we're

going to vote on a final adoption this

is a required document that kind of

talks about how growth will happen in

the metro area how it affects Des Moines

one of the things that fell out of that

document the last time we did the plan

is is we walked away from discussions

and long term plans and when I say long

term it's probably a decade or two away

of a north-south thoroughfare through

town as as the council will remember at

our last workshop we talked a little bit

about second Avenue and could that be

designed in a way that created more of

of that of that opportunity for much of

the last 50 years the concept was that

you know m.l.king that connects to

highway five on the south side could go

north to connect to the interstate or

one of the state highways on the north

side

in fact the council spent significant

money over that period of time to to

study the hundreds of thousands of

dollars

of course any big project we ran into

this with m.l.king going over the

Raccoon River we ran into it with

m.l.king going over the Des Moines River

and through the southeast side any

project that we have is in in our city

is ripe with considerations about impact

on flooding impact on the environment

and it's it would be - it would be

premature for anybody to say here's the

solution to the north-south corridor but

I do think that as we begin to spend a

lot of money on 2nd Avenue and realize

that's not going to take the strain off

of the neighborhoods on the north side

and I think about the Merle hay

Neighborhood Association I think about

Island Park I think about Beaver Avenue

some of those streets in those areas

have such a traffic demand that's not

well managed and problem that that you

know it's really hard to run a business

and do different things in in those

corridors because the amount of traffic

so I would propose that the council put

back on the agenda how we're going to

deal with this north/south concept I'd

say two other things mainly you know to

memorialize you know my memory and and I

I would assure you that these are facts

that when we did the i-235 build so if

you went back in time we kind of made

that decision on the design of that in

99 and 2000 and then it was built and I

think completed around 2007 we decided

not to build the design that Iowa

Department of Transportation recommended

they wanted it to be wider take more

houses out and to do you know

more what they called the full build

they agreed to it reluctantly to design

it the way they have with not as many

lanes which I support in part because

the city agreed to pursue a north-south

corridor to take the load off of i-235

we're not seeing it as

as will be some day you know but the

long-range forecast says that we're

going to have an increase of hundreds of

thousands of people still in the metro

area and and so that that's point number

one point number two is that along with

that when we talked about about ml King

and flu or being that solution going

north to south there was lots of talk

and I think there's there's documents in

the city manager's office that talk

about once that connection is made from

you know a state highway to a state

highway that that would be controlled

improved maintained by the state which

could save our citizens millions of

dollars what are we spending thirteen

million on Fluer right now

had it happened a decade ago that would

be there you know costs not ours so I

don't want movement what it does connect

to a state highway so we've got the

Purple Heart Highway and we got 235

those are both my ways Ryan it should be

maintained now and they agreed to it

they I think we can find documentation

that says says do you know that but they

they they agreed to it

that was about the time you came on the

council mayor I think when or maybe

became mayor Oh 302 so anyway one of the

undone pieces of work that I've been on

since I've been on the council is better

better traffic control going north and

south through town and I I think that we

have to have that on the agenda and I

hope the council as we kind of finalize

a design of second Avenue that's not

going to expand the capacity that we

find it somewhere on the north side and

this was my excuse to pull it off the

agenda right now they're going through a

residential area

yeah second was the tree 12th Street

through a moral story Morningstar yeah

that's I mean that yeah that takes a lot

of traffic right there and you kind of

could run by that old literally yeah

that appealed yeah labor Park and the

Little League so we're talking about a

you know decade

plus of work to be done with DC people

and state transportation and the MPO and

you know our own feelings about it but I

I would challenge the council was you

know you guys are all going to be back

next year

that you make this a priority to think

about thank you Chris I wholeheartedly

agree and wholeheartedly support it

we've taken some pretty major hits down

there on Euclid / Douglas along that

Douglas Avenue corridor of course we

lost Plaza lanes they will not rebuild

the Saigon market in that corner is

closing they are not going to be back in

business we've got some fringe

businesses that are not adding anything

to the community and as you look at that

that stretch of road that's pretty

important to the entire city we've got

all of our major hospitals can be

reached through m.l.king you can get to

broad lines you can get to Mercy you can

get to Methodist you can get to Lutheran

everyone and one of the times advance

sat and talked with Mercy Hospital and

that's why they want to be a part of the

second Avenue discussion is because they

get a lot of their people coming in from

out of town

mostly seniors and they say they're

scared to death to drive on the freeway

of Des Moines now that they can drive 35

miles an hour down m.l.king they feel

more comfortable more safe and so that's

part of the reason I was pushing 2nd

Avenue it to be that north-south

corridor it's not going to be I think

the time is right to look at this we if

you look across the metro area we've

added new interchanges at a hundred

street for Urbandale we best added the

flyover and that 141 exit in Urbandale

grimes and we're adding a new

interchange on Meredith in Urbandale

plus West Des Moines getting their own

interchanges over there any Ankeny is

getting their own interchanges the one

missing piece of the puzzle here is

where as Des Moines fit in and why are

all these going in each one of them

represents economic development in that

area

and this is an area that sorely needs

some economic development I'd like to

make sure that somewhere in this next

decade hopefully we can put a focus on

it this year is that we take a look and

dust off that plan and let's make this

thing a priority for this council so

this city can continue to grow and enjoy

the amenities that we we put our money

into so Chris I won't really thank you

for that lead him that is absolutely

something that we sorely need in our

city and and definitely in Ward one so I

appreciate that thank you mayor mayor

thanks Chris for pulling off and I know

that we've had discussions at the MPO

about this and and I knew that I asked

Chris about this about two three years

ago like why have we never thought that

we needed another north/south and I know

there's a there was been a lot of push

back to make it easier for people to get

out of our city well the road goes both

ways folks I mean the road comes back

into Des Moines as well as it goes out

so for that type of argument or that

type of mindset I think that's I think

that's somewhat silly and in my mind so

I would be very supportive of that

obviously we have a lot of hurdles to

get through I know

February I believe I will be the chair

of the MPO and that'll be for two years

so I would I would like to I'd like to

see where the discussions would go I

know that speaking with the folks in

West Des Moines in Ankeny they were all

very supportive of that being done but

they can't be the only person that would

be supportive of it because as my

understanding they got beat up pretty

good the last time they try to get it

done we are going to need some help with

Polk County because Polk incorporated

Polk County it was is part of it and so

we're gonna have to start some

discussions with them and and see where

those discussions go but

you know I think that that's something

for the growth of our city and economic

development that we'd be silly not to

think of for the future of our kids and

our grandkids and and and you know just

the future of our city you can't just

have one interstate going north and

south if you want to continue to grow

the right way so that's that's my two

cents worth there anybody else well good

I mean one I I mean I think these are

important discussions to have but I also

think that we need to and we did a lot

of good work around move DSM which we

just adopted that transportation plan

you know it's not quite a year ago or a

year ago the that provides us some

guidance on that but I think we need to

be mindful of the impact some of these

widening projects have and what we've

learned not just from our own community

but communities around the country

because I do have questions about what

that does from an economic development

perspective I think the wider when you

create wider thoroughfares I think it

creates challenges for businesses along

those those areas and it creates

challenges for creating the type of

spaces that that we're talking about and

wait you say that we want so I want to

be mindful of that and I also want to be

mindful of one of the things that I

think we we need to do and are hopefully

on the the path to doing which is we

need to fix our existing roads first and

focus on that before we widen and expand

the amount of roadway that we are taking

on and and so those are the lenses that

I'm going to be looking at these

decisions through and and I think it's

important to to keep those pieces in

mind going forward and Joe is our you

know as chair of the MPO I hope you'll

take those things into consideration as

well yeah we're at we're absolutely

gonna continue to fix the road

that we have and continue the path this

this wouldn't be any additional funding

that would come out of our road

improvement funds that we got or

anything like that I mean that those are

our number one priority I believe that

this would be a state feds would help

with some of the funding with this with

some ST BG funds and and things like

that but no under any circumstances this

isn't going to take away from our road

improvement front in any way I just want

to make that clear yeah thank you for

that pointing that out that that that

that's not our I don't think any of our

intentions that work no I would worded I

wouldn't allow it

yeah there's nothing much that even even

is the city's yeah thank you I mean I

that's what how far out the the boundary

is pretty short there before he hits two

jobs right right patchy probably depends

on the engineering of which way they but

it's you know a couple hundred yards

north of Euclid you know which is where

it would become a which now becomes an

MLK he's gonna need reconstructed I

would think in the next five years after

driving down at many times to head north

and south it's got some serious problems

on that road so if we're gonna

reconstruct it and let's think let's be

smart about reconstructing that road in

the right way I do want to I do want to

say one other thing if other people are

done you know that the nature of this

road in the 20 years that I've served

has changed a little bit I think 20

years ago where 22 years ago somebody

might make the case that building roads

like this creates urban sprawl my guess

is a hundred percent of the good

development that would happen as a

result of this and the houses that would

be constructed will be five miles closer

to the core of the city of the metro

area than where let's say Ankeny is

building now or where West Des Moines is

building this is a chance it may not be

in the city but it's a chance as we

think about the environment and being

good stewards of transportation systems

that this is a way to combat urban

sprawl and not add to it

three point all right I think we've got

a with that maybe emotion do you not

accept this

I will also in sort of the dovetail on

what Bill was talking about about that

whole Douglas Avenue corridor and down

to the river and all that the RTG has

been working on a study for that whole

corridor that's really exciting and

Connie was there the other night

Bela you may have touched into it for a

few minutes it it this whole idea with

the proper planning for highways and

transportation and with appropriate

funding and sidewalks and and multimodal

transportation and they could really add

to this whole area and but I do agree we

need to be careful of funding sources

and how it goes because we we've made a

lot of promises around streets and roads

reconstruction repairs I mean quite

frankly and in in storm sewer stuff

around it too which is around the Des

Moines River as well and around four

Mile Creek and everywhere else I mean we

are talking about one hundred and forty

five million on storm water improvements

we're talking about over three hundred

million dollars of improvements and in

streets on top of everything that we've

been doing recently we're talking about

a hundred and eighty miles of new

connectivity through sidewalks and

connecting people and have made EA

compliant and connecting students to

schools and safe ways we have really

spent a lot of time and is was pointed

out on the whole move DSM things so

thanks for bringing it all up but I

think these are all have to be on the

table and hopefully we can get the

appropriate support to to move these

projects forward I'm excited and we're

all sitting here committed to keeping

that bed guide moving forward I'll move

item seven as it exists on our agenda

and then add to it a referral to the

city manager's office to put this on a

workshop agenda for you know early 2020

seven yes motion carried

all right next item I believe is item 42

however well I guess we had a couple of

minutes left so item 42 is approving a

donation construction agreement with

kick it forward regarding installation

of a mini pitch system pitches all court

at Birdland Sports Park what counts of

communication number 19 - 488 and under

that renaming the Mike McPherson Tennis

Complex we Birdland sports park tennis

courts in the sponsor on this item is

council member Coleman mr. Coleman well

Linda was also there and I'll let her go

first yes I just wanted to extend my

gratitude to the parks department into

the nonprofit kick it forward forward

choosing this location for the

futsal courts I had to like google it to

figure out what it was Matt just

explained it to me it's very exciting

and it I mean there are so many things

going on in Ward 2 you know I know we've

got a new ropes course over farther east

and and with this and there's just

really a lot of things going on in it's

an exciting time to be in war too so I

just want to thank kick it forward and I

look forward to being there to watch the

first game start especially me

that's great that's very good mr.

Coleman let's get it I I just I wanted

to say exactly what Linda did so good

job our parts department keeps bringing

interesting games and opportunities for

our residents I just think everything

their team is doing been and and

everybody in parks is hitting home runs

every week I think it's exciting and

like so much of what they've done I

think they're I think they're at the

forefront for the city to of you know

recognizing the diversity of age groups

and races and you know ethnic cultures

of of what might be attractive to

different groups of people playing

different sports so I'm really proud

that we have this on our agenda and that

we're moving forward a long time ago our

daughter played it at the soccer house

and nor Walker coming down there and it

is it is a it's a fun great game and

small court it'll be great and well use

so all right we have a motion for 4222 a

okay can I move 42 and 42 a thank you

you want to call something out it's good

job everybody that sounds like fun and

thank you again to the parts department

then glad to here with this boat we're

moving forward quickly let's move to

item 43 which is amended scheduled

administrative penalties for failure to

remove snow and ice from sidewalks in

violation chapter 102 with Misbah Code

Council communication number 19 - 505

Josh so right I took a look at this and

this comes kind of after the the work

session that we had and and I had asked

because we're essentially adding an

increased fee scale and adding what

third fourth and fifth fees right is is

what we were we were doing or adding a

few we're increasing the fee scale and

adding third fourth and fifth but we're

doing this within one snow season and

it's essentially I mean it's essentially

going to be meaningless if we keep it

within one snow season at least based on

past experience we've in the last five

years had zero third offenses but my

guess is the people who are getting

those first and second offenses are

probably oftentimes the same people year

after year so what I would propose and

rather than make this within a snow

season maybe make it within three snow

seasons I mean I would be curious as to

legals

you know we asked asked about that and I

think legal said that there there were

not issues but the longer the time

period and maybe we run into additional

risks I think the best way that I can

can explain our our concern is that the

its Channel

kind of the

mirror the opposite reflection back from

our discussion earlier when we talked

about compressing dates and times if we

extend dates and times out too far I

think it's gonna be hard to to hold that

that property owner to it and I think

the other concern that we would have is

that it would need to be the same

property owner not it's not just against

the property so it would have to be the

same property owner you you mean as a

sole and it's right if they sold it and

and then the next person that moves in I

don't think that we can charge them for

the whatever happens by the spread so

sure I think that's absolutely

reasonable okay would you have concern

with a five-year five five starts to be

too too too long that that gives us

concerns we'd want some time to flush

that out with more more research I three

three three

so could we could we amend this to a

three year I think longer you want to

hold them accountable because well I've

got a person that I never shovels that

lives in California hey didn't shovel

the last night and if you have a mild

winter in between to two heavy winters

which it looks like you know we've had a

few mild winters yeah I know it would be

for purposes of the record those would

be consecutive snow seasons that we're

talking about three three consecutive

snow season okay so the amended

scheduled administrative penalties for

failure to remove snow and ice from

sidewalks in violation chapter 102 of

the Municipal Code for a period of three

consecutive frequencies by Councillor

Mandelbaum move

seven yes motion carried all right that

since its 503 this takes us to hearings

our first hearing item is item 55 on the

conveyance of certain excess City

property owned acquired property owned

owned property acquired as part of 2018

limited voluntary flood buyout program

to the adjoining property owners for

side yard purposes only is there anyone

here that would like to speak on item 55

and will open the hearing anybody again

this is the limited voluntary flood

buyout program all right

can we have a motion and I'm 55 has been

moved

seven yes motion carried

item 56 it's not a request from the Des

Moines area community college BMAC is

the owner of Greg Martin is the officer

to rezone property at 10:31 and 1039 9th

Street from our four multi-family

residential to PUD Planned Unit

development and an amendment to the

Human Services campus PUD conceptual

plan for property in the vicinity of

1111 9th Street to expand the PUD

conceptual plan area to include the

property requested for rezoning and

extend the existing surface parking lot

additional property within the PUD

boundary is owned by the United Way of

central Iowa a is the first

consideration the ordinance above and B

is the final consideration the ORS above

the waivers requested by the applicant

and requires six votes in the applicant

again is d-mat it's open the hearing and

see if there's anyone in the audience to

speak to this item seeing none mr. mayor

I'll move 56 a and 56 be all right

seven yes motion carried all right to

Sodom 5707 approving an urban renewal

development agreement from connelly

lofts associates LP frank levy is the

officer to purchase and develop a

multi-family housing project on

city-owned property at 401 southeast 6th

Street and 400 South East 7th Street in

the metro center urban renewal area and

approving the conceptual development

plan council communication number 19 -

496 let's open the hearing and see if

there's anyone here to talk to item 57

anyone

I see now mr. mayor I'll move out of 57

item 57 has been moved any discussion I

I'll just uh I'll just add a couple

things before we vote on this I know the

developers worked on the energy

efficiency program as well as looking at

running conduit for evey charging I

appreciate those efforts

I want to encourage I I don't I don't

know the specifics on what you looked at

in the mid-america new construction

program but I think it'd be great to get

a little little farther beyond the the

building code then you currently are at

but we can talk about that separately

offline I'll support the project and

appreciate the efforts thanks Josh do

you want me to take that again yeah

do we still get to be talking about

Conley laughs after three is it build it

can we can we build it monthly updates

yeah good item 58 this is dismissing a

hearing to rezone 601 24th Street in 602

23rd street from our 161 family low

density residential to eliminate our

three multi-family residential to allow

the development of up to seven units of

three-story row house dwellings this

item was continued from the October 14

2019 council meeting again this motion

is to dismiss this hearing anyone here

to speak to this item

I'll move item 58 item 58 has been moved

seven yes motion carries item 59 is a

Lee Town Creek Way box culvert from Dean

Avenue to UPR our resolution improving

plans specifications form of contract

documents and the engineer's estimate

and designating the lowest responsible

bidder as SM inches and Sons Inc Stephen

M hench as president five million four

hundred and twenty four thousand two

hundred and twenty one dollars council

communication number 19 - 491 a is

approving the contract and the bond and

permission to sublet muscle in the

hearing on item 59 on the Leigh Township

Creek Way anyone step up sir sir mayor

members of the council dan Manning 317

sixth Avenue des Moines Iowa

representing the tenant at 3121 Deane

feed energy here tonight not to objected

the project frankly to make it clear

that on behalf of the tenant that we

appreciate both the staff and the

council involvement in this matter what

we're down to is the staging of this

project as the easement is

as the as the culvert is installed

across the 3121 beam property we had a

very productive meeting with we feel

like we did we're not there yet but we

think what this thing is moving forward

and we're going to get get to that aget

to the point where we have a resolution

that's certainly our goal we're here

tonight just because we want to make

sure that everyone just understands that

we appreciate where we are where we need

to be and we certainly support the

project and we hope we can get this

staging issue resolved mr. mayor

yes thank you I appreciate the

involvement

mr. mayor was there and myself and we I

thought we had a productive meeting with

your owner obviously we know that we we

have to come up with a resolution sooner

than later we understand your time we

understand your timeline and and I'm

hoping that you know with the help of

staff and they've been very very good to

work with us I feel like they've been

bending over backwards and trying to

come up with the resolution but you know

we have many many homes that are

affected and we appreciate that and as

well and we we appreciate everyone's

involved yep yeah thank you so I will

move that being said I will move item 59

and 59 a

seven yes motion carried

item sixty is on the Simon Estes River

sheeting resolution proving the plans

specifications form of contract

documents engineer's estimate

designating the lowest responsible

bidder as Kramer and Associates Inc

Robert Kramer president and CEO four

hundred and seventeen thousand three

hundred and fifty dollars council

communication number 19 - 492 is

approving the contract and the bond and

I will open the hearing and ask if

there's anyone here to speak to this

item at the Simon Estes River cheating

project anyone I see none I'll move

sixty and sixty a seven yes motion

carried

all right let's note that it is 5:12 and

that completes the hearings and takes us

back title 49 Adam 49 is an ordinance

second consideration that was pulled by

councilmember gato its amending chapter

114 of the Mizpah code relating to the

rates for city parking garage

Raja's a is the final consideration in

the orange above and the waiver is

requested by the city manager and

requires six votes Joe yeah so mr. mayor

thank you we had a lengthy discussion

about our budget this morning and the

new garage at East Fourth and Des Moines

Street were waiting for the control arms

they weren't gonna be installed until

middle of January maybe the end of

January February one they were going to

be installed so councilmember bows them

and myself and the rest of the council

agreed that it would be beneficial for

the East Village to allow some

additional parking there and we would do

that until January 1 for free in the

lower level of that parking garage

so that'll be part of this resolution I

I believe that that was written

incorrect it's maybe what was change was

the effect of the day that's made

January 1 2020 so there's no okay

changing the rate until January 1 2020

right okay so that one so we'll be able

to enter that one free of charge be able

to use it so I would encourage hopefully

we will be able to get the word out to

the business owners maybe some of their

property some of their employees can use

it if not obviously I'm hoping some of

the shoppers can use it in the East

Village that they're going to be there

so I will move that being said I will

move 49 and 49 a and that relates

specifically to the first level only the

first level is only the public parking

for for that garage the rest is lease

parking it's my understanding that's the

holiday gift they spell it it is the

holiday gift to the East Village yes and

thank you for that it was a brilliant

idea by you

good job she understands retail I shared

this idea earlier at the CBB and they

were all fake all right yeah it takes us

to item 51 that was the end of the

consent agenda our last item was that

item 49 51 is emitting various sections

of chapter 26 the Municipal Code

regarding the adoption of the state of

Iowa plumbing code and Mechanical Code

Council communication number 19 - 499 a

the energy code these are building and

building regulation 1 is the final

consideration the orange above the

waivers requested requested by Chris

Johansen who is the community

development department director it

requires 6 votes be his buildings and

building regulations 1 is the final

consideration the orders of the waivers

requested again by Chris Johansen

Community Development Department

director and again requires six votes C

is the national fuel gas code amendments

mechanical code and fuel gas code 1 is

the final consideration the orange above

the waivers again requested by Krista

Hanson Community Development Department

director and requires six votes D is an

adoption to the state plumbing code 1

under that is the final consideration in

the ordinance above and again the waiver

is requested by Chris Johnson the

Community Development Department

Director and again requires six votes

let's open it up and see if anybody has

any comments on any of these code

amendments anything anybody I have a

question on help me what number that is

hey I don't I meant to ask this

beforehand so I apologize but 51a the

energy code I don't know what changes

are being made to that I don't know what

yeah you know it's it's a that I'm

interested in understanding that's why

he's here

I'm sure you know mr. mayor members of

council Cody Christensen permit develop

an administrator mr. Mandelbaum in

response to your question a number of

these like items a B and C are merely

changing out the references to the

International plumbing code and the

International Mechanical Code to read

the state plumbing code in the state

mechanical good ok so that's all that

it's doing within the energy code it is

yeah it's just changing the references

state mechanical code but it's not

changing to the state energy code no

it's not ok I asked a similar question

and it turned out as I looked into it

was about nuts and bolts and in sealing

materials and stuff like that as opposed

to efficiency which is what I was hoping

it was about but I guess this is a very

specific change in how these systems

were put together it is and and the code

cycles don't specifically line up where

the state adopts the plumbing and

mechanical codes it doesn't line up with

the adoption cycle that we we use for

adopting our other codes that's why you

see the amendments to some of these

other codes that reference those - all

right any other questions I see none

I'll move 51 a B C and D do I have to do

51 a 151 B 151 C 1 and 50 1 D 1 thank

you you're welcome

it's a mouthful you would think I would

know that by now

Josh I don't know where you were going

with it but I was hoping that we were

gonna be looking at energy code updates

that were maybe a little more stringent

in terms of performance of equipment and

that sort of thing but but if that

wasn't what it was about and my concern

was that we weren't our code is better

than the state code on the energy code

and I don't want a back crack yep I'm

with you

seven yes motion carried all right that

takes us to item 52 item 52 is amending

chapter 114 admissible code regarding

traffic regulation changes as follows

counsel communication number 19 - 494 he

has a proposed parking restriction

Evergreen Avenue between southeast 19th

Street and southeast 20th Street be is a

code modifications related to school

passenger loading and unloading on Park

Avenue and South West 7th Street to Park

Avenue Elementary School let's go ahead

and ask if there's anyone here that

would like to speak to any of these

items mening chapter 114 mr. mayor real

quick this was this issue was brought up

the meeting that you and I are at the

neighborhood meeting and so hats off to

our staff because they've moved in a

matter of three weeks putting this on

the agenda and in making this the the

parking restriction on evergreen and yep

we had a citizen can tell us about it

the next day I've made the phone call

they went out and checked it and you

know sure enough three weeks later we've

got it on the agenda we're gonna have a

sign-up so yeah great follow-up post

about thank you really really good and

good response time it's something that's

a public safety issue that that worked

out really good so thank you Steve and

your team really do appreciate the quick

response

I'll move fifty to a and B if no one

else has any other comments

and I'll waive the second and third

reading

seven yes motion carried

I thought you were just waving at

everyone hey this one to talk

alright item 53 was not used moves this

item 54 these are items regarding the

annual urban renewal report a URR and

tax increment financing TIF

certification accounts communication

number 19 - 500 - pays advance of funds

to the Metro Center urban renewal

project for planning oversight and

administration for $800,000 be is a

recommendation from the city manager

regarding TIF needs for fiscal year 2020

through 2021 and a certification of TIF

indebtedness see is the urban renewal

report for the urban renewal plans and

areas within the City of Des Moines we

did begin a discussion on this this

morning however I think that this is

going to be taken up at one of our next

it's been well so any rate if anybody

has any thoughts regarding the Schmid

Daria's and and tip areas I otherwise

will look for a - I will move it I I did

ask in preparation for the agenda and

maybe everybody got this list but you

know most of the TIF things that we've

done have been 20 years Matt Matt you

know authored a number of those that's

significant because the real uptick in

our ability to leverage TIF for the

citizens of the Moines started about 20

years ago and this year and every year

going forward some of those early TIF

projects are going to roll off early on

they were like everything for 20 years

you know and just like the hotels and

others we have it you know now they're

getting 75% for ten years instead of a

hundred percent for 20 anyway

the next couple years are going to be

big for the city as projects like

nationwide all those buildings come off

and

start to pour a lot of funds into the

city coffers because the investment we

made 20 years ago and I hope that you

celebrate that as as those start to come

off nationwide is called a line on that

list but well mark 20 22 well mark comes

off quicker because that that was a more

recent one didn't last as long and you

know a lot of us are concerned about

different aspects of these but you know

a lot of this TIF stuff helped them

become more you know lead compliant in

terms of energy efficiency and and

making sure that they had real jobs and

they weren't just hollow shells of

servers for instance you know this has

worked out really well for the city and

I think we're gonna see all that

investment in hard decisions of the

council pay off and I hope that you

celebrate it and that's kind of an early

list as we look at the next three or

four years you know I think that that to

your point is we've changed those

policies we've seen a roll up of the

amount of money that's coming out of

those projects that is being released

into the general fund to support school

district and in the county and and

whatever and I think that numbers I know

gone from like 8 to 30 million more yeah

in in the recent past so hats off to our

budget finance people and in looking at

it we pushed very hard to look at those

kinds of projects and how they're funded

and make sure that that everything that

we do is moving forward to supporting

the whole city and moving forward in

this it's some of those funds are what

allows us to make the investments that I

talked about earlier so good point mr.

Coleman we keep getting smarter you made

the point about returning to the county

and the school district we talked about

the need for better mental health that's

what the county does that funds you know

returning that to them gives them the

necessary funds to do that we could

consume that the the other thing that

goes I think I noticed by many is we're

using this more and more for leverage

Joe has a really good hotel project in

the East

they got TIF money because we didn't

want any parking on the first floor you

know we wanted some commercial and

retail and restaurants or a bar and so

it's helping us design a better City as

well that'll be more sustainable

long-term yep I'll move it I don't have

it in front of me but it's 54:54 a B and

G and c7 yes

motion carries all right that takes us

to one extra item that's on the

steepening that was added and it's the

directions of the city manager regarding

a tax levy decrease of 40 cents per

thousand valuation for the homeowners

and small businesses city of Des Moines

and sponsor as myself quickly will read

the direction to the city manager

regarding this he is to look at a budget

and show us what that looks like and how

that might be achieved but whereas the

mayor and city council acknowledge the

affordable homes and neighborhoods are

critical to the success of our city and

whereas keeping property taxes low is

critical to ensuring our city remains

affordable and whereas the mayor and

city council have already lowered the

city's total property tax levy by 60

cents per 1000 in value in 2019 and

whereas the city has new revenue from

the local option sales and service tax

in the city's homeowners are

experiencing rising home values and

whereas at the November 18 2019 city

council work session the mayor proposed

decreasing the total property tax rate

an additional 40 cents per 1,000

valuation in the council believes that

such an additional decrease is

appropriate and for benefit of its

citizens and small business owners

resulting in a cumulative total property

tax levy disk decrease of $1.00 in 2019

this would be enacted I believe in tooth

in 2021 to the lowest tax rate in over

24 years how long 24 years that's before

you and now therefore be it resolved by

the City Council of the City of Des

Moines that the council is hereby

directing the city manager to recommend

a budget for the fiscal year 2021 which

reduces the city's total property tax

levy by an additional 60 cents or 40

cents I'm sorry for 1,000 in valuation

and we've asked him to look at that and

kind of look at all of our priorities

that we mentioned earlier that we're

moving forward with and made commitments

for to our citizens but we think it's

important that that he give us a

recommendation back in regard to our

request so that would be what I'm

putting forward for a for about this

evening

anybody I I'll start I'm sure other

people have stuff I think that this is

brilliant you know one of the reasons

why why we're elected by the people is

we have to go out and listen to them and

what I've heard more than any time in my

career on the council is that people are

happy that their assessments are going

out you know that's I put on Facebook

today

that's my largest investment I don't

have any investment that I root for that

it doesn't go up my retirement is

dependent on it it's like my 401 K or a

you know a money market I want it to go

up in value as much as it can but when

it goes up too quick because that's part

of the formula for what your taxes are

the city has to respond and Mayor I'm

really proud of you for recognizing that

and recommending this to the council I

I'm sensitive that were were we run the

risk while other communities have been

able to cut their taxes more drastically

that we're gonna fall behind and give

people a convenient excuse to move away

not raise their family here by their

second house in a different community we

want people to come to Des Moines stay

here and live here for life and part of

that is respecting that pressure on

their own budget and us spending money

like you know like it's our own and so

being reasonable in the tax levy is

brilliant and I appreciate your

leadership on this and to everybody in

the audience you know we have been

starting our budget discussions a couple

three months ago moving into this season

because we've got to certify March 15th

and it's important that we move this

discussion forward and give direction to

our staff and to our city manager and

his his team we can't wait another few

weeks or another month to have this

these staff members have their

responsibilities they have to look at

the implications here and give us a

report back as we look at finalizing

this this budget for the 2020 2021

fiscal year and so it's our

responsibility to have respect to the to

the staff to move this directive forward

so that they can give us appropriate

feedback in direction so with that being

said anybody else have anything yep I

too support it mayor thank you very much

this will help the citizens in our city

mr. mayor thank you for bringing this

bringing this up obviously we've been a

lot of neighborhood beatings together

we've been talking to our residents

heard a lot about assessments which we

don't control but I think it's important

to note to our residents that with a 40

cent decrease this doesn't affect an end

to our employees of the city it doesn't

in fact that we're doing cuts to you

know services that that is not we're

looking to do our assessment has grown

tremendously and will go into effect

this fall so if we don't react to that

and I've said it from the very beginning

I wouldn't vote for a budget that didn't

have a significant increase and I think

this is significant we are still going

to see an increase in property taxes

we're not decrease - I mean you went a

significant decrease is a significant

decrease but I do believe with the

assessment of that this the dollar

amount that we're all the way to pay is

not going to be less and

I think that we need to make sure that

we're clarifying that and we're not

reducing the services that were going to

provide to our citizens and no employees

are gonna lose their job when we talk

about a decrease in the levy rate so I

think that's important that everyone

knows that to all of our employees in to

all of our residents I think this is

really a great step in the right

direction

I'm sure the Scots going to come up with

a great budget that we're still going to

be able to do all of our CIP all of our

CIP things we're gonna be able to still

keep our services where what we have

promised that we're going to provide

that we're still going to be able to do

that and no one's going to lose their

job I think that's very important

because I'm sure when when people start

hearing the council is going to reduce

taxes the next thing they think of well

am I going to lose my job and that's not

what we're up here going to do at least

that's not what I'm looking to do but I

am looking at providing the basic

services for our residents and providing

that at a cost that where we can say hey

we're we see what your assessments going

to do and we're not going to allow that

to you know keep our levy rate we have

to lower our levy rate because a lot of

the properties went up 10 to 15 to

sometimes 20 percent you can't have that

and not reduce the levy rate so thank

you mayor for bringing it to everyone's

attention and directing the the staff to

do what they needed to do and I applaud

you for that for those efforts and and

bringing it to the forefront this quick

so thank you well we're in the budget

cycle it need to be done yo now rather

than later anybody else when we go out

for the community conversations - I

think you know by then we'll have

probably the budget and I think we just

have to be able to address to our

citizens and ask them - are you you know

as long as we can maintain all the

services and everything that we've got

in the CIP and that we're proposing and

then you know say they're still saying

we need more then we need to offset that

with how much do we're going to do is

services and how much we're going to do

so levy and we're

is it all come out I know we're getting

more in the sales tax and I have the

assessment so we still might if we still

have an increase I think we have to be

able to weigh those things with what we

also hear when we go out that we need

more done in a lot of different areas

more you know infrastructure things so I

think I just want to make sure that

everybody understands that we're still

going to be able to do it what else do

we need to do and how fast could we do

it if we had more so right given that

whole picture so people can have an open

discussion and that's we're asking the

management to bring that back watch the

choice what that means bill yeah as you

mentioned we go to the neighborhood

meetings and for like it or not they're

going to come back they came to say to

us you raised my taxes no we did not we

lowered it 60 cents the the assessment

went up people don't understand that and

so I think we are taking the right step

and taking another bite on the levy and

like councilman gato said it probably is

not going to make a difference where

it's going to be below what they paid

before but it shows that we're

addressing an issue that they can't

understand and want to get resolved to

the best of their ability so I think

we're going at it in the right direction

and I like the idea that as a councilman

gato said we're not causing any jobs

we're not taking anything out of CIP

we're making sure that we're competitive

in the housing market and we make sure

that our residents feel like they're

part of the process and we've done a

good job of listening and made

adjustments accordingly so hats off to

you today mayor thank you yeah thank you

well it and I'm gonna support asking the

manager to come back with a

recommendation and understanding what

this looks like

I think we're understanding the

implications are important like many

things we do this is part of getting the

balance right and one of the things that

I know because I I hear it a lot and it

will only increase because even if we

reduce our levy rate people will will be

seeing a an increase in what they are

paying because the assessments have gone

up significantly and when they

do people expect our services to go up

even if we're decreasing our levy rate

people expect it you know the thing that

I get all the time is for the taxes I

pay I want my Road in X condition or I I

want to be able to to go to the library

on a Saturday those are the type of

things that that I hear and it's

important that we understand the

implication and that we can stay on

track with the investments that we have

been making in terms of the roads that

we are building and reconstructing so

that the quality of our roads continue

to improve so that we're hitting that

long term will return around our

situation because I think we are on that

path but I want to make sure that we

stay on that path and I'd even like to

accelerate that path in terms of

improving our existing roads if we have

the ability because I think that service

is what what I hear the most from from

our residents they want to improve that

similarly the requests for sidewalks and

we're taking important steps on our

priority 1 sidewalks but there's more

there's a lot more to be done

we know that it's going to be a long

slow process even with the increased

investment that we made and so I want to

make sure that we are balancing and we

understand what's not going to be

getting done if if we do this because we

talked about responding when when the

assessments go up in a significant way

but typically this is you know we don't

talk about the opposite when assessments

are stagnant and I mean what we do and

the good years balance out the bad and

what we do in assessments are stagnant

is we we tighten our belts a little bit

because we don't want to we don't want

to increase taxes so we need to be

mindful of that and we need to think

about what kind of long-term investments

we can make that will improve service

and we need to understand all of the

implications so those are the type of

things that when this comes back I'm

going to be looking to

from the managers budget and looking to

understand I think it's appropriate to

take this step at this time because you

can't if you don't evaluate it if you

don't get that information we can't make

a good decision going forward and I

think it's important that we do that

thank you so I generally don't move this

is somebody want to move all of this

extra item one unless you and I want to

say in support of everything's been set

up here it is our directive to staff and

to the manager is they put this together

that they make sure that we can make

good on all of the promises that we made

on the investments in streets in

infrastructure in parks in sidewalks in

the neighborhoods that we laid out in to

Josh's point to make sure we keep those

libraries open that's part of what our

whole Local Option Sales Tax was we said

that's what we're going to do and we

want to make sure that we can maintain

those promises and deliver on them I

won't back down from that either but I

think that that with the appropriate

look at our budget and with a really

good sharp financial staff that I think

that we've put together over the last

number of years we're going to be able

to deliver and I want to thank all the

council for supporting this seven yet

work motion carry all right and with

that unless anybody has did you want to

say something I see on crutches you came

in he's just here those guys you're just

here to listen to us well thanks for

coming down we thank our brothers here

from our our various labor areas thanks

for coming down this evening and to all

of you that put up with us till 541 this

meeting is adjourned thank you all for

being

so is it

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