City Budgets and Library Services Feedback Needed!

City Council held a special meeting last week to discuss our FY17 Budget that will begin on July 1, 2016. We will have a budget hearing on March 8, 2016 and vote to approve our budget later that evening. We must submit an approved budget to the state no later than March 15, 2016.

One area we discussed the other night was library services. U-Heights residents are able to get both an Iowa City and a Coralville library card. We pay for library services according to contracts set with both of those community libraries. 

One of the first "political" things I did when my family moved to University Heights in 2005 was participate in the library levy campaign. As a community we voted to enact this levy to help pay for the library services we enjoy. That levy passed with an 88% yes vote. by state law the levy rate is 27 cents per thousand property valuation. 

For next year the Library Levy will generate $18,961 that can only be used for library services. Our assessment from the libraries comes to a total of $47,533. That means $28,000 needs to come from our general fund.


Mayor Wally Heitman would like to know how many people use library services, and which library do they generally use. Could you please email me your thoughts? 

Thanks.

OUP Construction Update #5

To read all construction reports go here:

OUP Construction Page Index

One University Place Construction Update 5

02/14/16

The upper deck for the second floor has been poured and we will begin seeing more construction on the condominiums on the second floor. Concrete block walls for the first floor have been completed. Plumbing and electrical work continues on the lower lever and the first floor. These areas are heated and enables construction to progress at a good pace. 

Cold weather has slowed some of the outside work. A landscaping plan for the east ravine should be completed in March. The City Council and residents will be looking at

drawings for the addition of a left hand turning lane on Melrose into the development and the modification of the Sunset-Melrose intersection for greater efficiency at a Public Hearing on March 8.

Attached to this report is the portion of the February 2016 City Engineer’s report to City Council that relate to the OUP project, and to the public improvements project for the Sunset/Melrose intersection. MMS Engineering has submitted Public Improvements Plan drawings. There is also a link to a water main improvement document that was the subject of council discussion. At this time a route for the water main has not been decided. Also attached is City Building Inspector Terry Goerdt’s update in the February 2016 Building/Zoning/Sanitation Report. The McComas-Lacina minutes of the weekly construction update meeting for 2-10-16 is also included.

Construction Update #5

February Council Meeting Summary

Dear U-Heights residents, City Council held their regular February meeting Tuesday night, below are some highlights. For more information please look at the full agenda and attachments. County Assessor Talk New Johnson County assessor Tom Van Buer gave an overview of how his office works, and the process of assessing property. This year U-Heights is scheduled for visits from assessor's staff.Please refer to the agenda above for his presentation. It will also be available from IC Cable 4 as a webstream in the next week.   FY17 Budget Planning State law requires all cities to submit an approved FY17 (beginning July 1, 2016) budget by March 15 each year. Council held preliminary budget discussions and will continue that next week in a special meeting on Feb. 15 at 6:30 PM in the City Office, 1004 Melrose.   One University Place There was a great deal of discussion of One University Place this evening. Council directed the city attorney to draft a letter of agreement specifying the scope of duties not covered by the building inspector or city engineer  that a project manager would perform. If council approves of this draft a short term contract would be entered into with Glen Siders at a projected rate of $75 to $100 dollars an hour. Regular construction reports are posted after council meetings on the city website OUP Construction Updates.   Upcoming Events Council Special Meeting Feb. 15 6:30 PM City Office to discuss FY17 budget Community Visioning Meeting Feb. 29 7:00 PM  public invited U-Heights History Presentation 2:00 PM March 7  IC Senior Center

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 Copyright © 2016 Mike Haverkamp, All rights reserved. This is information about University Heights for residents who wish to receive it. Our mailing address is: Mike Haverkamp 315 Golfview Ave. Iowa City, IA 52246

OUP Construction Update #4

To read all construction reports go here:

OUP Construction Page Index

One University Place Construction Update 4

01/15/16

One University Place construction continues on the front building. Due to the cold weather, most of the work is being down in the lower parking area which is heated. Electrical and concrete work is being done in this lower level. Concrete block is being installed for first floor exterior walls. The target date to have the front building enclosed is now mid-February. City building inspector Terry Goerdt has inspected and signed off on every required inspection.  This building is expected to be completed in late summer, 2016.

Utilities work (storm sewer and sanitary sewer) is progressing on the west side. The large sanitary sewer piping for the front building has been installed on the North Side of the building. Mechanical and electrical hookups to that system will begin.

MMS Engineering has submitted Public Improvements Plan  for review of a left turn lane on Melrose and Sunset/Melrose intersection improvements. Also attached to this report is the portion of the January 2016 City Engineer's Report to City Council that relate to the OUP project. The City Engineer refers to the Public Improvement Plan in his report, and also specifies the timeline for review of the plans, public comment, and steps required before approval.

OUP Construction Update 4

Make Sure You're in the Saddle...

The first meeting of  the newly elected city council was held last night. We had some lively discussion and interesting moments as we started our new term together. Wally Heitman in his Mayor's Report mentioned his hopes for more civility and wishes for all of council to work together for the benefit of the community. I thought Wally did quite well in his first meeting. I heartily agree with his sentiments and will continue to do all I can to make it happen.

The title of this post is the first half of a quote attributed former UH City Councilor Yon Schoenmaker. The last half of the quote is

...Before You Apply the Spurs!

We seemed to have a case of that as the very first council item on our agenda was to discuss hiring a project manager to oversee the construction phase of the One University Place Project. I find this to be a very interesting way to start our term.

One University Place (OUP for short) is a private development built on private property. As such this project is subject to all of the requirements of any private construction. Inspections are a vital and continual part of the process. The good news for us, is the the City of U-Heights has an excellent building inspector. He holds more certifications than any other building inspector in Johnson County, and is recognized as one of the best in the state of Iowa. He also works for the City of Iowa City and has had much experience in very large projects over the past five years, Plaza Towers, Park@201 downtown etc. and the University of Iowa Fire Inspector routinely consults with him for advice on how to conduct inspections at  Hancher, the Music Building, Peterson Residence Hall among others. 

Regardless, there will always be inspections at OUP that he is not licensed to conduct, and those officials who are qualified have already been identified and utilized as needed. Our inspector is the one who already certified the building plans, and awarded the initial building permit. He is very familiar with the project.  

Despite this, there is interest on council in hiring an independent project manager to oversee construction. This would have to been done at additional cost to the city. No other community around us does this for a private project. Project managers are typically used only when it is a Municipal project, and the city is paying for the building. 

Fortunately our inspector was at our meeting last night so he could introduce himself to the city councilors who had never met or talked to him. I asked how often he stops at the OUP site and his answer was typically 4 times a week. He also said that when the weather was better he stopped as often as 3 times a day. I asked if there had been any problems or issues with inspections he has already conducted and the answer was no. My very strong impression is that this project is very well supervised and is within the time and technical abilities he has to devote to this.

A fellow councilor said he "knows a guy," recently retired, who would be well qualified to be an independent project manager for us. For our February meeting we will be informed as to details of the job, availability and price. Given the fact several times later in the meeting there were questions about bidding all work to be done for the city to ensure good pricing, we might want to consider that too.

My thought right now is that spending city resources on a job that won't improve results, or solve with a major problem, is going to get us thrown off the horse.

A Very Sincere Thank You!

Mayor Louise From presided over her final meeting as mayor tonight and I'd like to say she was sent out in style. Completely unknown to her, various Iowa elected officials and a notable celebrity were asked to submit a letter of thanks to Louise. These were read at the meeting. She received congratulations and thanks from both U.S. Senators, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, and our U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack. She also received recognition from Governor Branstad, and our state senator, Joe Bolkcom. Our Iowa House rep, Mary Mascher, came in person to thank Louise also. The highlight of the presentation was a letter from Kirk Ferentz, who spoke of how University Heights was his first home in Iowa, and thanking Louise for her service.
Louise was elected to five terms as Mayor, for a total of 10 years. Prior to that she served six terms on council for 12 years. In total she served the City of University Heights for 22 years from January of 1994 through December of 2015. While I don't know Louise's exact age I'm pretty confident in thinking that she has served University Heights for at least one-third of her life.

I have greatly enjoyed working with Louise, and have great admiration for her abilities and the accomplishments she has made for the betterment of our city. I hope that if you see her in the coming days and weeks, that you'll tell her thank you too.

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