HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021-11-30 Transcription Page 1
Council Present: Bergus, Mims, Salih, Taylor, Teague, Thomas, Weiner
Staff Present: Fruin, Jones, Kilburg, Goers, Fruehling, Knoche, Havel, Sovers,
Hightshoe, Bockenstedt
Others Present: Van Heukelom, Miglin (USG)
Discussion regarding the ad-hoc Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Teague: We're going to get started. It is just after five -- 4:00 PM.And today is
November 30th and this is the City of Iowa City Work Session.And I'm going
to call out the first agenda item,which is discussing the ad hoc Truth and
Reconciliation Commission.And this was an item that I felt that we should
have on the agenda,urn, only because I know that the last time we had a
discussion about them was when the facilitator was on the agenda.And so I
believe they've had about six meetings since somewhere in there.And so I
believe it would be appropriate for us to have a discussion as a Council. And
just jump right on in there.
Bergus: I'll jump in, Mayor. Um, I think from watching and attending the
Commissioners, uh, from the TRC meetings, um, throughout their tenure, as
well as, since we had our last Council discussion about it, um, I think it's
pretty clear that,you know, there's some, a great deal of uncertainty among
them as to where the Council stands and where we might go. It's not in our
packet for this meeting as far as a recommendation for an extension of their,
their timeframe. But I know that that is something that they are going to be
bringing to us. I think it will be in our next minutes.And Geoff,you may know
what they decided at their last meeting. I don't recall the date that they
decided on, but I think that we should, um, talk about extending the
timeframe of their mandate and we should talk about,uh,what we will
provide as far as professional support for the TRC, since we approved the
funding as a Council, and then didn't approve the contract for the facilitator.
Mims: I would agree, uh,with Councilor Bergus just to kind of take a second to kind
of recap if people aren't familiar, um, and I don't have the exact timeline here,
but we appointed, I believe it was nine members to the Commission and they
got off to a rocky start,um, and frankly I think with the different personalities
and backgrounds,that wasn't really unexpected in my opinion,but I think we
did the best we could in terms of getting broad representation. Um, a few
weeks in, there was a forced leadership change.After that there were a
number of voluntary resignations, including the facilitator that had been
hired.As a Council,we put them on a one,basically a one month hiatus so
that we could fill what was initially four vacancies ended up ultimately with a
fifth vacancy and they got back to work.And I think they've had their
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challenges. I think if you read about TRCs,this is an incredibly difficult,
complex, uh, piece of work and, and very challenging for the people who do
it. Um,we approved, um, I don't remember if it was unanimous or not,but
we, as a Council approved a one-line-item budget to hire a facilitator, as
Laura mentioned.We all knew at the time exactly what that meant.They had
had one response to the RFP for hiring a facilitator.We all had information
on that facilitator at that point, that vote was just on the budget. And then we
came back and didn't hire the facilitator,which to me personally made
absolutely no sense. It's like we had made every-- taken every single step
down that path after the resignations to get nine people back on there, give
them a chance to work.We knew from the very beginning the challenges of
that commission were going to require a, a good strong facilitator.And I
think we had one available to us. Um, I know Laura and Janice had talked
with that group. I know members of the TRC had, obviously they had
interviewed them, an organization that has national, if not international
experience in this area.And then we,we just basically cut it off at that point
in time and have left them, I would say to flounder without a facilitator since
then. So I would totally agree with Laura's recommendation that if,and when
they come back and ask for more time to complete their tasks, that we
approve that. And I would encourage, and if I'm -- City Attorney can help me,
it probably, or the City Clerk on the rules of this --but I would certainly
encourage that a member of the Council who voted not to hire the facilitator,
I believe can ask that question to come back to the Council again.And I would
encourage one of you to do that because I believe we had the best option in
front of us to help the TRC by hiring that facilitator. Um, so I would encourage
one of you to think long and hard about do we want them to be successful?
And if we do, I think they need a facilitator.And I think we had a really good
one and we even approved the money.
Goers: Uh, Councilor,just so I can address the question you've raised and so forth,
uh,what you're describing of course is a motion to reconsider. It would need
to be,uh, made by someone who voted in the negative or on the failing side,
um,that would require a majority vote.We would need to notice,we would
need to notice that up, uh, appropriately, so it's not something you could
probably do tonight, uh,but that's certainly something that could be done,
uh, at a subsequent meeting if the Council so chose.
Mims: Thank you.
Teague: I -- I do want to give some comments,um,so, and welcome to the TRC
members and anyone else that is out there in the audience. I know that this
has been a hard topic, um, on something that really is, um, a great oppor--
when we think about social justice and the City of Iowa City,the intent that
the TRC had for our community, um, it was with great hope that it was
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created. Um, and I think, uh, Councilor Mims gave some kind of a recall of
what happened on some level,urn,with the TRC. It is a very unfortunate
thing that some of the events took place.And I guess for me to sum it up,urn,
the members of the TRC I've, I know a few of them on a, I would say I got to
know them through how this process, urn, and I know that many of them are,
if not all are really dedicated to, uh, social justice and the City of Iowa City.
What I am finding is the TRC...it is not the members of the TRC; it's not,urn, I,
what I'm finding is that there is,there's this disconnect,there's this, urn,
where people are not,the Black community specifically are not unified.And I
understand that as the BIPOC community, that we are representing, uh,by
having the TRC in, in place.And one of the reasons why I have, urn,uh, or one
thing that I've been saying consistently is we need to be unified.And that
doesn't mean that we all have to agree, um, on every aspect of what happens,
but there is this, um,just a huge disconnect.And that is one of the things that
I, I felt that I could not support the facilitator because that was very clear.
And it has been clear to me for some time. I believe personally,that there are
ways that we can achieve the goals of the TRC, um, and in, in a different
fashion. Now I am not going to be -- and, and when I say that, I know a lot of
people say, does that mean end of the TRC? It could, uh, or yes, it could. Urn,
now does that mean that I don't want to see social justice, urn,happen in our
community?Absolutely not. Um, I believe that there is more than one way to
achieve a goal.And if we're finding that consistent, consistently,we're having
setbacks because of the makeup, not the people of the TRC,but just having
this form,then I think that we really should consider another avenue. Now
with that being said,urn, I've not talked to any Councilors that I'm aware of
that supports,you know, end of the TRC. So, urn, and if I, if,if there are, sorry,
um, I'm not recalling right now. So then that,that leaves us to what is the
next steps? And I think at least for me,the next steps is really trying to find a
way to, urn, move forward as a community.And I do understand that the
facilitator could have been involved in creating a space or creating the
healing process within,um, a tool to somewhat accommodates, um,
movement together and, and unification,you know,there are, um, lots of
TRCs throughout the,you know,the United States,which we've seen.And
some, some have had rocky starts, I don't know of any that have ended, but I
think I do recall that there were maybe some, I, I, um, I, I guess right now, I'm
not very clear on that. Iowa City...I know that we say that we're unique, and
we are unique. I believe that we can figure this out and move forward, urn, as
a community, there are several things that I've,um, thought about as well as
other people that I've talked to on ways that we can reach our goals that was
set forth by the TRC. Urn, and some of those we can certainly discuss with
the TRC,um, at a future meeting, should we choose, urn, but that would really
involve moving into a, more of a community based, urn, commission, um,
versus just having,um,you know,the nine appointed individuals.And I think
that when we're talking about housing, some of the goals that we're talking
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about, uh, housing, policing,urn,there could be multiple, urn, I guess,
subgroups that could work on this. Urn,but again, I, I really do believe that in
order for the TRC to be successful after all that has mm been encountered,
urn,the unification is the most important thing I believe from my vantage
point.
Goers: Before we continue to discussion my apologies, uh, one correction,uh,when I
was talking about the motion to reconsider, I failed to, uh,recall that the
motion needs to be made at the same meeting or the next subsequent
meeting,and I believe we've had more than that meetings intervening. So we
would just need a fresh motion for that. Sorry for the, urn, for that oversight.
Taylor: I would certainly be open to, urn, extending,uh, the, the timeline for the TRC
potentially,but I think what would be absolutely necessary if we do as a
Council, agree to do that,uh, that the, uh,the Commission itself would submit
to us-- I know they've, they've hit some roadblocks,so I think they maybe
are entitled to have a little extra time added on to their original deadline --
but they would absolutely need to have some type of proposed, uh,timeline,
a calendar of steps that they're going to take along the way,just not carte
blanche, okay.We're going to give you another couple of months.We would
need to know what you're planning to do with that extra time.
Weiner: So I would very much echo what, um, Councilors Bergus and Mims said. Urn,
and I'm, I'm sort of rewinding to the session that we had about the facilitator,
both, urn,both appropriating the money for it, but then the,the,the
discussion that we had with members of the proposed, urn, facilitation team,
also talking to us at that time. Um, and it strikes me that that much of what
we're talking about, uh, can, I firmly believe, uh,be facilitated and resolved
with these professional facilitators. Urn,yes, Iowa City is unique in some
ways,but we are not unique in this.We're not super special.The, the people
who have -- the people who make up that facilitation team have dealt with
commissions all around the world, all around this country. Uh,and, and I am
firm in, in the, I have full confidence that they,they would be able to do
exactly the things that we are talking about, um,be there to help the TRC put
together the timeline that you're, that you're referring to, Councilor Taylor,
urn, make sure that they have an appropriate budget and goals to,to deal
with. And, Mr. Mayor, deal with the, with the really important unification
and,urn, and, and internal community reconciliation issues that, that have
been, um,that have been for better or for worse, late -- laid bare. Urn,we
have other options, obviously,you know,we could, uh,it could not be a City
commission that could be an independent commission of some sort that, that
we then,as the City provide some funds to. But, urn, I believe-- my personal
view is that A, I'm willing to give them extra time; B, I think, I believe that
they,they really do deserve appropriate facilitation rather than having-- any
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group is going to have to create this out of whole cloth.We don't need to
reinvent the wheel. We have people who have that expertise. Urn, there are a
couple of people,uh, in particular, Eduardo Gonzalez and Dave Ragland who
have offered to do some measure of that on a pro bono basis. Um -- but that's
not really the full, that's not the full scope of the work that needs to be done
on,urn,to, to really make this, the functioning commission that, that we all, I
believe originally envisioned. Um, and I guess there's, there's a letter, urn,
there's a letter from,um, from, that was signed by numerous practitioners
that I believe is in everybody's email today,although it's not in, I don't know
if we can really discuss it because it's not in the, in the extra packet,but I
would quote it to you all, urn,what,where they say Iowa City is not alone. It's
part of a movement sweeping the nation today to vindicate the right to truth
reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence as recognized by international
human rights law. Um, it's that, and they say, let us recognize Iowa City's
Commission is an important opportunity that will allow community
members to listen to one another, together identify structural obstacles and
launch programs of transformation that advance human rights for all.The IC
TRC is a key piece in that process.And it deserves support, resources and
time to carry out its work. Urn, coming from all across the nation, we write
with deep humility and with both a strong conviction about justice and a
wholehearted invitation to learn and heal together.And we sincerely hope
that Iowa City will embrace healing, and will take the utmost advantage of
the important moment of healing that its Truth and Reconciliation
Commission offers.
Thomas: Well, I--I too, I'm supportive of extending the timeline, I think as many of
the Councilors have noted. This is,this is not an easy task. Uh,you know, I've
been tracking, uh, the work of the TRC up in Minneapolis,which is basically
ground zero with respect to,um, the events of 2020.And,you know, it took
them,it took a work group prior to the formation of the TRC,uh, close to a
year,just to sort of determine what the framework might be for the TRC
itself. So I, I think, uh, clearly an extended timeframe, uh,given the
circumstances and the, and the complexity and difficulty of this Commission
work is, is warranted. My, my hope is that, um, there, and,and from what I
understand,urn, there are conversations, critical conversations already
underway in the community regarding this work.And I, as Councilor Weiner
mentioned, uh, Eduardo Gonzalez, I believe has offered his services to help.
In my mind, I guess the way I would like to, to think of it as, as doing some of
the work that was in the initial proposal,the,you know, the first task of
convening and understanding. So I -- I'm hopeful that that work,urn,will
continue and that we will see, uh, a proposal from the TRC. It may be a
revised proposal, uh, taking into account all the conversations that have been
taking place, uh,which may attempt to address better integrating with some
of our existing initiatives regarding housing and policing and so forth.So I, I
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am hopeful that we'll be able to bridge and heal and form a connection. Urn,
but I, I -- and I'm encouraged by what I'm hearing in terms of the work of the
TRC and the work of the TRC within the community,with the assistance,
which is now informal,uh, from those facilitators and managers of this
process, which I've always felt, um,was critical from the beginning. I mean, it
was one reason why I supported the hiatus was we lost the facilitator at that
time.And I was concerned with how the TRC would function without one. Uh,
so I'm, I'm looking forward to hearing what that proposal will be,uh, and that
it, it will reflect the fact that there have been those critical conversations in
the community to address the issues that the Mayor has mentioned,uh,
before we move forward.
Salih: Uh, I [muffled] to the Mayor and Taylor said about, of course, extending the
time, everybody said that. So this is done deal.We agree for that,but I'm
really like, reopening something we already voted down? No. I'm not going to
do that because nothing has been changed. My concern when I voted the
outside facilitator,because I work with people of color,with immigrants who
really, the TRC going to work with them. So if we have somebody from
outside, that's not going to help,because I know how those people like really
need to work. They need to have somebody local. It's still,you have the
budget there.We approve it.You can go ahead and advertise this bidding, let
somebody apply for it, or some other organization, and bring your
recommendation to us again. There is no problem on that and extending the
time,we can approve that there is no problem,too. The other thing that I
want to request, I know that there is confusion. I've been hearing from some
TRC members that the relationship between the TRC and the Council, there is
confusion,you know,when do they think that they can approve it.What to
they think that the Council have to do and all this.That's why I encourage you
to have all your questions ready.And I encourage the Council to have a joint
meeting, so the people can come,um, and put their concern on the table. Uh,
this is really my suggestion to the Council.We need that to happen so we can
clear the,you know, the confusion and,uh, if they have any question they
want to address it so we can address it to them. But extending the time,yes.
Encourage you to go ahead and just work in the community.Try advertise a
position for facilitator because you need that person so you can move
forward on the job.And that's it.
Teague: I know that,uh, the TRC has, um, been,you know,looking at the charges
and have been putting some wheels in motion,uh, specifically when it comes
down to truth-telling,uh, setting up some of that. Um,so that is encouraging
that they have kind of looked at the charges and, and have been moving
forward. I guess the last thing I will say is, um, it is true that,you know,the,
the budget is, has been approved and I would encourage the TRC to, um,talk
about opening up the application process again with some times and some
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dates, urn,so that people can apply and you can do some discussions with
them. Urn,the other thing that I will say, urn, and, and probably my last
comment is, urn, to every last member of the TRC, I, I want to acknowledge
that. I do understand, urn, the challenges that you all have expressed,urn,
when it comes down to your relationship, as you see it with the Councilors
and with,you know, amongst the TRC. I do believe that there are, um, some
ways that we can work on communication with the TRC. In the past we have
had, um, an, I mean,TRC members do come to who they feel comfortable
with discussing. Urn, if the Council feels that there needs to be more
involvement,which I know one of the things that we decided was we kind of
wanted them to be like,with, kind of create a lot of things themselves,but we
could appoint, um, someone to be in more communication with them. Urn,
like we did for the CPRB, have a liaison with the TRC, um,that may be helpful.
I'm not exactly sure. Urn,but I think when it comes down to just the logistics
of like,is this something that needs to come to Council, is this,you know,
something that they can side, decide on and run with. Now,we do have
Stephanie and the staff, uh, which may be sufficient for that. But, urn, the
support is the biggest thing that I think that, urn,they need to, that we need
to ensure that they have,as well as, um,working on the relationship
between, urn,the Council and the TRC, so that they can feel that there is, uh,
at least some workable relationships personally. Um...again, I know that I've
said,you know, the,the community is probably a better option of moving
forward, uh, re re looking at how we move forward with the,with the
charges. But, urn, if there is no other support, of course, I'm going to go
forward with, um,supporting the,the continuance of the TRC and extending
their time, uh,without an issue.
Bergus: I think just - a couple of things,as I listen to the conversation among
Councilors, to make sure that,that we're aware what the TRC is doing,which
I think has been really, um,helpful to address some of the concerns, Mayor
that you've raised over, over the last several months. Right after we voted
down the facilitator contract,they immediately put on their agenda,the
discussion of kind of this rift and the need to,to build relationships, repair
relationships that,that,you know, the concern that you brought up.And I
know that they've, urn,been participating,they were invited to participate,
and some of the members who are here tonight spoke very well on how they
had the opportunity to sit in a restorative justice circle. Um, I think there
were only four Commissioners there. I don't think, urn,you know, it wasn't a
meeting. They didn't have a majority of the Commission there,but that
process, um,which was also offered to members of the Black Voices Project
at the same time, urn, I think that's -- again,we had Commissioners speak
very helpfully about how they were able to see that that specific process
would be something that could be helpful in carrying out their mandate,
could be brought to bear in the reconciliation stage of their work.And they
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also have been spending a lot of time and energy on identifying community
partners,those groups and organizations with whom they can collaborate so
that,uh, they're not reinventing the wheel and they're building relationships
and reinforcing relationships, um, for the truth-telling as you mentioned,but
I think also with an understanding that if we,you know,weren't giving staff
support, are there things that,that, uh, others in the community can assist
with.And it's been really impactful for me to hear the Commissioners, um,
struggle with and talk through this question of, is this better as a City
commission, should this be something that happens outside of that and to
hear them be committed to this process,to hear them be committed, to
sticking around,you know, despite kind of what,what I say we put them
through. Um, it was really inspiring and really speaks to,hopefully,the
support that they feel from the wider,the wider community, including as
Janice said,the 36 individuals,you know, representing a variety of groups
around the world who are standing with them in solidarity, in their process.
So, um, to your last point, Mayor, I really do think the logistics is tough.You
know, I hear a lot at the meetings,have them kind of struggling,urn,saying,
Hey, Stephanie, is this something that,you know,we can do? Is that
something that has to happen in a meeting? Is this something that would
have to go back before Council? I don't know the best way to kind of
overcome that or make that smoother, but I think that is a consistent issue. I
think it's been helpful to have a member of the City Manager's office present
at their last few meetings. Thank you, Geoff, and Redmond for attending. Um,
but you know,some,some way that those questions can be answered,um,
just because it is a brand new commission and these processes haven't been,
you know,haven't played out and they have good reason to kind of question,
you know,whether,whether something may or may not be allowed. So I like
the liaison idea or anything else that we could come up with to try and just,
you know, empower that sort of, that part of the process,the mechanics of it.
Mims: I'll just make one last comment. Urn, I'm disappointed. Um,you know, it was,
I think a lot-- as I think back on the 12 years that I've spent on Council,we've
accomplished a lot, and at the moment there's two really, really big
disappointments I have in my time on Council.And one of them is this.
Because I think we started, and I think the Council to some extent,uh, started
with a flawed process. I think, I think we were well-intentioned. Urn, and
many of the people involved and, and the Iowa Freedom Riders who were
very vocal and pushed us on a lot of this stuff were very much pushing us of
no rules, no boundaries,let us do our own thing.And so I think in the
process, as we set up the TRC,we,we set it up with it being pretty wide open.
And in that process, I think we put the members of the TRC at a disadvantage
because they didn't have structure. Um, it was not an existing commission
that had bylaws.A lot of the members didn't necessarily have experience
working on a commission in -- at all, maybe, and certainly not one,um, as
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tough to do the work as this one. In spite of that over the last year-plus,we've
managed to make a lot of progress and a number of those people have stayed
with us from the very beginning.And thank you to those who have.We had
voluntary resignations. There was a forced change in leadership,but then
there were voluntary resignations because of that-- at least some of them,
because of that forced leadership change. It is some of those people who
voluntarily resigned,who are now part of this issue of having a lack of unity
within the Black population of this City. I do not believe that we should be
giving them the power to negatively influence the future work of the TRC.
And by not approving the facilitator, I think that is exactly what we have
done when we sat here as a Council and approved that budget,we all knew
exactly, exactly what the intent of that vote was. The intent of that vote was
to fund one specific facilitator who had applied to the RFP who had been
interviewed and recommended to us by the TRC. I will tell all of you exactly
what I think: money got in the way.And all of a sudden people in the
community saw money on the table, and that has affected how things have
moved forward.All of a sudden people didn't want to do a facilitator and
heaven forbid we do an outside facilitator who even said they were going to
spend a fair amount of that money in this community, hiring people to do
that work in this community. They are the ones who have the national and
international experience having done this work.And at the last moment,this,
the majority of this Council pulled the plug on the TRC.And I think that is
shameful.And as an individual, I apologize to the members of the TRC.
Teague: I personally wouldn't respond to that. Um,because I do think that your,
your assumption of what happened, um, money being the gleaming,the
reason why people from the community, not just past members of the TRC
that resigned came forth and shared their comments. I do not, I do not
believe it was because of the money. Um,they expressed themselves to this
Council,why they had their positions,but at this point, I, I, I don't wanna,you
know, personally, I don't want to debate it. I think it's more advantageous for
us to talk about next steps, um,with the TRC.And I think that's most
important at this point,at least from my vantage point.
Salih: I think-- go ahead, go ahead and talk.
Weiner: It sounded to me as if there's unanimity and being willing to extend the
mandate,the length of the mandate, um, I, the, in terms of ways to,ways to
assist them, I like the various ideas that I'm hearing. Maybe a liaison might be
a good idea, as well as if it seems like it would be productive,a joint meeting
would be fine as well,but, but the other thing that,uh, that,that I'm hearing
for the most part is,um,we want to, and also they can do a new RFP. So what
I,what I,what I'd like to just summarize is what I'm hearing for the most part
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is willingness to continue this experiment and support the TRC as a Council
and find ways to make that work better,both for them and for us.
Teague: Uh,one thing I did say when we received the,um, RFP from the facilitator,
um, that was a proposal, as we were going through the presentation, it
seemed to me, and I made mention of this, that had the Council received that
type of presentation when we were first talking about it,the creation of the
TRC,we probably would have went through a series of,um, questions or
scenarios of what do we,how do we want to move forward with the TRC? I, I
would agree that, urn,you know,the TRC, if, if if it is going to continue, it
sounds like, um, but when it continues, are we really have we really
addressed any other concerns? I -- personally,there are no concerns with the
operations of the meetings anymore. So that's not an issue. Um, the things
that they're requesting,they can ask for anything that they want. I think it is
up to the Council to really search our heart and try to understand why the
request is there. Council makes a decision and I would encourage,you know,
the TRC to,you know, listen to every rationale from the Council and either
come back with a different proposal, or if that's the proposal you want,you
know, go for it,you know, continue to talk about it. Urn, but if we continue the
TRC,you know, do we need to do anything else? Do we, as a Council need any
more discussion on what their charges are? We,we,you know, the interest in
pieces, at one point, I thought we didn't give,we weren't prescriptive enough
to the TRC.And then I thought we needed to be more prescriptive and then
Eduardo Gonzalez said that what we gave them was perfect,that we didn't
need anything more than the charges and the resolution to the TRC. So if that
is enough, and then we're going to not add anything or give any more
direction, I guess the Council just has to be comfortable, or it has to at least
understand that something might, else come up and that's fine.And again, I
tell the TRC,they can ask for whatever they want at the end of the day,just
know that it's,you know,you know,make your point to the Councilor and the
Councilor has to make a decision. Um,but that's the question that I will ask
the Council. Is there anything else that we feel that we need to,um, navigate?
Urn, otherwise everything will be the same, except there potentially will be
some additional facilitators or however, that looks.
Salih: I think my,that question for the TRC, not different for the Council, because
the TRC,the one who have concern and we need to see what their concern is.
And also we are just now is spending a lot time talking about something
already we voted down on it and we bring it again and again, and make an
assumption about a lot of thing?We don't need to do that. I guess now we
need to move forward. Okay.What we're going to do,what their demand is.
Do we need to meet with them and figure out that, do we need to have an
optional [mumbled] and go and become like, somebody go was there
meeting from the Council? Maybe that's what, some things they don't want it,
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even if we just said, okay,we want one of the Council to go there.You see, I'm
seeing like the Police Review Board, maybe the TRC doesn't want that, they
don't want it because they don't feel comfortable one of them sitting there.
That's why I think meeting with the TRC and ask them what they need is the
better thing to do before we decide anything.
Teague: And -- and I would just mention you're, I think you're exactly right. I think
the TRC, they know that they can,you know, present whatever they want and
it'd be up to them if they want to do that.The last thing I might add is:joint
meetings typically, um, is before something is voted down,uh, is when we
would bring on a commission. Urn, this is just, uh,this here is just a general
conversation, urn, that I believe that,that we needed to have as a Council. Um,
but if the TRC requests that, a joint meet, and I think,you know, that would, I
would assume that by the comments here, everybody would agree to a joint
meeting.And then I believe that that will be at the request of the TRC if they
should want to do that.
Salih: Okay then.
Teague: Any other items on this?
Fruin: Mayor? Can I just,uh, uh, ask for one point of clarification, it does sound like
there's a clear majority that want to see the time extended.We do have a
recommendation from the TRC. Uh, that'll be corning your way, urn,are you
all comfortable with staff just turning that into the necessary resolution in
order to extend that time period?We can do that pretty quick.
Salih: Yeah, I am comfortable.
Teague:Yes.
Fruin: Okay. So we'll do that.We won't wait for the next meeting for you to direct us
to that.We'll just start on that process now.
Teague: Yep. I -- I, I did hear, and I just want to make sure that Council is
comfortable. I heard Councilor Taylor talk about,mention,you know, kind of,
uh, a list of what's going to be done. Um,but I also heard Eduardo Gonzalez
say the charges were appropriate. Urn, so are we comfortable just extending
the time? I'm assuming that that's probably a year.
Fruin: Yeah.You know, my 2 cents on this, um,there's so much unknown with the
challenges ahead,you know,the,the scope that's, uh, I had, it's going to be
nearly impossible for the TRC to know exactly when the appropriate end
date is. Urn, and I think it would be,you know, a best guess. I think that's
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probably what they did as a best guess on the timeframe they'll need,but as
they get into the truth-telling process and they begin to explore, urn,
programs that may emerge from that,you've got to expect that you could
have some detours along the way. So I -- I just, um, I'd, I'd hesitate to have
you request a strict calendar because this is unchartered territory.And I
think it's, I think it's a big ask to,to ask them to pinpoint exactly where
there'll be three months from now,six months from now or a year from now.
I think you extend it the roughly year that they've requested,but you have to
know that that's a best guess and it may,we may need to be flexible and
extending it again down the road sometime.
Salih: Yeah. I just have a question maybe for Eric, I don't know. If the TRC was
working and they need more time after the second extension, they always
can come back to us. Right.And we can extend the time.
Goers: Uh, if you were to amend the present resolution,which has hard dates for
completion,uh,to, um, another, uh,schedule,which also contains hard dates
for completion. If, as Geoff suggests they need more time and so forth, they
can just come forth to you, see if it's okay with you and we extend it or do
whatever is necessary to accommodate,uh, their wishes. If it's in accordance
with the majority of the Council will.
Salih: Yeah.After this extension also,they might kind of feel like, okay,that's what I
want to do.
Teague: So it does sound like we can probably just do an amendment to the
current....
Goers: That we can,sorry?
Teague: We can probably do an amendment to the current resolution.
Goers: Yes.
Teague: Okay.All right.Any other--
Mims: Yeah, I would just make one, I guess, final comment or question, Mayor,you
brought up the issue of kind of where,where the TRC goes from here.And I, I
mean, as I've listened and Pauline has talked about,you know,kind of an
agenda and plan to me that seems like something we had always thought,
you know, a facilitator could be of assistance in building some of those things
out.And in the conversation today, I think we still have heard various
Councilors at times talking about the benefit of, and helpfulness of a
facilitator.And the comment has been made about maybe the TRC doing a
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new RFP.And when I think about that, I -- I just don't understand why. I
mean,again, there was, there was nothing, I don't recall anything negative
being said about the facilitator that the TRC had selected.And so to me,what
you're asking them now to do is go back and potentially do a new RFP
because they need a facilitator and they already chose probably the best one
there is.And we approved the money for it.
Teague: I -- I hear what you're saying--
Mims: So again -- I'm going to finish.And so again,to me,it comes back to that
money. Of the issue of an out of town, out of state company,who,when that
question was brought up in that concern about the money, all going out to
them said,we're going to spend a lot of that money here, hiring people here
to do a lot of the work on the ground. My concern is the TRC is now left with
no choice,but to potentially hire a second rate consultant, somebody who
does not really have that kind of national and international experience in
helping a TRC.And that's, I think that's a real shame.
Teague: Okay.
Mims: They need a facilitator and they need, they need a facilitator and they need a
really good one. If we want them to do the best work possible.
Salih: At the end of the day, I think it is the best for our community.What is work
for the community,what does not. If the community,then the people of color
who is just, has been like, created for them,they think that this is the outside,
that is not going to work,then that's it. I really,you know, uh, don't really
care if that one is outside or not. But when I found out the one that inside,
like the local one will be helpful for our people and make,uh,you know, the
work easy for them to participate and, uh, collecting that, I'm going to go with
that. Definitely.And that's what we think.And I still think we are giving this a
lot of time.We,we have to move on this.You have a time now has been
extend -- extended, use this, can come back to us if you need more time. So
figure out, and like put that advertising there for another facilitator to apply
and just get your facilitator,that's what I think.And I'm going to say it again.
Uh, I'm not changing my position about the outside facilitator. I'm not going
to be here, but that's what my position is. Even if they come back to us again
with the same facilitator, my word will be the same because the concern is
not being resolved. My concern,why should I change my mind on the same
issue that I raised, it's not changed. So I really think we need to move on this.
We don't have to talk a lot about this. Maybe later, if it come back,you guys
can talk about it.
Teague: I -- I would -- Councilor?
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Taylor: I just have a quick comment towards what Councilor Mims had said, and I
am so hoping that your choice of words wasn't what you really meant when
you referred to other facilitators as perhaps second rate. I think that's very
offensive. I'm sure that there are other facilitators out there perhaps just
didn't have a chance to apply. But I think that was a very poor choice of
words.
Mims: It was not meant to insult anybody, but I have not heard or seen of anybody
in this community that has the national and international experience --
Salih: Because you don't know that.There is money--
Mims:As I just said, as I just said, I have not heard of, and none of them chose to
apply to that RFP.
Salih: You don't know.
Teague: Yep. So, uh, I think that the charges to the TRC is there'll be extended time.
If they want to reach out for a joint meeting or any other questions they can
consult,they can request it of Council. Um, the last thing that I will say is that,
you know, the TRC has been in the joint meeting before. Um, they also was
there the night when we had the vote, I would say, listen to what Councilors
have said.And when you're in your deliberations,just,you know, keep that in
mind, any other, any other thing on this?
Bergus: Just ah, point of, point of clarification Mayor, urn, on the, maybe this is a
question for staff. They,we went through this,you know, kind of complicated
procurement process with the RFP, the first time around to get to this
contract where it had to be,you know, uh, posted for a certain amount of
time there's restrictions on communication. Once people, once they,you
know, put their application in, we don't have to go through that same
process, correct?
Fruin: No,that's, that's our typical staff process for professional services that we
would normally follow. Um,but,you know, uh, have you recall that the first
facilitator you approved was approved without any process at all. So as, as
the elected leaders of their community,you can,you know, approve a
contract that comes to you for, for, for many variety of processes. So it could
be, uh, a sole source,someone that has expertise, uh, in this, in this manner,
um, they could do an abbreviated RFP in which we shorten the timeframe,
uh, maybe, uh, loosen up some of the requirements. I think we could work
with the TRC as staff to, to craft a facilitator process, uh, if they want to go
down that path again.
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Bergus: I just wanted to clarify that because I don't want them to be left with the
understanding that we're saying,go figure it out and start from scratch on
what is a several month process to,you know, potentially get--
Fruin: Yeah, I think, I think the biggest thing is if, if there are going to be hard
requirements from the Council on a facilitator, it's good to get that up front,
whether that requires a joint meeting and a discussion or not. But the last
thing last thing I want to do is,um, have staff help them through an
abbreviated RFP process, urn, only to come back to Council and, and for the
Council to say,well,the process wasn't, didn't follow the standard protocol.
You know, some people might not have been aware of the opportunity let's
restart. I mean, so if, if there are going to be hard requirements on, on, uh, on
a process,it's, it's best that, that come out sooner rather than later.
Teague: I guess the question is to Council, do we have any hard set requirements
that we want to give for the, for the,just the process of them obtaining a
facilitator?
Thomas: Well, from what I'm hearing, uh, local participation is clearly an issue. So I
would,you know, and there are in my work, um,back in the Bay Area,there,
there would be local participation requirements in the proposal. So, I mean,
the,and these are things that can be discussed,right? I mean, I, I view this
proposal that we voted down as simply the proposal before us. I'm expecting
that there will be a subsequent proposal. I'm hopeful of that, and it will better
articulate and respond to the concerns that were raised and have, have been
raised tonight.
Salih: I also agree that it's local.
Weiner: I guess my question is, does, urn,that,would it be acceptable to members to
end up with sort of a hybrid version of like someone a,uh, a local, uh, local
people partnering with someone who's not local?
Thomas: I think that's a very reasonable, I mean, as, as Susan has said,there,there
are certain aspects of this that I think our choices are limited,but I do think
that that consultant can partner, uh,with,with the local expertise that can
help with some of the public process, the mediation,you know,ways in
which they're the interface with the community, applying this process, that's
outlined in the proposal,uh,would be implemented and who those groups
are that need to be contacted and so forth. I mean, I think there's another
layer of information that could be, uh, incorporated into this proposal so that
it may,you know, I would expect address some of the objections to what we
saw previously.
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Teague: And as far as timing or postage, um, do we have any hard requirements
there or do we just leave that up to the Commission to,you know,have that
discussion?And --
Bergus: I think we leave it up to them. I think we voted favorably their first proposal,
which had no process.And then we voted,you know,to fund the second one,
which had a very extensive process. I think they can.
Teague: Okay. Uh,there's a majority for that.All right.Anything else?Anything else?
Councilors? Okay, awesome. Great.
Clarification of Agenda Items
Teague: We will move on to the next agenda item,which is clarification of agenda
items.And thanks to all the Commissioners that are here today from the TRC.
....Hearing nothing.
Weiner:Wait,which ones are we are --
Teague: The formal agenda first,Yup.
Bergus: Actually, Mayor, I think I did. I had a question just on the re-precincting
issue. Um, I don't know, that's in our consent agenda
Fruin: Setting a public hearing.
Bergus: Okay.And I think the idea is we'd be collapsing everything into one. So I'd
like to maybe have a little bit of discussion,which we can do during consent
agenda on that,but just to flag that.
Teague: Sounds great.
Weiner: Yeah. I would agree with that.
Teague: All right.
Fruin: We probably have time to have a discussion now, if that would be helpful,We
can certainly wait. But if there's questions you want us to explain kind of
what,what the process has been to get us to this point and what it looks like
going forward,would that be helpful before you set the public hearing?
[general agreement] Okay. Eric, do you want to take your,take this one?
Goers: So as Council is probably aware, uh,the timeline is quite a bit tighter this
year than it would have been in prior decades following the census because
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the census was so very late this year. Urn,we have a, uh, a rather short
window of 60 days,uh, from, uh,when the governor signed, uh,the, uh, uh,
statute that approved the House and Senate,the state House and Senate
districts. Uh, and that deadline is now, uh,January 3rd of, uh,well next
January 3rd. Urn, in the meantime, uh, we've had to, uh, be involved in the
process of, uh,you know, drawing maps. Urn, and, and to be clear,what we're
talking about are, are two aspects of the maps. One is the number of precincts
and identifying and delineating the precincts.That is just where people vote.
It's nothing more than that,where their polling place is. Uh, and the second is
identifying, uh, the districts, of course, Iowa City has three, of which we have
three Councilors who are, uh, uh, are elected. Urn, and, and so it's those two
things that we're hoping to identify and formalize,uh,with new maps, uh,
again, that needs to be completed by January 3rd. Uh,what we decided to do
on a staff level is that when the County, uh, offered to, uh, do that work for us,
we said,yes, please. Urn, they indicated that they were already trained on the
software and they had the data from the census and so forth to, uh,try to, uh,
develop precincts for us. Uh, right now there are 24,we'll, because of growth,
we'll be going to 27 because no precinct can be more than 3,500 people. Uh,
we want to stay well below that, of course, for voting efficiency to make sure
that people don't encounter lines, uh, when they're going to their polling
place to vote. Uh,the County was kind enough to do that. They, uh,came up
with, uh, three different maps,which focused on different things. Um,
ultimately we, uh, at the staff level, uh, decided to recommend, uh, a revised
Plan C uh,to Council members, uh,because it,uh, focused on kind of
balancing the population of each as opposed to some of the others,which
focused on voting turnout trends, I believe. Uh, and I think others focused on,
help me if I'm wrong, Kellie, about the, uh,precinct polling places or
something was one of the other ones. Uh, we thought the balance of, uh,
population made the most sense, um.And anyway, so they, uh, presented, uh,
Plans A, B and C, and then presented Revised A and Revised C that had some
technical corrections that the County identified and wanted to do. Urn, and
upon looking at those at the staff level, we decided, boy, uh, Plan Revised C
looked best to us again because of the balance of the population, uh,between
the precincts. And, and also, I'm sorry, for the district part, uh,that is
Districts A, B and C for the County, I'm sorry for the City, uh, the C most
closely tracked the present delineation of those three, uh, districts.And so we
thought that made the most sense as well. Um,that now comes to, oh, I'm
sorry. Last thing is we have to, uh, present to the County Commissioner, in
that case that's the County Auditor and his staff. Um, Travis was indicating he
might be here this evening. I don't yet see him,but maybe he'll be appearing,
uh, at our meeting later. Urn, at any rate he, uh, approved, uh, this afternoon,
urn, of the Revised Plan C, which of course makes sense, it's his staff that
wrote it. Uh,we thought it made most sense to have an outside entity with
kind of no dog in any fight, um, uh, draw the,uh, the maps and so approving,
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uh, of those,uh,when pretty easily,and to be clear,they need to be given
seven to 10 days to comment in,to provide written comment on the maps.
They do not have ultimate approval authority. Uh that's you,uh, as a Council
who have the ultimate authority to approve it,but we do have to give them
the opportunity to make written comments.And if you reject their
comments,we need to specify in the ordinance why it is that we diverged
from what they had suggested. Um,so that's kind of the process here,which
kind of brings us to, uh, Laura's question about collapse and, and the issue
that Geoff raised in the,uh, packet. Um,you know, of course normally with an
ordinance,you have three readings, it is often the case that we,uh, collapse
readings two and three,uh, to save time and, and effectuate the ordinance
quicker. Um,here we're really up against it. Urn,we can do a meeting,uh, that
is,we would have, uh,the first reading presumably on,uh, December 14th,
uh, after the public hearing that you'll, urn, presumably be setting later in the
meeting and we can schedule an additional, a special meeting to have a
readings, uh, two and three, if the Council chooses to do that. And of course
also votes to collapse, urn, the readings two and three,but state laws
certainly allows you to collapse all three that is,to do it all in, in one meeting.
Uh, I know it is not the custom and practice of this Council to do so; many
other Councils do that fairly routinely. Uh, but it seems like if we're going to
do, uh, something like that,this would probably be the time to do it, again,
because we're up against such a tight timeframe. Um, and, and,you know,
this only happens once every 10 years, so I don't think it,you know, opens
Pandora's box.And so far was doing this on a regular basis. Uh, that's what
I've -- those are the things that immediately spring to mind to let you know,
but I'm happy to either have Geoff or Kellie pipe in and add or answer any
questions Council may have.
Bergus: Thanks for that explanation. I have a question just in how you described
that process. So the auditor presents three different maps,and then we pick
one or do they make a recommendation, or how do we know of like all the
factors that balance into it, population, polling places,like,how do we know
what's the best one.
Goers: Right.To be clear, it's not like they're required to present three maps.They
just happened to present three.
Bergus: Okay.
Goers: And in presenting those, uh,to, uh, the City Manager, City Clerk and myself,
they said,here's A, here's how we got to A, we're focusing on this one factor.
And again, I'm going to get B, and, or A and B mixed up, maybe Kellie can help
me out by pulling up that email as I'm talking,uh,you know, and then, and C
was the balanced, uh, population. That's the one we thought ultimately was
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the best. Urn, I'm sorry,the second part of your question is who,who
approves the,that's you --
Bergus: Did, did they recommend, like we're giving you three options,but here's
what we think is best based on,whatever--
Goers: Uh, not that I recall. I think they gave us three and kind of let us know how
they got to those three or what each kind of prioritized.And then, uh,we at
the staff level discussed it quite a bit and, and figured that C was probably the
best insofar as planning for growth and voting efficiency and, and, and those
kinds of things.And so that's how we came to, urn, C.
Bergus: Okay.
Fruin: Yeah,we,we operated under the assumption that any one of the three would
be workable for the County, otherwise they wouldn't have given us A, B or C.
Goers: One -- one other thing is that ultimately,you know,we approve, uh,we, the
Council approve the map and then we send it to, uh,the Secretary of Ctate.
Urn, they have to sign off as well. In fact, 10 years ago, there were some
mistakes made in the legal descriptions of,which are lengthy,uh, for each of
the soon to be 27 precincts that are drawn.They identified some errors,they
sent it back to us. City Council had to approve some corrections and so forth,
but, urn, hopefully we'll, uh, avoid that step this time.
Thomas: So just to be clear to myself. So this means that, urn,we will be,we will
receive the, the three alternatives,the Revised Plan C will be presented as the
recommended alternative?
Goers: If that's what you'd like.Yes.And Kellie's been kind enough to find the email.
Urn, so here are the three plans that they presented to us. Plan A focuses on
clear lines while taking into account election turnout and polling location
proximity. Plan B was structured around existing polling places and Plan C
creates population balance between precincts and within House districts. So
those were the kind of,again, they were all compliant plans. I mean,they're
all,you know,we could accept any of them,but those were the priorities that
they had, uh,utilized in formulating each of those three plans. So back to
your question, I mean,yeah,that's entirely up to Council.
Thomas: We - we could at that meeting choose another plan than the one
recommended by staff.
Goers: You could.The, um, I'm trying to think procedurally what would happen from
there. Um, I mean each of them were drafted by, uh, the county auditor. So I
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would assume the county auditor's approval would come swiftly,but I'm
trying to think if we would need to send it back to them, uh, to ensure
probably, um, and that would be a bit of a constraint on timing.We could do
it.
Weiner: Would it also maybe be possible, sorry for the interruption,but it also may
be possible to confirm before the meeting, if we would, if we would be getting
two or three plans that they would be in agreement with any of the, as long
as we didn't,like, mess around with them.
Goers: Right.
Weiner: That any of those three plans would be compliant and they would approve.
Goers: We could probably seek that preapproval if that's Council's wish.
Mims: I think it would be not that I necessarily, at this point,want to have any extra
meetings and as we go into the holidays, I'm sure nobody does,but it would
seem like it'd be nice for us to see those ASAP so that we could,you know,
individually communicate back to the Mayor or whatever,whether we felt
we needed to have a meeting to -- an extra meeting, to discuss those before
we actually come in and vote. Because as you said,this is pretty unheard of
us to collapse all three votes into one.And so I, I just feel like, and like you
said, this is a 10-year process. I mean,we set these, these lines for the next 10
years. So I feel like it's pretty important that we have a chance to take a look
at them and discuss them, um,with ample time.And I know there's not much
so ample, ample isn't a whole lot here,but with the opportunity to,to really
look at those, I mean, I would certainly hope that one of the three we would
be comfortable with,but at least have some discussion of it before we come
into a meeting with the idea that we're going to have to collapse all three
votes into one.
Goers: Sure.Uh,we can certainly do that in what I would probably want to do is
send it with a cover memo, uh,reminding Council of the factors that they can
and cannot consider,um, in determining their maps.
Mims: That would be very helpful.
Taylor: I'm glad you brought that up. Councilor Mims. Cause I was a little uncertain
if at that meeting,um, we're just going to get presented the resolution that's
approving Plan C say, and maybe there won't be two separate resolutions,
one approving Plan A, one approving Plan C and then we as a group decide
which one we wanted. It sounded more like it was just going to be this or
nothing. So I think that's good to see.
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Weiner: I think that'd be really useful.
Teague: I would agree with Council Mims. If everyone can,you know,send your
thoughts. My question would be what would trigger a-- a extra meeting?
Would it be --
Salih: I think maybe, I don't know.This is my idea. If we, for example, choosing
something,not the staff, like for example,the staff is now saying, C,for
example, if we choose B or A, and we decide to modify it a little bit,that's
have to go back to the County,right?
Goers: Yeah. If we, if we modified it in any way, I think under the statute,we would
need to send it back to the County.They would get seven to 10 days to
provide written comment.
Salih: Yeah.That's,which is going to take time.And I -- to me personally, I, I look at
another plan than the staff, but I think it needs to be modified a little bit. I
have concern for the plan that I have in mind,but it needs also to modify it. I
don't know the others,but that's why I think we need to work on this as soon
as possible if we really want to vote on the, on the 14th of December.
Teague: Just hearing that if, if, um, and the potential of Councilors having a different
option than C, I think we should plan a different meeting. I don't think it
would be right for me to get, and try to navigate that without it being public.
Um,our people, I'm seeing some shaking of heads. So do we want to look at,
um,we can probably do it the first week? Uh, no,we can do it either the first
or the second week in December,
Salih: The first,,the end of the first kind of maybe next week.
Taylor: That's this week. That's the next one --
Salih: --this week.Yeah, maybe the end of next week. I don't know the others,but--
Fruin: So are you seeking like a work session, uh, a special work session to talk
through the three.
Weiner: I think so.And I think it would be really useful,at least from my perspective,
if we could have representatives of the auditor's office there, as well as staff
to help us work through that.
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Salih: Exactly. If we can ask him to be there, because for example,we, if we want to
modify something, maybe that cannot be happening or something like that, if
we can invite them, would be great.
Goers: Sure.Yeah.The county has been great. I mean, they've really been very
accommodating and they've asked us,you know, repeatedly, do you have
everything you need? Is there anything else you need from us?They've been
wonderful to work with.
Teague: Can I make a proposal for Tuesday,January 4th at 8:00 AM.
Taylor: That's too early.
Mims: It's too late.That's gotta be in the next week. [crosstalk]
[crosstalk, negotiating a date]
Teague: I am so sorry...Uh,Tuesday, December 7th at 8:00 AM.
Salih: I had it on the calendar as a City Council meeting anyway.
Teague: But it'd be in the morning.
Salih: Okay. At what time?
[Mumbling- 8:00 am agreed on]
Teague: Okay.All right. That's pretty important.That's a 10 year....
Mims: So 8:00 AM on the seventh?
Teague: Yes.All right.Any other, uh, items for clarification?
Information Packet Discussion (November 18. November 24):
Teague: Okay.We're going to move on to info packet November 18th.
Weiner: So I'm a little bit confused about what we need to be doing with respect to
IP2,which is the, the sort of the series of memos from the Historic
Preservation Commission, from the City Manager, from the Downtown
District,whether it's with respect to, um,whether some, like some clear
guidelines could be set for opting in, opting out of historic preservation and
so forth. So I'm sort of not quite clear what,what we're being asked to do
there.
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Fruin: Well,part of the recommendation,there's multiple recommendations in the
memo from the Historic Preservation Commission. Um, a component of those
recommendations is to establish commercial,um, design guidelines for
historic properties. Um,that's something that we have for our residential
properties,um,but we don't have that for commercial. Urn, and thus we
default to federal standards,which can be somewhat inflexible at times, and,
and, and maybe, um, insensitive for lack of a better term to,to re-- modern
retail needs. So,you know, I hope the memo's clear, staff doesn't, um, doesn't
dispute that that would be very nice to have and, and,uh, um,would be
beneficial to have that. I think if we could snap our fingers and have that
done, um,that would be great. But the reality of it is that's a significant
undertaking.That's a, that's an 18- to 24-month undertaking, major
consultant work. Um,you know,just as the historic designation itself of the
downtown district took three to four years,this is gonna take several years.
Um, my concern is simply our capacity to do so in light of everything else
that,that we have going on right now.And,uh,you know,this Council has
been pretty clear as we've had some controversial developments that,that
you expect to see some,some updates to our Comp Plan, our District Plan.
Um,we know that we have huge lift ahead of us with all the ARPA and the
federal dollars coming,that we have to have staff to administer those
programs. It all falls largely on that same department, Neighborhood and
Development Services.Um, I can't, I can't sit where I'm at today and justify us
prioritizing that over everything else that has been asked of, of that work
group.And, uh,that's, that's my,that's my concern. Um, I,what I tried to
show in the memo is, is how we have, uh, um, I think successfully worked
with property owners over the last decade, uh, to achieve local landmarks
and, and to reinvest in, uh, commercial buildings,through TIF, through
zoning, uh,incentives, um, and, and through other, other programs.And I
think,you know, the numbers speak for themselves and in that memo, um,
but it would be, it would be nice to have,but at some point Council here,
they're going to have to,you're going to have to prioritize for us. Uh,you're
going to have to look at all these requests that you've gotten, uh, in terms of,
of, of planning work to be done and prioritize because these aren't, these
aren't simple things and,you know,you just, you just passed both the Fringe
Area Agreement and the South District,um, Plan, um, the,the form-based
Code,both of those are multiple year efforts. I think you have an idea of just
how extensive the work is that that goes into these types of matters.
Weiner: Yeah. I guess my question was,are there,how,how ex-- how extensive a
project do you think it would be to sort of put in, like in one place where it's
easily accessible, current incentives, current, um, current possibilities, and I
mean,you did speak in the memo of the possibility of looking into a revolving
loan,which is one of the things they proposed,but not to create anything
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new,but just sort of have, and maybe it already exists. I don't know,but sort
of to have it as easily in one place, if, if like I'm a, I'm a downtown,and I'm
interested in this, I can, I can go one of the following five routes.
Fruin: We can, we can certainly aim to make that a little clearer. I mean,we, we have
the, the zoning code,which has a lot of the incentives in,you know,
embedded in that.We have our TIF policy, which speaks very directly to
historic properties.And we could,we could try to package that in a, in a one
page type of, urn, offering to commercial property owners that may be
eligible.That's, uh, certainly something we can do. I think,you know, in, in
conversations with the downtown district, uh, I think we're going down that
path with café regulations and maybe a couple of other things too, in which
it's just not,uh, super clear and accessible what all the regulations may be,
um, even though they may be publicly available in some way, shape or form.
So yes,we could. Urn,we could do that with little effort.
Weiner: That was sort of my takeaway, is what might be really helpful.
Thomas: Well,just to be,sort of reference the, the Historic Preservation Commission
motion? If I have, if I have the correct document here, it was to ask the City
Council, and this was approved by HPC to direct staff to research the
attached framework, explore other opt-in incentives that align with these
proposals and goals, and turn them into policy proposals that appropriate
City commissions and City Council can later review. Um,you know, I, I
certainly support that. I don't know exactly,you know, I -- I think the
question of staffing to me is somewhat separate from that.You know, how, if,
if we agree that work needs to be done, what,what,what are the, what are
the various ways in which the staffing can be provided to do the work? Is it
City staff? Is it the Downtown District or some combination? Is it an outside
consultant working with the Downtown District? Um,there seemed to be a
number of different ways in which, uh, the work could be accomplished from
a staffing standpoint, um, at least to me, um, and,you know, from what I
understand, a lot of work went into getting to this point.And so I'm,you
know, concerned with, uh,what message that sends to the people who did
the work and, and to, to then see that, uh, it's,you know, maybe moving
forward in one respect or another,but,urn, not in its,as intended. So I just
don't want it-- I want it, I would like to see further conversation on this in
terms of, urn, how we can move this forward. Maybe there are priorities
within the scope that is discussed within the Historic Preservation motion.
Uh, I don't know, but I I'm concerned with the idea that we just basically say
we,we're not moving forward with this, uh, as outlined by the motion.
Teague: I would agree with you by what you read. It seems to me that it's significant
enough to, uh, further discussion. Um,what would it entail as far as to
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accomplish that? Urn,you mentioned,you know, staff, Downtown District,
um, consultant. Urn, I think that the discussion will probably naturally, um,
give some great options of what might be the best solution. So I would be
open to having a conversation further.
Mims: One of the things that, that I would recommend, and,you know, obviously I'll
be gone soon,but one thing we've heard repeatedly from the City Manager is
that consultants don't necessarily mean less work for staff because they have
to spend a lot of time interacting with them and oversight and giving,getting,
gathering,and giving them the information that they need to do a lot of their
work. So that doesn't entirely diminish,you know,the amount of work that
staff needs to do. Um, in the, I missed Geoff getting his ten-year certificate, uh,
the last meeting, but in the 10 years, I've known Geoff,you know, I have great
deal of respect for, for his judgment and his analysis of, um, the staff load and
the staff capabilities.And so when he says,you know, that we don't really
have the capacity to do this, uh,with our current staff and is not willing to
push them further in terms of their load, I, I take that with a great deal of
respect and belief.And lastly,we have a lot of commissions out there, and it
is their job to look at and advocate for their particular area. So whether that's
Parks and Rec,whether that's Human Resources,whether that's Historic
Preservation,whether that's HCDC, I expect that every one of them will look
at and analyze and push forward things that, um,they believe are in the best
interest of this community and should move forward.That does not mean
that the City has the capacity to do all of those things or to do all of them at
that time that they push them forward.And so I think it's important that we
take that into account, and certainly if the decision is either do only part of
this or to do none of this at the moment, is to communicate back to them and
say,we hear you,we believe in this, um, this is important, but when we fit it
into, uh,you know, trying to do the form-based Code in the next part of town
or form-based Code downtown or whatever it might be,um, we can't
necessarily take every recommendation from every commission and move
forward on it instantaneously.And I think we have to respect the judgment of
the City Manager of kind of how we put those things forward.And so when
we look at our seven priorities,you know, our strategic priorities, urn,you
know, from climate action to all the others,um,we've got our staff doing a
lot. So I think you just have to take that into account as we move forward.
Bergus: Yeah. I, I think maybe if we can frame it for communicating with the
Commission as what we can do. Right. I think it sounds like from what you're
saying, Geoff, the, the lift of these historic preservation design standards for,
for commercial properties downtown is that's the really big one, is that right?
Like,that's the kind of the scary one?
Fruin: Correct,yes.
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Bergus: Okay.And so,you know, really making sure we emphasize,but the smaller
things,here's what we're intending to do.And I don't want them to hear this
as a no, never,you know, but right now, given capacity, here's what we can
do.And I think,but what Janice said of,you know, making sure we're really
communicating clearly, cause you,you said in the memo, and I know this is
true,that you are eager to work with individual property owners.Well,how
does an individual property owner know what those incentives might be
when there's not, if it's kind of buried in the Code,you know, or, or,or they
have to look at a few different places. So I think some marketing on this and
hopefully the Downtown District could help package and sell that, so to
speak, as well. It'd be good.
Teague: So on one level,the Commission themselves can maybe have further
discussion and maybe present something to us, some thoughts.
Fruin: Well, I think there's a couple options. I mean, if you want to schedule a work
session and discuss it amongst yourself in greater detail,you certainly could.
Um,you know,you're getting into a season in which you're going to,you
know,be sifting through a 800, 900-page budget and, and getting back into
strategic planning. So the first three or four months of, of the, of the calendar
year are typically pretty darn busy for Council and, and your work session
time,but you could,you could put it on your pending list and you could
schedule it as, as urgently as you, as you saw fit. Um, probably a greater
discussion,and I was thinking that this would come into the strategic
planning is, is the overall prioritization,like,you know, step back up and take
that macro level view of all the things that you would like to see done from a
planning basis,you know,whether it is more form-based Codes, uh,whether
it's things we put on kind of the back burner, uh, like the North Side Market
Master Plan,uh, parking study that was discussed a while back, um,and, and
kind of give us a, a macro level priority list, uh,based on a number of the
things that we're juggling. Um,you know, I mentioned in the memo,we'd
really like to analyze our Code more closely for affordable housing purposes,
for climate change purposes.Those are all things that just, that just take time
and, and you know, how much can we squeeze through the funnel?That's,
that's probably where it's most valuable. So I would encourage that, that
higher-level perspective, as opposed to picking one item like these guidelines
and really digging deep into that.
Weiner: Fair enough.
Teague:Well,what are the thoughts doing the -- I know that next year is going to be
pretty busy starting out.
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Weiner: I mean, I, I think what count,what, what Laura said makes sense. I mean, I,
and I liked just the idea of like,if it's possible, if it's not,time-intensive just to
essentially put together a one page cheat sheet,you know, here's where to
find these things in the Code. Urn,and this is what we can do right now.We
don't have the capacity to do more.
Taylor: We --we've gradually been chipping away on our pen, our pending list. So I
think, I mean,that was a good suggestion, I think too is perhaps at some point
added to our pending list and, and actually have it as a topic of discussion.
Teague: We can have it on the pending list,but I also would agree that, um, maybe
there can be some conversation about,um,some advertisement or, I imagine
this isn't just a unique issue for this commission. Urn, it's,it's probably for
other City programs how to reach the people that,you know,would be of
interest. So, uh....so we'll put it on the pending list.
Fruin: Do you want just the Historic Preservation,basically this memo reposted on a
future pending list?
Bergus: We,in the meantime, or, or I don't know, are we in agreement on directing
staff to just try and package the existing stuff a little more concisely,so we
don't have to wait for--
Thomas: Well, I, I personally would like, uh,the Downtown District and staff and
HPC or representative of HPC, uh,to follow up on, on this and see what,
what's the strategy here? How, how can we satisfy the concerns of the --what
are our options in terms of satisfying the concerns and a sense of urgency
that I was hearing from the Downtown District, uh,short of, I mean, I just,
you know, -- how,how can we move forward, uh, acknowledge the staffing
concerns with the City,um,but also acknowledge,you know,the effort that
has been, been done by the Downtown District and HPC to reach this point
and, and see what the, again,what the what's the work plan, urn, for
achieving the objectives or outline,it's just a framework, right? So it does,
there's a lot of flexibility in what that framework would entail. Um,you know,
kind of a schedule of, of which items should be prioritized if possible.
Mims: Well, I won't be here.Again, I would urge you to consider what Geoff just said,
you're going into strategic planning, and,you know,you've got to give staff
direction for the next two years of what your,as a Council,what your
priorities are.And so before starting forward on something like this,why not
make that a part of your whole strategic plan and see where this fits into it.
And yeah, maybe it rises to the top and maybe it doesn't,but to be pushing
this forward now,when in, say two months,you're going to be in the middle
of doing strategic plan.And maybe this doesn't come to the top,to me,that
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doesn't make a lot of sense.You're kind of getting the cart before the horse.
So I would encourage you to wait until you do your strategic plan before you
move forward on this memo.
Bergus: That makes sense to me.
Teague: So I want to just make sure, cause I'm kinda sensing that the majority of
Council wants to go forth with a strategic plan macro level.And then from
there we'll, I mean,this memo will be in our mind,we're having that
discussion.And then just to, uh, Bergus' point, um, my assumption is, I mean,
you know, how do we get the information to the people that need it? Um,
maybe that is a question that staff just kinda grapple with,you know,
Downtown District,as well as with the Commissioners.Yeah.
Fruin: I really don't think that the Council has to be involved in that piece.We we've
got a really good working relationship with Nancy and the staff and the
Downtown District.We,we can, um,you know, facilitate the targeted
communication piece. Like I said, I think we've,we've got a history of doing
that fairly well. Um, and it's been brought to our attention that, that this is a
gap and we,we can address that.
Teague: Sounded like Council is okay with that.All right.Anything else on this, on
November 18th?
Weiner: Yeah. I just wanted to make a very positive note about IP3,which is the
Energy Grant Program expansion. Uh, I thought we got some good,good
applications the first time. I'm really happy to see it being expanded.That's it.
Teague: I'll make mention of IP4, which the City received a perfect score for LGBTQ
inclusion from Human Rights Campaign.And so this I believe is our--
Stephanie's already gone. Urn, maybe our sixth or seventh year in a row.All
right. Moving on to November 24th.
Salih: I guess ah,leaving [mumbled] for the City Council [mumbled].
Teague:[mumbled].
Salih: It's yeah. I'm just talking about the meeting schedule. Maybe this is a typo, not
like next meeting, I think is 5:30 pm? I don't think so, right?
Fruin: So it's, it's been a customary that we do a, uh, a reception for outgoing
Council members before the last meeting. So our, our plan was to do that at
four o'clock,um,which would just be again, a, a reception here at the Senior
Center, uh, for the public to thank you,thank Susan, for your service to the
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community.And then we would resume,we would start the work session at
5:30.
Salih: And the meeting would be at six, or it would be seven?
Fruin: The meeting would still be six. So essentially we would have no regular work
session topic.You could work through clarification of agenda items and IP
from 5:30 to,you know, quarter till or whatever it takes. If you'd like an
adjustment to that, though, we can,we can certainly adjust that.
Salih: Yeah, I was just asking.Yeah, it wasn't [mumbled]. That's why.
Teague:All right.
Weiner: So are we all at 24th now or wherever?
Teague: November 24th, IP.
Weiner: Yes, I,uh, on November 24th, IP3, I just wanted to suggest, um, one, one
item fell off and I'm not sure why,which I don't think we've ever discussed,
LOST. I I'd like to see it go back on our work agenda because there --that we
seemed to gain some consensus within the larger community about early
childhood education and other similar things. So I'm not sure where that,
how that fell off. Um, I'd love to be able to add a couple of others. One of
which is us discussing a land acknowledgement and, um, one, and then
adding the discussion, I guess, in the new year about accessibility of
meetings, especially looking at what we don't know about the next variant
that's coming along.
Teague: And just have to get about two other Councilors.
Mims: I would agree.
Bergus: I'm good with those.
Teague: All right. So put those on the pending list.Anything else from November
24th?
Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees
Teague: All right. Council updates on assigned boards, commissions and committees.
Mims: I would just say JECC has met um,will be approving the budget in December
and the,that has gone down from last year. Last year was a big increase
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because of some new contracts on radios and stuff. Urn,but it continues, I
think,to be really real well managed by Tom Jones and his group out there.
Urn, and I think always looking at new ways in terms of doing the dispatch.
Urn, and certainly they are a very necessary partner as we look at,you know,
trying to facilitate some, moving a lot of those 9-1-1 calls away from the
Police Department and to other, um, agencies. Urn,and just today,urn, I was
in the car and had NPR on and they were talking about how a number of
cities across the country--they were focusing on Atlanta,but mentioned a
number of others who are doing the same thing. One thing that was
interesting.And I don't know if I'll just mention this to you, Geoff,what they
were doing was they were using a 3-1-1 number and the 3-1-1 call was for
more like, urn, mental health,substance abuse,but the kinds of things where
we would see like mobile crisis or that kind of organization going rather than
the police dispatch.And so I'm not sure what mobile crisis uses for a number,
but they were using a three-digit number that was just-- be really easy for
people to learn and know,um, for that requesting that kind of a dispatch
rather than police. So I thought that was interesting.
Weiner: Uh,I heard a similar story about Austin,Texas,which has basically they've
now trifurcated,they, they all use 9-1-1,but the,but the dispatch has been
trained to ask sort of a, a really quick series of questions to determine which
what should be dispatched. Urn,yeah.And I was participating in that also
today for a chunk of the day, uh, ECCOG, the East Central Iowa Council of
Governments is working on its forward visioning process, much as Johnson
County is doing it.And they've, they've,they've come up with another,a
number of strategic pillars and they're trying to flesh that out and I'm not
going to go into great detail,but there is a good group that's focused on how
to essentially, uh,workable ways as opposed to ones that have essentially
failed in the past to get various parts of the six-county region to work
together, urn,toward,toward the future.
Bergus: At the MPOJC meeting on the 17th of November,we had a presentation
from,um, the Rail Director from the IOT and the,urn, I forget her title,but
someone who does rail, aviation and,uh, transit.And they spoke really
favorably about the idea of the commuter rail between North Liberty and
Iowa City.And so I think our next MPO meeting,we'll probably be creating a
kind of a subcommittee or a task force on,uh, from the different jurisdictions
and communities to be talking about that. Urn, I've had a number of
conversations with folks about that as well.And so it was great to kind of pull
that into the, the MPO sphere.
Teague: Any other item?
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Thomas: Uh, I was slow to jump in on Councilor Mims' comment, but, urn, uh, if you
weren't to, excuse me, if you weren't aware,there is a national suicide hotline
that's being developed to replace the 1-800 number that exists now, it'll be 9-
8-8, and that'll go into effect next year and, uh, here, the dispatch will
probably coincide with the existing mobile crisis dispatch. Um, I think there's
still some,some of that being worked out at the state level, how we'll, we'll
dispatch that,but it's clearly on our radar, uh,because it's more it's, it's, it's
kinda named the suicide hotline,but it's clearly a crisis hotline. So I think
there'll be some real good opportunities to promote that. Uh, we've had some
of those initial discussions even within the Police Department about,you
know,as much as we promote 9-1-1, can we promote 9-8-8,which is going to
be the number,uh,just as much, if not more. Uh, and, and so that's on the
way.And then also, um,you know,we continue to have some great
discussions with Mobile Crisis on, urn, expanding their capabilities and
improving their response times.And we're pretty close to bringing you a
proposal, urn, on that, um,using some of the ARPA funds that,uh, that the
City's received. So you could probably expect that shortly after the first of the
year.
Teague: Great.Anything else for right now?All right.We will be back at 6:00 PM.
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