Bettendorf City Council members and city staff met recently to set goals for the coming year, but you won't find any information online about the sessions.
Even though the meetings with the city's Florida-based consultant were open to the public, no video or audio recording of the discussions were made. For that matter, there aren't any written minutes of the sessions. According to the city's attorney, the council just talked about its priorities, it didn't take any votes on its priorities. . . yet.
Consultant Lyle Sumek has billed the city more than $18,000 so far for this year's planning services, plus $345 for snacks and lunches for the council.
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You won't gain any insight into city council goal-setting via the public cable channel, but you can still watch a lengthy defense of why the city has ramped up its use of general obligation debt over the past five years. The committee-of-the-whole presentation made August 28 by City Administrator Decker Ploehn and City Finance Director Carol Barnes may be the longest running re-run ever on the city cable channel. Nearly two months later, the program is still being aired regularly.
During the session, Ploehn assures council members they've done a lot of good with all that debt (now totaling more than $130 million, or 80-plus percent of the city's debt limit). He observes during the one hour and 20 minute presentation that no residents have ever called him to ask him to NOT improve the street in front of their house.
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Speaking of debt, the city is again buying American Express credit cards with an annual fee of $55 for each aldermen, the mayor and 15 other city officials. Why pay $1,320 annually to AMEX for the privilege of a credit card, while all other credit card companies hand them out for free? Still awaiting an explanation from the city finance department on how the city arrived at the decision to pay an annual fee for credit cards.
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One item listed in the manual used for discussion during the council's two-day goal-setting meeting was an administration "crucial issue" to work out a deal with Isle of Capri Casino and Green Bridge Development (owned by the Goldstein family) for riverfront development.
The Isle has announced plans to move its gambling operation to a land-based casino between its two riverfront hotels. Green Bridge owns property upstream and downstream of the casino hotels and has long wanted the city to build a second railroad overpass (at 23rd Street) to provide another access to the riverfront and the hotel/casino property. The colorful drawings used to sell riverboat gambling long ago showed luxury condominium towers in that vicinity overlooking the Mississippi River.
Let's hope any new agreement for additional public investment for the benefit of the casino and Green Bridge also will bring greater public access to the riverfront and a clean up of the entire riverfront, adjacent to the downtown, owned by Green Bridge and the casino.
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And, speaking about public investment downtown, the city has purchased five very small houses along Grant Street for $330,000 for expansion of the so-called "Town Square." The square – the block between State and Grant Streets and 20th and 21st Streets, is what people see looking out of the special events center.
The south half of the Town Square has been serving as the city's main bus stop/transfer location, and parking for a nearby biker bar. The current view includes several beautiful planters, two port-a-potties for bus users, and two dozen giant concrete blocks to prevent parking in the bus transfer area.
The houses are on the north half of the block. One has been torn down, leaving a still unfilled basement. Two large piles of dirt (for filling the excavations after the houses have been demolished) have become a different kind of planter with weeds nearly as tall as the houses.
City officials say they're not sure what the Town Square eventually will include, other than greenspace. A small group of downtown and city representatives have been meeting to come up with a plan for how the area should be developed.
