Matthew Goodman's Council News August 26th, 2014
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The Ames City Council begins at 7:00. The agenda includes:
Item 21 -- Resolution approving Major Final Plat for Aspen Ridge Subdivision, 2nd Addition. The proposed final plat duplicates other adjacent uses in the area, and is consistent with the LUPP.
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The LUPP anticipates certain impacts from zoning in the community. The anticipated impact in the Old Middle School neighborhood, in terms of noise, traffic, infrastructure, law enforcement and public transportation that may result from approval of what is now being considered, were never anticipated when the government lands overlay was approved. Council has to decide what they believe was the intended use when the zoning was suggested, whether they still support that intention and whether they are willing to take risks to make manifest that intention, in the threat of a prolonged legal battle, none of which are simple questions.
Item 25 -- Hearing on amendments to Major Site Development Plan for 2205 Green Hills Drive.Green Hills will be expanding near their existing site.
Item 26 -- Discussion of Planning and Housing Goals/Priorities. Council will need to consider the overall scope of work and determine priorities for its planning staff.
Item 27 -- CDBG Disaster Application. While staff moved very quickly on this issue, there is not enough time to prepare a successful grant application.
Item 28 -- Update on City Council goal to strengthen Human Services. The Ames City Council traditionally considers human services funding after the Analysis of Social Services Team (Asset) volunteers evaluate the human service organizations' requests. The Asset volunteers very diligently work through the financials of each agency and look into the actual operations of the human services organizations. The Asset board then makes their funding recommendations to council. These recommended funding amounts are almost always lower than the amounts requested by the organizations. There is little independent information on the actual unmet needs in our current process. While we have available the organizations' requests, and the Asset recommendations, the Ames City Council rarely considers actual needs data on a year to year basis. This makes the role of the council, in Asset funding, challenging if we intend to work towards allocating dollars to decrease such unmet needs.
Data driven estimates on needs could help guide the Asset volunteers in concert with the human service organization reviews and requests. This would allow volunteers to be able to reference the council's priorities and consider them alongside the community's unmet needs. Once the needs and priorities were determined, the organizations providing efficient services to address those needs could be funded more aggressively. Currently, most organizations that are doing good work get a funding bump, but a bump based primarily on the new request rather than new verifiable needs.
The Local Option Sales Tax, which was passed many years ago, specifically referenced the human services as a recipient in the bond language. Knowing the actual needs of the populations these agencies serve is a key piece of ensuring money is directed to where it is needed today, not just where it has been needed in the past.
Thanks for reading,
Matthew Goodman
City Council At-Large
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