1. WELLNESS CENTER AGREEMENTS: With the “tentative” 14.7 million (original was $13 million) budget authorization on December 19 the city needs to enter agreements with the Schools and Simpson for their contribution toward the pool. On April 18, 2011, council approved a proposal from attorney Daniel Manning of the Lillis O’Malley LLP Firm to assist with drafting the agreements.
This item will be on the January 9 committee agenda and my recommendation will be for council to establish a committee of myself and/or Finance Director Jean Furler and two council members. The Y’s Vernon Delpesce should also assist and the goal will be to develop agreements that:
• Provide for the timely and appropriate use of the YMCA/Wellness Center competitive pool
• Adequately compensates the city for pool use based on the competitive pool’s total cost and the proposal presented by Jay Byers on December 10, 2010
• Ensures the city’s expenses are within the parameters established by the March 1, 2010 bond referendum, and, the commitment to not increase taxes
I contacted Dan Manning on December 29 and he is prepared to provide assistance.
2. W HWY 92: I have been invited to attend a Project Management Team (PMT) meeting in Ames on February 9 to continue dialogue on the Hwy 92 Improvement Project from Indianola to R-57. Meeting details will be provided to elected officials immediately after.
As discussed previously, right-of-way for this project will be acquired by IDOT in 2012 and construction in 2013. Plans include extending the 3-lane design from R Street west thru R-63, and, the city asked IDOT to extend the project east to the Fair Grounds in order to provide curb/gutter from “N” Street west to R-63. A trail has also been requested by the city.
3. HWY 65/69 SPEED STUDY: Per the city’s request, IDOT performed a speed study on Hwy 65/69 north of Hillcrest in light of Theisen’s opening. The recommendation follows:
District 5 requested a Speed Study for the Subject area on behalf of the City. The City had concerns with speeds near the driveway of the recently opened Theisens.
Speed Data was collected (see below) and a review of the area was conducted.
Last Staff Action/Commission Order: 08-0130 dated August 21, 2007
The following observations were made of the area reviewed:
• 4-lane, divided (wide-ditch median), rural cross-section from E. Hillcrest
Avenue, northward.
• Signal at E. Hillcrest Avenue
• Alignment was good.
• Vertical curve length difference in northbound lanes versus southbound
lanes.
• Sight distance not limited as to merit a warning sign from the existing
accesses at the posted speed limit.
Upon completion of the data collection and review of the area, the Office of Traffic and Safety recommends maintaining the present speed zones.
The studied zones are within an acceptable range of the 85th percentile.
We do not recommend changes to the speed zones at this time.
If the District has crash data for this area that they would like us to factor into this speed study, please forward the information to us.
Please respond to this recommendation with your concurrence or suggestions for change.
If you have any questions or concerns please contact Ron McDaniel at 239-1537 or Ron.McDaniel@iowa.gov .
The IDOT determines speed limits by observing traffic speeds for a given period and adjusting that speed down to the 85th percentile. In other words, if the average speed is 50 in an area, they’ll set the limit at 45 mph. Their philosophy is that the average person will drive a speed at which they are most comfortable at so it does not make sense (in IDOT’s perspective) to set a speed that most people will not obey.
4. BUDGET PROCESS: Staff is working on the FY 12/13 budget and will present a recommendation on January 23. A detailed document will be provided with a line-item description of each department’s expenses, revenues and beginning balance. If questions are not answered or there are significant changes, council can meet again on January 30.
The formal process will begin on February 6 where council sets March 5 as the public hearing. The budget notice must be published twice and the date will be February 15 and 22. Once a tax rate is published it can be decreased but not increased.
5. CHRISTMAS TREES: We recently learned that there are no disposal options for live trees so the Brush Facility was opened on December 29 and will remain open through January 9.
