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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-06-20 Transcription Page 1 Council Present: Alter,Bergus,Harmse, Taylor, Teague, Thomas,Dunn Staff Present: Jones,Kilburg, Goers,Fruehling,Platz,Dulek,Liston,Barker, Sovers, Havel, Streif Others Present: LeFevre,USG Liasion 1. Review of Urban Chicken Regulation Teague: So today is Tuesday,uh,June 20th,2023,and this is the City of Iowa City's work session. The fust item on our agenda is review urban chicken regulations. And,I know,that this was one that Councilor Dunn,uh, submitted,but we also had some staff correspondence. So,um,whoever wants to just jump in? Dunn: Staff can go first. Jones: Um,I yield to you. Dunn: I'll go to me. Okay. Sure.Uh, so,uh,this item,uh,has particularly come up with for- a couple of times over the past couple of years,uh,as I understand,but came to my attention,um,more recently through a couple of conversations that I had. One,uh,particular,um, email that we all received from,uh,resident named Jason Agni about a little,uh,book report,or not really a book report.A little letter to the community,a letter to the city council advocating for us to,uh,unban roosters. So this is part of me making good on a promise to-to try. At the same time I-I was also in a conversation with a few residents at Prairie Hill,uh,and I am aware of other residents at other,you know-you know co-housing co-op,uh,organizations and the community,uh,that want to have legal roosters,want to go through,not,pardon me,not roosters,chickens,uh,and want to go through the legal,uh,process to do it.But because of our,um,ban on,uh,urban chickens in multi-family residential homes. They are prohibited from doing so. So,uh,this,uh, started with a few ideas that I sent off to staff.A couple of different proposals. One looking a- at the,you know,possibility of,uh,allowing roosters in the community to be discussed and decided by Council,uh, as well as,uh, some others discussing the ability for us to make,uh, specific qualifications that would allow,uh,multiple people in multi-family residential homes,uh,to-to have access to urban chickens should they want as well.Um,yeah,that's-that's the broad thing there.I would say that one thing that was not,um,addressed,I guess by the-the staff report,uh, in brief on this,uh,is the question of whether or not we would like,uh,to continue requiring neighbor consent,uh,in these matters or,uh,whether it will be neighbor notification just so that people are aware.Um,and that is an active conversation that I've had with,uh, a number of members of council. Um,you know,whether or not we have the specific consent or,uh,the-the notification. So,um, from there,I think that we just go into discussion. Uh,I-I would presume and,you know,yeah. Yeah. I would say I guess,uh, from there,I-I do support,uh,the report from staff. Um,pretty-pretty much in every part,uh,except for raising,uh,the particular fees. Um, and then I would-I would further advocate for,uh,neighborhood note-neighbor notice rather than,uh,consent within the,uh,direction neighbor area. Thomas:Well,I'd like to thank Councilor Dunn for- for pursuing this. This has been,um,an issue that I've certainly heard from residents in Iowa City asking that we revise the-the,um,the ordinance due to a variety of reasons,and I think,uh,you know,we-we can cover them all now. Um,I'll This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 2 just,you know,the issues and questions for council consideration,the way it's laid out in the memo. I would say I certainly do not think,um,roosters are a good idea. And- and I'm speaking just for the sake of full transparency here. Uh,I'm one of the thir- 30 people who have a chicken permit. I didn't realize there were only 30 of us,but anyway, so I'm one of them.It's not an abstraction to me. We've had them for years. Um,you know,I can,kind of,speak to what the experiences in terms of,uh,many of the issues that-that we're discussing here. Uh,I also support the allowing them on multifamily buildings.Uh,I agree that,uh,staff should be granted discretion with respect to a few site requirements. Uh,increasing the number of hens to six. Uh,I- I do not support the idea of increasing the fee,and I-I did look at some other cities in their practices on this,um,Cedar Rapids. It's an annual fee and it's $25 a year.Uh,one suggestion I would have is that we actually reduce the initial fee from$100 to$75.And then it's so basically it's the$25 fee,uh,per year. Some cities have no fee.Bloomington,Indiana,kind of,went through,uh,an effort similar to this where they felt they had-were in effect,disincentivizing something that,uh,with fees and things of that sort that,um,they decided to waive the fee.Uh, but my-my feeling is okay. The-let's keep the fee,but I-I think certainly increasing it just raises the bar again. I think in my view, especially in that we're only talking about at this point. Uh, thirty permits,and perhaps one of the reasons we have 30 is because of the associated cost because it's not just the permit. I mean,you have to build the coop.You have the,you know, depending upon the food sources,you may have to purchase chicken feed. So it's- it's not an easy task,uh,and there are costs associated with it. I do-I do think increasing the number of hens to six makes the financial,um,aspects of this,um,not quite as difficult.And then the last item I-I liked what Cedar Rapids is doing there too. There was no requirement to get permission,um,be- because in a sense of the,kind ol�unusual nature,perhaps we could say of having chickens around in one's neighborhood. I think it's,kind of,the neighborly thing to do to just-just let people know that you're planning on getting chickens. Again, in my experience,uh,there has been nothing but,uh,strong support in the neighborhood for the fact that there are chickens around. Uh,the kids love them. They-they are fascinated been-by the idea that,uh,you know, this is where,uh,we get our eggs.You know there is something curious about going to the coop in the morning and they lay them in a box and you open up the lid to the box and there are eggs in there.We don't get our eggs from the supermarket. We get them,you know, from the chickens who live right on our-our property. Um, so I-I think it's actually there are many benefits to doing this.I was noticing that,um,you know,in our,kind of,uh,what did I say?The,um, accelerating our climate action plan. It-it talks about expanding access to healthy local foods. There's nothing more local than having f- for food source in your backyard. Uh,so I-I think all we can do to try to-to make it easier,um,the better and,um,that's why I landed where I did on these issues. Taylor: I have to admit that I've always been a big city girl,never been around fauns or chickens or anything. So I had to check around to see if the-the chicken doesn't need a rooster to lay eggs. And I found that out that no,they don't,that's fertilized or unfertilized. So that was kind of an interesting little tidbit. So I-I-I would not be in favor I-I agree with the-the staffs recommendation about not having the roosters and we haven't had that many requests for roosters,the most requests and I applaud the Prairie Hill folks. They were the first ones that I heard from about this because I hadn't thought about the-the way it reads now as being the single- family units and- and they're not really single- family units. They-they have one unit that has like a number of studio apartments, so I don't know if we need to clarify that multifamily unit just a little bit more,maybe Eric,to help guide us on that so that they would be included in that. Because as it sounds now it's a little confusing that maybe they wouldn't be considered that because what do you consider a multifamily unit.But I would be in favor of that. And I-I agree This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 3 with the others that I've said that increasing the fee,I'm not in favor of that and-and increasing to six hens,I agree with that too. Dunn: Councilor,do you have a stance on the consent versus notification? Taylor:Notification,I would-I would think because I,um,my daughter lives in the Longfellow neighborhood and there's actually several homes in that neighborhood that-that had chickens and you'd never know it?Of course,she moved in after the fact but wasn't-wasn't notified that but we just know from the neighbor saying,and occasionally on Facebook,let's say one of the-one of the Dearborn chickens is loose. They-they occasionally do get loose,but nobody is really too alarmed about it and it doesn't cause any harm. And the neighbors just kind of"Ok,shoo, shoo. Get back home." And it's really not a problem. So I would think,you know,but you might have some chicken haters out there.And so I think just notifying saying,hey,they're going to have this if you notice that they're loose or they're causing a problem,let us know. So yeah,notification would be fine with me. Bergus: I agree that no roosters. Yes,multi- family buildings.Yes,staff should be granted some discretion.Maximum number of hens increased to six. I'm fine with the fee staying the same and notification rather than consent. Harmsen:I would agree with Councilor Bergus and all of those. I have one question though. What is the notification actually other than just being a nice neighbor?I mean,does that accomplish much?I mean,if somebody gets a notification and then still wants to say no,you can't do it.You know,I mean,that's-I guess. Goers: Well,I mean,obviously legally the difference between notification and consent is we can just- yeah. If they say no,you can't do it,well,I'm going to do it.I mean,that's. Harmsen: That's kinda like there's just,you know,if that's something we want to require people to notify. If the neighbor-my neighbors don't have to notify me when they get a dog that barks. Goers: Sure. Harmsen:You know, so that I mean,it's nice. That would be with they're still couldn't be like there wouldn't be much point of that. So I just,is that an extra step that really if we're going to get rid of the requirement of having to get permission,do we really need to leave a notification step in there?That's-that's my question. I don't have a strong feeling on that,but I just wonder if it's long as the notification doesn't actually trigger anything that anybody can-anybody else has a say in it. Teague: I guess the question I might have for you on that same line,since you're or anyone,what would be like a nuisance or example of nuisances to a neighbor. They don't bark. Thomas: They,arguably,dogs and cats,in my view,are much more potentially a nuisance than a chicken. The chickens are a danger to themselves if they're loose. I mean,there are a number of predators that chickens have to be concerned about.We lost one of our chickens to a raccoon. And the-the other thing that's kind of interesting is the hens tend to squawk,which is not in my view an irritating sound and it's not as repetitive or as frequent as a rooster,is when they're laying an egg. So that's sort of an indication that that's what's going on.But as I said,it's in- in my mind that the notification ideas that is in Iowa City somewhat unusual to have chickens. So when they start This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 4 hearing them,you know,just to let them know that in advance that this is what you're doing and, you know,you're not expecting that there will be any impacts on the neighbors. Harmsen: So like I said,I don't have a strong feeling but in terms of us requiring that notification, so let's say I've got four neighbors because,you know,there's some things connected corner or whatever. And I have a neighbor who doesn't like chickens. And then they come to the city and say,well, this person never sent me a notification,can you yank their permit to have that chicken?I mean,I don't want to put us in a position of having to like say,well,they didn't follow this step. That really is a step that doesn't really have any impact on whether or not they can have chickens in the fust place. I mean,I don't know,maybe I'm overthinking this side. Taylor: So Eric with the-would the onus be on the owner of the chickens or would the city send out,d—, or animal control send out and say such and such a neighbor has requested chicken permit? Goers: Well,when you said requested a permit. [OVERLAPPING] I understand your question now.Well, I mean,that's entirely up to you.Right now the burden is on the-the owner and they have to come and I speak with some experience because my next door neighbor is apparently in one of those 30 as well,and came by to see if it'd be okay with us. And we said sure,we got a plate of cookies out of the deal. So we thought that was a pretty sweet deal. And so yeah,I mean,right now the burdens on them,we could keep it the same way if you wish to see notification to have it be on them and they can provide some information about that. Or if it was important to you to know that that notification was being done,then probably it would be done by the city because then you would know for sure. On a related matter,I want to point out because I didn't make it clear before that fust assistant city attorney Sue Dulek is here as well as Animal Services representative as well. So if you have questions specifically about,you know,either kind of downsides to moving from consent to notification or the ability to continue doing the work without raising fees or I think there was a question about what potential nuisances are out there with chickens and so forth. Those folks are-are present and would be happy to answer your questions if you wanted. Dunn: I think I've got a comment surrounding the-the notification. I think that the notification will serve to just say these are allowed. I'm following the regulations,they're permitted.You know,just letting you know so that because in the past we have had situations where people have had unpermitted chickens or,you know,people are also very unfamiliar to this. This just serves as a, you know,just like was previously set a good neighborly thing to do. I don't think that we link it to any,you know,revocation of- of the permits for the chickens. I think it just in my opinion,will lead to less headaches when,you know,the city gets calls saying my neighbor,they showed up and they got half a dozen chickens in their backyard.I didn't hear anything about this. I think it's just best to say okay. Owners on the-on the-on the owner of the chickens to say,tell your neighbors,these are-these are legal.You know,were doing the right thing here.Don't be surprised if you see one around. That's-that's the way I see it. Teague: So I guess what the question will be,is it a requirement a part of the for permit?I mean because if a neighbor chooses that they don't have a good relationship or chooses not to go to their neighbor for whatever the reason may be and just want to get the permit. I guess that's something that I want to get clear.If it's not,you know,if the approval is not going to be,whether the neighbor wasn't notified or not. What is the real point of it being an application except saying we encourage you to notify your neighbor. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 5 Dunn: Yeah,we could do some should language rather than an actual requirement.Neighbors should or applicants should do that as a guideline.It's very likely to be taken as what they have to do anyway. Teague: Any issues with the should language?No. Thomas: I-I think that's fine.As I recall on the Cedar Rapids chicken permits,there is a box saying you have notified your neighbors. Check the box as I recall,but,you know,I think should maybe just as effective. Bergus: I would invite our staff who administered the permits that if there's some thing that they've heard complaints about or some way that they could recommend,you know,things to let your neighbors know about. If we had some sort of standardized verbiage or anything that might increase the likelihood of people letting their neighbors know. I'm not saying that's required just to consider it. Goers: And you have to identify yourself too.Yeah. Streif: I'm Devon Streif from one of the animals service officers in Iowa City.And I think that's a great idea.I don't think-I think that that is a big barrier for people and why they don't get chickens is getting permission that's the biggest reason that I deny applications. So I think at least you know raising or dropping that bar,whichever perspective you take on it is going to provide a lot more opportunity for everybody in Iowa City. And as far as the notifications,it is a kind thing to do and we could certainly come up with something as you know and invite the people who are applying for those applications give them feedback this is you know,what we would recommend saying to your neighbors if that's something that you want to do. If you don't want to do,then don't um,but just kinda be the kind person to do it. And you know,like you said, some people just don't click with their neighbors and it's just not going to happen. And that would probably create a rif and more arguments than it would be necessary so something if they have a good relationship, sure. Dunn: Do you have an estimate,just an educated guess on how many in the last couple of years you've had to tum down because of the consent? Stre:I've been doing this for two years and I think I've turned down two or three. Dunn: Okay. Streif: And it's only ever one neighbor. Usually it's because somebody has bought a house and they're flipping it and they don't want to have chickens in the yard next door and have that be a reason that they can't sell it and then some of them are just neighbors who just don't want chickens. Dunn: So if we move forward with this,would we also feel comfortable letting those people know that you know their applications might be accepted this time? The people that have had their applications denied based on one neighbor not consenting. Thomas: Sure. Teague: Are you not saying that they can look in their records and go back to people or they get announcement is gonna be on the front page and those are interested? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 6 Dunn:Both. Taylor: To try again. Dunn:Both. Taylor: Yeah. Teague: I'm not sure about going back Alter: I mean,. Teague: It certainly. Alter: Would we do that for any other policy changes to go back to people who are you know,I mean,I realize it's a very small number,but I'm also like,if they're interested,this is I just saw the photographer.I know that it's going to be covered and so I guess I just wonder about is this the type of thing that we would do for all shifts in our-do you know what I mean? Bergus: Certainly seems like something that staff can exercise their discretion to do or not and we're not directing. Teague: Sure. Bergus: One way but given that it's a handful. Thomas: Yes,very few. Bergus: Three. Teague: Any thoughts on like the fee? Alter: I think I'm fine with what it looks like the majority of councils that have just keeping the fee the same. Teague: Yeah. Alter: That's fine. Teague: I didn't know if you all had any comments about the fee. Um, if there was any comparison done to other uh, services that you all provide? Streif:No,we were just looking at the amount of time it takes us to put into approve them. Some of them take significantly longer than others.But I think eliminating the need for permission from neighbors is going to significantly eliminate a lot of time that we spend on those applications because sometimes it can take us weeks to get a hold of landlords or property owners to be able to get that approval. So even if that's something where you're looking at knocking it down to the 75, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 7 then that's more justifiable to because it takes- it takes a lot of work off of our plate trying to get that figured out. Teague: Any other questions?All right. Well,I've heard a majority of the council say no roosters. Um, yes to coops being and allowed a multi family buildings consistent with the staff recommendations.Um,staff being granted discretion,uh,as well as the hen count up to six. And then uh,Council wants to keep the application fee at$100 as it is currently. And then there will be no,neighbor consent-acquired consent and just some um,maybe a pamphlet or something to those being granted just to share with their neighbors should they choose.All right. Goers: Okay.Well,I'll draft up the ordinance and have it for you,your consideration at a fixture meeting. 2. Review of the 2020 Preliminary Plan to Accelerate Community Policing Teague: Thank you. All right.Awesome. We're gonna move on to Item number 2,which is review of the 2020 preliminary plan to accelerate community policing.And I do see our Chief Liston as present with us um, and so um,I'll invite you up at this time. Liston: Good afternoon,Mayor and Council,Dustin Liston,Chief of Police. As you can see,the city manager provided a memo. It's a pretty in-depth memo going over each of the 36 proposed changes when the-when the plan was submitted to you,I believe is in December of 2020. It was just before I got here actually.But we've been steadily knocking off things or completing tasks on that.But for the most part,we've gotten most of them done. If-if you look through the memo,you can see an update on each one of those. There's a couple of them that we weren't able to do or they may have not been interest of the council. A couple of things,staffmg wise,we haven't been able to get to yet,but I'm-I'm pretty proud of the work that's been done on that,but I think now is an opportunity for you all to weigh in on where you'd like us to go with it.If there's things you want you know,this was a plan that was done two years ago by or two and a half years ago by the City Manager's office and there we can certainly take it many different directions.It wasn't an end all,it wasn't-it was just to start. You know,is the preliminary plan and it's a constant evolution it's a-I like to think of it as a live document that we can keep changing and with your all's guidance we're happy to try new things or work on new projects so it's just an opportunity. If you have any questions of me at anything you saw in there,I'll be more than happy to answer them. Alter: I have a number of sort of like this laundry list of comments and questions,but I figure-I'm just going to jump in for a couple of like what I hope are just quick hitters because I know that there are other councilors who has sort of like perhaps bigger scope questions. And I noticed also in going through this that there's a number of these bullets that actually kinda intersect. So one of them that struck me that while it's been done,it's number 26 and it was about doing the PSA for excuse me while I, find a specific language. Liston:Race based calls. Alter: Yeah. Liston:Yes. Alter: Just think of that as a recurring. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 8 Liston: Sure. Alter: Event because it's great that it was given there,but as we all know,people be,I missed it what are you talking her,right? So I just think that there could be repetition of having this be at least an annual event,of getting this out through all the different channels as possible.I think that that's just sort of a good thing to build into kinda SOP to make sure people are aware of it. And then I did have a question as well and maybe this is something-this is a broad question.But I noticed this in um,something that in fact,I know private therapists,right?When you call to make an appointment,they actually if you hit their voicemail,they say if this is an emergency,please hang up and dial 911. That has not-the 988 number has not actually gotten sort of like filtered through. So the primary mental health caregivers are not sort of incorporating that in.And I was just wondering actually,as a working session collective body,if we could think about how that could go out there.And maybe it's just an item for us to follow up on. Um,I'm not sure how the city does this with individuals,but I know that there's a number of partnerships and,and you know, interconnections and relationship building that the-the police department has. So that would be one area that's perfect for starting to spread that. Liston: Sure. Alter: So I have a lot of other things,but I'm going to pause because there's just sort of like a quick hit type things and allow others to maybe talk more thematically about a few things um so I don't monopolize right now. Taylor:Mayor Pro Tem,just a quick question on this and maybe chef-Chief Liston can help on this with the joint emergency communications commission. Uh,I've been I'm on that committee and I know they've been talking about integrating the 988 into the 911 calls and I don't know if that would help with what you're talking about or what your thoughts on that Chief Liston are that- that's going to help with that to-to more closely though,which calls needs to go where? Liston:Yeah,I think they're the pilot project just started the diversion with nine,it just started this month actually. So I'm curious to anxiously awaiting the results of that,but we're headed in the right direction on that with community taking the lead on it. Dunn: Chief,thank you for being here. I really appreciate it.Um,I just wanted to get some clarification on uh,Update 10. Um,Update 10 is about, let me scroll up here just to be sure,ah,CIT training. So uh I'm-there was no specific statistic in there as to how many of our officers have been CIT trained or trained in de-escalation techniques. So I'm wondering if you can more so shed light on to either those numbers or if this is a standard part of onboarding,and so all officers are trained. Liston:Yes. All officers in Johnson County are trained.We host-we host the class annually.It's usually hosted every May.And for the new officers that we've onboarded in the county wide,whether it's a deputy or whether it's someone from North Liberty,they all go to it. So that is one of the things we were really proud of as a county that for the last several years we've been able to do that.It's a week long course and it's taught ah by community partners,by our staff,every department in the- in the county provides staff to teach and then there's local mental health providers that teach it. It's,I think we're probably one of the leaders in that in the state. Ah,I can tell you that even my former agency,the-everyone wasn't CIT trained so that everybody on our department is CIT trained. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 9 Dunn: Thank you for the clarification. Harmsen:Who comes up?I'm just curious now,the-who creates the curriculum for that?Do we do that in-house or is that from [OVERLAPPING] Liston:Well,it's it's with a group,we work with our partners at the county as well,and then our local mental health providers. They-they teach portions of it. It's been-the curriculum was created years ago and we keep-we keep updating it. And we have two in-house instructors,Collin Fowler and Andrew McKnight they've-they've presented at the Annual CIT conference,they've been doing this for quite awhile and they're very good at it. Taylor:Mental health was mentioned and I just have to speak for myself to say that it has to continue to be a priority ah, for all of us and for the mental health workers out there and the police department and I had some concerns because I know one from communities here that I don't know,but maybe you can speak to it. They've had some trouble,like filling the positions.Do you know if they- if they're searched-do they search outside of the area?Do they-Is it possible to do a nationwide search? Go to the schools that graduate people that are major in psychology and treating mental health issues or maybe you won't-won't be able to answer that.But that's my concern because I think that's a priority. We- it's becoming increasingly more important and more so than just having the,988 number out there. Liston:Right.Ah,I have a meeting with Sarah Nelson next week and we're going to talk about that. I'm assuming they're having staffing issues just like everybody else does. I know they-they do recruit and they put out,but I couldn't speak to exactly what they do for recruiting efforts.But I-I think they're having just staffing issues just like every other ah agency and- and it's hard to get people in the workforce now and that's it. I don't need to tell it you guys [OVERLAPPING] It is a difficult job and we're asking a lot of those people,especially right now,so. Harmsen:Just to make sure I'm clear,that's actually we help fixed that position,but the position itself is communities,not ours. Liston:Right.It's an employee of communities,we have one. We had two that person left and they're- they are still trying to fill that second position [OVERLAPPING] Harmsen:Just making sure that does. Liston:Yeah.Not our employee though.Yeah. Bergus: I'll just jump in with maybe kind of a zoomed out ah, conversation.I hope that maybe we can talk about some goals to move forward as ah Chief,you said,like this is a living document and the plan changes as we accomplish various things. I think it's really fantastic to see some of these um, specific,you know,action items within the plan that have been met at the time were like we could,you know,years from now,try and have integrated 911 and mobile crisis response. And yeah that went live last week,I think So it's really,really,really powerful to see many of these things coming along. Ah,given the conversations that we've had about the budget and the department and staffing and challenges and staffing,I think looking at kind of the two areas on the front end of the continuum of calls for service,I would urge us to-to try and do and see if we can even set some- some goals that might be measurable. In the context of trying to set goals,I-I noticed in Geoff s memo,the kind of a warning to us,I think of you need good data, as well as the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 10 fact that the departments data analyst position is unfilled.Right,that remains the case that was Dave Schwindt,I believe,who has retired. Liston:He's still works a little bit part-time for us as much as we can ask him to do,but yeah [OVERLAPPING] Bergus: Yeah. Liston:You're right. Bergus: And so I think those-those things do,somewhat go together because whatever we direct as areas of emphasis or however we decide to prioritize ah,parts of the plan,I think it's really important that we make sure we have those mechanisms for tracking the information. Ah,I do know just from even talking with Geoff this last Friday that I think his intent is to update the statistics that were in this plan from December 2020 on things like calls for service and percentage of calls that are behavior-based and that kind of thing because it's been a few years since we've had that data and I think it'll be really important to see trends.But what I would urge us to consider is to really focus on that front end of the continuum of calls for service,which is prevention and diversion. And if we can um,ask the department and the city manager to say what-what actions do you think,you know,the city can take to help prevent calls for service? Some of the things that uh, are highlighted in the plan is that the support that we provide to non-profits is part of prevention. Right,making sure that people have resources available and that those resources are robust as part of preventing the people getting to a point where they may be in crisis and they may need to call. Another thing is so there's that financial support which we have various buckets already for.And we could consider asking for projects that from non-profits to say,you know,this particular bit of this aid to agencies or whatever bucket it might want-we might want-um staff might want to suggest,like give us projects that you believe as a service provider would help on the prevention side,like what do you think would help keep people from getting to crisis most effectively based on what you see in that community. That's one possible idea.Um I think we've also talked about the educational component.And I think the PSA,um Megan that you mentioned is one small piece of that,right?Like don't call the cops for you know,because you see children running around in the neighborhood. You haven't seen them before or something like that.I think there's a lot more that we could do on that communication side and using staff um,even just like our communications staff outside the department. And Lee's position,which is within the city manager's office,to try and use some of that data-driven analysis to say,what are those most common resident initiate and calls for service where the officers themselves because I- can identify,we're not the best equipped to do this or we don t think they should have been a can in the first place and just create some education around that. I know we did the race-based calls,but I don t know. Chief,Do you know if we've actually done that analysis of what do you know [OVERLAPPING] Liston:But we do have,just because we don't have that position filled,we still do have people who can get stats,so um,I think that is important. One of the things I think most of us know, some people might be surprised is how few-how a few number of people called the police all the time. And that's one of the things we do with our community outreach is and also with their mental health liaison is let them know what-when it is appropriate and when it's not. We certainly don't want to discourage people from calling the police when they need to call police.But for some people,it's their first-that's the-the first thing they think of,instead of calling a neighbor or call- so that's This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 11 one of the things I think there's a big opportunity we do.We try to reach those people who we know are heavy users of 911. Um,but I think there's a lot of opportunity there. Bergus: And another thing I know you've been working on that Geoff has shared with me is looking at interventions based on locations for concentrations of calls for service. So if we get a ton of calls at one particular spot,just trying to get underneath that and say what's happening that there are so many calls for service in that spot? So I think that-that would be something we could set measurable goals to try and reduce,you know,on a percentage basis or a per capita basis um,on the prevention side. And then lastly on the prevention side,just the-the number 1 um, action item that we articulated in our strategic plan under the safety,and by number 1,I mean,it was at the top of the-the list of described action items was um,the community violence interruption,which I don't know Mayor,if you have any updates on that [OVERLAPPING] Teague: Yes. Bergus: Program. Teague: Yes I have. Yeah.Well,one I want to say,um,thanks for this document.Uh,I think you've mentioned some of the things that we thought was a dream,um, and here we are at 988,you know,being an action and stuff like that.And I would agree that the prevention,um, some thoughts on prevention with our social service agencies would be good.Um,certainly we'll see how 988 kinda really,um,get to goin within our own community.Uh,I am a part of the Community Violence Intervention Steering Committee. Uh,we just hired our director who is, um,going to be starting the first meeting,uh,yes,tomorrow. Um,and so that'd be,uh,great. There are some-uh, some great community,um,folks around the table and looking forward to that. So we've had about three meetings and a lot of that was,um,just getting some background about what this could look like as well as,um,talking about who,uh-the-who were-what we wanted to see in the person that will lead us in this effort as a staff. And so we accomplished hiring someone and tomorrow will be their first day meeting with the Steering Committee. So, um,more to be-uh,more on that in the near fixture.Um,there's not much that I really wanted to, um,like dig into the report about,um,except I wanted to make sure that,um,the preve-of course,the prevention or things that we're doing for their mental health,I think Councilor Taylor talked about that. Is gonna be at the forefront,um,of what we want to accomplish as this Council. He's making sure that we're talking to our partners to make-to have those conversations like what can we do different?Um,you know,the communication piece the P-PSA,is going to be,um, critical. The-the thing that I also wanted to mention is that,um,I felt like the conversation is very separate to a certain degree if we're talking about cutting police positions. That in my opinion, needs to have-be had at staff-level,uh,within the department as they're seeing,uh,different trends or they're looking at whether staffing ratios are. So I just wanted to be clear that,you know,my hope is that we can focus in on,you know,the document before us,what are ways that we can really enhance the services,um,was missing. Um,and I think those collaborations as Councilor Bergus mentioned,going to those service providers is great,uh,just to say,hey,what- you know,what do you see and what can we do as a,um,really as a- as a team because it's beyond just the city and the police department working on this. Alter: Well,and I would add to that in that prevent,you know,we're looking at that graphic that has prevent,divert,correspond,stabilizing, connect.And it really is all the way over it prevention that in honesty, so much of our strategic plan is actually focused on doing that because the core issues that create trauma and behavior that ends up,you know,perhaps hurting itself,hurting others has This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 12 to do with things like food insecurity,education issues,transportation. So the very things that we as a city are looking at in these other pillars really are part of a holistic framework That is to help the police,to help the community,um,not get to a point where there's police response. It's to-to make sure that we don't get there. So that's just,I mean,I think of it as,um,we're having a very specific conversation about the 36 points. And-and I am-I truly was bowled over when I saw how much work has been done in such a short amount of time and during the pandemic as well, right? So thank you for that. Um,but I also realized I'm like the onus is on us as well.Um,in-in those four types of responses,what we wanna do is-is bolster Iowa City as a place that can help mitigate or-or lessen the stressors that lead to-to other things,so. Sort of sounds soap-boxy,but I just felt like it also is sort of like that's what we do in every meeting,is trying to figure out is affordable housing,free fare for buses. How do we get people t,you know, childcare? So we have all of these other things and that's part of looking at the whole of how do we have a good public safety.Um,so that's-that's one thing. Um, so I'm off my soapbox now.But I have a question for you in because you've been living with this and you have your teams and your departments,you know,doing this work all the time.What do you see?What-what's missing in here?What opportunities do you want to,do you think could be useful?Have-and I know this is pretty exhaustive and yet I'm sure it's not exhaustive. So I was just wondering if there was anything missing on here that you're like,you know what?I think this would really-this could be another piece that could really help the efforts. Liston:You know,I think some of the things we just like the-the Mayor mentioned the,uh,violence interruption,uh,thing,that-that's one thing that probably should have been on here,but I don't think we knew about it at the time. So there's just because it's not on this list,doesn't mean it's not something we're doing.Um,I think this was as the memo pointed out,this is something that city staff came up with in a-in a few months,two-and-a-half years ago trying to anticipate where all this was headed. And I they did a pretty good job of it,but it doesn't encompass everything. There's not one thing that I think,oh,you know,that should have been in it and if there is,we're doing it anyhow,just because it's-this isn't-this isn't the only thing we're doing. We're doing plenty of different things that just didn't make the list. Um,you know,I think filling our specialty positions would be helpful specifically the-the crime analyst.I used to run a group of crime analysts at my former agency and I know the value that they provide,it- it makes us work a lot smarter rather than harder. So I-I-I wanna get to that.And I-I think in most agencies that typically becomes a civilian position.Anyhow,you don't have to spend a sworn officer position on that spot. So that's it. I-I would anticipate seeing that on my next budget request,just sneak preview. So,um,but that's-that's something I-I think we would look at. And then that would open up having a really quality,uh,crime analysts would really give us a lot of information like Councilor Bergus was talking about,then we can base these decisions off ol� so. Teague: And part of the co- [OVERLAPPING] Harmsen: Oh,go right ahead. Teague: I was just going to mention a part of the community inte-intervention violence community violence intervention,uh,program that we've talked about so far was identifying some of those offenders. You'll determine which,um,you know, individuals you want to go out after. And it really is a community effort.You bring your family,you bring in friends to try to connect with them and say,hey,can we,you know,turn this around?And so,um, looking forward to,you know,this community or this,um,this committee, Steering Committee,diving into this a little bit,uh,so that we can get some,um,activities out in the community with some of these This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 13 individuals. And so,um, like I said, she's just starting,um,and so we'll have the fust meeting with her tomorrow to take us through a-a-a lot of next steps. Harmsen:Um. And first of all,I wanted to,uh, say thanks because as you pointed out,this document was sort of created,um,right before you got here.Um,and so since you've been here,you can go through this list and-and check a lot of boxes,um, see the progress,uh,some things accomplished,some things progress,some things,you know,still need to be done or maybe different priorities need to be picked out. So thank you for that and thank you to the department for- for doing that. Um, and thank you also to city staff who put together this update. Um,36 different moving pieces,and as you say,there's more to the picture than just these 36,that's a lot of work.And putting this together in a way that's understandable and digestible was really helpful. Um,and hopefully, it's something too that members of the public,you know, are aware they can go onto the packets-information packet and look through themselves.Um,I think- so I just think it's- is a lot of useful information. One of my questions is actually more for the council, although certainly would involve staff and- and- and the chief,what do we want to do with this now?Um,this update is great and I- and I love this,but I-I was to thinking about as I'm reading through these,like,oh, so here's some stuff we should go back and maybe look at.Um,you know,I don't know something,you know,are- are the training enough?Well,what other sorts of things for coordination? So my question is,do we want to,uh,direct staff to like,you know, update this for 2023,you know, as opposed to 2020?Um,you know, is that something worthwhile doing so that we can look at which things and,you know,kind of go,which things do we need to keep pushing on?Which things do we need to refocus?Um,what are some of the new efforts that we have to include in that,um,as a way to sort of,I don't,give us a roadmap,just like we do with the strategic plan so that the council is giving some like,hey,you know,these are the things that we think are priorities. And so then,you know,every couple of years further down the road,then we can come and say,okay,how have we done on these?And is that a direction we want to head in?I know that-that's we're asking resources and-and things like that,but,um,but that seems like,you know,that-when I was reading this,that just seemed like the logical thing as how-how do we move forward?Because there's good stuff here,but what's next? Teague: So we did have a graph,um,and it would- it-it had,um,one that's had completed,um,in progress,and then one that said ongoing,you know,it is-you'll always have to be working on it. It's never-ending. Harmsen: Sure. Sure. Teague: Um, so certainly we can,um,do that. I wonder if there is not a-because when you look at all of this,you know, continuously,you could kind of get lost and not focused. Harmsen:Right.Right. Teauge: Um, so I wonder if there's not a way for us to do that fust step again,you know,in progress,you know,completed,um,ongoing.And if it's more of looking at our strategic plan and tying into, you know. Harmsen: Sure. Teague: You know,some of this,I think that will be helpful. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 14 Harmsen:Yeah.And that's,you know, for example,we talked about hiring a second liaison.Well,maybe as we take a look at a new set of priorities,yes,that.But maybe a third and fourth or getting up to that 24/7 would be as we take a look at what is that goal look like now,three years later as we update this kind of stuff.And to me that would be probably worth some time and effort,although, you know,that would involve a lot of stakeholders.But- Bergus: Oh,and I think ideally,if we can quantify goals that are based around outcomes,right,and then staff figures out how to achieve that. I mean,I think,you know,I get uncomfortable saying,uh, despite my last several months of advocating,I get uncomfortable saying like which position should be doing what?I mean,I think saying,um,having round-the-clock service for co- response,for behavioral mental health calls as a priority within x number of time and then staff, you figure it out. I would be more comfortable with that-that kind of direction,you know. So on the prevention side,like saying,right now we have x number of calls per service,per capita,per year,per month,or however you want to quantify it,we would like to see some measurable reduction. And right now,we don't know because we're not looking at the data in that particular way,but we could say what it is now,and we could put something aspirational just to benchmark against,right,to say,okay,if we direct prioritizing a reduction in calls,you know,a prevention of calls for service based on education,based on,um,you know,location-based interventions, whatever it is. Um,but the staff would be deciding the how,we set the metrics and then we come back in a year.Because I think plans like this are,you know,it's just sort of like a snapshot in time,right?It's just sort of like these are the actions that we know about. And I don't feel like we're the best equipped to say this particular action,you know,is the way to achieve that goal. Harmsen: Great. And I think I can see kind of a hybrid of that sort of going with kind of like a- in creation of an update would be sort of that.Like we say exactly what you'd said,here's what we want to have for an outcome and then give that to staff and have staff say,okay,well that's-this is what we think we want to put. And then we-kind of like what they did with,I assume I guess you can- some of you were here,some of us were here,some of us weren't.Um,but that kind of a process. Like we want to see better,uh,interventions with mental health that don't require,you know,we want-wanna see more compassionate care,everything else.And so,but I-but what I like about these,what appeals to me about this list is there were concrete actionable things which now we see them-I think I see a benefit in that now because when they go back and say,what have you done with this,it's not just- it's- it's defined enough that you can't just sort of throw some clever words at it and make it sound good. There's literally things you can either say did or did not happen or have happened to-up to this degree. And I find real value in that. Teague: I have a question for the Police Chief. Some of the stuff that's in this,um,document,you have in your report,um,or in a report?Do you have any that's in a report of any type? Liston:I-I don't understand what you're asking. Teague: So do you do- so in an annual report? Liston: Oh,yes. Absolutely.And that's. Teague: Yes. Liston:No,it's June now,but,er,it's-the-the draft is done,we'll be publishing it by probably the end of the week.But yeah,it'll have-but is-it-it'll look very similar to last year's report,you know,it's- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 15 it's big numbers not diving in on specifically mental health calls.But that,you know,I think once we,especially if we get some of these positions filled,we could maybe take deeper dives.I don't know if it needs to be in the annual report,but certainly would influence some of the decisions we're making.But yes,we do have some of this- some of these statistics in the annual report. Teague: So what I was just getting into is that,um,you know,some of this-what we would like to see on an annual basis can be in a report from the- Alter: Chief. Teague: From the Chiefs office,potentially. Thomas:Well,I-I too.I like Councilor Bergus's emphasis on sort of focusing on the prevention end of the continuum. It's always been my focus. Um,and it happens to kind of intersect with an aspect of living in Iowa City that where I feel most unsafe and that's traffic.Um,you know, it's one case where I kind of relinq-relinquish my privilege and primarily walk around Iowa City as opposed to drive around Iowa City. Although I will say even since this report was-was published,that cars have gotten bigger,uh,they are astonishingly larger in size,uh,and weight. Uh,and it seems like it's sort of just been upon us in the last several years. Uh,and they're going-they seem to be going faster. So it seems to me the concerns I've had have only been exacerbated by-by those two facts. And we have a lot of information on traffic as well.And,um,so I think it lends itself to the metrics.Uh,and in fact, it was,you know,the report that highlighted for me the 25%of our calls for service are traffic and collision-related. Um,that's,you know,comparing traffic to say,mental health.Mental health is about 9%. So it's a- it's a huge number,really. And there-what I was arguing back in 2020 was there are two ways I saw that we could try to reduce calls for service. One had to do with the redesign of our streets,many of which in effect encourage illegal speeding. So the idea of self-regulating streets where we redesign our streets,and we have some in the strategic plan.I don't know what their status is,which is one of my frustrations,uh,in terms of trying to reduce calls for service.You know,Burlington,Market,Jefferson,Dodge, Governor,are some of our major streets where I suspect,uh,re- self-regulating those streets,um, in-in the ways that would be appropriate,could very well reduce our calls for service and make our streets more safe. Um,the other,which is noted in the-in the report,was that,um,the majority on city council has shown-not shown an interest in revisiting the technology of traffic cameras.And-and you also noted that a number of cities are now considering or have in fact,I think approved,uh,the use of traffic cameras.Uh,Dubuque,Marion,I guess they're considering as well as,um,University Heights.I-I think in a way that may-to me that's a suggestion that this is,you know,the-the fact that our streets seemed less safe is a phenomenon that's wi- widespread.Um,in fact,you know,locally,we just-two people died on our streets.I mean,that to me was a big deal. Uh,I understand that one could say,well,you know,these were outlier events and however one might want to try to normalize them.But to me,our streets need to be- the speeds we see on our streets need to be slowed down. Uh,and I'm-I'm understanding that in many cities,this whole idea of drag racing on city streets is common.Um,so how can we redesign those streets so that it's more difficult for that type of drag racing to take place?But with respect to the-the cameras, and I-I personally, and as I emphasized this in 2020 and- and deliberately said,let's pull back on the cameras and just see if we can better design our streets,uh, and approach it that way first and then consider the cameras.At this point,I at least I'm interested in seeing the council,you know,if you're asking for ways of-of reducing calls for service,um. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 16 we reconsider that.And I think what when-when we first moved here 13 years ago,I think the consideration was highways one and six,uh,that the police department was proposing the cameras. Those seem like very logical streets to consider. If we were to use cameras. Um they're difficult,I would imagine,to regulate-to self-regulate, and we know there again,we have the data that shows that there-there's a lot of collisions that are taking place there. Um,so I personally have gone through kind of a change of position on the use of cameras.I do feel,uh,on our state highways one and six we should consider them self-regulating those streets,I think would be very time-consuming and expensive. Uh,arguably- in the way I would want to argue the use of the cameras would be whatever revenue is they generate could be earmarked for,uh, advancing,making our streets safer. Uh,because in some cases it does cost real money to-to do that. Um,but again,this is a 25%of our calls for service. It's a huge piece. Was-it contribute the current situation out on the streets.Uh,many people do not feel safe. Um,I don't feel safe.I don't think I'm alone in this. And,uh,it also frustrates people moving to bicycling or walking because they just simply don't feel safe doing those things. Uh,as well as driving.I mean,Ibe seen,you know,with these larger cars,I don t feel all that safe at certain intersections.Because sight-my sight lines are-are compromised by large parked vehicles,um,that don't allow me to see what's coming. Um, so anyway,that's sort of where I am on this.I-I really feel that-that is 25%of our calls for service. I-I'd be interested in to what degree that number has dropped. Um,but I think it's something,I think potentially lends itself to seeing significant,um,cost reductions and calls for service if we proactively. Uh,and as I said,approach this there are seminar strategic plan,but the movement has been a little bit slow up to this point. Um,but on highways one and six perhaps we should consider revisit that and consider the cameras Alter: So it's interesting that you brought up the cameras because I did-I was in reading this point,think through there could be potentially help with the reduction in service,uh,calls. That said I would definitely and I'm sure that this would be something that if it got to it that we would consider very carefully where the placement of them are. I'm one of the main reasons for the 36 points was actually talking about Black Lives Matter and about equity concerns. And so if we only put cameras on one and six that runs right through the South district. So to me that seems it's actually potentially exacerbating,um,the issue. So I think that we would want to be very careful to think about and I'm-I'm with you on saying this could actually exempt kind of thinking of this again in those four parts.And on the one hand,we want prevention of calls,but I'm also thinking about, and I know that there's a- a section of the public that is not all that concerned with this,but I'm very concerned with how the professionalism and the,um, career health of the department is doing. And so the amount of overtime that officers are having to spend is unacceptable,um,and yet that's the job right now for them to be able to give the service that,um,you know whether it's heavy-heavy callers or honest needs. And we have a lot of,there's not gonna be any one solution, right?But at the same time that we're looking at prevention,we also need to be looking at how we can support those people who are actually still serving,um,the community,um,in very important ways. So I do think it's a long winded way to get to where you're at to say,I think it's worth thinking about the use of cameras,but it would be very very intentional and very very careful.Because highway one and six are not used for pedestrians because they are state,um, you're correct that there's a lot of traffic incidents,but,uh,it's also a major thoroughfare for people all along in your district,Pauline and in mine. So at any rate,I'm just spinning in a couple of different directions about this to say,to respond to you that I think it could be worth thinking about.But the other piece is that,at the same time that council right now has been looking a lot and rightfully so at prevention,we also need to look at how are we gonna support the people in this department who are doing really hard jobs,and who are doing it under the weight of frankly, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 17 a lot of public opinion that makes their jobs even harder. Um,so as we look at ways to be able to restructure the police departments also about how are we going to help support them too. Harmsen:I think you-you actually kind uh you-you anticipated the next comments I was gonna make was to say that the prevention very important,absolutely. Our emphasis you know that preventing everything we can do and all the things you've mentioned earlier about ways to prevent crime,but also when responses have to happen.And so as we take a look at the strategic,uh,no strategic plan,if we look at redoing this plan,I just wanted to also voice the idea that some of the stuff in this that needs to continue to be brought forward,they thought it was really positive,was looking at what are those responses look like. So,um,discussions about the field training program,the critical incident training program. Um,there's a number of different different things. The mental health support for the officers themselves,um,things like that too are things that I would certainly not want to fall away because we didn't mention it up here. So I was going to specifically mentioned some of those things,uh,because I think that is important when we have responses. We want that response to be the best quality for our public. And we do-you know we do we manage human beings that were sort of the bosses of-of all of our city employees, including the police department. So we do have I think a responsibility to be fair and good bosses in that if we ask somebody to do a job which should give them the tools to do that job and do it safely and to provide aid,the best possible service for our community members,and policing is obviously its own special thing.But some of those things I think hold true and burnout and those kinds of things which you brought to us before you know a year ago.I think we were hearing about concerns about some of that,um,which is important for us to hear and good-good for us to know that as well. So we can include that in our- in our calculation. So that would be something to that,um,you know I think that's important to it's a win win. The prevention won't always work, and we do have responses.What does that response look like?What's the quality of that response,and how do we-how do we then come up with action items to try and you know answer for staff or to give support staff and their initiatives. So we're just kinda what this is,right? They've listed priorities and we've supported those. Um, sometimes through funding different programs and position,sometimes through just other sorts of support,um,hopefully praise from time to time as well.Um,and so yeah,I mean,just saw those things don't fall away and-and nobody would mistake. Those aren't also priorities as well as you know the very very worthy priorities of prevention. Teague: So Council. Bergus: Can I just follow up on that real quick here? Teague: Yes. Bergus: Um, so I think having you know I appreciate all-all those comments and I think no department should have to run with two and a half hours of overtime for every hour of regular service,which I think was the statistic that Geoff gave us,um,a couple of months ago. And so I think as long as we're in the moment that we've been in for a few years of not having as many staff as you know you would like to have that service level be more manageable for the officers.Really looking at you know things to take off the plate of the department and the 988 911 integration and the mobile crisis bump that we gave with the ABPA money.I mean I think there's even more opportunities there and for us to look at you know continuing the support of those first responders that you know if they don't require an officer,we can hopefully on the front end say someone else can attend to those kinds of things. Um,I appreciate and I hear you know the chief and I've talked This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 18 before about,uh,officers want to be able to respond to calls that are just helpful you know not just responding to acute criminal situations.Um,and I think as long as we have officers,they're going to continue to do that.And I think having the,um,the opportunities for you know mayor and I've talked about the kinds of calls of the fire department responds to and listening to the fire chief talk about,um,really looking at their role as risk elimination or risk reduction for the community. So just to come back to,um, Shawn,your point about like concrete things. Um,I think we might want to hear from some of those providers on like what-what are ways that they could pick up more calls that we know are happening if the dispatch is effective right?Um,I was pitched from community crisis services,a model that not just would have mental health workers, but would have a nurse practitioner,medics,and mental health providers who could be dispatched as one unit.Because currently mobile crisis can only respond to behavioral mental health,um, calls and they make referrals,but they can't prescribe and they can't deal with injuries,um, effectively. So if we think of all the calls for service that our medical on the fire department side, on the ambulance side,and the proportion in this report that or even police respond to. I just think there's a lot of opportunities there that could help relieve some of the pressure that the department is currently handling and would achieve the goal of diverting calls for service to unarmed professionals,which was a actual goal that we've articulated. So I think if we want to appear a presentation from folks on that in a fixture work session,that would be a concrete thing we could do. Taylor: I think just really quickly too.Um,we should acknowledge,uh,the work of our CPRB our Police Review Board because,uh, at the time that we were setting these things up,I think we were one of the very few in the area the cities or communities that-that had one. And I think other cities sort of base their development on-on ours. And so I'd just like to commend and- and appreciate their-their decisions they make.And I think that we need to do what we can to,uh,make sure that they al-always have a full and-and active board. And,uh,I-I just really appreciate and would not like to acknowledge them. Dunn: Go ahead. Alter: I was just gonna say very quickly to follow up,I would be interested in working session that would, um,bring others together because in fact,I think it was you that I was talking to that,um,the analogy that I used was that the fire or the-the police department is finding itself,I think in- in a lot of times because 911 is so ubiquitous that,um,it's like the-the school district,right?There's so much that's put on your plate that isn't necessarily like your primary response,um. And so I like the idea of being able to how to-how do we spread this around so that the right professionals are there without taking away any of the expertise of the police.And-and-and I strongly believe that it should not just be acute criminal or whatever the phrase was that you used. It was very well said.Um,I think that the police need to be involved in the community and in a-in a lot of different ways,um,that actually is documented here.But I liked the idea of being able to say are there others that were that response could be. So I'd be in favor of-of a working session at some point where there is a presentation from these others. So I'm sorry,I cut you off. Teague: I just want to respond to that if really quickly,our being-our being in favor of a work session but I believe that our police department and our fire department or whoever's a part of that system shall have meetings before that comes to us. Alter: Oh,yeah.Yeah. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 19 Dunn: Okay. So I think I just want to kind of summarize,uh,a bit of my thoughts.I mean,throughout this whole conversation,I keep getting into this thought of yes.And in that way,I-I agree with you Councilor Harmsen,and then I-I kind of see a really good opportunity for a-a melding of different perspectives up here. The-the,ah,focusing on what we want our goals to be,uh,and what we want,um,the situation to be that Councilor Bergus talks about,uh,as well as also defining some of these-these specific goals. I think that,um,just the fact that so much has been accomplished,uh,of this plan demonstrates that when we give specific goals we can expect,uh, you know,pretty-pretty good results,uh,in most cases.Um,so,you know,I-I agree with the focus on prevention. I think that the prevention needs to be data-driven,which,you know,leads us to more community partnerships, leads us to,uh,you know,a greater importance on that-on that analyst position.Um,at the same time,I think that there's an even further argument,uh,to-to go for,uh,the specific goals,um,in combination with,uh,the-the or pardon me,rewriting the plan,I should say,or-or updating the plan.Let's- let's say that,um,in addition to giving those broader goals at the same time,I think that they are enriched by happening and being implemented simultaneously.Um,and ultimately I see it as,uh,you know,we-this document was created,uh,in a moment like was previously stated. It's signifies the thoughts and feelings and ideas of a particular moment. Um,and we are now far past that moment. Uh,and so I think it'd be a good idea for us to go back through this plan,um, set those-those broader goals for- for the Department of Public Safety in this community,um,while at the same time not allowing the- the progress that has been achieved,uh,to stagnate and to continue to push ourselves,uh,to strive for excellence and the service that we deliver. I think that that's what everyone,um, including the chief and on-and on this body,uh,wants to do. And I-I personally think that,um, you know,best happens through us being active participants and active,uh,community members and-and observers and allowing ourselves to set those goals and-and kind of work through staff to make sure that this is something that is continually updated,something that we're continuing to work for,uh,towards with regards to prevention.Um,while at the same time understanding that there are,you know,rapidly developing challenges that occur in our community,um, specifically, the challenges with juveniles. Juveniles are not spoken about even one-but once in this plan and, um,having seen a number of incidences myself and also having heard about those incidences, um,in some of our weekly e-mails,uh,I think that addressing the problems that we're seeing with juveniles in the community needs to be something,um,that we look at in both this prevention and actual deliberate manner. Um, so all of that is to say,I also agree,uh,with,uh,with having a work session on this topic. I agree that we should have an update on this. And I agree that we should be working,uh,to set broader values,uh,and priorities towards prevention.Uh,that is an enormous task,and I-I understand that. Um,but it only comes,um,because of the excellence that has been shown to me for today. So,um,I also want to thank you for that. Teague: So I wanted to kind of just sum up what I'm hearing as far as next steps um,or direction from the council.Um,certainly it wasn't all that clear because there can be a lot of avenues that we can go towards. So,um,I'll try to give my thoughts on what I kinda heard,um,elevate. So certainly,we heard annual updates,um,on the current document. Um,we heard a prevention focus is what we want the department and the staff to be really gearing in on are a lot of preventions.Um,and that can even um,come with some-um, some opportunities for social services to be a part of. Uh, maybe offering ways of how they can be a part of this. There may need to be some grant landing or something like that associated.But we did hear that. Uh,we heard about the work session,um, that will have just to talk about a different model. Um, for some,um,calls that are more related to mental health calls,or we'll have to define what that actually looks like.But I-I feel strongly that the all the parties involved in- in that response,the ambulance,the fire-um,fire department, police department, should have conversations before that comes to us publicly.And then,um, if This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 20 this council wants to do some goals at in here,um,that we wanted to actually write out goals,I know that we have identified very clearly what some goals are. Um,you know,mental health is definitely a goal prevention as a goal. So I don't know if we want to wait to see if someone does, um,where we can get with the data-data analysis,um. While there is clearly some- some things that everyone can be working towards. So goals,I think maybe in the future as we identify some,although we have a lot already identified So that's kinda what I gathered from this discussion. Certainly juveniles is certain as what we're seeing a lot of right now and not being addressed.My thoughts is that there are community members out there, different groups that we can bring this to and say,Hey,let's sit in a room and let's talk about how can we do that intervention to change some of these behaviors. So that's my thought and if we want to I guess what I-I know that the community violence intervention program isn't that far, but I can certainly bring that up to them tomorrow and just maybe give a report back as to what their thoughts are or a possible involvement. Alter: Can I-this is-I'm going to try to phrase it as a question because I know it's not on the agenda.For a future agenda item,there has been interest in setting new goals for the City Manager who is in fact oversees the Chief of Police.And I feel like at the same time,I think we've gotten a lot of meat to work with and a lot of suggestions because Geoff is ill right now.I feel that- sorry just temporarily. I feel that we're kind of skipping. This is really the city managers to do this. And so maybe some of the things that we're thinking of goal wise is really for a fixture session to have with the city manager about goal-setting for him. Does that make sense?Because I feel like it for a second there is like because I know that this document was actually written by the City Manager.Right. So at the same time,this is great feedback. I don t know that it's appropriate for us to give the Chief of Police the goals. It's- it's not ours to do.Right. So my question is for a future work session,can we revisit the goals that we talked about the need to set goals for the City Manager since they haven't been set since 2016? Goers: Well,I'll-I'll answer it this way.You've certainly touched on an important element of our charter, which is that councils do not direct city staff who worked underneath the city manager.But absolutely,you can provide those goals to the city manager and- and he'll,as Councilor Bergus has mentioned,kinda find a way to make it happen. Alter: Okay. Teague: Great. Anything else? Thank you so much for being here. Thanks. 4. University of Iowa Student Government(USG)Updates Teague: Yes. So so we're gonna move on to item number 5,University of Iowa student government updates USG.Welcome. LeFevre: Good evening,councilors. Happy Pride of course,it was great to see some of the councilors out there this Saturday. Get the elephant out of the room. I did dye my hair purple, so [OVERLAPPING]. Teague: I see it. We love it. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023. Page 21 LeFevre: Yeah. I know. It's that it's Father's Day with my friend.Just a heads up. Some of the times I will be away to work session just come in late. I will be here for announcements and it should be here on time. It's just that I work for Iowa Wildlife camps and we usually get done around hopefully before four but it can run into four.Big USG updates though. So I'll be-I have a new email,usg- city-liaison@uiowa.edu.I'll be sending my announcements there,so don't-don't freak out too much if you can't remember it. And then another big thing is that our Lease Gap Housing Program through Iowa House Hotel has also just opened up its applications. We've been sharing it on social media. I'm working on a way to get that shared out with everyone to get that full- filled up. And it's still important that the renters guide survey is still also going out. So we'll be sharing that as well. So that's really all that we have for USG. And thank you guys and have a good night. 5. Council Updates on Assigned Boards,Commissions,and Committees Teague: Thank You. Are right. I know number 6 is the council updates on assigned,boards, commissions, and committees. Alter: I'm working with the outreach subcommittee for the city of Literature to put together also a letter of support for the state of Illinois ban on book bans.And so as a city Councilor,because I had also raise this up as a potential proclamation or letter of support.We'll be working sort of in coordination with different entities so that the messaging is clear and consistent. So that we'll be meeting-we'll be meeting tomorrow. Bergus: I think before our next council meeting,we'll have a JEC meeting. So I'm sure we will talk about some of the things we discussed this evening and get an update on 988. Teague: I know our next council meeting,it's gonna be the second Tuesday,July 11th,next month. And then we will be having on the following Monday,the Joint Entities meeting. So we will probably want-we're going to probably need to know this topic if soon. There's a topic of interest-. Fruehling: I think will be plenty of time. I was going to put a memo and the packet for the July meeting. Teague: Okay. Fruehling:Because typically we have to have it turned in by that Wednesday,so. Teague: So it'll be Tuesday and then Wednesday before the meeting. Great.I've been thinking about that. Taylor: I think a while back,I said that we'd had a presentation from JEC at one of our meetings about the emergency notification system. So I think that'd be a good to-to add on there. Teague: Alright. Any other updates hearing none?We are adjourned from work session and see you all back at 06:00 P.M. for our formal meeting. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of June 20, 2023.