-
if we can have your attention we'll get
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started here welcome to our workshop
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December twentieth meeting and start off
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here with responses to the City Council
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and mr. city manager you had two
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questions all figures for answers for
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both and first what question had to do
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with the municipal service center okay
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and you were acting service enterprise
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which the answer is that there's a long
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narrative essentially the answer is that
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we've been finding in this area and
-
regardless of what decisions are made
-
about beautiful service center
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plaintiffs we covered all the doctor's
-
letter remember will suffer inspector
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generally in that
-
somebody it's an area that's ripe for
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redevelopment and so the areas along
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south east 14 along South East connector
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east to west through the area are
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appropriate areas for us to target our
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activity you have on the agenda this
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evening one of the first purchases of
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land down there so all of that would be
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appropriate given our long-term
-
objectives for that area in terms of
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economic development regardless of what
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we do with municipal service in our
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although our intentions are to pursue
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the service center concept as council
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has directed the second question had to
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do with a topographic map of the
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flooding characteristics of the site
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that we propose for municipal service
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center we have or will provide a copy
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that to the mayor who's the one that
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asked for it and there are copies
-
available for each of you if you'd like
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to have it just let me know Eric wrote
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em that's all we have I think it'd be
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great to have that I'd like to have a
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copy of the map adeje like the others
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would too so if we share it with
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everybody he'll be be great you know
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okay next on our agenda bicycle master
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plan I see mr. Tripp heading to the
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microphone good morning Thank You mayor
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pro-tem a halfie numbers of the city
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council Don trip Park and Recreation
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Director this will be the first time
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you've seen this plan it's a
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collaborative effort of several city
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departments it will be presented today
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by Richard Brown who has been at our
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city parks planner that has been in
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charge of trail system planning and
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management development for the last
-
several years and Gary foxit city's
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traffic engineer the plan seeks to build
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upon the city's extensive trail network
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by integrating the bicycle into the
-
city's transportation system just one
-
final note for me at your seats you have
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a folder looking like this there are
-
several maps with this presentation that
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are a little bit difficult to read in
-
the PowerPoint format so you want to
-
take a look at those and with that I'll
-
turn it over to Richard Brown
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mayor pro-tem mahaffey members of the
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council richard brown park planner 3
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thank you for the opportunity to be here
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to talk about a proposed bicycle and
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trail master plan for the City of Des
-
Moines this plan seeks to build upon the
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city's extensive trail network and to
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integrate the bicycle into the city's
-
transportation system as I get started I
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want to provide you a brief overview of
-
what we're going to discuss today in the
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past few years a series of council
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actions and policies has created a
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paradigm shift in how the bicycle is
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treated and accommodated in the City of
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Des Moines this proposed plan builds
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upon the city's extensive trail network
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and seeks to integrate the bicycle into
-
its transportation system the focus of
-
the plan is not the trail system but
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rather the on street bicycle facilities
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that connect the community to our trail
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system and finally we'll look at are we
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hip in the right direction and what are
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the next steps and where we go from here
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as I just indicated the city's extensive
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trail system is how we got to where we
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are today the roots of the Des Moines
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Cheryl system date back to nineteen
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seventy three with the construction of
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the Bill Riley trail the last 20 years
-
has seen a boom in the number of trails
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constructed and connected together at
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since those early beginnings in 1973 the
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trail system has grown from 1.7 miles to
-
over 41 miles today this map shows trail
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development in Des Moines up to nineteen
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ninety the Bill Riley is the purple on
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the left and the neil smith and Pat
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dorium are the ones on the right this
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map shows how the trail system in Des
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Moines and the surrounding communities
-
has exploded as it was in early 2010
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trails are clearly important important
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to the residents of Des Moines a 2007
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wreck Rachel recreational needs
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assessment and satisfaction survey
-
revealed that trails where the number
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one Park facility for the citizens of a
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Des Moines refer you to a handout in the
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folder that shows where trails ranked
-
among the priorities of citizens when
-
they did this survey
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over the past few years previous council
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actions and policy have integrated and
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accommodated the bicycle into the City
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of Des Moines of the council goals
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adopted in 2006 this proposed bicycle
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and trail map trail master plan most
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directly relates to the city's
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sustainable green community goal that
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includes a directive that des moines
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will offer safe reliable and convenient
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transportation alternatives that reduce
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the reliance on automobiles and parking
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facilities the Complete Streets policy
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is nearly two years old and has had a
-
huge impact on roads and left in the
-
City of Des Moines several roads now
-
have bicycle facilities including
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Ingersoll Avenue the newly rebuilt
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indianola avenue the brand new opened
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southeast connector urbandale avenue the
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newly rebuilt south east sixth street
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and next spring 45th street south of
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Grand Avenue will have bicycle
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facilities this represents over 6 miles
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of Des Moines streets that now have
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bicycle facilities on them this proposed
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bicycle master plan has many potential
-
benefits to the City of Des Moines
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among these benefits more bike riders
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mean less air pollution and carbon
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released into our atmosphere people that
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ride bikes are generally healthier and
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on street bicycle facilities can connect
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people to places that our trails cannot
-
creating this plan has been a nearly
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18-month process that kicked off in July
-
of 2009 the city hired Ulta planning and
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design on a Portland Oregon to conduct a
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plan this started with a series of
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public input sessions at the main
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library that concluded well over 100
-
people working from that input an
-
advisory committee comprised of a group
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of citizens city staff and other
-
interested organizations worked with the
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consultant to draft the proposed plan
-
the heart of this plan is a series of
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goals that are summarized here they
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focus on several overarching themes
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including health and wellness increased
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bicycle use economic development and
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fire environmental benefits and
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bicyclist safety
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one of the major aspects of the plan is
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a proposed bicycle and trail on on
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street bicycle network you'll find a
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copy of this map in your folder it's a
-
little bit hard to read up above here
-
but this proposed network includes a
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series of facilities some of which are
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new to Des Moines and others that are
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currently widely used around the city
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the combination of existing and proposed
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bicycle and trail facilities seeks to
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integrate the bicycle into the city's
-
transportation network Gary Fox will now
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take a few minutes to describe each of
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these new facilities good morning Margot
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I know it's hard to read this map but
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the real image I want you to take from
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this is think back on the map that
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Richard had about where our trails are
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and there were a lot of them in the
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downtown and out to the west and
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northwest there's a few in the northeast
-
corner and that's about it they're not
-
connected together there's more gaps in
-
there are trails it's a great system but
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there are many many gaps if you just
-
look at this map without getting into
-
the details of you see that this is
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represented all over the city there's
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connections here that will get you from
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all parts of town connect to those
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trails that we have and then include
-
some key additional links to the trails
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so how do we do that again as Richard
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said this is primarily on street so in
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some cases it's pretty simple restrike
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the streets is there you can just put up
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signs designated so you can do some way
-
finding and find your way on it these
-
are the types of techniques that are
-
used to create the on street bicycles
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bike facilities of course the first one
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is the off street trails that's what we
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have and there's some expansion of that
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to bring in the key connections but bike
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lanes bike Boulevard that's a relatively
-
new term and we'll talk about that a
-
little bit what those are cycle tracks
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that's also very new I don't know that
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there are any in the state Iowa directly
-
but chair lane markings shoulder
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bikeways the simple sign bike routes and
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then as you start to bring these things
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in that you need some additional
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amenities bicycle parking and other
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other amenities like showers
-
just a whole range of things start
-
getting added to the list to really make
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it work hi doc well for those that
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commute to work right to work and then
-
you're sweaty so you need to stop a
-
place park your bike take a shower go to
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work some of them have them in the
-
workplace and we actually need some
-
public ones so just those are the extra
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amenities that will kind of go along and
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fit in with as people really start using
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the bike as a primary form of
-
transportation again the off street
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trails typically they're 8 to 12 feet
-
wide it's paved ad a compliant all that
-
stuff and generally they follow along
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the rivers creeks and greenways and
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going back again to that image if we've
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got a lot of them but we got a lot of
-
gaps the kind of a burning image in my
-
mind as to why we need to do this is for
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a lot of folks to use that great trail
-
system we have they load their bike on
-
their car drive to a trailhead take
-
their bike off and then get a ride on
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the wonderful facilities that we have
-
seems to me that makes a lot more sense
-
just get your bike out of the garage or
-
whatever get on it you can ride on your
-
local street and then pick up a
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collector x boulevard or bike lanes or
-
something and then right and eventually
-
get to that trail and and do the rest
-
you're right or maybe you're going to
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school or to work or shop and so again
-
the bicycle lanes typically it's a
-
dedicated marked on the pavement the
-
image there is a nice picture that we've
-
taken there on ingersoll shows traffic
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there's trucks there's parking the bike
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lanes with a bike using it it really
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just carves out in the roadway
-
designates the places where the
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traffic's supposed to be and where the
-
bikes are supposed to be makes it work
-
pretty well as Richard said we have some
-
existing locations here southeast
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connector indianola east sixth those are
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new construction relatively easy to
-
build into it takes a little bit extra
-
of money to build the extra width but
-
relatively easy Cottage Grove was a real
-
simple restriping of that ingersoll's
-
will more complicated and controversial
-
with the additional things of parking
-
and buses on there but it can be fit
-
onto those kind of facilities urbandale
-
was a little bit challenging to
-
with residential parking but I think we
-
came to a good solution there east
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walnut we have them and there hasn't
-
been a lot of discussion about those so
-
we're off to a pretty good start but we
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got long ways to go to expand at the
-
bike boulevards is kind of a new
-
treatment that really bites have shared
-
the street with vehicles for a long time
-
on bike routes but this really picked
-
something it takes a street that serves
-
as a good bike collector and then
-
enhances it put some traffic calming
-
things in to help slow down traffic less
-
emphasis on the vehicular traffic and
-
more emphasis on the bicycle traffic may
-
one of the main things that may need to
-
happen with a bike Boulevard is as you
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get to crossing major streets collector
-
and arterial streets there may need to
-
be some additional facilities built or
-
bite detectors just a variety of things
-
to help the bikes easily get across the
-
really busy and heavy streets just a
-
variety of things air enters there's no
-
one-size-fits-all they've got to be
-
really designed particularly to the
-
circumstances of the individual Road
-
cycle tracks it's really it when you see
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this and it's kind of colored pavement
-
it's in a sidewalk that's one type of
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cycle track it doesn't really have to be
-
that I think a sense of the the key
-
element that differentiates that from a
-
bike lane is it puts the the bicycle
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lane on the other side of the park
-
vehicles like on ingersoll the park
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vehicles are right by the curb where the
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businesses are the bike lane is between
-
the park vehicles and the moving traffic
-
on a cycle track under certain
-
circumstances kind of makes sense if you
-
can take a lane of traffic out have the
-
park cars adjacent to the moving traffic
-
and then there's a bike lane between the
-
pedestrians and the park cars well bit
-
safer for the bicycles don't know that
-
there's a lot of places that this will
-
apply but again that's one of the
-
techniques and there may be some areas
-
where that's a better solution than
-
simply put in the bike lane on the
-
traffic side of park vehicles and shared
-
lane markings a fairly simple treatment
-
pretty similar to bike lanes but there
-
are some real specific standards that
-
you have to
-
to designate bike lanes on the street
-
sometimes if you have a little bit less
-
width and that rather than just give up
-
and not be able to do anything you can
-
mark it's called shero's is this bike
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symbol with the chevron arrows in the
-
front of it it's ash arrow indicating
-
that the bikes and the vehicle share the
-
road this is kind of the area that that
-
bike should ride pretty much right over
-
the symbol and through the shero's it
-
positions them far enough away from
-
parked vehicles that they're a little
-
bit out of the door opening zone and
-
rather than wander all over the street
-
in front of traffic it's again sort of
-
designates the preferred area for the
-
bicyclists of the bikes and the motorist
-
can share the road a little bit easier
-
shoulder bike way it's really kind of
-
the rural version of bike lanes pretty
-
simple to do we don't have a lot of
-
applications for that in an urban area
-
but where there's the open ditch
-
drainage a four foot paved shoulders
-
adequate with them for bicycles to ride
-
on an area that's outside the normal
-
traffic lanes we do have a couple of
-
them with Paige shoulders they're not
-
designated bikeways yet but they're
-
proposed to being corporated into the
-
plan on East Army Post Road and in
-
Broadway Avenue and again under certain
-
circumstances that may be a real simple
-
and cost-effective solution to put the
-
bike facility on the roadway the
-
simplest and lowest level of treatment
-
is assigned bike routes we've had signed
-
bike routes around the city for longer
-
than I've been with the city so I know
-
that's quite a long time more than 30
-
years they've not had a lot of attention
-
it's really simple and basic probably
-
some signs missing the thing that the
-
that the master plan talks about adding
-
on us some additional wayfinding
-
information how far is it to some
-
destinations where our destinations on
-
this other than there's just being a
-
bike route and follow along some
-
additional information has shown an
-
example the waterfront park or Community
-
College those kind of things so very
-
helpful we have some of the routes that
-
are currently bike routes or appropriate
-
that way that signing just needs to be
-
improved and adds some of this to it so
-
that's a very simple and low-cost way to
-
have the bikes in the vehicle share the
-
street and again as we mentioned bicycle
-
park
-
as you start to have this and
-
particularly people use it for shopping
-
and commuter trips to work you need a
-
place to park your bicycle when you get
-
there and both short and long term if
-
somebody's riding to work they need a
-
place to park their bike all day long
-
and if they're just going short time to
-
shopping a little bit they may need part
-
for 15 or 20 minutes location style is
-
really a key to success there's a
-
variety of things you can attach it to
-
posts different things what some people
-
have very expensive bikes and they
-
really want to put it in a secure Locker
-
protect it from the elements protect it
-
from somebody vandalizing or stealing
-
their bike so you need a variety of
-
things in the downtown area now we've
-
installed about 600 racks not just in
-
the downtown a lot of it in the downtown
-
but also starting to spread out
-
ingersoll one of the follow-ups as we
-
got the bike lanes on there and the
-
acceptance of bicyclists out there some
-
of the businesses were asking for some
-
help and getting some bike parking
-
doesn't need to be a whole lot of it but
-
they recognize they've got bicycle
-
customers and so they want that amenity
-
have a few bike parking spaces right by
-
their business think that was is that
-
the last one ature do yep now back to
-
Richard
-
thanks Gary as you see with so many
-
different bicycle facilities proposed
-
for areas across the city the advisory
-
committee felt was important to
-
highlight three priority projects for
-
implementation that could have the
-
biggest implement or have the biggest
-
impact coming out of the gate for
-
implementation of this plan I will
-
briefly describe each of these three
-
projects to you and I will refer you to
-
maps in your folder that has a little
-
bit more detail in each one of them the
-
first priority is a series of proposed
-
bicycle facilities in downtown Des
-
Moines some of these facilities include
-
bike lanes shared lane markings also
-
known as the cheryl cycle tracks and
-
bicycle boulevards this combination of
-
the on street bicycle facility seeks to
-
connect the downtown to the existing
-
trail and bicycle facilities on the edge
-
of downtown currently most of our trails
-
connect to the edges of downtown but do
-
not penetrate into the downtown area it
-
also proposes to connect these on street
-
bicycle facilities to the new transit
-
hub being constructed for dart buses
-
the second priority facility is a
-
bicycle bowl of our proposed for
-
Southwest fourteenth Street on des
-
moines southwest side southwest
-
fourteenth Street parallels both fluer
-
and Southwest ninth street but only
-
carries a fraction of the traffic that
-
these two arterial streets do it makes
-
it a perfect an ideal candidate for a
-
bicycle Boulevard this Boulevard will
-
connect grayslake park to the blank Park
-
Zoo Fort Des Moines the superblock it
-
will also provide connections to the
-
newly annexed areas of South Des Moines
-
as well as all the residential and
-
commercial neighborhoods and schools
-
along this corridor
-
the final proposed priority project is
-
called the Northeast bicycle connector
-
currently there is not a good connection
-
from the very popular gayley Wilson
-
trail on the city's northeast side to
-
downtown Des Moines the heart of this
-
proposal is a series of bike lanes on
-
Hubble Avenue from East eighteenth
-
Street to each thirty-third Street
-
preliminary analysis has indicated that
-
traffic counts on this stretch of road
-
could handle a change from four lanes to
-
three lanes which would be a needed to
-
allow the bike lanes further study and
-
public input would be needed before
-
bringing any proposal like this forward
-
for approval finally I'd like to wrap up
-
where we've been and where we go from
-
here the proposed next steps for this
-
plan include the following you see here
-
they'll be important to get the public's
-
input on the proposed plan before
-
finalizing it and bring it through the
-
public improve public approval process
-
as I stated earlier this plan seeks to
-
build on the city's extensive trail
-
network and integrate the bicycle into
-
the city's transportation network thank
-
you for allowing me to spend a little
-
bit of time introducing this proposed
-
plan and we'd be happy to take any
-
questions that you might have go ahead
-
Christine can I have an update we know
-
maybe I need to talk with Don about this
-
what do we need to be doing on that to
-
get that forward because there been some
-
contacts made on that yes councilmember
-
Hensley this connection actually would
-
go all the way to grayslake it's a
-
project that would connect an off street
-
facility along Thomas Beck road
-
Pomerance services and through the
-
railroad marshalling yards we are
-
working with the neighborhood to
-
fundraise for that connection as you
-
know we've talked with the neighborhood
-
about this connection and either coming
-
up Druid Hill driver cassidy drive so
-
really the approval of this plan and
-
this particular step in the process is
-
important because the next step for us
-
is to get out to the neighborhood and
-
talk about the design at Southwest
-
fourteenth Street okay
-
Don what's timetable from the gate I
-
will someday I'll tuna I'll let me
-
talked about that currently the gay Lee
-
Wilson trail does connect through
-
pleasant hill to Altoona there's another
-
segment that polk county conservation is
-
working on to connect up to the city of
-
Ankeny and over to the Neil Smith trail
-
I believe they have all the property
-
acquired for that section up to ankeny
-
but are just waiting on the remaining
-
funds for krista's just to start
-
construction I misspoke i'm at ankeny i
-
knew it was on to help doing already
-
yeah yeah i know they have been able to
-
acquire all that property but i just
-
waiting on some final funding okay so
-
that's pretty near future you think we
-
can find out the exact answer but i
-
would guess in the next year or two is
-
probably appropriate yeah richard that
-
proposed section that runs along the
-
south edge of Waveland golf course where
-
we at with that currently well we do not
-
have any money to fund the section of
-
trail councilman more is referring to is
-
a section of trail that would parallel I
-
235 as well as the south end of Waveland
-
golf course we just completed a section
-
that goes north along there along the
-
west side of the cemetery do the
-
complexity of design we are estimating
-
be probably the neighborhood of a
-
million-dollar so we're looking for
-
grants and ability to design then get a
-
struct constructed I just made it's at
-
least five years out at this time Thank
-
You Don do you feel we're getting our
-
fair share of mpo dollars for trails
-
councilmember mahaffey will take more I
-
guess we always will but you've done a
-
great job through the NPO and our
-
representatives there to direct money
-
towards trails in central Iowa and in
-
Des Moines I think we've done pretty
-
well when I checked a couple years ago
-
our trail construction since the early
-
1990s had been somewhere in the range of
-
about forty percent funded outside Des
-
Moines either federal or state grants
-
good how will Mac is discussing a bike
-
ordinance as well and will that be part
-
of the are we going to bring that
-
forward and have it part of this master
-
plan yeah I don't know that I'm familiar
-
that have you been who's from the city
-
has been involved in the discussions on
-
that well I haven't been directly but
-
I've seen some of the things they're
-
doing and I think it's important
-
especially as you start to do some
-
things on the street because the
-
different communities have slightly
-
different bicycle laws I know in some
-
places it's actually illegal to ride on
-
the sidewalk des moines it's legal to
-
ride on the sidewalk but there are
-
certain restrictions so as you start to
-
get more facilities and and people in
-
the metropolitan area don't particularly
-
care when they cross a you know some
-
kind of a political boundary they just
-
are going on a ride from here to there
-
they may live in one community in the
-
park third 12 or whatever is in a
-
different one or they're going on a
-
longer ride through several so it really
-
be helpful if there's consistent
-
ordinance instantly so that's what the
-
that effort is about is to look at at
-
the different ordinances they've
-
compared all of them and seeing what's
-
in common and what some of the
-
differences are it looks to me like the
-
differences are pretty minor and it
-
wouldn't be a huge effort to get that
-
and have pretty consistent bike
-
ordinances across the whole metro area
-
just make it easier so they you know if
-
you're writing your bike you're trying
-
to be a good citizen and and all of a
-
sudden you go from one community your
-
illegal you go the next community you do
-
the same thing and it's suddenly it's
-
against their ordinances that's not a
-
good situation so close I don't think
-
that's coming along and it is and it was
-
presented at Mac last week so I guess my
-
question is can we have that before this
-
group so that we can incorporate that
-
because we were trying to get it in
-
place to eliminate the problems of going
-
from one jurisdiction to another where
-
there are different rules I don't I
-
don't know quite where they are with all
-
the communities if everybody's agreed to
-
the changes that would needed to be made
-
and we're suppose we're gonna add on
-
plankton yeah but I don't know if
-
they've really brought it up exactly
-
who's gonna change what but they've done
-
a lot of work on it shouldn't take too
-
much more to get it to the finish line
-
but just a final I found uh you're sort
-
of in mid process here you've got a
-
draft plan you're gonna go out and get
-
more public input you go through a
-
review process with boards and
-
commissions before it gets back to this
-
table but i would encourage council
-
members if you have comments or
-
suggestions the suggestion that
-
Christine just made is a great one and
-
now it's the time if you have those kind
-
of thoughts and neft be today but
-
anytime in the next I suppose a few
-
months right right probably about 90
-
days
-
there's a very comprehensive plan here
-
we can get you a copy of that it talks
-
to the specific locations in some of
-
these facilities and the next step for
-
us will be to get you a copy of this so
-
you can review this I'd also like to
-
recognize we had a citizen member here
-
today of the committee Carl boss is here
-
thanks Carl for coming and park board
-
president joe galloway the park board
-
has also been involved and want to thank
-
the rest of the city departments good
-
economic development and Public Works
-
engineering for their support on this so
-
we'll be back with you probably in the
-
next 90 days with a policy
-
recommendation I'm glad to see dart
-
continue to add more bicycle racks to
-
their variety of vehicles so that they
-
can help out and using of the bicycles
-
from that right now the usage of those
-
bike racks has been amazing as amazing
-
thank you very nice Thank You mr. mayor
-
councilmembers some would have a low
-
McKinley do the introductions here mayor
-
members of council al McKinley finance
-
director typically we do a workshop
-
presentation to you on the comprehensive
-
annual financial report in January this
-
year were able to have this present to
-
you today in December we have a
-
representative from mcgladrey are
-
outside audit firm sherry Myers she'll
-
be coming to make a brief presentation
-
to you the cafard document will be out
-
to you very shortly with a council
-
action scheduled in January just as a
-
reminder to you the audit process is not
-
something that simply happens within the
-
finance department but it really is
-
obviously a citywide review of our
-
financial actions and with millions of
-
dollars of grant funds that are flowing
-
through various departments primarily
-
airport engineering community
-
development and police department the
-
audit process touches all of those
-
people in all those departments and
-
without their assistance we couldn't
-
complete an audit that we're able to
-
complete and with that I'll introduce to
-
you sherry Myers from mcgladrey you're
-
used to seeing probably Mia frommel
-
they've had reorganizations and
-
reassignments and so this year we have
-
sherry with this council thank you for
-
letting me be here today as you know I
-
really want echo what Alan said everyone
-
across the entire city is very
-
responsive to us this is on top of their
-
normal work day of course we're in
-
digging out having them dig out support
-
for transactions and responding to
-
questions and everybody is extremely
-
responsive there's a communication that
-
we issue to the council and I'm just
-
going to kind of walk through the
-
highlight
-
of that probably the most important I
-
guess if I'm a council member is what
-
kind of opinion did we get we there is a
-
clean and unqualified opinion on the
-
financial statements we do believe that
-
the financial statements are materially
-
accurate that's probably the most
-
important the one-page actually well
-
there's a few pages but in the financial
-
section the one-page it's ours is that
-
opinion the rest is they are the city's
-
financial statements and Alan and his
-
group really do take ownership of that
-
process of drafting those financial
-
statements of questioning how things
-
should look how transactions should be
-
recorded so I'm very happy to report
-
that to you as well whoops they're too
-
many papers soon there were a few new
-
accounting standards applicable to the
-
city this year they did not have any
-
impact on the city there's also another
-
statement that will be effective in the
-
future you'll see that in the footnotes
-
and again the city is evaluating the
-
impact of that there were no significant
-
or unusual transactions no transactions
-
which are kind of in that gray area that
-
we had discussions with management about
-
that they're trying to you know record
-
one way or another no audit adjustments
-
to dust the trial balance presented to
-
us no disagreements with management
-
we're not aware of any consultations
-
management may have had with other
-
accounting firms to you know receive a
-
preferential accounting treatment that
-
we have open discussions with management
-
and are comfortable that we had full
-
responses to our inquiries I urge you as
-
a council to when you do get that kapor
-
read through note 1 understand those
-
accounting policies and how things are
-
accounted for the other thing that
-
that's key when we do a lot it we really
-
look at what are the risk areas and then
-
we look at those areas one area of risk
-
obviously is revenue recognition
-
the second is significant estimates and
-
the of the significant estimates to the
-
city some mosey allowance for doubtful
-
accounts post employment benefits
-
depreciation what are the lives that
-
have been assigned in all those cases we
-
obtained an understanding of
-
management's process and we concurred
-
not only with that process but what the
-
estimates as well very clean compliance
-
report the compliance report is required
-
because of a level of federal funding as
-
decentralized as the city can be a
-
special literal funding it's always
-
that's kind of a risk area as well and
-
we had good results there as well any
-
questions any question on how do you how
-
did you go about dealing with the amount
-
of cash that we have within the city
-
system what type of procedures are used
-
you go in and do I guess if you could
-
just describe that well we will confirm
-
cash with the you know the banks or
-
whoever they happen to be held with will
-
also test those reconciliations from the
-
bank to the book to see that if there's
-
outstanding checks that they're all
-
recorded or recognized in that
-
reconciliation that if there's transfers
-
between that our city accounts that are
-
significant we're looking at those as
-
well and we obtain an understanding of
-
the controls over cash processes and
-
we'll do a walk-through of those as well
-
so we're within the city structure do we
-
have cash in a lot of different areas or
-
is it just more centralized the most
-
part it's centralized the material
-
amounts of cash is obviously some
-
imagery lands but most of the cash is
-
centralized and really in a pooled basis
-
which is actually what I would from an
-
accounting standpoint what you like to
-
see ya better control okay thank you
-
anybody have anything else mr. Merrick
-
hey just make a couple companies but
-
first I'm very pleased with us resolved
-
a great testament not only the finance
-
department but all of our departments
-
that that keep the accounts and make
-
sure that we pay things and spend money
-
appropriately the other observation and
-
sherry perhaps you'd like to add to this
-
this year and in the years in the recent
-
past we've received a lot of federal
-
dollars and state dollars stimulus
-
dollars or other grant funds it has been
-
quite a challenge for the organization
-
to keep track of that spend it
-
appropriately in fact there were times
-
when the federal dollars would come yet
-
the regulations and requirements that
-
were part of those dollars we're not
-
always so easy for us to get and there's
-
always some apprehension at least on my
-
part about how we're able to manage
-
through all that and I'm really pleased
-
that this result because I think you've
-
essentially confirmed the fact that
-
we've done well in spending those
-
dollars anything you'd like to add about
-
tax effort for me that's one of the big
-
issues that we've had the last year or
-
two on finances I I agree with what you
-
say and you know as I said when you have
-
more federal dollars it does raise the
-
risk it's very rare to not have issues
-
because you've got you know if you look
-
at the city's obviously moving parts
-
you've got people transitioning and none
-
out of roles which may or in those
-
individuals may or may not understand
-
those requirements I have in the past
-
counsel clients in some cases not to
-
take federal funds because the strings
-
are are too large but certainly you need
-
to continue and I had a discussion with
-
my ear County about those well you need
-
to continue to look for those funds but
-
you need to be cognizant of what those
-
requirements are and I think the city
-
does a good job of saying what are those
-
requirements and what do we need to do
-
up front to be ready to comply with
-
those requirements sometimes that
-
results in a bit of a delay in spending
-
those funds but I think clearly came out
-
and good results and we did have an
-
additional what we call major program
-
which means we needed to test additional
-
programs this year
-
primarily because of those era funds
-
coming in they're presumed to be high
-
risk and see really need to if you've
-
got significant air dollars coming in
-
and spend time looking at those was
-
there an opportunity for you to have a
-
discussion with the mayor without staff
-
yes thank you which is their importance
-
yeah I think it's great we had an
-
unqualified opinion it yeah no journal
-
entries with always do to do from
-
accounts but I mean their hub seating
-
accounts it's a it's great to have a
-
report absolutely and kudos to honesty
-
okay good job thank you thank you all
-
right let's move on to our long-term
-
financial outlook mr. Merrick council
-
members Alan's gonna handle this we have
-
as some of you know with the legislative
-
meeting we had last week there was
-
discussion about preparation made for an
-
overview of our long-term financial
-
situation but we thought the information
-
that was gathered for that was so
-
pertinent that we wanted to review it
-
and share it with counsel here today as
-
well and I just make you aware of some
-
of the issues that we're looking at
-
going forward particularly for the next
-
year but clearly beyond that so with
-
that Alan please thank you Rick just as
-
a side comment the our audit
-
relationship with our auditor is an
-
ongoing relationship so throughout the
-
year as transactions or grants come up
-
that you know we need some advice on how
-
to handle or or what would be the best
-
treatment we can certainly go to them
-
and ask for their opinion and for us to
-
move forward and they like to be aware
-
of what's going on with the city
-
financially so that they don't come in
-
and have to be brought up to speed so a
-
comment that sherry just made to me is
-
I'm going to stay and listen to this
-
about our long-term financial outlook
-
gives her a better idea of what's going
-
on with the City of Des Moines a
-
long-term basis so that's just a good
-
example of their interest in wanting to
-
be involved in
-
and understanding what our financial
-
position is and especially looking
-
forward as well as Rick mentioned last
-
week we staff and some of the council
-
met with some of the local legislators
-
in anticipation of this year's session
-
and to just provide them a little bit of
-
information about the City of Des Moines
-
long-term financial outlook just wanted
-
to share some of that information with
-
you and some of the most of this you've
-
you've seen before we've talked about a
-
structural deficit that we have looking
-
forward we are balanced through FY 12
-
and working very hard on balancing in
-
fy13 and and getting very close but even
-
accomplishing that task you can see that
-
FY 14 15 16 and it just continues beyond
-
is a structural deficit we've listed
-
there the assumptions to arrive at those
-
numbers based on best information that
-
we have just to look back quickly what
-
have we been doing what have you been
-
doing 95 million dollars in reductions
-
it's a putting some of the information
-
that we've provided to you kind of in
-
bits and pieces into into one place 95
-
million dollar sound is a lot of money
-
and if you think that that's all you
-
know in our general Road use tax fund of
-
about 160 million obviously those
-
numbers aren't going to work that you
-
didn't cut your budget directly there by
-
you know seventy or eighty percent but
-
about 27 million dollars you'll see
-
they're listed on the left are the
-
actions that you've taken that our
-
savings annually about 24 of that is on
-
the expense side there's two or three
-
million that are related to revenue
-
reallocations but you've reduced we've
-
had to reduce staff we've looked at
-
contracting out we reduced the budgets
-
and contracts and supplies and travel
-
we've looked at privatization we
-
reviewed health insurance plans those
-
are all operating actions
-
actions that impact our operating budget
-
we've also done several debt refunding
-
zor refinancings that have generated 13
-
million dollars in net present value
-
savings that helps us to reduce our debt
-
service levy that allows us to increase
-
levies elsewhere to assist us in our
-
operations without raising the overall
-
levy and related to that again in
-
impacting the debt levy was we reduced
-
our capital financing of geo bonds you
-
may remember about five years ago we
-
were projecting a debt service levy
-
breaching five dollars we will most
-
likely be under four dollars for the
-
budget that will come to you and next
-
month what's the time period for this
-
Alan January first two thousand six so
-
about a four to five year period four or
-
five okay and all of this with no tax
-
rate increase so we're still at 1657
-
this is just a graphic presentation the
-
black line is is where we are today the
-
red line is where we would have been I
-
had none of those actions taken place
-
obviously we would not have never have
-
adopted a budget at 186 million because
-
you would have been in a deficit
-
position but it does show you the
-
magnitude of the actions that you've
-
taken one of the things that you may
-
have been reading about in the paper is
-
some proposals at the state as it
-
relates to implementing some sort of
-
commercial rollback similar to the
-
residential rollback this provide you
-
some statistics here the most recent
-
information that we have about fifty
-
three percent of the city's taxable
-
value is associated with commercial
-
that's not assessed value but that's
-
taxable value 93% of the city's
-
valuation in tif districts is commercial
-
that's not surprising sixty sixty
-
percent roll back and that should really
-
be understood as a roll back to set
-
values at sixty percent of assessed
-
value impacts the city to the tune of 26
-
million dollars and if you were to try
-
to make that 26 million dollars up by
-
raising your tax rate the tax rate would
-
have to go up twenty-seven percent and
-
then just some other things for you to
-
remember as you are hearing discussions
-
about this it has extremely complex
-
consequences we have tax increment grant
-
agreements in place we have bond
-
commitments that are to be funded with
-
tax increment valuations would those be
-
grandfathered in all I mean for example
-
of say a nationwide Allied where we've
-
got a pretty significant tiff
-
arrangement with would that be
-
grandfathered in or how would I think
-
that's part of the title of extremely
-
complex consequences we want to be sure
-
that we're at the Canadians on the
-
legislation Chris I think being able to
-
understand and to have the legislators
-
understand what the potential
-
impact of any decision that they make is
-
to protect us from that in the
-
worst-case scenario you could keep in
-
mind with tiff you've got you've got
-
outstanding debt that you've issued that
-
is being retired with tiff revenues and
-
you have contracts with the ones that
-
you just mentioned with allied well mark
-
and others those obligations certainly
-
on the bonds and on the other would
-
continue on into the extent they
-
continue on and you lose the TIF revenue
-
then those obligations have to be picked
-
up someplace else and if they have to be
-
picked up out of the general fund then
-
you have sort of a secondary but
-
extremely significant adverse impact on
-
those revenues and expenses as well and
-
that's a reason we're talking about it
-
here it's a it's an issue in this
-
discussion about commercial rollback
-
that people often overlook and that's
-
the impact on our tip one other thing
-
that I think that I'd like to pick up on
-
in this is there are constitutional
-
limitations against the impairment of
-
existing contracts that have made some
-
proposals I mean we've been looking at
-
this Chris for many years and some
-
proposals will not make it on that on
-
that basis because they they cannot be
-
set up to breach existing contracts
-
the analogy I like to make with touching
-
valuations in local government finances
-
whether it's cities or school districts
-
or the county the analogy is that you
-
know the trails of what impacts what are
-
amazing sometimes where what happens
-
when you do something over here it's
-
almost like turning off the light switch
-
and your kitchen faucet starts to run I
-
mean they seem like they're completely
-
unrelated but somehow it happens so we
-
just need to be careful that we
-
understand what all those relationships
-
are and that we are able to communicate
-
those to the policymakers we have a
-
concern obviously that it could affect
-
our bond ratings as the rating agencies
-
look at what happens to taxable
-
valuations and what what any possible
-
solution may be provided as it relates
-
to reduction in commercial taxable
-
property for cities across the state
-
this could have a huge impact on their
-
tax levy caps if they're if the text if
-
they happen to be operating within their
-
general fund 810 levy and the value goes
-
down and they are not provide any other
-
recourse they can lose lots of money
-
directly into their general fund so it's
-
not just the City of Des Moines issue
-
that this will impact all local
-
governments in the past we've heard of
-
replacement revenue proposals they're
-
just not a guarantee on on future
-
legislatures that those will continue
-
would continue on forever we've had some
-
past experiences and we've lost several
-
million dollars over the course of time
-
compared to where we were say 15 or 20
-
years ago and there are other funding
-
solutions or mechanisms or tactical ways
-
to address high property taxes for
-
commercial property owners and
-
and our encouragement is let us be at
-
the table let us provide some input and
-
provide some response to any of the
-
proposals that they may be making
-
another issue that's being raised in the
-
league of Iowa has taken a lead in this
-
and is supplied information these are to
-
the 49 basically larger cities and in
-
iowa and thats related to our chapter 4
-
11 pension contributions this came from
-
the actuary that is used by music fire
-
and police Retirement System of Iowa
-
that projects out city contribution
-
rates over the next actually the charts
-
go out for 20 or 20 plus years I've just
-
reported to you what with projected here
-
for fiscal year 11 through fiscal 16
-
fiscal 11 you'll see the 19.9 rate
-
that's what we're contributing today the
-
twenty four point seven six percent rate
-
is was adopted by the board and will be
-
the city contribution rate starting next
-
fiscal year next July first and then
-
you'll see the projections going out for
-
four years beyond that and then I've
-
also provided for you information on
-
total City dollars the 49 cities how
-
much that would equate to in
-
contributions to the system and then the
-
Des Moines impact as well it just to
-
interrupt for a second here that this is
-
an incredibly important slide the
-
information on here is critical to us
-
and it's really summarized in terms of
-
the impact on the city and the far right
-
column this year we're looking at about
-
9 million hours and 4 11 pinching costs
-
but you can see over the course of the
-
six years that are displayed here that
-
amount more than doubles to over 20
-
million dollars based on the current
-
estimate the the formula the method or
-
the amounts of funds that are paid here
-
are not within your discretion you
-
simply pay the bill it is entirely a
-
matter of legislative action that
-
controls these numbers but these are
-
these are terribly critical numbers for
-
us
-
and combined with other impacts it is a
-
very significant issue for the city if
-
you combine this with what we just
-
talked about on the property tax issues
-
the 26 million dollars plus the it's
-
huge absolutely major finally one of the
-
things that we wanted to make sure that
-
legislators and you know the general
-
public understands some of just what our
-
financial outlook is and how the City
-
Council has adopted in the past and and
-
that is that you have and you will
-
maintain a balanced budget that's the
-
policy that you've adopted and that we
-
have followed a year after year and some
-
of the things that that means in a
-
balanced budget is is that we don't
-
anticipate and bank on one-time revenues
-
but that we utilize ongoing revenues to
-
finance ongoing expenses that's an
-
excellent policy to follow but that does
-
mean that the council has and may reduce
-
costs and services it also means that
-
the council may increase the property
-
tax rate and then finally you know given
-
those first two items of those first two
-
issues and what our long-term projection
-
is we're always looking and and wanting
-
assistance to pursue alternative
-
revenues and that's also been a policy
-
that the council was has encouraged
-
staff to pursue the last two or three
-
years and we continue to do so Rick if
-
you had any comments on that well I
-
think just just a couple over all things
-
that you can derive from the information
-
in this presentation the first thing is
-
that the council has displayed just
-
incredible fiscal discipline over the
-
last four or five years you've done a
-
great job of modifying expenses they're
-
clearly has been an impact on the
-
services that we provide it's it's
-
stress the organization there's some
-
areas where perhaps we've cut too much
-
but we have to go back and make
-
adjustments on those things but
-
nonetheless the essential services by
-
large are
-
are being met with the budget we have
-
today but you've done a great job with
-
your fiscal doesn't blend that I think
-
people need to know that we've tried to
-
summarize that thing here the other
-
thing from a broader perspective to say
-
about the situation is that the fiscal
-
difficulties that we have here in the
-
city are to a large extent shared with
-
the state of Iowa the state of Iowa
-
continues to have fiscal challenges not
-
because somebody did something good or
-
bad it is simply the fact of it at state
-
level that they have extreme challenges
-
as well and what that means is it's not
-
going to be easy for them to come back
-
and do things that that help the city
-
with their own revenue so the state has
-
their own issues and my fear is that
-
there will be a tendency to want to push
-
obligations from state back to city and
-
we're just gonna have to be very
-
watchful of that if you look at that
-
nationally you say the same picture is
-
probably worse in a lot of other states
-
across country but in Iowa we have that
-
issue as well so as we go forward in
-
this session and probably in the
-
sessions in the next few years it's
-
going to continue to be a very urgent
-
situation the state to a large extent
-
will take action that will have profound
-
effect on our ability to continue
-
services either by things that they do
-
or don't do and it's not because they're
-
good or bad they're struggling with
-
their own financial situation but we're
-
gonna have to be very diligent and
-
monitoring all that we've talked about
-
some of the things here the pension
-
costs is extremely important to us
-
health costs are important but in terms
-
of health costs were impacted to a large
-
extent extent by the federal legislation
-
which is a little bit at least for me a
-
bit of a black box in terms of what's
-
gonna happen so we're gonna have to
-
monitor that very carefully as well so
-
we have we have big issues just as we've
-
had in the past but that situation isn't
-
abating in terms of the uncertainty and
-
the risk going forward but I will say if
-
you look back over their recent past
-
this council is done just I think in a
-
miraculous job of managing the situation
-
with the decisions that you've made
-
which have really helped the city keep
-
its head above water pay the bills keep
-
the organization going
-
so kudos to all of you sit anybody have
-
any other questions of Alan Ellen thank
-
you again then good pre-holiday work sir
-
let's open it up for public comment
-
anyone the audience have any comments
-
mundus her last meeting in the year I
-
mean somebody's got to have something
-
all right seeing none hopefully we'll
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see our back here this evening thank you
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you