11/10/15 City Council Meeting Webstream

I should remember to post these regularly, because our friends at City Cable Channel 4 do a great job of making available a webstream of all regular City Council meetings. You can also watch a rebroadcast on Channel 4 every Thursday night at 9:00 PM.

November 10 City Council Meeting

November Council Meeting Update

Dear U-Heights residents, City Council held their regular November meeting Tuesday night, below are some highlights. For more information please look at the full agenda and attachments.   LEAF VACUUMING November 19 will be the final leaf vacuum date. Please rake leaves only to the curb. Often Johnson County refuse comes by to pick up leaves early as they travel through town. Even if they pick up early they will still pick up on the scheduled date too.   One University Place Council heard an update regarding progress on One University Place. Council also heard public input and made a decision regarding ravine restoration. Council and public were in agreement regarding 3/1 grading plan  and tree planting. Jeff Maxwell will work with EVE and Confluence Landscape architects to bring a planting plan to council. Fire Protection Mayor From reported that negotiations are nearly complete to switch city fire coverage to Iowa City at the start of the next fiscal year on July 1, 2016. Fire protection from Iowa City will be at the same rate as our current coverage from Coralville. Community Visioning 2016 Councilor Virginia Miller announced University Heights has been awarded a Trees Forever Community Visioning program Grant. The steering committee will send representatives to training in Ames later this month. Tree Pruning Class Trees Forever will have a Tree Pruning class on Sat. Dec. 5th We are planning to hold this at the City office. One hour of class time and then one hour of field work on Melrose and Sunset. We need to know how many people will be attending so we know whether to move it to the University Club. RSVP to Hannah Howard at HHoward@treesforever.org. Upcoming Events Leaf Vacuuming Nov. 19 Tree Pruning Class Dec. 5 City Council Regular Meeting Dec. 15, 7 PM Horn School Library Leaf Vacuuming Nov. 19

Follow University Heights on Twitter Consider contributing to the University Heights Community Fund I also write a blog covering U-H and other timely topics, with my opinions expressed UHForward.blogspot.com Join the community at Nextdoor University Heights! As always it is a pleasure to serve as your city councilor. -Mike

Unofficial Election Results

Here are unofficial numbers from the Johnson County Auditor:

	Early	Nov. 3	Total
Mayor
Louise From	50	155	205
Wally Heitman (write in)			211
Council
Carla Aldrich	49	145	194
Stepheny Gahn	44	141	185
Mike Haverkamp	50	175	225
Jim Lane	50	160	210
Dotti Maher	103	167	270
Silvia Quezada	102	184	286
Shahzad Ali (write in)			203
Rick Hopson (write in)			195
Jerry Zimmerman (write in)			204

The auditor did not break down early and Nov. 3 votes for the write in candidates. There will be an administrative recount due to the 1 vote difference for the 5th seat on council.

Here is a link to the Press Citizen's story:

Heitman ousts From as U.Heights Mayor

I am once again so very grateful to the citizens of this community for their faith in me, and I will continue to work for you in the next term.

ELECTION DAY

POLLING SITE

ST. ANDREW CHURCH 

1300 MELROSE AVE.

POLLS OPEN 7 am TO 8 pm

Early voting statistics from Johnson County Auditor 
Turnout Updates from JC Auditor at 9, 11, 3, 6 TODAY
 

EARLY VOTING

TOTAL BALLOTS REQUESTED by city

University Heights 148

TOTAL BALLOTS RETURNED by city

University Heights 148

Election Day Turnout

9:00-- 40

11:00-- 74

Who I am Supporting in Tuesday's Election

Besides voting for myself, here is who  I will be voting for:

City Council
Jim Lane- Jim is completing his second 2 year term on council, he has served as finance chair for the past 4 years. His experience as a financial planner has paid off in how he has managed city assets in order to maximize returns, he has also made awareness of city budgets and budget planning much easier for the rest of council to follow. Jim's experience as a plant manager for Proctor and Gamble as well as his education as an engineer has been invaluable as the city has worked through the planning stages of the One University Place project. Construction Updates

Carla Aldrich- Carla was appointed to council in June 2014 to fill the seat of Zadok Nampala. She has served as co-chair of the Community Protection Committee. Carla's contributions and insight served the city well in the hiring of our Police Chief last year. Carla has also initiated our Community Watch program, a quarterly meeting of all interested citizens on community protection topics of interest. At the Kickoff Meeting in April, there was a surprise incident where participants suddenly were placed in situation where their "eye witness" recollections were tested. The July meeting featured tips on how to prevent identity theft, and the September meeting featured Iowa City Schools Equity director Kingsley Botchway speaking on cultural competence. Community Protection

Stepheny Gahn- Stepheny has served on the Zoning Commission for the past year. She was active in the amending of our building ordinance. Stepheny has also been a frequent attendee at council meetings, and has worked hard to make herself aware of the many issues that the council faces.

Mayor
Louise From- Louise has been an effective and tireless ambassador for our city. While she does not have a vote, she runs council meetings. Louise spends an incredible amount of time working with neighboring elected officials as well as staff to ensure that U-Heights' interested are represented. Mayor's Report

Ballot Initiative
YES I strongly favor adopting staggered four year terms for council. Being a small community with each council member expected to manage a department of city business (Finance, Building/Zoning/Sanitation, Streets and Sidewalks, Community Protection, eGovernment) it is hard to have continuity and stability when you must run for your seat every other year.

I would hope you would also consider these well qualified people and this reasonable ballot measure.