HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Special Meeting of the Ames City Council 12/17/1998MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING
OF THE AMES CITY COUNCIL
AMES, IOWA DECEMBER 17, 1998
The Ames City Council met in special session at 12:10 p.m. on the 17th day of December 1998, in
Conference Room 235, 515 Clark Avenue, pursuant to law with Mayor Tedesco presiding and the
following Council members present: Cross, Hoffman, Quirmbach, and Wirth. Iowa Senator Johnie
Hammond was also present along with the following City Staff: Merlin Hove, Gina Millsap, Tom
Neumann, John Dunn, Paul Wiegand, Steve Schainker, Bob Kindred, and Sheila Lundt.
The first area of discussion was the IDNR Water Quality Permitting Process. Tom Neumann
explained that the problem centers around the DNR’s more stringent interpretation of the EPA’s
standards. We would like to see the concerns expressed by Ames be addressed statewide. Many
small communities are now being affected by water quality standards which the EPA cannot show
are based on scientific evidence. There are currently 11 areas which IDNR admits are over
regulated. A permitting process review is needed.
The next topic of discussion was solid waste disposal, with the real concern being where waste can
be taken for disposal. Paul Wiegand outlined that the current disposal area that has been upheld by
the courts has been the comprehensive planning area. It is our understanding that large haulers may
be looking for legislation to do away with the comprehensive planning area component to waste
disposal. This is a problem across the country already, particularly with Waste Management
Company. When we lower our tipping fees to be more competitive, it affects the property taxes.
C&D and Freel have been purchased by Waste Management. This gives them over 60% of the
customers locally. It was pointed out that communities will have a difficult time meeting state-
mandated waste reduction goals if the planning area environment changes.
Gina Millsap spoke to the statewide “Enrich Iowa” proposal to fund a more adequate statewide
availability of information. Iowa has more libraries per capita than any other state. Regionalization
of libraries was discussed and the importance of sharing information.
Merlin Hove discussed electric deregulation, particularly with respect to the need for renewable
energy sources. Retaining as much local control as possible over the utility is also very important.
Mayor Tedesco mentioned that Senator Gronstal felt action on deregulation was possible this
session. Merlin explained the rate structure for the three classes of Ames utility customers
(residential, commercial, and industrial). We are between 5-10% lower on industrial customer rates
to approximately 30% lower on residential customer rates, when compared with our comparables.
The last rate increase was in 1979.
Mayor Tedesco made several comments regarding the League of Cities 1999 Legislative Issues:
Rollback (some sort of guaranteed base of 50% or other percentage); land preservation (communities
have a plan for providing services to annexed areas); preservation of tax increment financing (with
some adjustments to prevent abuse); and home rule (Senator Hammond felt that the League and
Association of Counties need to do some education on this).
Empowerment was discussed, and Sheila informed those present that at the last minute the Story
County Department of Human Services office was told not to be the fiscal agent for our County
empowerment application. This could really hurt our application.
The meeting adjourned at 1:05 p.m.
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Diane R. Voss, City Clerk Ted Tedesco, Mayor
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