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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - October 2020 Monthly Project Highlights1 City of Ames - October Project Highlights - 2020 City Manager’s Office 2020 Census - The 2020 U.S. Census wrapped up unexpectedly on Wednesday, Oct. 14. After the pandemic made reaching people difficult, the deadline for completing census forms was extended to Saturday, Oct. 31. Later it was shortened to Wednesday Sept. 30. After a court challenge, the U.S. Bureau ended the 2020 Census immediately. Census forms were accepted online through Oct. 15 and in the mail if postmarked by Oct. 15. The census has counted the U.S. population every 10 years since 1790. Having a complete and accurate count is important because the 2020 Census will determine congressional representation, inform the allocation of hundreds of billions in federal funding, and provide data that affects communities for the next decade. It is unclear what impact the pandemic will have on our Ames population numbers. Our 2018 American Community Survey population estimate was 65,937. Ames has seen years of slow but steady growth, but COVID-19 has made reaching residents much more difficult. According the U.S. Census timeline, redistricting counts will be sent to states by April 1, 2021. This information is used to redraw legislative districts based on population changes. Climate Action Plan – With the Greenhouse Gas Inventory completed and presented to City Council, staff is moving forward on developing an RFP to hire a consultant to guide the creation of a Climate Action Plan for Ames. The same cross-departmental team that facilitated the GHG Inventory will develop the RFP and be involved in the consultant selection. We have a draft timeline that includes releasing an RFP by the end of November, analyzing proposals in January, and selecting a consultant by the end of February. The timeline includes taking a consultant recommendation to City Council in March. Cyclones Care – The City of Ames continues to partner with Iowa State University on promoting the public health educational campaign, “Cyclones Care,” which focuses on four pillars of healthy behavior (Wear a face covering. Physically distance from others. Wash hands frequently. Stay home if you’re ill.) Recently, we began working with Beth Haag’s Journalism class to produce audio and video files promoting the Cyclones Care message. The ISU fall semester is scheduled to end on Wednesday, Nov. 25. Part of Cyclones Care messaging will be messaging to students and the community BEFORE the end of the semester about healthy behaviors before and during the holidays. Fire This month the Ames Fire Department conducted confined space rescue training, utilizing a training prop from the Iowa Fire Service Training Bureau. Confined space rescue requires highly specialized training and equipment to safely remove victims from hard to reach places, where the only way in is 2 also the only way out, and usually only through a small opening. Crews create hauling and lowering systems utilizing ropes and use air lines and other equipment to safely reach and extricate the victim. This was also an exciting month for our new Fire & Police Training Site, located near 309 Carnegie Avenue in Ames. Live fire evolutions were conducted at the site for the first time. The Ames Fire Training Team conducted multiple fire sets, exploring different fuel packages to determine what set would produce the best training results. The site will be used year-round by both Ames Police and Fire and will provide endless training opportunities as the site continues to grow. 3 Parks & Recreation Homewood Golf Course Clubhouse Construction continues on the new clubhouse and updates are shown below: • Installation of the precast concrete slabs over the basement has been completed. • The underground conduit for the electrical in the basement has been installed. • Plumbing work continues in the basement mechanical room and other areas of the building. • The underground water and sewer lines have been connected to the water and sewer mainlines. • The wells for the Geothermal system are currently being drilled. • The slab on grade concrete is schedule to be poured the week of November 2. • The construction framing is set to begin in early November. The new clubhouse will include a community room that can be utilized year-round (including rentals), a fireplace, an outdoor patio, and energy efficient appliances. It is scheduled to be completed in spring of 2021. Inis Grove Park Restroom Project The new restroom in Inis Grove Park is complete and the restrooms will open in the spring. The building includes two gender neutral restrooms. Automatic door locks, motion/infrared light sensors, metal roof, adult changing tables, and limestone facing were included in the project. 4 Auditorium On October 8, Parks and Recreation launched its first ever live streaming event from the auditorium. It was a concert featuring local musician Ben Schrag from Ben Schrag and the Cautionaries. It was a soft launch to see how things would work, and it went very well. Close to 100 people watched live and the videos now have over 500 views combined on Facebook and YouTube. Several other artists are interested, and this service can be offered now to users through the pandemic and beyond! Tree Planting The Ames Foundation tree planting was completed with the assistance of Dr. Jan Thompson’s sophomore forestry lab class. Approximately 30 students assisted with the planting of 50 trees on Mortensen Road (pictures below). An additional 25 trees were planted on Steinbeck, Dickinson, and Twain Circle through a $5,000 grant from the Trees Forever/Alliant Energy Branching Out Program. The grant funds were targeted towards providing right-of-way trees in areas with large transient student populations. There were also 65 trees planted throughout Ames as part of the Emerald Ash Borer Management Plan’s tree replacement program. Ten of the sixty-five trees were planted on Southdale Drive. Southdale is an ash tree lined street which saw the removal of 10 ash trees this summer. Twelve trees were planted at Sunset Ridge Park in west Ames. A memorial tree was planted at Daley Park and Moore Park. Two sycamores were planted at Moore Memorial Park to replace the 120-year-old sycamore lost to firework vandalism this summer. The trees were planted with the assistance of several citizens who had emotional attachments to the removed tree (pictures below). The sycamore trees were grown from a beautiful sycamore growing in the Bear Creek Watershed just north of Ames. 5 Fitness Programming A new session of Warm Water Aqua at ISU Forker Pool began with three classes per week being offered with 32 participants registered. The last session of outdoor classes began Monday, October 5 with 127 registrations. A transition to Zoom classes also started October 5 since the outdoor classes will finish at the end of October. There are 72 registrations for the first month of Zoom classes. Zoom class offerings will be expanded in the next session and many of them will be via Zoom and in person at the same time. Balance Class Ice Arena Programming Ames Minor Hockey Association (AMHA) started their Learn to Play program recently, while the Ames Figure Skating Club began their second session of Learn to Skate. The ISU Men’s Hockey Team and AMHA both hosted hockey games in the month of October. A Des Moines group rented ice to host a six-team hockey tournament which was the first hockey tournament to be held in Iowa since the pandemic began. ISU started their skating class the first week of October and two birthday parties were held at the arena as well. 6 A second session of in-person Tae Kwon Do classes began October 27 and had to add two additional classes due to classes filling up with class maximums set at nine. Zoom Tae Kwon Do classes will continue to be offered as well. The Dragon classes also began in person and another class was added due to the popularity of the class. Aquatics Programming Another session of fall swim lessons started with parents/guardians working with their child in the water. The number of registrations continue to be low compared to years past, however, participants are getting more practice time with a guardian in the water. Open swim started on Saturday, October 10 with the first two weeks starting out slow, as expected. Capacity is currently 25 swimmers and there were 22 swimmers this past Saturday! Additionally, three lanes are available by reservation in the center of the pool for lap swimming. Three private rentals were held in October. One was a family that reserved the pool just for a private family event, and they enjoyed it so much they are in the process of booking two more dates in November! Staff is working on promotions for various ways/reasons to book a rental in hopes of increasing the number of rentals.