Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - February 1, 2, and 3, 2022, Special Meeting of the Ames City Council: Budget HearingsMINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE AMES CITY COUNCIL AMES, IOWA FEBRUARY 1, 2022 CALL TO ORDER: The Special Meeting of the Ames City Council was called to order by Mayor John Haila at 5:15 p.m. on February 1, 2022, in the City Council Chambers in City Hall, 515 Clark Avenue, pursuant to law. Present were Council Members Gloria Betcher, Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen, Amber Corrieri, Tim Gartin, Rachel Junck, and Anita Rollins. Ex officio Member Trevor Poundstone was absent. FY 2022/23 BUDGET PROPOSALS: Library Services. Library Director Sheila Schofer noted that they added back services this year and made the most of the COVID innovations by offering outdoor programming and using new technology to reach more people in hybrid and virtual environments. This time last year the lobby was opened to the public after being closed due to COVID-19. Throughout the pandemic, the Library remained committed to serving customers, staying connected, and meeting customers’ needs in new and different ways. The Library uses its Strategic Plan, which was launched in 2020, to focus its ongoing work in the areas of equity, inclusion, civic engagement, access, wellness, and staff development. The Library Administration Team has the responsibility for overall staffing and operations of the Library. It includes key teams of Information Technology, Volunteer Resources, and Building Maintenance. Ms. Schofer highlighted the new front door and adult changing table that were completed. The IT Department had been critical in helping with the changing of community needs. Wi-Fi services were boosted, improved patron printing experiences, document scanning, and easy card payment options. The public PC’s and laptops were upgraded. The public meeting rooms were also upgraded. To help with Staff Development the Library formed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Team that helped identify a trainer and is helping to guide some library focused training. Director Schofer explained that volunteers play an important role in all the services. The Library is planning an in- person appreciation event for the volunteers in the Spring. Council Member Gartin noticed that there was a significant reduction in volunteer hours and wanted to know if that has affected the library at all. Ms. Schofer stated it had a little bit, but staff has been able to work through the reduction. She noted that the volunteers are starting to come back as the pandemic is changing. Library Resource Services is responsible for the acquisition, cataloging, processing, and management of all items in the Library’s collection. This includes the administration of the Integration Library System, management of all electronic resources, and the Library’s online presence. Director Schofer indicated that the downloadable e-books, audio, and videos are increasing in popularity. The Library is continuing to offer online subscriptions and tools to the community. Another resource that is offered is online learning tools for student success. Youth Services gave out over 9,000 grab-and-go kits, which were science kits and corresponded to an online video. Families came out over the summer for several events at Bandshell Park and throughout the City. Summer meals were offered, and 1,464 meals were served. Council Member Betcher asked what accounted for the tremendous increase in the number of teen programs, as it seemed counterintuitive as most other areas dropped in numbers. Director Schofer mentioned that the teens really latched on to the online presence. The Library had a discord channel and Zoom programs. For Civic Engagement, the Library held multiple vaccination clinics and worked with several organizations to host the School Board candidate forums. The Library partnered with various other community organizations to encourage engagement. Staff works in collaboration with The Bridge Home to host them at the Library as the Library is already serving that key population. The Library was intentional in offering inclusive programming. The Library Customer Account Services team looks at ways to respond to customer needs and make the Library easier to do business with. Ms. Schofer noted that the Wi-Fi hotspots were checked out 917 times. A big innovation that was done was the implementation of student and educator cards. In partnership with the Ames Community Schools, over 5,000 students and 300 educators were issued library accounts. Council Member Betcher asked if there was any way to measure the success of promoting Neighborhood Associations at the Library. Ms. Schofer stated it was done one time and it was more of a get-to-know-you effort. Ms. Betcher felt the City should continue to promote the Neighborhood Association. Council Members Rollins asked if there was any way to know if the hotspots that were checked out were used by adults or adults with children. She was curious if families from the school districts were taking advantage of the opportunity. Director Schofer mentioned that there may have been some, but they don’t track that information; it was more teens who checked out the hotspots. Council Member Gartin asked for data on the bookmobile as he didn’t see it mentioned. Ms. Schofer noted that the bookmobile did not go out that often and the information will be slim. It was indicated that there was some information on Page 193 of the Draft Program Budget book. Mr. Gartin wanted to know if the Library was working directly with the schools regarding resources and programming. Director Schofer stated that they do, and the partnership is continuing to improve. Mayor Haila noticed that the H. Barnes Reading Academy is not getting funded for FY 2022/23 and questioned what happened. Director Schofer stated that the H. Barnes Reading Academy withdrew its funding. The Mayor stated that one of the in-progress activities was to support youth wellness through staff training opportunities like “Youth Mental Health First Aid” and through partnerships on programs 2 like “Teen Dating Violence” and “Mindful Teen.” Ms. Schofer stated that the “Mindful Teen” was a series that was partnered with ISU Extension. She was not sure the turn-out was what was expected, but they are going to continue to try different programming. Water Operations. John Dunn, Director of the Water and Pollution Control Department, introduced the members of the Water and Pollution Control Leadership Team. Photos were shown of the student operators. Director Dunn provided an overview of the two main areas of emphasis that the Administrative Division handles that are included in the Administration budget. He highlighted that there has been a request for another FTE to be added to the budget for a new SCADA & Controls Technician and this position will be under the Administration budget. Regarding Plant Operations, Director Dunn stated there was a moderate drought for most of last year and the South Skunk River went completely dry. Water demands were at or near all-time highs for each month of the summer. The budget is always set for “normal” years, not for drought or flood years. Resiliency is a big deal and that is why scattered throughout both the Operating Budget and the Capital Improvements Plan are things that will improve the safety and security of the utilities. Examples were additional standby power, new fencing, additional security cameras, cyber security measures, and bringing SCADA support in-house are all designed to address what is referred to as a “multi-hazard resiliency” approach. The Water Treatment Plant will host an Open House on Saturday, April 23, 2022. Programs for WPC Facility Operations. The programs covered under Facility Operations included Administration, Flood Warning, Maintenance, Treatment, and Farm Operations. Director Dunn mentioned that the Ames Water and Pollution Control Facility (WPCF) received the prestigious Platinum 31 Peak Performance Award. The Award recognizes the Ames WPCF for 31 consecutive years of perfect compliance with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit. The WPCF holds the second-longest compliance record in the nation. In December WPCF staff received a new DRAFT NPDES Permit from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. There was a 45-day comment period and there were a number of comments that were made, but there is nothing that staff felt would warrant appealing the Permit. W&PC Laboratory. The laboratory is one of several work groups that will be impacted by the federal Lead and Copper Rule Revisions. The rule change will impact the number of samples that have to be collected in each sample round and the types of locations from where samples are taken. The revised rule contained a number of provisions regarding how utilities communicate with customers about the test results, but this will not have an impact on the City as staff is already performing that task. Director Dunn noted that, while watching the various infrastructure funding bills being debated, he and Public Works Director John Joiner are watching to see if there will be an opportunity to utilize federal funding to incentivize private property owners to replace their lead service lines. Council Member Gartin asked how many properties are served by lead. Director Dunn indicated it was around 250 properties, which is about 1.5% of all services lines in Ames. Mr. Gartin inquired how much it might cost a property owner to replace lead service lines. It was indicated that it would 3 be between $6,000 to $8,000. W&PC Metering Services. Director Dunn mentioned that staff is around 75% complete with the Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) conversion. The ability to get to that 75% number is going to be heavily dependent on supply chain issues. Council Member Betcher asked what the life expectancy was for one of the units. Mr. Dunn expected the radios to last 10 to 15 years. Council Member Rollins inquired if the meters had the ability for the customers to interface with them and to know real-time how they are using water. Director Dunn indicated that this first phase does not have that ability; however, the meters can be converted from AMR to an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system. The AMI option is currently being explored. Mr. Dunn reviewed the rate and fee adjustments: 1. Proposed 5% Sewer rate increase, effective July 1, 2022 (no change to water rates) 2. Increase other “sewer-related” fees by 5% 3. Annual update to meter-setting fees based on actual costs Council Member Gartin asked how the drought impacted the City’s aquifer. Director Dunn stated that in each of the City’s wells there is the ability to monitor real-time the draw down. The City is able to spread out the demand through multiple wells. The new Treatment Facility, with its ability to augment ammonia, has given the Operators a lot more flexibility to select which wells to turn on. Mayor Haila mentioned that a new well field is scheduled to be built and asked for an update. Director Dunn indicated they are working on the last of the permitting issues. Staff is looking to redesign a few elements before the project is bid. Hopefully, the project will go to bid this summer and it will take about a year before the new well will be in service. Public Works. Public Works Director John Joiner showed the Public Works Department organizational structure. An overview was given of the work activities for the Utilities Program, including Water Distribution, Sanitary Sewer Collection, and Stormwater/Storm Sewer. Staff has been trying to increase its use of social media. Director Joiner mentioned that the City is about five to six water main breaks below the average. Public Works Director John Joiner showed a video highlighting the hydrant flushing program. Stormwater Permit System - In 2021, Ames was named “River Town of the Year.” Director Joiner noted that public education and outreach efforts are key activities that are promoted through the Smart Watershed. The stormwater utility fee is being recommended to increase from $4.95 to $5.20 a month. Resource Recovery. The existing landfill on the west side of Dayton has had a Closure Permit with the IDOT for over 20 years and that Permit has now been closed. An Environmental Covenant has 4 been issued to the City; this acknowledges the stability of the landfill and the good work that City employees are doing. The Waste-to-Energy Alternatives Study is underway and will hopefully come back to the Council in the Spring. The Food Waste Diversion program continues to grow, and staff is currently piloting anaerobic digestion with WPC. Council Member Beatty-Hansen asked if the anaerobic digester could be placed elsewhere and how much water it takes to fund the digester. Director Joiner noted he was not sure of the amount of water to run a unit or the scalability. Resource Recover Superintendent Bill Schmitt commented that he was not sure if they would be able to put more digesters around the City, but staff is looking at having alternative drop-off sites. It was highlighted that Rummage RAMPage averages about 100,000 lbs. of waste each year that is able to be diverted from the landfill. Transportation. Highlights were given for Public Works Administration, Engineering, Traffic Engineering and Operations, Street System Maintenance, Parking Operations, and Airport Operations. For Administration, the Ames-on-the-Go mobile app and Web site has seen an increase in usage. The Ames on the Go app has been utilized a lot and receives approximately 1,600 requests per year. The service has been expanded to Parks and Recreation, Electric, Fire, and WPC. This year will be another round of data collection and analysis of the Pavement Management Program. A big celebration was the South Grand Avenue Extension ribbon-cutting. The Mayor asked what kind of data is collected for the Pavement Management Data Program. Director Joiner mentioned that staff checks the ride/smoothness, amount of cracking, and the cracks offset. That information is then entered along with the roadway type, age, and if the road had been overlaid. All the data is then analyzed and rated and then the ratings are used to help with future projects and the Capital Improvement Plan. Public Works GIS: Director Joiner mentioned this activity has been moved out to stand alone. Director Joiner explained all the different activities that GIS performs. Under the Snow & Ice Control Program, Director Joiner noted that staff planned for 19 events with a total of 36" of snow; there have been eight events with 15 inches of snow to date. A graph highlighting the average response time per season has continued to trend down for the past decade as the team has improved its efficiency. A graph of salt usage was shown. Parking Operations: Staff is going to do a Smart Meter trial on the meters that will be placed in the new Downtown Plaza. The new meters will be able to take credit cards. Regarding Airport Operations: Director Joiner reported that the Airport Master Plan has been completed. The City will continue to receive fixed-based operator services from Central Iowa Air Service. Staff has been working on finalizing the Sigler Purchase and this will be coming back to Council in the next few months. 5 Council Member Gartin said he continues to get good feedback from people who are utilizing the Airport. Mr. Gartin wanted to know how long the waiting list was for anyone who wanted to store a plane in a hangar. Mr. Joiner noted it was hard to gauge the turnover, but there is a significant waiting list as all the hangars are full. It was noted that the Master Plan had identified areas to add additional T-hangars, and the City would be looking for public/private partnerships. Council Member Betcher questioned how many landfills were still in Story County. Director Joiner stated there are not any active landfills. Ms. Betcher asked what the City would do if the Boone landfill couldn’t handle any more capacity. Mr. Joiner indicated that staff has been looking into that and the closest option would be to go to Marshall County or potential options with Metro Waste Authority. Fleet Services. Director Corey Mellies advised that the hourly rate for maintenance services will increase to $81.11/hour in FY 2022/23, which is a 3.7% increase. The rate is designed to recover the cost of the technicians’ salaries and benefits. The average fuel costs are projected to be $2.45 for FY 2021/22 and $2.25 for FY 2022/23. There were 48 vehicles and equipment purchased for the City in 2020/21. A chart was shown of the fuel trends from 2012/13 to 2021/22. The B100 fuel cost is currently $2.62 which is cheaper than the diesel fuel at $2.85. A graph was shown showing the fuel trends from 2011 to 2020. The E85 and diesel have gone down due to the usage of B100. About 28% of the current fleet has been converted to green. He highlighted that in Years 1 and 2 of the B100 Pilot Project, the City has been able to reduce the metric tons by 225. Council Member Betcher asked how long the B100 Pilot Program is supposed to last. Director Mellies indicated that the pilot program was for three years. He indicated that discussions will have to happen with REG about leasing the fuel tanks when the pilot is complete. The City has received a lot of phone calls from all over the country regarding the B100 program. Fleet Services is a member of the Technical Team for the Climate Action Plan and has been discussing assumptions for the fleet, what is needed to meet the goals, and then creating a plan. Director Mellies discussed different vehicle purchases for the next year along with a few challenges. The Mayor mentioned that Fleet Services space is becoming tight when trying to park all the different vehicles and equipment. He wanted to know if there was any plan to expand the facility for more parking. Mr. Mellies noted that the fabric storage barn has been completed and items can go into the building and this will help for now, but at some point, there may need to be more discussions. Facilities. Unfortunately, the City is still dealing with COVID-19 and mitigation efforts are continuing. The keycard access is 99% installed at City Hall and the Fire Stations. Employee keycards should be coming out in the next couple of weeks. Staff is working on the plans for the Downtown Plaza and working with Parks and Recreation on the Indoor Aquatic Center. A consultant has been hired to work on interior updates to City Hall. The colors of the walls have been decided; it will be shades of gray along with green. Director Mellies highlighted upcoming future projects. 6 Finance Services. Finance Director Duane Pitcher presented the budget for the Economic Development Program. They had established an additional Urban Renewal Area and Plan for improvements in Downtown Ames. He mentioned that they had applied for the Iowa Reinvestment District funding and received a provisional award of $10 million to help fund an Aquatic Center; they are working on the completion of a final application. Director Pitcher stated that all TIF Funds are now collecting more incremental property tax than the annual debt service payments. Director Pitcher briefly covered the budgets and gave highlights for Financial Services, including Administration, Purchasing Services, Information Technology, Utility Customer Service, and Parking Violation Collection. He noted that there had been a lot of turnover that has impacted the budget. He noted that Finance has continued to maintain its Aa1 G.O. Bond rating. Finance received a GFOA Certificate of Excellence for Budget Document. Finance has also continued to expand on electronic payments, American Rescue Plan, CARES Act, FEMA COVID and derecho grants. Purchasing Services -This Division supports all large City initiatives, implementing electronic bidding and vendor management, and continues to improve use of electric management and working to connect to the finance software. He noted that the supply chain has affected everything, and the cards needed for the badge access were delayed. Information Technology. Director Pitcher noted that the only change was due to the increase in equipment purchases. Staff has continued to improve security with Cisco Umbrella and Cisco ISE. A big change was the Central Square account system was migrated to Software-as-a-Service (SAAS), retiring the IBM i-Series server. Staff is working to enter into an Enterprise Agreement with Microsoft to improve management and security and working on improvements to mobile device management software. Council Member Betcher inquired if there has been a delay with equipment purchases. IT Manager Brent Moore stated that the Dell purchases formerly took two to three weeks and now it is taking two to three months. Ms. Betcher asked how the City plans for any equipment wait time. Mr. Moore mentioned they are trying to order equipment early to put it into stock and will continue to order stock as needed. When referencing Utility Customer Service, Director Pitcher noted that the budget shows there was a lot of turnover in the Division and the budget will reflect the change as long-term employees have retired and have been replaced by newer employees, which caused a decrease. This Division had implemented multiple COVID relief assistance programs, community solar credits, and a new parking ticket issuance and collection system with the Police Department. DISPOSITIONS OF COMMUNICATIONS TO COUNCIL: City Manager Schainker noted that two additional requests for funding were given to the Council. It was asked if the Council wanted to respond to the requests individually or refer the requests to the City Manager for more information before the Budget Wrap-Up meeting. The first request was from Sharon Wirth and Craig Marrs on behalf of the Ames History Museum and the other was from Lauris Olson, Home Allies requesting 7 funding for public purposes of increasing long-term housing for low-income and housing-insecure residents in Ames. The Council inquired if there were any more requests that would be coming in. Mr. Schainker mentioned the request from Ms. Olson is asking for a total amount for two different purposes; one is for construction and the other is for support. Council Member Betcher wanted to know if the Home Allies request was accurate in discerning if the way it is structured is legal. She mentioned that Attorney Lambert had provided a letter about the funding for the History Museum and the letter from Ms. Olson asserts that the Home Allies program is not the same. Ms. Betcher wanted to know if that was true. Council Member Corrieri mentioned they haven’t discussed in a couple of years about doing another round of Capital Grants for Nonprofits. She wanted to bring up the competitive Grant process to the rest of the Council to see if it might be a better way to analyze the funding requests that have been received. Ms. Corrieri asked the Council if they would like to have a grant process instead of possibly setting a new trend to take random requests. Council Member Betcher stated that the Downtown request and the History Museum are already a part of the City Council grant process. Ms. Corrieri pointed out that Downtown and the History Museum were not eligible for the Capital Grants in the past as they were only open to ASSET agencies. The Council continued to discuss if they should offer the Grant process or take everything on a case-by-case basis. Moved by Beatty-Hansen, seconded by Corrieri, to put the request from the Ames History Museum and Home Allies on to the February 8, 2022 Agenda for discussion. Vote on Motion: 6-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. Council Member Gartin stated there was a brief discussion regarding climate action and how it relates to the CIP process. The recommendations from the consultant won’t be to the Council until April, and he felt from a timing perspective, it is going to be difficult to add a climate component to the operating budget. Mr. Schainker noted that the Council has $1 million to prioritize. He noted that he will have to give the Council an implementation process and it is going to be a multi-million dollar change and will need to outline a strategy. Mr. Schainker stated it needs to be well-thought-out as it will affect property taxes, electric rates, and other utility rates. He has already provided the Council with smaller projects that could be started. Mr. Gartin commented that the Council should be thinking of how climate budgetary issues will be handled in the next budget. Mr. Schainker pointed out that it is not just the City of Ames organization, but what the industrial community is going to do, or what ISU is going to do. Everyone will have a role in it, and everyone will have to invest in it. Assistant City Manager Deb Schildroth stated that April 5 is the Steering Committee meeting where SSG will present the low-carbon action steps. This will come as a packaged deal and the Council needs to be careful about what they want to do. She noted that, because of the ambitious goal of trying to get to a goal by 2030, the City will need to take big steps instead of small steps. A survey has been put together, but this has been slowed down due to adding the cost estimates. It was anticipated that the survey will be mailed out the week of February 14. Mr. Gartin asked how a price 8 tag could be added to the survey when the Council doesn’t have the recommendations back yet. Ms. Schildroth stated that SSG has been working on the recommendations and the Technical Committee has been reviewing the recommendations and assessing cost estimates to each one. She noted that she has not seen the survey yet, but it will go through each Committee before it goes out. Mr. Gartin asked if the Council was interested in seeing the survey before it went out. Council Member Betcher commented that she trusts the staff. Mr. Schainker said they can ask the consultant and get back to the Council. COMMENTS: Council Member Betcher stated she will be sending the Council an email about an addition to the budget for a continuation for one year of the Small Art Grant Pilot Program at a funding level of $30,000. The Mayor mentioned that the legislature had met on sales tax. He mentioned that it is being tracked and not sure if going to affect the City. Mayor Haila explained that he will keep the Council updated. ADJOURNMENT: Moved by Betcher, seconded by Corrieri, to adjourn at 7:46 p.m. Motion declared carried unanimously. **************************************************************************** MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE AMES CITY COUNCIL AMES, IOWA FEBRUARY 2, 2022 CALL TO ORDER: The Special Meeting of the Ames City Council was called to order by Mayor John Haila at 5:15 p.m. on February 2, 2022, in the City Council Chambers in City Hall, 515 Clark Avenue, pursuant to law. Present were Council Members Gloria Betcher, Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen, Amber Corrieri, Tim Gartin, Rachel Junck, and Anita Rollins. Ex officio Member Trevor Poundstone was absent. FY 2022/23 BUDGET PROPOSALS: Parks & Recreation. Parks and Recreation Director Keith Abraham stated that there was a big impact on participation due to COVID-19. The impact affected revenue and part-time staffing. In 2019, there were 456 part-time staff, but due to COVID, there were only 272 part-time staff hired in 2020; however, in 2021 the numbers picked back up and there were 343 part-time staff hired. Director Abraham mentioned that there would be some fee changes for FY 2022/23. The overall activities/programs are experiencing a 40% increase. Staff is recommending the Ice Rental Rates increase by 5%. The increase to Homewood season passes will vary. A 3% increase for passes was proposed for the Furman Aquatic Center. A 3% increase in the Auditorium Rental Rates was recommended. The Parks and Recreation Department offers scholarships and the number of registrations has gone down since 2016/17. They are going to work on promoting scholarships to hopefully get more registrations. Council Member Gartin noted he spent several years on City Council before he knew that the Parks 9 and Recreation Department offered scholarships. He asked if the scholarships were for just kids or adults as well. Director Abraham stated that the program scholarships are for 6th graders and below; however, the swimming pass scholarships are for youth, adults, and families. Mr. Abraham mentioned that the Parks and Recreation Commission has asked staff to look at the scholarship program and come back with recommendations; staff will need to look at the impact to the budget. Council Member Betcher asked about the program passes and if there was any information on what they are being used for. Director Abraham stated he did not have the data in front of him, but felt they were mainly used for swim lessons. Director Abraham highlighted activities that the Parks and Recreation Department offers for the Miracle League, ski clinic, and fishing. He noted that the Small Wonders program has been happening for 30 years; but this program will be discontinued at the end of this year. The numbers have not been as well attended as it used to be five mornings a week. Now only three mornings are offered. The North River Valley Concession will be discontinued in 2022 for adult softball leagues, but will be open for bigger events. Director Abraham provided an update on the Municipal Pool. He mentioned that there will be program relocations in 2022/23; they have budgeted $100,000 to make adjustments to the Gateway building and this will free up space within City Hall to allow for more offices and conference rooms. Virtual Registrations for in-person classes were 142 in FY 2020/21, and in FY 2021/22, there were 67 virtual attendees. Due to COVID there were 17 outdoor classes. In FY 2022/23, staff will continue to offer outdoor classes. Ames/ISU Ice Arena - ISU is not offering some programs (hockey), which has had an impact on rentals. Staff will be offering a “Drive the Zamboni Experience” in 2022. Homewood Golf Course Clubhouse. Director Abraham mentioned they are offering clubhouse rentals. The budget is set to expect 100 hours of rentals, and so far, they are at 70 hours. Staff has been getting calls for graduation parties. Park Maintenance - One thing that added to the budget has been the addition of new parks and amenities. Director Abraham mentioned, in order to maintain everything, they are hiring an additional Maintenance Worker. The work schedule for Maintenance Workers will be changing; it will be going to a Wednesday through Sunday schedule. It was highlighted that they have a group that volunteers their time and last year had over 1,000 volunteers that helped clean out debris from the parks. The Carr Park bathhouse will be demolished, and a lot of the materials will be recycled. All the parks are on a five-year tree-pruning schedule. Director Abraham explained that from July 1, 2021, to January 30, 2022, staff had removed 25 at risk trees, inspected and pruned 866 trees, planted 42 trees, and received $5,000 in tree planting grants and outside funding. Pertaining to Cemetery Operations - Director Abraham stated that two columbariums were added and another one was moved. A pavilion will be added along with some sidewalks. 10 Right-of-Way Management. The tree pruning will happen every five years and is broken down into different zones. The accomplishments from July 1, 2021 to January 30, 2022, included removing 142 right-of-way at risk-trees’, 2,503 right-of-way trees were inspected and pruned; 160 trees were planted, and $10,000 was received in tree-planting grants and outside funding. Director Abraham indicated that staff was in Year 8 of the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) tree removal. He noted that by the end of Year 9 all the ash trees will be removed from the parks and cemeteries. This will leave only 392 trees in the rights-of-way to remove. City Manager Schainker stated there were 1,400 EAB trees removed, but he wanted to know how many were planted. Parks and Facility Supervisor Joshua Thompson explained they plant trees one by one. This way when one is removed, they plant another one. Council Member Beatty-Hansen commented that the Council had received an email from a citizen requesting more tree planting. She asked how much tree planting is limited by funding versus time or labor. Director Abraham explained that the City Forester put together a draft with some of the information that the resident had asked about. He is hoping to present it to the City Council soon. Council Member Betcher asked, when trees in the ROW are taken out, does staff notify the homeowners if the tree roots have made the sidewalk bulge. Mr. Abraham explained that they do notify the homeowner; that is sometimes why the tree is removed. He noted sometimes the roots can be cut, but not always. He noted that City Forrester Paul Tauke does a great job of working with homeowners. Council Member Gartin stated that the erosion control done at the Homewood was an extensive project and a great job was done. Director Abraham stated it was a joint effort with Public Works and worked really well. Mr. Gartin asked where the Parks and Recreation Commission was at developing a trail on the East River Valley Trail further north. Mr. Abraham mentioned that discussion has not occurred; they are limited going north due to private properties. Joshua Thompson stated that they are working on getting more data and will bring it back to the Council in a couple of months. Electric Services. Donald Kom, Director of Electric Services, showed a video on the history of the Power Plant. The Electric Administration budget request for FY 2022/23 is $1,398,615, which reflects a 11% increase. The increase was due to contractual expenditures; new radio lease, and increased membership dues. Director Kom stated that some money was added to the budget to renovate the Electric Administration building. Director Kom mentioned that overall, electric rates are 15% lower than neighboring electric companies Mr. Kom emphasized that, in the Demand-Side Management program the, City hit a peak on August 24, 2021 of 128.7 megawatts, but this was still below the highest peak of 130.7 set in 2012. 11 Demand Side Energy. The Sun Smart program has pollinators, sheep, and native vegetation. The total expenditures for FY 2022/23 are $1,081,719, which is a 6% increase from the previous year. Director Kom highlighted programs that were done by Electric Services for the year (Sun Smart, rebate programs, Geothermal Pilot at the Baker Subdivision, EV chargers, Prime Time Power program, and a solar crate). Council Member Gartin felt it was important to note that about 15% of the City’s energy is coming from renewable energy. Director Kom explained that percentage is a little misleading because there are three types of generation (natural gas plant, wind farm, solar farm), and these vary from month to month. The remaining part of the energy is purchased from MISO, which is the regional grid. He stated that the overall carbon footprint is between 35% to 40%, which would be considered green renewable energy. Council Member Gartin asked about the retail solar numbers and wanted to know, if the City wanted to leverage those solar panels to increase capacity for residential solar would EUORAB be looking into doing this. Mr. Kom mentioned that EUORAB is in the process of looking to hire a consultant to look at five sites within Ames where the City can dramatically increase the amount of solar. The focus has been to look at larger systems opposed to individual homes. There had been some discussion about increasing some of the rebate programs, but then decreasing some of the buyback rates. Regarding the Electric Production program, total expenditures for FY 2022/23 were $13,949,963, which is a 3.8% increase from the previous fiscal year. Director Kom noted that Unit 8 is up and running. The expenditure increase was due to contractual services that increased preventive maintenance. Electric Production had gone 349 days without lost time accidents. Director Kom said that Plant staff is experiencing high turnover. Currently, the Waste-to-Energy study is 80% complete; they are working to finalize with other departments. Council Member Betcher noted that in the video, it showed Units 5 and 6 were dormant. She wanted to know why the Units were still there instead of being removed. Director Kom stated it is very costly to remove the Units. He noted that part of the Waste-to-Energy study is taking Unit 5 or Unit 6 and trying to reuse the turbines. Fuel & Purchased Power is the largest of all the program budgets with an estimated total expenditure of $32,344,052 for FY 2022/23, which is a decrease of 1.2% from the previous year. It was noted that natural gas prices have been going up, but for the City of Ames, it is significantly lower as the prices were locked in under a Contract until 2023. Council Member Beatty-Hansen stated the Contract is on its seven year of an eight- year contract and she wondered if the rates will go way up as. Director Kom said he was hopeful that rates would go back down in the next year. He explained that the Waste-to-Energy study has the intent to move away from natural gas, and it is the hope that this will help protect the City and reduce greenhouse gases. 12 Electric Distribution Operations/Maintenance will see an increase of 1% for FY 2022/23 to $3,666,846. The biggest expense was for tree trimming. He mentioned that they now have a text messaging system for outages. More information will be sent out to the public regarding this option. Electric Distribution Extensions/Improvements. The total expenditures for FY 2022/23 are estimated to be $2,509,530. This is a 3.7% decrease from the FY 2021/22 Adopted Budget. Director Kom mentioned the following projects: adding more capacity to the Mortensen Road feeder; Duff and South 16th transmission; Baker Subdivision; Street Lights on Grand and S. 5th Street; and system maintenance. Technical Services. Director Kom said that the total expenditures for FY 2022/23 are estimated to be $1,276,029, which is a 5.6% increase from the FY 2021-22 Adopted Budget. The increase is due to the long lead time on meters/parts, transformer oil, servicing, and transportation. Electric Engineering will see a 2.6% decrease for the FY 2021/22 Adopted Budget. The total estimated expenditures are $942,290. It was noted that a lot of the electrical system is over 30 years old and staff is having to replace failing underground and overhead lines. The DOT has asked the City to move its power lines in order to expand I35. The LED street light change-out should be finished in FY 2021/22. Retail approvals are up to 155 retail customers that have solar. The Electric Fund is estimated to have total revenues of $65,779,600. This is down 2.4% from FY 2021/22 Adopted Budget. It is estimated that the estimated Fund Balance by the end of FY 2022/23 would be around $30,243,579. Unreserved Fund Balance will be $20,143,579. Staff is not suggesting any rate increases for FY 2022/23. Council Member Betcher asked if the age of the City’s system was in line with the age of other electrical systems in the state. Director Kom stated that typically it is; however, a few cities had upgraded their systems after the derecho. The City of Ames is looking to replace over a half dozen poles every year. Mayor Haila inquired what the impact would be on the electric distribution system when looking at making changes for the Climate Action Plan (CAP). Director Kom explained that ISU will have to make changes and its load will more than double what they are currently using with the City. This will probably cause a new substation to be built or a new unit to be built. When looking at homes, adding an electric car charger could increase a homeowner’s electric consumption by 50% or higher, depending on how fast the vehicle charges. Director Kom stated staff will need to do an Integrated Resource Plan. Fire Department. Fire Chief Rich Higgins stated that the Fire Department is broken down into two programs: Fire Safety and Building Safety. Chief Higgins explained they are currently in the recruitment process for a new Deputy Fire Chief and a new Plans Examiner. The current Plans Examiner Scott McCambridge was just recently promoted to the position of Assistant Building Official. There are also a few firefighter openings, and they anticipate a few more later this year due 13 to promotions and the addition of a proposed new firefighter for the next fiscal year. Chief Higgins noted they are incrementally increasing staffing levels in anticipation of adding a fourth fire station. Staff is recommending a 3.2% overall increase in the Fire Safety Budget. He recognized ISU and its 25% commitment to the City’s operating budget and debt services, which is projected to be a little over $2 million next year. Fire Administration and Support - Chief Higgins highlighted three different areas. The first is their COVID-19 response team. This group started meeting in March of 2020 and continues to meet regularly to protect and service the community during the ongoing pandemic. The second area was Community and Civic engagement and outreach programs. This area helped get “Stop the Bleed” kits placed around City Hall next to the AEDs. Chief Higgins said staff is now training City staff and other community members on how to use tourniquets and bandages to stop someone from bleeding. The training kit was made possible by a Fireworks Safety Grant that the City was able to secure through the State of Iowa Fire Marshal’s Office. Another activity where staff was able to use the grant money was to purchase two new training props: a trash can and a stop top fire unit. The “Stop the Bleed” kits; CPR, and AED training kits, and the portable fire extinguisher training kit allows firefighters to come to the customers, businesses, or neighborhoods and provide lifesaving training free of charge. The third area that Chief Higgins wanted to highlight was the City’s Incident Command Center Development. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes with other departments to make sure the City is ready to respond to large-scale emergency disasters. Pictures were shown of the train derailment that happened in June 2021. It was mentioned that staff will begin transitioning the primary Incident Command Center from the Ames City Hall Police Squad room to the Ames Water Plant. A state-funded and sponsored Incident Command Center Exercise will be conducted alongside Story County EMA in April 2023. Council Member Rollins asked if the Fire Department had its own drone. Chief Higgins stated that they do as they are typically tied up with other concerns, but there are a couple other departments that have drones and the training to help when needed. Fire Suppression & Emergency Action. Chief Higgins stated that the EMT transition was complete. In January 2022, staff moved to full-time Emergency Medical Technician Services. The change to EMT will increase the service level to the community, which will give quicker access to more advanced medical care on site by the Ames firefighters. The fire station received its first set of battery-powered extrication equipment that has been ordered and will be placed into service around March when the new ladder truck goes into service. This change will help lower carbon emissions, increase service capabilities with unlimited tool reach, and extend the service life of the equipment. This change will start the transition towards smaller, pickup style, rescue units for medical calls and will bring the department one-step closer towards purchasing a technical rescue vehicle. In 2021, firefighters responded to 4,954 total incidents. Photos were shown of the Ames Public Safety Training Site along with a vision for the future buildout of the Ames Public Safety Training Site that is shared with the Ames Police Department. Community Outreach. Station tours have not returned to normal since the start of the pandemic, but 14 crews are continuing to find ways to engage with the public and share a fire safety message. Building Safety - According to Chief Higgins, the Division budget is requesting an overall increase of 6.8 %, and no Building Permit fee increases. The increase is a result of some health insurance changes and planned pay step increases. Staff experienced a larger than expected increase in the number of residential permits being issued last year. It was thought this was partly due to more people being home during the pandemic and the availability of stimulus money for home projects. Commercial permits declined last year, but were only off by 11% from the six-year average. Staff’s goal is always education over enforcement as they want customers to understand the “why” behind the codes. For Rental Housing, staff is proposing a 3% Rental Fee increase for the next fiscal year. This increase will result in a price per-unit increase ranging from $0.73 for apartment complexes over 20 units to $1.46 for a single-family dwelling rental. The fee schedule was last adjusted in 2017 when a third rental inspector was added. The number of rental units within our community continues to grow despite last year’s lull. The Mayor asked how many new single-family permits were issued. Ms. Van Meeteren stated she is not sure, but they are remaining steady, maybe a couple hundred a year. Law Enforcement. Police Chief Geoff Huff highlighted a video showing an unfortunate event that happened to a couple of young lemonade entrepreneurs. Eventually, the $750 donation ballooned to $7,500 and the money was used for the Shop-with-a-Cop program and donated to the Boys and Girls Club Fundraising Gala. In addition, the Animal Shelter received over $8,000 in donations due to Betty White’s birthday. Chief Huff said that 2020 was an unusual year with a few retirements and several staff leaving the Police Department, including nine police officers and the Chief of Police. In addition, the contract for the School Resource Office will not be renewed for the 2022/23 school year. The reduction in staff of one FTE will offset the lost revenue from the School District. Of the nine openings, Chief Huff noted that four openings have been filled with five more in the hiring process. Once hired, new officers still need to attend a 16-week Iowa Law Enforcement Academy and the City’s own four- month field training program. Council Member Gartin asked what efforts were taken with the recruitment process for new Police Officers. Chief Huff said that staff works closely with Human Resources and recruitment was done in Illinois and Minnesota. Council Member Betcher asked if the City was still getting candidates who are coming from college or other areas. Chief Huff indicated it was a little bit of everything. Most people have a four-year degree and they are seeing a lot of candidates who have military service experience. Chief Huff said that the Police Department partnered with “Hope in Christ” to bring National Night 15 Out back for 2021. This partnership led to supplying over 700 backpacks with school supplies to kids in need. This event also helped staff build stronger relationships with the diverse community. Chief Huff highlighted several events that Police Officers participated in. It was mentioned that staff is finishing the last pieces of the StoryComm Public Safety/Public Service Radio system. New radio equipment is being installed in the Communications Center; there were some supply issues that caused a delay. In July, the Department began the process of publishing its Monthly Activity Reports. The Reports are published on the Police Department’s website, distributed on social media, and printed/electronic copies are available at the Library as well the Police Department. To date, the Department has completed nine of the recommendations from the “Policing in Ames, a Path Forward” Report. Staff is currently working on the Ames Resident Police Advisory Committee, which will help complete several of the other recommendations from the Report. Chief Huff reported that, along with the Monthly Activity Reports on the website, there is also a new reporting form to allow residents to file a compliment or complaint that goes directly to Chief Huff. The Police Department is looking forward to working with an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Officer. The entire Department attended 12 hours of cultural awareness training. The Department now has five Police Hybrid vehicles that are being used in the fleet and anticipate receiving four more in the next six months. This will put the Police Department at 90% hybrid in the Police Patrol Fleet. The detective vehicles are at 50% hybrid, and staff will continue to replace all vehicles with hybrids within the next two years. Staff has found that they will save around $8,000 per year on fuel at the current rates, which reduces carbon dioxide by 32.1 metric tons. The hybrid vehicles also help reduce oil changes from 13 a year to four, increase miles-per-gallon from eight to 18, and reduce maintenance costs. Chief Huff said that the Department is continuing to see increases in mental health calls for service despite the many partnerships in the community. There are some partners that have limited interactions due to COVID shutdowns and precautions. It is anticipated that the numbers will continue to increase for mental health calls. The Mental Health Advocate is being changed from a 3/4-time position to full-time. There were 2,300 mental/emotional health calls this year and 2,000 last year. A current program called “Third Way Program” with a couple agencies in Ames will help with Mental Health calls. Council Member Corrieri asked what the percentage was for repeat services for mental health. Chief Huff noted he did not have the information at this time, but will see what he can find. Under Police Administration and Records. The Department is looking to change a part-time evidence custodian to a full-time position. There has been an increase in the amount of evidence that is taken in, and the staff time to process the evidence has also increased. Trends were reviewed for the Crime Prevention and Police Services. There was a reduction in 16 assaults. Domestic violence calls ended up flat for the year, but there was an increase in sexual assault cases. In addition, homicides are increasing; last year, there were four and typically there is only one a year. Noise complaints and nuisance parties continued to trend down. Fireworks are still a sore spot for citizens. Council Member Betcher asked how often anything can be done when a call comes in for fireworks. Chief Huff noted that officers usually show up after the fireworks are done and it is hard to catch someone in the act. Thefts have continued to trend down, but seem to be flattening out. However, Chief Huff cautioned that the decrease is due to a change in retailer policies. SCAMS are still rampant and take many forms. The number of accidents from 2015 through 2021 was shown. In 2020, there were 1,145 accidents, and in 2021, there was an increase to 1,427. The Mayor stated it would be nice to see how many of those accidents were weather-related. Pertaining to the Communications - Emergency Medical Dispatch, the time to answer 911 calls were reviewed. The National Fire Protection Association standards state that 90% of 911 calls shall be answered within 15 seconds and 95% should be answered within 20 seconds. The City of Ames dispatchers answered 92.5% of 911 calls within ten seconds or fewer and 98% in 15 seconds or fewer. Approximately 4,166 medical calls were received. Under Parking Enforcement. The new parking software launched in August 2020. Each ticket is time-stamped and GPS located for accuracy. Tickets are uploaded to the cloud as soon as they are printed, for customers to review, pay, or appeal. Of the 28,145 tickets written in 2021, 9,629 or 34.2% were for meter violations. The Community Safety Officers (CSOs) do more than just parking. They assist Animal Control, take care of the bike auctions, provide motorist assists, and transport prisoners. Animal Control. Staff has seen an increase in intake of animals along with an increase in good outcomes for the animals in the shelter. The Animal Control staff partnered with ISU College of Veterinary Medicine and the Shelter Medicine Club to do a microchip clinic. The facility continues to present challenges to staff. When any purchases for the shelter are made, staff tries to ensure that what is acquired can be moved to a new shelter once one can get constructed. Unfortunately, due to the high increase in construction costs, it is not a good time to move forward with building a new shelter, but they will continue to look for funding sources. Council Member Gartin said that the Department has been measuring racial stops and wanted to know when that data would be available. Chief Huff stated the data will be released on February 10, 2022. City Manager Steve Schainker noted that the public is invited to attend the meeting where the Chiefs of Police from Ames and ISU along with the consultant will share the Report. It will be televised and streamed to watch real-time. There will be an opportunity for questions from the Council and the public. It was mentioned that the study was brought upon by the City themselves as the Police Department wanted to know how it was doing and what it could do to improve. 17 Mayor Haila noted that several residents contacted the Council about “801 Day” and conversations have been happening along with researching what can be done. DISPOSITIONS OF COMMUNICATIONS TO COUNCIL: None. COUNCIL COMMENTS: Council Member Gartin noted that the Police Department has a 90% approval rating. ADJOURNMENT: Moved by Betcher, seconded by Rollins, to adjourn the meeting at 8:09 p.m. Vote on Motion: 6-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. ****************************************************************************** MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE AMES CITY COUNCIL AMES, IOWA FEBRUARY 3, 2022 CALL TO ORDER: The Special Meeting of the Ames City Council was called to order by Mayor John Haila at 5:15 p.m. on February 3, 2022, in the City Council Chambers in City Hall, 515 Clark Avenue, pursuant to law. Present were Council Members Gloria Betcher, Bronwyn Beatty-Hansen, Amber Corrieri, Tim Gartin, Rachel Junck, and Anita Rollins. Ex officio Member Trevor Poundstone was also present. FY 2022/23 BUDGET PROPOSALS: Transit System. Transit Director Barb Neal stated that the proposed budget was approved by the Transit Board at its December meeting. The challenges of 2020 had continued into 2021 and 2022. CyRide is gradually seeing more passengers return to riding the bus. For FY 2022/23 staff will continue to work on rebuilding the large ridership base. It was noted that about $1.4 million of federal funding is tied to high ridership and operational efficiencies. Director Neal mentioned that over the past two years ridership patterns have shifted significantly due to changes in work patterns and education offerings. Ridership is about 65% to 70% of pre-pandemic levels, and while ridership is projected to increase in 2022/23, staff will continue to see ridership levels that are below normal. Historically, ridership has mirrored what is happening at ISU; as enrollment has declined so has the ridership. Ms. Neal explained that about 93% of the riders are ISU students and CyRide is projecting ridership in 2022/23 to be about 3.5 million passengers. A slide showing the projected revenues was displayed. CyRide was fortunate to receive a timely influx of one-time federal funding. CyRide was able to spread the funding over two years. The FY 2022/23 represents an overall increase of 3% over last year’s budget. CyRide requested $2,078,474 or 14% from the City. Ms. Neal highlighted a Capital Improvement Project where CyRide will be replacing 12 diesel buses with newer vehicles that are less expensive to operate and have significantly cleaner emissions. CyRide was able to leverage grant funding to replace eight of the vehicles using a Volkswagen Settlement Grant, which lowered the local match to 3% for the funding 18 partners. Transit Fixed Route expenditures will increase by 3.1% due to wages and benefits. Hiring and training of part-time drivers has been a challenge for CyRide, which has led to increases in overtime and training costs. Dial-A-Ride. CyRide has been working with HIRTA to help close the transportation gap for seniors or people with disabilities. Staff had worked in coordination with HIRTA to raise awareness of the Dial-A-Ride service and have shifted eligible users on to the service. Ridership was trending down prior to the pandemic, but ridership is anticipated to return to the 2015 levels. Council Member Gartin said during the CIP discussion it was mentioned that the batteries for the electric buses would cost a lot and he wanted to know if CyRide has thought about how they are going to pay for any replacement batteries. Director Neal clarified that the price of the battery is typically $400,000; however, CyRide is getting buses from a manufacturer where they have already negotiated a price of $200,000 and were guaranteed that the buses will have 80% battery life for the next six years. Ms. Neal noted staff will continue to look at future grants to help pay for battery replacements. Council Member Rollins inquired if CyRide still had a program where ISU students with the appropriate license are hired to drive the buses, and if so, if the number of students is about the same as previous years. Director Neal said that CyRide trains the drivers and pays for them to get their CDL license. Mayor Haila noted that there was a huge decline in ridership and wanted to know if the trend was the same across the nation. Ms. Neal stated that when ridership levels were at 6.7 million that was due to the highest enrollment ever at ISU. She didn’t believe ISU would have those high numbers again. Council Member Gartin mentioned that the City has an aggressive Climate Action Goal and will require everyone to think about how cars are being utilized and will encourage citizens to take their bike or use CyRide. He asked if CyRide has thought of ways to help with the Climate Action Goal. Director Neal explained that, by looking at the Demand Response Software, it will bring an opportunity to capture people who want to try the bus, but are nervous about trying it. Regarding the Climate Action Plan, CyRide has spoken with the consultants and given them an update on CyRide. The consultants were receptive to help make changes. Council Member Betcher asked how CyRide 2.0 was going. Director Neal explained that CyRide 2.0 started and then the pandemic happened and ridership has shifted, but she is not sure if it was due to CyRide 2.0 or due to the pandemic. Once ridership starts to stabilize, staff will look to see what else needs to be done. Council Member Junck inquired if CyRide had considered fare-free ridership for the entire 19 community, instead of just ISU students. Director Neal explained that the City Council had approved a fare-free summer a few years ago, and it was successful. The Transit Board was presented with the idea of looking at fare-free as a community and what it would cost and will be looking at that information. City Council. Assistant City Manager Brian Phillips noted that this has been a year of transition. On January 22, 2022, the City Council met for a Goal-Setting Retreat. Staff will bring back to City Council the recommended tasks and a final look at the City Council goals. A few slides were shown highlighting recognition and special events throughout the year. City Manager. Assistant City Manager Brian Phillips explained that the City’s response to COVID has covered a lot of the work that needed to be done. Mr. Phillips highlighted all the major projects supported in Ames by the City Manager’s Office. Another responsibility of the City Manager’s Office is to staff seven of the 19 Boards and Commissions. He indicated that, later in 2022 or early 2023, the City Manager’s Office will begin the recruitment process for a Management Analyst. City Clerk. City Clerk Diane Voss highlighted the main source of revenue comes from beer and liquor licenses and it totaled only $16,563 last fiscal year, which was significantly less than the over $70,000 that is normally received. The loss of revenue was due to the Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD) response to COVID, which was to delay processing the applicant’s electronic bank transfers. Ms. Voss indicated that ABD will be collecting the past revenue when an establishment renews its license. Many of the services provided by the City Clerk’s Office were summarized. The City Clerk’s budget for FY 2022/23 showed a decrease of 1.2%. Council Member Betcher asked about the fluctuation in the budget for the File Management System (FMS). Ms. Voss stated that a major upgrade was currently underway with FMS, and it will take about three years to accomplish the update. Public Relations. Public Relations Officer Susan Gwiasda read the Mission Statement. She explained the Media Services is part of Public Relations. She relies a lot on part-time staff as well as assistance from the Print Shop. She mentioned that the Public Relations office works on press releases, newsletters, social media, website, public education/speaking/tours, recognition events, outreach events, and print shop collaboration. She highlighted several events that were held in 2021 and what events are coming up in 2022. Media Production Services. Bill Gebhart explained that there has been a continued increase in use of videos across departments (training, promos, boards and commissions, recruitments). He indicated that social media algorithms are favoring videos. Staff is exploring other areas of communications/media and maybe bringing back some of the old programs, but making them more current. In the budget, there is a need to repair/upgrade equipment, but the one biggest need is staff. Council Member Rollins asked about the use of drones. Mr. Gebhart noted there are two drones, and currently there are two drone pilots within the City. 20 Legal Services. City Attorney Mark Lambert summarized the services provided by the Legal Department. He highlighted what the Legal Services Department does, and reviewed the budget allocations to four main items: Personal Services, Internal Services, Commodities, and Contractual. The number of new legal matters that were opened averaged 500 a year. Mr. Lambert noted that this year there have been around 40 property appeals; normally they average around 15 a year. Human Resources. Human Resources Director Bethany Ballou presented the budget for the Department. She noted that staff continued to have a COVID-19 response. Human Resources was tasked with all the policy documentation for all COVID concerns. Ms. Ballou mentioned that recruitment activities have increased with approximately 182 recruitments in FY 2020/21. She noted that the 182 recruitments were not all new recruitments, but some recruitments may have been run more than once. Of the 182 recruitments, there were 3,100 applications received and they are seeing fewer and fewer applicants for each position. Staff has continued to provide different employee training opportunities, that have been mixed with some in-person and some virtual. Diversity and Inclusion. All employees were provided training and the training was well received by employees. A Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Coordinator position has been added to the budget and the recruitment will start sometime in the Spring. Risk Management. Risk Manager Bill Walton provided information on the different City of Ames Liability Insurance and Property Insurance claims. The Liability Program has remained about the same each year; however, the Property Insurance is becoming more expensive. Health Insurance Management. Human Resources Officer Krista Hammer said that the City’s main service objective has been to keep rate increases below 10%. For FY 2022/23 the projections indicated a need to increase the existing health insurance premium rates by 9.7%; however, there are very high reserves in the Health Insurance Fund balance and will use approximately $289,429 along with the 7% increase to premium rates starting July 1, 2022. Health Expenditures for FY 2022/23 were mentioned. Ms. Hammer indicated there was a new initiative that was started called “It’s Okay Not to be Okay.” The poster provided to departments provides CICS Mobile Response contact information, programs that NAMI offers, Suicide Prevention Lifeline, and Veterans Crisis Line, as well as how to reach the Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Wellness & Health Care Initiatives. Health Promotion Coordinator Andrea Cardenas mentioned that the Health Promotion Program and services are funded through the Health Insurance Fund. For the FY 2022/23 budget, they are asking to expand online wellness resources. She highlighted that there was a 28% cost increase for flu vaccinations, but still had a high rate of participation. COVID-19 vaccinations were also offered to employees this year the City. Council Member Rollins stated that many businesses and organizations have found that working remotely has become an option and wanted to know if the City will offer any remote working option, 21 or would it not work. Ms. Ballou stated that some employees were able to work remotely while the City was closed to the public; however, not every position can work from home. Planning. Planning and Housing Director Kelly Diekmann provided an overview of Planning Services, which includes Current Planning, Long-Range/Policy Planning, and Administrative Services (shared with the Public Works and Fire Departments). Staff supports three Boards and Commissions (Planning and Zoning Commission, Zoning Board of Adjustment, and Historic Preservation Commission). A chart was shown indicating how much time is spent on Planning activities in eight different categories. Under Current Planning, there was a steady number of Site Development Plan applications and staff is anticipating an average of 92 units in FY 2022/23. Staff is pushing for a different variety of single- family homes and the use of the new PUD Overlay will help. There were no new apartment developments approved in 2021, including senior housing. Commercial/Industrial planning was projected to follow recent trends and buildout of existing areas. The Planning Division is going to institute more online submittals, which will be more efficient for applicants, and will provide a cost savings for large projects on printing costs. It was recommended to propose an average 10% fee increase on major permit types. Director Diekmann noted that the Zoning Enforcement Officer is currently the Building Official, but that is going to change to the Planning Director. Mr. Diekmann reviewed the upcoming projects and noted that the budget for outside consultants for planning studies and Council projects is $80,735. Administrative Services - Staff includes five positions. One the position of Supervisor has been vacant for about half a year. They are currently working on recruiting for that position. Staff from Administrative Services covers multiple Boards and Commissions. One major accomplishment was staff completing the transition to online building permit applications. City-Wide Affordable Housing. Housing Coordinator Vanessa Baker-Latimer reviewed the activities of the City-Wide Affordable Housing programs. She also reviewed the activities that the City-Wide Housing Program covered in FY 2021/22. Ms. Baker-Latimer also noted the activities that will be undertaken in 2022/23. Community Development Block Grant. Ms. Baker-Latimer advised that the City received its 17th allocation of CDBG funding for 2021/22 in the amount of $599,177, not including 2020/21 rollover funds or 2021/22 Program Income, which totaled approximately $426,522. In addition, the budget included $250,000 of General Obligation Bonds that were committed to CDBG projects. Ms. Baker- Latimer highlighted several activities that were done in FY 2021/22. Of importance was the completion of approximately 90% of the infrastructure for the Baker Subdivision. It was noted that the FY 2021/22 CDBG allocation for the City of Ames has not yet been announced; however, for budgeting purposes, the FY 2022/23 CDBG allocation of $599,177 is being projected. The Annual Action Plan is to be submitted to the Department of Housing and Urban Development on or before May 17, 2022, if funding has been announced. 22 HOME Program. Ms. Baker-Latimer announced that the City was awarded is the fourth allocation of HOME funds in the amount of $350,543. She noted that the City’s allocation has continued to decrease. HOME requires a 25% local match contribution. The City had allocated $250,000 of General Obligation Bonds toward the infrastructure improvements for 321 State Avenue that will count as the local match for the first three years. HOME also requires that 15% of the annual allocation be set aside for certified Community Housing Development Organizational (CHDO). The FY 2022/23 allocation has not yet been announced; however, for budgeting purposes, the same amount as last year’s allocation of $350,543 is being projected. CDBG/IEDA CARES Program. In 2020/21 the City had received $710,696 in CDBG CARES funding. To date, approximately 162 households have been assisted through one or all three programs. Largest assistance has been for rent of approximately $396,000. In 2020/21 the City was eligible to receive $604,386 in round two of the CDBG CARES funding. The application for the next round of funds is anticipated to occur in the 2022/23 program year. CARES/HOMEARP Program. As part of this Act, grant funds were allocated to local governments that qualified for HOME Investment Partnerships Program allocations for FY 2021. The funding is to provide housing, services, and shelter to individuals experiencing homeless and other assist low and moderate-income households with incomes that are at 80% or below the Ames Metropolitan Statistical Area. The City was awarded $1,269,248 in ARP funding. Of this amount 15% can be used for program administration. The City’s 2021/22 Annual Action Plan will have to be amended once a Program Allocation Plan has been created. The deadline for the expenditures of these funds is September 30, 2030. Council Member Betcher asked if the funds with the 2030 deadline have any potential to be used to offset costs that might be associated with the Climate Action Plan that could affect low-to moderate income individuals in the community and their homes. Ms. Baker-Latimer mentioned it was a possibility. The Mayor asked if Prairie Fire doesn’t get LIHTC credits could ARP funds be dedicated in the same amount that Prairie Fire is applying for the tax credits. Ms. Baker-Latimer noted that staff had that discussion the other day. The State of Iowa has around $20 million of ARP money to fund the second round of applications and Ms. Baker-Latimer was hopeful that the City would get awarded more money, but it will depend on the guidelines. Conclusion. City Manager Steve Schainker stated that he was proud of all the accomplishments that were made over the past year and the quality of City staff. He highlighted what decisions would need to be made at the next City Council meeting. Assistant City Manager Deb Schildroth pointed out that the ASSET volunteers are requesting that the unallocated funds of $11,652 be set aside for housing services. Mayor Haila inquired how the Council should handle The Bridge Home. Ms. Schildroth mentioned 23 that on Page 3 of the ASSET Report that was handed out to the Council, the ASSET volunteers are recommending sequestering a total allocation of $245,684 (City’s portion is $144,020 for a 20% increase) for The Bridge Home until staff can review more information. DISPOSITIONS OF COMMUNICATIONS TO COUNCIL: None. COUNCIL COMMENTS: Council Member Betcher wanted to know about the potential for renaming the Ames Municipal Airport after J. Herman Banning, who was an African American pilot from Ames. He was the first black man in the nation to receive a commercial pilot’s license. She noted that Mr. Schainker was going to check with the Traffic Engineer to see if the name change could happen and what it would cost to make that change. It was discussed that there was an option to name a terminal after Mr. Banning. The Mayor said that if the City starts renaming facilities after people, it needs to have a policy/criteririon in place. He recommended that the Council look at developing a policy. ADJOURNMENT: Moved by Corrieri, seconded by Junck, to adjourn the meeting at 8:08 p.m. Vote on Motion: 6-0. Motion declared carried unanimously. _________________________________________________________________ Amy L. Colwell, Deputy City Clerk John A. Haila, Mayor __________________________________ Diane R. Voss, City Clerk 24