Rachel's Council Review

As usual for the review, my comments are red and italicized in the context of the latest Council Preview by Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen. 
 

The Ames City Council meets on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall.  The agenda includes the following (and much more). Note that you can generally click on individual agenda items below to get the full staff report or other explanation.

• 30. Discussion on Proposed Renaming of the Ames Municipal Airport after J.H. Banning.
  Council is considering a new name for our airport, currently just called the "Ames Municipal Airport". The new proposed name is the James Herman Banning Ames Municipal Airport, after J.H. Banning, who lived in Ames for a time and was the first black aviator to be licensed by the Department of Commerce. 
  Council discussed the proposed name, public feedback about the name, and if it meets the established naming criteria. Then, council moved to direct staff to prepare and return a resolution to rename the Airport as “James Herman Banning Ames Municipal Airport", which passed 5-1 (Gartin voting nay).
• 31. Community Conversations on Mental Health Issues.
  An ever increasing need in our community, mental health is the subject of a series of city-sponsored "Community Conversations" which are meant to raise awareness and resiliency in regards to mental healthcare. Council is being asked to allocate $5,000 in funding from our Council contingency fund for this purpose.
  Council moved to approve the funding for the Mental Health Community Conversations, 6-0. 
• 32. Staff report on Organized Solid Waste Collection.
  Council directed staff to look into options for waste collection in Ames, and staff are reporting back on what the options are for Ames, both in terms of feasibility and legality (differences in state laws regarding waste hauling regulation and business regulation). Currently, Ames has a system where any waste hauler that can obtain a permit can service any customer on any day of the week. As you might imagine, this can lead to a LOT of garbage truck traffic that could be made more efficient by a more organized system of collection. A few options are available, such as starting municipal service or contracting out service within Ames through a bidding process, like most other cities of our size do. This has big implications for our Climate Action Plan, as waste collection and disposal has a big impact on emissions. On a related note, the City is also undergoing a waste-to-energy audit, which will give us suggestions for improvements to the Resource Recovery Plant. Those results, as well as the Climate Action Plan itself, will be presented to Council in the coming months.
  After reviewing the thorough staff report surrounding possibilities for organized solid waste collection, each council member shared their goals and desired outcomes for potential improvements to our current system. After hearing public feedback,  council moved to remove the Municipal collection option from further consideration, 6-0. Then, council directed staff to seek input from the current haulers in the Ames community on the proposed goals and outcomes of an organized residential solid waste collection program and to bring a report back to council, which passed 6-0. 
• 35. Hearing on Integrated Site Plan Subdivision with concurrent Preliminary Plat and Major Site Development Plan for 1200 & 1220 S Duff Avenue.
  This site plan proposal would add a new building with a restaurant or coffee shop drive through in the parking lot area in front of the BAM building on the existing lot at 1200 & 1220 South Duff.
  
  Council moved to approve the Major Development Plan subject to listed conditions and approve the preliminary plat, 6-0.

Communications to Council: The following items are requests and communications to Council that aren't published on the agenda, so we won't deliberate them substantially.  This includes staff reports and communications or requests from constituents and developers. Typically, Council will ask city staff for more information, put the item on a future agenda for deliberation and possible action, or just accept the communication, taking no further action.
 

• Downtown URA changes.
  Council moved to place this item on a future agenda, 6-0.
• B. Goodman - Pedestrian Safety.
  Council declined to take action on this item at this time, 6-0.
• K. Diekmann - text amendment to parking rates.
  Council moved to place this item on a future agenda, 6-0.
• Requested changes to the Draft Ames Urban Fringe Plan.
  Council moved to refer this item to staff, 6-0.
• S. Bowman reimbursement for needed structural repair.
  Council moved to take no action on this item, 6-0.
• S. Ravenscroft CIP consideration.
• S. Ravenscroft CIP 2nd email.
  Council moved to refer these emails to staff for a memo, 6-0.

Thanks for reading,
Rachel Junck
Ames City Council, Ward 4