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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-03-01 TranscriptionPage 1 Council Present: Botchway, Cole, Dickens, Mims, Taylor, Thomas, Throgmorton Staff Present: Markus, Fruin, Bockenstedt, Hart, Seydell-Johnson, Dikes, Karr, Korpel, Havel, Boothroy, Yapp, Craig, Andrew, Schaul, O'Brien, Ralston, Ford, Dulek, Logsdon, Knoche, Bollinger Others Present: Simpson, Neal - UISG Questions from Council re Agenda Items: Throgmorton/ All right, so uh.... let's start our work session for, uh, March the 1 st. Questions with regard to agenda items. ITEM 13. TRANSPORTATION NETWORK COMPANIES (LIBER) — ORDINANCE AMENDING TITLE 5, ENTITLED "BUSINESS AND LICENSE REGULATIONS," BY ADDING A NEW CHAPTER 3, ENTITLED "TRANSPORTATION NETWORK COMPANIES". (FIRST CONSIDERATION) Cole/ I have a question regarding agenda Item 13. Um, I would like to take it off of, uh, that's relating to the new TNC, uh, ordinance. I would like to take that off of the agenda tonight. Um ... I found out about this ordinance being proposed on Thursday. Uh, no indication that we were going to be considering this. Um, this is something that I'd like to keep an open mind as to Uber, as to the ordinance, but I don't feel like we've had enough time to review it, and the second thing that I'm concerned about is that five days does not allow enough time for the community to weigh in, um, as I said as of Wednesday night I was not aware. I did receive some ... indi... indications from private stakeholders downtown that it was going to be on the agenda, but I did not know about it. So I would like more time to review this, and so I'd move to, uh, defer this and remove this from tonight's agenda, at least for consideration on the next, uh, Council meeting (both talking) Throgmorton/ What do the rest of you think? Taylor/ I would agree with that. I felt the same way, and we got a lot of information, even as of yesterday in ... in the late packet, and that's just not enough time to absorb all of that information. Botchway/ I don't know, I think there's been considerable, urn ... I guess to the standpoint of, um, it being ... I wouldn't say late but, um, not enough time possibly but there's a lot of people that are interested in hearing about this. I mean to pull it from the agenda, I think would, you know, be problematic. I'd feel like if we do have an issue with, um, maybe where you stand on it as far as the Uber issue is concerned, um, I think this is only the first reading and so, um, if there are some concerns later on you could bring those to the table at the second reading. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 2 Mims/ I would agree with Kingsley. I think ... and at least get the, uh, you know, rev ... review tonight in the work session, get the presentation. Markus/ It did show up on pending ... that it would be on. Mims/ Yeah. Dickens/ And there's a lot of people I think that are planning on coming. I went to Top Chef s last night and probably 30 or 40 people mentioned that they planned on coming tonight to see the presentation on it, so... Botchway/ I don't disagree with you, Rockne. I just think it's one of those things where there's a lot of people that are coming to this and (both talking) Cole/ ...the point being though is that I don't think it's good policy making to allow Council ... five days for consideration. You're right, there's been a lot of work in the past on this, but this is going to reflect the policy preferences of the current Council, and I don't think there's been enough time for us to weigh in, even in terms of what the options are, and my con ... I mean if we want to hear presentations tonight, I don't have an objection with that, uh, but in terms of an actual vote, I don't think it should come on tonight's agenda, um, and I think if staff wants to avoid, I'd like to .... this ... this from happening in the future, I would like to disconnect the work session from the ordinance consideration and at least a two- week lag on this because I think frankly it's not fair to the community. It doesn't allow them adequate time for input. So ... tun, I think that's the concern that I have with this. Throgmorton/ Seems to me these are reasonable concerns that Tom, Geoff, and I have talked about the possibility that there'd be a motion to defer, uh... uh, by somebody — Rockne or Pauline or John — especially a new Councilperson who's not familiar with all the material we've gone through over the past two years. So, one possibility would be to receive input from whoever wants to speak tonight, but ... to defer our first consideration to the following meeting. Uh... Geoff, I know you and Tom and I talked about that a little bit this morning, uh, can you see any problematic challenges associated with doing that? Markus/ Well let me jump in. I ... I had hoped that this would be on and considered. It has had extensive review in the past. I agree that we have some new Council Members. It was on the, uh, pending list that it would be on tonight. So ... the other thing is, you have three readings of this particular ordinance before it's resolved. Um ... I wold at least expect that you would hear the staff report on it and get that out there. Um .... and then at that time (both talking) Throgmorton/ You mean during the formal meeting or during the work session (both talking) Markus/ Yeah, well we were intending to do it ... now so... Throgmorton/ Yeah. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 3 Markus/ Uh... before you'd make that decision, and that ... that's a decision that should probably come at the Council meeting itself, so... Throgmorton/ John, do you want to say anything? Thomas/ Yeah, I ... partly I think because I am new to Council, um ... I would prefer deferring. I also just had some questions I would like to ask that I was hoping could be given time to, urn .... for staff to respond, uh.... if it were considered, uh, I mean I wouldn't.... I'm just not comfortable voting tonight. Um, one way or the other. So, um ... which isn't to say that I'm not in support of Uber, but I do have some questions. Throgmorton/ Okay. I ... I can say I'm very sympathetic to that point of view. I think we ought to hear the presentations during the work session, uh, and during our formal meeting make a formal decision about whether to defer first consideration to the following meeting, or to make fir ... vote first consideration tonight. Sound reasonable? Okay. Uh, other agenda items? ITEM 4d(10) STRATEGIC PLANNING PRIORITIES - RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING CITY OF IOWA CITY STRATEGIC PLANNING PRIORITIES Mims/ I'd like to remove, um, 4d(10), the strategic plan from the Consent agenda ... for separate vote and discussion. Throgmorton/ Okay. All right, so I ... I have to announce that. Where is that ... (mumbled) want to make it? (mumbled) 4d(10). Just making a note, Susan. I understand. ITEM 4d(3) MOSS RIDGE PHASE 1— RESOLUTION APPROVING FINAL PLAT (SUB15-00032) ITEM 4d(7) CHURCHILL MEADOWS PARTS TWO AND THREE - RESOLUTION APPROVING FINAL PLAT (SUB15-00026) Mims/ Okay. And then there's another one that you'll want to announce, 4d(3), just to defer indefinitely or (several talking) Karr/ I think we can make that part of the motion because you also have another one, Churchill, um ... 4d(7), so perhaps part of your motion to adopt ... could be to, uh, defer indefinitely 4d(3), the Moss Ridge, defer to March 23`d the 4d(7), the Churchill Meadows, and to remove for separate consideration the 4d(10). Mims/ Okay! ITEM 4f(3) Persephone Eglaine, Lois Cox, Nathan Miller, Arielle Lipman: College of Law Clinical Law Programs Request for Iowa City Resolution to Establish Freedom From Domestic Violence as a Fundamental Human Right This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 4 Throgmorton/ Yeah. I already had notes for a couple of those. Thanks to Marian, but uh, we'll do the separate consideration for 4d(10). Okay, other agenda items? Uh, on 4f(3), the letter from Persephone Eglaine and Lois Cox ... about a resolution to establish freedom from domestic violence as a fundamental human right, and I'm completely supportive of that concept, for ... for sure, but one thing I'm aware of is the resolution itself is really quite ... quite long and I'm wondering if you've had a chance to review it, Eleanor. You know what I'm referring to? (both talking) There's a proposed resolution (both talking) Karr/ We're waiting for Council direction, if there is enough Council direction to do it, then staff ..you could direct staff to do it. Right now it's correspondence until there's further direction. Throgmorton/ Right, and they want ... the correspondence is asking if they can make a presentation on the 23rd, is that correct? Karr/ That's correct. Throgmorton/ That's the way I understand (both talking) Karr/ That's correct, so it ... so Council is interested in pursuing that request then? This we treat as correspondence at the present time. So if there's interest we'll ... we'll move forward on it. Cole/ ...be interested in that, yeah (several talking) Throgmorton/ Yeah, there's support for that. I ... I would imagine a reasonably brief presentation on their part, because there will be other things we want to consider that night, right? Botchway/ Well (both talking) Dilkes/ ...want the resolution on that night, as well? Throgmorton/ Well we wouldn't ... we will not have heard the presentation from them. Go ahead. Mims/ And I'm ... interested if...if our Legal staff has any concerns or issues in terms of... Throgmorton/ Right! Mims/ ....ramifications of this, that we might not be aware of. Dilkes/ Okay. So we'll get the presentation next time and then have a discussion about what... whether and what we're going to put on the following time. ITEM 12. ICDD FUNDRAISING - RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT WITH THE IOWA CITY DOWNTOWN DISTRICT FOR FUNDRAISING EXPENSES ASSOCIATED This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 5 WITH THE ART WORK PORTION OF THE NORTH PEDESTRIAN MALL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT AT A NOT TO EXCEED COST OF $50,000 Throgmorton/ Yeah. Sounds good! Any other agenda items? Uh, I will make, uh, one ... I'll ask one question having to do with Item 12, which is the Downtown District fundraising proposal with regard to the .... we have the proposal concerning it with regards to the Lens and so on. Uh, I've heard some expression of interest in moving it up on the agenda ... to occur immediately after the Public Discussion period. I don't know if the rest of you, uh... Cole/ I'm fine with that. Throgmorton/ ...good idea or not (several talking) There's sort of a balance here because there... other people would be waiting, Uber people and ... probably the people interested in the budget, having to do with the bookmobile perhaps, uh, so they'll ... they would be asked to wait ... while this other topic comes up, or conversely, it stays the way it is now and... Mims/ My concern is if people have looked at the agenda and see what's on it, and have any idea of what they think might take a while ... I mean, we get through the discussion, Public Discussion, at, you know, let's say 7:15 if there's not a lot of people here to talk about things that aren't on the agenda, we go into #12 and people are thinking, eh, I probably don't need to be there until at least, you know, 7:30, 7:45. They got, you know, eight other items before they get to that. And then we're done with it before people get here. So I think given ... uh... the public interest in this and .... I think we need to leave it where it currently is on the agenda. Cole/ Yeah, I guess I agree with Susan on (mumbled) Botchway/ I don't know, I like moving it up myself. Cole/ Cause people are planning their schedules based upon what (mumbled) Mims/ That's right! Botchway/ For the most part though, I mean ... if .... I don't know if I participated in the Council meeting where people aren't here ahead of time to, um ... address a particular issue and have to wait, I mean, I'm not saying that people don't show up, but it's not like a ... a huge drove of people — it's maybe like one or two, which I ... I guess I don't want to miss either, so .... to that (both talking) Dickens/ Originally I thought move it up because of ..what's going to be so many people, but after Susan's explanation that it has been posted at that, that... Mims/ Yeah, I'm just really concerned as much public interest as this is ... as there is on this, if we move it up and you have (mumbled) five or 10 people that would miss it, I think they're going to be pretty ticked at the Council. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 6 Neal/ Yeah, I've heard a lot of people are coming to speak on Uber, as well, so I think if they had to sit there while the art got moved up, I think they'd be upset. Throgmorton/ All right (several talking) let's not move (both talking) Dilkes/ The art is in front of Uber regardless... of whether you move it up. So... Botchway/ Well actually in my thoughts to that point, not to belabor it, but I was going to say move Uber ahead of it, um, and then put the art piece second, just because of the fact that we're... we're pulling it, we're doing a motion to defer. But anyway... Mims/ Not necessarily! Throgmorton/ Not necessarily (several talking) Botchway/ Oh, true! Okay. Throgmorton/ Let's just leave it the way it is! Okay, any other agenda items? All right. I think that brings us to our review of proposed transportation network company ordinance, and that would be Simon Andrew. Hi, Simon. Review of Transportation Network Company agenda item (Uber) [Agenda item #131: Andrew/ Hi! Simon Andrew, Assistant to the City Manager. Um, brief comment before we get into the details of the ordinance. Um, a little bit about why it's coming to you sooner rather than later. Uh, totally appreciate all the, uh, comments that were just made about, uh, having it on tonight's agenda. Um, first of all, this is something that we get an increasing number of requests about. Uh, it's probably the one topic that our office at least gets more comments, more requests for than, um, anything else that, uh, is currently on our .... our topics. Um, and ... it's one of the topics that would be good to get off of our plates while we focus more on a strategic plan priorities that you all plan to adopt tonight. Um, so .... as we move forward on the agenda that you're putting forward, we would like to get some of these items that get a lot of public interest out of the way, sooner rather than later. Um, and, uh, also to that point, uh, taxi companies are currently going through their licensing process and so it would help them to know what direction, um, the City plans to move in in terms of, uh, transportation network companies. Uh, it certainly would affect the number of vehicles or the number of drivers that they tend to use, um, and we have seen in other communities, some TNCs beginning to operate before city regulations are in place, um, that they operate outside of, um, the regulations, and it's good to have, um, that discussion prior to, um, them coming to town, but ... again, completely understand your concerns and, um, but that is why it's coming to you sooner rather than later. Uh, fundamentally the ... the ordinance that is on tonight's agenda, uh, and the, um, I intended to discuss is, um, doing a couple of things to current, uh, regulations. We ... we do have regulations in place that technically do allow TNCs to operate. Uh, TNCs are ride -sharing companies that, uh, match drivers with, um, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 7 passengers in the driver's personal vehicles. They're becoming, uh, much more widely used across the country and, um, more states and cities are moving toward regulations that license the, uh, business rather than the drivers. Uh, and that's fundamentally where this ordinance goes. There are some, uh, smaller details but ... uh, pretty much in essence what this does is in ... whereas our current ordinance requires the drivers come into the City, register with the City, have local background checks that we perform, have vehicle inspections that we perform, uh, it puts the onus on the transportation network company itself. Uh, the company has to apply for a business license that has requirements along those lines, but the drivers themselves would, um, register with the company rather than with the City. And what we found is that, um, in the ... this business model there is a lot more information available to both passengers and, uh, the potential investigators in the event of an incident, um, before and after the ride, that isn't available in the traditional taxi model, and that's why, um, we felt it was appropriate that they could be treated differently, um, given that direction from you all of course, but ... um ... before the ride is even engaged in, the passenger has the name and photo of the driver, has the license plate number, make and model of the vehicle. Um, a lot of information that, uh, is ... important for investigators to have in the event of an investigation. Uh, what we found with the alleged sexual assaults in 2014 is it took investigators a great deal of time to track down, um, who was on, who was driving that night, uh, and that was a, um, a ... large impediment to their investigation. Uh, the first and third assaults in, uh, that brief span happened roughly a month apart, and during that month, you know (mumbled) this perpetrator is out committing additional crimes. Um, had that person been using a TNC model, um, and had gotten that ride through, um, this type of ordinance, the victim would have had that information for the police, um, after the first assault. They would have been able to say to the police, um, this is the person that assaulted me. This is his license plate number, um, make and model of the vehicle. This is the route we took, um, and that's all tracked, and it's all given in an email receipt also to the passenger. So, uh, fundamentally that's why, um, they're treated differently in this ordinance. This does remove, uh, TNCs from the current chapter that governs taxis. Right now they are integrated, um, and this, uh, creates a new chapter in City code that would treat them differently, uh, based on those. And as you saw in the memo, um, there are some, uh, circumstances in which local driver registration is beneficial. Um, there, you know, are, uh.... deferred judgments or other crimes that can be committed that wouldn't necessarily show up in a background check, uh, that our police would be aware of prior to, um ... prior ... would be able to pull the driver's license, essentially, before, um, a background check was conducted that found those things later on. Uh, so there ... there is a trade-off in the information available. Um, we feel overwhelmingly that, uh, the information available, uh, in the TNC model helps investigations in a way that outweighs, uh, the other circumstances that could occur, certainly in the experiences that we had in 2014, and probably the, uh, biggest impact that, um, the potential impact that we see, uh, that kind of gets lost in all this is having more transportation options available for people to get home safely from bars, from football games, tailgates. Uh, there is a strong demand at peak times, and our peak times are, uh, much larger than most communities, uh, given, um, our student population, given our football games, um, things of that nature. So, um, having a ... an additional transportation option available, um, we believe would have a ... a strong effect on possibly on intoxicated driving. Uh, but I do want to say most of tonight's discussion as you said, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 8 you know, this isn't something that you've considered in this format before, so I want to save most of tonight's time for questions that you may have or, uh, discussion amongst yourselves, or anything that, um, would help you in understanding what's before you better, or even understanding the ... the TNC model itself better. Um, we do have, uh, staff on hand — Police Captain Hart's here, uh, City Attorney's office and City Clerk's office have also worked on the ordinance, um, Uber representative said that they would have people here to answer questions at the formal meeting, as well as, uh, traditional taxi companies in town, um ... uh, would be on hand to answer your questions as well at the formal meeting. Throgmorton/ Any questions for Simon? John, I know you had ... some. Thomas/ Yeah, um ... so in ... in brief time I've had, I actually have happened to have picked up a book a couple of weeks ago that ... this subject came up in, uh, and the writer identified a number of issues that have come up with Uber. Uh, one would be ... uh, the impacts on existing taxi businesses, uh, and that's ... so that's one issue I'd be interested in your response. Uh, the second would be customer objections to surge pricing. Andrew/ Uh huh. Thomas/ Which I don't... what... what are the regulations on surge pricing (both talking) Andrew/ Uh, surge pricing is allowed, uh, under the ordinance. It's in the section called... there's a definition in there called 'dynamic pricing.' Um ... and the ... the benefit to the ... the application is that the passenger always has that information before they accept the ride. Um, you know, one of the complaints we got, uh, from the Convention and Visitors Bureau in the past is that visitors to our community, um, especially when destination rates were allowed, which they aren't under the current ordinance, but ... um, that people would feel that they were being gouged when they took a .... a ride, that urn .... that we do allow, uh, taxi companies to change their rates. They do have to register with the City Clerk, but, um, they can change, um, at any time they want, and uh, passengers aren't always aware, especially if they're going home from a bar, how much that ride's going to cost them. Uh, and that was one of the complaints we received, uh, in ... in terms of this ordinance, in terms of this business model, uh, the passenger always has to accept that fare before the ride even shows up to pick them up. So there is, you know, dynamic pricing. I would expect that rides during football games would be very pricey. I have heard that anecdotally from other cities that especially during peak times it does get, um, more expensive, and we still would have, um, local taxi companies available to, uh, ideally meet that demand. Um, but it is, uh, up to the ... the buyer, essentially, whether they feel that the ride is ... is worth that price. Um... Thomas/ (both talking) ....cap? Is there a cap on (both talking) Andrew/ No! No. There is no cap on it. No. Thomas/ Um... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 9 Andrew/ ...but it is, yeah, that information is made available before (both talking) Throgmorton/ So basically it's a case of price being deter... determined by the interaction of supply and demand. Andrew/ Right. Right, and one of the arguments that TNCs will make for that is during peak times that drives more, uh, supply into the market, that people knowing that they can make a good deal more money during football games or bar close would be more likely to sign up to drive during those times, which may help satisfy demand. That's... that's the argument that they would make. Thomas/ Is there any cap on the number of Uber ... Uber drivers that can be registered? Andrew/ No. No, there is none. Thomas/ So do we have any concerns about... congestion resulting from ... the TNC cars at peak demand periods... Andrew/ Well ideally these would be replacing people that would be driving themselves. That, you know, if people are able to get to the football game and get home, or get downtown, uh, to ... to go out for the night and get home without bringing their own vehicle, um, ideally we would see that alleviate some parking concerns or some congestion on the street, but urn ... you know, again, that's not something that we'd have local data on. You know, each market (mumbled) city's a little bit different, so um, I guess it is important to remember that these ordinances aren't written in stone. If we do, um, see issues like that arise, it is something that we could address in the future. Cole/ Simon, I'm concerned about the background checks. Um ... why do they object to having our local law enforcement conduct the background checks, and two, why are we distinguishing on that requirement, uh, with the taxis and Uber? Why not allow the taxi companies to also use third party, um, background checks, such as Uber, cause I understand that that's a key sticking point. So if you could elaborate on that. Andrew/ Sure, and ... and I think the sticking point isn't so much in terms of who conducts the background check, but in order for us to conduct the background check, the driver would have to come into the City to register, and that is what, um, they've communicated to us depresses the supply enough that it makes it, um, it makes it an unviable business model. That they really depend on people being able to sign up easily and do things online, perhaps even before they come to town. If they're a say a new student moving here in the fall and you know were already registered as an Uber driver that they could, you know, hit the ground running already. Cole/ Wouldn't that also apply to taxicar... taxicab companies as well, that that can depress the supply of taxicab companies? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 10 Andrew/ We feel that the ... (both talking) Cole/ ...for taxi cabs? Andrew/ ...we feel that without the information available to the passenger in terms of, you know, what vehicle's being driven and the driver's identity prior to the ride that we need to have that local registration for them. Uh, that's the logic in it, that if an investigation occurs that we are able to track down who the driver was, and without those local registrations, um, for the traditional taxi model, we simply wouldn't know who the drivers were. Um, in terms of the TNC model, the passenger knows that information before they even get in the car. Um, and there is a rating system built into, uh, the TNC model, and that's something that's, uh, also required by them is that, uh, passengers are able to rate their drivers, and I think that might get to your first ... I don't remember exactly what your first question was, but ... um, that, uh, drivers that consistently get bad ratings that don't provide good service, um, they boot off their system essentially, that they're no longer allowed to drive for them, and that works both ways. If you have a ... a passenger that, you know, is frequently problematic, say coming home from downtown, um, after spending the night down here that, um, they would no longer be able to request rides through Uber if they consistently got bad ratings from drivers. Or any TNC for that matter. Taylor/ Is there also a difference in the requirement for the maintenance of the vehicles in like the regular taxis versus the Uber? Andrew/ Um, there is some differences. Uh, TNCs generally require, um, a make and model year that we don't. We do have, um, local vehicle inspections, which would be removed from this, and again, that's related to, um, drivers not coming in to register with the City. That if they're not coming in to register with the City, the other two items with background checks and vehicle inspections, become impossible. Um, now our vehicle inspections, while we do conduct them, it's not, uh, an exceptionally high bar, I would say. Essentially we make sure that they're street legal and, you know, the .... safe for the most part, but it's not the, urn ... that we require a certain level of, urn .... I don't know, comfort for the passenger, and, uh... that would get also back to the rating system from passengers. If there was a vehicle that was, um ... you know, uncomfortable for them, then that would continue to get low ratings and, um, be removed from the system. Cole/ We've talked a lot about the technology associated with Uber. Are there any, uh, technology, um, platforms for taxicab companies, such that if they want to become a transportation network they'd be able to exempt themselves from the local taxicab ordinances through an alternative technology platform? Andrew/ Right. There isn't a limit in the ordinance to the number of TNCs that could be licensed. I ... I suppose that it would have to be considered a ... a separate business at that point, but, um, if they do have application that provides all of the information to the passenger, um, before and after the ride that is required in the ordinance, they would be able to .... to call themselves a TNC and sign up as a TNC. Um, it doesn't have to be a national business. It doesn't have to be, urn ... you know, one that people know before they This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 11 come into town. It ... it's really based on what information is available to the ... to the passenger, um, and they'd have to, you know, perform their own third party background checks that meet the accreditation standards and all the other things required in the ordinance, but ... um, it's ... this ordinance wasn't written for one company, and it's ... it's not as though only one company gets a TNC license and then we're done. Um, and we would expect, I would think, that, um, other competitors would come into the market as well, whether they're, um, local start-ups or Lyft, Sidecar, uh, other national companies may take advantage of the ... the ordinance. Thomas/ This seems to me to be a very dynamic... market, you know... Andrew/ Absolutely! Thomas/ (mumbled) this morning, news from Canada on, you know, the, uh, this issue and I think the province of Alberta, but ... so I would be interested in ... in, and I don't know if you can answer this tonight, but ... um, you know, what ... in ... in those cities that have had TNCs for some period of time, so they're ... you know, they've had an opportunity to see what ... what the bugs are and to some degree regulated them out... Andrew/ Uh huh. Thomas/ ...what those best practices are, uh, and so in comparing that to ... what ... what we're reviewing here. Andrew/ Sure, absolutely! And we can provide as much data as we can from, um, other cities. What we found in general is that, um, even what is considered the most progressive cities, uh, frequently tried to stop TNCs from operating early on. Um, and put in more stringent regulations, and often times TNCs would operate outside of those regulations. Um, we had, uh, cities in Madison, Austin, Seattle, Portland bring lawsuits, impound cars, fine drivers, and what we found in most of those places is that they've moved closer to the type of ordinance that you're seeing tonight. Um, but in terms of data, uh... you know, complaints and ... and things like that, that's something that we'd have to come back to you with. If you did consider it for the first reading tonight we could certainly provide that before the second reading. Um, the ... the main data that, um, we've come across in recent weeks in terms of, uh, places where it's been operating the longest, which is the state of California, both Lyft and Uber started out of the state of California, was the ... the drunk driving statistics that, uh, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, uh, provided, uh, that report, but uh, you're right. It is a quickly changing industry. There isn't a whole lot of hard data, um ... and that ... that is something that we need to look at going forward, and that kind of gets back to my comment that there's not ... these aren't written in stone, that as we learn more about these industries, uh, and I would expect that early adopters are ... possibly fundamentally different than as the market expands, uh, you know, it may be that drivers that sign up early on are worse, are better — we don't know — than, um, when it reaches more of the general population. So, uh, it's something that we'd want to keep any eye ... our eye on. It is a ... a quickly changing, uh, industry and uh, I expect it to evolve again in the future and more competitors to enter the market. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 12 Throgmorton/ Simon, on this particular point, I'd be curious to know more about the experience of nearby cities ... here in Iowa. Andrew/ Sure! Sure. Throgmorton/ Uh, I personally don't have any direct experience, uh, with, uh, or knowledge about those cities, so I ... I'd like to hear more about them. Andrew/ Absolutely, and we can get more feedback from their staff. I know that we discussed it with Ames' staff recently. Ames' staff doesn't have any taxi regulations at all either for the traditional model or for, uh, TNCs, and they've indicated that, um, they've had very little problems with either. Um, now Ames is laid out very differently than Iowa City, so um, you know, we have unique concerns that may not be, uh, applicable, that that feedback may not be as applicable. Um, they are operating in Cedar Rapids, um, without an ordinance there. Um .... the staff has been working with, um, the TNC to try and develop an ordinance, but once they're already, um, operational outside of that, they really don't have much incentive to ... to negotiate that, I guess, is the way to ... to put it. Um, Des Moines, they, um, do operate under an ordinance that, um, that they agreed to a couple of years ago. Um, there are, uh, facets to that ordinance that I think that if they were starting again today they ... they wouldn't likely agree to. Um, but ... uh, in terms of complaints, benefits, anything like that, I'd ... I couldn't speak to exactly what the experience in Des Moines has been. Markus/ I had a chance to discuss this with the city manager in Sarasota, Florida, and um, they got into the same kind of conversation and at the end of the conversation, they decided to deregulate both and ... according to manager there, they've had, uh, very good success with... deregulation and both seemingly operating, uh, without rules and regulations. (several talking) Thomas/ Taxi as well as TNC? Markus/ Yeah, both. Cole/ And I think Tom brings (several talking) Go ahead! Botchway/ Well I mean I think that's actually something I'm interested in from that standpoint, because um, it's ... it's very interesting, and I don't know if Susan remembers or not, but I think these exact same comments and concerns were brought up the last time that Uber came, and I was ... I was looking through to find out whether we had the response back from Uber in relation to a lot of our concerns, but I couldn't find it in the packet, but... it was, I mean (mumbled) not smiling but (mumbled) hearing the same kind of questions, and that's I think why Council at the time voted no against it, because of the fact that, you know, these things were important things that we wanted to make sure that we addressed in some type of meaningful way. That being said, um, literally I think almost moments after the meeting there was a surge, at least from my Twitter account standpoint as far as This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 13 folks that wanted to engage and have this type of, um, business model that's a part of our community. One of the things that I think we don't think about when we're talking about Uber is kind of, and this is to Jim's point, not necessarily in the same context of Uber, but more from an overall transportation network standpoint, that this is another mode of transportation, and so one of the things that Simon didn't mention was, you know, people don't necessarily use it just for football games and some other things, but also use it for work, and I actually had a long conversation at The Mill about how much Uber would be used for work from a ... um, from community transportation standpoint, from going from here to Coralville to North Liberty, um .... and then obviously, the fact that you're using cell phones and other things — ease and convenience of using as well, and so I mean I feel like I've done somewhat of an about-face as far as, you know, my concerns because my two concerns were around safety overall because I think the background checks was a huge issue and then, um, it was around the insurance as well, um, and I'm not sure... that I don't think has been addressed and I don't know .... I might have missed it, that it hasn't been addressed from an insurance standpoint, but ... at this point, it sounds like, you know, a lot of the folks that I've talked to, especially from a student perspective, but really a wide range of folks, urn ... you know, aren't worried about the same concerns that I'm worried about, and I ... I'd feel, you know, that I wouldn't be doing my due diligence if I just stated, well you know, insurance is my concern (mumbled) Throgmorton/ We're not voting right now (both talking) Botchway/ No, no, no, I just .... yeah, I was just (mumbled) Markus/ Part of the reason that this is resurfacing at this point is we kind of...we passed an ordinance. In advance of that ordinance, initially we thought, um, Uber was on board. It came in at the, you know, at the end of the ... at the period just before we were recommending to Council and indicated that they didn't, um, they couldn't go along with certain provisions in our ordinance, which had in ... you know, we had gleamed from other places around the country and poured into our ordinance, so despite the fact that we have an ordinance, you know, one for taxis and one for, uh, the ... the network approach, they have not chosen to ... provide service in our community. And I think what's happening around the country, I'm seeing more of a kind of deregulated approach, with more minimal... minimalist types of regulations that apply, uh, especially to the network approach. And I think you're going to see that continue. Um ... I think there's reasons for all of that. I think in ... in the mind of the company, you don't necessarily see themselves as running a transportation system. They see them more as a network operation, where they're putting people together, a part of this whole shared economy approach, not unlike the, you know, the, um .... Airbnb approach and other things that are happening in that regard, which kind of move out of the realm of regulation. And I think that's gonna happen more and more, and I think the other thing is that there's a ... I think there's a real logic to looking at these things from the standpoint that it is more part of the social network or that ... that kind of the economy, and not necessarily the traditional way we viewed it. I think you do like what you're pointing to, Rockne, getting to a question of whether there's equity in terms of how we evaluate both of 'em, but they're two very different models of service delivery, which you know we want to make sure that we're This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 14 being fair and equitable to all parties, but you're really looking at two different service approaches (both talking) Cole/ Well that's where I ... I guess I disagree with. I think you're essentially having transportation for money, right? I mean I pay you money and you take me from point A to point B. I think that's what it is and I think to your point though, Tom, is that I think that maybe we have the discussion about lightening the regulatory footprint and equalizing the regulatory framework with taxis and (mumbled) or whatever they are. Um, you know, and I think that's maybe what we need to look at, but I think if we're looking at ... I thought that was a very thoughtful ordinance that you guys put together, based upon public safety and if we're going to lighten that public :..that regulatory framework, I think we have to be careful, especially when we're talking about the health and safety issues, and I think to your point, Kingsley, I totally get it. I know it's super popular. Um ... you know, but I think our role is to evaluate things, not only based upon whatever's popular but we think is, you know, best interest of public safety, and I don't think they've made their case as to outsourcing the criminal background check requirement. That's my biggest concern at this point, but I suppose it's, you know, preliminary discussion at this point. Markus/ And so what we did is we went back and we .... and I told staff ..come back with ordinances that will result in ... um, Uber coming to town or ... or any of the ... the national operations that will come to town, which basically meant what are they finding acceptable in terms of an ordinance. That's what you have in front of you. We do have a letter from Uber indicating they would support this ... this ordinance that we put before you. We have had a number of contacts, calls, and some more repetitive, but... constantly asking'when are we going to get an UberT 'When we are we going to get Uber in hereT And so ... my thought was get this back in front of Council, get this issue in front of 'em, run it up, see if that's what they want to do. You know, equity is always an issue. I do think that ... I think that there's a bit of, uh, a mis... a misnomer in this whole sharing economy because when you think about it, your credit card usually gets hit in this shared economy, just like it does elsewhere. It's not, you know, shared economy means, you know, we get to use (both talking) Cole/ ...you're literally sharing (both talking) Markus/ ....but there's... there's a monetary component to all this. Let's not kid ourselves about that part of it, but ... I really think that this is a model that's going to happen, okay? Everywhere. I think you're going to see Uber move into... delivery services. I think you're gonna see 'em, you know, this whole shared ride. I think you'll see multiple connections that Uber works themselves into in the future. And I think if you keep yourself out of this marketplace, it's not good for this community. You have ... you know, you have a reputation that, you know, that you want to, you know, have people coming in to the community. People come into this community and they've got that app, and they pull up that app and they don't have service here ... that makes a judgment, okay? So if it's an issue of equity, maybe what you have to do is ... is run down some of the regulation. And I would say to you ... despite having the regulation that we had in place, it still took us This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 15 too long for us to track the individuals, and I thought, for example, maybe somebody would have brought up this recent incident that Uber had (several talking) I mean all this stuff ...look, there's... there's no hiding any of this stuff anymore in this world and the way we ... we communicate, but think about what happened! Immediately they were able to trace ... where it started, where it moved to, every place on ... was tracked in that whole process of that terrible incident that occurred. I mean ... sol ...I was prepared to have that kind of discussion. You know, we've had some terrible incidents occur in schools. That doesn't mean that the school is the culprit, I mean, we have people that are gonna ... you know, perform criminal acts. That doesn't necessarily mean it's the ... it's the ... the product they were using entirely. Mims/ I have to say (several talking) Andrew/ ...that we did have background checks in 2014. That didn't stop us from licensing. Markus/ That's the point I'm making (several talking) Neal/ Last year I kind of had the same opinion as Kingsley. I was just unsure about Uber at the time, and then after it wasn't passed, a lot of students reached out to me and they said 'why don't we have Uber,' and that's all I've been hearing for the last year. And recently a survey was done in a classroom, 250 students, and it says ... if given the choice to use one or the other in Iowa City, which would you prefer? And 71 % said Uber mobile taxi service, while um ... 12% said the traditional taxi, and then ... um, 17% had no preference. So clearly students are interested in having this here. And even this last year, I think it's been really interesting to see how it's succeeded in other places, and additionally the safety features, the fact that you can send someone your location with the GPS. That just makes me feel safer knowing that someone's expecting me, they know where I'm at. If, um, they know where I'm going and they see I'm off the path, they could find help immediately. Additionally, students could earn extra income if they wanted to be an Uber driver. That's something they could sign up for, and it's an effective transportation option, just like Kingsley said. People are using this for work. You can use Uber pool, so if somebody lives in the same neighborhood and they're working at the Hospital, they could take that rather than paying $20 a day for parking. So .... I think it's really positive, and I've heard so many comments from students. They would like to see Uber here, so I really hope you consider the students when thinking about this as well. Botchway/ Think I have one more comment as well. If we're gonna look at the complaints, maybe from a City standpoint as far as, um, what Uber, um, has done, I would be interested to see, and I don't know if I saw it in here or not, the complaints that we receive from the taxicab companies. Andrew/ Sure, we can come back to you with that information (several talking) Botchway/ ...heavily on one side and not the other, cause I think I have questions on both. Andrew/ Absolutely! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 16 Taylor/ I think Nicole makes a great point though, and I think that ... their, uh, customer population will primarily be students, uh, because they're the ones that are going to have the fancy phones that are ... and know how to get an ... get the app and ... and/or even have the credit card to be able to pay for it. So I think it's going to cater more to that student population and then we're kind of forgetting about the ... the seniors and perhaps those lower income folks that don't have those capabilities of...of hiring. Andrew/ And certainly this doesn't preclude any traditional taxi model from continuing to operate, to ... to meet that need ideally. I ... and you know, there's ... I wouldn't say any doubt that, you know, this would affect existing companies bottom lines, that, urn ... you know, it's hard to bring a competitor into any industry that is widely used and not affect the existing businesses and that's, you know, certainly something that we should be cognizant of, but uh, in general as industries evolve and, um, new technologies are brought to a market, that's usually not a ... a reason in and of itself to stifle that innovation. Throgmorton/ Okay. Any other questions for Simon? You've done a brilliant job, Simon! Thank you (several talking) and we'll ... during the formal meeting, we'll ... we'll open up for the ... open the public hearing, hear public comment on the ... on the topic, and then we'll decide whether we want to vote on first consideration, or defer. Right? Botchway/ But we won't have ... we won't have, um ... discussion before that. It would have to hear public comment, and then make a motion ... to either defer first consideration. Throgmorton/ I would think a motion to defer would be the appropriate initial motion, but you folks have a lot more experience than I do about that. Dilkes/ Either way! Throgmorton/Either way. (several talking) Uh, I, yeah ... so I would suggest we do ... have someone do a motion to defer first. We have discussion about that, vote on that, see where it goes. Okay! Moving on! February 18th Information Packet. Any questions or comments about anything in it? Information Packet Discussion (February 18, 25): Botchway/ Oh, urn .... one of the things I kinda wanted to bring to everyone's attention relatively quickly is just that, um, if. ... I brought it to your attention at the last ... I think maybe two packets before and then asked Marian to, uh, put it back in because I forgot to mention it, but ... it talked about the child data snapshot, and it ... one of the things I kinda wanted to highlight is that children in poverty has increased by about 43.9% since 2000. I know that when we do our Aid to Agencies, and help me out here, Tom. You know, we have a certain criteria where I think kids is relatively high on this, um, kind of rubric as far as things that we're doing, but ... you know ... it made me ask the question, you know, is it working, you know, are we, I mean, obviously things are happening and they're good things, but ... um, you know, what are our measurables to make sure that, you know, these This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 17 things are going down, not necessarily going up, from a children in poverty standpoint, and so I don't know what to do. Um, I just threw that out there because I thought it was a very important thing that I think needs to be addressed, and you know, that number was kind of alarming to me, and hopefully I'm doing my math correctly. Markus/ And I would tell you, United Way ... I happen to serve on the board of United Way and ... we had a strategic plan that we were following and ... tried to invest our money towards those strategic plan ... and ... and many of our goals related specifically to children, and I think there is, um ... we are facing some challenges, uh, because I think the demographic is changing in terms of the demands for those types of services. So ... our goals probably were much more challenged, uh, than we may have anticipated because of, uh..um, the population, quite frankly, and the demands for the services probably exceeded what our projections were at the same time. So .... I'm sure ... and we used kind of the same format between.... because we ... we jointly discussed how to set up the strategies together. So I ... I ... I'd say your interpretation's probably correct — we're really facing some difficult... challenges, and then choices, as to how we appropriate resources to deal with'em. You may ... you may want to hear from .... from Tracy and maybe have our United Way Director come over and have that discussion at some point. So you can hear that conversation and what we think our challenges are. (noises on mic) Botchway/ And that's what I would propose. I was going to wait until Council time, but I mean ... other people are interested, um, I think it's important. Mims/ Sure! Throgmorton/ You mean invite them to come in for a work session (several talking) during a work session? Botchway/ Yeah, correct. Throgmorton/ Yeah! Any other items on the February 18th packet? All right, I don't see any. Uh, February 25th packet. Dickens/ I don't know, do you want me to give the report from the paratransit, cause (both talking) Throgmorton/ Sure (both talking) Dickens/ ...make it fairly quick. We had a meeting February 23`d, um ... we made the recommendation to just have one representative. We did talk about that at our work session, but the County had finished it yet and were going to do it the next day at their meeting. So, but I would as ... like to ask Pauline if you would be an alternate, I would ... if I can't make the meeting I would give you a call in plenty of time generally. I've missed one meeting in six years, and that was ... got a late customer (laughs) but otherwise I've ... I've tried to make all of 'em, but if I would be out of town, I'd like to have an alternate, cause we're reducing the board size. Uh... probably the biggest was the update This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 18 on contracts on Medicaid transportation was supposed to be done by March 1St. That has been extended. I saw after this meeting till April 1St. Part of the problem was getting all the board members from all the different groups to get their social securities, which is a requirement, and then, uh.... getting riders to pick what management group they're going to use or their MCOs, which is ... a ... a little bit of a problem. Ridership was down about 300 for the same time period. It's still at 132,000, which is an incredible amount. Uh, they did want to thank the City of Iowa City for getting them four new buses. They're a little bit longer, two feet, so the drivers are getting used to that. Two feet does make a difference (laughs) I guess, so ... uh, Coralville is expecting one and ECICOG is getting one, and then we have one on order, and they want to keep two spare buses for emergency uses, and they would hope that we can get one more because they would like to add one more route just to reduce times that the riders have to wait. And that's basically what we went through on that. Throgmorton/ Excellent! Thanks, Terry! Dickens/ And they did have a survey out that, uh, riders will fill out for their eligibility, which should be going out shortly. Throgmorton/ Okay, other topics? Thomas/ Well I (clears throat) had my memo, uh, Item #5, to the, um, MPOJ... regarding the MPOJC criteria and um, you know, as I outlined in that, the, um ... the MPOJC is ... is going through a process now of trying to come up with criteria for ranking projects for the... the future forward 2045 plan, and so ... with ... with our strategic plan in mind, I looked at those criteria, which are in a draft form, and um ... went through what ... what was in the draft in terms of the scoring criteria and made some suggestions or recommendations as to how we might revise them to better reflect our strategic plan. So ... my hope was is that the ... the Council would ... would support at least the thrust of those recommendations. We could then take them to the ... the City's portion of the technical advisory committee, and uh, discuss them with that group and then that group ... the City technical group would be part of the larger MPOJC technical group who then advises the board, come back to us on the board. Throgmorton/ It's an administratively challenging question, it seems to me. I'm wondering about the process that we (both talking) Markus/ You know what I would suggest you do is you invite Kent Ralston up just to ... he's seen this memo, um, he oversees this process, and so I think he could probably talk about ... um, how best to go about what John is recommending, what the likelihood is of success. We have other jurisdictions, obviously, that you'd have to convince, uh, recognizing ... uh, John's points about connection to strategic plan, um, I think it's a fair question to raise, but ... but I think you should understand from the MPO standpoint, you know, some of the process issues. So I'd invite him up and ... and engage him in the conversation. Throgmorton/ Consider yourself invited, Kent! (laughter) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 19 Ralston/ Thank you! Kent Ralston, uh, Director of the MPO. So yeah, so I just received this memo. I believe it was Monday, and I haven't had a ... a chance to bump what we provided to the MPO board and what Mr. Thomas submitted just yet. So, I'm not exactly sure what the differences were between the two. When I looked at it originally, I don't think the changes were wholesale. It seemed the most of the changes were adding emphasis in one area or another. Um, and by way of background, so what .... Mr. Thomas is referring to is the MPO's going through what we call our long-range transportation planning process. We refer to it as the Future 45, uh, plan. Future Forward (mumbled) 45 Plan. It's a federal requirement that we have to go through every five years, and it's due May of 2017. As part of that plan, we have to be fiscally constrained. I'll try and keep this short. But what we do then is whatever projects that the City of Iowa City and the other MPO entities want to have federally funded or at least .... um ... apply for federal funding for those projects have to be in the long-range transportation plan. We can amend the plan anywhere in the five years. It's a .... it's a living, working document, but I would suggest strongly that if there are projects that you want in the plan, we work very hard to get those in the plan because although we can amend the plan, it doesn't mean we will. You know, that's the board's decision, the MPO board's decision. The scoring criteria... came up at the last board meeting. We asked the board to look at the criteria that we had proposed, uh, which were largely based off the criteria we had in 2012, and then we had some discussion thereafter about, uh, potential changes that might occur. So what we'll be doing is we will take back the scoring criteria to our technical advisory committee on the 22nd of this month and basically have that discussion again, so as the City Manager mentioned, I think it would be wise to discuss it amongst yourselves in whatever capacity you want to, and then discuss that with the technical advisory committee members. Um ... for Iowa City. (several talking) ...one of which is the City Manager. Markus/ But as I understood what Mr. Thomas was asking for was to ... uh, change some of the scoring criteria to ... to more accurately reflect what the Council anticipates to be in their strategic plan if adopted this evening. Ralston/ Sure! Markus/ Did you look at those? Ralston/ Yeah and like I was saying, I haven't had a chance to bump them up compared to what we had provided the board last time directly, but I don't think there were a lot of wholesale changes. If ..correct me if I'm wrong, but it seemed like there was just shifting emphasis, and in the long-range plan process we had the MPO board, uh, several meetings ago bless sort of, um ... I believe it was eight or nine goals or visions of the plan, environment, transportation, connectivity, things of that nature, um, and you know, shifting emphasis from one goal to the next is really a policy matter, and ... and we'll take our cues from, uh, ultimately the MPO policy board. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 20 Throgmorton/ Kent, my impression is that the ... the challenges, uh, are two. One is to have constructive interaction between the Council and the ... and the T -TAC Iowa City's (both talking) Ralston/ Correct! Throgmorton/ About, um ... the particular changes that John's recommending, and whether the Council in the end wants to agree with what John's recommending, and then with inter ... you know, taking the interaction with the staff into account, cause they're, you know, you all know the stuff that we don't know. Then the next step is ... assuming there's some changes involved in that process, as a result of that process. Then the question is getting the ... our T -TAC staff to try to influence MPOJC's tetac. That's the way I understand this process works. So ... we gotta figure out how to do that in as effective a way as we can. That .... that's the way it seems to me. Otherwise we'll just end up with the existing scoring criteria, continuing as they are and, you know, maybe that's good, maybe that's bad, but I ... I don't know. Ralston/ Yeah, I agree. In a nutshell that is ... what would occur if you all choose to make changes to the scoring criteria. Fruin/ Kent, can you clarify the ... the scoring criteria doesn't necessarily rank the projects. It just decides what gets in the plan, is that correct? Ralston/ Right. So the ... the scoring criteria — that's a good question — the scoring criteria is a way for us to give the MPO board some... urn... some help. It's a tool in which, by which we can then help prioritize projects. So ultimately these projects will be prioritized and it's not so much, uh, project number one versus project number two versus number three. The ... the projects have to be broken down into year bands. So ... so think 10 year, uh, bands of years, 10 year segments of years, and that's really where we're trying to rank those projects to .... get them in the appropriate year, and that's because again the plan has to be fiscally constrained. I will mention, so it's just a tool (mumbled) It's just one tool to help prioritize projects. The board can choose to arrange these projects in any fashion they want when we get to that point with the MPO board, but I will also mention there's a huge public component to this. This is just one tool. We've got three public meetings scheduled, workshops, uh, late March, early April that we'll be advertising for. So there's a lot of different things that go into this, and we'll be asking the public to weigh these projects too. So it's just one tool. That's a good question. Throgmorton/ I have to say, Kent, my experience on ... as a prior member of the MPO, is that the MPO board typically defers to the T -TAC. Ralston/ I agree with that... statement. Throgmorton/ So ... the challenge is to get our T -TAC to try to influence the MPOJC's T -TAC, and the (mumbled) down in the ... nitty gritty of all this stuff. So ... we, I think, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 21 collective... if we're going to follow through on your recommendations in one way or another, we need guidance about how to navigate that thicket. Ralston/ Right, and ... and I don't want to lessen the importance of the scoring criteria, because it is very important, and it is a tool that you should all use, uh, whatever scoring criteria that is that we agree on, um, but I want to stress that there's this big public component to it, as well. There's just ... this is just one ... one stage of basically a multi-year process for the long-range plan. So it is important, but I just want to emphasize that really the public, I think, participation ... component is just as important or maybe even more important. Mims/ The concern I have ... process wise with this is ... as Council Members and members of the MPO board ... we are looking at things from a policy standpoint. My perception is the T - TAC group is looking at things more from a technical and ... you know, as experts in ... in various aspects of, you know, transportation. I realize there can be different opinions on what you should or shouldn't do in terms of adding lanes and, you know, capacity and those kinds of things, but to your point, Jim, of how do we do this, I'm .... very concerned that as a policy making board ... we're not stepping in and telling technical people what decisions they need to make, and ignoring their technical expertise ... and basically subverting their role. So I'm really .... and I think maybe this is kind of what you're trying to figure out how to navigate (several talking) I'm really concerned about that. Because there's some things that John suggested that I'm okay with. There's others I'm not at all okay with, and so ... from looking at the whole picture, and so that, yeah, I don't know how we do this. Ralston/ Yeah, you know, I'll be honest I don't have a good answer for that either. It's sort of a messy process, um, and by that I mean that the long-range plan, uh, with the previous to the 2012 plan that we're currently working on did not have to be fiscally constrained. So it was much easier. You went to the public, you asked what projects we wanted to work on, transportation projects primarily what we want to have looked at in the next, you know, 30 years. You got them in the plan, and those were kind of our marching orders. You know now this whole .... this whole concept of fiscal constraint gets more, uh, borderline than the programming of projects, which it really isn't. It's not a programming document. You just have to have the projects you want to ask for federal funding for in the plan. I mean that's really the ... the message to take home. Um, so again, I don't wanna lessen the importance of the scoring criteria. Some MPOs don't even go through a scoring criteria process. They just sort of leave it up to the T -TAC or leave it up to the board to come up with what projects they want. They put'em in the plan and they go with it. You know? Um, we've always felt important and prior directors of the MPO have felt important that we actually try and at least attempt to score these projects to give the board some more direction, uh, when they go through this prioritization process. So, I think it is a little bit messy process and I think it's a good one, and uh, and it's worthwhile, um, I guess what I would suggest is having a few Council Members meet with the Iowa City technical advisory committee members and just have a discussion with them, you know, and ... and the ... the difficult part then is of course is if the Council has, urn ... a consensus on what that message would be. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 22 Throgmorton/ Well there's a .... a step we could take in any event. So I would think, uh... a corn ... a subcommittee, if you will, of three Councilpeople could meet with technical... with our T -TAC staff, have a conversation at least, and then re ... the Council Members could report back to us ... uh, about...how that went and whether there are specific changes at least those three people would recommend. Botchway/ I would agree, or ... oh, go ahead, Jim! Sorry! Fruin/ I just want to clarify that the next Council meeting is March 23rd, and the T -TAC meeting is March 22"d, so if there's going to be conversation at the Council table to provide direction... can't wait for another Council meeting. Throgmorton /I had this conversation with my wife, Barbara, just last night actually (laughter) Botchway/ So I would agree, I mean, I ... I ... I'm vaguely remembering, you know, this coming up at the MPOJC where we had this discussion around scoring criteria... and I think I was upset at the time or frustrated at the time because I felt like we didn't neces... it didn't necessarily speak to Iowa City's needs and to that extent I would feel like we need to do whatever we need to do to make sure they ... they do tie into our strategic plan. So I'd be very supportive of a subcommittee to talk with the T -TAC. The only issue that I have is that ... can this be an informal conversation? Does it have to be (both talking) Throgmorton/ Oh yeah (both talking) Botchway/ Okay so I just didn't want it to be something that you know Marian had to, you know, bring me a tape to or make it formal from that standpoint, and I think that doing that also gives you time, Kent, to kind of go back through these things, look at it as it relates to what was presented to the board, and then I guess come back to us in some type of meaningful way at the next meeting, to kind of talk about ... what you see in relation to what John has proposed? Mims/ But again, that's going to be after the next T -TAC meeting. Throgmorton/ Yeah, that's the 22nd (several talking) Yeah. Mims/ Right, T -TAC meets on the 22nd; we meet on the 23rd (several talking) Botchway/ So you would come back on the 23rd with his particular thoughts on the matter and then we would still hear from the subcommittee (both talking) Mims/ But what he's saying is the T -TAC is already going to have had their meeting, at which they would be reporting back (both talking) Botchway/ Oh, gotcha, gotcha! Okay, that's what I missed. Throgmorton/ Well, we'll... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 23 Botchway/ We could force the T -TAC to move (laughter and several talking) Ralston/ You know I think I might ... I would recommend allowing our staff to compare what Mr. Thomas has submitted with what we had submitted to the board at the last meeting. So what we had talked about at the last MPO meeting versus what ... what the suggestions have been thus far, let us do that analysis, and then ... i£..if it's the will of the Council to have a few Council Members meet with myself as well as some of the technical advisory members, they're... they're professional staff of the City so they're here, they're available to you. I would say that would be a ... a thoughtful way to work around that issue, is to sit down, have that discussion, um, and see where we end up. Throgmorton/ So the scoring criteria comes up every year, doesn't it, even though we're talking in relation to the long-range transportation plan? Ralston/ There's two ... well, we go through the scoring criteria for the long-range plan every five years. We go through our scoring criteria for our funding every two years. Our funding cycle is every other year. Right now the two scoring criteria are very similar. Almost the same, but not quite the same, but they're very similar. Throgmorton/ Well I think we're trapped by the timing and the time. Dickens/ (mumbled) ...we need to remember when some ... when one Councilor brings something forward, we still need to have the three agree on it. I know John brought this up, but I don't know if we had three agree to go ahead with this. Throgmorton/ True ... true enough! So... Dickens/ So we should always try to follow that, unless (both talking) Throgmorton/ ....answer to that question. Dickens/ I think there is, but I'm just ... trying to keep it where we're consistent (several talking) Throgmorton/ Good point! So are there, uh, at least two other Councilpeople who would ... be interested in making some progress in following through on John's, uh, recommendations here, which does not mean do what John said (several talking and laughing) I ... I, you know, we're trapped by timing, but I think it would be helpful to have a three-person committee meet with our T -TAC, before T -TAC goes to the larger group. Knowing that, the three members cannot tell our T -TAC ... staff what to do. Cause there's... there would not be Council direction. Mims/ If we're going to do that, I would be like ... like to be one of the three. Throgmorton/ Sounds good to me! John, it's your suggestion so why don't the two of you be on that committee. Is there one other who would like to volunteer? (several talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 24 Rockne? (several talking) Okay. So, uh, the three of you please figure out a good time to meet with Kent. Ralston/ Yeah, I'll work maybe through the City Clerk's office to find a good time and we'll, uh, we'll have that discussion. Throgmorton/ Okay. Good deal! Thank you, Kent. Ralston/ Thank you. Throgmorton/ Other items on ... what is this, the 25ffi,_February_25th agenda. Dickens/ Work session. Botchway/ Quickly for IP8, um, oh wait a minute. We're past the packet. Dickens/ No, we're still on the packet. (several talking) Botchway/ For IP8 (clears throat) So the ... CJCC is kind of changed a little bit. They're having less meetings. I think it was kind of talked about or discussed (mumbled) um, one of the things, I don't know if I remember if I told ... told y'all or not was around a meeting that... myself, um, kind of in relation to the adult, um, disproportionate minority contact committee had with, um, the ... I think maybe Janelle, Janet Lyness, um, Latasha Massey, I want to say Rod Sullivan — not sure right now cause it's kinda vague, um, but um ... basically talking with Janet as far as, urn... speaking with the other jurisdictions and their police departments around data. Um, I feel like that was a ... a huge piece to where we missed out on a potential grant, uh, because some of the other people that were able to get those grants had done, um .... had done things along the lines of, um, making sure that they put forth the effort to, you know, line up data, you know, um ... (mumbled) ordinances, resolutions, whatever the case may be, and so ... I just kind of reporting that ... that conversation occurred. I believe she met with that group, um ... in February and so, um, I hadn't heard back from her yet. I hadn't followed up yet either, and so I just want to kind of report that out because that's... that's something that was maybe in line with the CJCC, but something that, urn ... um, is important. Now just to be clear, we do do a great job from a data standpoint. It's ... I want to say that it's bad for the other police departments, but we're looking at whether or not we can kind of in line with all the other police departments that have the same type of stuff so we can track some of this information. Throgmorton/ Okay. Thank you. Anything else on that ... in that Information Packet? Botchway/ Two more quick questions. Um, sorry! Um ... the whole memo from you, Tom, about the, uh, sanctuary cities. (mumbled) impact on us. Are we not a sanctuary city? (several talking) Mims/ No, we're not. (several talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 25 Throgmorton/ ...considered like five years ago. Markus/ I think some of the interesting parts of it were some of those things were brought out in our debate (several talking) Botchway/ Um, the last piece would be ... IP9, um, I don't know, John's here. You know I guess... from not having a high-level of understanding, you know, what does this mean, how do we improve, I mean, it mentions some of the staffing concerns, some of the other things from that standpoint, workload, morale, what ... I mean I see this and I think it's saying that we're doing well, but is there any type of, you know, plan... Yapp/ This is the ISO rating for building inspections (several talking) Yes, we ranked very well. Uh.... compared to other state and national averages. We did go down in a few, uh, factors. Uh, as shown in the memo. Most of those are based on ... uh, population based and demographic based assessments for a community of our size and ... one ... one difference between Iowa City and other communities of our size is that the, uh, for state buildings, the University of Iowa conducts, uh, building inspections, uh, through the state building officials' office. So we .... we don't staff any building inspections for any University, uh, properties. So that is one distinction. But, uh... it was a very positive report for the most part. Botchway/ Okay. I ... I just wanted to kind of hear if there was any, you know, push to .... do better or whatever the case may be. Staffing concerns was one of those big things. I don't know what's a plan to kind of do anything about that. Yapp/ Um ... that issue I can't address, but I would say that we, uh, we do require our inspectors to be certified, and several of our inspectors are continuing to .... to obtain multiple, uh, building inspection certifications, uh... there ... there's 10 or 11 different building inspector certifications for different types of construction. Uh, and ... training and education is ... is an important part of our operation. Markus/ I would say, Kingsley, that I don't think there was a criticism of the staffing level. I think what it was pointing out is the efficiency of...of the department and the staff itself. Botchway/ Well and I ... yeah, I mean, my ... my issue then was maybe workload as well, I mean, I just didn't know how that kinda played in, to make sure that we're not like, you know, I wouldn't say pushing our people too hard I guess (mumbled) my question was about. (several talking) Throgmorton/ Thank you, John! So..any other items on this Info Packet? Karr/ Mr. Mayor, one late addition that you received that will go in with this In ... Information Packet is the update on the listening posts. Throgmorton/ Right. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 26 Karr/ Um, that, uh, Nicki, our UISG liaison and I have been working on, and we have managed to, uh, grab the April 201h date and are, uh, a meeting area in the Old Capitol Center and we'd like to begin publicity on it. Um, but need, um, some concurrence that there are two of you that can make ... that session. Throgmorton/ Yeah, are there two people who would like to volunteer? Taylor/ I could. Thomas/ Happy to! Karr/ So Taylor and ... and (several talking) Thomas. Throgmorton/ Okay, and we haven't lined up the two for the Pheasant Ridge (both talking) Karr/ No, we're waiting ... till our contact person from Pheasant Ridge is out of the country and is due back this week, and it was really essential that we work with that contact person on the success of some other programs she was involved with, so we're waiting on that, and we're still very optimistic we can get that done in late March, um ... or early Feb ... early April! Uh... but we ... we should know shortly. Throgmorton/ Okay! So, thank you, Nicki and thanks to John and Pauline for volunteering. Okay, shall we turn to Council Time? Uh, Rockne, why don't you start? Council Time: Cole/ (mumbled) Dickens/ I just have a quick, uh... I been part of the, uh, CSIP, Comprehensive School Improvement Plan, now for four years, not as a Councilperson, just as a concerned citizen. Uh, ran into the Councilman next to me yesterday. He was at the meeting. I do have ... uh, Superintendent Murley will be sending a report card, uh, to Marian so it'll be in our ... your next packet. So everybody can read that. It's where the schools are at in math and uh.... reading. Uh, basically it was a meeting talking about, uh, legislative updates, uh, how state government is going to affect the schools and their taxes, much like we're dealing with, and uh, hopefully that, uh, it stays at the 2.45 that it did last year. Uh, talked about the Iowa Assessment data which was very interesting, uh, Iowa City Community Schools are well ... well above the national average in both those areas and continue to strive to work on that. Early literacy implemation... uh, implementation was discussed, uh, talking about having third grade retention if you're not up to a certain level you'll be retained in third grade. Uh, it's something that's state -mandated, that they're working toward. They're trying to get through all those, uh... uh, testing with all the different schools, uh, they did have a neighborhood input and elementary attendance, uh, zones. They were doing something different this year. They had kind of a caucus system where they were hoping for up to 60 different groups that would come in and talk about This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 27 what was good for the area and school, and that was supposed to be ... actually I think they're meeting tonight at 6:00, and basically that was it, and I think this is my last meeting for this group. So if there's any citizens that are interested in joining this, just get a hold of the Iowa City School system — Matt Digner or Amy Cordimyer and express your interest because it's been rather enlightening and ... little different perspective when you just go and listen in on, because we want to have more communication with the schools and it's been very important for me. Throgmorton/ Thanks, Terry! Botchway/ Um, so I already brought up the (clears throat) the data snapshot from the child poverty standpoint, and one of the other things that, um, I may, you know, kind of talk about tonight in relation to some of the other projects we have, but um, was ... has ... I participated in a couple of meetings around, urn ... kids and in the community, and um, what we can do to provide, um, some level of ..something to do. Um, again, I think that we all are aware of some of the issues that happened, um ... last year during the summer time, um, and the year before, um, around you know, um, fights and other things that happened downtown and so, um, want to hopefully, you know, put something forth as it's kind of coalescing back to, um, bring it back to City Council around this particular initiative. Um, I'm sure that we're going to have to talk with the new, um, Parks and Rec Director. I think I saw her in here, as well, but I think that, um, I just wanted to put that out there on everybody's radar because I do think it's a concern. Um, I do think it's something that the City can, you know, be involved in kind of moving forward, and I'm not sure in what way the City can be involved, but I ... I just think it's something that we need to be, uh, cognizant of and keep in the front of our minds. Throgmorton/ Right. Mims/ Nothing! Throgmorton/ John? Pauline? Okay, well I would say I've been attending a whole bunch of meetings (laughter) and that's been a fascinating aspect of being, playing this role of Mayor. So ... partnership for alcohol safety, Chamber's annual banquet, soul food dinner, Blue Zone celebration. Susan and I talked with Chris Lynch and Brian Kershling. Kingsley, Tom, Geoff, and I meeting with President Harreld of the University. Uh, attending the Cedar Rapids' Mayor's, uh, State of the City speech with Kingsley. Attending the Sertoma Club award luncheon, uh, handing out awards at the ... the One Book, Two Book event, uh, couple days ago. And so on. There's a whole bunch of stuff, so ... there ya go! It's, uh, it's ... a great experience, uh, and .... a lot! So ... okay, so ... we can move on to the next item, which, uh, somebody help me remember what it is (several talking) Meeting schedule. So ... anything on that that needs to be brought up? Meeting Schedule: Dickens/ (mumbled) ...through September so... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 28 Pending Work Session Topics: Throgmorton/ Yeah, so we're good with that. Pending work session topics. Let me just say that, uh, I've had a conversation with Geoff about that. Uh, he's given me a list of, uh, sort of a revised list of pending work sessions that's dra... that draws upon our strategic plan which we hopefully will adopt tonight. And there's a su... a substantial number of items on it. So ... uh, I ... Geoff and I will talk a bit about that, uh, I'll suggest a little bit of prioritization with regard to, uh, those items that pertain to the strategic plan, but we had a good conversation and what you gave me this morning, Geoff, was very helpful. So, thank you for that. And, Marian and I have had a ... a pretty productive conversation about pertaining to the, uh, search for permanent City Manager, if in fact we decide to do that. We have sort of a preliminary schedule in mind, if we in fact decide to conduct a .... a search for a permanent person. Tonight as you know on our Consent Calendar is an item appointing Geoff as our Interim City Manager effective the 19th of March. Uh, so what, uh, Geoff and I have talked about is how, uh, we will decide not more than three months after that date of appointment, after the date that that takes effect, whether or not we will conduct, we intend to conduct a search for a permanent, uh, City Manager. So, about two months from the middle of March, I'll start talking with you individually to sort of, you know, take your temperature, feel your pulse, get a sense of...how you think, uh, what you're thinking. So, I just wanted to kind of bring you all up to date on that. All right. What, uh, what else comes up next? Let's see. Upcoming community events, Council invitations. Upcoming Community Events / Council Invitations: Taylor/ I've received a couple of invitations to, uh, fundraisers for two organizations that really provide some useful services to the members of our community. You all may have gotten them too, um, this Friday, March 4th, is the annual chili supper for the ARC of Southeast Iowa and it's, uh, at the River Community Church, 3001 Muscatine Avenue, from 4:30 to 7:30, and all pro ... proceeds will bene, uh, benefit the children and adults with disabilities in this community, and the other event, we're going to eat quite well this weekend, is ... is actually, uh, the next day, Saturday, March 5th, pancake breakfast fundraiser for the Crisis Center. And that's at the Iowa Redeemer Lutheran Church, 2301 E. Court Street, from 7:00 A.M. till 12:45. Throgmorton/ Better be careful with all these events and the good food (several talking and laughing) Taylor/ That's all! Throgmorton/ John? Thomas/ So I'll be serving pancakes or something on Saturday (mumbled) 9:00 I think, 9 to 10. Throgmorton/ Are you good at flipping pancakes? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016. Page 29 Thomas/ I think so! I think I'll ... I'll pull that off okay. Throgmorton/ All right! Susan? Mims/ Nothing. Throgmorton/ Kingsley? Botchway/ I would concur with the ... the, uh, Crisis Center pancake, uh, breakfast.. Make sure you get there early. I am coming in to do the cleanup and ... (laughter) honestly there's probably not going to be a lot of food left after that, so be there early and uh, and donate. Dickens/ Nothing. Throgmorton/ All right, uh, on ... March 3`d I'll be speaking at the UN Association's 1000 Dinners... sorry, 1000 Dinners event. Uh, I'm looking forward to that. And Simon and I are going to Washington D.C. for the National League of Cities, uh, we're going to be there from the 5th through the 9th. Depart on the 5th, come back on the 9th. (unable to hear Andrew from audience) So ... certainly looking forward to that. Uh, while there we're gonna meet with Senator Grassley, Senator Ernst, Representative Loebsack, I think ... I'm not sure if that's ... he's not there. Meet with the staff. I don't know, so ... and others! (mumbled) Okay! Anything else? Markus/ Just one other thing. I ... I've been notified that, uh, Mr. Dobyns has been appointed by President Harreld to serve on the CIT committee, which is the Crisis Intervention, uh, Training program that we're looking at and it's a ... essentially it's a diversionary program away from jail. So... Throgmorton/ Right! Markus/ ...I think with his background in the alcohol issues of the past and changing those laws, obviously his connection back to you through the City Council, um I thought that he would be a good choice to make the connections and (mumbled) Throgmorton/ It's possible that Rick is watching this event right now. I talked to him on the phone a couple days ago. So if he is, I'm glad to hear he's on that committee. Anything else? All right, I guess that's it for our work session. We'll reconvene at 7:00 for the formal meeting. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2016.