Des Moines Citizens Advisory Board — October 28, 2026

Chair: Harry Steinmetz Council: Deputy Mayor Gene Achziger, Staff: Tara Vaughan

Editor’s notes: Timestamps are kept at speaker changes. Speakers are named only when they self-identify, are called on by name, or context makes it clear. Otherwise they’re marked [Member]. Items in [brackets with ?] are unverified spellings or garbled audio. Pre-meeting crosstalk is omitted.

Call to order and roll call

[0:51] Harry Steinmetz: I’m calling to order the October 28th meeting of the Des Moines Citizens Advisory Board. Thank you all for coming. We need to do a roll call. Let’s just go around the room.

[1:06] Dan Wahlstrom: Dan Wahlstrom, Woodmont.

[1:14] Philip Mendoza: Philip Mendoza, Business District.

[1:17] Bettina Carey: Bettina Carey, Marina District and Arts Committee.

[1:21] Aileen Evans: Aileen Evans, at large.

[1:25] Victoria Andrews: Victoria Andrews, at large and Human Services Committee.

[1:28] Mary Ellen Laird: Mary Ellen Laird, also at large and also on the Human Services Committee.

[1:34] Diane Hoyer: Diane Hoyer, at large and Human Services Advisory Committee.

[1:40] Lisa Franz: Lisa Franz, Redondo and Human Services.

[1:47] Randy Richards: Randy Richards, at large.

[1:51] Charlene Balcazo: Charlene Balcazo, Business District and on the Arts Committee.

[1:55] Jeff Crompe: Jeff Crompe, at large, Arts Committee.

[2:00] Bill Linscott: Bill Linscott, Marina Tenants.

[2:03] Alyson Chapin: Alyson Chapin, North Central.

[2:07] Gene Achziger: Gene Achziger, your Deputy Mayor.

[2:10] Harry Steinmetz: And Harry Steinmetz. I’m your chair.

Absences

[2:16] Harry Steinmetz: Item number one on the agenda. Well, we had some absences, and I forgot — I did not bring a list of them.

[2:36] [Member]: [Inaudible — reports hearing from an absent member.] She can’t make it.

[3:13] Harry Steinmetz: So it sounds like Eddy, Susan, and maybe Kareem are not here. Rick — I thought Rick was having surgery. Who was it that was having hip surgery?

[3:31] [Member]: Not yet.

[3:36] Harry Steinmetz: Is there a motion regarding the absences?

[3:41] [Member]: To excuse.

[3:50] Harry Steinmetz: All those in favor? Any opposed? All right, they’re excused.

[4:03] Harry Steinmetz: And here’s Rick. We just excused you. All right. And Magdalena is here. Okay, got it.

Approval of the September 30 minutes

[4:31] Harry Steinmetz: Item number one on the agenda is approval of the minutes from the September 30th meeting. Do I have a motion?

[4:39] [Member]: I move to approve the minutes from the September 30th meeting.

[4:42] Harry Steinmetz: Is there a second?

[4:44] [Member]: Second.

[4:45] Harry Steinmetz: Is there any discussion? Call the question. All in favor say aye. All opposed? Hearing none, the motion passes.

2027 work plan discussion

[5:00] Harry Steinmetz: Then we have item two, which is the 2027 work plan discussion. What are we going to do next year? Tara is going to lead the discussion.

[5:14] Tara Vaughan: I’ve just got a couple of slides here. First, the meeting dates are the exact same as this year: the last Wednesday of each month. We’ve left off November and December so we can talk about that, given the holidays.

[5:33] [Member]: July 28th again. Let me just make a note of that.

[5:41] Tara Vaughan: So maybe we can discuss whether to cancel that meeting at a meeting this spring or something. Same location, 6:00 to 8:00 PM. We might not use the full two hours, but that’ll be the scheduled time.

This is our draft work plan. Obviously it’s a living document, subject to change, but this is what we’re hoping for. We didn’t put exact dates, just roughly when we plan to talk about things.

In the late winter and spring, hopefully we’ll have our new Parks and Rec director, and I’ll be working on the Parks and Rec master plan. You should all have a sheet in front of you that explains both the Parks and Rec master plan and the Marina master plan. We also hope to give you an update on land use and downtown initiatives. And I’m hoping I can find somebody at the Port who might be willing to come talk to you about their environmental improvement grants and how you can apply for those.

In the summer we’d be working on the Marina visioning and master plan discussion, plus a midyear work plan review to see if anybody wants to add topics for the second half of the year. I’m also hoping to get somebody from the King County Assessor’s office to talk to the group about property tax exemptions and deferrals. I thought that might be interesting, but if it’s not, let me know and I’ll take it off.

In the fall, obviously, a 2028 budget update, a work plan review just like we’re doing now, and a discussion of the November and December meeting dates.

Then I really wanted to open it up to you. We’ll also have time at each meeting for announcements, like we do now.

You should also have a form in front of you. This is an advisory board, so each committee, or just members in general, come up with a lot of good ideas for events and things like that. I’m going to send out an email with a fillable PDF of this form. What we want you to do is use this form and submit it to me before a meeting so I can get it on the agenda and you can present it to the group. Then you get the yay or nay from the group, and we’ll take it from there and see if we can make the idea happen.

So first, let’s talk about work plan topics. Oh, yeah, go ahead.

[8:42] [Member]: I’ve submitted at least two topics already, but not in an official form — one almost a year ago and one about eight months ago. How do we bring those forward without redoing them?

[8:56] Tara Vaughan: Use the form. That would be great. It’s going to help us keep a paper trail so things don’t fall off, and we can hopefully prioritize things better. We’ll get into the form a little more, but first I want to see if you have anything you want to add to the work plan for next year. Victoria.

[9:24] Victoria Andrews: Thank you. We may be discussing this tonight, so it would not be on the work plan, but there’s the restructuring of the Senior Services Committee, which will mean changes to our ordinance and all of the legal mumbo jumbo as well. I just don’t want that to get lost. The way I’ve seen things done most recently is with an action log, so things don’t get forgotten. I don’t know how you’re going to keep track of things, but I like action logs myself.

[10:09] [Member]: What is an action log? Can you describe it a little bit?

[10:16] Victoria Andrews: It’s basically a spreadsheet. It lists the topic, who suggested it, who’s responsible for doing it, when it’s due, and whether it’s been done or what the progress is. That way we can look down at it and say, “What about Bettina’s idea from eight months ago? Who was that assigned to, and what’s the progress? Or did it never go anywhere, and we’re moving on?” It’s just a framework for keeping track.

[10:52] Tara Vaughan: Since you brought up Senior Services, if I could respond to that quickly: we are in the process of hiring a Rec director — yay. Once they come on and we start working on the Parks and Rec master plan, I think they’re going to take into account all of your input about restructuring Senior Services. I don’t think it will happen right away, but as soon as we get somebody in, we can get somebody working on that.

[11:27] Bill Linscott: On the work plan, there are some real lofty topics that are going to take time to work out. I was wondering whether we ought to also look at some very specific things that are right in front of us. One that’s coming up soon is the project down at Beach Park with the fish estuary. They’ve got a group going. We’ve had two grants already, we’re working on a third, and it’s a great project. When they’re done with this phase they’ll be at about 60% design, and they’ll be moving forward with permits.

One of the tasks in that is public engagement for input on things other than just fish: what would we like to see in that park? That’s Task 8, and it’s not scheduled until the end of the project, which has always bothered me. It’s like building a house where you put the landscaping in first and then ask where you want to put the house. The sooner we get input, the better. This group could help get the public aware of it. It doesn’t have to be the big strategic plan method, but elements of that could be used to go out and gather input. I think that would be a good topic to do early and would give us something to work on.

[13:05] Tara Vaughan: We’ll bring that up to administration and see what we can do.

[13:13] [Member]: Following on from that, many of us, particularly those new to this process, may not know all the projects going on in Des Moines and slated for the upcoming year and beyond. One idea would be to educate us on what initiatives are underway and what’s planned, so that if we have an idea, we don’t repeat something that’s already in the works. Maybe just a preview or a list of what’s happening currently and what’s planned.

[13:49] [Member]: Several months ago we did have Public Works come in and do exactly that — these are the big projects. That information is out there somewhere.

[14:00] [Member]: Yeah, I think so. They can access it.

[14:06] Tara Vaughan: I can send you a link to that one specifically. But I do think it’s a good once-a-year thing to have Public Works come in and talk about all the projects going on in the city.

[14:21] Victoria Andrews: Mary Ellen, when would you suggest is the best time to slot that into our work plan? Fall or summer?

[14:36] [Member]: Probably late spring, because everything happens over the summer. As the weather improves, more projects get started. So even a little earlier than we did this year — late spring.

[14:57] [Member]: Like May. And is there significant interest in that? There seems to be, but I want to make sure.

[15:04] [Member]: Certainly. I agree. I always like to get an update on where projects are, even throughout the year. So a formal Public Works presentation to bring us current, but also just wrapping up an evening with where we stand on some obvious projects, like the stairs.

[15:46] Victoria Andrews: And not all projects involve Public Works. That’s where an action log helps — those things fit in there too, even though most things affect Public Works somehow.

[16:06] [Member]: I was understanding a distinction: there are city projects we’re going to let everybody know about, but the action log was more specific to the CAB’s own projects. Is that not what was meant? Maybe I’m reading into it.

[16:27] Victoria Andrews: Originally it would just be the CAB projects that are underway or suggested. On the other hand, we’re all here to be involved in city business, so it would be great to integrate them all and keep track of everything — both our projects and what staff and contractors are working on. That’s my thought. I want to know everything.

[Laughter]

[16:57] Harry Steinmetz: I’m sympathetic to that. We can talk to the administration and see — let’s just make them as overloaded as possible, right? Did you have something to say?

[17:15] [Member]: I just wanted to add that some of our ideas come from those briefings. When we see a briefing, our question ought to be, “How might we help?” In that dialogue you’ll find where we have a place to help, because I feel like we could be more utilized. Like the Fourth of July ideas that came from that — many of those were incorporated.

[17:47] [Member]: I like the idea of being broader, but I also know staff has their own processes. Maybe they already have a process we can plug into without adding another request on top. I’d start internally with what the CAB does, then go to staff and say, “You probably have a work action plan. Could we jump into that?” rather than putting more workload on them. In fact, I know city planning is getting a brand-new platform where you’ll be able to see every single project in real time. So why bring on a new process?

[18:37] Harry Steinmetz: I think the website is going to answer that question on a regular basis. Jim.

[18:47] Jim [last name?]: Looking through the structure of this, it could be helpful to give us any information we’d need to prepare ahead of time. If it’s the Parks and Rec master plan and you’re looking for input about what type of park people want, we could go to our neighborhoods, ask those questions, and come back with answers. But I know that’s another thing to add to a list that’s already full.

[19:13] Harry Steinmetz: Part of this is brainstorming. Get it out there.

[19:25] [Member]: As far as communicating about projects and action items, I like the CAB having its own work plan. We already get a lot from the City Manager’s newsletter every month, so maybe we should focus on that. It would be redundant for staff to build something new when it already exists, and the website may provide more information. I’m trying to avoid adding tasks.

[20:02] Harry Steinmetz: Victoria, I’d just like to leave it in your laps. You all percolate on it. We’re fine with whatever you come up with.

[20:12] Magdalena [last name?]: I know I missed some meetings this year, so I want to make sure I understand our structure. When I started, we were organized by region, by area of Des Moines. Is that still the case, or are we doing something different? And if so, are there areas missing people that we’re trying to recruit from? It would be interesting to know what’s happening in each area. Maybe break it down by meeting — three or four areas report at certain times of the year — so we can learn from each other.

I also see our role as connecting with our neighbors and telling them what’s going on. Once they know that we know, they ask us questions. Like you said, you want to know everything — me too. If you give us talking points, we can help spread the word. I just met my neighbor, introduced myself, and said, “By the way, I’m going to this meeting.” Just being a good neighbor and making sure they know this body exists. But we need the information to share it.

[21:36] Tara Vaughan: The broad answer to your question is yes, it’s still neighborhood-focused. But we have a lot of at-large members now. As we incorporated the volunteer committees into the CAB, we didn’t want to leave people out, so we added more at-large members. There are neighborhoods that are not represented that should be. We have a list of those, and I can send it out in an email along with the PDF of this form. Pacific Highway, for example, hasn’t had a representative for a while, and we just haven’t found anybody willing to do it. Sometimes there are a lot of people from one area and not many from another, so the more we can balance that, the better.

[22:40] Magdalena: I wonder if that’s something we can help with. I’ve been in this community for 25 years and I know a lot of people. I work here, I raised kids here. That’s something we could support.

[22:53] Tara Vaughan: That’d be great.

[22:56] Harry Steinmetz: Okay, Dan.

[22:58] Dan Wahlstrom: Adding on to that — that’s a great idea. I like the two-way communication piece. We come here, learn what’s happening with the city, and take that information back to our neighborhoods. I was on a neighborhood board for a while

, and it seemed like we didn’t really know what was going on with the City or what its priorities were. We tried to stay connected but didn’t have that link, and this could be one of the links for a lot of communities. Conversely, we can bring things from the neighborhoods back to the City. So I’d encourage everybody to bring ideas from local folks to the group.

[23:45] Harry Steinmetz: So maybe make it a regular part of the agenda, like Magdalena was suggesting — hear from three or four neighborhood representatives each meeting.

[23:56] [Member]: That’d be great. Go around the room and hear what people have to say. If there’s no report, we say “no report” and move on. But there might be things to touch on.

[24:08] Harry Steinmetz: We are definitely in the process of expanding communication outward from where we were several years ago. It’s a process, but I think the City’s doing much better at it, and it’s going to keep getting better. Aileen.

[24:34] Aileen Evans: As a reminder, when people in your district or at large come up and speak with you, ask whether they’re subscribed to the Manager’s Report that comes out every week. It really helps, so we don’t have to rehash all the information again with a resident. Also, if you miss a meeting here, I highly suggest you go back and watch it on the City website. Then you don’t feel like you’ve missed anything.

[25:18] [Member]: Along the same subject, could we have a list of the communities that aren’t represented anymore, as well as anyone whose term might be ending this year and creating another vacancy, or being reappointed?

[25:45] [Member]: I don’t know what my term limit is. Are we all three or four years?

[25:52] Tara Vaughan: It was staggered — two and four. The vacancies will include your term as well.

[26:02] [Member]: Cool, thank you. But I think you can serve more than one term, just not more than two, or something like that?

[26:14] Tara Vaughan: Two consecutive terms, and then — don’t quote me — I think it’s a year off, and then you can reapply.

[26:27] [Member]: And if I recall, the people on two-year terms were only on two years so that everybody wouldn’t be off at once. So future appointments will all be four years, right?

[26:35] Tara Vaughan: That’s correct.

[26:52] Harry Steinmetz: Okay. So let’s —

[26:55] Magdalena: One more thing, please. A very vulnerable moment here: I didn’t know the meetings were recorded, so thank you. Is there an onboarding for new members, some sort of buddy system or orientation? I’m thinking, “How did I not know we have recordings and other ways to participate?” I’ve been here 25 years, but I didn’t know the neighborhoods until I came here. I still probably don’t — Pacific Ridge, Pac Highway, but what’s the other one? Even if it’s self-learning — here’s your packet, learn about Des Moines, here are the core documents to read and get acquainted with.

[27:47] Harry Steinmetz: We had — it wasn’t a full notebook, but an explanation of some of the rules and the ordinance that got handed out to everybody. Did you get that?

[28:04] Tara Vaughan: I’m going to add that to the email.

[28:07] Harry Steinmetz: We’re going to keep Tara busy.

[28:11] [Member]: That’s just good to know, because it’s like most committees: you sign up, you get appointed, and then you find out what you’re really supposed to do. Bill knows that one.

[28:23] [Member]: I have a very old list of members. It would be great to have an updated list with email addresses, phone numbers, and what committee they’re on. Remember, I had to email you because I couldn’t find Jeff’s email anywhere.

[28:43] Tara Vaughan: So maybe at the first meeting of the year we’ll get a new one.

[28:46] [Member]: Get a new notebook with all the updated stuff. Cool. I can wait.

[28:53] Tara Vaughan: That’s probably doable. I don’t see why not. I might miss a thing or two, but I’ll try to get most of what you’d need to know.

[29:02] Jeff Crompe: Just a quick one, because we have two newer people, Dan and Phil. A number of us don’t know what Phil’s business is.

[29:13] [Member]: Although we would love some coffee.

[29:17] Philip Mendoza: Hi everybody. My name is Philip Mendoza. I own Second Love Coffee Roasters. We’re the micro roaster downtown, part of the Des Moines Theater. I’ve seen many of you in the café, and it’s good to see you outside the café. I’m really excited to be part of this group.

[29:36] [Member]: And you sell wine, too.

[29:42] Philip Mendoza: Oh, yes. We will soon be pouring and serving wine and beer.

[Laughter]

[29:58] Harry Steinmetz: Okay, that’s it for ideas. Oh — no, here we go. Bettina.

[30:04] Bettina Carey: I’m for real. [Laughter] Tara, this might be something you can start doing, but I think Magdalena’s idea is absolutely essential. If we were going to reverse-engineer this, it might be good to take the minutes from the last year, or six months, or however many you decide, and give them to the new folks. Same thing for the City Council agendas, and identify where the YouTube links are so they can watch videos if they want. And of course the link to the City Manager’s report. Then we just do that going forward too, so it’s no chore for anybody. We put it together once, it sits there like a template, and we just feed it to the coffee machine — one, two, three, four, five, however many are on board.

I’d also be open to meeting with any one of you and sharing my knowledge of the CAB, if you want to exchange information at some point.

[31:27] Harry Steinmetz: Gene.

[31:29] Gene Achziger: It sounds like an idea the administration might want to explore is the CAB having its own dedicated page on the website, so you don’t have to keep sending stuff out. That’ll be your home. It also sounds advantageous to have a separate projects page — not a calendar, just a spreadsheet of everything that’s going on. I’m not a tech person, but I believe you can feed the calendars from one entry. Anyway, I think a dedicated page would help the CAB. For people who need to onboard, the information is all right there. And it’s not just for new people; it’s for keeping an ongoing list of who’s on the CAB and which positions are open.

[32:54] Harry Steinmetz: Diane.

[32:59] Diane Hoyer: It’s also good for the residents of our community to know, “Oh, that person’s in my community.” That’s a good connection too. It works both ways.

[33:11] Dan Wahlstrom: And maybe a little bit about myself. I don’t own a business, but I grew up in Des Moines — actually in what is now SeaTac. I went to Mount Rainier High School with Rick; we graduated together. I moved away for 25 years and came back five years ago, into Woodmont. That’s the big-picture story. I’m involved with the yacht club.

[33:34] [Member]: That’s sweet.

[33:46] [Member]: Something else that seems to be missing: I don’t know that there’s ever been an announcement about each of us as individuals in a public way, through the communications vehicles, whether that’s the website or a newsletter. We’re out there spreading the word, but there isn’t anything on the website or communicated to the public about us representing our district or committee — other than if someone watches this meeting. I think that’s an area that could be addressed as well.

[34:37] [Member]: Just to piggyback on that: I had asked Katherine — and actually Jeff had brought it up — that it would be nice to have name tags for when we’re out in public. When I was passing out flyers inviting people to some open houses, they wanted to know more, and then, “Who are you, spreading the word?” I’ll check back with Katherine on that.

[35:03] [Member]: I’ve been busily filling out my first project form here. Piggybacking on Magdalena’s suggestion: some cheap business cards. One side says who we are — we could write that in; we don’t each need our own, although it would be nice. The other side says how to access the City Manager’s report, very clean and simple. For the people I work with who don’t get it: a QR code and very simple instructions, like the website in miniature.

[35:56] [Member]: That makes sense.

Project proposal form

[35:59] Tara Vaughan: Unless anybody has other work plan ideas — and these are all really good ideas — we can move on to the form. Feel free to handwrite it, but the fillable PDF is preferred. I’m sure we all have very good handwriting, but sometimes it’s hard to decipher, and you’ll have more space on the PDF. I know you’re just getting this for the first time, but if you see something that should be added or something that’s confusing, let me know. We can talk about it now, or you can email me with ideas.

It’s cut off a little on the printout. The last line is “estimated City funding requested, if any.” When I send out the PDF, it will be on there.

Does anybody have immediate feedback on the form? No? Okay.

This is for when you’ve got an idea you want to pitch to the CAB and get a yay or nay, or even just discuss it at a meeting. Send me this form at least a week before the meeting and we’ll get it on the agenda. Everybody will get a copy so they can see what you’re talking about. Like I said, it keeps a paper trail, it helps us follow the code steps, and it gives the group more information. It’s a little more fleshed out than “Hey, I’ve got an idea.”

[37:47] [Member]: Because I’m looking at the budget line —

[37:50] Tara Vaughan: Yeah, some of it won’t be applicable, and you can just say that’s not applicable. Okay, that’s me.

[38:00] Harry Steinmetz: Charlene.

[38:02] Charlene Balcazo: I’m asking: this form is designed for fresh, new ideas for the future, right? So we would still present our committee updates along the way, as we do now? Or would the 2027 concerts have to be written up in this format?

[38:26] Tara Vaughan: We’re going to discuss those today, and we didn’t have this form yet. But 2028 would probably come through this process. Some of it won’t apply to something like a summer concert series, but fill in as much as you can. More detail is better.

Marina steps, holiday tree, and public art

[38:49] [Member]: The marina steps project is nearing completion, I presume. Is anything going to happen when it’s completed — a ribbon cutting or something introducing it to the public? And is there anything we on the CAB can do to participate, help, or just be present to celebrate?

[39:19] Tara Vaughan: I will ask about that.

[39:22] Harry Steinmetz: I saw your hand moving.

[39:24] Gene Achziger: I’m sure there’ll be a ribbon cutting, but I don’t know that there are specific plans at this point. One of the things we’re going to address tomorrow night is purchasing a big Christmas tree. It’ll be an artificial tree that can anchor in there, and we may have some funding available for it. That way we can have the Christmas celebration down there without having to get the cherry picker lift for that funny tree that didn’t really look like a Christmas tree.

[40:11] [Member]: Not the other tree that was down there that we decorated last year?

[40:22] [Member]: On that subject — tomorrow night, your plan is still to get the artificial tree and have it in place for this year’s tree lighting?

[40:33] Gene Achziger: That’s the discussion for tomorrow night. There are no plans yet. We’ll make plans tomorrow night.

[40:46] Harry Steinmetz: Okay, Aileen.

[40:56] Aileen Evans: Maybe I missed something, but with the tree, why was the decision made to go artificial instead of using the live tree that’s existing there?

[41:08] Gene Achziger: It wasn’t just the difficulty of decorating it. It didn’t really fit as a Christmas tree — how it looked. And the expense of bringing in a cut tree is phenomenal. An artificial tree amortizes over several years to a far smaller amount.

[41:44] Aileen Evans: Thank you. And one other question on the marina: has there been a decision on what type of mural will go on the steps, and how much area there is for art murals? I briefly read that something was in the works. Have you heard anything?

[42:18] Gene Achziger: A lot of other governmental agencies have a “1% for art” policy. We do not. But there is contingency money on the project, and how we’d use that money is open for discussion. Do we want the City to do something, or do we have organizations that also contribute art to the City? It’s kind of up in the air right now.

[43:06] Aileen Evans: And why are we not part of that 1%? Was it transportation revenue that came through, or what was that 1%?

[43:14] Gene Achziger: No, it’s simply that a council designates that any project it works on will set aside 1% for public art. A municipality just decides that’s what it’s going to do. Then you can make exceptions — for a major road project like the 240th work we’re doing now, you might say we’re not going to do 1% for art. But for something like constructing the Redondo pier — there was no money set aside for public art for that project. In some cities, like Seattle, it’s actually baked into the decision on whether to go ahead with a project: what percentage will go to public art.

[44:11] Aileen Evans: Okay, thank you.

[44:12] Harry Steinmetz: And I think the County passed something very similar, and then applications come from the cities or the artists —

[44:20] [Member]: To the County, for that. That’s something separate.

[44:30] Harry Steinmetz: Yeah, that’s separate from a City designation. All right, Charlene.

[44:36] Charlene Balcazo: Gene, are you suggesting that was an oversight? That 1% could have been asked of projects like Redondo. It makes perfect sense. It should have been.

[44:51] Gene Achziger: We just have not enacted any legislation pertaining to that yet. I don’t think it was an oversight. We’ve been proceeding with projects without having such a plan. But if the public is interested and wants to bring it to the council, the council could consider simply passing an ordinance saying 1% of any project would be dedicated to public art.

[45:18] Charlene Balcazo: So could we as the CAB make the recommendation that an ordinance be considered? It makes good sense, obviously with the exception of waiving it for certain projects. And it’s a good revenue source that’s passed on to the contractor, right?

[45:40] Gene Achziger: It becomes part of the budget for that project. It’s not necessarily passed on; it’s part of what the City is spending.

[45:49] [Member]: And we’ve been going pretty close to the bone, right? I can see the logic there.

[45:56] Charlene Balcazo: Right — because it’s the City’s money. I guess I was confusing it with a private project, where the 1% doesn’t go into building the project itself.

[46:17] [Member]: Right. But still, as we get healthier, perhaps.

[46:22] Charlene Balcazo: Harry, would you help explain the difference between the 1% Gene and I were talking about and the 1% you and I were talking about? They’re totally different. Maybe that’s why the City decided not to use the taxpayers’ 1% or put it in the budget that way — because we already have access to the other one. Or is that new?

[46:40] Harry Steinmetz: That one is grants available through the County. I don’t know its current status — whether the funds have been exhausted or it’s ongoing. But you have to apply to the County. At the time, there was a lot of discussion about making sure it didn’t all end up in Seattle, because Seattle has a much more active arts scene and more projects, so the demand would be greater there. When the County implemented that, Dave Upthegrove was on the County Council, and he pushed for a certain percentage to stay — I don’t know whether it was framed as outside Seattle or by County Council district.

[48:03] Gene Achziger: I may be wrong, but I don’t think there’s a countywide program for purchasing art. There is event money, and that’s what former Councilmember Upthegrove was part of establishing. There was a feeling that not enough of the money distributed through the County’s 4Culture program was going to South King County. So now a certain amount has to be spent in South King County. Right now, where that money goes is assigned to the Legacy Foundation. The 4Culture grant comes to Legacy, and anybody can make a proposal to Legacy for how it’s spent. But it’s for events, not infrastructure or anything physical.

[48:58] Charlene Balcazo: Perfect. Thank you. That’s really good to know.

[49:08] Bettina Carey: We have an Arts Committee, and I haven’t heard that we’re going to be involved in selecting any of the art, and a mural hasn’t come our way either. But there’s a piece of art I brought to the Arts Committee’s attention several months back that we intended to present once we knew whether there was room for an art piece like this. Given that we have an Arts Committee, are we going to be involved in any grant writing or art selection — being involved in the process, so we can submit this piece? It’s absolutely gorgeous, created by one of our residents. Do you know?

[50:04] Tara Vaughan: As far as grant writing, you’d have to be assigned that. This is an advisory board, so it’s really about making recommendations: “There’s this great piece of art out there. I want to bring it to the CAB and see if they agree.” Then whichever staff are involved take it from there and see if we can acquire the art. We might assign Arts Committee members to help write a grant, but we have to follow that process. So it would depend.

[50:38] Bettina Carey: I guess I’ll fill in the form. But when can we submit this piece? Timing is everything. If a project is about to do certain things and they don’t know about this piece, when should we put it through the pipeline?

[50:58] Gene Achziger: What project are you talking about?

[51:00] Bettina Carey: The steps project.

[51:01] Gene Achziger: Oh, okay. ASAP.

[51:05] Tara Vaughan: And yes, use the form. That’s exactly what the form is for.

[51:14] [Member]: I just want to speak on top of Bettina. It makes perfect sense for us to present that idea on this form now, and my goal would be for it to come out of the contingency fund. That makes sense, right? Again, it’s just to be taken under consideration, and now would be the time to get it in the pipeline.

[51:51] Gene Achziger: Contingency funds usually aren’t available until you’re well into the project. We pretty much know right now how much of the contingency fund is left over. That’s different from the 1% we were talking about.

[52:12] [Member]: Oh, it is different. Absolutely. This is focused on this particular project.

[52:25] Jeff Crompe: A couple of things. Bill mentioned earlier about the estuary project — that it’s like putting in the landscaping and then building the house wherever it goes. I asked quite a while ago how the Arts Committee could be involved in the steps opening and art projects, and was basically told that would be decided at a later date. It seems like the date is later now, because the steps are almost ready to open — if we get lucky, maybe in the next 30 to 45 days. And yet nothing’s been set aside for any type of art, whether it’s something set into the cement or anything else. If we want to do something after the fact, they’ll have to uproot some of the work that’s already been done. It doesn’t seem like a lot of thought was given to art going in along with the project.

The only other thing, about the Christmas tree: isn’t the reason we’re looking at an artificial tree that the tree lighting is going to be down at the marina instead of up here? Isn’t that the main reason?

[53:40] Gene Achziger: Because we’re not going to put an artificial tree next to the one that’s sitting there.

[53:44] [Member]: Right. So we couldn’t use the existing tree — the existing tree at the marina?

[53:50] Gene Achziger: No, the existing tree right here at Big Catch Plaza that’s been used in the past — that’s always going to be lit. That’s an entirely different thing.

[53:58] Jeff Crompe: Okay. Well, talk about the art in the steps.

[54:06] Gene Achziger: To my understanding, there is an art element already in the process. On that structure that’s jutting out — I asked when they poured it, “Is this a bad pour?” And the answer was, “No, that was intentional, because it’s going to form a pattern on the structure.” That’s an art element, but it’s not a 1%-for-art type thing. I think we’re coming into a situation where we don’t have a set plan or procedure yet, so we’re developing it on the fly.

The other thing — and I’m probably going to get my head taken off for this — the construction project will end in the later part of December. I’m not sure we’re going to attempt a grand opening in the dead of winter. Like I say, I might get killed for this, but it makes sense to me not to do it in inclement weather. So we may well have some time to plan when we actually dedicate the steps.

[55:39] Victoria Andrews: I submitted an idea for medallions that could be set into cement on 223rd. I sent it to you and to Katherine, and Katherine did say the medallions could be a placeholder for the 223rd project that connects the Business District down to the marina. I sent photos from another small city that does this. They could be designed by an artist, cast in bronze, and set into the sidewalk whenever it’s built. So they’d be ready to go, and Katherine seemed to indicate there was money available. Can I find out what happened to that idea? Did you discuss it? Should I fill out one of these forms? You are the Arts Committee — I’m not. So what can be done to push it forward? If you didn’t like the idea, that’s fine. But if you liked it, y’all need to — right?

[56:55] [Member, Arts Committee]: Can I answer Victoria? We did like that idea. But because we don’t see that sidewalk being developed anytime soon, it got tabled. I was thinking the project money is going to be eaten up soon, so it would be best to use whatever’s left over to have the medallions made, then put them away so they’re ready whenever. Gene, would you say the contingency focus would be on the sidewalk?

[57:33] Gene Achziger: No. The steps are an entirely different project from anything on the 223rd sidewalk.

[57:39] [Member]: We did approve sidewalks on 223rd, so that is a project moving forward next year.

[57:47] [Member]: Using which money?

[Laughter]

[57:56] Harry Steinmetz: Basically, if the Arts Committee has this project in hand, bring it to the CAB, the CAB makes a recommendation to the council, and the council will take it up at a meeting. That’s the process. I see now the value of this form, right there.

[58:23] Victoria Andrews: Okay, cool. Go for it. And with an action log, we can track where it’s going. The form will have a lot more information than the action log, but the log would track the steps. That might be a good first experiment.

[58:44] Harry Steinmetz: Jeff.

[58:49] Jeff Crompe: As I said, Victoria, when I asked how we could be involved with the stairs, it was, “We’ll get back to you,” and that’s as far as it went. We’ve had a number of ideas — the sculpture Bettina brought to us, your medallions, and Bill gave me a couple of ideas for the stairs — and they’re all tabled for now.

[59:16] [Member]: Who’s the decision-maker in this instance?

[59:20] [Member]: Katherine, the project manager, the council.

[59:23] [Member]: So we just need to poke the bear a little bit and say, “Hey, make a decision on this.”

[59:31] Harry Steinmetz: Bring it up through the CAB. The CAB makes a recommendation to the council, and it’s on the agenda next month.

[59:44] [Member]: That’ll at least get it moving.

[59:52] Rick [last name?]: Following on with Jeff: time is of the essence if our project with the statue is going to happen, because we don’t know what kind of infrastructure needs to be put in place. We don’t want to be told, “That’s too late — you should have told us a month ago,” which obviously Jeff didn’t get a response on. Do we need to fill this out tonight and submit it for the statue to go forward? Realistically, what kind of timeline are we talking about?

[1:00:21] [Member]: We need some numbers. We need dates. Let them figure out what’s needed to do it.

[1:00:34] Rick: If we filled it out tonight and you presented it to council tomorrow — I’m just trying to expedite it to the council next month.

[1:00:45] [Member]: And I think we’re running out of window here, to be honest.

[1:00:50] Rick: And if we are, we just need to know ahead of time, so we’re not beating our heads against the wall.

[1:00:55] Harry Steinmetz: I would caution that there needs to be a little grace here. We’re building the boat after we’ve already set sail. We’re putting the process together for the future. I’d get any ideas you’ve got in as soon as possible, but understand we’re building the process as we go, so that in the future we won’t have to.

[1:01:24] [Member]: We do have a photo of it, if this group wants to see it, so you have an idea. Then we present it to the CAB next time and see where it goes. And yes, the grace will be there. We don’t know if it’s three bolts and it’s done, or a whole infrastructure thing. We understand that.

[1:01:46] Gene Achziger: Here’s the thing. The tree is an example. The council voted not to make a decision on the tree yet, but to put in the anchors, which was $10,000 as opposed to the $150,000 question at the time. So the council said, “We’ll put in the anchors.” We haven’t had the luxury of doing that here. So whatever is proposed, we’re probably going to have to go back in and retrofit — make a correction or an addition — because we didn’t know about it.

[1:02:19] [Member]: Okay, understood.

[1:02:23] Victoria Andrews: A question to move things forward: is it possible for the CAB to approve this project by email vote, so it could be presented to the council at next month’s meeting? We won’t meet until the last Wednesday of the month, which is too late for the council meetings. If we approved it by email before then, it could go to the council sooner.

[1:03:02] Gene Achziger: The thing is, the project is so far along that anything now would be a change order, and change orders come with an expense. We haven’t had a chance to bake this into the cake. We made the decision on the tree supports in enough time that they could do it without much of a problem. At this point we’re so far down the road that it’ll take either a change order or completely new funding. The medallion idea is separate — we haven’t even started designing the sidewalks. There’s plenty of time for the medallions.

[1:04:00] [Member]: Until we have an idea of what’s needed for the statue, we don’t know if it’s a change order or three bolts. Nobody knows. Would the artist know?

[1:04:18] [Member]: Oh, yeah.

[1:04:20] Victoria Andrews: Then could you present that to us by email? We can approve it, and at least it goes to the council so they know what’s needed.

[1:04:30] Harry Steinmetz: I don’t think we can do an email vote of the CAB. I don’t think there’s any provision for that.

[1:04:42] Tara Vaughan: We did have that vote over the summer on whether to cancel the July meeting. No offense to anybody — everybody responded appropriately — but it’s hard to keep track of that many emails coming in. I think it’s cleaner to have it in a recorded meeting.

[1:04:58] Harry Steinmetz: It would be a vote, so it has to be a publicly noticed meeting for a decision. Go ahead.

[1:05:13] [Member]: Following your cake analogy: since we don’t know whether what Bettina is suggesting is the frosting — something that waits until the cake cools — could we still hear about it and see whether it’s a change order or a separate project that can still be done? I just wanted to plant the seed that it may not be too late, because maybe it’s not part of the cake.

[1:05:42] [Member]: I think everybody here wants to see it.

[1:05:53] Gene Achziger: I would not get my hopes up, because we are so far along. At this point it has almost no chance of being part of the original project. It’s going to have to be an add-on.

[1:06:15] Bettina Carey: That’s what I imagine is going to happen in this case. It’s unfortunate, because I did present the information to Mike, and he has a visual of what it is. It’s not that expensive, and it can be done after the project is finished. There are plenty of places in this town it could go, so we don’t have to rush it. It’s probably somewhere around $20,000 to buy, plus installation, and this 1% amount is in the million-plus range. I think we can handle this down the line. I don’t think there’s any urgency.

It’s just nice to know what process we can follow now. This form comes into place when it’s needed, for sure. It’ll help us keep projects from falling through the cracks. At our last meeting — in fact, I was the instigator — I said whenever that ribbon cutting comes up, we’re going to be all lit up. Literally lit up, because this is such a great project, and in the middle of winter it’ll be dark. They looked at me like, “I don’t want to be lit up.” [Laughter] But we want to be involved. We’re the Arts Committee. We need to be involved at the beginning of something really wonderful.

So that’s my message to the City and the council: don’t leave the Arts Committee out of arts decisions, even if all we do is wave a magic wand and say, “Go forth and conquer.” If you’re going to have an Arts Committee, by golly, use it. Seattle has an arts commission that makes much bigger decisions, and that’s what we should be doing. We are capable of it. Thank you very much.

[1:08:17] [Member, Arts Committee]: That’s really what I wanted to say also. The recommendation we’ll bring to the CAB could certainly be a future project. It’s sad that it wasn’t considered beforehand. It will probably require our recommendation, and again, it’s not a big expense. But we want the CAB and the City to know the Arts Committee supports this project and future projects. When it involves art, we’d certainly like our voice to be heard.

[1:08:54] Gene Achziger: Just for clarification, Bettina, because of something you said: there is no 1% for art in existence. This is money set aside in the contract to cover cost overruns — a contingency fund. If there’s contingency money left over, then we might be able to do some art, or some beautification of the property. And this piece of art is very beautiful.

[1:09:40] [Member]: Looking forward to seeing it.

Summer concert band recommendations — discussion and approval

[1:09:50] Harry Steinmetz: Anything else? Then we can move on to item three: summer concert band recommendations, discussion, and approval.

[1:10:06] Jeff Crompe: The way the summer concerts are set up — I talked to Tara a little beforehand — the council wants the CAB to approve them. Last year we hit the ground running, and by the end of December we had all the bands signed up for this summer. We’re even further ahead this year. We already have five of next summer’s bands under contract.

Nightwave is coming back because they’re so popular. Kitty May, the country artist, is coming back, mainly because she got shorted on her concert because of the lightning. Our own Matt Pena’s band, Uncle Ernie, will do a concert. We’ve got a jazz saxophonist, Darren Motamedy [sp?]. I asked him how we should list him on the schedule, and he said, “Smooth jazz with a twist.” Charlene, some others, and I went and watched him out at Muckleshoot about three months ago. The music was unbelievable. Somebody sings a few songs, but it’s mostly very cool jazz. And our final concert next year will be a Chicago tribute band.

The one band we’re still working on would be our most expensive ever — almost double what we paid this year. We have the money in our budget, so that’s not an issue. This band has been nominated for a Grammy. They’ve played Carnegie Hall, the Rose Bowl, and a 50,000-seat stadium in Mexico City. They’ve played in Israel, Ukraine, South America, Europe, and all over the United States. It’s a Beatles tribute band, Liverpool Legends, handpicked by George Harrison’s sister. We’re close, but they wanted some additional things added to the contract. AJ emailed me yesterday that the City isn’t going to do that, so they’re sending the contract back, and within a few days I’ll hear whether they’ll accept.

The council wants the CAB to vote on and approve the bands.

Another interesting twist: some of you probably know Steve Edmiston — Men in Black. This year is the 80th anniversary of the Maury Island incident. Steve ran into Katherine at Phil’s place and asked if the City would be involved in a concert in conjunction with the Men in Black weekend. He got hold of me a few days later and said, “Katherine said this is a great idea.” So I got hold of Katherine, and she asked, “Can the Arts Committee do it? Do you have the funds?” We did. Within 72 hours I put it together, because Steve wanted a specific band — a Bowie tribute, Bowievision [sp?] — since David Bowie had “Space Oddity.” That’s the closest fit he could think of. So on June 18th there will be a concert down at the park with this Bowie band for the Men in Black weekend.

[1:13:44] [Member]: Approved.

[1:13:52] Jeff Crompe: There you go. So again, five of the bands are under contract and their deposits are being sent. The sixth is still a little nebulous. Even if that band doesn’t happen — I’ve told Katherine, and even AJ, when she looked at their website, said, “This group’s pretty cool.”

Our plan on the Arts Committee: we’ve been talking about sponsors since this time last year. I know the City wanted to control that, because everybody goes to Second Love and says, “Will you sponsor us?” Everybody goes to every business in town, and the City’s worried about oversaturation. But I know of businesses — I had some last year — outside our city that never get approached by anybody in Des Moines and are willing to sponsor a concert series or an individual concert.

So our goal for the Arts Committee over the next two or three years is to bring in two or three bands like Liverpool Legends — internationally known groups that would put Des Moines on the map. People would be waiting every year to see who Des Moines has coming. “Hey, they’ve got ZZ Top this year.” There’s stuff like that we could do.

[1:15:25] [Member]: Samantha Fish — oh, that’d be great.

[1:15:29] Jeff Crompe: Yes, Samantha Fish would be in the ballpark of what we could afford. She’s a blues-rock artist in her 40s. I’ve seen her a couple of times; Harry’s seen her a few times. But groups like Liverpool Legends have had 50,000-person shows. They were just down in Olympia on Sunday, and tickets for their shows sell for $60 to $90 apiece. If we put on a free concert with a group like that — you think there were people down at the park this year? It would be overflowing.

So the big question: I need the CAB to approve that we’ve already contracted with five bands, and that the CAB supports pursuing this other band. The funding’s available. We’re not overshooting our budget; we still have a little left.

To give some other updates: some of the sculptures around town have two plaques. The top one gives the name of the sculpture, and the bottom one tells its story. For some reason, a lot of the story plaques — maybe weather or oxidation — you can hardly read anymore. So we’re going to replace them. There’s a place down at Southcenter that’s worked with us before. I talked to the owner today, and they have a process developed by NASA. He said they can make them out of this material with black lettering, and it should last almost forever.

[1:17:08] Harry Steinmetz: Can we hang on to that and get back to the bands? We’ve got a motion and some questions?

[1:17:16] [Member]: We don’t have a motion. I was going to make the motion.

[1:17:20] Harry Steinmetz: I was thinking Jeff had moved it.

[1:17:24] [Member]: I’d move it, but we can take questions, then a second.

[1:17:28] Harry Steinmetz: Okay. It’s been moved and seconded. Discussion.

[1:17:32] Alyson Chapin: I’m just wondering if there’s room to bring in some younger musicians or younger influence. Thinking about the average age, a lot of these hark back to previous generations. I love most of what’s on here, of course. But think about how many families go to these concerts — you don’t usually see many kids dancing in the front. It’s mostly the parents or grandparents, which is great. It would be nice to cater to families and younger groups for at least one of the concerts.

[1:18:21] Charlene Balcazo: I had that thought too, because I think you said it once before, Alyson. We have five or six concerts. I wonder if we could develop something like this: we have Kitty May, but a younger group performs before her the same night. That could incorporate that idea.

[1:18:44] Jeff Crompe: That would be one option. It’s not like we did a citywide poll, but we’ve talked to a lot of people, and I’ve been to a number of the concerts here over the years. Whether it’s a young band or an old band, people like cover or tribute bands. There was a band — I think it was the last one at the end of last year — three really talented young guys, but they played all their own music. It was good, but nobody was up dancing, because you don’t know how to sing and dance along to music you don’t know. So we’ve tried to do that.

Katherine actually asked if next year we could have a ’90s band, like a boy band. And I brought it up at one point, but Eddy’s really pushing for a funk band. So for 2028, I’m already talking to bands. There’s a funk band that plays in Wallingford that some of us are thinking of going to see on a Friday night. I’ve also contacted a guy I know at the Triple Door and gotten some ideas on ’90s-type bands. Nightwave is the one that does ’80s stuff, and I know kids who are 25 or 30 might not identify with that. But we are looking at things like that. As Charlene said, we’ve talked about a separate concert for younger kids, or maybe an opening act.

[1:20:24] Alyson Chapin: I think that would be great. And I also like the idea of the Men in Black concert, because there are more opportunities throughout the year. It doesn’t just have to be summer. We can have music at other events — the boat show, or Destination Des Moines used to do that thing at the auditorium with Randy Hansen and Uncle Ernie.

[1:20:55] Jeff Crompe: There are a lot of opportunities for that. Again, I’d really like to pursue the sponsorship idea, because if we got enough sponsors we could do more than the summer concerts and the Men in Black concert. There are a lot of opportunities to do music.

[1:21:16] Bettina Carey: I don’t know how many of the concerts you went to, Alyson, but we were packed, and there were tons of kids dancing in the front. It’s different from Blues & Brews, which is a paid, fenced, 21-and-over event, and its numbers are going down year after year because the music is aging out and families can’t bring their kids. So I hear you a thousand percent. And the numbers show we were serving people really well, because so many people were down there. I think it’s a mix — exploring other opportunities, influencing what the Rotary is going to do, or adding indoor concerts, with the auditorium sitting there not being used very much. But that gives us more work to do in the Arts Committee.

[1:22:16] Jeff Crompe: Like Bettina said — I don’t know how many concerts you were able to go to, but I’ve got videos I could send you. When we had the Huey Lewis tribute band and the ABBA tribute, there were tons of kids, as young as seven or eight, up there dancing. Some of the groups we’ve had appeal to young kids too, because it’s upbeat, positive, enthusiastic music.

[1:22:46] Alyson Chapin: I went to most of them.

[1:22:49] Jeff Crompe: And like Charlene was saying, this was our first year doing it. I think it turned out pretty darn well, but we can always improve.

[1:23:01] Harry Steinmetz: All right, Jim.

[1:23:04] Jim: A related question: did you put any thought into diversity of music? Or, like Bettina was saying, raw numbers — “This type of music attracted 20% more people than that type, so we go with A over B.” Concrete numbers you could point to.

[1:23:20] Jeff Crompe: It’s hard to get concrete numbers because no one takes attendance at the concerts. Once Kyle took over, he said he thought the last concert was pushing 2,500 people. A couple of the concerts probably had 2,000. But it’s too hard to quantify. Somebody said you could use AI to do a head count. I got hold of David Rosen, our photographer, and I think the only time he flew a drone was the very first concert, Spike and the Impalers. I know there had to be at least 14,500 [sic? — audio likely garbled] there. He took his photo, had AI count it, and came back with “at least 350 people.” [Laughter] So it’s been hard to quantify.

What drove the groups we picked this year was asking people what they wanted to hear, and they wanted cover songs — cover and tribute bands. That’s what we’re trying to do. Darren Motamedy next year is kind of like the blues guy we had this year. Nobody knows exactly how to sing along to some of the songs, but bluesy, jazzy stuff is so engaging. You don’t need to know the song.

[1:25:06] [Member]: On the same topic of crowd size: if you get Liverpool Legends here, are you concerned about crowd size? It’s a free concert, they draw thousands of people, and there’s the management of that crowd. We need to look at those things and make sure we’re prepared. That’s a big crowd.

[1:25:29] Jeff Crompe: We have talked about that. Maybe for the first time ever we’d want a couple of police officers there, honestly, just to help with crowd control. It could easily be standing room only with a concert like that.

[1:25:47] [Member]: Do we know how many people that field will hold?

[1:25:53] Jeff Crompe: No. I’ve asked a couple of people. When we had what could have been 2,500 by Kyle’s estimate, there was still room. If you look across the crowd at eye level, it looks wall-to-wall, but I got up on the stage a number of times to take photos, and there was a lot of space between people. I’m sure we could fit 3,500 — probably 5,000. And that’s probably what we’d get with the Liverpool band.

[1:26:30] [Member]: Speaking of sponsors, a couple of big companies are moving into Des Moines. Shield AI has already inked a deal, and I just heard on the news last night that Blue Origin is moving in as well — 250,000 square feet, right out here. What better way to get their names in front of the public? And they’ve got deep pockets.

[1:26:56] [Member]: I was just curious whether Bill or Jeff have tapped into the owners of the Des Moines Theater. They have a band, Walking Papers. I’m sure they’d love to help out in any way.

[1:27:12] Jeff Crompe: Technically, as Tara brought up earlier, all of us here are advisory. The City has not wanted us directly involved in soliciting sponsors or negotiating with them at all. So everything’s on hold until the new Parks and Recreation director comes on board — hopefully in the next 60 to 90 days. Then that discussion can be revisited and they’ll figure out how to approach it. But I already suggested Shield AI.

[1:27:56] [Member, Arts Committee]: And a quick one: Ben is very supportive of the Arts Committee. When we were going to have our video contest, he was letting us use the theater. He’s totally on board.

[1:28:09] [Member]: So what was the reason to hold off on asking Ben’s band to play? That’s what I was suggesting — seeing if Walking Papers would play or contribute in some way.

[1:28:28] Jeff Crompe: A few bands have come to us after the fact. We already have five bands under contract and the sixth is mid-process. I’m compiling a list and have already talked to a few bands for 2028. But again, we’re trying to get bands that appeal to the masses, with cover-type songs.

[1:28:58] [Member]: It would just be, I feel, a good representation of the community.

[1:29:02] Jeff Crompe: Sure. That’s how Uncle Ernie came about — Matt Pena came to me early this year and said, “Jeff, we’d really like to play a concert next year.” They do a classic rock format, all covers. Walking Papers is an original band, right? I’ve seen them; they’re really good.

[1:29:23] [Member]: They play quite often at Arturo’s, and they’re playing November 14th down at Harp [?].

[1:29:32] Harry Steinmetz: Okay. Aileen.

[1:29:34] Aileen Evans: I’m possibly collaborating with the Historical Society — VJ [last name?] and I spoke yesterday. Of course, as the Arts Committee, you’d be next in line, and we’d want to meet with you. VJ and I are trying to put together something — I wouldn’t call it a music festival, but a day of music. She wants to get grant money to redo the Jimi Hendrix display and make it a mobile display for different events. It would be really cool with Liverpool Legends — I didn’t even know about that — but since it’s so large, if it were tied into a music festival or something that went the whole weekend and brought people in, that would be great. It’s probably too late to talk about that, since the dates are already set.

What I wanted to do: I contacted a man in California who wrote and produced the movie Echo in the Canyon. Bob Dylan’s son is one of the people in it. It’s about the music of Laurel Canyon in California and how that era — the Beach Boys and all that — echoed and transformed. It’s kind of a documentary. Jimi Hendrix and the Spanish Castle have that same relationship: he sat outside, listened to the music echo, and learned. So I met with him, and he’s going to try to get the rights to show it at the theater as a fundraiser to get a mural of Jimi Hendrix and the Spanish Castle painted somewhere in Des Moines. When I asked VJ for her take as a historian, she said, “This is right up my alley.” She was planning to redo the Jimi Hendrix display this year anyway. And I talked to Ben, and he said yes, we can use the theater. I haven’t sat down specifically with VJ yet — we have a meeting date to talk about collaborating. And of course the next step would be to meet with the Arts Committee and get your thoughts.

[1:32:19] Harry Steinmetz: Let me stop everybody, because we have a motion in front of us and now we’re talking about things entirely unrelated to the motion.

[1:32:27] Aileen Evans: Didn’t we pass it?

[1:32:29] Harry Steinmetz: No, we haven’t passed it. This is discussion.

[1:32:32] Aileen Evans: Oh, I’m sorry. I thought it passed.

[1:32:35] Harry Steinmetz: No, the motion is to approve the bands. [Laughter] We’ve had discussion. Are we ready to vote? All those in favor say aye. All opposed? The ayes have it.

[1:32:57] Jeff Crompe: So we have the approval, and for other projects on the side —

[1:33:05] Harry Steinmetz: Yes, and let the Arts Committee bring those up to the CAB.

[1:33:12] Aileen Evans: There was such a long discussion I lost my thought. You’re absolutely right — we never even voted. Thank you.

[1:33:19] Harry Steinmetz: We give everybody a little latitude here to have a free flow of ideas.

[1:33:29] Jeff Crompe: One last quick one. Again, this was our first year. If we can get sponsorships going so the sponsors basically cover the summer concerts, then we have the budget available to do some of these other things. We could do a kids’ concert with a cute little kids’ band. We could have something that appeals to teenagers. We could have a music series throughout the year, with concerts at the auditorium or a couple of other places around town. We’ve talked about things like that before, and it really comes down to money. But with sponsors and the budget we have, we could pull off a lot of these things.

[1:34:17] Harry Steinmetz: Victoria.

[1:34:20] Victoria Andrews: Jeff, you mentioned the video contest. I wondered what happened to that.

[Laughter]

[1:34:31] Jeff Crompe: We didn’t get all the specifics lined up in time. It would have been going on right now. We’re planning to do it in the spring. There were a few more legal matters the City needed to work out before we could move forward. And the theme was going to be “What I love about living in Des Moines,” and I don’t know that rain is the most lovable thing. So if we wait until spring, or even the end of the school year, people can get outside and capture the sun, the water, the sunsets, all that. Again, this was our first year, and when we submitted this to the City, they needed extra time to make sure all the t’s were crossed and the i’s dotted. No big deal. It’ll still happen.

November and December meetings

[1:35:36] Harry Steinmetz: Moving to item number four: the November and December meetings. Last year we combined them into one at the beginning of December. Do we want to do that again? And when would we meet in November, since the regular date conflicts with Thanksgiving? Thoughts? Bettina.

[1:36:04] Bettina Carey: Can you give us an idea of when the budget’s going to be presented? That will affect when we meet.

[1:36:12] Gene Achziger: Tomorrow night is the first meeting, but nothing’s decided.

[1:36:16] Bettina Carey: We should be meeting when we can actually influence anything.

[1:36:22] Gene Achziger: Well, it’s going to be passed in mid-November

. It was actually slated for today. First reading is —

[1:36:47] [Member]: We could do an early November meeting.

[1:36:50] Bettina Carey: I recommend we do an early meeting, because otherwise we have absolutely no influence whatsoever on the budget.

[1:37:12] [Member]: If we’re hearing the first reading, it would probably have to be the 4th of November.

[1:37:25] [Member]: The 12th is Thursday next week. Is that the day?

[1:37:43] Tara Vaughan: The posting — we couldn’t do it next week. We could do it the week after.

[1:37:54] [Member]: We could do it on the 11th.

[1:37:57] Tara Vaughan: That’s Veterans Day. It’s a holiday.

[1:38:03] [Member]: But if it’s going to be approved on the 12th, how does a meeting on the 11th have any effect?

[1:38:11] [Member]: We can’t do the 11th.

[1:38:14] [Member]: I’m just asking: at this point, is the budget locked in, or can any influence actually be made at this late hour?

[1:38:28] Tara Vaughan: We can’t notice it in time. We would have had to notice it today.

[1:38:47] [Member]: Do we have to do it on a Wednesday? Tuesday, like the 10th?

[1:39:03] [Member]: As Dan just mentioned — and I saw your smile — whether we met tonight, tomorrow night, or next week, are we really going to have any influence on this year’s budget that’s going to be voted on within the next week or so?

[1:39:20] Gene Achziger: Not much. It’s pretty well baked. There’ll probably be a few things coming out of the council meeting tomorrow night that might change it before the following week.

[1:40:00] Victoria Andrews: I’d prefer to do what we did last year. Let’s forget about the budget — we have no voice there right now. Done deal. I’d prefer to meet earlier in December and hammer out what that third committee is going to become, so we can start January with a fresh work plan for that committee and people who are excited to be on it. I know we haven’t tapped into some of you, and it would be nice to. Poor Randy would really love some support. The Senior Center pretty much has it covered, as do Wesley and Judson, but families — I realize this all depends on Parks and Rec, but we know what we want to do, and we can feed that to whoever that person is. I’d like to get it wrapped up by the end of the year so we can start fresh. That’s what I’d really like to do.

[1:41:07] [Member]: I agree with Victoria. I recommend December 9th.

[1:41:18] Tara Vaughan: Just so you know, I don’t know when the new Parks and Rec director will be hired.

[1:41:36] [Member]: It’s a Wednesday.

[1:41:44] [Member]: I second.

[1:41:50] Harry Steinmetz: Moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. All opposed? December 9th it is.

[1:42:12] [Member]: Are we allowed to bring cookies or anything like that?

[1:42:15] [Member]: As long as they’re Christmas cookies.

[Laughter]

[1:42:23] [Member]: Are we allowed to bring rum balls? That’s what I like.

Announcements

[1:42:34] [Member]: I would like to move that we close tonight’s meeting.

[1:42:38] Tara Vaughan: We’ve got announcements.

[1:42:41] Harry Steinmetz: Oh, we do. There’s more. We have the opportunity for announcements, and we haven’t gone through every committee. If any of the other committees have anything to share —

[1:43:11] [Member]: I received a flyer about the Fall Nonprofit and Affiliate Summit. I don’t know who was actually invited. It’s November 21st, 9 to noon. It’s basically getting all the nonprofits in a room together to share and hear what other nonprofits are doing. I wanted to know if anyone on my committee was attending, or if anyone else is interested. November 21st, 9 to 12, at the Des Moines Activity Center.

[1:44:01] [Member, Human Services]: We could share what’s going on in our committee too, if you’d like.

[1:44:06] Harry Steinmetz: Be my guest.

[1:44:09] [Member, Human Services]: We’ve received quarterly reports from some, but not all, of our grantees — we Human Services folks sitting here in the corner. We’ve asked Alex [last name?] to let us know if there was a due date. I’d assume quarterly reports are due at the end of the quarter, September 30th, but not everybody has submitted them yet. I’m new to this, so I don’t know how much leeway we give these organizations. But if they can’t send their quarterly reports in on time, that certainly gives us information we need when deciding on future funding. Do any of you know? We want that answer.

[1:45:11] Harry Steinmetz: All right, any others? Gene.

[1:45:18] Gene Achziger: COVID’s over, so the Legacy Foundation’s Bayside Brunch is back. This year’s theme is “Back to the Brunch,” along the lines of Back to the Future. I’ll admit that’s why I haven’t had a haircut for a while — but it’s not Marty McFly I’m coming as. It’s a costume event, so feel free to pull out your ’80s or ’50s wardrobes. It’s Sunday, November 1st, at Anthony’s — a brunch. It’s $75 per ticket, and there’s a silent auction with some great items. The Legacy Foundation is working to re-establish its position with the City and fund a lot of the events for kids, like the Children’s Festival. It’s a good cause, raising funds for kids, seniors, and the arts. You can get tickets online at the Legacy Foundation, dmlegacy.org. We hope to see you all there.

[1:46:45] Harry Steinmetz: Bill.

[1:46:47] Bill Linscott: We talked about report-outs, so by way of a report-out, let me talk about the marina tenants and the tenant meeting the Harbormaster held on October 1st. First, Scott is retiring, if you didn’t know. We’re going to miss him — he’s been here forever. That was his last tenant meeting.

They’re going to start construction on what we call the tenant restroom, at the south end of the parking lot area. We call it that because you had to be a tenant to use it, but there will actually be public restrooms with that facility as well. It’ll be nice to have those at the south end. They expect it done by the end of the first quarter.

The master plan is a big deal for the next two years, and people are excited about it. Dead ahead, they’re really looking at replacing the seawall, which will probably be the first activity. But the master plan will roll out over the next two years, and people are pretty enthused.

For the holidays — we won’t meet before a lot of these events — on the 4th we’ve got the tree lighting. On the 5th, the lighted boat parade by the yacht club, which is open to all boats in the marina. Then the Argosy boat comes on the 16th with two sailings. The first, around 5:00, has its program right off the pier by the marina. The second, 8 to 9:30, goes down to Redondo, where you’ll have your bonfire. So, some exciting things. We’re talking to all the tenants about lighting up their boats, and Scott’s enthused about getting the marina area lit up. I’m sure McKenzie [last name?] will be working on it too. With or without the steps, in whatever state they’re in, it’s going to be illuminated and should be great fun.

And last: I attended a release of two seals from SR3 down at Dash Point Park. It’s an exciting event. They’re cute to watch coming out of those cages — they kind of want to get in the water but aren’t sure. It’s worth a trip if you’ve got the time. That’s my report.

[1:49:43] [Member]: Are these reports or just announcements?

[1:49:45] Harry Steinmetz: Announcements.

[1:49:47] [Member]: Just letting you know that next week’s Inspiring Women Leaders luncheon, put on by the Chamber, is sold out. We’re very excited about it. Sorry if you didn’t get a ticket and would like one — if you’re desperate, let me know and I might be able to pull some strings.

[1:50:12] [Member]: Some of you know I’m a Rotarian, and we always have really great speakers. Wednesdays, noon to 1. VJ is speaking on the 11th, so don’t miss that one. On the third Wednesday, the Rotary meets at Arturo’s from 4 to 6, and that’s a great opportunity for folks to participate.

We also just kicked off our coat drive. If you want to contribute coats — gently worn or brand new — there are plenty of places in town to drop them off, including Auntie Irene’s, which will give you a dollar off your drink per coat. Print Place is another drop-off.

Burning Boat is on 12/31. That’s our New Year’s Eve event, and it was fantastic last year. About 200 people got picked up in a van I drove, to get them as close as we could because of the construction. This year there will be more fire pits, marshmallows, hot chocolate, fun for kids, a DJ, and all that.

[1:51:43] [Member]: This Friday, the 30th — not the 31st — is the Des Moines Trick-or-Treat Path downtown, all along Marine View Drive, 4:30 to 6:30 PM. It’s always a huge event, probably the biggest event we have for kids every year. Remember, it’s Friday the 30th, not the 31st. And don’t forget daylight saving time ends Sunday the 1st. If you’re coming to the Bayside Brunch, it’s fall back.

[1:52:25] Tara Vaughan: And last — sorry, I know you’re ready to go — we’re certainly thankful for all your hard work on this board. Things come up: vacations, illnesses, surgeries. I’ve just been asked to remind everybody about the attendance policy for all appointed committees, not just the CAB. If you miss more than three meetings in a calendar year, we have to report that to the council so they’re aware, in case they want to take any action. We printed a list in case you don’t know how many you’ve missed this year.

[1:53:06] [Member]: It doesn’t matter, just if it’s more than three?

[1:53:09] Harry Steinmetz: Yeah. And we should probably correct the record, because these folks showed up.

[1:53:17] Tara Vaughan: And we do excuse absences, which is why we encourage people to let us know ahead of time so you get excused.

Adjournment

[1:53:24] Harry Steinmetz: You have a motion?

[1:53:30] [Member]: I move that we adjourn.

[1:53:33] [Member]: Second.

[1:53:34] Harry Steinmetz: All those in favor say aye. All opposed? Motion