March 28, 2009

What has the city council been up to?

March 4: Regular Session

Legislation for Second Reading and Resolutions

Appropriation Ordinance 09-01: To appropriate grant funds from PetSmart Charities for the Animal Care and Control Department. The animal shelter received grant funds, and it’s the city council’s job to appropriate the funds to specific budget lines within that department so the funds can be spent. Laurie Ringquist of the animal shelter said the $20,000 grant would be used for the resurfacing of the adoptable and stray dog kennels shelter. This was approved by a vote of 9-0.

Resolution 09-03: To approve recommendations for distribution of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for 2009. CDBG funds are allocated to local governments by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, and in Bloomington the funds are administered through the city’s Housing and Neighborhood Development department. The awards are made based on applications from local non-profit agencies, and they are reviewed by two citizen advisory committees, one for physical improvements and one for social services. $483,600 was recommended for physical improvements to the city’s HAND department, Abilities Unlimited, Monroe County United Ministries (MCUM), the Bloomington Housing Authority, and the city’s utilities and public works departments. Social services funding was recommended  for Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, Hoosier Hills Foodbank, Community Kitchen, Stepping Stones, Middle Way House, and MCUM for a total of $111,600. These awards were approved by the Council by a vote of 9-0.

 Legislation for First Reading

Ordinance 09-04: To amend the municipal code to add a chapter entitled “Green Building Program.” This ordinance, co-sponsored by myself and Dave Rollo, requires all new buildings constructed by the City of Bloomington to meet the US Green Building Council’s LEED-NC Silver standards. It also requires the city’s currently existing buildings to be analyzed in order to determine whether they can be brought up to LEED-EB:OM Silver standards within a 10-year payback period. LEED-EB:OM is the USGBC’s standard for Existing Buildings, focusing on Operations and Maintenance of the buildings. If the currently existing city buildings pass the cost-benefit analysis, then they must be brought up to LEED Silver by June 30, 2021.

Certain buildings are exempted from the ordinance because they are not regularly used by city employees year-round (concession stands, storage rooms, mechanical rooms) or because there is currently no LEED standard that is relevant to that type of building (mechanical rooms, fire stations). No building was exempt from a preliminary analysis conducted by the city staff, and the exempted buildings were also thought to probably not pass the cost-benefit analysis.

March 11: Special Session and Committee of the Whole

Legislation for First Reading

Ordinance 09-03: To approve issuance of revenue bonds up to $6.5 million for the Parks and Recreation Department to purchase the Sportsplex. This would allow the city to purchase the Sportsplex by entering into a revenue bond, to be paid for by the revenue generated by the facility. The facility was appraised in February at $10 million by three independent real estate appraisers, and Mick Renneisen, director of Parks & Rec, has reached an agreement with the current owners of the Sportsplex to purchase it for $5,550,000. The remaining $950,000 of the proposed revenue bond would go toward needed repairs, the appraisals, the bond counsel, building inspection and site surveying as well as $477,678 set aside as capitalized interest. The capitalized interest is extra money borrowed by the city to cover the first few years of debt payments in case revenues don’t match expectations.

Committee of the Whole Discussion

Ordinance 09-04: Green Building ordinance. Dave Rollo and I presented the reasons we think it’s important to pass the ordinance: the high energy and water use in buildings, the commitments the city has already made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the fiscal responsibility to use taxpayer dollars wisely in the long run, and the global perspective of reduced availability of oil and natural gas. We then summarized the provisions of the ordinance.

Most council member questions focused on how much the Phase II analysis called for in the ordinance would cost, and how much it would cost to bring the buildings that pass the cost-benefit analysis (maximum 10-year payback period) up to LEED Silver. One member of the public, local “green” building Joe Davis, questioned whether LEED was the best standard to use for green buildings, asking us to allow other standards to be used.

March 18: Spring Break, no meeting

March 25: Regular Session and Committee of the Whole

Legislation for Second Reading

Ordinance 09-04: Green Building ordinance. An amendment was presented that changed the timeline of the Phase II analysis and the subsequent retrofitting of existing buildings to bring them up to LEED Silver, giving the city staff more flexibility in implementing the ordinance. The end result was to add two more years to the deadline for LEED-EB:OM Silver, so now the deadline is Dec. 31, 2022. The amendment passed 9-0.

The council then reconsidered the ordinance as a whole. I presented the LEED-EB:OM checklist so they could better understand the ways the city could earn points in the LEED system through building improvements. We had received three estimates from building professionals as to how much the Phase II analysis would cost, and they ranged from $50,000-$170,000. Note that the Phase II analysis includes a cost-benefit study of bringing the building up to LEED Silver, and if the payback period for “green” improvements is more than 10 years, then applying for LEED Silver would not be required. The ordinance passed 9-0.

Committee of the Whole discussion

Ordinance 09-03: Acquisition of the Sportsplex. Parks & Rec director Mick Renneisen presented the ordinance, Tom Guevara of Crowe-Horwath presented the financial feasibility study, and Bond Counsel Hans Steck was on hand to answer questions. Mr. Renneisen also announced that NBA star Jared Jeffries has made a gift of $25,000 to the city to support programs at the Sportsplex. Council members had a lot of questions, focused mainly on the assumptions which underlay the financial feasibility study and on the reasons why the current owner would want to sell for little over half of the appraised value.

 The non-binding recommendation vote was 5 Yes, 1 No, and 3 Abstain.