City Council - Regular Meeting

those old chamber west. I was trying to figure out one of us too. I think they expire next week. We really got

my mom and dad. This was where my mom and dad used to sit. Yeah. When my dad died, they drink the seat like church. Yeah, they do. So if I can, I try to sit here.

I'm going to call the April 6th meeting of the West De Moines City Council to order and invite you all to stand and join us for the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay, please sign in. For the new member on your voting panel, there's a yes button to push. Okay, that'll get you signed in. All right, five members present.

Okay, Ryan, have there been any changes to the agenda? Uh, no changes to the agenda per se, but there are two items that there was uh changes to the items themselves. Uh, item 4 I, special assessments for nuisance abatement and 4L, amendment number one to Valley West urban renewal area. Uh, there's memos on the DAS with the details on both of those. Okay. Can I get uh I guess a motion to approve as amended. All right. It's been moved or second. Moved and seconded. Please vote. five. Yes.

Okay. And with that, I I first uh want to take a second to uh recognize somebody that a couple people actually that are not strangers to the council chambers. First, uh and foremost, uh former councilwoman Loretta Seaman, whose spot I took on the council so many years ago. Loretta, if you please stand, be recognized. and our very own Senator Renee Hardman who served with us not that long ago. If you could stand. Okay,

it's good to have you guys both here. All right, with that, um, we are going to administer the oath of office to our new councilwoman here, Fette Elliott. If you want to join me down in front here, sir. Okay, please raise your right hand and repeat after me. I state your name. I

do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support that I will support the Constitution the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the Constitution of the State of Iowa of the state of Iowa and that I will faithfully and impartially and I will faithfully and impartially to the best of my ability to the best of my ability discharge all of the duties discharge all of the duties of the office of the office of at at large of at large council member in the city in the city of West De Mo Iowa of West De Mo Iowa as now as now or hereafter or hereafter required by law required by law. Congratulations and welcome.

I love it. Perfect. Perfect. I don't know if you have some family or anybody want to come up take some pictures. Why don't we take a couple minutes here for anybody like to get pictures with the new council woman here? Like everybody that's herebody stand up. Yeah. Everybody, don't be shy. Don't be shy. Let's do the family first. Yeah. Let's do family. Let's do family first.

Good looking. Cana and Fanette take one real quick. All right. One, two, three.

All right. All right, this is yours. Okay, Rene, thank you. All right.

Yeah, got one on her. All right. Any any other combinations and permutations of pictures.

All right, let's hear for a new council woman. All right. At this time, I would just like to recognize our new council woman, Finette Elliott, just to say a few words. Great. I want to thank everyone for coming out tonight to um share the joy with me. I'm very proud to be a resident of West De Moine, very proud to be on the city council and I will never leave my passion for the school board. I have two of my school board members back there. So, um, I plan on joining this great team here. Um, at this point, Western One is already great. So, I guess what I'm going to do is just make it greater. Greater.

There you go. But I thank everybody.

Okay. Um, moving on. We've got a couple proclamations that I'm going to read and then we are going to uh take pictures with the people that are here. Uh, can I get a show of hands for people that are here for the National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week? Okay, we're going to start with we're going to start with that one. I will read the proclamation and then we'll have you come down and we'll do pictures. Uh, actually, I'll read I'll read both proclamations and then we'll do pictures. How about that for efficiency? All right. Whereas emergency communications professionals serve as the vital link between the public and first responders and the employees of Westcom Emergency Communications Center serve the city of West De Mo and its partners partner communities 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without interruption, ensuring that no call for help goes unanswered. And whereas public safety telecommunicators are often the first point of contact for citizens experiencing the most frightening moments of their lives, providing calm guidance and critical life safety instruction before help arrives. Work that demands exceptional professionalism, composure, and judgment. And whereas despite performing an indispensable public safety function largely unseen and unrecognized, the men and women of Westcom carry out their duties with skill and dedication that reflects the highest standards of public safety. And whereas the United States Congress has designated the second full week of April each year as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in honor of these professionals. Now therefore, I, Russ Trimble, mayor of the city of West De Mo, Iowa, do hereby proclaim the week of April 12th through 18th, 2026 to be National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. And the city council extends its deepest gratitude to every employee of the Westcom Emergency Communications Center for their unwavering commitment to keeping our community safe. Okay, we're going to now do the

proclamation for minority business day, April 15, 2026. Whereas the city of West De Moines celebrates the resolve and ingenuity of minority owned businesses and the contributions they make to our local economy and community. Whereas, according to the Small Business Administration, there are more than 1 million minority owned businesses in the United States, which represents 21% of small business owners and accounts for over 1 trillion in revenue. Whereas,

whereas we realize the strength of our community's robust economy is dependent on diverse offering of services and providers to meet the growing demands. Whereas we actively work with the West De Mo Chamber of Commerce to promote entrepreneurship through innovation, mentorship, and expanded access to networks through the Athen beyond boundaries business summit presented by Chase. Whereas supporting these businesses fuel economic prosperity for all, creating job opportunities, closing racial wealth gaps, and building opportunity to the American dream. Now therefore, I, Russ Trimble, mayor of the city of West De Moine, to hereby designate Wednesday, April 15, 2026 as Minority Business Day, and I call upon the residents of West De Mo to recognize the contributions of and provide support for minority owned businesses signed this 6th day of April, 2026.

Okay. And with that, can we get the uh the uh national public safety uh telecommunicators folks down front for the picture and then we will do a picture for minority business day. All right. gonna be back here for

your phone. Okay, here business day confirmation. Come on up. Anybody wants to get the phone for this? Dr. We're front to

center. Come on. You got to get here with Michelle.

You don't mind? Here we go.

Okay. Really quickly, if we could also uh recognize our school board members that are here, Elizabeth Larson and Annadelia Morgan, if you guys could please stand and be recognized as well. We appreciate you being here.

All right, moving on with the program. All right, item two, citizens forum. Uh, anybody that is here that would like to address the council on any item that is not either part of uh, item six, which is public hearings or item seven, which is new business, this is your time. Please come to the podium, give us your name and address for the record. We ask that you keep it civil and respectful and to 5 minutes or less. All right, lead us off.

All right, I can handle that. Uh, Brandon Bolton, uh, 91584th Street. Um, I was in here a few months ago. Just want to address the council uh one more time uh regarding the city of West De Mo requirements for barrier around residential pools. Um so just to sort of recap here um specifically I'd like to recommend that we um update our regulations to become more in line with the international swimming pool and spa code. Uh specifically the section 305.1. Um, as of today, we require a five- foot perimeter pool around residential or perimeter fence around residential pools. Um, the most recent uh international standards recognize that a swimming pool doesn't need to comply with that standard fence requirement if equipped with a power safety cover that meets per performance standards. Um, that would be motorized weightbearing lid that would be considered impenetrable horizontal barrier and prevent the climbing risk that's sometimes associated with traditional fences. I just want to point out that several neighboring um municipalities already have adopted this um in their regulations and it should be noted that since they have made that adoption there has been no spike in safety incidents. Um while a fence is obviously a very good deterrent uh it is prone to being propped open scaled by children uh whereas a power safety cover by contrast cannot be climbed or engineered and it's engineered to support the weight of multiple adults providing a really high level of security against unauthorized access to the water. So, what I'm asking specifically is that the city council consider adopting um the ISPSC provisions to allow city of West De Moines residents more flexibility and how they protect their families and their neighbors. Uh modernizing this code would bring us into alignment with both international standards and surrounding municipalities. So, um thank

you for your time and your dedication to keeping our community safe and growing. So, thank you so much. Brandon, I got to compliment you on your persistence. Um, appreciate you being here again. You know, as I think I told you last time, we've taken this up before. This isn't our first rodeo when it comes to this. We had, uh, matter of fact, a former council person that wanted us to take a look at this and consider it. Of course, uh, he was putting in a pool at the time. Um, but I guess what I would say is I would ask staff to, uh, to bring this uh before one of our uh, city council subcommittees. I'm not sure which one is the appropriate one to take it to. Maybe development and planning. Probably development and planning.

Yeah. Why don't we bring this before development of planning? We probably just need to uh dig out the old information that we had. We do have a list of all the other cities and what they do for regulations. Um but if we could bring this to development of planning and notify Brandon of that and then you will have your day in court in development and planning and we'll see what uh what the what the gentleman in development planning decide going forward. So Sure. I appreciate that. And I I did last time I was here had a chance to talk with uh Dennis Patrick. I've talked to him a couple times, so I appreciate you putting me in touch with him, getting his perspective, and thank you again for your time and consideration today. Sure. Absolutely. Thanks for being here. Do we have Brandon's contact information? Uh,

I don't want to end up in that situation where we get something on the development planning and we you don't I have Brandon's contact information. You're welcome. All right. Fair enough. We can be in contact. Thank you, Brandon. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. Anybody else for Citizens Forum? All right. Councilwoman. Well, Senator Hardman. That's all right. It's hard to not call you Councilwoman in these changes. Okay, that's okay. Well, good evening, Mayor and distinguished city council uh in uh members. Excuse me, Senator. We need your need your name and address for the record. Okay. Senator Renee Hardman, 461 Perry Drive, West De Mo, Iowa, 50265.

Okay. Senator, you have the floor.

Okay. Thank you. Um I I just am uh before you to announce a uh initiative that will be happening this summer that will include hopefully West De Moines. It's called District 16 Service Day and it will include citizens of Windsor Heights, Clive and West De Moines. I am forming a committee of interested individuals to help plan what that might be. I don't know what it's going to be, but we're going to get citizens engagement to figure out what can we do to benefit all three of these communities. Maybe it's doing work for all the uh human service agencies in the different cities or food banks in each of the different cities. But I'm looking to West De Mo and each of you to uh help and maybe find uh others that might want to volunteer to be on this committee. The committee will meet the very end of April and we're going to have district 16 service day in either West De Moines, Windsor Heights or Clive, but it will benefit all folks in the area. So, I want to start that as something new and uh it wants to might start small, but it gets bigger and bigger, but it will be helping the citizens of this particular district. So, I welcome your engagement and involvement and thank you very much for what you do for this great city. Thank you so much.

Okay, anybody else for citizens forum? Come on up. Give us your name and address for the record. 5 minutes or under. Civil, respectful, you know the drill. All right, flock cameras.

My name is Jonathan. My address is 6565 Wisful Vista Drive. Good evening. My name is Jonathan Aubberg. I'm a West De Moines resident and constituent. On March 27th, I sent written inquiries to Mayor Trimble and council members Hudson, Loots, and Trevolium regarding this city's block safety surveillance program. I sent them at 2:02 in the morning 2020, the year this program began without a public meeting. I want to thank Council Member Hudson and Council Member Loots for responding in writing. Their responses form the foundation of what I'm about to present. Mayor Trimble and Council Member Trevolian did not respond. That silence is now part of the record. I have eight findings. I'll take them in order. One, on April 3rd, 2023, this council approved a $496,800 flock surveillance contract on a consent agenda. The same motion that approved liquor licenses. The contract includes FBI integration. There was no separate discussion. For comparison, Marshalltown pulled its flock contract. Deuke required public works sessions before proceeding. Two, finding Chief Scott. Police Chief Scott signed the additional services agreement on April 1st. Flock side of that document was blank, unsigned. The council voted 2 days later on April 3rd. Flock's general counsel countersigned on April 4th, the day after this council voted. April 1st was also the date Flock implemented companywide pricing changes. Three, the Iowa Court of Appeals ruled on February 25th that this city must produce its deployment map. I filled filed my records request on March 24th. The documents arrived in my hands today, two hours before this meeting. Four.

Among those documents is an ALPR policy, policy 426, a purchased lexipole template. I've read it. It governs license plate readers. It does not mention owl cameras. The deployment map dated January 13, 2022 confirms 11 Owl cameras have been operational across six public parks since that date. There these are autonomous people tracking cameras. There is no public audit log. No resident of this city can know whether whether when or why the system tracked them. Five. I want to again thank council member Hudson for his written response. It contains what I consider the most significant finding of this inquiry. In his own words, when this quote when this came through the subcommittee several years ago, the agreement was that these were to be used only in the Jordan Creek Town Center commercial area. End quote. This program now covers 64 cameras and six public parks. Council member Hudson's response also states, and I'm quoting directly, that the city quote specifically and deliberately quote end quote, placed cameras in those parks. I want that on the record. And I want to know what council action authorized the expansion beyond the scope your own subcommittee agreed to. Six. The city's own records response confirms no contract, no memorandum of understanding, and no 28e agreement governs data sharing between the police department and Jordan Creek Town Center. Seven, Mayor Trimble's campaign website lists voting to install flock cameras in parks and retail revenues as a personal accomplishment. This city simultaneously litigated to prevent residents from knowing where those cameras are. The Iowa Court of Appeals ruled against the

city. The deployment map arrived in my hands 2 hours ago. Eight. Iowa's Division of Labor shows no chapter 91C construction contractor registration for Flock Group Incorporated. The alarm contractor portal shows a flock record with no license number, no expiration date, no license status, and no responsible managing employee. The state's own system states that licenses without a responsible managing employee are invalid. North Carolina and Texas have taken formal enforcement action against Flock on these grounds. Did the city verify Flock's Iowa lensure before paying $496,800? I'll close with six questions. I'd like them on the record. One, was the police chief's April 1st signature binding or was it contingent on this council's approval? Two, who authorized the chief to execute that agreement before this council voted? Three, the deployment map arrived today. When will the city produce the remaining records required by the court of appeals ruling? Four, when did the program expand beyond Jordan Creek and what council action authorized it? Was that my time uper? What was that?

That's it. Okay. Okay. We will uh we've got all your questions here. We will respond to those as soon as we are able to. Thank you for being here, Jonathan. Thank you, Jonathan. Okay. Anybody else for citizens forum in the council chambers before I go online? Okay. Nobody else in the council chambers. We will go online. Is there anybody online that would like to address the council for citizens forum? Mr. Mayor. Hello. Go ahead, Amy. Give us your name and address for the record. How are you? Hope you had a good Easter.

Had a great Easter. Hope you had a good one as well.

Okay. The only reason why I am on today is because of the gentleman that was just on before me regarding the flock camera. One just got put up across the street from my house today. By the way, this is Amy Buer on Mil Civic Parkway in West De Mo. And uh I'm noticing that uh a lot of cars are going, you know, automobiles and construction workers, they they uh go by without any license plates at all. So, I'm wondering how is that doing any good this flock system? And I'm not saying I'm against it either. I would just like people to start putting license plates on their vehicles.

Can you hear me? Yep. Yep. We're taking it all in. Keep keep on going.

Okay. Great. because I've reported uh many times and and actually got assaulted when I tried to get close to a vehicle that uh was uh working for West De Moines City Hall and uh they didn't have any license plates and I just wanted to take pictures of it for proof and then when I'd call Westcom dispatch they would basically harass pass me. And then if if if an officer did get called uh by Westcom Dispatch, they wouldn't do anything about it because they work for city hall um Brian Hemisapp engineering department and uh last year I got assaulted by someone and the officer said if he didn't see it, it didn't happen. So, uh, Mr. Mayor, what I'm asking is how can we do better for people that are driving without license plates because it just seems like it's taxpayer waste and abuse when they don't have them. Well, I I think Amy, it's against the law if you're driving around without a license plate, unless you just purchase the car and you have a certain amount of time to be able to get that license plate on there,

right? So, so we'll make sure we look into that

100%. But uh uh when when when the construction workers and that truck was at the construction site all last year and then I even took a picture of it this year. So they're still running without license plates. We got a problem. When HR Green sits and watches these vehicles on a daily basis and doesn't make a a report to the police, but but guess what? I'm the whistleblower. And so the police, they come and harass me instead. Is is is uh Chief Bellamy there today?

He's here and he's listening in as well. Hi, Chief. Nice to meet you. I got cut off a few weeks back when I wanted to say hello to you. He says hello back. All right. Thank you. Uh that's all I got to say for today. You guys have a great day. You too, Amy. Happy Easter. Happy Easter. All right. Thank you. Take care. Thank you. You too. Bye. Goodbye. Okay. Anybody else online for citizens forum?

Okay. Hearing and seeing no one. Citizens forum is closed. And I just say before we move on to item three, mayor, council, manager report, other entities update. Um, every time that I announce elected officials, I always forget somebody. So, we also do have Skyler Mays here from the De Mo School Board. If Skyler would please stand up and be recognized as well. So, All right, with that we'll move on to uh item three. Item 3A with Julie Bertnet and the De Moines Children's Museum update. Julie, come on up and give us your name and address for the record. And you've got the floor. Does this do anything if I put something in?

Yes. Yeah, we'll get out. Thanks. All right. Um I'm going to pass these out to you guys.

All right. Thanks. All right. I'm Julie Bernau with De Mo Children's Museum. My address is 100090 Lincoln Avenue in Clive, Iowa. Um, I'm here today because you guys are under are wonderful. All right. Thank you very much for being on the board of West De Moines and for supporting the De Moines Children's Museum so many different times and over the years. Last year you gave us uh part of the hotel motel tax grant and in doing that an A28 agreement. This has actually allowed us then to submit for the Iowa CAT which is the cultural attraction tourism grant. You have to have city funding and you need to have um county funding to be able to and so you guys really helped us. You were also one of our first major donations last year and that means that we were able to purchase a building. So we now own 1200 12th Street. Um we still have lots of renovations to do. So we're working on that. Um but I thought I'd give you kind of an update because we actually are still functioning in Valley West Small. So last year we had I didn't keep one for myself. um 65,217 came inside Valley West Mall into our doors. Um why that's important to mention is because the fact is it had over 15 closures last year, Valley West Mall for emergency situations. So each time that there's a closure on a Saturday, it's about 700 people. So it's one of those things. I know that you guys are working really hard on figuring out how to redevelop that area. Um, and I just hope that you keep thinking about us because we definitely need as many good thoughts as possible as we do our renovations for

construction. Um, we're hoping to be inside that building with it open either by the end of the year or like early next year. It really is about getting an elevator installed, all the the like safety kind of things like the lift that you have to get for fire exits. Um, I also wanted to tell you, you've got all these wonderful numbers. Um, I'm just trying to decide which one I like the most cuz you don't need all of them. I'm I'm a sucker for museums for all, you guys. It's where we sit there and we discount tickets for $2 for anyone with WIC or EBT. You guys have a lot of people that come in from there and we're going to have even more. It pretty much it doubles every year now how many people we get. Um Ashlin is here so maybe she wants to say anything. What I would really love is if you guys are thinking about having your name besides on the donor wall. It would be so cute to have little firefighters that say West De Mo Fire Department on their little jackets as they're running around um and on the fire truck. It would be really cute. Um we did bring the donor heart um when we had a donor event in January. Everyone was invited and you were able to sign. I don't think we want to take the time to sign it. I think I'll leave it here so you guys can sign it your own free will, but if we could get a picture of you all holding it. I know that today was just like the most photogenic day you guys could possibly have. Right.

Okay. Uh do you want to have any questions before we then make you all step over here and take pictures? Sure. Any questions at all for Julie? So, I just want to share how excited I am for you all and how supportive I am for you all because it's it's amazing that you started with a vision. How many years ago was it now? It's almost 9 years. Nine years ago. And I think about my kids who 9 years ago would have been very very young at the really really good children's museum age and we visited and I didn't know you at the time but I know what you started in Valley West Mall and now you're moving on to uh much bigger. So you would have been there at 3,000 square ft. We're about 14 now and we'll be at 26 on 7 acres of land

and it's just bonkers. So it's just it's amazing sort of bonkers because you see awesome like places like a children's museum in Indianapolis which is super famous like the Magic House in St. Louis. And I think of those places what they started at. They started small and then they expanded expanded expanded expanded and they become something great. you always were great, but uh I'm just I'm just beaming with pride that you're still here in West De Mo and you're going to be making a difference in children's lives continually. So Ashlin, Julie, congratulations and let's keep it rolling. Well done. Ditto for that. Any other uh questions at all or comments for Julie before we move on? Great job. All right. Well, let's let's Are we You want to take a picture real quick? All right. Let's get a picture quick and then we'll be so fast.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. a picture. I'll get a picture and send it to you. Yes, you're good. I've got so many pictures. I'm gonna get

All right. All right. Look at me. I'm like All right. I'm coming here. That's a nice That's very nice. Very nice.

All right. This car will go in the new museum. I'm going to leave it there. I feel like other people.

All right. Thank you so much, De Mo Children's Museum. Appreciate you guys being here. We're going to move on now to Mayor Council manager report and we're going to start down to my left here with Councilman Lot. Any report? Uh no real report. I just want to welcome uh Councilwoman uh Elliot here. Uh you ran two hard races in very short period of time against two great opponents and uh uh welcome to the team. All right. Thank you, Council Council Travillian. Nothing this time. Okay, Councilwoman Elliott, any report at all this time? We could give you a pass, too. But you can give me a pass this time. All right. Next time we'll expect a report. No. All right, Councilman McKinnon.

Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I'll uh Councilwoman Elliot, congratulations. I'll echo uh Councilman Lotz's comments. Welcome aboard. Um, just a couple items here. Um uh Councilman Travel and I uh had a public services uh subcommittee meeting roughly a week ago. Um and uh about if you remember the heavy rains we had last July, there were issues where folks um have had sewer backups and we had a pretty extensive conversation um that uh resulted in I think some good actions that the city's going to take or at least the subcommittee recommended we take uh relative to making sure folks are in compliance with our current ordinances related to you know uh storm water. Uh some folks have uh decided to connect their uh their rain gutters and spouts into the uh sewer system and it's created a problem. And so uh staff has done a great job in the past of identifying some of those residents that have have done that and we're going to work to bring folks into compliance. So, that's the first step. And I know ongoing work is being done related to uh related to uh manhole covers and other activities to make sure we're doing everything we can within reason to help uh prevent those sorts of uh uh outcomes. So, it was a good meeting and I'm glad uh appreciate uh our city engineer Brian Hemth bringing us up to speed or at least me up to speed on it. I know this was tackled years ago before I was on the council. Um and then I also wanted to follow up. We had a development planning meeting and first meeting uh that uh Councilman Loz formally was serving I think well I guess no he was temporarily serving that's right going forward it'll be formal um we had a workshop if you all remember in December about what types of vehicles can be parked on the street and what types of vehicles cannot be parked on the street whether they're commercial whether

they're residential whether they're service whether they're not service and so we heard this morning spent a good roughly an hour talking through this and uh Linda led the discussion helped us understand some pathways forward to provide greater clarity and certainty to the public services division as well as a police department on what vehicles can be parked where. Um we move forward with a recommendation. I understand that they're going to be uh putting together an ordinance. Obviously, that will come to the full council and then we will be asked to vote on, you know, what types of vehicles can be parked in residential neighborhoods and not. So, those are my updates. Mayor, thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Hudson, any report?

Yes, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Um, echoing uh, Councilwoman Elliot, I want to say welcome because knew you from your school board days, which was just like a week ago. That was your school board days. But you visited my classroom as guest speaker before and now we get to sit together on the dis together working to make the city greater. Welcome. Congratulations. And I'm really looking forward to it. Second, I had the uh privilege of visiting and being a part of a student symposium um that we had over at the LRC a couple of Saturdays ago. Students from around the community, not just in West De Mo, but from different schools around the area. I know Ankenany had a large presence. They made their way down to West De Moines and I think it was really, really meaningful. Uh I ran uh a session that several students signed up for and the session was what makes an awesome city. And to hear young people answer that question is really really meaningful because when we sit up here and make decisions uh we are a little bit older than say young people who are in the audience, students of mine in my classroom from either this year or last year in the audience tonight which is awesome to see. Uh we're doing this for you all. We desperately want you to come back to our city. So, hearing the ideas about what students want in a city that they're going to be hopefully living in for 5, 10, 20, 30 years and beyond. I just want to share a couple of ideas with the council because I told them I would speak directly to you and also to the YouTube channel where uh hopefully some folks are watching. It's never too many, but hey, anytime we have YouTube guests, it's good to see you. So, the student symposium, what do students want from an awesome city? Number one, uh they said opportunities to work with schools. And I think that's something that we've been trying to do more and more, working with schools to bring opportunities for our young people. Cultural educational and experiences, cultural, educational

experiences that are unique to your city, that are in line with the character of your city. I thought that was meaningful because I think we have uh we have a really diverse city in terms of a lot of ways but in terms of like Valley Junction's one place, Jordan Creek is another place and uh Ratkin River Park is another place. So making opportunities for events and experiences unique to our community. Uh transportation, Mr. Mayor, you served as the DART chair in the past and transportation is needed and students are aware that we need to have a transportation system. One thing they brought up was ways for connections to elected officials. And that one definitely hit me in a way because I think we're pretty approachable because to be honest, we are elected officials, but we're not not that important. And I would like to think that we are we are approachable. But I told them, I told these students from Anken, West De Moines, how many times do I get an email from a student in the community, say a 15-year-old, 17-year-old who wants to make change in the community, and this is year seven on the city council for me. And would you all agree that it's incredibly rare to get a an email from a student like from our like I get emails from students as a teacher, but I mean it's just rare. And I think we want to I think we want to hear from our students. we want to hear from our young people. So, they really wanted uh a way to connect to elected officials. So, anything we can do to encourage that, let let's make that happen. They're excited about a welcoming population. Anything to build more connections as a community. They were interested in the prevention of violence. They want a safe and peaceful community because if you can't feel safe on a street, then what are we doing here? And the last quote I'll just say before I move to my third point. Uh when someone says, this is a quote from one of their post-its, when someone says, "Let's go where the wind takes us." Be that place, where the wind takes you. And I was like, "That sounds

great. We definitely want to be that place." And speaking of community, because they mentioned community, I did want to do a shout out to one of our residents. Uh her name is Emily and she lives in the Fair Meadows area and uh Shelby was kind enough to reach out with um with the fact that Emily came up with an idea for a Fair Meadows Park cleanup day. She organized a neighborhood community cleanup day. And Emily's not doing this for the accolades. Emily's not doing this uh to be on the news, but to have just a regular day-to-day citizen of our community wanting to make a difference in our community and make their park clean, but also to bring the neighborhood together. I think those are the things that build the community from the ground up. So, I just want to give a big shout out to Emily. I don't know Emily, but I know that she's doing amazing things on the ground in West De Moine by organizing uh that neighborhood community cleanup day on her birthday weekend. by the way, I'm told. And I think that's amazing. So, thus concludes my report, Mr. Mayor.

Awesome. Great report. It's awesome to hear the feedback from our young people. I think that's extremely important because we do want to make sure that we're keeping them here. Even if they're going to go off somewhere else to college, we want to bring them back after college. So, great report. Thank you, Councilman. Okay. City Manager Tom Haden. Any report at all? I'd just like to say I wish the legislature would listen to the things that you're listening to the young people. It's make a big difference maybe in the future of our state. Other than that, no report, your honor.

All right. Thank you, city manager Hen. All right. Moving on to uh item four, consent agenda. Are there any items that any council person would like to have pulled and voted on separately? Otherwise, I would take a motion to approve the consent agenda as distributed. 4L. Okay. 4 L will be pulled. Uh any any other items? Move for the remainder. Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Please vote. Okay. Five. Yes. Okay. Okay. Uh, item 4L is a resolution establishing consultation meeting and a public hearing for amendment number one to the Valley West urban renewal area. Councilman Travillian. All right. Uh, I realize that this is a uh request for a motion to set the dates for public hearing and consultation meeting to consider the uh first amendment to Valley West urban renewal plan. But what I want to make certain is that um in no way, shape or form is it construed that we are accepting staff's recommendation under the background part of this um that says that they recommend approval. Um and also point out that there was a change to this that was handed out on the dis. Yep.

That changed the wording in amendment number one. So, I want to make sure that the changes Yes. that are here is what's filed and not what's in our council packet. Yep. We've got changes to this and we've got changes to item 4 I which we received on the dis and those will be uh what is reflected uh approved by the council. So, uh with that I will make the motion to approve. Okay. Move or second. moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Okay, please vote.

Five. Yes. Okay. Item five, old business. Uh item 5A, Dowling Catholic High School, 1400 Buffalo Road. Amend the Dalling Catholic High School plan unit development ordinance to update the sketch plan Dowling College. Uh we've got an ordinance amendment for approval of the second reading, waiver of the third reading, adoption of final form. There are no outstanding issues and no changes from the previous reading which was adopted unanimously by the council at our last meeting. Move consideration of the second reading. Second.

Okay, it's moved and second. Is there any discussion? Okay. Hearing none, please vote. Five. Yes. The city code of the city West Iowa 2024 and the Ding Catholic High School ordinance pertaining to PUD district regulations and guidelines. Move approval of the second reading. Second. Please vote. Five yes. Move to wave the third reading and adopt in final form. Second. All right. Please vote. Five yes.

Okay. Item 5B, Lounberry Grand West, southwest corner of Grand Avenue and Interstate I3 I35. repeal the sweet shots planned unit development and amend the zoning map to establish commercial zoning West Grand Properties LLC and Andrew and Benjamin Lounsberry. Uh we've got two ordinances that we have to take separately. First, we've got an ordinance amendment for approval the second reading waiver the third reading and adoption of final form for repeal of the Sweet Shots PUB. Motion considered second reading. Okay, it's been moved. Is there a second? Second. It's been moved and second. Is there any discussion? Okay, please vote.

Five. Yes. Or a submen official zoning map in the city of West Iowa 2024 by repealing PUD district regulations and guidelines for the sweet shots PUB. Motion to approve the second reading. Second. Please vote. Five yes. Motion to wave that third reading and adopt in final form. Second. Please vote. Five. Yes. Now we've got an ordinance amendment for approval the second reading waiver the third reading and adoption of final form for assignment of commercial zoning. There are no outstanding issues and no changes from the previous reading which was approved unanimously by the council at the last meeting. Motion consider second reading. Second. Okay. It's moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Okay. Please vote.

Five. Yes. An ordinance man official zoning map city western one Iowa 2024 by many title n zoning chapter 4 zoning districts and maps. Motion to approve the second reading. Second. Please vote. Five yes. Motion to wave that third reading and adopt in final form. Second. Please vote. Five yes. Getting folksy on me down there. All right. Item 5C. Uh we've got a resolution authorizing several actions that need to be taken for issuance of not to exceed 44.7 million in taxable general obligation local option sales tax bonds and there are no outstanding issues. Motion to approve. Second.

Okay. It's moved and second. Is there any discussion? Okay. Hearing none. Please vote. Five yes. Okay. Item 5D. We've got a resolution authorizing several actions that need to be taken for the issuance of not to exceed 15.19 million in general obligation bonds and there are no outstanding issues. Motion approval. Second. Moved and second. Is there any discussion? Okay. Please vote. Five. Yes. Okay. Item 5E. Uh we've got a motion for approval of professional service agreement with OPN architects for the Jamie Herd Amphitheater Restroom project. And there are no outstanding issues.

Motion to approve. Okay, it's been moved and second. Is there any discussion? One comment. I just want to thank staff for working so hard to bring in private funds on this to get the cost down. We're in a beautiful facility out there and uh right out here and it's uh going to serve everyone. So, I'm happy with this.

Absolutely. Kudos to staff for working so hard to try to keep the cost down and yet provide a beautiful facility. Really appreciate your indulgence on this. Councilman Loz, I will echo your sentiment. Um, I know this is happening a few months later than perhaps folks had uh desired, but I think uh being able to cut the cost significantly nearly in half is a really good outcome. So, appreciate the patience, Ryan. Appreciate the work you and Tom and and others uh did to uh to end up where we're at. Thank you. All right. Is there any other discussion? Agreed. Okay. Please vote on the Mckini pavilion.

Trail can't be alone. Your vote didn't go through. Oh, hit it again. Finet. It didn't register. Five. Yes. Sometimes you're too quick. I'm going to be laughing about the pavilion all night. All right. Item six, public hearings. Item 6A. This is a time and a place for a public hearing to consider 12th Street and Vines 12th Street and Vine regional storm water detention facility initiated by the city of West De Mo. Ryan, would you please read the date the notice was published? March 20th, 2026 in the De Mo register. And have you received any written comments of this hearing? None, your honor.

Okay. Anybody from the audience like to address council on item 6A? Please come to the podium, give us your name and address of the record. Anybody online, hit star six to unmute yourself, and do the same. Is there anybody either in the chambers or online that would like to address council on item 6A? Hello. Yes. Go ahead and give us your name and address for the record and we'd ask that you keep it to five minutes or under. And we'd ask that you keep it germanine to the subject at hand. Well, I was supposed to be on earlier in the agenda, but I couldn't make my phone work, so I apologize for that. Okay. Could you give us your name and address for the record to start out? I'm sorry.

Yes. My name is Kathy McMullen Pudzellis. I live at 2511 White Eagle Trail, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Okay. Uh Kathy, unfortunately, this is uh at a point in time when we're dealing with public hearings, specifically at this time with the 12th Street and Vine Regional Stormwater Detention Facility. Um I think you probably wanted to talk during citizens forum, which was quite a while ago. So, I guess I I guess I would ask that you join us in a future council meeting to uh to discuss whatever it is that you'd like to discuss. All right. Well, I will then be Is there a council meeting in another week or is it When is the next?

We have one April 20th if you want to uh join right at 5:30 typically. We uh do a couple administrative things and we jump right into citizens forum. Yes, I tried to speak but it you couldn't hear me. I was trying to, you know, join in. I um Well, Lynn Tweed has the copy of what I'm going to say, but I will join you then at the next uh council meeting. Okay. I'm sorry. Thank you so much. Thank you. Bye-bye.

All right. Bye-bye. Okay. Is there anybody in the audience or online that would like to address us on specifically on item 6A? Okay. Hearing and seeing no one, I'll declare the public hearing closed. We've got two resolutions and emotions we can take at the same time and there are no outstanding issues. Motion to approve. Okay, it's been moved. Is there a second? Second. Okay, it's moved and second. Is there any discussion on the dis? Okay, hearing none, please vote. Five. Yes.

Okay. Item 6B. This is a time and a place for a public hearing to consider Valley Junction Alley improvements phase 10 initiated by the city of West De Mo. Ryan, would you please read the date the notice is published? March 20th, 2026 in the De Mo Register. Never have received any written comments at this hearing. None, your honor. Okay. Anybody from the audience like address council on item 6B? Please come to the podium. Give us your name and address for the record. Anybody online? Star six to unmute yourself. Star six, not pound six. Give us your name and address for the record. Is there anybody that would like to address the council on item 6B? Okay. hearing and seeing no one, I will declare the public hearing closed. And once again, we've got two resolutions and emotions we could take at the same time and there are no outstanding issues. Motion to approve.

Okay. Is there a second? It's been moved and second. Is there any discussion? Okay. Please vote. Five. Yes. Okay. Item 6 C. This is a time and place for a public hearing to consider 2025 channel repair program initiative by the city of West De Moines. Ryan, would you please read the date the note is published? March 20th, 2026 in the De Mo Register. And have we received any written comments of this hearing? None, your honor.

Okay. Anybody in the audience or online that would like like to address the council on this item? Please come to the podium. Give us your name and address of the record. If you are online, hit star six to unmute yourself. Do the same. Is there anybody interested in addressing the council on item 6C? Okay. hearing and seeing no one, I once again will declare the public hearing closed and we've got two resolutions and emotions we can take at the same time and there are no outstanding issues. Move approval. Second. It's moved and second. Is there any discussion? Okay, please vote. Five. Yes.

Okay. Item seven, new business. Item 7A, Grand Shores, 6,000 Grand Avenue. Subdivide the property into five lots for commercial and residential development. WDM South LLC. We've got a resolution for approval of the preliminary plat and there are no outstanding issues, but there is one condition of approval. That being that the city council allow the buffer to go 20 ft into the public utility easement as depicted on the preliminary plat. Can I get a motion to approve the resolution? Yes, it's been moved. Is there a second? Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Is there anybody either online or in the council chambers that would like to address council on this item? Is there any discussion on the dis?

Uh I I guess I will say I understand part of this relates to parking. Um and I was uh this last couple weekends. I know we got an email from Ryan, but boy, you drove past a Reclex on the weekend, last weekend or the weekend before. Everything the entire DMAC West campus was fully parked. The uh right tree service was fully parked. Of course, a reclex was fully parked. I even think that the new private uh family office was fully parked. There wasn't parking anywhere. Um so it's great to see in on the one hand all the activity out there and frankly I was I was sorry I was driving down Fifth Street in Valley Junction went to pick up my daughter at the Five Monkeys uh area there and every other license plate was from out of town. Marshall, Crawford, you know, different uh counties all over the place. Um and so it's just great to see what that is doing for our entire community. Uh but we do need the parking. So glad to see this moving forward.

No doubt about it. That reclex was uh was a bold move that we made. It was something that I think we saw the community needed and went out and took a calculated risk on it. It's paying off paying dividends substantially. And then again uh we also a lot of the things that we're doing in the way of uh quality of life amenities are public private partnerships. uh hence the name Mid-American Energy Company Reclex and and every everybody in the private sector that has contributed uh to make that a success and I I give a lot of kudos to our city manager Tom Haden and Ryan Penning our parks and recck director uh and everybody on staff that helped raise money for that project. So, uh incredible project, great economic development it brings in and definitely need more parking. Yeah.

All right. Any other discussion on this before we vote? Okay, please vote. Five. Yes. Okay. Item 7B, Dutch Bros. 5950 Mil Civic Parkway building 2000. Approved preliminary plat to create two lots for commercial development and approve an overlay district site plan to allow construction of a 986 ft coffee shop with drive-thru Plaza Street Partners LLC. We've got a resolution for approval of the preliminary plat and overlay district site plan and there are no outstanding issues. Motion to approve. Second. It's moved and seconded. Uh is there anybody in the council chambers or online that would like to address the council on this item?

Is there any discussion in the dis? Okay. Hearing none, please vote. Five. Yes.

All right. Item 7 C. Lounsbury property, southwest corner of Grand Avenue, Interstate 35. Approve a preliminary plat to create two lots for commercial development. Approve a site plan to allow construction of private utilities West Grand Properties LLC. Uh we've got a resolution for approval of the preliminary plat and site plan and there are no outstanding issues. But there are two conditions of approval. The first condition of approval is the applicant developer acknowledging and agreeing that the site plan approval is for basic site grading and implementation of private utilities and not for construction of any buildings. The second condition of approval involves the applicant and developer executing an agreement and waiver for their portion of a future stoplight that is planned for the area prior to the completion of the final plat. Motion to approve. Okay, it's moved. Is there a second? Second.

It's been moved and seconded. Uh is there anybody online or in the chamber that'd like to address council on this item? Okay. Is there any discussion on the dis? All right. Hearing none, please vote. Five. Yes.

All right. Item eight, receive, file, and or refer. We will receive and file the abstracts of election uh for our new council person here, Fet Elliott. Um item nine, other matters. Are there any other matters that any council person would like to bring up at this time for the good of the order? Okay. Hearing none, we are adjourned. And you stick it with him.