Gilbert City Council Meeting

October 6, 2003

Basic Stuff   The Bookmobile   Lights on After School   The Comprehensive Plan   Restaffing City Hall   Committee and Liaison Reports   New Emphasis on Community Policing   General Discussion among Council Members

Basic Stuff:
Mayor Bob Jaquis convened the meeting at 6:58 pm at city hall. The council appointed Carolyn Main to be the interim clerk to take minutes. Carolyn is also the part-time, temporary staff person at city hall during daytime office hours. All the council members were present: Craig Allen, Chris Benda, Lynn Henn, Jon Pop, and Peg Uthe.

Gina Milsap and Lynne Carey were present to represent the Ames Public Library. Rita and Jim Charlson, who live on a farm just south of the city limits, were also present as was Helen Gunderson, a Gilbert citizen and editor of the Gilbert Gazette. An officer of the Story County Sheriff's Department came toward the end of the meeting. The council also approved the minutes for the September 22 meeting.

Open Forum:
No one spoke during the open forum, which is a time for visitors to address issues that are not on the agenda.

The Bookmobile:
Gina Milsap, director of the Ames Public Library, and Lynne Carey, who is the outreach coordinator for the library reviewed the dilemma of having the Bookmobile located at Gilbert's elementary school. Issues had surfaced in the summer of 2002 when the elementary school principal, Carl Schloerke, expressed concerns about R-rated videos being available on the bookmobile.

our summary of the July 1, 200 council discussion our July 11, 2002 commentary on the situation

Because of an impasse of philosophies in 2002, Carl refused to let the Bookmobile be on school property during school hours. Gina talked about two discussions she had with Superintendent Doug Williams and said he had been very helpful. Apparently they thought they could work through the differences between the roles of the school and the library but were unable to do so and that the failure was due to no one's fault. (real audio)

The APL experimented with alternative times and locations for the Bookmobile during the course of the last year. Gina and Lynne presented a page of statistics about library usage by Gilbert patrons and told about what had worked and not worked with changing the Bookmobile schedule. For instance, they tried having the Bookmobile in town on Saturdays, but there was little usage of it during those times. She also explained that the library usage by Gilbert people is higher than her staff had anticipated. Also, the per capita circulation of library materials for Gilbert patrons is above the national average.

Lynne spoke about how the shift in schedule had compromised the library's service to the Gilbert community, "We really do feel that we're missing a lot of people by not being able to be here for our entire shift. We are also no in compliance with our contract because it says [that the Bookmobile will be here] at least four hours [a week.]"

Council member Craig Allen asked about the state requirement that each town provide library services and wondered if what was happening with the Bookmobile schedule breached that requirement. Gina explained that Gilbert citizens have access to the APL's main library and that the Bookmobile is a form of outreach over and above the state requirement.

Gina and Lynne proposed that the Bookmobile be in Gilbert from 4-8 pm on Tuesday evenings and at an alternative location such as in front of city hall. They also wanted the role of the Bookmobile to shift to serving the whole community rather than continuing mainly as support for the schools. Among other things, Gina said they would like to hold some evening book discussions at a location such as city hall. (real audio)

The council seemed open to the library's new emphasis but were reluctant to have the Bookmobile parked in front of city hall due to the slope of the street and safety issues presented by the railroad tracks across the street.

Some of the council members continued to express the dissatisfaction that the council first expressed in the summer of 2002 regarding the library's policy of providing access to materials and its unwillingness to hide R-rated videos in order to satisfy the school district and resume business as usual for the Bookmobile. Gina reminded the council that the library's contract is with the City of Gilbert and not with the school district. She also said that the Bookmobile is a microcosm on the main library. (real audio)

There was little in terms of a conclusive closure to the discussion. Gina and Lynne indicated they would do more research to come up with further proposals for a time and place for the Bookmobile.

Lights on After School:
The mayor presented a resolution he had received from the Youth and Shelter Services regarding a Lights on After School program. Copies of the resolution were not available to visitors, and the program was not thoroughly explained. Apparently it has something to do with providing safety to young students at the end of the school day. There was little, if any discussion, and the resolution was unanimously passed.

The Comprehensive Plan:
Gilbert's comprehensive plan for growth, development, and land use was again on the agenda. It had been discussed at the last meeting when the council met jointly with the planning and zoning commission, which has been working on the plan for a few years. Unfortunately, no commission members were at the meeting.

The mayor said the item was on the agenda for anyone to bring up concerns about the plan "so we can get it wrapped up." Craig Allen spoke at length about the plan's three percent growth rate restriction on the development of single family homes. He had initially expressed his concerns at the last meeting. He said he had been surprised to find out that the restriction was only on single family homes and not on multiple family housing as well. He felt that the growth rate restriction should be applied more comprehensively. For instance, he thought there could be a growth rate restriction on new home units in general.

Rita Durham also spoke. She is a septuagenarian or octogenarian who owns land and lives on a farm just south of town and within a half mile of Gilbert's current thrust in new home construction that is being built by Rich Lepper and company. Rita's son, Micky Charlson, had spoken to the city council last winter during the open forum and suggested he would like to enter into conversation with the city about annexing his land in order to develop it. His land is in the same section as Rita's property. The mayor told Micky to wait until the comprehensive plan was finished before the city would be willing to talk with him.

Rita spoke of how she thought that Gene Upstill, an area farmer who has a history of selling land to Rich Lepper for development, has been treated preferentially by the city in terms of development opportunities. Rita was concerned about the well-being of the town and felt that its leaders should be fair to all people and do a better job of communicating. She also wanted the council to understand that her family had given a lot to the Gilbert community and schools.

At various planning and zoning commission meetings, and even at city council meetings, Gilbert leaders have noted that Rich Lepper is already building at the projected three percent growth rate and that he could fill the town's construction needs for several years to come. Helen Gunderson, a Gilbert citizen and editor of the Gazette, reminded the council of that factor. She also referred to a map in the comprehensive plan that establishes the priorities for which areas of land in and near the town that the city deems to be most important for single family home construction.

Helen explained how the growth rate restriction and the designation of priority areas work together to create a bias that could maintain the town's status quo in which there would continue to be essentially be only one developer, and therefore, little diversity in the housing market. She also told how the planning and zoning commission had decided a few months ago that it would be best to delete the priority labels from the map; however, some how those labels were kept in the plan.

Helen wondered why the properties had to be rank ordered and questioned the wisdom of how they had been ranked. In doing so, she pointed out inconsistencies between the map that designates the priority areas for single family homes and another map in the plan that shows how the city would like various properties to be used. She wondered, for instance, why land east of town toward Highway 69 that the P and Z commission has envisioned would be ideal for commercial development on one map would be considered as a number-two priority area for new home construction on the second map. 
 

The mayor and council members disagreed with Helen's analysis, and at least council member Jon Popp said he could not follow her thought process. Council member Chris Benda asked Helen if it would help to remove the priority labels. She said it would. Chris said he wouldn't be opposed to removing them; however, he would like to know what the commission had in mind when they drafted the plan. Helen said she wished that some of the commission members could have been at the meeting to explain for themselves what they had intended. At one point, Jon challenged Helen with what seemed like a condescending attitude. He said that she needed to understand the entire plan and not pull out an isolated page for commentary. Helen replied that she had studied the plan thoroughly. (real audio)
    

Rita spoke again and engaged the mayor and council in conversation about land developers, community spirit, the high cost of housing, and other topics. The mayor concluded by saying, "Well, I think we've heard some issues, and I think it's time to move on." He also thanked Rita and her husband Jim for coming to the meeting. However, the mayor did not give any idea of how the council would proceed on the comprehensive plan. It is unclear if the council will call the consultants and commission members in for further discussion and clarification. It is also unclear what the process and time table will be for the council to adopt the plan. So far, there has been no intentional effort on the part of city hall to educate the public about the project and its ramifications..

Restaffing City Hall:
Last June, following the resignation of the city clerk, the council delegated discussions about restaffing city hall to the finance committee. We have been skeptical of the council's use of committees because it's an easy way to try to circumvent the spirit of Iowa's open meeting laws. For the record, the committee structure was adopted last winter. Apparently the committee has met, but it has offered no documentation (i.e. agendas or minutes) of its work.

We believe that business of restaffing city hall, including the prospect of reconfiguring the staff structure and hiring both an administrator/clerk and a deputy clerk, is a serious matter that should be discussed by the entire council. The council did meet with consultants and held a thorough discussion about restaffing on July 22. However, the group was far from a final decision when the meeting ended. It appeared there would be further discussion at upcoming meetings to complete the talks and begin fleshing out a job description; however, there has been no further council discussion except terse, code like, and somewhat empty remarks at subsequent meetings. The following is all that was said at this meeting about restaffing.
  

Committee and Liaison Reports:
There were no committee reports. As liaison to the school district, Chris announced that the architects for the new middle school  would be at a special meeting on October 16 at 7 pm at the high school media center. The event is open to the public.

Chris also reported that the total certified enrollment at the schools was 990, which is up 32 students from a year ago.

New Emphasis on Community Policing:
As community services liaison, Peg introduced a representative from the Story County Sheriff's Department. The man explained how the department was planning to get more involved in community policing and that an officer would be specifically assigned to Gilbert with 3-4 hours of the work week devoted to the town. He said they were still working out the nuts and bolts of the system but hoped to have it in place by the end of the year. The mayor said that he applauded to new plan and said that the change was no reflection on the current quality of work provided by the department but was a step toward the next level of local law enforcement. (real audio)

General Discussion among Council Members:
Chris reminded the council that Vision 2000 was hosting a meeting at 7 pm on October 28 to her a presentation from Burbach Aquatics about the potential of constructing a swimming pool in Gilbert.

Jon talked about discussions he has had with Don Adams of the Fire Department. Apparently the department is planning to expand its building but wants to know what the city's plans are for constructing a community center in the Vision 2000 area. There is the a possibility that the department and city could build a combined facility. But if the city has other plans, the fire department will go ahead and build on its own.

Lynn had attended a meeting of the G125 Group that is planning Gilbert's 125th anniversary celebration reported that it had selected an executive committee. He wasn't sure of the titles but said that the mayor and Cindy Wirth would be the co-chairs and that things are moving forward.

The meeting adjourned.
 

This unofficial summary provided by Gilbert Gazette editor, Helen D. Gunderson. When the minutes of a  meeting become available (after they are approved at the next council meeting), we will post them. You may also wish to look for the minutes in the fine print of the legal notices in the Ames Tribune about 14 days after a council meeting. 

If someone has an eye for proof-reading and finds typos, mis-spelling, grammar, or other errors, please let us know so we can make corrections. It's difficult and time-consuming to prepare the summary, and although it would be wise to find a copy editor before posting the summaries, we feel it is important to make the essence of the material available to the public as soon as possible.

Also, the city council tape records each meeting, and the clerk maintains the cassettes for use in writing the minutes and clarifying future questions about meetings. As far as we know, those tapes are part of the public record (unless the a city uses the tapes only for preparing minutes then destroys the tapes). And as far as we know, citizens and other persons may arrange with the clerk to listen to the tapes at city hall.