The new Iowa City Community School District Headquarters in the former Press-Citizen building Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012 in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

The Iowa City school district wants property it has reserved for a new elementary school to be annexed into Coralville.

The school board is to vote Tuesday on a resolution seeking voluntary annexation of 12.19 acres off North Liberty Road between Coralville and North Liberty.

The request does not signal an imminent move to build an elementary school on the site, however, Superintendent Stephen Murley said Monday.

The surrounding property owner is petitioning to be annexed into Coralville and district officials believe it makes sense to seek annexation at the same time, Murley said. The district would have sought annexation at some point anyway in order to get utilities to the property for a new building.

The school district property is in an area that can only be annexed by Coralville under an agreement reached by Coralville and North Liberty in 2011 that ended a five-year annexation dispute.

More school property news may be coming later this month. At the May 21 school board meeting, Murley hopes to present to the board two properties for purchase.

One would be for a southeast Iowa City elementary school. The other would be for a North Liberty-area high school.

“We’re pretty close on both of those parcels,” Murley said.

The school board’s discussion likely would take place in closed session, with the public being able to weigh in at the next board meeting, he said.

The district also is in the market for land on the east side of Iowa City for another elementary school, Murley said.

The district needs the new schools to ease overcrowding at many of its existing facilities and to handle future growth. An enrollment study completed for the district this spring predicted the district would add nearly 3,000 students by fall 2022.

In February, district voters approved a document that allows the district to borrow ahead on up to $100 million in sales tax revenue. District officials have said that money will go toward a new high school, three new elementary schools, building additions and repairs.

Volunteer Logan Mozingo of Lisbon places sandbags along a berm between the rising Iowa River and the homes at the Thatcher and Baculis Mobile Home Parks in June 2008 in Iowa City. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Construction will start next month on a levee along the Iowa River in southern Iowa City to try to prevent flooding in a neighborhood with mobile homes and businesses.

The City Council Tuesday night unanimously approved a $4.5 million contract with Iowa Bridge & Culvert out of Washington, Iowa. The company had the low bid out of eight received, and it was more than $1 million below the city’s estimate. The cost will be covered by federal Community Development Block Grants.

The 3,000-foot-long earthen levee will go on the west side of the Iowa River between the CRANDIC railroad bridge and McCollister Boulevard.

The area flooded in 2008 and 1993, and the levee will protect about 20 businesses in the area and the Baculis and Thatcher mobile home parks. The structure will be three feet above 100-year flood levels, said Jason Reichart, the city’s special projects engineer.

Some of the mobile home residents have in the past argued against the levee, saying it is unnecessary because an earthen berm erected by the Baculis owners in 1993 has kept them protected.

But that berm was supposed to be temporary and was not professionally constructed, so the city cannot guarantee its quality and safety, Reichart said. Also, it only extends a portion of the riverbank and does not stop water coming in from the north or south, he said.

The berm will be removed during construction of the new levee.

Construction is scheduled to start this May and last until November 2014.

The supervisors voted 4-1 in support of a proclamation saying they backed “marriage equality for same-sex couples and urge the Supreme Court of the United States to once again rule in favor of marriage as a basic civil right.”

John Etheredge cast the dissenting vote, with his only comment being his “nay” during the roll call. Etheredge was elected to the board this month and is a Republican, the first member of that party elected a Johnson County supervisor in 55 years.

Supervisor Rod Sullivan proposed the proclamation, and the affirmative vote authorized board Chairwoman Janelle Rettig to sign it. Rettig is a lesbian and is married. Her spouse was in the crowd Thursday.

The supervisors have weighed in on gay marriage before. In 2009, the supervisors voted to send a letter to other Iowa counties in support of the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage in the state.

Pat Harney voted against that proposal. But he voted for the proclamation Thursday and said no matter whether someone believes same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, the issue was about everyone receiving the same rights, so he would support it.

IOWA CITY — The Iowa Department of Education says the Iowa City school district’s controversial diversity policy proposal would violate federal law.

The department informed the district on Friday that how the plan would use free or reduced-price lunch information would potentially allow students in that program to be identified without permission from their parents.

That determination does not mean the policy is dead, however. Jeff Berger, the department’s deputy director, said in an interview that there are other ways the district could write the policy so it has a similar effect.

One way, he said, would be swapping the use of free or reduced-price lunch data with census data on income levels.

The diversity policy would require schools to be within a certain range of each other in the percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, a common measure of poverty. It also sets capacity requirements on high schools and junior high schools.

The debate over the policy has been bitterly divisive in the district, with hundreds of people attending sometimes-raucous meetings.

Supporters of the policy point to the large disparity in free-reduced lunch rates in the district’s schools and research that says socioeconomic balance benefits all students. Several of the schools with the highest rates are in eastern Iowa City.

Opponents, many of them from North Liberty and Coralville, see the capacity language as an attempt to block the opening of a new high school and also believe some of their children would be sent to east-side schools to balance poverty and capacity rates.

The board voted 4-3 in favor of the policy last month. The final vote is scheduled for Tuesday. The board’s Governance Committee will meet Monday to discuss the policy.

School board member Sarah Swisher, who has led the crafting of the policy, said the proposal would look at free-reduced lunch in aggregate, not by individual student, and the goal is to have students voluntarily move to new schools.

“We would never want to violate an individual student’s rights by using free and reduced lunch or any targeting method,” she said, adding that she expected the final vote to occur as planned Tuesday.

School board member Sally Hoelscher, another backer of the policy, said if students were moved, it would be a group from an area.

“I guess that’s an implementation thing, but I don’t think that the intent of the policy is to move individual students,” she said.

But because the policy could cause students to be moved to a new school based on their free-reduced lunch status, they could be identified without parental consent, which is a violation of federal law, Berger said.

“So if you’re structuring something on a diversity plan that would have students targeted by area, the potential is there that a certain city block would have one or two kids,” he said. “And in that context, we can’t say that’s OK, because the potential is there for people to figure out what kids are qualified.”

Five Iowa school districts already have diversity plans, and they make use of socioeconomic status and, in some cases, free-reduced lunch specifically. They use those measures because, in 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional to integrate schools by using race alone

But those other diversity plans apply only to open enrollment and transfer students. The Iowa City school district’s would be much more comprehensive because it covers all schools except the alternative high school.

The key difference with open enrollment is that it is parent-driven and starts with a parent’s request and must be approved by a school board in a public meeting, Staci Hupp, spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Education, wrote in an email.

All references to free or reduced-price lunch must be taken out of the Iowa City school district’s diversity policy because of how the district would use the information, state officials said. But the districts with existing plans can keep it in, Hupp said.

Berger said the state’s role is not to approve or deny a district’s diversity plan but rather to ensure its language complies with state and federal laws. He said he’s confident the district can revise the policy and make it work.

“We don’t want to get in the way of their end goal, which is supporting kids in a more productive way,” he said. “But we have to just help them stay within the parameters of the law.”

Superintendent Stephen Murley, who did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment, wrote in an email to school board members Friday that members of the community contacted the Iowa Department of Education with concerns about the plan.

South East Junior High eighth graders Natalie Holmes and Charles Johnson get instruction from teacher Andrew Smith during a lab experiment in their Foundations of Science II class on Thursday. (Justin Torner/Freelance)

The western half of the Iowa City school district saw $66.6 million worth of school building projects in the past 10 years, double the $33.4 million spent on the other side of the district, according to a Gazette analysis.

That could give ammunition to people who have argued eastern Iowa City schools have been neglected in recent years.

But $41 million of the west-side total was for the construction of new schools in fast-growing North Liberty and Coralville. The east came out $8 million ahead when subtracting that, with projects like a $4.9 million gym and science classroom addition at South East Junior High and a $1 million classroom addition at Lucas Elementary School.

Funding for construction projects is a divisive topic in the Iowa City school district, which covers Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, Hills and University Heights. The issue is spurred by booming enrollment, with about 1,000 more students in the district now than in 2007.

There have been claims that eastern Iowa City has been left behind as four new schools were built on the other side of the district in recent years. Many North Liberty and Coralville parents, meanwhile, are pushing for a new high school near them, which has only intensified the debate.

Click on a marker to see a complete list of the school building projects and the total cost of those projects for that school.

FEEDER SCHOOLS

The Gazette examined construction projects costing $10,000 or more from July 2002 through June 2012. It then grouped the projects by the district’s two comprehensive high schools, West High and City High, and the schools that currently feed into them.

Each high school has 11 other schools in its boundaries. Roosevelt Elementary, which closed in May, was not included.

City High and its schools were outspent two-to-one over the 10 years. Also, that feeder system hasn’t had a new school built since 1970. Borlaug Elementary in Coralville and Garner Elementary, Van Allen Elementary and North Central Junior High in North Liberty have all opened since 2005.

Elementary school funding in particular has been in the spotlight. Not counting new schools built in the 10-year period, the west side had $3.8 million more spent on six elementary schools than the east side did for 10 elementary schools.

FEELINGS OF NEGLECT

Iowa City Council member Connie Champion, a school board member in the 1990s, said she’s heard from a lot of people who believe eastern Iowa City has been neglected.

“It is affecting how people feel about the schools, and I think that’s a dangerous situation to get into,” she said.

School board member Tuyet Dorau, however, said the east has seen its fair share of the construction funding, particularly when setting aside the new schools in the west.

“I don’t think $30 some million is neglect,” she said.

City High parent Janet Clark, who is part of a loose coalition of parents speaking out against what they see as a facilities imbalance, said removing new schools from the equation is inappropriate. Also, she said, older schools, which the east side has more of, have more needs than newer buildings.

“There’s a significant quantitative difference between the older facilities and the newer facilities,” like with gym space and lack of air conditioning, she said.

RESPONSE TO GROWTH

School board members interviewed for this story said the four new schools were opened in response to growth in North Liberty and Coralville. Between 2000 and 2010, North Liberty’s population increased 149 percent and Coralville’s 25 percent. Iowa City’s population went up 9 percent.

“They (the east side) haven’t been ignored. They’ve just been addressed in a different fashion: renovation and additions as opposed to a new building,” said school board member Karla Cook, a retired City High teacher.

Population has entered the debate in another way. With 67,862 residents in the 2010 census, Iowa City is by far the largest town in the school district. Coralville is next with 18,907.

It’s been suggested Iowa City residents aren’t receiving a fair return on the property tax dollars they put into the school district’s budget.

“As the largest population center in the district, Iowa City residents contribute a proportionately larger share of the property and sales taxes going to the district, yet in recent years only a fraction of the district’s capital dollars has been invested in Iowa City schools,” Mayor Matt Hayek wrote in an August letter to the school board.

An analysis of tax records kept by the Johnson County Auditor’s Office found that 62 percent of school district’s fiscal 2013 property tax revenue came from Iowa City. Coralville was 17 percent, North Liberty 9 percent, University Heights and Hills 1 percent each and unincorporated areas 10 percent.

Schools in Iowa City accounted for 46 percent of the total spent in the current feeder system over the past 10 years.

FUNDING METHODS

School construction projects are funded in three main ways: with voter-approved bond issues, a voter-approved tax levy and revenue from sales taxes.

Van Allen Elementary and North Central Junior High were built with money from a bond issue approved by 71 percent of voters in 2003.

Iowa City retail sales generated nearly $44.4 million in sales tax in fiscal year 2011, the most recent year available from the Iowa Department of Revenue. Coralville was close behind with $43 million, and North Liberty’s total was $4.4 million.

School district Superintendent Stephen Murley wants to start relying on sales tax revenue and bond issues for major renovations and new buildings. The school board this month said it wants to borrow from future sales tax revenue as a way to get more money now. A February vote is expected to seek voter approval for this plan, which could open up $100 million.

North Liberty parent Jen Greer, who has advocated for a new high school, said borrowing the money would be a good way to get funding for projects districtwide, but she wants details before backing the February vote.

“I want to see the plan to see all of the pressing needs in the North Liberty area are on the horizon, including Penn (Elementary), North Central Junior High and the new comprehensive high school,” she said.

School Board President Marla Swesey said the new funding plan would resolve concerns across the district by spending money on existing schools and building new ones.

“I think it will help all those unsettled thoughts in our community and, hopefully, everybody will come together for the betterment of our district,” she said.

Samantha Soll (right), 18, of Iowa City and Sonja Evers, 17, of Iowa City play with a cat thats up for adoption at the Iowa City Animal Shelter on Friday, July 14, 2000. (Sourcemedia Group)

IOWA CITY – The city of Iowa City will discuss Monday whether it wants to continue to own and operate an animal shelter, possibly with an eye toward saving money.

One option would have the city contracting with a local nonprofit organization to manage the shelter. That type of arrangement takes place in nine of 14 cities reviewed by city management intern Simon Andrew.

The Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center serves other Johnson County communities but is staffed by city employees, plus volunteers.

Iowa City funded 68 percent of the shelter’s operations in fiscal year 2010, but 56 percent of the animals came from Iowa City, Andrew wrote in a memo released Thursday. Johnson County and the cities of Coralville and Solon also contribute, and donations help pay expenses.

Licensing fees are only collected from Iowa City residents, according to Andrew.

The City Council will take up the matter at its work session Monday.

Some cities have moved toward the nonprofit model to save money, Andrew said. An obstacle for Iowa City in that approach would be the lack of a local organization with experience in running a shelter, he said, although the Johnson County Humane Society could be asked if it would be interested in doing so.

The city also could explore having the other communities contribute not only to operational expenses but also to the cost of a new shelter that is going to be built, Andrew said. Also, animal owners could pay more of the impoundment costs to lessen the burden on property taxpayers, he said.

The city currently is researching firms to design a new animal shelter to replace the one destroyed in the 2008 flood, Police Chief Sam Hargadine and Public Works Director Rick Fosse wrote in a separate memo.

The facility is to be located on the south side of town at 3800 Napoleon Lane, off Gilbert Street.

A tentative date to finish construction is May 2014, they wrote.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has pledged $1.4 million to build a 7,000-square-foot shelter comparable to the one lost in the flood, although the city has debated whether to construct a larger one.

Aerial photo Iowa City, including the Iowa River, the Old Capitol and University of Iowa campus, Burlington Street bridge and downtown Iowa City, (Sourcemedia 2006)

IOWA CITY — The city is taking steps toward establishing a tax increment financing district for an area of town slated for redevelopment.

The proposal is related to the Riverfront Crossings District south of downtown, which the city wants to turn into a dense, walkable neighborhood with public and private projects.

When officials first started discussing the idea two years ago, the area was to be bordered by Burlington Street to the north, Highway 6 to the south, Gilbert Street to the east and the Iowa River to the west.

But they have since expanded it across the river, and that’s where the proposed TIF district would be. It would cover a mostly north-south strip of 44 acres along Riverside Drive from Myrtle Drive on the north and Highway 1 on the south.

On Oct. 18, the City Council is expected to hold a public hearing and vote on an urban renewal plan for the area, which is the first step in establishing the TIF district.

The item is on the agenda for the council’s Tuesday meeting, but the public hearing will be continued because of a timing issue. The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended the council adopt the plan.

Under a TIF agreement, a landowner typically keeps for a period of time the difference, or increment, between the existing property taxes and the amount generated by the redeveloped land.

Wendy Ford, Iowa City’s economic development coordinator, said that as staff started working on the Riverfront Crossings plan, it became clear that ignoring the west side of the river while making improvements to the east would be a mistake.

A plan for a TIF district on the east side is forthcoming, she said, but the first project for Riverfront Crossings is expected to be on the west side, so they’re starting over there with the TIF.

She said she couldn’t go into details on the project except to say it’s a hotel. City Council candidate Raj Patel has said his family plans to build a Hampton Inn by Hilton on Riverside Drive.

The council on Tuesday is to hold a public hearing and vote on a resolution to adopt a development plan for another portion of Riverfront Crossings.

The city has spent more than a year working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and consultants on a plan for 80 acres on the southern part of the district. Iowa City was one of just five communities nationwide to get grants for the work.

The plan calls for a pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use neighborhood that includes a riverfront park.

That news was shared Thursday at the Johnson County Board of Supervisors’ informal meeting by Tim McDermott of VJ Engineering, which is handling the design and construction management for the project.

The bridge spanned the Cedar River in northeast Johnson County before one-third of it was swept away in the Flood of 2008. The structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The repaired bridge will look similar to what existed before the flood.

Federal and state funds will cover the cost to replace the damaged portion, estimated at $1.7 million, plus about $440,000 to bring it up to code.

McDermott said the Federal Emergency Management Agency gave the green light to design plans last week. He’s preparing the bid letting documents to find a contractor for construction and is hoping to start the bid process in November.

FEMA said it would make sure funding is available if the bids go over the estimate, he said.

Construction is expected to start by mid-April at the latest and take about nine months, he said.

Iowa City is prepared to file a lawsuit over a million-dollar software agreement

IOWA CITY — The city is prepared to file a lawsuit to recoup nearly $200,000 from a million-dollar computer software agreement gone awry.

Iowa City’s pending legal action comes a year after it ended its relationship with Innoprise Software of Broomfield, Colo., and nearly seven months after it received its first and only $10,000 installment toward a settlement of $196,000.

Iowa City actually paid Innoprise $254,179, but the $196,000 was negotiated as a settlement amount, city officials said. The city spent another $201,302 on expenses like a consultant, site visits and legal expenses, Finance Director Kevin O’Malley said.

That means the city spent $455,481 on the failed project and has gotten $10,000 back.

City Manager Tom Markus, who was hired a year ago and not involved in the Innoprise contract, said people will want to point fingers, but in this case, the company failed.

“You hire companies with the expectation that they’ll do things right,” he said.

Innoprise was acquired in April by Harris Computer Systems of Canada. Iowa City officials say Innoprise has been unresponsive since then.

General Manager James Simak of MS Govern, a unit of Harris that is responsible for the Innoprise software, said Wednesday that the company acquired software assets and a number of Innoprise customer contracts and commitments.

“Iowa City was not a contract we acquired, and we were unaware of it,” he said.

Innoprise founder Dennis Harward, who worked with Iowa City officials, could not be reached for comment. Simak said Harris had hired select Innoprise employees but would not say if Harward was one of them.

The city of Port Orange, Fla., sued Innoprise last year, according to a memo on its website, and has since reached a settlement with the company.

Iowa City Assistant City Attorney Eric Goers said he is preparing to file a lawsuit in district court in Iowa, possibly in the next two weeks, over the outstanding $186,000. He said Innoprise will be named, but he’s unsure about other parties.

The city signed a contract with Innoprise in October 2009 to supply and implement enterprise resource planning software, or ERP. The plan was to get a new computer system for its human resources and payroll, financial and utility billing functions.

The city budgeted $1.16 million for the project to replace its existing system, which was self-built and dates to the 1980s.

O’Malley said the city did its due diligence on the product, contacting other entities that used it. During testing, the software worked fine, but it developed bugs in Iowa City that Innoprise wouldn’t fix right away. After Innoprise started missing deadlines, he said, Iowa City pulled the plug last October and negotiated a settlement.

The city recently requested proposals to find a new provider of ERP software.

The Gazette’s John McGlothlen contributed to this report.

Firefighters from multiple departments battle a large fire along Iowa Avenue and Linn Street Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011 in downtown Iowa City. (Brian Ray/ SourceMedia Group News)

IOWA CITY – The fire in downtown Iowa City Saturday could, in an unfortunate way, create some of the redevelopment opportunities city officials desire, although it’s too early to know what will happen.

It’s no secret, however, that city and downtown representatives want to see changes downtown, specifically the addition of more retailers, office space and owner-occupied housing.

And it’s rare for a downtown property to sit empty with no building on it, which could soon be the case in a couple of locations.

The four-alarm fire, reported at 2:16 a.m., damaged several buildings. One apartment resident was treated at the scene, but there were no other injuries.

The most extensive damage was to the Bruegger’s Bagels building, 225 Iowa Ave., and the Van Patten House, 9 S. Linn St.  There was water and smoke damage to 13 S. Linn Street, 219-221 Iowa Avenue and 255 Iowa Avenue, according to the Iowa City Fire Department.

The Bruegger’s building, which also had apartments, lost its roof and was gutted by the fire.

The roof of the Van Patten House is gone, and there is fire damage on the second floor and water damage throughout, said owner Kevin Monson, president of Neumann Monson Architects.

He said it is unclear whether the building, which dates to 1874 and is on the National Register of Historic Places, can be saved.

He’d like to restore it to its historic character but said it is too early to say if the fire instead created a redevelopment opportunity along the lines of what some people want.

“I really don’t want to think about that yet until I know what the outcome of the house is,” Monson said. “That’s a future discussion.”

Confluence, an architecture and design firm, had just moved out at the beginning of September, he said. The building also had three apartments, all of which were rented.

Bricks and other pieces of charred debris were still strewn around the Bruegger’s building Monday afternoon. Bruegger’s is waiting to hear more from local fire officials before deciding its future at the location, company spokeswoman Tracy Aiello said.

The company leases the property. The owner is Net Lease Funding 2005 LP, according to property records. Attempts to contact the company were unsuccessful.

Iowa City-based Keystone Property Management oversees the property. A representative from Keystone said he had not talked to the owners about the future of the site. A message relayed to the owners was not immediately returned Monday.

Jeff Davidson, Iowa City’s planning and community development director, said it will be up to the property owners to decide what to do moving forward. But he said the city would help with redevelopment ideas if called upon.

The city has even shown a willingness to provide financial assistance to certain downtown projects, like the recent $250,000 grant to developer Marc Moen, who wants to turn the former Vito’s bar into retail and office space.

“If we can get office space, if we can get fine arts venues, if we can get things of that nature that become successful if we’re involved in a financial partnership, then let’s have that discussion,” Davidson said.

There is precedent for a downtown Iowa City fire creating development opportunities.

After a major fire in 1999, Moen built Whiteway 2000, a seven-story building with a restaurant and upscale apartments at 210-212 S. Clinton Street.

Prairie Lights Books moved into its current home at 15 S. Dubuque St. in the early 1980s following a fire that destroyed the previous building at the site.

The cause, origin and damage estimates from this past Saturday’s fire remain under investigation, Fire Marshall John Grier said.

Grier expected to meet with the insurance adjuster for Bruegger’s on Monday. Work will then begin on removing debris, which will help with the investigation, he said.

SourceMedia Group’s John McGlothlen contributed to this story.

Previously an industrial area, Iowa River Landing is a 180-acre mixed-use development in Coralville. (Submitted by Shive-Hattery)

Coralville may go after $13 million in federal funds to help pay for a transit facility in the Iowa River Landing district.

The money would go toward the $24.5 million Coralville transit intermodal facility planned for the district, which is off First Avenue and eventually is to have a medical facility, retail stores, office space and a hotel. It was announced this week Von Maur would build a store there.

The City Council is scheduled to vote Sept. 27 to submit an application for federal TIGER funds.

The facility is expected to have about 500 spaces and include a staging area for buses, an enclosed lobby and serve as the city’s transit headquarters, said Vicky Robrock, Coralville’s director of parking and transportation.

The city also has talked about a day-care center and bike shop being in the structure, she said.

Of the $24.5 million total, the Coralville already has spent $5.1 million to acquire the land and has nearly $2.5 million in federal funds for the project, Robrock said. It would need to spend another approximately $3.9 million in local money to cover the total, if it gets the $13 million.

Hawkeye Marching Band drum major Joe Piasecki performs with the band before Iowa's game against Northwestern Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

The University of Iowa marching band’s drum major, who leads the 250-member band onto the Kinnick Stadium field during football games, was arrested this morning on suspicion of drunken driving.

Joseph A. Piasecki, 23, of 614 N. Gilbert St., was arrested at 1:52 a.m. after being seen committing a traffic-light violation at Gilbert and Burlington streets, according to a criminal complaint.

He admitted drinking and had a blood-alcohol content of .152, according to the complaint. The legal limit in Iowa is 0.08.

Six of the seven candidates said at a forum Wednesday night that they oppose the traffic-enforcement cameras. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

IOWA CITY – Most of the at-large candidates for the City Council here would put up a stop sign to red-light cameras.

Six of the seven candidates said at a forum Wednesday night that they oppose the traffic-enforcement cameras, which Iowa City is considering implementing.

“This is a revenue grab, and we should not dress it up … as a safety issue,” said Richard Finley, a Rockwell Collins project manager.

He spoke at a forum at the Iowa City Public Library sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Johnson County. About 35 people attended, and the forum was televised and will be rebroadcast.

An Oct. 11 primary is scheduled for the at-large race to reduce the field to four candidates, with two to be elected in the Nov. 8 city election.

The candidates are: Finley, coffee shop owner Jarrett Mitchell, attorney and current Mayor Matt Hayek, real estate agent and developer Mark McCallum, recent University of Iowa graduate Josh Eklow, current UI student Raj Patel and MidAmerican Energy operations supervisor Michelle Payne.

The District A and C seats also are up for election, although there were not enough candidates to trigger primaries for those.

Hayek was the only candidate Wednesday night to say he supports red-light cameras. He said they’ve been shown to decrease the number of accidents in cities that use them, like Cedar Rapids. They also would free up police officers for other duties, he said.

A majority of the current City Council members in August directed city staff to work on an ordinance allowing for the cameras. It’s unclear if a final decision will drag into next year, when at least three new people will sit on the council.

The other candidates said they saw the city’s interest more as an attempt to boost its budget and were skeptical of the claims of improved public safety.

“It’s a money grab, in my opinion,” McCallum said.

The candidates were asked about another hot-button issue that has recently been before the council: immigration.

The City Council has rejected a proposal to name Iowa City a “sanctuary city,” but this week members said they were interested in exploring ways the city could be more welcoming to immigrants.

Patel said his parents immigrated legally to the United States from India and said he believed all people here have certain rights.

“I do believe the residents who are here illegally deserve to live with dignity,” he said.

Eklow said he recently started working at the after-school program at Grant Wood Elementary. He said it’s hard to tell which kids and parents may be legal and illegal, but none are free-riders.

“Something people in Iowa City have always wanted is more diversity,” he said.

Payne came at it from a different angle.

“I don’t support illegal people coming here and protecting them. … If people want to come here and work, that’s great,” she said.

Iowa City’s expensive housing market also was discussed.

No one was an outspoken supporter of requiring builders to include a certain amount of affording housing in their developments, but several candidates said using incentives was worth exploring.

Mitchell said his Iowa City rent is more expensive than apartments he’s had in San Francisco and Portland, Ore. He liked the idea of incentives, but doesn’t believe developers should be forced to do anything.

“In the private sector, it’s not about mandating it,” he said.

Mayor Jim Fausett (left) and council member John Weihe

CORALVILLE – Longtime Coralville Mayor Jim Fausett has a challenger in this fall’s election, and it’s someone he knows well.

City Council member John Weihe said in a news release Wednesday night that he has filed nomination papers to run for mayor.

Weihe has served on the council since 1996. Fausett has been mayor for that same amount of time and announced earlier this month he’d seek another two-year term as mayor.

Weihe, age 53, has been an optometrist in Coralville for 27 years, according to the release. He did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment.

The Coralville mayor does not have a vote on the five-member City Council but does have veto power. The mayor is elected at large.

The deadline to file for the Nov. 8 election is 5:00 p.m. Sept. 22.

The library will operate a remote location out of the Police Department’s substation at 1067 Highway 6 East, in Pepperwood Plaza, from 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesdays and 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Thursdays. A library card is not required.

The service starts Oct. 4. A grand-opening event will be held at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 6.

A  report released in June by two consultants concluded a branch library is not needed on the southeast side, as some people had suggested, but it found that use of the library’s public-access computers by southeast side residents was high.

For more information, call (319) 356-5200, option 4.

Roosevelt Elementary in Iowa City.

IOWA CITY – People who live near soon-to-close Roosevelt Elementary School are hoping to avoid a bad neighbor.

At a neighborhood meeting in the school’s gymnasium attended by about 25 people Tuesday night, residents again made clear that they do not want high-occupancy housing like apartments to take the place of the school, nor a strip mall, dormitory, gas stations or anything along those lines.

“We’re trying to make sure that what’s put here is something that the neighborhood is not going to be overwhelmed with,” said Mary Knudson, who lives near the school.

The Iowa City School District is expected to sell Roosevelt, at 611 Greenwood Dr., which is being replaced with Norman Borlaug Elementary a few miles to the west next school year.

The school board’s decision in 2009 to close Roosevelt was met with opposition, particularly from residents of the area who said the school was a vital part of the neighborhood since it opened in 1931.

Now, residents of the Miller-Orchard Neighborhood are focusing on trying to ensure that what goes on the property meets their desires. They already complain there is too much high-occupancy housing in the neighborhood, which is within walking distance of the University of Iowa’s health campus.

A low-occupancy use, like condominiums, would be acceptable to some.

Ideas that have been considered are selling the property to another government entity or the district re-purposing it for its own use. But the city of Iowa City, Johnson County and the UI are not interested in buying it at this time, Superintendent Stephen Murley said, and the district has no use for the property.

When they voted to close Roosevelt, board members said the building was too small, had too many deficiencies and constructing a new school made better financial sense.

Murley said he hopes the school board votes to list the property for sale at the end of the year, with a goal of selling it next spring so that the district does not have to pay to maintain it after the school closes.

While some neighbors want conditions placed in the purchase agreement restricting what the buyer does with the property, Murley said the district has no authority to do that.

If there are multiple offers the school board could weigh potential buyers’ intentions with what they’re willing to pay.

The approximately eight-acre property was appraised earlier this year at $770,000, which Murley said he and real estate agents believe is low. Another appraisal may be done prior to listing, he said.

The property is currently zoned for governmental use, and it would have to be rezoned by the city if it was to be used for residential or commercial uses, Murley said. He said school officials are making city officials aware of the residents’ thoughts, and they’ll do the same with potential buyers.

“We consider ourselves to be part of the neighborhood,” he said.

A rezoning request would be considered by city staff, the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council.

Mitch Gross

CORALVILLE – Mitch Gross will seek re-election to the Coralville City Council, according to a news release sent Tuesday.

Gross said he believes he’s made the city’s government more open and accessible to the community in his first four-year term on the council.

Gross is a teacher and coach at West High School.

Two of the five City Council seats are up for election. The deadline to file for the Nov. 8 election is 5 p.m. Sept. 22.

Iowa City police investigators Dave Nixon and David Droll (from right) talk with other officers as they conduct an investigation at the 1958 C building in the Broadway Condominiums Thursday, Oct. 08, 2009 along Broadway Street in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

As the trial starts for a man accused of shooting a landlord at a southeast Iowa City condominium complex, a major rehabilitation of the property is about to begin.

City and neighborhood representatives said they believe the $5.75 million project could help not only Broadway Condominiums, 1956-60 Broadway St., but also the surrounding neighborhood.

“I think that just creates an overall positive impression that people care about the southeast side of the community,” said council member Ross Wilburn, who lives in the neighborhood.

Work could start in mid-October and be finished in a year on the three-building, 108-unit Broadway Condominiums, said Glenn Siders, vice president of property development at Southgate Development, which owns most of the units.

On the exterior, work will include new roofs, windows, patio doors, decks and landscaping, a new decorative fence around the perimeter and an upgraded security camera system, he said. On the inside, the units will get new floors and cabinets; most will get washers and dryers; and there will be some drywall and heating, ventilation and air conditioning work, he said.

Broadway Condominiums, which is essentially an apartment complex, has a history of being the scene of criminal activity, which also contributes to the negative image some have of southeast Iowa City.

Most notably, landlord John Versypt was shot and killed in the hallway of one of the condo buildings in October 2009 during what investigators believe was an attempted robbery. The first-degree murder trial of Charles W. Thompson started this week, and another man, Justin A. Marshall, is awaiting trial on the same charge.

A year ago, Southgate owned about 60 of the condominiums. It began buying more in order to take control of the homeowners association that governs the complex so that it could make the changes it wanted, and it now owns 94 of the 108 units, Siders said.

In addition to the rehabilitation work, Southgate is requiring tenants to pass background checks and sign crime-free leases.

Iowa City is giving Southgate $900,000 in federal Community Development Block Grants, or CDBG, for the project. The money comes in the form a $300,000 grant and a $600,000 loan.

The agreement, signed last Thursday, also requires Southgate to rent at least 56 of the units to people making less than 80 percent of the area’s median income, which is $57,050 annually for a household of three, said Tracy Hightshoe, Iowa City’s community development planner.

Fifty-six units also have their rents capped at $746 a month, which is the fair-market value for a two-bedroom apartment in the area, although a majority of Broadway Condominiums’ rents already are below that standard, Hightshoe said.

Siders said rents likely will go up from where they are now, but by how much won’t be clear until Southgate sees how much the renovation work costs.

The City Council decided earlier this year to stop allowing CDBG funds to go to new affordable rental housing projects in most of southeast Iowa City because of concerns about the amount of low-income housing in the neighborhood. But those rules don’t apply to the rehabilitation of existing rental housing like Broadway Condominiums.

Hightshoe said having good property management makes a big difference for troubled properties, and city officials see the Broadway Condominiums work as a win-win situation for the city and Southgate.

“We hope this will improve the area quite a bit,” she said.

Siders said Southgate’s motivation is to help protect its investments in southeast Iowa City, which includes the Pepperwood Plaza commercial area, and changing the image of the neighborhood for the better.

“That certainly is the driving force for this whole thing,” he said, “and we thought the only way we could do that is step up and take charge.”

Doug Fern, a local pastor and director of the Spot, a youth outreach center near Broadway Condominiums, believes the project will give the area a boost.

“It’s nice to see businesses that are in the area step up rather than what may be the natural response, which is to bail,” he said.

Iowa City aerial photo. Kinnick Stadium (center foreground), and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) above it. The Iowa River can be seen at top in this photo looking northeast. (Photographed August 2006, Sourcemedia Group)

IOWA CITY — The City Council appears ready to take action to make Iowa City a more welcoming place for immigrants, but to what extent remains to be determined.

The council met last night with the city’s Human Rights Commission. The commission, asked earlier this year to explore immigration issues, recently offered nine recommendations it wants the city to take related to both legal and illegal immigrants.

The meeting, during the council’s work session, served more as an opportunity to review the recommendations rather than a time to debate them. Still, some proposals did seem to gain favor, while others were questioned. (View the full list here.)

For example, a few council members said they thought it would be a good idea to clarify what types of identification are required for city services. Commission members said there can be an unintended negative impact in asking someone for a driver’s license as opposed to a government-issued identification card. Council member Ross Wilburn said asking for certain documents, even if they aren’t required, can become habitual over time.

There were more questions, however, on a recommendation to create a committee to hear concerns from the immigrant community. Council members said they already have problems filling out committees and wondered why the Human Rights Commission — nine volunteers appointed by the council — could not suffice.

Commission Chairwoman Dianne Day said immigrants are often reluctant to come forward to the city or council.

Mayor Matt Hayek said he had concerns about a recommendation for the council to issue a proclamation that, among other things, calls on the federal government to reform immigration policies. He said there’s a difference between a council member’s personal views and having the city pass judgment on the federal government.

“It could create precedents we don’t fully appreciate,” he said.

The council asked city staff to research the issues, and members will discuss them again at a future meeting. Commission members want the recommendations voted on before a new council is seated early next year.

Immigration policies first came up early this year when the city was asked to adopt sanctuary city status, which typically means city employees do not ask about immigration status or enforce federal immigration laws.

But the council thought such a policy would be ineffective because of a federal program called Secure Communities, which has been implemented in Johnson County, in which the fingerprints of someone booked into jail are checked against federal immigration records. That means Iowa City participates in immigration investigations.

Roosevelt Elementary in Iowa City.

A meeting will be held Sept. 20 about the future of the Roosevelt Elementary School property.

The Iowa City school district is closing the school, located at 611 Greenwood Dr., at the end of this school year and opening a new school a few miles to the west.

Superintendent Stephen Murley will be at the meeting, which was organized by the Miller-Orchard Neighborhood Association. The meeting is scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the school’s gym.

Residents will be able to give their opinions of what they want to be done with the property. Many people who live near the school opposed the decision to close it.

The school district has not announced what it will do with the property. In March, Murley said an appraisal of the property came in significantly lower than expected, at $770,000.

Pedestrians pass through the intersection of Burlington and Madison streets near the University of Iowa. (Brian Ray/ SourceMedia Group News)

IOWA CITY – The city of Iowa City may go after a state grant to help fund a long-delayed project to add a median to a portion of Burlington Street.

The City Council is expected to vote Sept. 20 to have the city apply for a $750,000 grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation Statewide Enhancement fund to put toward the $2 million project.

The plan is to install a median on Burlington Street between the Iowa River and Capitol Street near downtown and the University of Iowa campus.

City and UI officials had hoped to have the work done when the university’s new wellness center opened last August to help keep pedestrians safe while crossing the busy intersection at Burlington and Madison streets.

The 2008 flood caused a delay, however.

The UI has pledged $750,000 toward the project, said Ron Knoche, city engineer. The city has budgeted $400,000 and hopes to get another $750,000 from the state.

Knoche expects to get word on the state grant by the end of the year, which is when the City Council starts work on the upcoming fiscal year’s budget.

If all goes well, construction on the median likely would begin in 2013, Knoche said. The median would be at least 9 feet wide in spots and 21 feet at the widest, Knoche said. Burlington Street would need to be widened between Madison Street and the river, but there’s room for that, he said.

It would be a planted median, with some trees, flowers and grass.

City staff would like to eventually extend the median east to Gilbert Street.

The city is hoping for a public-private redevelopment of the area. It was originally intended as a medical campus south of Muscatine Avenue, but many of the medical offices have relocated and vacancies and lack of maintenance have had a negative effect on the area.

Last December, the council approved an urban renewal plan for the district, with tax increment financing, or TIF, one of the incentives expected to help spur work in the area.

Under a TIF agreement, a land owner typically keeps for a period of time the difference, or increment, between the existing property taxes and the amount generated by the redeveloped land.

Critics view TIFs as unnecessary tax breaks for developers.

Three readings of the proposed ordinance are required for its approval.

A storm siren in Coralville, near the Brown Deer Golf Course. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

Johnson County will apply for state grants to help fund storm sirens in rural areas and for generators in some county buildings.

The county had a goal of installing one siren a year for five years at a cost of about $25,000 each. One near Iowa Mennonite School should be done next week.

But the state has opened up hazard mitigation funds for sirens, and on Thursday the county’s Board of Supervisors gave the OK to submit an application, said Dave Wilson, the county’s emergency management coordinator.

Johnson County also will apply for a grant for an approximately $210,000 project to install backup generators in five county buildings, including the administration building and the courthouse, Wilson said. The county’s share would be about $28,000, he said.

The siren project would cost an estimated $172,332 for six sirens, with the county’s share at $25,850, Wilson said.

It’s like “we’d be buying one to get six,” he said.

The six sites that have been identified for sirens are:

• By Camp Io-Dis-E-Ca near Coralville Lake
• The unincorporated village of Cosgrove
• The unincorporated village of Morse
• Near Sutliff Bridge
• The intersection of County Road F8W and Prairie Du Chien Road Northeast
• The intersection of Highway 965 and Trail Ridge Drive Northeast

The funding for the grants is 75 percent from the federal government, 10 percent from the state and 15 percent a local match, Wilson said.

He hopes to hear on the grant application by the end of the year, although he doesn’t expect the money to be available until next summer.  The sirens could be installed by next fall, Wilson said.

And the four newcomers elected to the seven-member board said they hope they can improve communication and restore trust with the community – and among board members.

“It seems like it’s a battle on every issue” with the current board, said Karla Cook, a retired math teacher. “It seems like with what I’ve heard at the (candidate) forums, things will go more smoothly.”

Cook garnered 78 percent of the vote in a contest with Julie Van Dyke to fill a vacant seat with two years remaining on its term.

Winning the four seats with four-year terms were Marla Swesey (66 percent), Jeff McGinness (64 percent), Sally Hoelscher (51 percent) and incumbent school board President Patti Fields (42 percent).

Fields just edged vocal school board critic Phil Hemingway (41 percent) for the final spot, followed by Bob Porter, Jeff Alden and Jim Tate. See the results here.

Results are unofficial until they’ve been canvassed by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors Sept. 16.

Perhaps more than any recent election, the school board challengers expressed a desire to change the direction of the board. Their feelings were spurred by last year’s contentious redistricting debate, a desire for more openness among board members and administrators and recent financial problems.

Swesey, a retired elementary school teacher, said her sense is that the board has lost the trust of many members of the public. She thinks her experience in education can help the board tackle important issues in an engaging way.

“I know what it’s like in the classroom,” she said.

Hoelscher, a freelance writer, said one of the things she heard most while campaigning was the need for the board to be more accessible. She also wants the board to do a better job with long-term planning.

McGinness, an attorney, also spoke of the need for better planning and said he wants the board to be more forward-looking.

Fields, who works for United Way of Johnson County, has stressed the value her six years on the school board would bring with so many new members.

She said it’s exciting to have some fresh perspectives on the board, but her experience will be important “for continuity and as we’re getting through the next couple of years.”

Turnout was 5.95 percent, according to preliminary unofficial results from the Johnson County Auditor’s Office. That’s actually an above average turnout rate compared with board elections the past decade.

Downtown Iowa City and the University of Iowa campus can be seen in this photo taken from the top of the Plaza Towers building Wednesday, June 15, 2011 in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/ SourceMedia Group News)

IOWA CITY – Residents and students are being asked to share their opinions on shopping in downtown Iowa City.

A survey is being conducted as part of the downtown study the city of Iowa City and the University of Iowa have commissioned with Virginia-based Divaris Real Estate. Officials hope the study will help attract more retailers to downtown Iowa City.

The 17-question survey addresses current shopping habits and why people shop where they do, as well as merchandise categories of interest, specific retailers and restaurants residents would like to see downtown and availability of parking, according to a news release. To participate, visit www.surveymonkey.com/s/Downtown_Iowa_City.

Jim Fausett

CORALVILLE – Jim Fausett doesn’t want to relinquish the mayor’s gavel just yet.

Fausett said in an interview Monday that he will run for another two-year term as Coralville’s mayor. It’s a position he’s held since 1996.

“Carol and I both consider Coralville to be our fifth child almost,” he said, referring to his wife.

Fausett said it’s an exciting time for Coralville and there are a lot of projects he’d like to see completed.

Chief among those is the Iowa River Landing, a commercial and entertainment district southeast of the Interstate 80-First Avenue interchange. A hospital outpatient clinic is under construction and scheduled to open next year, a brewery broke ground last week and city officials are working to attract a retail anchor store to the area.

Also, Fausett said Costco Wholesale Warehouse has indicated it may have a store open next spring north of Interstate 80 in an area that is home to a Wal-Mart and other retailers.

Fausett, who is 79 years old, had a heart attack in October 2009 during his last re-election bid, in which he ran unopposed and easily won re-election. He said he checked with his cardiologist before deciding to run this year and was told his health was good.

Fausett has lived at 814 14th Ave. for more than 50 years. He is a retired administrator at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry.

In Coralville, the mayor does not have a vote on the five-member City Council but does have veto power. The mayor is elected at large.

Before serving as mayor, Fausett was a member of the City Council for 18 years.

No one else had filed for the mayoral race as of Monday afternoon, City Administrator Kelly Hayworth said.

City Council and mayoral candidates have until 5 p.m. Sept. 22 to file nomination papers for the Nov. 8 election.

The Plaza Towers, built by developer Marc Moen, as seen from the south, Wednesday, March 15, 2006. (Gazette file photo)

Marc Moen, the developer of the 14-story Plaza Towers in downtown Iowa City, is considering constructing another multi-story building nearby.

The building would be located at 112 S. Dubuque St., where a Wells Fargo Bank branch is located on the Pedestrian Mall. Moen and a family member own the land there.

Moen did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

In an Aug. 15 email message to Jeff Davidson, Iowa City’s planning and community development director, Moen said his Moen Group is considering a multi-story multi-use building at the site. He said a very rough estimate put the project at $8 million to $10 million.

The property currently is valued at $550,390 by the Iowa City Assessor’s Office.

City Manager Tom Markus said the project is still in the conceptual stage and it was premature to provide details. In general, though, it likely would have retail space on the first floor and office and residential space above, he said. He believed its height was still under consideration.

Davidson said Moen has not yet filed any applications with the city for things like a site plan, rezoning or demolition work and he did not have much information on the project.

He said with the Pedestrian Mall and an alley providing open space on three sides of the property, it would be an attractive site because it would offer views and other buildings could not be built next to it.

Markus and Davidson said they’ve received no indication that Moen would want his building to encroach on that city space. Davidson said that Moen’s Vogel House upscale apartment building also downtown is on the same size of land.

Plaza Towers, which has commercial space and upscale housing, opened in 2006 at a cost of $27 million. City officials have recently said that’s the type of project they want to encourage downtown as they and some business owners try to transition the area from a place seen primarily as a bar district to one with more residential, office and retail opportunities.

“I think that reinvestment to the downtown … is a big plus to us,” Markus said.

Said Davidson, “We would love to do a project like this.”

There has been talk of building a few mixed-use high-rise buildings since Plaza Towers opened, but the economic recession killed or altered most of those plans.

Two of those were proposed for land south of Burlington Street, but planning stalled in the economic recession and wasn’t revived until the University of Iowa agreed to relocate its School of Music and make it part of a high-rise building on the southeast corner of Clinton and Burlington streets.

The two groups of developers are now collaborating on one project.

In his email to Davidson, Moen said Wells Fargo wants to remain downtown and Moen Group helped them find a location, but the site does not allow for an ATM. He said Wells Fargo is asking that the city allow it to install an ATM at the kiosk closest to Clinton Street on the College Street portion of the Pedestrian Mall.

At its Sept. 6 meeting, the City Council is scheduled to vote on setting a public hearing for later this month on a resolution related to the ATM issue.

Markus is asking the City Council to let him request proposals from lobbying firms. The council will discuss the matter at a work session Sept. 6.

Markus estimates the cost of contracting with a lobbyist at $25,000 to $30,000 a year.

Nine cities in Iowa had lobbyists in the 2011 legislative session, including Cedar Rapids and Coralville, according to the Iowa General Assembly website. Coralville paid $27,500 for the services, Assistant City Administer Ellen Habel said.

Lobbying on Iowa City’s behalf has been handled by its elected officials, administrative staff and organizations it belongs to like the Iowa League of Cities.

Markus said that while the city has good relationships with its local legislators, they are almost exclusively Democrats. With Republicans in control of the Iowa House and the governor’s office, he believes a lobbyist could help expand the city’s reach.

“I think that you do need to have discussions on the other side of the aisle,” he said.

He said having a professional lobbyist could help Iowa City as it tries to get the state to support a Chicago-to-Iowa City Amtrak line, goes after state grants and seeks legislation concerning a recent Iowa Supreme Court decision that clears the way to for apartment buildings to convert to residential cooperatives, which pay half the property taxes of a commercial apartment.

Last year’s community campaign also had a $2.45 million goal but fell short of that with $2.3 million brought in. Officials said they were happy with that total because of the state of the economy.

Tim Krumm, an attorney at Meardon, Sueppel and Downer and chairman of the United Way’s 2011 campaign, said he’s not nervous about trying to bring in that amount.

“I believe very strongly that most people, and especially people in this community, are fundamentally generous,” he said.

He spoke at the organization’s campaign kickoff Thursday attended by a couple of hundred people at the Coralville Marriott Hotel & Conference Center.

The United Way of Johnson County partners with 29 community agencies.

This year’s campaign comes on the heels of the organization’s new initiative, 2020 Vision Goals for the Common Good. The effort aims to:

• Decrease preparation gaps by 33 percent among children for school, college and work.
• Increase by 20 percent the number of households in Johnson County that are financially stable.
• Increase by one-third the number of children and adults who are living healthy lifestyles.

“It will take all of us in the room to achieve our lofty goals,” said Bart Floyd, chairman of the United Way of Johnson County’s board of directors and the Iowa City market president for U.S. Bank.

Advanced Medical Transport of Iowa, which started operations out of an Iowa City location in January, is the 2011 pacesetter company, tasked with setting the tone for the campaign and challenging other workplaces to donate.

All 13 of its employees contributed to the campaign, with the amount totaling $2,365, Krumm said. The company chipped in another $5,000.

Also announced Thursday was a pilot “loaned executive” program. U.S. Bank and Pearson have each sponsored an employee to work on the campaign part time for three months.

Raj Patel

IOWA CITY – Raj Patel has more experience with city issues than the typical University of Iowa student, and he hopes to parlay that into a spot on the City Council.

The 20-year-old, who lives at 221 Iowa Ave., filed nomination papers Wednesday for an at-large seat on the City Council.

Patel, a junior studying political science, is the UI Student Government liaison to the City Council and a leader in last year’s opposition to the city law that bans people younger than 21 from Iowa City bars after 10 p.m. He filed the paperwork that led to a public vote on the measure, which voters upheld last November, and co-founded a political action committee that advocated against the law.

Patel said he respects the community’s decision and has moved on.

“I am not a one-issue candidate, and I have no plans on (seeking a) repeal,” he said.

He does want to see the city promote venues giving young people ways to be active downtown and to keep the area safe.

Other campaign issues for him are encouraging environmentally friendly initiatives, promoting a vibrant community that attracts new businesses to the city and ensuring Iowa City is an affordable place to live for working-class families and senior citizens.

As the student liaison to the council, Patel participates in council work sessions but does not have a vote.

Students, and young people in general, have had little luck in past runs for the City Council, but Patel sees his age as an asset. He said he has the energy and passion to be fully engaged, and said he’s shown that in recent weeks by talking with a number of community groups and city employees to gauge what issues are important to them.

Patel, a Burlington native, also said he is committed to staying in Iowa City after he graduates by working in the family business, Hawkeye Hotels. They have plans to build and operate a Residence Inn south of Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville and a Hampton Inn by Hilton on Riverside Drive in Iowa City, he said.

Patel is one of seven people who have declared for the two open at-large seats as of Wednesday, and with more than five candidates a primary election is required Oct. 11. He is joined by Mayor Matt Hayek and challengers Richard Finley, Jarrett Mitchell, Mark McCallum, Josh Eklow and Michelle Payne.

Payne also filed Wednesday and is a new name in the race. She did not immediately return phone and email messages.

Candidates have until 5 p.m. Sept. 1 to file.

The Iowa City Community School District Administrative Office in Iowa City. (file photo)

Following a recent string of financial mistakes, the Iowa City school district has asked for a state audit of its books.

It’s undetermined, however, whether the audit will occur and whether it would help the district resolve its issues.

Iowa City school district officials contacted the Iowa Office of Auditor of State last week to ask for a financial audit, Superintendent Stephen Murley said Wednesday.

The district recently revealed that it discovered $2 million in bookkeeping errors and that it was fined $25,000 by the Internal Revenue Service for making a late payment on payroll taxes.

Murley said earlier in August that he wanted the district to hire an outside auditing firm to look at its operational processes.

At a school board meeting last week, Phil Hemingway, who is a constant and vocal presence at board meetings and is seeking a seat on the board in the Sept. 13 election, called for a state audit, noting it would be free to the district, Murley said.

Hemingway also submitted a petition to the state on Monday, which forced the auditor’s office to look into the matter, said Andy Nielsen, deputy state auditor.

Murley said administrators did not previously consider a state audit because that would look at the districts books, not what caused the mistakes and how to correct them. He said the district believes the errors were caused in part by the human resource and business software not being in sync, which allowed teacher salaries to be counted twice, although no one was paid twice.

“The likelihood is they (the auditor’s office) are going to tell us what we already know,” he said, adding, “Really what we want to do is figure out how to make the process better.”

Nielsen said he has not yet reviewed the request and could not comment on what exactly a re-audit would entail. He also said the term “re-audit” is somewhat of a misnomer because state auditors build upon an organization’s previous audit, if there is one, rather than simply redoing that work.

The Iowa City school district is audited annually by McGladrey & Pullen, which is a licensed certified public accounting firm.

Nielson said his office typically starts by reviewing the work papers of the auditing firm. He also said his office does not spend time on something that can’t be improved upon and takes on about half the re-audit requests that it receives.

Murley said the district chose to ask for the state audit in hopes that it builds public trust that the district’s finances and McGladrey & Pullen’s work are accurate.

He said McGladrey does some assessment of functions and processes but mostly reviews the district’s financials. He’s moving ahead with seeking an audit from another firm looking more at how the district’s accounting practices work and how they could be improved.

He has two finalists for the job and hopes to bring a recommendation to the school board at its Sept. 12 meeting, with the work to start by Oct 1. The cost is still undetermined, he said.

Hemingway did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Aerial view of the Kirkwood Community College campus at the south edge of Cedar Rapids. (Sourcemedia Group)

IOWA CITY – When Carroll Harrison of Nicaragua was asked earlier this year whether there was anywhere in particular he wanted to visit in the United States, he said yes, Iowa City.

That’s because he had been to Iowa City and Cedar Rapids in 1998 as part of a U.S. State Department exchange program. He co-founded a Nicaraguan university, and what he saw at Cedar Rapids-based Kirkwood Community College inspired him to help start a community college program back home in 2001.

With it taking about six years to get a bachelor’s degree in Nicaragua, he thought, “If we could put students out in two years, it would be very good in terms of time and cost.”

Harrison spoke Monday at a luncheon lecture hosted by the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council at Iowa City’s Congregational Church.

Harrison is again in the United States as part of the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program’s “Gold Stars’ Tours.” IVLP, as it’s called, is a professional exchange program that includes short-term visits to the U.S. for foreign leaders in a variety of fields, according to the program’s website.

Harrison is one of a select group of IVLP alumni who was asked to return to the U.S. because of the significant achievements they have made. In Harrison’s case, that’s the community college program.

Harrison is the co-founder of Bluefields Indian & Caribbean University, the first university on the Atlantic coast side of the Central American nation of Nicaragua. He is now director of university extensions and research.

The Atlantic side is the more disadvantaged part of the country, he said, and the school serves the indigenous population, people of African descent and others without the means to go to school elsewhere.

Tuition is $20 per semester, and some students struggle even to pay that, he said.

He said touring Kirkwood Community College in 1998 was eye-opening. He brought back to his colleagues what he calls the “short program” concept, and there are now seven areas for students to study: agro-farming, business administration, construction, nursing, marine biology, mining and seamen (for people who work on fishing and tourist boats).

Harrison said he visited Kirkwood again on this trip and got an update on its programs.

“I hope with this experience, I can also make some improvements at my university,” he said.

Steve Soboroff, Iowa City council candidate

IOWA CITY – A local radio station owner and on-air host is running for City Council in Iowa City.

Steve Soboroff, who is known as Captain Steve on KCJJ-AM 1630, filed nomination papers Monday to run for the open District A seat in this fall’s City Council election.

Soboroff, 62, of 1201 Brookwood Dr., made a failed bid for a council seat in 2003, but said many of the issues he spoke about then are still problems.

Among those, he said, is the city treating college students “like they’re the enemy,” not adequately addressing what he sees as a crime problem in southeast Iowa City and not enforcing residency requirements on subsidized housing assistance. He’s also opposed to red-light cameras, which the city is considering implementing.

“I don’t think that some of the things that are going on are moving in the right direction,” Soboroff said. “And I’d like to give my opinion on that.”

His main reason for running, he said, was simply to give back to a community he said has treated him well.

Soboroff’s job, which he estimated had him on air 30 hours a week, raises some issues involving the Federal Communications Commission’s “equal-time rule.” That requires TV and radio broadcasters that give airtime to one candidate to provide the same opportunities for other candidates who ask for it. Newscasts and news interviews are exempt.

Earlier this month, a radio personality withdrew from the Fayetteville, N.C., City Council race because his opponent would not waive the right to equal air time, according to the Observer newspaper. TV stations dropped Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan shows during their political campaigns.

Soboroff said he’d give any candidate who asks the opportunity to be on air, with the interviews conducted by someone other than him. He said he would not use the station to campaign, would pay for any campaign commercials himself and is not accepting any donations for his campaign.

“It’s not going to be a vote-for-me thing,” he said of his on-air work.

He described his program as “basically an entertainment show,” although city-related issues are discussed frequently.

The only other declared candidate for District A at this time is Rick Dobyns, a University of Iowa family doctor.

Dobyns did not know Soboroff was a candidate until contacted by a reporter and said he needed more time to contemplate the implications, talk with his campaign team and learn the FCC rules. He said if Soboroff did not talk about campaign issues on air, he probably wouldn’t consider it too big a deal.

“We all have our advantages and disadvantages,” Dobyns said.

Candidates have until 5 p.m. Sept. 1 to file.

A bin containing recyclable items from the inside and the outside of the five buildings on the UI Pentacrest sits in Hubbard Park on the UI campus in 2007. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

The University of Iowa is implementing a program that allows most recyclable items to put in the same container rather than having to be separated.

What is known as single-stream recycling will start on campus Sept. 1 and will be phased in at all major UI buildings in the coming months, according to a news release Friday.

Newspaper, office paper, cardboard, lab plastics, nonredeemable drink containers, plastics, tin, aluminum, and most food containers will be placed in the same collection bin instead of being sorted into individual containers. Redeemable plastics and landfill items will continue to be treated separately as in the past, according to the release.

Superintendent Stephen Murley said Thursday the payment was one day late. The district has appealed the $25,539 fine.

Murley said the IRS tries to determine if the mistake was part of a pattern, and he said federal officials have indicated the district has a good chance of being refunded the full amount. A decision is expected within three weeks, he said.

While every dollar is important to the district, Murley said more concerning was that this was another accounting error for the district, following on the announcement earlier this month that $2 million in bookkeeping errors had been discovered.

An outside audit will be performed of the district’s operational processes, and Murley said the tax issue will be part of that review.

Iowa City Public Library, looking west from the intersection of College and Linn Streets in Iowa City today.

IOWA CITY – The Iowa City Public Library is more popular than ever.

Use of the library, 123 Linn St., and its collections reached all-time highs in fiscal year 2011, which ended June 30, according to a news release. More than 768,000 people visited the library and nearly 1.6 million items were borrowed or downloaded for the year.

Circulation for electronic books increased about 500 percent, and at the end of the year about 600 people had electronic materials checked out on the average day, according to the release.

To view the annual report, click here.

Two wind turbines stand near a traditional windmill on a farm, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008, near Mount Carmel, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

IOWA CITY – Johnson County now has ordinances that allow for wind farms and greenhouses.

The Board of Supervisors on Thursday unanimously approved the final considerations of two ordinances, one that gives the green light to the construction of commercial wind-energy facilities on agricultural land, and another that exempts certain greenhouses and hoop buildings from the county’s building code, said Andy Johnson, the board’s executive assistant.

The wind-farm ordinance was approved after Chicago-based PNE WIND USA said it wanted to build up to 20 wind turbines on about 3,000 acres of land east of Solon by 2013.

The greenhouse ordinance is meant to help Amish farmers, who want to use the structures to grow plants and vegetables to sell.

For more details on each ordinance, click here.

Iowa City school district superintendent Stephen Murley does paperwork Thursday, July 1, 2010 in his office in Iowa City. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)

A split Iowa City school board has decided to give Superintendent Stephen Murley a 1.96 percent salary increase for this school year.

The board voted 5-2 Tuesday night to boost Murley’s annual pay from $184,000 to $187,606.

The other provisions and benefits in Murley’s three-year contract, which runs through June 2013, remain unchanged. That includes the agreement that his salary would be increased another $6,000 if he receives his doctoral degree, something he is working on.

Board President Patti Fields and Tuyet Dorau cast the dissenting votes. Fields said Thursday that she did not believe a pay increase was appropriate given the financial circumstances the district is in.

The district has made budget cuts the past couple of years and is projecting a budget shortfall of several million dollars for next year. Murley also recently announced that the district discovered $2 million in bookkeeping errors and would order an independent audit of the district’s accounting operations.

Murley said he’s always been of the opinion that a pay increase, or freeze, should be applied to all employees in a district, and he said his 1.96 percent raise equaled the average received by Iowa City school district administrators.

He said those administrators got the same 3 percent total package increase other employee groups received this year, which includes things like health insurance and retirement contributions.

Officials said last spring that salaries made up only 0.79 percent of the 3 percent total package increase the district’s approximately 900 teachers received for this school year. Also, many teachers did not receive a wage increase because they were already at the top of their salary schedules.

Asked if she is satisfied with the performance of Murley, who just started his second year with the Iowa City school district, Fields said the board’s attorney has advised board members that they cannot publicly make any evaluative statements about Murley at this time.  Murley asked that the board’s evaluation occur in closed session, she said.

The board discussed Murley’s performance in three closed sessions in late June through early August.

Murley said his first year has been a learning experience but said he believes the district is starting to see improvements occur, particularly in areas like communication and technology.

“My hope is that it’s like turning a flywheel,” he said. “Change starts slowly.”

Jarrett Mitchell

IOWA CITY – Jarrett Mitchell wants Iowa City residents to be able to raise chickens in their backyards, and he’s running for City Council to try to make that a reality.

The 33-year-old coffee shop owner has filed papers to run as an at-large candidate in the November election.

He said his main campaign issue would be backyard, or urban, chickens, calling it a “simple issue of sustainability.”

“You can feed chickens waste food, and they will produce food you can turn around and eat in the form of eggs,” Mitchell said.

In 2009, several hundred people signed a petition calling on the City Council to allow backyard chickens, but a majority of current council members said they weren’t interested in a proposal that would have let people keep up to four chickens in their backyards.

Mitchell said he’s also supportive of providing tax credits to promote rain gardens and he wants people his age to have a representative on the council. All of the current council members are older than 40.

“I felt I could represent people that I know, young families that are sticking around here” after school, he said.

Mitchell is a Keokuk native who said he graduated from the University of Iowa in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in painting and drawing. He received a master’s degree in California and lived in San Francisco, Louisville, Ky. and Portland, Ore. (where he raised backyard chickens) before returning to Iowa City in November 2009.

He operated an espresso stand before expanding it to a downtown coffee shop, Wake Up Iowa City, in July.

Mitchell, who lives at 304 S. Summit St. No. 102, is the fifth person to declare his candidacy for one of two open at-large seats. The others are Mayor Matt Hayek and challengers Josh Eklow, Richard Finley and Mark McCallum.

So far, only Mitchell and Finley have filed their nomination papers with the City Clerk’s Office, although candidates have until Sept. 1 to do so. With five or more at-large candidates, a primary election would be required on Oct. 11.

The District A and District C seats also are up for election.

The Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 Thursday in support of the second reading of an ordinance governing commercial wind-energy facilities, said Andy Johnson, the board’s executive assistant.  One more vote is required for the ordinance to be adopted.

The ordinance requires the facilities to receive a permit from the county and submit a plan to minimize shadow flicker from wind turbines on occupied buildings.

Also, the sound from wind farms could not exceed 55 decibels as measured from the exterior of an occupied building of a nonparticipating landowner and wind turbines must be at least 1,000 feet from the nearest occupied building and 500 feet from property lines. The setbacks for participating property owners is 1.1 times the height of the turbine.

The county took up the issue after Chicago-based PNE WIND USA said it wanted to build up to 20 wind turbines on about 3,000 acres of land east of Solon by 2013.

The board on Thursday also unanimously approved the first two of three considerations of an ordinance that would exempt certain greenhouses and hoop buildings from the building code, Johnson said.

The intent is to help Amish farmers. Farms are exempt from building codes, but Johnson County defines a farm as property of 40 acres or more used for agricultural purposes, and many Amish farm smaller parcels.

The Amish want to use greenhouses to grow plants and vegetables to sell. The ordinance would allow membrane-covered structures no larger than 7,200 square feet that meet manufacturers’ specifications to be located on properties zoned for agriculture, agriculture-residential and residential.

Only structures used for private homeowner operations or the wholesale of plant products would be allowed.