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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CLC-2019-07-15 Date: July 15, 2019 Time: 6:00 PM Wok Location: Common Council Chambers, " COMMUNITY LIFE 3rd Floor, City Hall M COMMISSION MINUTES PRESENT: Chair Swayze Commissioners (8): Keeler, Scriber, Hillson, Byrne, Das & Bakhle OTHERS PRESENT: Common Council Liaisons: Lewis & Fleming and Executive Assistant Hallett-Harris ABSENT: Hagood Meeting called to order: 6:04 p.m. Review and Approval of Minutes: June 17, 2019 Minutes: 1st Hillson and Scriber 2nd - all in favor Advocacy Flag — Chair & Hall attended the City Admin Mtg and CA had more questions. Will shared w/Hillson and have this finalized. Public Art— Follow up on Murals Subcommittee /Public Art Working Group — Commission Project Plan: Keeler— Commission Project Plan completed but there is now a new form being created and will be given to Chair by Dan — CC Lewis stated the last mural submission was approved by Common Council. Keeler stated that the public art working group is to research ways to fund public art and are working on organizing this right now. They will try to pinpointed small working group and larger group of advisors. He recently went to Tennessee and they have a very large public art display and he has a friend that will share their info with us and there they have developers contribute to the public art. Keeler would like to get a funding request to Common Council to get funding in the City Budget. The current deadline for City departments is August 1 st to submit requests. Keeler to get this into Lewis/Fleming for the maintenance of existing art as well as new public art, looking at small amount $10,000 ($5000 for maintenance & $5000 for new art). Suggestions that all current in place art that need repair/maintenance done, have list of who will do the maintenance of the existing of public art, do more research in advance and talk with Planning Dept., for insight on the key players who would/could do this. John Spence gave a list of the existing art that needs work and will have Keeler come back in August to itemize monies, how its administered, whose responsible? Keeler will talk w/Alex at Planning and John Spence before next meeting. Cornell: Follow up with Hillson & Byrne — some organization of where we are and what the current relationship is w/Cornell. Byrne to review the existing MOU and work on putting together a working group; is there currently anyone on Common Council that was appointed; yes there is but there have not been a lot of meetings held. Discussion regarding the student increase in the past 12 years, of approximately 3,500 which Community Life Commission June 17, 2019 means more money coming in and there is section in MOU regarding 60% to fire, etc., what about increasing the amount? new research talk to IFD and what the estimate is now? What about the $20 million that was never paid? Articles from Ithaca Times discussed; focus on how much payment is equivalent and how it's broken down; focus on endowment? Some endowment is specific and cannot be diverted. The current MOU expires in 2024 and can start renegotiate now. Refresh the Mayor's 2014 report; suggestion in April to do research on what other municipalities do to achieve higher payments? Steps forward into Commission Project Plan — make list of ideas of possible approaches and research to be done — City and CU continue to see alternatives for CU employee/city housing? August meeting — start outlining parameters of this group and who? Summer intern that could help that Mayor mentioned? Chair Byrne and Hillson to present parameters and who on the working group. Shopping Carts — Scriber & Bakhle — 1 St report not going to be done by August, working to have in by September; Bakhle reaching out to 22 retailers on and maybe vary by size of company the fee charged — if they want to pay fee $50 fee in current or put something in place? Scriber talked with Home Goods, CVS, and some of the smaller places —which a lot of these places do not have carts taken or rarely happens, and why these carts have been taken; video of the council meeting with Jeanne Grace was discussed and what City was experiencing; get info from retailers and agencies/communities that these are taken and why? Could Jeanne Grace and her staff start keeping track of where the carts are currently being left and if we have density of this and not to add additional tasks, but see if something they would be willing to do? Scriber stated that Titus Towers is the largest amount of carts; Scriber spoke with Ithaca Housing and Tompkins County Action and they do take them shopping and asked if CLC members could keep an eye out of where they see carts currently within the City. Keeler stated Wood Street area there are carts there and folks cut through Titus and they have carts next to building all lined up, 49 carts next to a sign at Titus Towers, Keeler had picture taken of this and passed around; Keeler to send copy of the picture to Jody for attachments to Minutes. Scriber stated that retailers cannot put their local location phone numbers on carts as they are bought in bulk. The current problem of no transportation and they receive benefits once a month and go and get food/supplies with their children or for the elderly. Is there possibility of having carts get turned in and retrieved by persons serving Community Service? Someone to touch base with local probation department and see if this is something that could be done? Stores don't like losing them and willing to set down and talk about remedy— speak to person in charge at each individual store and invite to conversation meeting. Who specifically to reach out to at each store? Scriber goes in person and asks for Manager/Assistant Manager at each local store. Not going to solve every situation but to help on the retail end and community need end? Each member tasked to think about it and come up with suggestions — boy scouts/girl scouts/community service — if there should be a fine associated with it maybe rent U-haul for pick up? Can community members take the carts back? Building collection corrals? Find hot spots and have collection corals in those areas? Maybe set up a fund that retailers pay into for carts? 2 Community Life Commission June 17, 2019 Put together report to say to City Forrester for current data of carts? Meeting of retailers? Suggestions of other areas and what they have done. Pulling together retailer info and get meeting in place; Scriber & Bakhle on for next meeting to report. CLC Members should talk to Julie about scheduling meeting room or Wegmans has upstairs room? Volunteer organization to get carts back? Elderly/disabled —who is in charge of assigning community service tasks? Fleming to check with Judge Miller about community service and carts? Abandoned Cart Loss prevention from Keeler not all on the retailer or the City -- find a middle ground to include people from City Forrester's office in the meeting and should identify key people that should be there. Sexual Harassment Training — reminder that deadline of September to have this done for all members. For next month's meeting on August 19, 2019: Public Art: Keeler goals: new project plan form; will talk to working group; draft proposal for city budget; Flags: Hillson received questions from Chair from the City Admin and will answer and email Chair and get this finalized. Cornell: Chair, Hillson & Byrne to sit down and hash out working plan? Will set a meeting to discuss this and Chair to email. Mayor and City Attorney would be at the table with Cornell negotiations. Shopping Carts: working on connecting to 22 retailers toward getting public meeting set and talk with Jeanne Grace again; review Ducson proposal and come up with some other ideas. It was advised that the Commissions are put together to help guide and help/give groundwork for other City Departments. Child Friendly: Keeler advised that City passed a play street block party every Sunday afternoon at South Titus at park. Conway Park as well on weekdays Tuesday-Thursday during summer. 7:16 pm Adjourned Next Meeting: Monday, August 19, 2019, 6:00 p.m., Common Council Chambers, 3rd Floor Adjournment: On a motion, the meeting was adjourned at 7:16 p.m. Respectfully Submitted by, Jody Hallett-Harris, Executive Assistant 3 Date 411712019 CITY OF ITHACA City Commissions PROJECTCOMMISSION PLAN ASSIGNED COMMISSION Public Safety and Information ®_ Parks.; Recreation and Natural Resources Community Life Mobility, Accessibility and Transportation REPORT UP TO city Administration Committee Planning and Economic Development Committee Mayor Common Council d city Staff(specify): Jeanne Grace 1. Project Title, Description and Background 13 Give Chas pirojecta 960,ddsWbe how it rarae q t, ram ,aad who is inv61vod Shopping Cart Ordinance Update Residents (particularly downtown) have identified abandoned shopping carts as a blight to neighborhood aesthetics, a hazard to the public, and an obstruction to pedestrian and vehicular traffic. City staff finds the current ordinance time-consuming to enforce and ineffective.We have proposed ordinances changes and have received initial feedback from retailers. Council would like a well-researched and well-vetted recommendation for updates to the existing ordinance. 2. Project Deliverables P10$0 check offend 04aHbO bWplwthe "fit dam" le( )your OM"Ooog OOM f ssibft,and add details as ✓ Research the topic and provide a summary report on your findings. Include any recommendations along with reasons for the recommendations. (Requires a vote of the commission) ®Review a program, process or legislation from Council and provide feedback on the pros and cons. Report back should indicate whether the commission supports the program, does not support the program, or is neutral, along with the reasons why. (Requires a vote of the commission) i Arrange for a public presentation on the topic, gather feedback, solicit questions, and synthesize feedback in a findings report. (Vote of commission not required) - Gather feedback from retailers on the proposed ordinance change - Gather feedback from people most likely to take shopping carts and/or the organizations that work with them - Propose a change in legislation (likely based off draft already presented to City Administration) Propose ways to mitigate the impact on populations who need ways to transport their groceries . City Staff Participation Describotplow the axpvctavans 01 ow$6ffto suppon this , Us er of Owstaffasswo fea-Faf7f, City Forester Jeanne Grace and her crew are responsible for picking up abandoned shopping carts when they're unable to perform other work. Jeanne can provide insight into the shortcomings and issues with the current shopping cart ordinance and what her preferred solutions would be. . Resources/Materials List belowany misona matedalt or, that should 40 eo : dby the s part of their work, Alderperson Nguyen presented a draft of a new shopping cart ordinance to the City Administration Committee, sent letters summarizing the changes to retailers known to have significant shopping cart inventories, and has feedback from two of those retailers. The Twitter account @ithacascenery documents abandoned shopping carts around the city. . Other Stakeholders or Community Partners ners L�stboloWaAyothtrpgttlesth.etsh,ouldbeifftliidd,d' .. lon err an" I € £ Ithaca Housing Authority operates Titus Towers, which houses one of the largest collections of shopping carts in Ithaca outside of a retailer. Their residents have a clear need for ways to transport their groceries. . Tirneiine and Milestones 13 plea,-4 to the foltowingmaestonp,oates,if 4flown at 4 oiyo Public input dates am required only if tie prblect!.;to gotherpublic input. Progress Report 1 Public Input Fief Deliverables Due: Nov 20 1'g MONTH/YEAR EAR Aug �019 MONTHIYEAR MONTHIYEAR Progress Report 2' Public Input 2: MONTHiYEAR MONTFI/YEAR