Bronwyn's Council Review

My notes on motions and vote counts will appear in red bold italics (some email clients do not display color well) . Note: These are not the official City Minutes, just my own record of the meeting.

The Ames City Council meets on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. in City Hall. The agenda includes:

• 6. Resolution approving appointments to various Boards and Commissions. The City and Council rely on the work of 18 different mostly volunteer Boards and Commissions (list available here) for the City's business. I understand there's presently still a need on the Property Maintenance Appeals Board for a student tenant, a large property landlord, and a long-term tenant, as well as another member for the Zoning Board of Adjustment. If you are willing to serve, please check out the board's description and contact the Mayor if you think you might be a good match. Thanks to all who serve. 
  
  This item was part of the Consent Agenda, which passed 6-0. (Items 1-19 were on the consent agenda, and none were pulled for further discussion.)
• 20. Staff Report regarding Micromobility (motorized scooters). Rentable electric scooters like those from Bird are fun and could be another low-impact way to get people around the relatively small footprint of Ames. But they come with safety and accessibility (e.g. sidewalk obstruction) concerns and the ISU Administration does not want them on campus (and reportedly, neither did the 2018 Student Government). Should the City of Ames give it a try or give it a pass?
  
  The first motion on this item (to initiate a pilot program for e-scooters in Ames) failed on a vote of 3-3 (Beatty-Hansen, Corrieri, and Junck voting Aye, and Betcher, Gartin, and Martin voting Nay). A second motion was made to direct staff to develop an ordinance that would address rules regarding micromobility devices (e-scooters, e-bikes, e-skateboards, etc.). This vote passed 6-0. (Even if a rental scooter company isn't in the future for Ames, we still need to address privately owned vehicles of this type.)
  
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• 21. Staff Report regarding Land Use Policy Plan request for property located at 802 Delaware Avenue. The Council wants to talk about the possibility of duplexes and/or townhomes on this property, although the existing land use policy and zoning mechanisms aren't a great fit. This request might be an interesting case study for talking about the nuts and bolts of realizing Council's interest in promoting infill projects in the Ames Plan 2040.
  
  This item passed 5-1, with Beatty-Hansen, Corrieri, Gartin, Junck, and Martin voting Aye, and Betcher voting Nay. The consensus seemed to be that townhomes would be acceptable, but not apartments, and Council will have the ability to guarantee this outcome during the rezoning step of the process.
  
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• 22. Planning & Housing Department Work Plan update. Council asks the Planning and Housing department for a lot of work. Every now and then we take a step back to look at the pile-up and see if there's anything we can drop or re-prioritize.
  
  Several of the items from Attachment B (the unprioritized list of Planning tasks) were removed, and no items from Attachment B were moved to the current work plan.
  
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• 26. Hearing on Iowa State University Research Park Phase IV Road and Utility Improvements Project. The research park is growing. This project includes the paving of approximately 1,570 feet of South Riverside Drive (with shared use path), 1,860 feet of Collaboration Place (with on-street bike lanes), the extension of sanitary sewer and water main, the installation of electric distribution improvements, and street lighting.
  
  This item passed 6-0.
  
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• 30. First reading of ordinance increasing water rates by 2% and sewer rates by 5%, effective July 1, 2020. The rate increase will be used to fund the ongoing operations and maintenance budget plus the anticipated capital improvements projects. While no one loves an increase, Ames's water and sewer rates are low compared to other Iowa water utilities. There's a great presentation at the end of this staff report putting the rates into context - for example, this increase amounts to a $1.93 increase per month for a typical residential customer. But this is just this year's increase; there will be more.
  
  This planned series of rate increases will also fund the state-mandated improvements to our wastewater plant in accordance with the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy. Even though statewide wastewater treatment plants contribute only 8% of the total nitrogen and 20% of the total phosphorus entering Iowa's streams and rivers, Iowa appears to be focusing its nutrient reduction goals on treatment plants such as ours rather than agricultural sources. Our planned capital improvements are intended to improve our nitrogen removal by a factor of 2 and our phosphorus removal by a factor of 4. Against the backdrop of the 8% and 20% impact levels, it seems that agricultural runoff regulations would be a lot more effective than wastewater plant mandates - but it's easier to order cities to do things. Ames's plant improvements are expected to cost about $40 million 0ver 20 years (though $9 million of that would be required even without the state mandate due to other needs). So, this is part of your rate increase too. 
  
  Finally, the rate increases will pay off the bonds for the $5.3 million water and sewer utility extension to the Prairie View Industrial Center (also known as Ames's East Industrial Annex). We need to get utilities out there before any industrial users can be expected to move in. Council has established an assessment district in this area, meaning that industrial users will be expected to pay extra fees designed to recoup their share of the utility extension costs, but that income is not going to cover the $5.3 million any time soon.
  
  After a very informative and thorough presentation from staff, this item passed 6-0.
  
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Non-Agenda Packet: The following items are requests and communications to the council that are not on the agenda for full discussion.  This includes staff reports and communications or requests from constituents and developers. Typically the council will ask city staff for more information (a memo), put the item on a future agenda for deliberation and possible action, or just accept the communication, taking no further action. Council generally processes these requests and communications during the agenda portion called "Disposition of Communications to Council." 

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• Mediacom Channel Update.
  • This item was informative only, and required no action from Council
• Wilmoth, Tripp, and S. Frankllin. This is a request to investigate traffic safety at these intersections. 
  • This item is under review by Traffic Department Staff.
• Sign Code Deficiences Report. This staff report describes some possible approaches to bringing our signage ordinances up to date.
  • This item is on the current Planning Department work plan, so will be dealt with in the near future.

Finally, there's a press release this week that I'd like to call out regarding Internet improvements.

• MetroNet Construction Launch. I like to think that it's at least in part due to Council's emphasis on exploring Internet improvements that MetroNet is now beginning to build their fiber-to-the-premises network over most of Ames's off-campus residential footprint. Their construction will largely take place by digging in the public right-of-way (ROW) and by attaching to utility poles. Residents should keep in mind that the ROW - which includes the street and the part of "their" yard closest to the street - is typically owned by the City even though residents are responsible for maintaining this space. Iowa law basically requires cities to allow telecommunications providers reasonable use of the ROW to offer their services. MetroNet is required to restore any ROW damaged during the construction process. In addition, junction boxes will be permanently placed along the fiber lines to distribute the fiber to homes. So, there will be disruption, and some messes, and boxes installed that people would rather somehow stay invisible. But this is how MetroNet is using the public ROW for their fiber Internet. The upside is significantly increased competition in this market, both in terms of service offerings and downward pressure on prices.
  
  The City is monitoring this construction closely and will incorporate MetroNet's presence into its anticipated next report to Council on longer term actions we might take to promote our goals of improved Internet availability, reliability, cost, speed, customer service, and policy (e.g., net neutrality and broadband privacy).
  • This item was informative only, and required no action of Council.
     

Council Comments:

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Thanks for reading,
Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen
Ames City Council, At Large