City Council - Regular Meeting

Yeah. Yeah.

I'm gonna call the July 6th meeting of the West Des Moines City Council to order and invite you all to stand and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, please sign in. Five members present. We've got Senator Hardman joining us as well. We'll let the record note that. Ryan, have there been any changes to the agenda?

No changes, Your Honor.

Okay, can I get a motion to approve the agenda as distributed? So moved. Okay, is there a second? All right, so moved and seconded. Please vote. Five yes. Okay, item two. citizens forum this is a time for anybody to address the council that doesn't have an item that is part of item six or seven which is public hearings or new business so if you don't have if you have an item on on there you address us at that time but if not you can address us now during citizens forum for any other matter. All right, Dan, lead us off, and we ask that you give us your name and address for the record, and you keep it to five minutes or under, and you keep it civil and respectful like I know you will.

I'm Dan Ayton. My address is 9939 Alexander Circle. We're just east of Grand Prairie Parkway here in West Des Moines. I live in a senior community called Courtyards at King's Landing. It's a community of active senior adults. It was built with private streets that are narrower than some streets. And it was built without sidewalks. So as a result, we have a lot of people walking the streets. They're not streetwalkers. They're just walking the streets. We also have a lot of people from neighboring developments who seem to like our flat streets and hopefully slow drivers, but not always. We have a section of the new trail running next to our homes along Sugar Creek. That trail is lovely and already well used, even though it's not complete, it dead ends. And we'd like to compliment you and your staff and the city for building the trail. It's a great asset. We are very concerned about the rash of kids racing up and down our streets on electric scooters and electric mopeds, you know, the ones without Pedals that go 30, 40 miles an hour. The kind that we wish we had when we were kids. We have to acknowledge that. We've had some narrow misses. One of my neighbors tells me he missed a kid by less than 30 feet. I can tell you I missed a kid by maybe 100 feet because they race across, if you're looking at this thing, in and around our community and across Stagecoach without any idea that there's a stop sign there or that there might be cross traffic. And that's scary. We don't want to wait until one of our residents is injured, nor until one of the kids is injured or killed. But sometimes that's what we do. We wait until there's a tragedy. And so we would like to be a part of the conversation and urge that we focus on safety. We started in our community a lot of conversation and it started off, as you might guess, all about how do we ban this and how do we ban that? And then we ended up saying, what do the kids want? How do we deal with this? Because banning, we would like to have a speed limit on the trail. We have a 15 mile an hour speed limit in our community that nobody pays any attention to. You know, I mean, it's not all that different than driving on the interstate. When I drive 65 and 70, people go by me very, very fast. And some of them even give me signals, you know, just with one finger though. So we'd like to encourage the city to undertake an education campaign. I can't imagine anything worse than hitting one of these kids. Second worst would be one of our residents getting injured badly. But there aren't any perfect solutions that we know of, anyway. But we think we should start somewhere. Just because adults don't abide by the speed limits, there's no reason to not have speed limits. We need, though. You know, so we do need some limits on these electric scooters and mopeds too. So our focus is, has become safety first. We think all the vehicles, including the electric scooters and mopeds, bicycles, should be told that they have to obey the traffic laws. They have to stop at stop signs, they have to yield where there's a yield, and they have to be careful of other riders. We don't think any motorized vehicles, whether gas or electric, should be allowed to use the trails at a greater speed than 20 miles an hour. We think banning them is not going to make them go away. We noticed that the scooters, as it gets late in the evening, kids are out way later than we think they should be. But that's because we're old people. but they don't have reflectors, they don't have lights, and they're hard to see. We noticed most of them are black, and they fade into the darkness real well. We also think that the education program needs to make parents, remind parents that they're responsible for their children. And I know that sounds like an old fogey talk, you know, in the old days, anyway. Seniors ask, can we ban scooters and mopeds on our private streets? Well, we think maybe, what if the city were to offer a class, a driver's training for kids riding scooters?

Dan, I hate to cut you off because you've got a lot of great information. I think we've all taken in and written down, and we only allow five minutes per citizen. I understand. Pardon me, five minutes per citizen, and so I've got to cut you off there, to be fair to everybody. That's all right. Appreciate all the feedback and input you've given us already. I know we've already done a public education campaign regarding this. I think it's still ongoing, but we're looking at taking more action, and I know that Councilman Lotz and Councilman Hudson are going to be taking that up in public safety. We've heard a lot of feedback and input from residents on it. We've watched other communities jump out in front of it and try to do something about it, only to have to take a step back and realize that they've maybe made some missteps or gone too far or not taken certain things into consideration and You know, that's kind of the thing you do when you go out too fast in front of something like this. But if you don't get out fast enough, then, you know, you could have a tragedy. We understand the importance of acting as swiftly as possible to try to get something on the books. Our hope was that we would have had either the state legislature that would have done something comprehensively across the state, or that we would have something maybe coming from the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which is the regional transportation planning organization that we all are a part of, because what we don't wanna have is this, and we faced this before with other, you know, bicycle ordinances and laws is have a patchwork of laws across the metro so that one thing that's allowed in West Des Moines isn't allowed in Waukee and vice versa because that's confusing and difficult as well and of course we don't want to put anything in the in place that you can't enforce either and how you get at these things how you define them you know whether it's a speed limit or a certain level of power per vehicle uh... that you can ride on the trails are not right on the trails how do you let how do you ban an electric uh... thing for a kid but allows somebody uh... in a mobility device uh... that's electric power to go i mean there's just a lot of nuances to this but i know that we've been listening to everybody that's come forward with it all the emails of the come forward we're taking it all into consideration and uh... i know that councilman loads as chair of public safety is going to have a chance to weigh in on this and bring something forward. And I know he's eager to do that.

Russ, if I can address something else too. One thing, Dan, I appreciate you bringing this forward, letting us hear your concerns out of it. As the mayor said, we've heard from... several people around the city about this. I've got them in my neighborhood. They'll zing up and down kids, zoom up and down the sidewalks at least 30 miles an hour if not faster. My neighbor rides his electric dirt bike up the street doing a wheelie all the way almost for three blocks. Our ordinance, and Ryan can correct me if I'm wrong, but our ordinance on the trails already says no motorized vehicles except the mobility scooters, isn't that correct? Problem is the enforcement of it. Because by the time you call in and report it, that scooter doing your 20 miles an hour, even if that's what we, if we allowed these things on trails, my opinion, 20 miles an hour is too fast. Because if people are walking, that's dangerous. But it's the enforcement of it. Because by the time you call it in, that person's miles away. So you're never going to find them. So, yeah, I don't know. But to the mayor's point, you know, trying to get a metro ordinance, I don't think that's going to happen. I think we're going to have to come up with something for West Des Moines. Because... That's the people we're trying to protect are the people in West Des Moines. I guess I personally don't care what Waukee, Ankeny, Johnston's doing. It's what are we going to do here? So we are looking at it. Unfortunately, it's not something that you fix overnight.

Hold on a second, Dan. If you're going to talk again or respond to him, you've got to come up to the podium.

The other thing while you're coming up is that your first bullet point, can you guys ban these scooters from your private streets? My answer would be yes, they're private.

But will it do any good?

How do you enforce it? Right.

Enforce it. Years ago, I was a part of an organization called Amos. Had 20 some churches a part of it. And the adults sat around and figured out what the community needed. The kids came forward and said after people complained about skateboards back then. The city of Des Moines took a different approach and set aside some space and built a premier skateboard park. And the skateboard issue seems to have largely disappeared. And that's why we came up, is it possible there's a park or someplace? Because when I talk to kids, they say it's about the ride. It's not about where I'm, the destination.

But you're not, but you would have to then have the parents load these into the back of their... SUV, which isn't gonna happen, or at best you're gonna get them in a truck and I don't see that happening. They're gonna ride them to the park and you still got the issues. So it does, it comes down to an enforcement,

issue and it's it's very frustrating that's why we thought education education education thank you thank you thanks thanks for coming dan it's just know that we're looking at it we've been there isn't a day that goes by that somebody doesn't email me or call me or we talk about it so um that you know with the enforcement side of it is the hardest part and the thing i'm most afraid of is if we told Chief Bellamy to start enforcing this, how do you chase down a 14-year-old kid on an electric bike going 40 miles an hour? You don't, right? And not only do you not, but then some kid will go driving out in the street and get hit by traffic. I followed one home from Dowling a month ago, maybe two months ago. He was going on to 235 in the middle lane. And I'm pulling up behind him, and the cars are darting left and right, and here's a kid on an electric scooter. And so they're everywhere. We're trying to figure out what to do about it, staff, Greg and I, and then the rest of the council. So there's no easy good answers.

More power to you. Thanks.

Thanks so much, Dan. The education component is huge because I don't think the parents have any idea when they're buying their kids these fun things how dangerous they are. I mean, no idea. I mean, like Councilman Lotz said, I mean, I saw on the way to work today, I saw a guy on an electric scooter going down, not as bad as 235, but going down 50th as well in the left lane.

Well, they don't have lights on them. They're all painted black. Right. Right. They've only had no reflectors. Right. It's, you know. It's tough. All right. Well, thanks for being here, Dan. Thank you.

Okay. Anybody else for Citizens Forum? All right. Senator Hardman, come on up. Give us your name and address for the record. Five minutes are under. Civil and respectful.

I don't know about civil. Respectful. Good evening. I am Senator Renee Hartman. I reside at 4611 Turnberry Drive. And I'm really here for a point of personal privilege. I just want to say this weekend was absolutely phenomenal. And I oftentimes we sit in these seats and We hear complaints or issues or opportunities, I should say, and we don't get a lot of pat on the backs about what we do well and what goes well. But if anybody experienced anything that was going on this weekend, you'd be proud to be a citizen of West Des Moines. I want to first date back to when we started with the Pride Fest. I want to thank you so much for the lovely Pride Fest. It was in Valley Junction, well attended, lots of people out there. So I want to thank you for continuing to have Pride Fest when there is movement to move away from those kinds of activities. So I was really proud to be amongst the folks there for the Pride Fest. And then it went on a week later and we celebrated the 4th of July. And I've been around a number of 4th of July celebrations, never one like this before. So I want to thank you mayor and the council for investing in West Des Moines. I was sitting next to people in Waukee and they marveled at what they saw in terms of the drone show. So started with a great parade. The weather was a little hot, but we can't control that, Ryan. But thank you so much for all your work and your team on the parade. Hey, it didn't rain. It didn't rain. At least it didn't rain. And then it was a concert, and then it was the drone show. And I tell you, when they did the logo and the lights and the drone show, it was breathtaking. It was breathtaking. And so I enjoyed it. I was texting my family, said, I wish you all were here with me. You should see this. It's phenomenal. And then, of course, Saturday was wonderful at Jordan Creek. I ran into you, Mayor. And also the fireworks were just exquisite. So I just want to take a moment to say thank you. I know it's a lot of work, but this is what our city loves and enjoys, and it's the quality of life that it offers. So congratulations on a phenomenal weekend. And pulling this all together, I was very proud. to serve this West Des Moines City as a senator and to be a resident and a former city councilwoman. So thank you so very, very much.

Thank you, Senator.

Thank you, Senator. Thanks for being here. Thanks for the kudos. You know, a lot went into pulling this off from our communications staff that got the word out there, got all kinds of promotions and advertisements that we were putting these things on, to the city manager's office, to public services, to all of our public safety departments, police, fire, EMS, you name it, parks and rec. Oh, my gosh. All these folks working when all the rest of us are playing to pull this off, to have an incredible... you know, A250, July 4th celebration, extravaganza, I got choked up. I mean, I was sitting there with my kids and they were laughing, they were saying, dad's crying, dad's crying, you know. I got choked up, I mean, You know, we live in the greatest country in the world. And we've got men and women that put their lives on the line to make sure that we have our freedom. And that's what that celebration is all about. We live in one of the greatest states in the union, if not the greatest states, and I think in the greatest city. And it was an incredible display of pride. and the entire weekend from the parade and everything that it took to pull that off that went into that to the drone show where we went above and beyond to celebrate America and celebrate our city and our state. And then partnering with Jordan Creek Town Center to bring something really special in the way of fireworks and more free concerts and food trucks and beverages. I mean, there had to be thousands of people at Jordan Creek Town Center. I've never seen that many people at Jordan Creek Town Center and at the Jamie Heard Amphitheater, I don't know that I've seen that many people at Jamie Heard Amphitheater before either. So, and all of the people that took the social media and all of the posts that were done on that and all the different people that were talking about what we did to celebrate, it really did make me very, very proud. So, appreciate you being here and accentuating that and appreciate all of the staff that You know, maybe didn't have as fun of a weekend as the rest of us did, but really showcased our city and our state and America. So, thank you for that. Thank you for being here to acknowledge it. Okay, anybody else for Citizens Forum? Okay, looks like no movement in the council chambers. I'm gonna go online, hit star six to unmute yourself if you'd like to address council for Citizens Forum. Star six to unmute yourself. Is there anybody online that would like to address the council for Citizens Forum? Going once. Going twice. Okay, Citizens Forum is closed. We will now move on. TO ITEM THREE, MAYOR, COUNCIL, OTHER ENTITIES UPDATE, AND WE WILL START THIS TIME DOWN TO MY RIGHT WITH CITY MANAGER TOM HADDEN. TOM, ANY REPORT?

I THINK IT WAS A FULL WEEKEND ON MANY FRONTS, AS YOU KNOW, SO I JUST WANT TO GIVE KUDOS TO ALL OUR DEPARTMENTS AND They were working, kept everybody safe, and then we had a tragedy on Saturday night. So the police department did a great job in dealing with that, but that's why we have the public safety we do. So I just want to give those kudos for all the work they've done. Thank you.

Thank you, Tom. Okay, Councilman Hudson.

Sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. First, a personal thank you to Mr. Mayor. I know that you felt strongly about these celebrations. They go off well, and they go off without a hitch, and I appreciate your leadership in this, and I'll just echo this. I think we're all going to say it, but I think we should because between Parks and Rec, between our public safety officers, I know Senator Hardman said it as well, but it's worth celebrating because I think we did a kick-butt job this weekend celebrating, and And it's worth a celebration. Gosh, 250 is a really, really big deal. It was 250 years ago in two days that these guys got together and they said, self-determination, equality, and this early democratic republicanism, that they are important. It's not the first time in history that someone said that or even thought that, but it was the first time that it made a difference geopolitically. And something started 250 years ago. And it was the first time something really, really started. And then, yeah, ups, downs, trials, celebrations, tribulations over the course of American history. Absolutely. But we started something 250 years ago. And here we are today celebrating it in West Des Moines. And, again, I think it was a kick-butt celebration. People from all over outside of West Des Moines saying, oh. You all are doing it right. Yeah, we are. Yes, we are. So thank you to all of those who made it possible. The parade was great. One of the longest in Iowa, I hear. I even heard it was the longest. Oh, country. Well, it was a hot day. There was clouds. But I am OK shortening it in the future. I will just say that because there's safety implications, too. I know I've talked to Chief Bellamy about that before. It's a really, really long parade. I'm so happy that it was a safe affair, this parade. And the experience at Jordan Creek was great. The experience at the amphitheater right there was great. So happy 4th, everybody. As for just city business, we had an F&A meeting a couple weeks ago, and we were just hearing more about the development agreement for the Grand Experience. We have a special council meeting in a few days to talk about that down near the RecPlex off of Grand. I think there's exciting moments to come, and I'm sure we'll talk about that at the special meeting. City Council meeting and a special thank you to Mr. Mayor for finding my kids sunglasses at the amphitheater.

So we'll just... That's how I go above and beyond. Absolutely. And thus concludes my report. Boy, they're small. Thank you, Councilman. Appreciate it. Councilman McKinney.

Thank you, Mayor. I'm not going to belabor it. I just want to say thank you, and maybe I will for just a moment, because I know you personally put a lot of time into the ideation at the outset. How do we solve a lot of different challenges? One of those challenges, of course, being Our neighbors out here on city campus, furry friends had issues. You worked through a lot of that. Tried to come up with a way to also celebrate in a manner that we have never celebrated before. And those ideas panned out in a way that I think you and everybody ought to be incredibly proud of. And then, of course, the execution by everybody across the board. It was masterful. I couldn't have been more proud to be a part of this city, to live in this city, sitting out here on Friday night and then out at Jordan Creek on Saturday. And so just really good, really... Great execution. And Chief Bellamy, I wanted to say, you know, as I was sitting there looking at the sunset on Saturday evening and I saw your team up there on the roof at Jordan Creek and I saw the drone out there and the UTV out there and the folks on bikes and thinking to myself, the presence here is felt. The presence is appreciated. And there was just a really, I mean, thousands. I talked to Randy Tennyson. He told me it's the largest crowd they've had out there. Despite having the largest crowd out there, I think everybody felt a sense of safety and security and excitement at the same time. So thank you for all that. And, of course, Ryan Penning, all the work you and the team did for the parade and the the drone show, and I know out of there at Jordan Creek. So thank you to everybody. I want to just highlight the MPO did have a meeting since we last got together, the Metropolitan Planning Organization. There will not be a uniform ordinance on bikes that's going to be adopted. I mean, that's my take. I don't know if it was expressly stated that way, but I think it's pretty clear when you listen to the folks talk there because they say exactly, Kevin, what you said. That is, I was elected by the people of my community, and I'm going to do what's right for my community. And what's right in Waukee is maybe not the same as in Ankeny and maybe not the same as in West Des Moines. So you can have whatever model you want. We're going to do what's right for our community. And so what the MPO will do is house a, I don't know, an online location where all the ordinances can be found and everybody can take a look at them and then everybody can take a little from here and a little from there and piece it together and have exactly what's best for your community. So that's my update on the MPO and the bike ordinance.

Thank you for that, Councilman. All right, Councilwoman Elliott.

All right, have at it. I'll try to keep it short. Some of the meetings that I have attended was the Central Iowa Regional Housing Authority. I also attended F&A with Greg. Let's see. On June the 18th, the U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Congressman Zach Nunn were part of the tour of the new DART facility. When I say new DART facility, it's the operations and maintenance facility. So that tour was a great tour. It was great to have the U.S. Transportation transportation secretary there to actually see him in person and then I might add that there was 20 million dollars that was provided to us in order to create that new operations maintenance facility and it was also announced that we will be receiving another $20 million via the U.S. Transportation Secretary. So that was a very proud moment to be there, to know that the U.S. Transportation Department, over a course of a few years, has awarded DART $40 million. Yeah, yeah. Let's see, I also attended Central Iowa Community Land Trust. There was a ribbon cutting. There were two homes on the east side of Des Moines that were remodeled. Well, the previous one house was tore down and in return they built two homes on that same plot. Also, as a part of Central Iowa Community Land Trust, as I'm trying to understand all of this and all these acronyms, HOME, Inc. is the parent, and I guess Central Iowa Community is the child, but it was reassuring to know that HOME, Inc., there was a lady who was elderly. Her home is in West Des Moines. It had fallen upon disrepair. Home Inc. along with Central Iowa Community Land Trust, they worked with the individual, they helped her find a facility, and then in return, they rehabilitated the home. I toured the home, and it was just phenomenal to be able to go in there. I think the most reassuring part is that this past Monday, a home, the home new owners was a family of seven. So it's reassuring to know right here in our city, right here in our city, we are doing things. Whereas I'm sitting there going, what is West Des Moines doing when it comes to housing? We are doing things and it makes me proud. Also, I will be meeting, you already met, you and Ryan met with Habitat for Humanity. Habitat for Humanity. wants to engage and create more. We've already worked with Habitat for Humanity, but at least to know there still is a need in the West Des Moines community, and through your leadership, there will be more homes that will be created, will be working with Habitat for Humanity. Let's see. I attended, I'm Catherine Harrington, who is president and CEO of the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce. She held a very, very good meeting. What the meeting was, she had Charles Sellers, who is a Microsoft Sustainability Director, and his purpose and her purpose of having that meeting is so that we would have an understanding. There were various community leaders that were there, business owners, and I'm just going to... I meant to keep it brief, but people really need to understand what Microsoft is doing for our community. I'm constantly talking with individuals and they're so anti-Microsoft, not understanding what those data centers have done and the value to the West Des Moines community. He shared some insight in what it means to build community-first digital infrastructure. Microsoft commitments to being carbon negative, water positive, and zero waste by 2030. Sustainability practices are applied at the local and regional level. Now, what I'm going to do to take that further, and I'll have Katherine's guidance along the way, is to then start going out into the community. Having a group meeting with the community so that they can understand the positives. For too long, Microsoft, they don't want to necessarily have the PR. They don't want to have the press. They want to do these wonderful things for the community,

and they don't want to sell themselves.

We will and I will be working with Catherine so that we can get a community meeting to give our citizens an opportunity to ask the questions so that we can speak, listen to me say we, but it could speak to the value that Microsoft and their commitments that they're doing to our community that people aren't aware of. Let's see, the West Des Moines parade, everything that was done. I think, well, first of all, our leader for having the vision to be excited, you know, it means a lot. And to all of our various departments from Ryan, from Craig, if there's anyone I missed, I left out, I apologize. It was definitely a city effort and made you really proud to be part of West Des Moines. I want to make two more statements, and I apologize, but I'm not going to apologize. There was a situation where one of our local nonprofits was in need of having repairs done for their facility. They have a summer program, and the thought of having those kids in an environment where the HVAC wasn't working. I personally made a call, a talk to Matt McKinney. Matt then took it a step further. Matt met with the president of the West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce Foundation and he talked with them. The next step is that a meeting was held a meeting, conversations was held with the individual who is in charge of that nonprofit. Only reason why I'm not giving names because I haven't got the okay, but it was approved. And now that local nonprofit, now the age that has been fixed and the children are able to be in a building when we're had 90 degree heat, because 90 degree temperature but to not have air conditioning and now they do so I personally want to thank you Matt for getting involved to take it in a step further to get the funding and the unit was fixed so thank you thank you for teamwork oh yes and then let's see last but not least I just want to take a moment and to acknowledge what occurred on Saturday night. It was heartbreaking to know. My heart goes out to the family. Their daughter was going to a, quote, party. I'm sure they hugged her, kissed her, told her how much they loved her when she left the home. And then to know that their precious daughter didn't make it home. So my heart goes out to them. But really what it does, it kind of gives an indication. No community is immune. No community is immune to violence. When it happens in Des Moines, we probably just say, oh, that's Des Moines. It's happening to them over there. But when it hits home in West Des Moines, when it hits Urbandale, it's almost a wake-up call that we as a community And I'm talking Des Moines, West Des Moines, Urbandale, Johnston, Waukee. We need to look at things regionally, community-wide. What are we going to do? What are we going to do? Because we're all being affected. We're all being impacted. And I'm just thinking of the parents. as she's going through the grieving process, the planning of the funeral. It hit home, and I wanted, I just had to, I had to speak on it. And I get emotional. This is the first time I've been emotional like this on city council. I don't apologize because this is finite. And it won't be the last. And it won't be the last. It won't be the last. But I know that we have an excellent police chief in Craig Bellamy. And I know that his team, are going to work diligently and just as hard as they always have to address this, resolve it, arrest, turn it over to legal. But I thank you, Craig, because I know that you guys are doing a fantastic job. And at this point, justice needs to be served. I'm just looking forward to the fact of justice being served.

Thank you for your report. I think it shows that you're delving into everything. You're going to almost everything. And so you have a full report. We really appreciate it and appreciate you bringing up the family of the tragedy. I mean, we celebrated a great Fourth of July and then had this kind of overshadow everything. And, you know, my wife and I were talking about it as well. And it's just absolutely gut-wrenching, heartbreaking as a parent to sit there and think about this and that somebody's child had this happen to them and They had no idea. They thought they were just going to a party. So thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Hudson had something quick. Okay, Councilman Trevelyan.

Yeah, Finette, you talked about Microsoft and what all they've done for West Des Moines. The mayor and I had the opportunity to take part in basically a documentary video last week. about data centers and the benefits of them, what they do for not just a community, but for the metro area of which they are a part of. We were able to dispel the myth that they're the largest water user, which they are not. And we then talked about, I think both of us talked about the benefits things they do above and beyond, you know, for our human services department and whatnot. So it was a good opportunity and I appreciated the fact that we had the chance to talk about what West Des Moines has seen and will continue to see by having Microsoft here. So that was good. Fourth of July was phenomenal. Greg, I'll differ with you. I think the parade needs to stay on that route. I know staff disagrees with me, but I think it needs to stay on that route. A lot of people watch that parade, as you know. And you shorten it up and there's no place for them to go because the side streets are already packed with cars that reside on those streets. And then how do you get there? So I think it needs to stay on that route. I've heard some great comments from... not just residents, but other people from outside of West Des Moines that were at these fireworks and the drone show, one asked if we're gonna do the drone show every year. I said, well, I don't know about that, but you know, and yeah. I know there was a lot of frustration. you know, with myself and the mayor by not having the Valley Junction Foundation do the street party this year. And that's why we decided let's do something different. And different it was. So, you know, whether that happens again next year is yet to be seen. But I know there are a lot of people that really appreciated it. So all I said was we'll have to wait and see. No promises. That's my report.

Thank you, Councilman. I told people this was a one and done, but, you know, my worry was that we would do this and people would love it and say we need to do it every year. It is not cheap. And thank you, speaking of Microsoft, thank you to Microsoft for allowing us to make that happen, as well as the West Des Moines Community Foundation, Robert Palmer. You know, we wouldn't have been able to come up with the funds for that. if it weren't for Microsoft and the West Des Moines Community Foundation. And Microsoft, it's unfortunate what's happening with data centers in general. And I'm not gonna hide behind the populist movement of it either. Lots of misinformation, conspiracy theories, lack of information that goes on out there. We are beyond fortunate. to have Microsoft in this community. As Council Member Trevelyan said, we did a video. This is the second video that I've done. I'm a huge champion of Microsoft, the data centers, the jobs that they've created, both the temporary that have been here since 2008 or nine and still exist today, and all the permanent jobs that are, I think on average, about six-figure jobs. I could go on and on and on. I've got mayors from other communities reaching out to me on a regular basis, just heard from one today. I will talk to anybody and everybody to tell them how incredible Microsoft has been to this community, what they've done, how much of an environmentalist they are, how much they care about water usage and the environment, all the great environmental things they've done here. from Trees Forever contribution to our Shade Crusade to paying for half of the Jamie Heard Amphitheater that people don't know. But, Councilman, you're right. They do not like to toot their own horn, and now I think they're maybe starting to regret that they didn't because they're getting some backlash and it's unfair, and they really, really just do a ton for this community and all the communities that they're in. So, anyway. No, I will insert the comment. All right, go ahead.

I was there with Councilwoman Elliott at the meeting at the chamber. Just one quick thing. And I did not know, because you hear about the water usage, you hear about this and that, and there's about one million single-family homes in the state of Iowa. and one million single family homes. You can imagine how much water they produce. And in the state of Iowa, 650 single family homes produce about the same amount of water as all Microsoft data centers do in the state of Iowa. So one million homes, but Microsoft data centers in the entire state produce or use about the same amount of water as 650 single family homes. And they replenish 150% back. So yes, they might use 100 swimming pools of water. They replenish 150 swimming pools. So that's one thing I learned as well. So Councilwoman Elliott, thank you for sharing that.

And what most people don't understand is that it's the lawn irrigation that uses the majority of the water.

Microsoft is on average 2% of the total use in the city. All right, Councilman Lopes.

I'm going to try to be brief. Thanks for everybody's, what they're offering up tonight on reports. I'm very thankful for Microsoft data centers as well. But it's not what I'm going to talk about tonight. I'm going to talk about mutual aid. There's been some news recently about some of the other municipalities around having budget issues and whatnot. And so they're purposely deciding to understaff their fire and EMS capabilities, which then there were comments from other people in other cities making, well, we'll just understaff and know that West Des Moines will come save us if we end up in a problem. So that caught my attention. I immediately started asking questions to Chief Liu. And he gave me a lot of the data and I won't go into the detail tonight, but anybody's interested in it I can send it on the report and I'm happy to and any constituents that want to see it I'm happy to send it on as well, but here's the thing that I took from it and and I'm thankful for All of the things that we are able to do because we're not only taking care of ourselves, we're taking care of other communities that can't. Somebody might argue that, yeah, you know, maybe the taxpayers shouldn't fund, you know, mutual aid for some city that's deliberately deciding not to do it. And Chief changed my mind. And I'll read one little excerpt. out of what he sent to me. He said, no department anywhere in this country can staff for its worst possible day. A tornado, a major flood, a mass casualty event, simultaneous multi alarm fires going on across town. These scenarios exceed any single department's sustainable staffing level by design. The alternative Staffing the worst case scenario is just fiscally impossible. And so mutual aid becomes precisely what it is. So we're lucky in the sense that we have the resources to have the department that has the ability to send aid. Now I'll also add only 1.5% of our calls in the last year, or is it last 10 years, I can't remember, have gone to other cities. So we're helping them in their worst times of need. They come and help us as well, to about 50% of what we help them. So it's mutual still, but I was really pleased just to, see how this works and how it works out and that you know um some of the things that we've codified into the cad systems at westcom help our residents as well because if somebody has a fire that's closer to the clive fire department guess who shows up first the clive fire department so i learned a lot in this and i'll forward it to the other council members and anybody else who wants to see it but thanks chief lou for putting it together and thanks chief bellamy back there too so That's the end of my report, Your Honor.

All right. Thank you, Councilman. All right, moving on to item four, consent agenda. Are there any items that any councilperson would like to have polled and voted on separately? Otherwise, I would take a motion to approve the consent agenda as distributed.

4-I.

Okay, we will pull item 4-I.

4-H. 4-H. Move for the remainder.

Okay. Second. So moved and seconded. Please vote.

Five yeses.

Okay, item 4i is a resolution ordering construction for the 2026 pavement marking programs. Councilman Trevelyan.

Yeah, I just wanted to point out that half... of what we're going to put down for pavement markings, which is $250,000. Half of that is the on-street bike markings, the sharrows, the stick figure of the bicycle and then the chevrons. And I've talked about this before. I mean, that is just a ridiculous amount of money for something that I think... really doesn't serve a purpose because as I have stated multiple times, bikes can ride on any city street. Obviously not I-235, but on any city street. And so therefore I'm not gonna support this. I think it's a ridiculous amount of money given everything that we've got going on with the budget.

Well, I'm not going to necessarily argue with you, Councilman, but I do have to bring up the past and how we came about funding this. We've got a bicycle advisory commission. The bicycle advisory commission was very adamant about having bike lanes, bike lanes on the streets, and we were not in favor of that. It was about a million dollars a lane mile. to do the bike lanes on the streets, and that it was doing exactly opposite what the trails were doing, which was separating the bike traffic from the vehicular traffic and making things safer, and really the compromise that we came to were the sharrows. They were a lot cheaper than doing the, the bike lanes on the streets. We've got a lot of different interests in this city from bikers to people that use the parks, to people that use the library but don't use the parks, to people that use the aquatic centers but don't use the other things. And we're trying to do everything we can to... you know, do things for all the different constituencies that we have here, and there's a big constituency of the biking community that really cares about these things, and so that was kind of our concession at that point in time, but I'm not gonna sit here and argue with you.

I understand that, but again, it's the Bicycle Advisory Commission, and again, the number of people that we've got in West Des Moines, in my opinion, over, or outweighs the number that we have that ride bicycles. And again, we don't even have a count because it's impossible to do, but we don't know how many bikes actually ride on any of these streets, let alone the ones that we've got these sharrows. So I just can't do it. Okay, appreciate it.

The only thing though that I would add is this is an opportunity to do a little bit more education in that I thought that those chevrons meant that's where the bicyclists are. When I'm driving down the street, I purposely move over almost to the other lane because I think, oh, a bicyclist is gonna be riding on there. So there's kind of a misunderstanding. I did not know that that is just basically identifying you know, the bike routes. I thought that it was like, oh, when I'm driving. So I'm just suggesting.

It is both. You're right.

I'm just suggesting that we do a better job of educating people so that they understand. I mean, I'm not saying we don't need them. I'm just saying, let's just kind of educate the public into what those really, the whole intent.

Mr. Mayor, when was the last time the Bicycle Advisory Commission talked about this particular issue? I think your comments indicate it's been a little bit. It's been a while.

I think it's been a while, but okay. Ryan, do you want to come up and... Maybe give us more information.

Because if they've talked about it recently, that would be really, really helpful. I mean, I ride bikes, but I wouldn't consider myself a cyclist by any means. And as Councilman Trevelyan says, this is a little bit of money. And if the Bicycle Advisory Committee had a different stated goal of what they might want to use $125,000 for... Maybe that would be something we could look into. But I don't know the last time to bet. Thank you, Ryan.

I think they're pretty passionate about this just because of bicycle safety. Sure. And as Councilman Elliott was saying, it basically lets the drivers know that this is a shared route. But anyway, go ahead.

Yep. Ryan Penning, Parks and Recreation Director. This was discussed last fall. I was not at that meeting. We had the city school event at Legion Park. but the the bike Commission is in favor of it. They were also willing to say if you take the sharrows away are there other methods that can help with this. They talked about bump outs or crosswalks and things like that but I think eventually they they would appreciate the sharrows and staying there. My example would be from Mills to grand along Fuller, where we do have sharrows. I think I counted like between 40 and 45 sharrows on the road. And there are, when public services put in the signs along the road, I think there are four permanent signs along the road. Some of them are hidden by trees and things like that. I think it's an opportunity for those drivers to be aware of, hey, there's not a trail adjacent to this road and I need to be aware of potential bikers and things like that. I get your comment about bikers can go on any road and things like that. I think it's more of an awareness thing for the driver as well.

So you said there's four signs versus 40 sharrows. You can buy a lot of signs that last a heck of a lot longer than one year for this kind of money. So if anything, put signs on every flipping utility pole up and down these roads. I just, again, I think it's a total waste of money.

But as a driver, at least in my opinion, I think they're more visible when they're right on the road. I'm not always looking off to the side of the road as a sign. Again, that's my opinion.

But again, you learned in driver's ed that bikes can be expected on any city street. So I guess I don't understand how these sharrows make it more prevalent that there's going to be bikes. I travel 28th Street. between Ashworth going north a lot, almost every day. There's sharrows there and no bikes. Same thing going south, there's no bikes on 28th. So again, I can't do it. Maybe everybody else is gonna support it, I can't.

Well, this is the action before us today. In a second, I'm going to ask for a motion and a second. And if we don't get that, then the item will die for lack of a motion, lack of a second, or one or the other. But we also do have discussions regarding the budget that are going to be upcoming for the next fiscal year. And we're going to have some difficult decisions to make and some priorities that we've got to look at. And maybe this will be something for the following year to be a discussion to be had. But for now, this is the item before us and it involves more than the sharrows. It involves regular markings for cars as well on the streets. So I would ask, is there a motion to approve the resolution?

I will make the motion to approve, but I'll also just ask a really quick question. that may be within that 125 on-street bike markings. So, Mr. Penning, thank you for sharing about on the ground, the chevrons on the ground, or the sign. I'd still really love for you all to take a look at whether the on-street signage would be longer-lasting and more feasible, and if that would be, as we explore this. And I know it's specific for on-street bike markings, but I know you'll take a look at that and if you'd let us know about that. Because the signs, if it's true that we're going to have tougher times coming, a sign will last a lot longer. then, and even if maybe a driver might notice on the road more, if we're not doing these in future years because of budget constraints, that sign will last for a lot longer. That's all I'm saying, but I will make the motion to approve.

Okay, is there a second? So moved and seconded. Is there any further discussion? Okay, hearing none, please vote. Four yes, one no. And for those following in the program at home, apparently I don't know my alphabet, we're going to go back to item 4H, which is a resolution for approval of the 2080 agreement for hotel-motel tax grants with Councilman McKinney. Yep, thank you, Mayor. I serve on the taste of the Junction Board, so I need to abstain from this. Motion to approve. Okay, it's moved. Is there a second?

Second.

Moved and second. Is there any discussion? Okay, hearing none. I have a quick question. Oh, sorry.

I just have a quick question.

You know, being new and trying to learn the landscape, can someone just kind of like explain to me how do you become a 28E nonprofit? Just if someone could briefly explain to me what is the process?

Well, the process is to work together with another government agency basically to... put together some service delivery of some sort. And the 2080 refers to the Code of Iowa that allows for partnerships to be entered into by different government jurisdictions for various things. I don't know if somebody else has a question.

I'll just add, there are the four that are listed there, for example, the Historical Society, the Chamber of Commerce, Valley Junction Foundation, they're all traditional 501 Some may be a C4, some may be a C6, which is an IRS designation, but they are a nonprofit corporation in Iowa. The 2080 agreement is a agreement under, as the mayor says, Iowa Code Chapter 2080 between that nonprofit and a government entity. So for like the city of West Des Moines.

Okay. And some of them are a little bit larger and more regional like Ketch, Des Moines, and Bravo. All of the cities in the metropolitan area get together and form this 28, well, not form, but they all make this 28 agreement with Ketch, Des Moines, and Bravo. So it can be really localized like the ones that we're about to approve or it can be more larger in scope like the regional ones.

Like the MPO. I mean, there's a lot of different 2080s that we're a part of. Westcom is another one.

And even the mutual aids that we've got is a 2080.

The mutual aid agreements that we've got are also 2080 agreements. So, yeah, it's just basically a contract between parties.

Okay. Okay, thank you. With that, yeah, great question. With that, please vote.

For a yes, one abstention due to potential conflict of interest.

okay item five old business item five a approval of traffic code amendments angle or diagonal parking parking no parking zones for our limited parking uh... walnut street six street uh... to alley behind fifth street and six three we have got uh... We have got an ordinance amendment for approval of the second reading, waiver of the third reading, adoption of final form. There are no changes from the first reading, which was adopted unanimously by the council at our last meeting. Motion to consider second reading? Second. It's moved and seconded. Is there any discussion? Okay, please vote.

Five yes. City code, City of West Des Moines, Iowa 2024 by amending provisions pertaining to the traffic schedules. Motion to approve the second reading. Second.

Okay, please vote.

Five yes. Motion to waive the third reading and adopt the final form. Second.

All right, please vote.

Five yes.

Okay, item 5B, approval of traffic code amendment, no parking zones, various streets. We've once again got an ordinance amendment. For approval of the second reading, waiver of the third reading, adoption of file form, there are no changes from the first reading. There are no outstanding issues, no changes from the first reading, which was adopted unanimously by the council at the last meeting. Motion to consider second reading. Second. Okay, so moved and seconded. Is there any discussion in the dais?

I just got a question, and this is probably for Paul. Do you know when these signs, because I've been hearing from people, do you know when these signs are going to be going up In these no parking zones. Come on up, Paul. Come on up forward. People online need to hear you. Thank you.

Paul Tauke, Interim Director for Public Services. And in answer to the question, I can check with Jeff Sherman, who is our street supervisor, and see what his timeline is for putting those signs up. I don't have the exact dates or timeline at this time.

All right. If you would email, I think, all of us with that information, please. I will do that. Thank you. You're welcome.

Thank you, Paul. I know I've seen before when we've taken action like this, and they've been up there pretty quickly. Yeah, I just... Yep, sounds good. All right, please vote.

Five yes, the City Code of the City of West Des Moines, Iowa 2024, by many provisions pertaining to the traffic schedules.

Motion to approve, second reading.

Second.

Please vote. Five yes. Motion to waive the third reading and adopt in final form. Second. Please vote.

Five yes. Okay. Item 5C, Amendment City Code, Amend Title 8, Building Regulations, Chapter 2A, Building Code, Section 12, Building Planning, Chapter 3 of the IRC, to modify regulations pertaining to swimming pool barriers, city initiated. We've once again got an ordinance amendment for approval of the second reading, waiver of the third reading, adoption of the final form. There are no outstanding issues and no changes from the previous reading, which was once again adopted unanimously by the Council at the last meeting.

Motion to consider the second reading.

Second. Okay. It's a move and seconded. Any discussion? All right, please vote.

Five, yes, and we're submitting Title VIII, Building Regulations of the City Code of the City of West Des Moines, Iowa 2024, pertaining to swimming pools, spas, and hot tubs.

Motion to approve the second reading.

Second. Please vote.

Five, yes. Motion to waive the third reading and adopt the final form. Second.

All right, please vote. Five yes. All right, Item 5D, Amendment to City Code, Title I, Administrative Chapter 9, Municipal Elections, Repeal and Replace Section 1 to become a Chapter 45 city for elections. We've once again got an ordinance amendment for approval, second reading, waiver of the third, 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.

Motion to second, second reading.

Okay, is there a second? Second. Okay, it's moved and seconded. Any discussion? All right, please vote.

Five yes, an order to amend the City Code of the City of West Des Moines, Iowa, 2024, by amending Title I, Administrative Chapter 9, Municipal Elections, by repealing and replacing Chapter 9, Section 1. Motion to approve the second reading.

Second. Please vote.

Five yes. Motion to waive the third reading and adopt the final form.

Second.

Please vote.

Five, yes.

Okay, item six, public hearings. We don't have any public hearings this evening. Item seven, new business. Item seven, A, Grand Shores, 6,000 Grand Avenue approved. Final plat, creating five lots for commercial and residential development. WDM South, LLC, we've got a resolution for acceptance of legal documents and approval and release of the final plat, and there are no outstanding issues. Motion to approve. Okay, is there a second?

Second.

Okay, is there anybody in the audience or online that would like to address the council on this item? Hit star six to unmute yourself if you're online. All right, is there any discussion in the dais? Hearing none, please vote. 5, yes. Okay, item 7B, Plata Survey, Parcel 26-44 and Parcel 26-45, 3620 Southwest Meadow Rose Point, Plata Survey for Transfer of Ownership, Kyle M. McMahon, trustee of the Kyle M. McMahon Living Trust. We have a resolution for approval and release of the Plata Survey, and there are no outstanding issues, but there is one condition of approval, that the applicants notify the city upon transfer of ownership so that the city can then record the executed lot tie agreement.

Someone approval move approval.

Okay. Okay. So move in second. Is there anybody audience or online that would like to dress counts on this item? Is there any discussion on the dais? Okay hearing none, please vote Five, yes. Item 7C, we have a resolution for approval of professional service agreement for patching, resurfacing, and reconfiguration of Vista Drive from 60th Street to Jordan Creek Parkway, and there are no outstanding issues. Somebody want to move approval of the resolution?

Move approval.

Second. Moved and seconded. Is there any discussion in the audience or online on this item?

So I know that part of this is, I'm looking at the paragraph here. In addition, city staff will be submitting a traffic safety improvement program grant application in August of 2026 with the hope of securing a 500,000 grant. Brian, you probably don't have to come up, but is there a high likelihood that we'll receive this grant? not a guarantee but I was that was my only question because I guess the context remains similar to what I mentioned earlier I mean if there are indeed tighter budgetary times coming along I would love to have this extra help for this and I know there was a discussion of public services I wasn't there about this it's necessity or not having 500,000 would be tremendously helpful in that regard

Right. Brian Hemesath, city engineer. Well, I can't guarantee that. I would never ask you to. Yeah, it's not guaranteed. But one thing we've noticed in the past that this group that awards these, they very much like the four to three lane conversions. And obviously they they like the the bike lanes on the streets as well. So we believe this is something that they will. We may not get the full five hundred thousand. But I believe that this is something that they would definitely put money towards.

And this is going to be a grant to the SBSTBG? TSIP. So Traffic Safety Improvement Program. Gotcha. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. Any further discussion before we vote?

Yeah. All right. Again, much like the Sheroes, I don't... Everybody knows I don't like the three lane on Ashworth. I don't think it was needed. I don't think this is needed. Will we get 500,000? Brian just said, no idea. I asked him at public services about the safety of it. There really isn't any issues out there. It's a low volume, as you said. You think it's overbuilt. Again, I think this is gonna be the first of many roads then to have bike lanes on it. for whatever reason Some of the city staff and various people think that going from four lanes to three is better I'm not hearing that from our residents. Maybe some of you are But I just I don't think I don't think it makes sense. I don't think it's needed so I'm not gonna support it

Well, see, and I'm coming from the other standpoint. I think public safety is one of the most important things that we do up here. And I think if you look at the crash data on this and the safety improvements that will be made as a result of going from four to three and the fact that the traffic at this point in time you know, is the level that it's at and this can more than handle it. I think it makes sense. I think it's smart from an economic standpoint, environmental standpoint, from a safety standpoint. What's not to like? I think it makes sense all around, so. Oh, that's your opinion. Yeah, I know. That's why I just gave it. No. That's why you didn't give it and I gave it. That's my opinion. That's right. I'm just... All right. Any further discussion on this item before we vote? All right. Hearing none, please vote.

For yes, one no.

All right. Item 7D, Amendment to City Code, Title I, Administrative Chapter 10, Finances, Section 9, Non-Discrimination, Title II, Boards and Commissions, Chapter 9, Human Rights Commission, Section 4, Responsibilities, and Title VII, Public Ways and Property, Chapter 12, Library Regulations, Section 2, Rules and regulations, this one touches a lot of different city code. We've got an ordinance amendment for approval of the first reading, and there are no outstanding issues. This is being done to bring city code in compliance with state law. Is there, I'm sorry, we've got a motion for the first reading. Somebody want to make a motion to consider the first reading? Okay, is there a second? Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. Is there anybody in the audience or online that would like to address the council on item 7D? MJ, come on up. Give us your name and address for the record. Five minutes, civil and respectful.

MJ Hoag, 413 2nd Street. So, you know, we say, well, we have to because the law says so. But I would like to note, this community is no stranger to ignoring the law when it suits us. For instance, our trail underpass mural program, that started when someone painted an underpass without permission. Staff, instead of throwing the book at them, looked at it and was like, that's pretty cool. Let's make it a real thing. So someone broke the law and our city got buttered. Now that's a recent example, but you can find more through our history. During Prohibition, Iowa became a dry state, but a little upstart town then known as Valley Junction was decidedly wet, not from the floodwaters that plagued us, but from all of the booze we refused to stop drinking. Now, I won't argue that was a morally upstanding position on our part, but it is a choice that we made as a community to defy the law. In fact, that spirit of defiance goes all the way back to our founders, right? Mr. James Jordan faced with a law that said enslaved people were property and a conscience that said they were people, chose his conscience over the law and helped them escape to freedom. Today, we celebrate him for his law breaking. So to say we have no choice here is to ignore our long history of choosing. We do have a choice. We have always had a choice. When you have our lobbyists remain silent on bad bills, like SF 579, that's making a choice, a choice arguably of cowardice, but a choice. When we hope not to challenge the state over, when we hope not to fight that in the court, so using violation of home rule or whatever other legal theory staff can come up with, that's a choice. It's a choice of capitulation, but it is a choice. Today, voting yes on this, you are also making a choice. It's a choice to become complicit in the state's cruelty, but it is a choice. If you guys cannot find the courage to stand up for the people you're supposed to represent, at least own that you're making a choice to abandon them. Thank you.

Thank you, MJ. Well, I can't disagree more with what was just said. I've been on this council for 16, 17 years, and we've always abided by the law. We've always abided by home rule, whether we agree with it or not. And I'm going to give you an example. When the Biden administration came down with the vaccine mandate, we prepared to put it in place, whether we agreed with it or not. Some of us agreed with this. Some of us didn't agree with it. We're here to abide by the law. and that's what we will do as long as I'm mayor. People can vote however they choose, but like it or not, the state legislature has home rule and they passed a law and this is the law of the land. Like it or not, the Biden administration put in place a vaccine mandate and we prepared to put that in place until we were told that that is no longer the law of the land. So you talk about a long history of disregarding the law I don't see a long history with this council disregarding the law in any way, shape, or form. And in the 16, 17 years that I've been on the council, respectfully, MJ, we've abided by the law. I don't think that it makes sense for any elected official to not abide by the law. I think you take an oath to abide by the law.

We do.

So...

I'd like to add one thing.

Appreciate your passion and... You know, I think a lot of us share the same passion, but we've got laws to follow and I think we need to set the example and follow the law that's been put in place. And I have to speak up.

Yeah, you wanna go ahead?

I wanna go too. Yeah, thank you. I sit here and I remember there was a time in the history of our state, it's called civil disobedience. It's called just because it's the law, doesn't necessarily mean it's just for everyone. This is an example. This law was passed at the State House. This was to be the law of the land. But what happened to America where it was okay to disagree? That's part of our history. We just started celebrating the fact that our country celebrated 250 years. But it started as an act of civil disobedience. I'm not going to go on and on and on because I could. But I'm going to say just because it is the law doesn't mean that it's morally right. And I stand on the side of being morally right.

The only thing I'll add is, MJ, thanks for coming up. I'm a tad annoyed by the fact that I was told that I'm abandoning people who fall in this category. That's not true at all. I have a transgender nephew. I have a transgender cousin. I have gay people in my family. So that's not the case in any way. However, I did make a pledge to do the best I could with the taxpayer's dollars sitting in this chair. That is the only promise I ever made. Fighting this and taking a stand and going to court over this isn't a good use of taxpayer dollars. If you want to have a rally outside on our own, I'm there with you. But Tonight is not the night to do that, so I'll be voting yes. Thank you.

Any other discussion before we vote?

Yeah, I'm just going to ask. Greta, if we did not approve this, what would our ramifications be?

If you didn't make the changes, you still wouldn't be legally allowed Follow your code it is as it is written now That would still be considered to be illegal and unenforceable there could be Funding issues associated with it as well In terms of federal or state grant opportunities Because in this case state law overrides what we would have on an ordinance Correct.

Thank you.

Okay, any further discussion? Okay, please vote.

Board yes, one no. An Ordinance to amend the City Code of the City of West Des Moines, Iowa 2024 by amending Title I, Administrative, Title II, Boards and Commissions, and Title VII, Public Ways and Property.

Motion to approve the first reading.

Second okay, please vote

five yes Okay, item eight receive file and or refer item 8a We will receive and file the independent auditors report financial statements and supplementary and other information as of December 31st 2025 item 9 other matters are there any other matters any council person would like to raise for the good of the order at this point in time Okay Hearing none, we are going to adjourn and we are going to go into executive session upstairs in the boardroom. We're adjourned.