e
good afternoon this election Tuesday
this is the uh city of Marian city
council work session for November 5th
2024 this started I think Jake are you
up first with us the
presentation good afternoon mayor or
city council uh Jacob H Deputy city
engineer with me is Louis with rer
Associates we're here to give the final
Central Plaza construction update and
after we're done here with questions for
Louis then we'll invite Seth up to give
his proposed plan for things moving
forward hi everyone uh I'm Louis rugio
with uh Rend Associates uh project
manager on Central Plaza project um so
to kind of go through things we've uh
we've had complete here in the last few
weeks um we do have the addition uh
completely um locked up and uh masonry
is complete there um along with the fire
tables and the light
peers um we also have now completed the
play structure retaining wall and the
play structure uh inst installation crew
will be on site on Monday so working on
that they've got some uh footings and prep work that go along with
that uh in the depot itself uh we are
just about wrapped up with MEP Ruffin um
we've got our contractor lined up to
start framing up ceilings next week um
and then also we are close to being
wrapped up on building the ice Loop
floor uh with the with the first pour
date of that uh for that floor of
1119 uh we have taken delivery of all of
the ice Loop equipment uh Chiller
condenser everything is set in place uh
and ready to pipe up and um they're
going to start working on that next week
as well that'll be modern piping they've
hired local for that so that's good uh
and we took delivery of light poles two
weeks ago and those are all prepped uh
and thank you to uh the Medco group
because they let us use that um that
area six and Main South lot for uh
staging on that uh but those are all
ready to go and those are actually all
going to be set on Saturday so that'll
be all the light poles around the ice
Loop and then the the 3 40 Footers are
all that are left to
set um ongoing we've got about 35% of
site Paving uh complete we've got we
have one more poure this week um we will
also have our stream feature uh pour
hopefully on Friday um we've got
everything ready for that all it's all
roughed in uh because that that gets
pavers on top of
that uh and then the ice slop floor
installs ongoing and then uh as of last
Friday we've rerouted our struction
fence along 7th AV uh for the P tree
setup it's pretty swampy out there right
now but uh eventually that'll that
spot's carved out for the
tree um upcoming uh they have started
installing C the curtain wall system at
the Depot and so all that glass uh
should be in early next week and they'll
get that installed I think I believe
they've got five openings uh of the
curtain wall system in so
far um and then we will also be
sheathing the roof the the truss work is
complete now
uh and that um mechanical me install so
starting to pipe up everything to the
chiller um and out to the condenser
there uh final items we touched on the play structure already which um
that'll start next Monday and and likely
go a little longer than a week um that's
a contractor coming in from St Louis
area uh and then site papers we we have
the first uh first pour of paper base
down uh they're looking for I a little
bit more space so hopefully mid next
week we'll be able to get uh hm uh
asphalt and which which will be the
actual layer that the the papers sit on
there around both uh the east side where
um adjacent to the broaden main building
and then also um around the depot
itself and then uh we are currently with
our our uh our ice Loop pores occurring
U middle of middle of November through
the beginning of December we've got a um
a period of time that we cannot do
anything with that concrete uh for
caring purposes and so we're looking at
uh early January getting that first
sheet of ice on everything painted and
going through all that that training
process with the city for the ice Loop
itself great and with that uh as always
you can stay informed at our website
with the link on the feed here where you
can support the capital campaign VI to
live feed as well as my bi-weekly
Construction update email sign up with
that we'll be happy to answer any
questions so the question I keep getting
asked is will the ice loop at all be
open this winter Seth will touch on that
moment
per I hate to steal his thunder so that
I mean that's the key question I think
obviously once we start putting the
windows on the depot that is going to
change a lot lot of the the appearance
and what's going on I think people still
don't understand what's going to happen
with the depot that that's going to be
en closed because you're doing a lot of
work inside if they're not seeing so
once you guys put the windows slap the
windows in there people are going to say
wow that's gonna that's looking really
nice so looking forward to that the
other piece of of that after the windows
go in is we do have the The Columns for
the canopy being Mill uh so that they
have that same decorative pattern on the
corners that the the old ones did and so
once once the windows are in then we'll
get those those columns in and get that
canopy built back so one other question
so once we come to the spring time and
maybe this is Suess question too but
once we come to the springtime obviously
you've got a work Zone there with all
the grass and mud and everything so so
is that I'm assuming that's all the
spring work that Parks needs to be doing
and getting that all put back into shape
so that that will be part of our
contract that's part of your contract
yes uh seaing and then there's a um a
reinforced Turf that goes along 7th AV
uh and and then the plantings yeah so we
we'll uh we'll re-engage and hopefully
early early to mid-march on some of that
stuff um okay our our intent for right
now is to put up snow fence through the
winter um that basically blocks off so
that ping is the only accessible route
okay um Louie first off I want to um
just
I guess say congratulations because the
chiller equipment is on site it is and
ready to be plumbed in yep and that
initial work to make that system
operable I I think last time you were
here I expressed just a concern about
you know that's that's the critical hunk
of equipment that's really meaningful to
the whole uh upgrade of the plaza um so
I just again congratulations for that
and I'm just hoping that we don't have
too bad of weather in between now and
the end of the year so all that work can
progress um Seth in advance of uh
responding to Steve's question you know
he's very anxious to see the ice sheet
ready to go I just want to know will you
be renting double Runner skates uh for
Steve you know they're it's a safety
thing those two Runners on each skate
are an important thing for him I'll be
out a
sled than any
questions Seth for Seth okay toss it to
Seth
then so following the construction
project we're going to have a transition
period where it's going to be um one I
want to discuss a little bit about the
holiday lights on what we're doing this
year for the holiday lights so we are uh
going to be decorating we're currently
decorating the roundabouts and um uh the
Uptown streetcape uh the artway in the
North Plaza area um much like what we've
done uh in the years's past uh the thing
that will be different will be City
Square Park um in which we're not going
to have the the trees within the park uh
lit up this year uh since it's still
going to be a construction site but we
will be putting the um the holiday tree
in the park and there's going to be a
carved out area um it's actually going
to be right now we have a section um
over here for the tree uh so we talked
about both locations but it's going to
be near the electrical that we have
power uh for uh we were planning on
starting that installation on Monday but
the weather had other plans for us so we
will be uh be putting that tree up uh uh
here in the next couple weeks uh we will
be doing 30 feet of the tree not the
full 38 um and then next year when we
have the full operation of the plaza
we'll be installing the tree in its new
location uh in the middle of the ice
slop uh this is a map too of the uh
Christmas in the Park as you see we are
um not doing uh things in the park but
sticking to the uh North Plaza and the
streetcape um and then obviously we'll
have um the staging area for the horses
uh at the old library lot lot for that
event in addition for the ice skating
Loop uh there's not going to be any
activity in December uh for ice skating
but we'll begin uh building the ice and
working with uh with rener neck and um
the contractor they have to train uh Park staff and staff uh on
how to build the ice um how to maintain
it and then we'll facilitate a soft
opening uh in mid mid January um and
we'll have that uh for um for about
three weeks and we will when we do the
soft opening we'll do skate rentals in
which we'll have skating AIDS available
for people to utilize uh we're doing
that free to open uh and we'll have some
more operational schedule uh items that
uh that will continue to touch base with Council on what the soft opening
will look like and what operations will
look like for The Following season next
year uh at the next council meeting and
then for the ribbon cutting event uh we
do not have a scheduled date at this
time but we will have one uh before the
end of the week um and we're looking at
around Springtime following the
installation of the artwork and the uh
the grass um seaing and uh plantings so
any
questions you answered the other
question I had but you said the grass
seating so everything's going to be
seated there's no sod getting put down
there's no sod we will have an
irrigation system to help with okay if
there is a a lack of moisture
so any other questions I'm here okay
thanks SE thank you
next up I think we have Bill annual
presentation from the Marian Public
Library Board of
Trustees good evening mayor proam and
Council thank you for the opportunity to
allow us to give you some highlights um
and share with you our FY 24 annual
report um in front of you on the dis is
the libraries fy4 report is actually the
pen in Disguise it has a little Banner
inside with some highlights of our
fiscal year and also in front of you is
a copy of our just fresh off the press's
Strategic plan which we won't be
addressing this evening but we'll come
back with updates for in the future um
but with me this evening um I'd like to
recognize and introduce uh three of our
board members we have um Kim Susan and
Ross with us this evening um and Ross
McIntyre is our board chair and he will
be doing our update presentation for you
all um with an opportunity to ask
questions in a couple minutes
Ross thank
you I heard this was a working session
so I brought my ping pong paddles a
couple board games perfect I guess
everybody has a different idea of what
working session means but uh um thank
you first of all take this opportunity
to thank you there's a lot of hard work
and dedication in this room and I want
to take the opportunity to say thank you
for the hard work you've done to make
the city of Maran a great place to live
and a great place to raise a family and
uh so thank you and uh thank you grant
Harper for this uh photo that we have
here what a year this is um this is just
a small Glimpse at everything that
happened this last fiscal year and these
are pictures of the dynamic programming
that we have for all ages celebrating
our grand opening of partnering with
City departments investing in our future
and
more uh it has been a great year for the
library it feels to me like the library
has has really begun to just come into
its
own um it is embracing its place as a
center of the community Community uh
there is a a sense of of teamwork U A
Team uh sense there that Fosters The
Innovation and productivity to make uh
great things happen at the library and
uh there have been no large natural
disasters or pandemics that we've
noticed uh so everything is is is going
pretty good this year and um very great
things happen because of very careful
management and skilled leadership and
that makes me very excited to see what
can happen in this following
year uh so these are a few pictures of
some special moments that make a very
special uh year last
year okay this is the library doing what
a library does um nearly 4,000 new
library cards that's over 10% of the
population of
Maran uh and that's over 10 per day of
the year in average and we're not even
open every day of the year um nearly 180
Library visits from homeschoolers to
professionals retirees to public school
students parents with small children
College age students everybody kind of
uh finds a place there uh over 61,000
program
attendees this shows very good to
discernment about which programs are
doing real well which ones need a little
adjustment and these are programs for
all ages kids teens adults seniors
everything and uh just over 1,200
volunteer hours from dedicated helpful
people who believe in the library's
Mission and believe in helping the
library to reach
higher
um 30 uh 391,000 uh physical items
circulated uh 642 meeting room
reservations these are private room
bookings not library
programs uh and it has been great to see
how much these rooms are getting used by
groups of one type or
another um 114 free notary appointments
it would have been one more but
something come up for me but something
came up at the last minutes so I had to
go elsewhere but uh and 7,500 room
reservations and that again is a
significant number because that's over
20 per day of reservations of of the
library and I'm not there all the time
but when I do go into the library almost
without fail I see four or five of those
rooms occupied and being used by uh the residents of Maran so it's just a
wonderful thing some new things at the
library for this year
the E assist bicycles you can check out
one of two bicycles for use within uh
the city limits here of
Maran uh borrowers must be 18 years of
old or older and this expands the
library's library of things which also
includes you know baking pans um board
games puzzles ukuleles
binoculars um pickle ball equipment
um not ping pong paddles but I'm going
to change that here in a few
minutes um all right uh other new thing
at the library the Fiera code program so
this online coding platform that teaches
coding from the ground up there are well
attended coding you know clubs uh for teens and twins um and this expands
the library's stem program
offerings learning something new is
something that the library always
promotes whether it's finding a new book
to read that you fall in love with or
learning new skills for for uh the
modern world you know
um also new at the
library so the fold in the cheese
cooking club this is by far the coolest
thing going on at the library from what
based on what I'm hearing um this is uh
cooking program by average cooks for
average Cooks highly anticipated
well-received
program um the on-site capacity is
always exceeded or or met uh and then
thousands of people watch this live
stream every time um so it's it's a big
thing going on
topics have included and do include uh
meals for crockpots easy week night
dinners food for Holiday uh Gathering
special events and that is a popular
thing all right more new
stuff a makeer space appointment
scheduling patrons can book appointments
through self- scheduling software and
then the software in in turn provides
accurate tracking of machine machine
usage allows the staff to better prepare
for appointments the staff can offer
personalized uh highquality
customer uh interaction Service uh
during the maker space
appointments and this uh room and these amenities have helped create gifts
for family members items for class
projects it enables curiosity and
hobbies uh enables hobby things I've
used it myself for some of my
bookbinding projects I mean it's a
wonderful uh thing uh and the software
allows uh me to go to the website and
schedule an appointment and uh
everything's kind of seamless that way
all
right in the maker space we offer many
stem
opportunities the science technology
engineering math opportunities and
there's a large range of amenities from
high-tech things like 3D printers laser
etching
um uh Cricut the cricket uh drafting
things that which I've used
um and then low Tech things like a
sewing machine you
know
so we get that okay also new at the
library the the nik's own vending
machine this is part of the ly County's
nikone program vending machine program
and it ensured individuals in the
community have free access to nxo Naran
and other harm reduction supplies and
reduces barriers to Healthy Living in
that machine are things like Sharps
Containers wound care kits hygiene kits
condoms tap- on and I think it's on its
sixth or seventh uh time being refilled
uh so it's being used by the community
quite a
bit all right more new stuff that's keep
going this is fun uh recording studio is
up and ready to go it's open for Patron
reservations including a manual a
printed manual on how best to uh make
the best you know a product here there's
also finale of music notation software
program and patrons have used the
recording studio to record podcasts uh
record audio books musical
performances uh and more
also new at the library uh our steam
kits so the science technology
engineering art and math kits for kids
to encourage curiosity and
creativity this is generously uh enabled
by a grant through Alliant Energy who is
no doubt thinking about recruiting
future employees um and uh there are
books Hands-On activities including
puzzles games kits for themed
learning um the steam learning is a
priority for the
library um as you can see in the
Strategic plan that's in front of you
right now that's one of the U one of the
one one of part of the mission that we
uh feel that we want to provide to the
community okay so how do we pay for all
of this cool stuff
here is our adopted budget here is our
expended
amount here is our revenue
generated and then this is the result
based on careful management and skillful
leadership and I would also note this is
the third year in a row that the library
has come in healthly under the budget
that it's
adopted and
like I said good management skillful
leadership okay My Philosophy is that
every presentation needs at least one
pie chart so here's the first one it
breaks down in Broad categories the
designations of our
expenses their Staffing operations and
collections
broadly I I honestly feel that each of
these three categories has been
cultivated in a way to bring out the
very best and could
talk quite a bit about any of those
three um but this pie chart then uh
splits it a little bit more specifically
into how our collection uh portion is
divvied up so with that physical
materials are things like books and
magazines and the ebikes and the library
of things things downloadable materials
are things like ebooks electronic
resources
and then other is a category designated
by the State library of Iowa and things
like reference databases such as
ancestry.com resources like LinkedIn
learning
Esco and uh brain fuse which is kind of
a
um uh online tutoring job placement
personalized help with developing a
resume uh and those kinds of things
so uh this has been a great year I think
reflects some very good teamwork on on
the part of the
staff uh and very careful and uh skilled
management and and Leadership there so
I'm very excited about what the next
year can bring as well all right thank
you any questions on that
questions I don't have any questions but
I just have a comment um when people
talk to me not just residents talk about
to me about marrying but people from all
over the community one of the first
things they bring up is you guys have an
amazing library and um I'm a personal
two of the things that I just personally
believe in um that libraries should be
for I'm really happy to see within the
libraries mission and vision and one
that's providing Equitable access to
Residents and especially underserved
communities but also recognizing that
the modern library is the community
center and not just books the books are
super important and that's kind of the backbone of the library but as you
guys talked about it's the library of
things people are enjoying the
programming um and and I like being able
to see that mission and that Vision it's
very obvious that those are within all
of these um objective and objective
items on the Strategic plan and so I
just want to say that yeah thank you to you and the board thank you to Bill
and you're amazing staff because I think
residents not just in Maran but from the
whole metro area see that work in in
that direction and for me I personally
think it's just going in a really
positive direction seeing this strategic
plan I'm excited to see what you guys
continue to do thank you for saying that
I appreciate
that so when we have city council hours
there when we talk to people coming in
we notice at times there's people from
obviously from hawaa Cedar Rapids do you
keep track or are you able to out of the
total 176,000 people that visited do you
have a bre break down of where they all
come from or is that possible yes excuse
me we do have a breakdown um by
municipality as well as uh Rural and
County users um so we do have the
ability to track that and we do track
that I think that's an interesting
statistic to show that that is not just
drawing people from Maring but it is
drawing people from the surrounding area
to come to Maran so I don't call it
tourism but it is bringing people to
marry and so it really participates in
that manner and I'm absolutely shocked
you guys did not mention one thing or if
I missed it I was sleeping did you guys
talk about the
bookmobile we did not talk about the
bookmobile because it didn't launch in
fy4 well yeah but you got a stage here I
thought you might bring it up so very
briefly um I I don't know what time
council members arrived at City Hall
today but the bookmobile is in and it
parked outside the library today staff
are actively working on um fitting the
bookmobile with its materials and
Technology um we are going to have a
ribbon cutting planned for December 6th
the day of the peppermint walk um and
I'm working with Ryan and Rachel on a
sneak peek before the peppermint walk
for Council um likely at the work
session uh before the peppermint walk
and so I'm assuming then right after
that assuming after that they'll be
equipped ready to go and go throughout
the community as as another resource
correct and we are still finalizing our
hold harmless agreements um I don't want
to make any announcements at this time
as to where the stops are but we will be
out and about after the peppermint walk
looking forward to it
thanks Bill a question that I have and
it sort of um just lingers after
construction of the library um over the
last year has there been any
residual post construction things that
had to be worked through and kind of
what's the state of the building is it
now complete steady state and fully
operational or there's still a few
things that are um demanding some
attention the building is complete and
in steady state we do have one lingering
after effect that we have just
recently become aware of um the majority
of the construction of the building and
the first year that we were open
happened during an extreme drought
period with a wet spring and a wet fall
we're discovering that there are a
couple of areas where flashing wasn't
properly attached to the roof where the
outdoor Terrace meets the fireplace on
the second floor so we have uh a
contractor engaged with remedying those
um deficiencies other than that um the
building is open and operational okay
good that's kind of predictable stuff I
would think very good thanks
I just want to not what I really like
this I like I like the like the quick
points of the numbers I'm just curious
since I look on your um quick sheets and
the when you look at this for example um
Library visitors are those people who
actually had to check something out to
be considered a visitor or how are you
gauging visitors when I see the people
like say when we're doing office hours
or I'm there for events see a lot of
people wandering in and out and like
this number doesn't surprise me in fact
I guessed it could have been even higher
so I was just kind of curious how you estimate that number would you
like to answer here go ahead I mean
there there's there's the gate count at
the the metal detectors that detect
whether things are being carried out
also detect people that come in there is
okay and so do the is the number for the
program attendees in the visitor's
number or is that in an in addition to
that is included in the visitors number
it is so we're counting those coming in
for different programs yes have you seen
the um we've I know the community rooms
on the main floor see a lot of um
activity do the upstairs room get gets
rented as much as those I think about
the business meetings or we've
participated in a few other um visitors
that we've had discussions with but do
we see as much there or it mainly those
two main floor rooms so quite honestly I
haven't analyzed um compared the two
rooms together anecdotally I would say
the rooms are being used just about
equally um so we have varying size
parties that utilize the spaces the
overall community room can be split into
two um and the boardroom on the second
floor is a tiny bit smaller than the
half community room so different
utilizations are using the rooms for
different purposes but we have seen good
usage of the boardroom on the second
floor wonderful and then just one um
question more budget and it's not as
much reflective but looking
forward are there big changes that are
anticipated in requests or ways you know
we've kind of this kind of like the
first big years of being open and
settling in and learning how to live in
it and you know you start to figure out
oh maybe we want this or maybe this
works do you anticipate in the next year
there much shuffling or um big asks or
there's a big deficit we need to like
whether it's Staffing or a gap with
something else that you see coming so
we're actively working on the FY 26
budget planning now with the entire team
um in looking at the budget cycle that
we've already been through we've looked
at asset replacement we looked at
Capital Improvement requests the library
has no significant Capital requests um
for the next couple years um there are
minimal assets that need to be replaced
in the library because it's such a brand
new facility so to answer your question
as we are still settling into the
building I do don't see big asks on the
horizon um but again we're still working
through the budget process understand
right anybody think of anything else oh
okay I just wanted to just Echo again
everybody else congratulations to you
the board all of the members all of the
hard work seems like we've come a long
ways from standing in water in the
basement doors that didn't close Waters
that were running down the Walls um
seems like that's been a 100 years ago
so uh congratulations to everybody it is
a uh fantastic facility um as we all are
out about in the community and even the
communities around us there's still a
lot of excitement and talk about our our
local library and the benefits the
services and and like Gage said you know
always making it more of a community
center and a major Hub to our community
um versus the traditional uh books and
shelves so congratulations and we all
look forward to the uh next layers of
excitement of things that'll be rolling
out here in the near future so thank you
thank
you do you have anything as I turn this
back to you otherwise we're moving on to
item three thank you
good afternoon mayor and
Council as you know every other year we
host or conduct the national Community
survey um through Poco um to rage
resident to gauge resident satisfaction
and gather Community member input um the
last two times we conducted the survey
was in 2021 and then again in
2023 based on our results in um 202 3 we
were invited to apply for some awards um
through Poco and the international City
County man management association um the
voice of the people awards
recognize local governments that placed
a high value on Resident input
government performance and use that
Community data that they collect in
decisionmaking I am pleased to report
that Marian was selected for five of the
uh um awards that were presented um
excellence in community design
transformation in Parks and Recreation
transformation in Mobility
transformation in natural environment
and transformation in community design
um this window that we were uh measured
in um in 2021 the pandemic was um still
uh happening and also our street skate
project was still um underway and so I
think a lot of the success that we saw
um really points to that completed
project and the use um of our Uptown
District um easier access and
accessibility in in that project area um
and um then also our natural spaces so I
wanted to make Council aware um we have
five certificates that will be added to
our wall um of Fame in the lobby so
congratulations
[Music]
was that it Amber any questions for
Amber or any
comments thank you for leading that
survey um over the years and it's been
very helpful for us and given us a lot
of um good feedback first of all from
the residents but also just helped us to
gauge our progress and uh appreciate all
your work on that and this is just icing
on the cake to have these Awards so
thank you
absolutely I
congratulations to everyone whole team
thank you go ahead I also have the next
item on the agenda um just wanted to
give Council a quick opportunity to
discuss City Council Office hours um you
all go above and beyond and make
yourselves available to Residents in a
number of ways um and that includes
weekly office hours um in the summertime
at Toby Park um and then over the winter
months we move into the community center
um the Maran Public Library um just for
scheduling purposes is um wanted to now
that we're at the start of November
wanted to propose um giving you a little
break in between each sequence um and
take October off and April off but then
continue that Weekly presence um at both
of those locations throughout the
year are you looking for any direction
on that or just are you just I'm I'm
throwing out a recommendation interested
in your feedback if there's strong
feelings otherwise um from from my
perspective I I think it's fine to have
couple breaks like that um um I do
appreciate um the council continuing to U support those weekly office
hours I think we get a lot out of them
with the interaction from from residents
and and being able to to even if it's
just one person that shows up it what
that says to the community is that we
are there and available and I know that
we're accessible on email and lots of
other ways but that's a
visual U perception that people have
when they see us there they see the
table that says something to the
community that we're accessible and the the Goodwill that we earn from that
not only in Maran but in the region
whenever I tell people we do office
hours
weekly it's it's a it's invariably the
reaction
is very impressed that that that our
public figures are willing to do that
and take the time um so it earns a lot
of respect and credibility
and um positive uh Goodwill um in the
region for for the city as well as just
what we get out of it you know with with
the interaction with our residents so
again I U I know I say this every time
but I do appreciate the council's Comm
to that
so anyone else have anything contrary or other ideas or thoughts go
ahead Amber I I think I expressed to you
here um in the last couple of months an
idea of having you know two or three of
us there at a designated time in the
month make it kind of an event if you
will um but you know after looking at
every everything that's on our
Horizon um all of the things that we'll
be undertaking in the next calendar year
the critical issues that are going to be
before the community um I kind of backed
off of that notion and I think just
having us there as often as we can be
there each and every week throughout the
winter even as the mayor said even if we
only talk to one person that's one
person we would have missed and and so
uh being 5 years old I can change my
mind and uh I I just wanted to share
that that I've had a change of
perspective on that but it's really
given from the standpoint of um being U
postured to be responsive to the
inquiries of our community
so go ahead cage yeah I Echo everything
that mayor and uh council member Harper
said the the only thing I would add that
I think is like a really important
interaction from my time doing this now
is if people have an issue or a question
and they're really set on finding us
they're able to do that at any time um
email phone call but the people that we
catch at these that I think's really
important are the people walking by at
the farmers market or coming to library
and you can see it on their face where
they're like like they have a question
all of a sudden that pops in their head
but they're not there to see us
necessarily but then they come back and
they actually do ask that question that
they might not have asked in any other
they would have maybe gone the extra
effort to to send along email or a phone
call so I'm totally fine with the the
couple months off and and I'm glad I'm
just also saying that I'm glad that we
do this and I wish more City councils
around Iowa and around the region did
this as well because I think it's a
really important tool and from a selfish
perspective uh whenever I'm there with
another council member it's kind of fun
to just have that time to interact and
socialize with with with each other and
you know just talk just you know talk
about whatever with each other so it's a
that that time also is is time well
spent and and worthwhile
so go ahead no I and I agree I do like
taking those two off I just because I
enjoy the times there but I think like
in the summer especially even if it's
October even is the one off only because
it's not like it's just one office hour
at T park because sometimes there's I'm
at La Park every Saturday in the summer
um one of my colleagues is at tby park
one of my colleagues might be at the
market um at the same time so some of
them there's three or four of us at
different locations on the same Saturday
um and so I think sometimes when we get
to October it's okay to take a little
bit of a break but I do appreciate um I
really appreciate our time at the
library I agree with Gage I think we get
a lot of conversations with people who
aren't don't want to pick up the phone
and talk but when they see you there
they just ask that random question um
that they don't feel comfortable calling
in about so um I value them so I'm glad
we're continuing them and
think I've done my signups for few of
the months coming up here um not as far
out so thank you for setting all of that
up and making sure there's always
materials there and it's always the
goodie bag to open up and figure out
what Amber has supplied to be um the
giveaways of the Saturday so and no
suckers anymore at the library right
Bill anyone
else oh go ahead i' like to Echo like
when you said that it was nice when
there's multiple of us at one
location and we've been doing this a
long time now and that used to be very
common that there was always two of us
at the library every Saturday morning
and I don't know if it's is it still set
up where we can two people can sign up
for the same time or is it only one I
think I've limited it to one just that's
who I ordinate the the tote with um when
there's a pickup but now with the
library I could certainly add a second
one if you'd
like just a thought I don't know if we
need it on there if just people just
show up sometimes we had three people
you know sometimes there would be four
I'm like oh one of us got to leave so
yeah that happened a few times back in
the day anyway that's all thanks for all
that you do with that too Amber
appreciate
itk you need okay I do thanks Amber
thank
okay next item is uh we have Brian
McKenzie Capital Improvements program
fcal year 26 through
30 good
evening so this is our first touch point
with the CIP for uh fiscal year in in
the fiscal year 26 budget process so
this does a So the plan does cover the
fiscal years from 26 through fiscal year
2030 the process should look familiar to
what we did last year we'll present the
recommendations you'll see our color
coded list um that was in the
pocket
so this is just a little update of what
the a refresher of what this what the
capital Improvement program
is so our timeline here this is just the
CIP timeline in the budget process um
I just want to stress that there's no
decisions that needs to be made tonight
um we'll be presenting the staff
recommendation here at this meeting and
then you'll have six weeks to dig in
digest the information and then we'll
come back with a discussion on December
17th so then Finance in conjunction with
the city manager's office and our elt
will formulate the draft plan where and then we'll also work with da
devidson on our modeling and then also C
we have another uh opportunity at the
budget work session in January uh to
weigh in again before uh formal adoption
in the March April timeline of
2025 so just some key points here
um the thing that I wanted to highlight
was um you'll see the staff
recommendations on the next slide
regarding capacity if council did have a
recommendation for a project that they
would like to see
funded um then obviously bring that up
at the December 17th discussion finan
would analyze the funding and and and
the timing of the project and we would
try to um slot that in so an example of
that was we got the feedback last year
about the Irish drive and and tter road
traffic signal Activation so we took
that we came back we slotted it in you
guys um also said then hey let's move it
up and so we came back to the budget
work session accordingly so that's so
that's an example of how that process
would
work so your draft CIP document um that
was in the pocket these are the projects
that staff um is recommending to add to
the active CIP
projects and these are highlighted in
yellow on your drop
document sorry green you're right I'm
looking at
actually my color coding on the
prioritized list they're in green and I
put them yellow to just confuse
everybody on your draft document I
should have highlight them green to be
consistent with the colors they're
actually yellow there but I'll change
that to Green so
um just to confuse everybody so I wanted
to pause here um in case you have any
initial questions
about these recommendations um I will go
just show you the next slide so we did
put our Council hot on like we did last
year and looked at um okay what uh
projects which staff maybe recommend for
consideration stuff that's been brought
up in the past maybe um so we did
compile ADV this list for your
consideration and then there is the
unfunded list that you'll see in Gray on
your prioritized list in your pocket
that stop is not recommended for fun in
at this time so I don't know if you want
to pause for initial questions around
any of the projects or the process um I
don't know if Ryan you want to say
anything at this stage and uh staff
members are obviously here to answer any
initial questions but you do have that
six weeks and we're always open for
questions between now and then also so
yeah let's see if anyone has any
questions before we move on any any
questions anything in particular
okay thank you yeah so so that's all I
had it's really presenting this
information tonight I thought there was
more sorry no it's good so making sure
that everybody understands the process
we just wanted to make sure that you
have multiple touch points um that you
have ample time to weigh in um on on the
CIP for this year
so that's all I had right now and
looking forward to a discussion on
December 17th and
yep we've got a couple
questions um more more of a comment I
just want to recognize and and thank
everybody involved in this process um I
think a lot of residents don't and other
folks around the state don't recognize
the budgeting process and how much it
has changed here and the standard that
it sets now for other communities in my
opinion around the state of Iowa so
thank you to to you guys and and your
team and all the department uh heads for coming together and being a part of
really important process but I would
also just invite residents listening and
I'll continue when over coming weeks
when residents or other folks ask me
what's the what's going on in Maran
right now and my answer should be like
what's not going on in Maran right now
but now I'll be like the CIP like this
is I invite residents really take a look
at at this this packet I know it's
hundreds of pages but it's actually it's
really well done it's you can skim it
you can go as deep as you want to but
these are the projects that really
impact your neighborhoods from streets
to to sewers to your Parks like these
are the things that you actually visibly
see so if you if you look at take a look
at this list over the coming weeks and
you have opinions about it you know
reach out to to council ask questions to
the city departments um because these
are really important decisions that the council and the city make um and and
I'm just a personal believer that that
residents should be more knowledgeable
of of this process and and get involved
if they want
to excellent point
yeah I I do have a a question about one
project and I failed to highlight it
here in my electronic copy um the work
that was done on 31st
Street uh evaluating the placement of a
sidewalk um for the current
representation I don't see that listed
is or am I is that in a different
category yeah so that's not part of the
added CIP so these are projects that are
not currently in the CIP that we're
recommending be added to the CIP okay so
there's there's an additional set that
augments
this this
representation yep so so that's in the
actual octave CIP right now so you just
see it in the draft document okay um
because it's an acave
project and so I guess here's just one
question relative to the process so what
is present in our packet
today is stable for our consideration up
to and through this our December
discussion or are there other changes
that will be made based on staff
re-evaluation um the only thing that
might change for example uh you'll see
in your pocket there's a a draper park
there there might be a couple of change
orders for OCTA projects so that's the
only thing that would really change
nothing on this list will should change
between December
um okay all right but I will highlight
anything that changes between now and
then on the on the octus CIP so it's
very clear all right thank
you anything
else I just have to say once again this
entire process has been so elevated and
um we're we're um L years ahead of where
we were um
you know a decade ago and um just want
to commend everyone the whole team for um this more this methodical
thoughtful way of uh
um taking care of our business and um
the manner in which it's presented to us
so that we can it's in consumable uh
segments so that we can understand it
and uh um I just feel like we all know
where we're going a lot more clearly ear
than we used to so thank you so much
okay
yeah all right Mr Cooper are you
ready good evening mayor and Council I'm
Steve Cooper Mar and storm water
coordinator I'm going to give you a
update on our storm water master plan
which we just picked off recently a
couple weeks ago
so what is a storm water master plan
it's pretty much what it sounds like
it's a comprehensive plan for what
happens when it rains where when we get
rain like we did today where are our
trouble spots where's the rain going to
go where we don't have enough storm
sewers or infrastructure where is our
infrastructure not doing what it's
supposed to be doing where do we not
have infrastructure where we should have
infrastructure what might it cost to get
all that stuff to to to do what it's
supposed to do so that's what a stormw
water master plan is it's similar to the
recently completed sanitary master plan
that we did that's the sanitary master
plan is for the dirty water the sewage
water this is for the rainwater that
falls out of the sky HDR is the selected
consultant for this along with Anderson
bogert HDR was also the company that we
went with for the sanitary master plan
so they know our city pretty
well so the timeline and schedule here
is uh there's task 100 which is project
management that's pretty much ongoing
throughout the whole project we are
currently in task 200 Public Outreach uh
there's going to be a detention Basin
maintenance assessment to see all of our
detention Bas are our post construction
storm waterer best management practices
where are the ones that aren't doing
their job very well and what might we
need to do to make those a little bit
better what might that cost to get that
up to speed we're also in TK 400
hydraulic modeling I'm going to show
some pictures of that in a couple of
slides here uh future project or future tasks are capital Improvement
programs and uh the what do we have to
do where do we have to do it what do we
have to do and potentially what it's
going to cost there's going to be an
operations and maintenance plan for
public works so that we know where the
trouble spots are where do we need to
send Crews at at different times to make
sure that things are working the way
they're supposed to we are going to have
a storm water utility rate study da
Davidson will get involved so that all
of the information what are the costs
for this how do we generate Revenue to
make sure that we've got enough money to
pay for we need to do and then finally
we'll have the reporting for the whole
thing the current tasks are public
education and Outreach we're going to
have three workshops we're still trying
to figure out if we're going to have
workshops in person maybe online we got
to figure that out which how we're going
to do those there's going to be an
online interactive geographic
information map that the public or
anybody can log into they can put a dot
on a map and say Here's where I am and
here's what I want you to know about the
storm water in my neighborhood or what
are the flooding or the water problems
that we have in this area uh we're going
to be gathering input from everybody
from City staff from city council you
all get constit your constituents call
you to complain or contact you to
complain about storm water so you have
information you have knowledge that
needs to be included in this plan we're
going to be reaching out to get
information from the public from City
staff from you from Medco Whoever has
information we're going to gather that
in the coming months the task 400 of
hydraulic modeling that's a very
technical thing that that HDR will be
doing we've provided them with our
geographic information systems data all
kinds of other technical data so that
they can put that into what's called a
2d rain on grid model uh and and tell us
where our trouble spots are so that we
can see where the the water goes when it
rains and this is these are some
preliminary maps of what it looks like
so the darker blue is where we've got
bigger problems the lighter blue is
where we've got water that might not be
as much of a problem and then if there's
you know obviously the other spots don't
even really get the water so this is
kind of part of what is going to be in
the report again it's we just kicked
this off a couple months ago we are in
the very beginning stages of it and I
wanted to give you guys an update and
let you know this is what we're doing
and uh I'm kind of excited to to see
where it goes from here so from there do
you have any questions do you have any
thoughts do you have any input anything
you want to say to us about what
happened today with El
ring we appreciate the checkin and and the progress report so
but Steve does does the
modeling um incorporate any predictive
information from Noah to maybe say
regionally what we expect from seasonal
changes and rainfall it seems to me and
of course over the last six months we've
been very dry and then all of a sudden
we end up with a couple of days of
three-inch rains and I so I'm just
wondering is there anything that Noah
creates datawise that we can then input
into our uh hydrologic model to say if
that happens that's what it means to our
community just not that it's actionable
but it's in our mind of a condition that
we may need to need to need to face in
the future climate is always a challenge
because like you said we had a very wet
spring had a very dry summer and now
we're kind of back up with the rain so
uh trying to keep up with that is always
a challenge Noah and uh USGS all of
those different organizations that kind
of keep up with that uh yes that's it's definitely a
consideration um all of the modeling
like uh the new FEMA maps that we just
got were taking into consideration that
we are getting more precipitation there
is more water coming out of the sky so
yes it is being it it's it's part of it
uh it is not going to be a major Focus
but yes take that into consideration all
right thanks G yeah this this might be a
silly question maybe I should already
know the answer to this but when was the
last time a master plan process like
this was done in we have not done we've
done some many Watershed plans we have the Indian Creek Watershed
Management Authority that looked at more
of a kind of administrative planning
document that wasn't very technical like
this one's going to be there was a
technical um storm water plan that was
done for part of Maran in 1987 there was
the Willow Creek one that was done a
couple years ago we have not done one
for the entire city that's great then I
had no clue that this was the first ever
so that's amazing Steve yeah the number
of Master plans that this city has
undertaken in the last handful of years
has got to be very rewarding for our
citizens simply because they ought to be
very comfortable or much more
comfortable that the city is managing
these issues and not letting the issues
manage them but relative to uh the
public Outreach is the timing of those
public meetings going to be such that
those can be communicated in our next
Maran messenger because I know there's I
mean I get calls
periodically regarding this issue and uh
so I know there's some people throughout
the community very anxious to be able to
uh sit sit down and at least see what's
going on and communicate their concerns
so uh is the timing of that going to
work out yes we we will involve Amber
okay in in this to make sure that when
we have these planned that there will be
press releases it won't just be
hopefully we'll time out well with the
Maran messenger that's what I was hoping
for uh we've got lots of other ways to
get the word out as well okay all right
great thanks Steve anyone
else thank you thank you very much great
work next item is uh our review of the
upcoming
agenda first item marked on the agenda
is A8 on the second page are there any
questions on any items prior to
A8 all right Ryan A8 yes thank you mayor
uh couple meetings ago Mark sekman with
Medco Mark's here um presented the uh
capital campaign that Medco is going
through and the official request of the
city um as the the the lead investor in
Medco uh to consider uh a new level um
the resolution that would be before uh
Council on Thursday amends our uh
Professional Services agreement with
Medco to reflect that new amount in
addition um to that amount we've also
incorporated into the the um the
agreement the different benchmarks that
Mark has put together uh with the uh
Capital campaign so those are some those
are things that uh our economic
development team does review on a very
regular basis uh with our partners at
the chamber and Medco um Mark's here if
you have any questions and we can
certainly ask any questions but they're
doing great work and we appreciate them
agreed um
any questions for Ryan or mark on that
okay thanks
Mark the next item that's marked for
discussion is uh
D9 on yeah Pages aren't marked but
D9 um any item prior to
D9 okay we'll go with D9 Mr
Baro yeah so this is a contract
Amendment with Schneider and Associates
so with the $7 million that we got as
cpf funding it took it from a local
project to a federal project so there's
more Hoops that we have to jump through
more processes and so that's what this
extra money is for um being election day
we just want to call out no one in
particular but we do want to thank our
partners at the federal level that are
helping us navigate through that system
of going again from a local let project
to now a federally uh project and so
that just adds more complexity to it
there's additional steps additional
review that has to occur with that um so
we just want to thank them for uh
partnering with us to help us move this
project
forward what's the timeline
extension the timeline extension is just
because it obviously when it was going
to be let with our funds only that takes
a much shorter time frame when you start
adding NEPA and different Federal
requirements that take more ends the
timeline
y okay any any questions for
Mike and so the the additional
222,00 is that is that budgeted
or so that it is in the um it wasn't
originally planned for but when we got
$7 million in order for us to adjust to
be able to do that we have to move some
money around to make it happen
okay any
questions all right you have the next
item which is d11 Mike yep so this was a
grant that we put in for so uh
76340 was the max amount based on our
population um to the
ecbg um and so we did apply for that uh
and basically what we're going to do is
all of our black fancy poles that have
our banners on them we're going to go in
there and change out the high press
sodium lights to LED lights so not only
is it being more efficient but we're
also using less electricity we changed
the bulbs less often so we're not up
there as often um but as part of that
Grant process we have to have an
official City policy so this is adopting
said policy that's saying that as we
move forward we're going to use LED
lights on our black fancy poles instead
of High Press sodium which we've already
changed in pseudos so it's just checking
another box that's required in order to
get the
$76,000 and how I mean is it very likely
once if we adopt this policy that we're
going to get the grant or is there so
the grant has been applied for right now
it is in their hands waiting for us to
know if we get the money or not I see so
the the end of the month was the
deadline so we met that currently in
holding pattern waiting okay all
right
questions thanks Mike the next item is
under the regular agenda A2 any item
prior to
A2 hey Dave I'll go ahead and kick this
one off um this is the on Thursday there
be a public hearing on a development
agreement for uh Department Methodist
Church project the bell tower Lofts uh
as we all know 55 residential units uh
total project cost is 10 million um
through the development agreement we
will be doing um they they made the ask
for City assistance uh it'll be done in
two phases there'll be a tax incurrent
financing Tiff 10 year of 100% um and
then that'll be F that well that'll
follow the initial rebate of a 10year
100% as well uh the Tiff rebate will not exceed 475,000
and the um Urban rization abatement will
not exceed 290 or sorry be estimated at
290,000 so you're looking at around 760
uh estimated total incentive on the
project in addition to the parking
agreement there there's a parking
element to the uh development agreement
as you know we have 26 onsite spots to
the east of the classroom Wing uh they
have a secured another 13
uh leas on the Farmer State Bank side of
the U uh kind of east of the Farmer
State Bank there's that little parking
lot so they've secured 13 additional
Lots there or spots there uh working
with Daryl High what are those
agreements what does that parking lease
look like for the individual tenants um
working through that to avoid like a a
boat storage or trailer RV storage
eating up that spot uh for tenants um
assigning those spots not necessarily to
individual units on that accessory lot
but reserving them for tenants on the
rear of the site again trying to keep
some of that more long-term or
short-term parking pushed a little
further back from the uh from the street
so the residents don't have to be
affected and then obviously just keeping
the residents informed of the progress
of the project not just parking but the
entire development so that's been built
into that uh development agreement as
well and then always looking to
additional parking leases uh encouraging
that throughout the course of well just
a buildout and obviously well into the
uh future use of the
building okay I will um turn over the
meeting to the mayor proem to handle any
discussion on
this questions Steve yeah Dave um I'm
glad to see the the parking requirement
in there and I if I as I looked at at
the verbi of that talking about a
70% space requirement for the 70 70 or
70% of the 55 units as you look at that
on an ongoing basis they've got 26 on
site which means they're always going to
be looking for at least
13 how do you envision that happening
and and what kind
of enforcement if I could use that word
would be in
place at such time say Farmer State Bank
decides to uh terminate their lease for
the 13 spots and we've got this clause
in there saying they're required to have
70% so how do you envision the city uh
enforcing that section of the agreement
yeah I think as I read it it was more of
the developer will always actively
seeking to achieve that percentage I
don't know if it was necessarily A Hard
requirement to be at that 70% parked I
think it was always to be actively
pursued doing it I think it's a matter
of as if they lose the FSB lease is
working with the developer to again
identifying potential private locations
or maybe new public locations that those
can be um addressed at so it's always
going to be just working with the
developer working with L area land
owners sorry parking lot owners uh make
sure they making those connections and
discussing uh future lease options and I
just want to add to what Dave's saying
the agreement does require them to file
with the city on an annual
basis proof proof that they are actively
seeking and if they don't provide that
proof then they're not in compliance and
if they're not in compliance then we
don't have to pay the rebate until they
are in
compliance
okay sorry we're passing the microphone
here but um just one other thing too
um if you recall uh staff um on the
heels of our parking study staff asked
Council um for authorization to begin
the process of kind of planning out a
parking committee um that would be in
existence not just on an ad hoc basis so
as we continue to develop it um as that
committee when we get to that point that
committee would be charged with going
through the recommendations of the
parking study but also being aware of
things like this so that we're actively
making sure that we can plan ahead
anticipate um Vel recommendations for
council's consideration uh moving
forward and just so we can better handle
and manage those those the parking
requirements for the entirety of the
Uptown thank
you uh and just to follow up quick
little schedule I think many of you may
have saw the crane here over the last
couple days they have been working on
the uh the bell tower Loft area and
removing some of that Bree uh as well as
removing that big heavy uh stone that
was kind of hanging off the roof there
uh so they 've been doing just a little
uh kind of buttoning up a few things as
part of the uh the demolition in the
inside um the street may still be closed
or will be closed periodically uh so
you'll see um additional exterior
demolition uh probably starting in
spring so I'm going say March 2025 uh
site work early summer so
junisha but uh they've been doing Aus
remediation internal demolition uh I
don't think they found any scary
surprises they found some surprises
inside but nothing really alarming uh so
they're going to be working on that
throughout the
winter great any other
questions all right okay um the only
other item marked on the agenda for
review is uh D3 is there any item
besides
D3 that anyone would like to discuss
before we go back to that one
all right Mr barkow all right so this is
a an ordinance updating our our snow
routes and winter storm parking um so
this we're looking at it um new
Administration the new way of of doing
things out there with our new plows um
so one of the the major things we're
doing is we're taking emergency out of
it so a 3-inch snow event is not an
emergency it's Iowa um an emergency is
going to be something where we have a
blizzard and we're going to have to
split shifts and stuff like that um but
what we're going to try and do is train
the resident so if they know that
there's a 3inch or Ice event that's
coming then they need to find alternate
places to park the cars so that we can
clean the streets the best way that we
can possible we will still do press
releases and notices that go out to the
public but if we can start get getting
them trained that if the National
Weather Service says three Ines of snow
or an IC event it's automatic no parking
um we do have special parking uh decals
for those that may not have a driveway
or other means um to park their vehicle
elsewhere um we are also doing a lot
with our community so we've met with the
county twice with Cedar Rapids both
school districts to figure out are there
ways that we can do things better that
are better for the entire Community um
so we have been leading that way um so
we're changing the 2080 with ly County
on what routes we do versus what routes
they do to make it the most sense same
thing with Cedar Rapids um and then the
school districts we're looking at what
are our primary and secondary routes and
where are bus stops so when they're
trying to make that call at 5:30 in the
morning if they have school or not if
they can move that bus stop over one
block or if we can move that snow route
over if it makes sense um then maybe
they don't have to delay school or maybe
they only have to delay school and they
don't have to cancel it so then we can
have more of that collaboration between
everyone um so one thing we would like
to do is it is getting cold out um we'll
have the first reading on Thursday but
we are asking to wave the rules and have
the second and final consideration at
the next set of meetings if council's
willing to do that so that we are
prepared for winter weather when it
should come um and then we will also be
bringing we're taking we currently have
a standard operating procedure and a
policy for
smoke um we're going to combine those
two into one document and we bring that
at the same time so all the guys have
been working together to to put that
together some of the 208s may be a
little delayed so we might have to just
put the policies in there how how we've
discuss them and wait for those 2080s to
get through legal and bring those back
at a later date but we would have a new
2080 with Lyn County and we'd have a new
2080 with Cedar Rapids but those would
be separate considerations
okay anything else no any questions on
that for
Mike go ahead
Grant Mike in the
U I guess it's attached to the memo the
ordinance update or ordinances
update um in the second section for the
amendment three uh 313
d1011 winter storm parking um um in B it
just says the deputy city manager and
the Public Works director shall have the
discretion I I just want to be clear
either one of you have that authority to
put this into effect correct it's not it
doesn't have to be both of both
positions concurring with that yeah we
can add an ad or to clarify that okay
you you read my mind y
dangerous thank you
okay uh that brings us to the close
session mayor I move to adjourn to close
session regarding Personnel matters as
permitted under Section
21.51 I of the code of Iowa
second moved in second it to adjourn to
Clos session regarding Personnel matters
as permitted under the code of Iowa and
we have the legal council statement
please thank you your honor I have
reviewed the proposed subject matter for
the Clos session and find them to be
appropriate under Iowa Code section
21.51
I any questions uh before we vote okay
roll call please Mr Jensen yes Mr Harper
yes Mr misman yes mayor Oley yes Miss
mener yes Mr brand yes Mr sternad
yes thank you we're now adjourned to
Clos session thank you for joining us