Bronwyn's Council Review

As usual for the review, my comments are red and italicized in the context of the latest Council Preview by David Martin. 

The Ames City Council meets on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom. (Council held a brief special meeting on July 9 to deliberate whether to resume meeting in person at City Hall or continue having our meetings online. After discussion, we voted to continue our meetings on Zoom.) The agenda includes:
 

• 28. Discussion on Possible City Responses to COVID-19. During the June 23 meeting, Council Member Amber Corrieri moved to ask for a formal staff report laying out what legal options are available to the Council in light of recent Story County Public Health guidance on COVID-19, and to report on any other recommendations staff may have about encouraging particular behaviors within businesses and the community. The motion passed unanimously. But somehow this was distorted and amplified in the retelling (I'm looking at you, Facebook -_- ) more or less as "Council is voting on mandating masks in Ames!!" Not quite... but we still received almost two hundred strongly worded (and often eloquent) email opinions about it. Thanks to everyone who wrote in - and sorry that you were misled about what's going on.
  
  Even so, this agenda item does address "whether a Mayor or a City Council has the authority to issue a mandatory face covering order or ordinance for residents out and about in the community." Council already knew the answer to this question was "no" from previous communications with our City Attorney Mark Lambert, but our request for a "formal" staff report led him to assemble and publish the evidence all together. The report reviews provisions of the Iowa Constitution and Iowa Code, the Governor's proclamations, communications from the Attorney General, the conflicting authority situation in Muscatine, and recommendations from Story County Board of Public Health. He concludes in the report that "when the Governor has invoked her emergency authority, a city does not have the legal authority to require persons to wear face coverings while out in public places and businesses." And since the Governor has in fact invoked emergency authority, Ames may not mandate face coverings in public places and businesses. 
  
  Yet there are still things that Ames can do. For example, bars are currently permitted to operate only if they abide by specific social distancing rules, and the Governor has ordered that "all peace officers of the state are hereby called upon to assist in the enforcement of the provisions of this Proclamation." Accordingly, the staff report describes steps that Ames could take to step up enforcement in bars. In addition, the City hosted a meeting on July 9 "to partner with entities in carrying out a community-wide message using ISU’s Cyclones Care campaign centering around wearing face coverings, social distancing, washing hands, and staying home when sick." Council will deliberate the extent to which to participate in any of these enhanced enforcement or communications measures.
  
  This item was broken into several parts, starting with a discussion on masks. We aren't currently allowed to mandate mask use in public in Ames because the Governor hasn't delegated that authority to counties or cities in Iowa. Council did vote 6-0 to send a letter to the Governor requesting authority to mandate masks in Ames if we so choose. A second 6-0 motion directed staff to develop a process by which we might decide to mandate masks or not, if the Governor does ever grant us that authority. Finally, we voted 6-0 to put a discussion on mandating masks in City buildings on our next agenda. 
  
  We also discussed a joint marketing program with ISU encouraging students and citizens to wear masks while in public or in group settings. 
  
  Finally, we discussed how to notify bars of their responsibility to enforce rules set out for them by the State, including social distancing and seating requirements. It was determined that the Ames PD would deliver letters to bar owners/managers, and then could do spot-checks when they are patrolling bar areas.

• 29. Motion directing staff to temporarily not enforce Building and Zoning Codes to facilitate COVID-19 testing at McFarland Clinic North, 3815 Stange Road. McFarland Clinic proposes adding a shed for COVID-19 drive-through testing to their 3815 Stange Road location. Although the proposed shed doesn't comply with zoning and building permit requirements, due to the importance of increasing testing capacity, Council is being asked to temporarily waive the requirements to allow the facility to operate.
  
  This item passed 6-0

• 30. Hearing on Nuisance Assessments. Ames property owners "have the responsibility of removing snow and ice accumulations from the sidewalks. According to the Municipal Code, owners shall remove these accumulations within 10 daylight hours after the storm has stopped. If, after that time, sidewalks remain uncleared, the City may remove accumulations and assess the actual cost of the removal to the property owner." In this item, Council is being asked for final approval to assess the costs to six properties where snow or ice was cleared under this provision. Voting to do so would cause these costs to appear on the owners' property tax bills.
  
  This passed 6-0

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." 

• Ames Main Street Pavers and Wall Discussion. This memo is an update on conversations regarding the Main Street pavers project.
• Metronet Build Map. MetroNet provided the map below to the City to show where they plan to offer their new fiber Internet service. See also Metronet's own construction map.
  • Blue areas are those where service will be available.
  • Yellow areas are properties where permission must be obtained from the owner to connect (including City of Ames, ISU, and Federal properties).
  • Red areas are those where "density issues" exist and MetroNet does not plan to build.
    
    Council voted 6-0 to ask Metronet to provide more information on two of the neighborhoods where they don't plan to offer services
  
• Prairie Rivers of Iowa. This letter provides information regarding a potential Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway designation.
• Community Gardens. This memo from Parks and Recreation describes Ames's current public community gardens and identifies some possible future sites.
  
  Council voted 6-0 to place this on a future agenda
• HIRTA Update. HIRTA (Heart of Iowa Regional Transit Agency) provides door to door transit services in the counties of Boone, Dallas, Jasper, Madison, Marion, Story and Warren. This letter from HIRTA is an update on their service and funding plan going forward. 
• Levy Food Service ISU Layoff. This letter informs the City that Levy Food Service is planning to lay off eight workers, apparently at Iowa State Center.

Thanks for reading,

Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen
Ames City Council, At Large