HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-10-04 TranscriptionsOctober 4, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 1
October 4, 2008 Community Planning Initiative With Department Heads 9:00 A.M.
Council Present: Bailey, Champion, Correia, Hayek, O'Donnell, Wilburn, Wright
Staff: Lombardo, Helling, Dilkes, Karr, Fosse, O'Malley, Craig, Kopping,
Trueblood, Hargadine, Rocca, Davidson, Jennings, O'Brien, Boothroy,
Johansen
Other:
Tyler Gunn, UISG Liaison
Welcome and Meeting Purpose:
Bailey/ I know that, uh, working on a Saturday takes us all away from things that we
love, things we like to do, things we should be doing, so I really appreciate all of
you being here this morning. (mumbled) This will be a nice opportunity for us to
do some great work for our community, and I'm really looking forward to it and I
hope you are, as well. I also want to take the opportunity...I don't think that
we've been together, all together, in the same room since the flood, and on behalf
of Council, I know that we've talked about it quite a lot, but we would like to
express our appreciation to the staff for all the hard work that you did during,
well, June and July, and the work that you continue to do on behalf of the City
and with this flood response and flood recovery. I don't think we've had an
opportunity to really say that to all of you in one room. So, thank you very much.
Thanks for being here and I'm handing it over to Michael so we can get started on
the work of the day.
Lombardo/ Thanks, Regenia. I was thinking as I was coming in this morning, you know,
what is today all about, and...and I think it's a day of promise and potential. I
think it's a day of hope and perhaps even a little bit of anticipation. Um, if...if
done well, if we...if we do this in the spirit of honesty and openness, I think this
could be perhaps one of the single most important things we do as a community,
and...and so I guess as we work through the day, you know, keep that in mind
and...and tap into not just who you are as a municipal employee, as a City
Council...Councilor, as a civic leader, but also as a resident. What does that
mean to you to be a citizen of Iowa City? Um, share everything that's on your
mind, on your heart. Dig deep, um, put it all out there so that...that we really,
um, together form kind of a common understanding of what...what this all means
for us individually and then celebrate that as a community. Um, I'm excited
about this effort. I think leading up, you know, we've talked about it and many of
you know I'm really excited. I think this is a chance for us to really, um, work
together in ways that we've never, uh, had the opportunity to do, well, since I've
been here anyway, but...but also in different ways to celebrate community and
what does that mean. Um, today we have with us, um, Lynn Montei. Lynn is the
President of Lynn Montei Associates. Uh, she's a management consultant, uh,
her firm specializes in strategic planning and leadership development, and is
located in Elmhurst, Illinois. Uh, since 2002, they've been providing expertise
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October 4, 2008 Special City Council Work Session Page 2
and guidance to leaders and organizations, uh, choosing to unleash their potential.
(mumbled) public agencies, governments, and non-profit organizations and
strategy development, executive coaching, team building, board governance, and
culture change and initiatives. Prior to establishing her practice, Lynn was
Executive Director of the Suburban Chicago Council of Government and the
DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference for 17 years. With that I'll turn it over
to Lynn Montei.
Introduction/Connections:
Montei/ Thank you. Good morning. (several responding) Thank you very much for
coming out on a Saturday. It's, um, it's a lot to ask (noise on mic) set apart from
your regular course of business and yet you're doing the business that you do
Monday through Friday, as well. Um, so I really appreciate the opportunity to be
with you today, and um, look forward to the opportunity too for you to enjoy
maybe something you haven't experienced before in terms of a group process,
um, that might, um, tap into, um, your sense of the whole thing, the City of Iowa
City, not just your individual department, the Council and staff, or whatever the
various parts of the system, um, you experience on a day-to-day basis. I'd love to
set the context a little bit for the, uh, and describe the purpose that we had, um,
developed for today. This can change and evolve, as we need it to. Um, had a
good conversation with the Mayor earlier this week (noise in background)
exploration of the ideas of strategic planning. Um, I think your agenda...we'll
pass around in a few minutes, uh, references this as an orientation. I think maybe
abetter word is to sense this as an exploration of what it could be for you, and to
ask you to help define what it is you think you need, and what it is you think you
can commit to, because the planning process is a waste of time if it isn't
something that enlists your mind, and your heart, and you know that it's
something that...the time is right, the, um, the sense of energy around it is right.
So you want to engage that in the way that is best for you. So, just likewise in my
thinking about the way I designed this day, and I do have a design, which we
don't have to follow. So you have to help me make this meeting relevant for you,
because I'm the architect of the experience and the process, but I'm not your
content expert. You're the content experts, obviously. So, we're creating a space
today for the exploration and expression of leadership, um, in the City of Iowa
City, uh, to explore the idea of strategic planning, and define that for yourselves,
um, what potential it holds, uh, we'll do something of an orientation and briefing
around an approach to strategic planning that's very community-based, um, not a
top-down experience but more of a bottom-up experience. Um, to also get a bead
on the (coughing, unable to hear) that leadership is many things and all of you
come with your own...I mean, it would be interesting to go around the room and
have each person define what is leadership, but one of the ways I would like
to...you to think about leadership today is the capacity for your system -not just
the organization or the Council, but your system -meaning the whole of Iowa
City, to create its future. So, leadership being the potential of the system to create
its future. Now the City can do a lot and does a lot, um, you've all heard these
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notions, and maybe they're rather tired by now, of accountability as holding
others accountable. Well, let's explore the concept of the fact that a city creates
conditions for a community to be successful, but it's the community -the
citizens, the businesses, the neighborhoods -that actually are the creators, or co-
creators. You create the conditions; you do many things and take a lot of
initiatives, but you created conditions for others. So, what would it be like if the
system was full of...was leader full, essentially, had this capacity, um, the system
itself having the capacity to learn and create the future that it wants. So that's the
kind of process we're going to explore somewhat today. Um, to the degree you're
interested in it, okay? I don't...I'm not here to promote something. In other
words, this is something that (mumbled) So, I started out with this notion
of...good morning. You may wonder what's (mumbled) why we did not...good
morning. So, um, no real caveat. It's all good. Um, but this explains why you're
seated the way you are. This says, sit in mix, and you already are. For the system
we were able to gather today you were in the maximum mixture of the whole.
The whole being the 25 of you or so, so you are seated in max mix. This is a term
that I brought forward because in the processes we're going to be talking about
today, we'll be talking a lot about the system and how the diversity of the system
is its richness and its...its, um, ticket to good health. And when you help a
system to know itself, not by all the parts that are usually together talking with
each other, but the mixture of the parts talking, and listening well, that you get a
sense of the whole and the wisdom of the whole elevates through the process of
being in the, um, in the maximum mixture. So, that's what max mix is. No
caveat on the group part of the morning. Okay. So, uh, with that just two things
of logistics. We will have, of course, our stretch break mid-morning and a lunch
buffet, uh, which I think we pick up across the hall and bring back in. LTh, the
restrooms are all the way down the hall out the door to the far left, all the way to
the end, and those are the restrooms that we're supposed to find (mumbled). Any
questions about, um, the purpose today? No? And may I ask if you have cell
phones with you that you set them on silent or vibrate so that we can, um, be
uninterrupted. If you need to take care of business, of course, we understand
those (mumbled) stepping outside in the hall, and come back as soon as you can
because we'll miss you, and we'll miss your wisdom. Um, this process is
premised on the notion that everyone has that...everyone has that -every person
in the community has that, and uh, and in honoring that we do a lot by bringing in
a different kind of quality to the conversation. So, now I would like to, um,
acknowledge, um, what the Mayor started out with this morning. We have all
been through a lot and I understand that this week has been particularly
exhausting for certain staff at least, and I'm sure for many of you, and those of
you elected officials (mumbled). And you're here on a Saturday morning, so in,
uh, in lieu of a long introduction by each person, what I would like to invite is that
at each table there are six of you, um, that you would break into groups of three at
your table, and um, the three of you would share with each other what one thing is
that, um, you bring to this meeting this morning that it would be helpful for you to
let go of. Meaning, um, for example, I'm exhausted. I'm coming down with a
cold, um, you know, my mom broke her hip this past week and I...I've had to
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attend to her, and so I'm concerned about her, and that's one of the things I'm
bringing, and in this way, you kind of bring some attention into the room, get a
chance to air what you need to, and then we'll bring your attention back here
again. Okay? So, we'll just take a couple of minutes to do that. Every person
take a minute or two, whatever you need. I'll kind of monitor (several talking).
Hargadine/ Collectively we're tired. (laughter) And on Saturdays, uh, we're
programmed to not come up with frustrations, uh, kind of purged that at 5:00 on
Friday, so, um (mumbled)
Montei/ Okay, good. (mumbled and several talking)
O'Donnell/ We disagree with Sam and Connie. We love to be here (laughter).
Dilkes/ Well, we didn't have any trouble coming up with things to let go of. (laughter)
The list probably could have gone on...and on!
Fosse/ We kind of had the tired theme (several talking)
Montei/ Um, one thing that I would like, I really appreciate, um, maybe this is for my
benefit and not for others, but I'd like you...I'd like to go around the room one
time for you to say your name, maybe the role that you play with the City, and
um, years of service, perhaps, just give me a context and then it might provide
some information to others who may not (mumbled) as well.
Wilburn/ I'm Ross Wilburn. I'm on the City Council. I've been on Council for nine
years and I was on (mumbled) before that.
O'Malley/ Kevin O'Malley. I'm Director of Finance (mumbled) City 23 years.
Davidson/ Jeff Davidson, Planning Director, 28 years.
Champion/ Connie Champion, City Council, 11 years. (mumbled) Commission for
(mumbled)
Kopping/ I'm Coordinator of the Senior Center, and I've worked for the City for 13
years.
Helling/ Dale Helling, Assistant City Manager, been with the City for 33 years, 30 years
in this job and the first three years with the (mumbled and several talking)
Montei/Before you go on, um, somebody keep a tally of the number at your table. Could
you do that? (several talking and laughing)
Wright/ I'm Mike Wright, City Council for all of, what, nine months? Before that I was
on the Iowa City Board of Adjustment for four years.
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Jennings/ Uh, Karen Jennings, Personnel Administrator, and I've been with the City, uh,
ten years (mumbled).
Craig/ Susan Craig, Library Director. I've been with the City for 33 years. (several
talking and laughing) Thirty-four in January.
Hayek/ Matt Hayek, City Council, for all of nine months, and before that I served on a
couple of commissions.
Lombardo/ Michael Lombardo, City Manager, five months. (laughter, several talking)
Gunn/ Tyler Gunn, I'm the University Student Liaison to the City Council, and I've been
here for about two months. (several talking)
Bailey/ Regenia Bailey, I've been on City Council for...this is my fifth year.
Karr/ Marian Karr, I'm City Clerk and I've been with the City 30 years.
O'Donnell/ Mike O'Donnell, City Council, 11 years.
O'Brien/ Chris O'Brien, Acting Director of Parking and Transit, and I've been with the
City for ten years.
Hargadine/ Sam Hargadine, Chief of Police, been with the City for three years.
Boothroy/ Doug Boothroy, Housing Inspection Services, 33 years. (several talking)
Another year. (several talking)
Montei/ Okay. So is somebody telling (mumbled and several talking)
Dilkes/ Eleanor Dilkes, uh, City Attorney, 12 years.
Correia/ Amy Correia, I'm on the City Council, approaching the end of my third year,
and I've served on a housing commission for three years prior to that.
Trueblood/ Terry Trueblood, Director of Parks and Recreation, 22 years, 7 months and 18
days (laughter and several talking). And I take the heat off the rest of the
department directors by collecting all the staff meeting demerits myself.
(laughter)
Rocca/ Andy Rocca, Fire Chief, 30 years with the City.
Fosse/ Rick Fosse, Public Works Director, 24 years.
Johansen/ Kathi Johansen, City Manager's office, seven years.
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Our Context - An Exercise: Iowa City As We Know It:
Montei/ Okay, what's the magic number? 125! (several talking) And this was...your
seating had nothing to do with years of service. I mean, we tried to mix the group
into...to be as eclectic as possible, but...uh, great job. Congratulations, Iguess,
or (mumbled). (several talking) Okay, um, an agenda is in the bin, the white
page. Take that out if you'd like. We have, uh, an agenda that's punctuated and
divided in half, because we can go more than one way, um, I think the first five
items we'll probably stick with, and the sixth through eleven, we'll just wait and
see how it goes. Um, you're already now on, um, about to start number three. I'd
like to, uh, explore our context and uh, whatever (mumbled) the context setting is
one of the most important things we can do to understand where we're at right
now, what's the current reality, and what's the reason we've been (mumbled).
We've talked about the reason, but I think we will spend some time on the context
very shortly in an exercise that I'll facilitate for you. Um, an opportunity to
discuss crossroads, where might we be standing at this moment, and um, what the
options maybe. We'll follow that. Um, I'm not sure, um, the break falls in there
somewhere and uh, I can't remember exactly where that is. Then the other items
are kind of optional, if we want to keep going on the path of...of, that I've
designed. We follow this, or we organically follow another one, and we'll figure
out what that is. So, I'm not concerned at all that we won't know (mumbled) time
comes. I wanted you to know there was a plan, but um, it needs to be responsive
to (mumbled). Okay, so, um, a reflection or two on the times. We're in quite
tumultuous times, it seems in some ways perilous times, and your city has had a
big dose of that in the last few months. It does seem like environmentally our
world has undergone more than its share of, um, of huge, dramatic, uh, natural
events. Um, and um, this...this context also sets the stage for a conversation
about what's hoped for in times like these. Now, we don't have a crystal ball, um,
hope to never see a devastating flood, of course, as you just had, uh, but what
does it take to be nimble and flexible, and deal with what's coming down the
pike, or is there a way for the City to position itself so that it is as ready as one
can possibly be, and I think that is what the idea of planning and strategic
planning is about is how do we, um, how do we become poised for what's
emergent, what's evolving? Um, even when we don't have a crystal ball, even
when things blindside us at times. And, um, this is really I think what the process
is about right now, and your exploration is about. Is there something called for at
this moment that can better ready us than we are right now, as good a job as we
do? Um, you know, I can tell that your city is high-functioning. Um, I can tell as
an organization that it's high-functioning, and even in my movement around the
city, it has a very good feel to it. You may think that, well, how would you know,
I've only visited here twice and that's true, um, but I have been around cities for
25 years, um, have been involved with city councils, um, elected officials and
professional staffs all that time, and in my experience with them I kind of have
a...I have a sixth sense about it. What...how healthy does it feel? And it seems
to me that you are in a place of huge and potential possibility, that you have all
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the raw materials there, and there maybe some coherence, or some alignment that
could really optimize that and catapult you to another level, if indeed (noise on
mic). If that's something you would want to commit to, because once...once you
do decide and embark upon that, and especially if you use a process of engaging
citizens, uh, engaging other parts of your system, the business community, the
University, whomever it maybe, you put a commitment out there that says we
need it, and then you have to follow through, or you will have a black eye, and
what's the point? That would not be...that would not make sense, it would not be
a good use of your time and resources. So, clearly if you make such a
commitment you want to make it with complete readiness, complete...completely
authentically, um, ready to do what it takes, um, the good news is that when you
engage the, um, effectively engage and uh, very authentically engage the
stakeholders in your system, uh, you (coughing, unable to hear) because as you
engage you build ownership and as that ownership...as that ownership builds,
there's an attraction and a lot of things happen for you that you don't have to
orchestrate, that you would actually have an energetic experience of the whole
system working together. And so this is what we're going to be exploring today,
and that's the context that I wanted to set before this first exercise. Uh, the
exercise is about Iowa City as we know it right now, and I want you to use a skill
or pull in a skill in this exercise that is critically important and it's about listening.
It's a quality of listening that I would like you to bring to the conversation that
you're having at your table. Because it really is the quality of what you bring to
the conversation that is so pivotal to what really happens, and what this means is,
that this room could be an example of a future you want to create together. A
future that's a little bit better than the one that you've got. So if it is the quality
you bring to the conversation that makes that possible, then these would be some
skills to enhance, uh, that quality -away of listening. Not through the filter that
we usually listen with, which is, what did that person say that I agree with and
what did I disagree with, because there's really a kind of a judgment in that -
can't help it! iJh, so instead, why don't you put your focus on what's new and
surprising in this conversation you're about to have. What's different, rather than
what you have in common. So listen to see the world through the eyes of the
other person, and so that the speaker will feel heard. So this is a way of listening.
It's not about judging. It's not good or bad, right or wrong, agree or disagree. It's
just all about, wow, I really hear this person and what they're saying and where
they're coming from. Okay. So I want you to take a minute to think, uh, before
you begin the conversation at your table, um, I want every person, when you do
begin to speak, to take about two minutes, um, to...to answer the several prompts
I'm about to give you, and the rest when the person is speaking, use the rules of
listening. So, as a city, and in a way I would like you to not only think of this as
the city organization. I would like you to think of this as a city (mumbled)
system. Where do we excel? Where do we miss the mark? You know, we're
pretty good, but miss the mark. What exists that nobody wants? So maybe it
would just be one thing in each category that each of you focuses on...more if
you want. No note taking in this conversation. (mumbled) twelve minutes, with
six people at a table, so two minutes a person. Have a conversation about this. It
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will, um, eventually we are going to record some summary themes from your
table, but right now I just want you to practice listening, and then we'll, um, we'll
record (mumbled). So take a full minute now to think about this, what you would
like to say (coughing, unable to hear) and when a minute or so is up, I'll tell you
to begin and then just take your turns. Please let...let's say it's your turn, Ross,
say all three of your areas (mumbled). Okay? (pause) (several talking, laughter)
I'd like you to take the opportunity to, um, develop some pages of summary
themes that you can report out to the whole group. So, um, at the top of the
flipchart today (mumbled) recording, um, maybe use a (several talking) and what
nobody wants. (several talking) Um, label those pages and um, record the
summary of what your table had to say. And, uh, the markers are in the bin, um,
somebody kind of keep a...give you 15 minutes to do this, and so about (several
talking) do it the way you need to, but just so that you're finished in 15. When
you're finished, please post your pages on the back wall. (several talking)
...have a report out from each table, and these (several talking) first...(several
talking) [Break] Okay, please, let's hear your report. (Flip Chart #2) (several
talking)
Hargadine/ We thought Iowa City is a small town with great community services, uh,
especially hospitals, arts...what? (several talking) Um, we welcome diverse
opinions, um, listening to the community, public input. Where we miss the mark,
uh, riverfront development, um, specifically, downtown retail and entertainment,
uh, not enough activities for young people. We kind of got into shall we define
young, and no, um, all kinds of (several talking). We were all kind of in
agreement, uh, some of the bad element that's come in lately is crime. We still
kind of have that small town mentality and what to do about it, uh, and, uh, also
specifically alcohol abuse, uh, what happens to the downtown area after 10:00
P.M. (mumbled) specific problems (mumbled).
Montei/ Thank you. Okay, let's hear from whatever number this is.
Fosse/ (several talking)...excel at certainly is quality of life, across the board I've seen
some nice places to live, and you really hear that from people who come in to the
community and...and start to live here, or people who have lived here and left.
Um, provision of services and responsiveness, we hear that from the people that
we serve, and where it's also evident is when you go to your professional
organizations, like ATWA and things like that and you talk to your colleagues in
other communities and realize the level of service that we're providing here is
really very nice. Uh, where we're missing the mark, um, lack of basic retail in
Iowa City. You know, we're a town of 60 plus thousand and often times when
you need to buy something you have to drive out of town to get it...baffling.
Inadequate attention to vulnerable populations, and Eleanor brought up a very
good example there, that we have kids that really would like to participate in
extracurricular activities, but they don't have transportation to and from those
activities, before and after school, and that's just one example. Uh, municipal
revenue sources, we just, uh, haven't been able to establish some of the revenue
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streams that other communities have, and that puts limitations on the things that
we can do. And the underutilization of the, uh, of the University presence and
tied to that, some of the other local governments and cooperation, and are we
making the most of our relationships with the other players in the area. Um,
things that nobody wants, and we got the alcohol culture that...that comes about
each evening after 10:00, uh, we got some neighborhoods that are declining, um,
nobody wants to acknowledge the limited resources that we have to work with.
We keep looking at more services that we'd like and initiatives that we'd like to
do, but we've got to acknowledge that those...those require resources. And then
the, uh, the homeless issues that we have in our community are another thing that
people really don't want. Questions? (several talking)
Davidson/ Let's see, in terms of excelling, um, community involvement, fact that people
do care about this community, they're willing to be involved about any issue that
comes up, um, one that I think was very well thought out was the second one
there, that we really have a strength in this community when we're celebrating
something or when we come together, uh, (mumbled) on the flood. The flood
was a good example of that, how the community came together. Uh, the fact that
in this community, um, there are a lot of individuals in this community that if they
were, if they were anywhere else they'd be misfits, but they're not misfits in this
community (laughter) you can really live any life you want to lead, uh, in our
community and that's, uh, that's a real strength. (several talking and laughter)
Um, the fourth one there kind of plays off that one in that there are a lot of...a lot
of ways to have a fulfilling life in Iowa City, um, we really have great
neighborhoods, um, and I think the point that was made here is that it's not 100%.
I think that's apt as well, but...but I think for the most part, and in particular the
neighborhoods around our downtown compared to most communities are really,
really strong places, and that's been a focus of our, for me personally, of our
comprehensive planning and our neighborhood associations have been just a
tremendous source of strength in terms of us being able to work with the
community. Um, growth without, uh, creative isolation, still feel part of the
community. Again, kind of playing off some of the other, um, ideas there. Uh,
missing the mark when we play the blame game about community ills rather than
focusing on how we can come up with solutions and make things better. We just
sort of, well, it's the fault of this group, and if...you know, this group has come to
town and all of a sudden they're the source of all the community ills. That's
really not...productive way of looking at things. Um, as a community, uh, we
really haven't done enough of what we're doing today, and that is be introspective
and try and, uh, figure out where we want to go, um, you know, for a few of us in
the room here the frustration that we've had with downtown, specifically about
that, trying to...should we just let it go any direction, the free market takes it, or
really plan for it to be something better than it is, and the frustrations associated
with that. As a community we've not tapped into what our growing diversity
offers, um, you know, again there's a lot of diversity that's ongoing and...and if
you look back five years or ten years or 20 years how that's changed and some
other...some new people have come to the community to take advantage of that.
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Uh, in terms of what nobody likes, uh, seems to be some common themes
emerging here. Um, the drunkenness issues particularly with downtown, um,
we'd initially just put up homelessness and then realized that it was really more
some of the dynamics of that, the concentrations downtown and...and individuals
that others perceive as threatening, whether they're threatening or not, they're at
least perceived as threatening and how to deal with that. Um, taxes and this is
probably an oversimplification but I think plays into what has been brought up
about municipal revenue sources and our having to focus on property taxes, rather
than come up with a new way of funding things. Obviously there's a lot of, um,
desire for services probably to a greater degree in our community than in others,
and we just need to get away from this model and figure out some other ways of
doing things. And then the increase in violent crimes, certainly if you look back
ten years or 15 years or 20 years that that's a concern.
Hayek/ Um (several talking) where we excel, uh, again, community decides, has an
incredible quality of life and the, uh, citizenry demands of us and we deliver a
comprehensive set of services that, uh, I think compare well with other
communities. Um, a high level of civic engagement of citizen involvement in
government, and in the decisions we make; uh, also an overall sense of folks on
education. Um, the pink comments in the middle of those charts, where we
missed the mark, a sense that there's maybe a lack of a common identity to the
community beyond the boundaries of the University or beyond, uh, our
relationship with the University; who are we (mumbled). Um, maybe some
missing the mark in terms of working together, whether it's the City and
University on common problems, um, landlords and neighborhood groups, bar
owners and everybody else, um, those different constituencies, um, not...not
coming together. Uh, also a sense that Iowa City may, um, as a community have
missed the mark in terms of being self-sufficient, uh, on its own, absent the
booster effect provided by the University and all that it provides to us (coughing,
unable to hear) built in complacency, uh, (mumbled) benefitted from the
University for so many years, and then also a sense that we, um, do a great job of
soliciting input and listening, and um, providing those means of giving input, but
that we need to also make decisions and know when to cut off the debate
and...and uh, the input and get things done. Um, and then lower right in the red,
what nobody wants, some continuations here -crime, uh, is on the rise; violence;
um, an imbalance, uh, downtown between bars, availability of retail, uh, what
we're doing with our downtown, and I think there was also a sense of, on the
retail issues, it wasn't just a lack of retail downtown, but was maybe a lack of
retail community-wide. Um, that was...and then the river came up, and
uh...(several talking and laughing) but a sense that, you know, on one hand it'd
be nice to just be able to pick up that river and stretch it outside the community so
that it wouldn't effect us as much. On the other hand, uh, it is a resource and in
Iowa we don't have, uh, much water and it's something we, some of us want to
take more advantage of, but how do you do that with something that right now is
relatively uncontrolled and unmanaged, uh, as we've seen this summer. So what
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to do with that. Uh, and then lastly, um, troubled neighborhoods, uh, especially
where crime is occurring, uh, and that marginalization effect.
Montei/ (mumbled) I'm not going to put the adjectives up there. Let's here what you
think. What do you observe? What's the conversation, um, you want to have
now having seen these themes? (mumbled) I'm going to stand over there and
you can look at these.
Fosse/ I thought one of the more insightful things up there was the comment about
the...the University's economic engine has made us complacent as a community
to the other economic engines that are necessary. I just thought that was
insightful.
Hargadine/ First time I've ever heard anybody talk about the river as a, uh, developing it
for an attraction.
Correia/ There's a lot of similarities (mumbled)
O'Donnell/ Everybody's also talking about the lack of retail downtown, and a growing
alcohol problem.
Trueblood/ One of the things that strikes me with regard to the utilization of the river, and
I agree with it, it is underutilized, but we stop and think -we've made some pretty
big strides, we as a community, as a city, in just the recent years. If you stop to
think about just a few years ago, we didn't have Waterworks Prairie Park, which
is along the river. We didn't have Peninsula Park, which is along the river, uh,
we're...we've made some pretty big strides in developing the Iowa River
Corridor Trail, uh, the acquisition of Sand Lake, uh, the Sand Lake area and
additional property gives us more riverfront property there. iJh, with an option to
get even more. Uh, so I...I think there's work to be done, but I also think that,
you know, need to stop and think about, uh, what has (mumbled). You know,
it's...in other words, it's not as if it's being ignored -it's just slow.
Montei/ Many of these have more than one side (mumbled). You can offer the features
on both sides of that (mumbled)
Dilkes/ Well, and that's in contrast to some of the issues that are common -like alcohol
and lack of resources, or lack of diversified, um, income sources that we just go
around and around and around, and I mean, at least on that one we're making
some progress, but like with alcohol - we have the same conversation every three
years -round and round - same...(several talking)...and we never move, it feels
like we never move forward out of those conversations.
Montei/ Good potential there, that you're recognizing somehow we're trapped in the
story we tell, rather than, um, the discovery of something new that can emerge out
of that. Not that the story isn't true! Or the past or the history isn't true. So I
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think we're talking a lot about honoring the past, but also...okay, already! We've
lived (mumbled) and you know, what is it like to live with possibility as a...as an
option to reclaim the kind of broken record, and all of us experience this
personally, as well. So we can relate to the notion that there are some things that
trap us, and in part, it's the story we tell, and in, you know, the story seems like,
well, you know, it's based on fact, it's based on history. Isn't that enough? And,
I think what I'm hearing you say is, no it's not enough, and...and I'd like to say
there's a great promise and many possibilities and social technologies and um,
theories, and experiences...um, evidence that we can transform this, we can move
beyond this, but right now, this is about current reality, and what you're saying is,
there's a lot of common themes across...the system knows and I bet you if you
had 50 people in this room representing the great diversity of your community,
the business community and other individuals, some of you maybe business
people, but a stronger voice of that and neighborhoods and so on, you would not
see very much different coming up on the wall, because the system knows, when
it starts talking to itself, it knows its current reality. What else...what else did you
experience? What other comments?
Lombardo/ It's interesting when we talk about reliving the story in terms of the alcohol-
related issues. It's almost like, um, there's almost like two sides or...or, um, in
some way, we almost perpetuate that through some of the activities and the
tailgating and some of that, and so, you know, as a community some of it is
celebrated or is a recreational activity that's generally kind of a part of who we
are, but then...but then we look at it from the-other side and recognize that, in
terms of continuing, where does it become a problem and so I think maybe...just
sitting here thinking through it, maybe why the...it's a cycle. I mean, we keep
going around and around it because on one side, you know, there's a connection
to the alcohol culture and some of the festivities and things that we do, but then
you know, there's the downside and the problem side for it as well. I don't know
if that made sense or not, um...
Montei/ A lot of contributing factors, and...and isn't it true, I mean, if you know, if
anyone knows of the notion of enabling, um, we all participate, we're all
complicit in our system's flaws, in some measure, and how do we, um,
just...grow our awareness to look beyond that. Um, there's a great book called
The Path of Least Resistance by Robert Fritz and in there he quotes Carl Jung,
um, and Carl Jung once said in writing about his psychiatric patients, um, that um,
no problem was ever really solved. What happened when someone got beyond a
problem is a stronger life urge, something that...that broadened their awareness
and their horizon, such that they grew beyond the problem. They didn't really
solve it in its own terms. They... a new life urge came in, and then they were able
to leave it behind essentially. Um, so...so yes, I agree with you that, um, we do
things inadvertently that support some of the things we don't want, but it isn't an
either or - no tailgating, for example. This would not probably serve you very
well either. So there are (laughter) in many ways! Okay. Other observations?
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Champion/ Well, I always observe as a downtown business owner that there's always
kind of this `something really wrong with downtown.' I'm just the opposite - I
think we have an incredible downtown and I think we ought to embrace its
vibrancy and stop looking at the negative parts of it. Uh, a lot of places would
give anything to have a downtown like we have, and it's not ever going to be
what it was 30 years ago. It's evolved and it's changed. That isn't necessarily
bad, but it's become an entertainment center. Well, it's a big entertainment center
and it brings a lot of outside money in, and the businesses that are down there, at
least mine, are very vibrant and very successful. So I never like to talk about the
gloom and doom. I think it's evolving and changing and I love it. So...
Montei/ And even how do you evolve it and change it in attractive ways and honoring
what's there and moving it (several talking). Okay.
Wright/ Dovetailing on that...you said, Connie, um, if you look across the excel, where
we're right on target, this is a really great place to live.
Champion/ Yeah!
Wright/ ...and there's an awful lot we've got going for us, and we all seem to know that.
Dilkes/ And I don't think it's a question of saying what we have is bad. I think it's a
question of wanting to add to that. I mean, I love to shop at some of the stores
downtown, but I'd also like to be able to go downtown at lunch and buy some
underwear and socks and (several talking and laughing) you know! (several
talking)
Hargadine/ ...if you go downtown about 5:00 or 6:00 A.M. on a Friday, Saturday or
Sunday, you can probably find all the underwear and socks that you want!
(laughter)
Montei/ I'd like to ask for a minute, um, how was it practicing the listening the way, um,
the way it was, um, requested? Anybody have any experiences about that that
were different? (several talking)
Lombardo/ I found it difficult to...to not, as other people were talking, to try and...and
putting it into context to my...it was harder to understand it really from that
person's perspective, as opposed to trying to rationalize and translate into my own
perspective.
Montei/ I heard your table when the river came up, and someone saying, you know, I
don't know that I agree with that, which is a good observation, and I hope you
captured both things. Um, I don't remember where that is. (several talking)
Okay, so what you said was uncontrolled, unmanageable, underutilized -did that
capture everything?
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Lombardo/ It wasn't so much that the river was there, it's just the nature of it and the lack
of the ability to kind of keep it in control, and utilize it in a way (several talking)
Montei/ Okay, okay, so here you have a picture of current reality. It could be a lot more
detailed, there could be a lot more up there, but it gives you something - a frame
of reference, I think -for our day to help us understand the place from which we
want to move forward. Um, some of the things we want to enhance and add and
increase. Some we would like to grow beyond, you know, some we would simply
just like to do what we said we'd do, um, and...and the, um, challenge is, how do
we adopt a way of being that will attain that? Uh, and I say a way of being
because all of us are so involved in doing, um, and everybody has their nose to the
grindstone doing it and you're all exhausted, um, some of it is about relationships,
uh, I can't remember who it was who said, you know, have we utilized those to
the best degree possible? Uh, some of it is about the quality of our participation,
some of it is about, um, learning what it means when you recognize you're going
in circles to say, `Let's stop the action. We're going in circles.' This is a
conversation we've had before, and there's no good reason to have the same exact
conversation periodically, right? Because you're always learning in between, and
so if you're learning in between, you have something to add or some change in
the content, some new, um, energy, some new insight, and if that's not true, then
there's got to be something about your process that is not opening to new, because
new is happening...everywhere. You look at a strip mine, and um, finally the
strip mine is abandoned, and uh, 20 years goes by. What do you notice? Every
20 years? Anybody? Maybe you don't have strip mines around here, but we have
them (several people talking). Nature starts to reclaim it. Things start growing.
You can't believe, oh my gosh! Look at all of the, look at all of the life going on
here...in nature, which we can look at and we will talk about this a little bit more
later. It's a great model. You have a living organism here, a city. It's an
organization, an organism. It's a living, breathing thing. It's constantly changing.
Anything that's cycling over and over again and it's just routine, there's
something...what gives, because everything has been changing constantly. Why
are we replicating what we don't want? And so those are the new insights when
you go to what nobody wants, you have to say, this is not about solving a
problem. How do we grow beyond the condition that causes that problem to
repeat itself, including our own participation? Unwitting participation most often.
So those are the kinds of things we're going to be exploring in the next section. I
think we need a stretch break. You agree...we'll take a little time, maybe ten
minutes or so, um, refresh your drinks or whatever and come back and...and we'll
decide where you want to go next from here. (BREAK)
Crossroads Conversation: (Flip Chart #3)
Montei/ Okay, here a couple of questions that (noise on mic, unable to hear). At what
crossroads does the City of Iowa City stand? Is there something that's just
waiting to happen? (noise on mic) I'll try my best to keep up with your
comments or answers or...
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(Flip Chart #4)
Craig/ Well, I think there's an opportunity at this time to work on that relationship with
the University. I think that's one good thing (mumbled) and where that goes, I
don't know, but I think the flood and the conversation about the river gives us an
opportunity to create a relationship with the University that's different than it's
been before, and hopefully that can go on to other things.
Rocca/ Could we take that beyond the University and get Coralville and maybe other
communities in the region involved in some of those same efforts. (several
talking)
Champion/ Lynn, I'm sorry. I didn't hear the question.
Montei/ Right up there, at what crossroads does the City stand?
Champion/ Right, thank you.
Montei/ And what's just waiting to happen?
Davidson/ I would say the continuing evolution of downtown into something that it
wasn't 20 years ago, but what exactly that is, I'm not sure. Well, we're kind of
sure, but...it could go...it can go one way or another, I think.
Montei/ Do you want to say downtown redevelopment, or downtown.. .
Davidson/ Well, the evolution of it into something that's not the principle retail center for
the community. It hasn't been that for 20 years, but what exactly, you know
(noise on mic) could take a couple different directions, I think, depending on how
involved the City and the private sector (mumbled)
Montei/ So what exactly do we want it to be?
Champion/ Maybe that's the wrong word, what we want it to be. Maybe it needs to be
"what can it be"because what we want is totally different than...
Davidson/ Right. If we wanted it to still be the principle retail center, it's not going to be
that under any circumstances, so probably the way Connie phrased it is better.
Montei/ I'm not sure I completely agree with delegating it to the forces...not that it might
not be exactly what you want, but that you have some creative influence, you
know, some significance, but again, maybe not exactly what, or not what it used
to be, but something new that you could actually hope for (mumbled)
Champion/ I think we're doing that.
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Davidson/ I think we've figured out, at least to a degree, what it could be, but we're not
sure how to get it there. We feel like there's a lot of potential, but exactly how
you steer the ship is what we haven't quite got our arms around.
Champion/ I think also there's a sense of impatience (mumbled), and that they
(mumbled) 50 years (mumbled).
Hayek/ Sometimes I don't look at it so much as a crossroads issue, but more as a where
are we in the continuum of our development, and I compare...I think about it in
terms of college towns and how they develop, and I look at places that are 25 or
50 years ahead of us, um, in terms of growth and development, places like Ann
Arbor or Madison, and I wonder how we...whether it makes sense to look at what
they have done and the steps they've gone through, where we fit on that
continuum, if that makes sense (mumbled).
Boothroy/ Are we at a crossroads with regard to, uh, the alcohol issue, or are we, no pun
intended, tipping point? (laughter and several talking) I mean, I think that, I
guess what I'm thinking here is to some degree how we address that particular
issue has some impact on, uh, the downtown and even some of the
neighborhoods, in terms of how we go forward, so that at some point we have to
move beyond that issue and until we get that resolved, uh, we won't know which
direction we're kind of going. I mean, I think it pushes us a little bit on one way
or the other. In other words, I don't know what the intended purpose for the
future of downtown is, but if we're going to, uh, try to limit the growth of the bar
environment, then we need to be thinking about that in terms of what kind of
development's going to occur downtown.
Wilburn/ I think there's more to something about the notion that Dale brought up about
where we missed the mark, tapping...tapping into the growing diversity that the
community offers. I mean, that's...evolving over the years and I'm talking
diversity at its broadest sense. Uh, it seems to me that if it's possible we're at a
tipping point, um, that potential related to tapping into diversity, um, we can do
something with it and continue as is, and in some senses maybe there'll be some
issues, problems that arise because of that, uh, or as other opportunities come up,
whether it's economic or um, those type of things, that there's great potential
there that we've not, um, that we could be as a community, uh, reaching to try
and, uh, nurture or involve, and again, I mean, diversity in its broadest sense, and
we've got this...we've got the pocket of young people here; we've got the pocket
of older people here; we've got, uh, people of all economic backgrounds are
going to come to this area. They have been doing it. If there's an area especially
if economic times continue to decline in other areas, uh, of the state and the
region, people will gravitate, again, of all economic backgrounds to where they
perceive there's opportunity. So what do we do with that? Do we allow, do we
continue, well, you're coming to our town so you've got to, you know, do we
look at each other as, well, you're different -you're outside and not do anything
with that, or do we figure out ways to, uh, involve, I mean, the schools are always
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talking about, uh, in terms of racial and ethnic diversity, you know, some of the
disproportionate, uh, I guess that, the negative aspects of that, but a lot of...the
business community's always~talking about, well, how do we recruit, how do we
diversify our work force. Each group, whether they're young, old, um, different
racial ethnic backgrounds, gay, lesbian, transgender, um, whatever groups are
coming to town are going to have a different set of wants, different set of wants,
expectations out of the community, and what's this community going to offer to
them, to cater to their...to their interests, to their wants, whether it's a business
trying to take advantage of this group's wants, um, for retail, for...for um, for you
know, business growth and purposes, whether it's the schools doing it, whether
it's, um you know, Parks and Rec offering, you know, let's say we get an influx
of younger folks that, uh, are really into kayaking, and what is the, you know,
there'll be different demands for services placed on us, so what does this
community...how does this community offer, tap into that, to continue to grow,
and maintain that sense of (mumbled).
Boothroy/ I think it can also, Ross, to add to it -you bring up a good point. I think
what's the City's role with regard to the North Liberty, Coralville, Tiffin, um,
growth corridor, because we are going to be like Des Moines and other places,
continuing to grow. What...what is Iowa City...are we going to grow or how are
we going to attract people or how do we maintain diversity, because there
are...there is affordable housing issues, there's...there's commerce, there's
economic development issues, there's all that kind of stuff, and I don't know
whether we...we need to look at as a more regional approach as opposed to just
Iowa City, in terms of how we fit in.
Wilburn/ I mean a real tangible example, and again, I'm trying to (mumbled) broadest
sense, but to come back to personalize it. So this would be racial ethnic diversity.
When I came to town, um, there was one place...I had hair back then...there was
only one place I could go to get hair care products. It was Osco Drug at Old
Capitol Mall and they were in the far back corner, on the bottom shelf, and you
know, all the grime kind of accumulated, and now, um, multiple stores will carry
those type of products. There are multiple places, again, if I had hair that I could
go to...businesses now that would cater to...that's what I mean of tapping into
that diversity, uh, and what might offer the business and schools and recreation
and all of that, how can we proactively do that. I don't know, I mean, it took
several years for that to happen, but how much was purposeful, um, how
(mumbled).
Lombardo/ You used the word purposeful, and that's what's kind of going through my
mind. I feel we're at a crossroad of deciding, are we going to be purposeful about
how we engage the future and...and how we get there, or are we going to take a
more organic approach. Is there kind of a community value or community
thought on...on how would we get to the future. You know, is it purposeful and
planned and we take deliberate steps to get to the point on the horizon that we
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think we....we want to get to, or do we let things evolve in more of an organic
sense.
Craig/ One thing that we're, in my opinion, not purposeful about is, everybody says what
do we have? We have a great quality of life, and I believe if you went out and
asked people, they wouldn't think the City had much to do with that. And I think
the City has a huge amount to do with that! And they think there's a great quality
of life here because of the University. Well, the University brings people here,
but the City gives them a quality of life in all kinds of ways, that we don't get
credit for, and we need to be more purposeful, I believe, in, you know, in
explaining to people over and over again, the City did this for you. The City
makes this possible. The City doesn't get enough credit for that quality of life.
Helling/ I think that's (mumbled) because one negative part of that that I see in this
community is, community relies very heavily on government and holds
government responsible for more than it should be held responsible for, in terms
of, and that's what we talk about n changing the community, to create some of the
things, you know, downtown's a good example to me. It boggles my mind how,
you know, over the years the Downtown Association folks have looked to the
City to fund things, you know, make things happen, and they're not very effective
in doing that themselves. And I think some of that is (mumbled) um, those types
of things (mumbled) downtown as an example, the SMIDS, the funding, a lot of
the amenities and so forth that are created in downtown, we don't have that here,
and uh, so if government wants to take that role, then people are going to expect
us to take that role, and at the same time I think we need to...to challenge the
community, people in the community, to assume a greater role in that.
Craig/ I just think when things go bad or people whine, everybody listens, and the City
takes a bad, you know, they always speak about the bad, and we don't do enough
speaking about the good. (several talking)
Dilkes/ Well, I think we're at a tipping point with the resources that we have available to
us, and there's not, I don't think, sufficient acknowledgment of that. We cannot
be everything to everybody in the City. We don't have enough money to do that,
and we're going to have to start prioritizing, I think, um, I mean, big ideas are
great, but you know, kind of like whether you're going to remodel your kitchen or
buy a new car. Unless the Legislature gives us more...gives us more resources,
and I don't even know if that takes care of the problem, because the economic,
you know, we're in an economic downturn, and it's a tough situation.
Helling/ Expand on that a little bit too. I think we are in (mumbled) this is a case that's
(mumbled) where State governments (mumbled) we've lost some (mumbled)
advantages I think that we've had, and I think for us, every time we talk about
what are we going to do within the community to address some of these things, I
think we also have to...to um, work harder at figuring out what our role is. Not
just individually, but among other cities and how we relate to the State Legislature
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and so forth, to try to (mumbled) swing back the other way (mumbled). We do
have a role to play there. I think the Metropolitan Coalition is an example of
(mumbled) throughout the State, but I think to define the City's role and be active,
or remain active, and then try to be effective (mumbled)
Champion/ I think that's really true, and probably the worst thing that ever happened to
Iowa City was when the Legislature decided to meet every year instead of every
other year (laughter).
O'Donnell/ You know, if you go back to Iowa City and...and tipping point...Iowa City
can be known as a, uh, as an entertainment center. We've got a wonderful
Library down there that's a, uh, that's a meeting point, it's a destination point, uh,
there's wonderful Friday night concerts. You can buy a hotdog on the Ped Mall,
but you can't go downtown and buy a shirt and a pair of shoes. Retail is what
downtown lacks, and you know, if you...if the people in this room would listen to
how many times they've heard in the last year, there's no reason forme to go
downtown. I bet we've all heard it. And it just, you know, something has to be
done with downtown to generate, um, retail businesses, to bring...to give people a
reason to come into our city, and you know the Coral Ridge Mall is right out
there, and I'm afraid that's where people are going, because that's where they can
go buy what they want. It's just, um, I don't know what you do to change the
perception of downtown, but downtown is known, right now, as the place to go
drink and have a great sandwich, but you don't go downtown for retail, and I
think to have a viable downtown you have to have a viable retail structure.
Champion/ Well, again, I have to disagree with you.
O'Donnell/ How unusual!
Champion/ We have our (laughter) we do have our retail niche downtown (mumbled) if it
was more, but there is a niche, and people do come downtown to go to those
niches, just like they go downtown to go to the Library, and I think it's typical, I
think mall shoppers, that's been the trend the last 50 years or probably 60 years at
malls, but malls are malls are malls, and they're all the same, and that's a different
shopper than now goes downtown. Um, that's true in big cities, almost like malls
have gone up in big cities, rather than spread out like they do in Iowa, but that is
where the mainstream shopper goes, because they're looking for mainstream
shopping and it's all right there, but I think you have to look at downtowns as a
different niche, and I think we're finding ours slowly, but it certainly, you know,
it's difficult to (mumbled) but downtown is a niche shopper and (mumbled)
successful. I can guarantee you it's very successful. I sent the kids to college on
it. (laughter)
Wilburn/ I'd like to put out something for folks just to consider, um, and you can agree or
disagree or you can...it's just something to think about. Um, first...I think we're
getting into solution and problem solving before we might be ready, and it's easy
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to do because, I mean, we all have ideas and things, but putting that aside, um, the
request is to consider when we're describing things, it's very easy to say there's a
lack of something and point to what it is, but we may not be considering the
traditions that are...I guess if you could try to think about what the conditions are,
as opposed to saying there's a lack of something. For example, if your water...if
Connie's watering her garden...are you a gardener?
Champion/ Um, I sweep `em off the floor and put `em in the trash.
Wilburn/ If Connie's watering her lawn and all of a sudden the water stops, she can say
there's a lack of water. There's a lot of conditions that contribute to that.
Champion/ Like I didn't pay my water bill.
Wilburn/ She didn't pay her water bill. There's a kink in the hose. Uh, you know, I
snuck up behind her and turned the hose off, um, and given just the example
that...that just happened in terms of retail...more retail may be a solution
downtown. It may not be, but there's another aspect to it in terms of, um, the
consumer behavior. We could request five new shops downtown where Eleanor
could buy her underwear (laughter) or kid's underwear (laughter and talking)
grand opening...if people continue to go elsewhere, then our lack of the retail,
and this example again (mumbled). Just to think about.
Trueblood/ You know, I don't know if it's a crossroads issue or not, maybe, but it
certainly is if you listen to a lot of people, uh, it's something just waiting to
happen, and frankly, I really get tired of hearing it, and it's not in this room, but a
lot of constituents, and I heard it again just yesterday from a person who used to
live in Iowa City, actually worked for the City of Iowa City a long time ago. Now
lives in Solon, but still works in the private sector in Iowa City, and his quote
was, `Coralville's just leaving Iowa City in the dust.' So I said, `What do you
mean? We're going to have a Super Wal-Mart.' (laughter) But, anyway...that's
the, you know, you hear that quite a lot and I don't think from anybody in here,
but you know, even some of our own employees, just look at things that
Coralville is doing and think Iowa City is not doing it, and um, you know, I hear
from our recreation folks, why are we at a city of 62,000, 65,000, we have five
program supervisors on staff. Coralville has either five or six, with one-fourth the
population. Uh, again, I don't agree that they're leaving us in the dust, but a lot of
people seem to have that perception, uh, you know, when Coralville has done
something, I know their director pretty well, and I always refer to him as "Avis"
because you know, they're number two so they have to try harder. But,
uh...(several talking, laughter)...yeah it is! But you know it! (laughter) That's
why I had to explain it though.
Fosse/ I think that one of the things that, one of the great things about having the
University around, it's an economic buffer. So when we have a downturn in the
economy, a lot of people in town still have money to spend. Uh, but what we're
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seeing is that because the retail centers are moving, they're not spending it in
Iowa City anymore. So, we're missing out on that tax base from those retail
centers that used to keep, you know, that was part of that economic buffer for us
was people had money, they spent it locally, but they're not spending it locally
anymore. So that's...
Dilkes/ But then, I think that's why you need to expand the whole retail discussion,
beyond downtown.
Fosse/ Oh yeah, you bet!
Dilkes/ Like at Sycamore Mall, you used to be able to go to Sears, now you can go to
Van Maur, which is a wonderful place, but it's expensive. So...(several talking)
Champion/ ...of the internet now too (several talking)
Craig/ But you know, Connie, this morning on the radio they said, and I was surprised.
They said people think that everybody buys stuff on the internet, and they look on
the internet, but 10%. Only 10% of retail is linked to the internet, and I was
surprised. (several talking) The way they talk about it, everybody buys
everything on the internet. But I think something that plays into some of this, and
the economic conditions that must be faced and acknowledged, you know, we talk
about what the State doesn't let us do. What does the State let us do? The sales
tax, and you know, we tried once. It was miserably defeated, and no one is
willing to touch it. Well, it's what we have. It's...that's the tool that the State's
given us, and it's been a while, and you know...there is a tool we have that is just
waiting to happen.
Dilkes/ Well, and I think that's part of the whole acknowledgement issue. It's very
frustrating to have that tool available and you say you don't want to do that, and I
understand that, but then...but then to think we're going to...with the tools we
have, make up for that.
Craig/ Exactly!
Dilkes/ We cannot create resources that will make up for that sales tax. It's just not...it's
not there! -
Craig/ Right!
Dilkes/ So if that's the case, then fine, but then acknowledge it and move on and make
some decisions based on that.
Boothroy/ Is another crossroad how we handle the, uh, the situation regarding the
flooding to neighborhoods that are impacted, is that at a crossroad, uh, we haven't
talked about it, but it seems to me that (several talking) it's an immediate one, but
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it has something that's going to be going on for a couple of years and whatever
happens to Parkview Terrace and its future, uh, is important. Um, we're going to
be talking about it soon, uh, and we're going to be going forward with it, uh, one
thing I think of when I hear about is that there is some speculation going on and
so depending on how we move forward with this and, I mean, how successful we
are, if we're not very successful, I can see some of those neighborhoods
deteriorating a little bit, um, because of (mumbled). You know, it's something
that we have to be cognizant of as...as we try to help those folks out, because, uh,
obviously some people are pretty strapped at this point. They may have had
a...they may have thought they were doing pretty good, had a mortgage, they
went and got a home. equity loan, they sent the kids to college, and then they got
flooded. Well, you can't get a third mortgage, probably, and so it's a tough
situation in terms of how it gets rebuilt and how it gets, you know, is the
neighborhood going to change? It probably will. (mumbled and several talking)
We do have some down there, too. Quite a few anyway, for sure.
Wright/ We're at another junction with the housing, affordable housing issues in general.
You know, you've got the housing study the Council's looking at right now, but
(mumbled) opportunities (noise on mic) broader discussion.. .
Boothroy/ I think Parkview is an affordable housing issue, as well, because it's an
immediate one. The most affordable housing is the existing housing. (several
talking)
Wilburn/ And I think something that's waiting to happen, this is a negative thing, and uh,
it's related to the alcohol, drunkenness, etc., issues and um, being another one
amongst us that, uh, has felt...what was that called, the (several talking)...you
know, had that ground (mumbled) regardless of what we do or don't, at some
point we're going to have to, at a minimum, but this may not address the issue,
but we're going to have to, this is just the City - I'm not talking about the
community, um, but the City is going to have to, uh, (mumbled) what the role is
going to be related to whatever solutions or (mumbled) because just statistically,
we're about due for another alcohol death. It's been a while. It's just going to
happen, and then, uh, all eyes are going to be turned to the City and to the Council
and to the Police, and so then what? What's our response going to be? We've not
made, I mean, you know, the hamster role, the gerbil role about, uh, what to do,
but maybe an approach this time might be, what's our role going to be? Maybe
that's narrow minded in terms of the overall community response of value, but
just I'm telling you, at some point it's going to happen and, um, you know, the
community, the press, University -it's all going to come back to what you did or
didn't do, what are you going to do, and what's your role, and so, um, I guess
(mumbled) when that happens. And I...God forbid it happens to anyone
(mumbled).
Hargadine/ I'll take that thought a little step further, whether it's you know, everybody,
but County's saying they need a new jail. There'll be a tragedy at the jail. Well,
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there's going to be a fire in a place where Andy says we've got a weakness, uh,
and we're slow to respond there, or it's going to be somebody killed in an OWI
accident, that's a favorite teacher that everybody knows, uh, it's going to manifest
itself like that. I mean, I think you're exactly right. Then everybody's going to
be saying, `Why didn't we do something about this before?'
Montei/ It's hard to do, is to resist solving problems (mumbled).
Hargadine/ Wasn't hard to get bridge money, after the bridge collapsed (mumbled).
Fosse/ Actually, it's just the money for that bridge. If you look at the bridge funds
throughout the country, they really didn't go up.
Hargadine/ Everybody started inspecting them. (several talking)
Hayek/ I think, I mean, there are growing pains, and Iowa City is evolving from isolated,
independent community, uh, with essentially no ties to other communities, uh,
other than people driving back and forth to, uh, becoming the southern anchor of a
north-south access (mumbled), and we are not (mumbled) our neighbors, and the
whole area is developing and people have choices where they locate, and we're
trying to compete with other communities (mumbled). And that's hard to think
about and plan and (mumbled), and I think that ties somewhat with what Eleanor
was talking about with funding mechanisms. We're still operating under, uh,
somewhat antiquated way of paying for what we do. A lot of that's tied up in the
State Legislature and it's hard to effect, but uh, those...those formulas, those
funding procedures are bumping up against the new reality, in terms of cost of
running our operations and cost of things like fuel, um, and probably will not
serve us...will not be adequate, uh, going forward. Some of our existing
templates I think are, uh, are going to need to be replaced.
Correia/ Something that I was thinking about that sort of adds on to what Matt was saying
is that at a crossroads of how our community identifies itself. So I heard up there
small, you know, Iowa City's a small town, but I think with our growth, that
we're not the same, we're not a small town, um, that we are at a point where, um,
there's an accommodation of...of growth, as well as what that growth...how that
growth looks, um, and so that our growth may mean that our population needs
different things than what 20 years ago our population needed, whether
that's...you know, not so much focus on downtown retail, but how do we have
retail throughout the community? How do we have...how do we have places for
gathering throughout the community? Um, so rather than this idea of
assimilation...assimilation and people come in and have to assimilate to our
culture, the culture of Iowa City...how do we create a community identity that,
um, embraces new cultures in that broad diversity that Ross is talking about, as
well as embraces those new needs.
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Bailey/ Well, and also it's not just defining ourself. It's distinguishing ourself, to build
on what (mumbled) quality of life and selling it and what Matt said about
(mumbled) more competitive, but we're willing to define but we're not always
willing to distinguish? Sometimes Iowa City might not be the place for everyone,
or we might not...we might not be able to be the place (mumbled) and we have
certain things but we might not have other things. That goes to what we were
saying about the downtown, the retail. I can tell a great retail story about
downtown. I was able to go and get something that I found on the Internet,
because I was working with a local retailer, and they worked very hard to get a
sales rep to have this particular brand of shoes and called me right away when
they came in and it was a great experience that wouldn't have happened at Coral
Ridge Mall. There's just no way, and so how do we distinguish that shopping
experience, or that retail experience, saying that's what we offer. If it's not for
you, okay, there are other options in the region.
Boothroy/ Yeah, I mean, when you think of another example of how a community
distinguishes themselves, take Valley West in West Des Moines, having grown up
in Des Moines I saw Valley West change from a downtown like we typically
think of a downtown to what it is...maybe not everybody's aware, but the Valley
West is very unique in terms of...it's become very unique center of shops and a
destination, and they had to define themselves that way and I think that's the same
way with our community -we've got to figure out a way of what makes us
unique and then do things to make it come together in...
Bailey/ And get comfortable with it, and stop saying we have to (both talking) in some
ways yes, but in some ways they don't have this and this and this (both talking)
and that's where we...
Boothroy/ Well, they don't have a downtown.
Bailey/ Right.
Boothroy/ They're trying to, but even their downtown doesn't look like a downtown.
O'Donnell/ They do have a stoplight though. (both talking)
Dilkes/ That kind of thing is a lot easier for people who have resources. I mean, you
know, if you can afford to pay Iowa City taxes, you can live in Iowa City, but if
not, you gotta go, you know, out in the County or wherever, or if you can focus
your shopping dollars on shoes and, you know, nice things then you can come
downtown, but I think...and I think that's a real different question for people of
means and people who aren't.. .
Bailey/ But, I mean, we can take what we have, but we can also look at the gaps and
address that as well. (both talking) Like we did with the housing, and we will
have a Super Wal-Mart (several talking).
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Dilkes/ And the whole economic...and the whole economics of it, the fact that we don't
have money, or we have limited resources, then the competition that's set up
between the haves and the have-nots intensifies, I think. You know, do we spend
our resources on promoting downtown? Do we spend our resources on, you
know, neighborhoods south of the highway? I mean, that kind of thing.
Hargadine/ What about where we want to take...we've been focusing on where we want
to take the community. What about focusing on where we want to take our
government? Our local government? We haven't really expanded much...last
few years. What do we need to be thinking about as a government, uh, for 20
years out?
Boothroy/ You mean like a county government, instead of a city government?
Hargadine/ No. (both talking)
Dilkes/ Police officers.
Hargadine/ I was going to get to there. (laughter)
Boothroy/ ...services can be regionalized, because it's more economic efficient (both
talking)
Hargadine/ But where do we want to go? I mean, a lot of those things, the economic
things, are we just going to put that back in the community, or are we going to
focus on what it...what do we want to do with our...with you know our bread and
butter?
Helling/ (mumbled) How do you do that? And, the community so often sees, I mean,
would look in the door and say, `There's all those bureaucrats, trying to control
our lives and tell us,' and that's why I think it's so important to engage the
community because if we can define where we want to go, as a community, and
pull the whole community into it, then we as a government, if we're responding to
where the community wants to be in ten, 20, 30 years or whatever, and can show
people that that's what we're responding to, it's a lot, I don't know if it's easier,
but it's a lot less difficult to sell that notion to the community that if you want
these things, then government has to grow and it's got to be paid for, but if we're
making those decisions and trying to force that on the community, we're not
going to get anywhere.
Boothroy/ Sometimes you have to go above the community though, and you have to keep
that balance, because a few years ago when the Board of Supervisors was in
agreement with us doing building code inspections in the County, taking over that
entire operation, we were going to save some money on that in terms of staff
people and stuff like that. They ended up having public meetings and everybody
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came out saying they didn't want the City controlling the County, and didn't
want, you know, more government. Well, so they ended up establishing their
own code enforcement and they ended up adopting our codes. But, you know,
sitting in that meeting, people were saying, you know, or acting as if Iowa City
wasn't part of the County. I'm sitting there thinking, I thought I was a member of
Johnson County, but there was, like we were a foreign body that was trying to
invade another body, which was called the County and they didn't want us out
there, so I mean, we've got a lot of work to do to build that bridge so that we can
have some of these economies of skill and I think it starts...I don't know where it
starts, but there is a strong...there's a strong barrier there, at least there was about,
when was that, Dale? Six, seven years ago? We were so close, until they had
those public meetings and then we had all these people talking about they didn't
want us out there, telling them what they can do and can't do.
Champion/ (mumbled) viewed as Johnson County.
Boothroy/ We're not!
O'Donnell/ It's turf wars, is what it is.
Montei/ I'd like to bring this to a close. If you, unless there are one or two more.
Davidson/ I have one. (both talking) hit on it, and I think it's an enormous challenge, and
that is how we engage the community. I mean, I have told my department
because we do a lot of attempting to engage the community in all the planning
work we do, that I consider the notion of engaging community input by making
people come down to city hall at 7:00 at night on a Wednesday and the 14 people
who show up and we know `em all byname (laughter) they represent the
community, but that is a completely antiquated notion, and I'm looking for input
on how to do it, but in this era of cable TV and cell phones and all the other ways
that people engage in communication, we gotta figure out some way to get
community input from a broader cross section of the community, in order to do
effectively what Dale way saying.
Boothroy/Because typically the people opposed are the ones that are most vocal.
(several talking)
Montei/ I have a great book recommendation for you. I happened to bring it because I
was referencing it for today, and it's called Community...the Structure of
Belonging by Peter Block. You're welcome to come up and look at it later, but it
really is about answering your question. It's about how to engage, and using
technologies, some of which we're using today in part, many of which I'd like us
to describe a little bit further when we go on with the rest of today's experience,
but um, it's a very good question. It's very important, and there are technologies
available, but they are not widely used, they're not widely known. So, it's very
accessible reading (mumbled) Okay. So, other...all right. Good, um (noise on
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mic) hungry just grab something. So that's (mumbled) about crossroads, or
tipping point as someone put it, or what is just waiting to happen. Um, a lot of
unmet (mumbled) seemed to come out here, but uh, there's...there's awill, a
desire, there's a lot of questions about how to, there's a lot of questions about
ownership, there's a lot of questions about resources, uh, available resources or
how to make (mumbled), uh, there's quite a bit about planning and how you
position yourself to, uh, consider the questions, um...a lot of themes about your,
um, your future relative to sense of place, downtown in particular. All right.
(mumbled) I think we need...I have a little energy dip right now, and uh, I feel
like I need to go and grab some food, but uh, for you who maybe ate something
over break, uh, I think this would be a good time for you to raise, uh, your
questions or your comments about what your options are, at this point, for um,
moving forward. You've named this, and you've named what's on the back wall,
uh, both of which seem to say there is a, some kind of a readiness for something
to be done. Uh, the notion of a strategic plan has been raised, the idea of doing
that and how to do that are things we can talk about some more, but uh, as has
been pointed out, there maybe seven, eight different notions of what strategic
planning is, and uh, you know, there are different ways you can go at it, for sure,
many different ways. Uh, so, uh, is this the right time for the conversation about
what are the options, what are the options now for taking the next step, and maybe
what the timing should be for that step. Is there, you know, there are other
initiatives going on. You're still recovering and so on, and your, you know, you
have a lot on your plates, as the last week of (mumbled) very, very difficult. So, I
just open that question (mumbled). ...speak to it, do.
Helling/ This community hasn't really engaged in this community planning process, at
least not in (mumbled) um, so there's questions I have, one of which and you hit
on given the situation we're in now where we're kind of overwhelmed, but...with
the flood and all that, but yet if we're going to, you know, if you don't start you
never get there. Uh, but one question I have is, how...how can...how can that be
accommodated with all the other things, or is there a period of time over which if
you stretch it beyond that, it's too long. If you don't keep the momentum going
you loose the interest of the community, whatever, and I don't have a sense for
that. So I don't know how to work this in with all the other issues that we see on
our plate right now, um, that's...I'm not asking you to answer that question. It's
just a question (mumbled)
Dilkes/ What I don't understand about the strategic planning process is how it works with
a, when you have a political body that changes every, how often does it (several
talking) um, and you know, because if you look at all these things here and all
these things here, they have a lot of different answers, um, and I know we want to
be...but, so I don't get how that dovetails with a change, I mean, change in the
Council, which I don't say is a bad thing. I just mean it's (several talking)
Champion/ Well, I think I'd like to answer that a little bit. Um, because I have done
strategic planning with, when I was on the School Board, how many years ago
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that was, but and that's an ever-changing body also, but you know, we had staff.
We had School Board Members. We had community people. We had business
people. I mean, it was a huge array of people in the strategic planning, and it was
hard to (mumbled) there must have been 100, 150 people in the strategic
planning, and so it did come together. I mean, it took two solid days with a really
good facilitator, but then that became the tool that was used by the School
District, so it didn't make any difference if I was there or not, it was part of the
process, because that became the tool that every decision was based on, and so in
that way, it actually simplifies the fact that people change all the time, because
you've got acommunity-based, um, I can't...thank you, acommunity-based
guideline (several talking) follow through, and so you have seven people on the
City Council. Well, they don't all change at once, and there's some enforcement
from the community to do this also. Because they've been part of making up the
guidelines and how the strategies are going to be to get those done, um, so I don't
view that as a negative part of it at all. (several talking)
Montei/ ...Good to reference that a plan has to be understood (mumbled) who are coming
in, but at the same time is it a blue print, and just like building plans, they should
be able to flex. You have to know, you know, you build a foundation, and the
foundation is your community, has been engaged, the process we started with this
morning when I talked about being a microcosm of the whole, when you get
people together and you mix the parts in conversation, when you take the pulse of
that mixture, you get the system's thinking -not the individual's thinking.
Because the people become more wise. They can then create a blueprint together.
The elected officials, in my experience, and I have considerable experience in
that, um, their confidence in their sense of the underpinnings of their decisions is
elevated because they feel this ownership. You know, I heard somebody say
earlier, how do we, you know, how do people buy into this? Well, what you want
to create is ownership. So you don't have to sell it! And that's why you engage,
and you engage the...universally so that you hit all those...those, uh, parts, all
those perspectives, and then elected officials have the guidance that they need,
um, and yet they have their autonomy. They still have all their votes, they have
their capabilities, and they need to exercise that and know that the plan also can
flex. But I do agree that it provides a lot of stability and a sense of direction,
especially when you say, um, how about going purposefully into engage the
future, otherwise you're in a reaction mode. So, again, I talked about Robert Fritz
earlier and The Path of Least Resistance, um, this would be a good time forme to
show you this chart. He describes two stances -for life or for work. Okay? (Flip
Chart #5) Two stances, one the reactive and the other the creative stance. In a
reactive stance, your focus is on the problems, the obstacles, the stress, the
difficulties you're having, kind of like the where we miss the mark and what do
we have that nobody wants, and then as if you're...you're not doing this, but if
you were, you'd put those under the microscope and you say how do we solve
these? We've got to get away from these. So you're in a moving away from
(mumbled) where you are propelled or motivated by anxiety, be fear, by all the
(noise on mic) and that is your energy that gets you (noise on mic) and if you
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react, and uh, but you have to keep this reaction up, making enforcement
mechanisms or whatever it is, you constantly have to be on it. If you let up, the
problem returns, or you may solve the problem and you wait until another
problem comes up. And then you (mumbled), and Robert Fritz writes about the
creative stance as being quite different, where you determine a result, an outcome
or a vision, that you want. Something that you want to create, okay? Like a
painter, who nobody is saying please paint this picture. The artist is saying, I
have an idea and I have a great desire to create this idea, or I have a love of this so
much that I want it to exist. So, out of this vision or creative urge comes energy,
motivated by desire, by commitment, by love, if you will, that action has a real
pulling power, a real energy to it, which you can building the community, instead
of, you know, how does the community come out and react to the flood or react to
the problem. What if they created this, and decided that out of love for the idea
would invest themselves? And the action that comes out of that is a creative state.
It's a moving toward kind of a movement, and when you've done this, what's left
is raise the bar, create anew. What's the next thing we want to create? What's
our next future notion and idea? So strategic planning process it says stop
reaction, I mean, you can do what people sometimes call strategic planning or
SWOT analysis where you're saying what our are strengths, opportunities,
weaknesses and threats, and those get you a certain distance, but they are not a
creative, uh, process that we're talking about here that would really get you to, uh,
envision, create ownership, and energy around ideas in a purposeful way, that
result in action (mumbled). So you have to operate in both of these, I mean, think
of your Police Department and your Fire Department -you have to have a
reaction mode in place. You have to have it. But where do you spend the
preponderance of your time? Is the big question - am I creating or am I
(mumbled) constantly reacting. If I'm constantly over here, I don't have very
much creativity going on, and I'm always, you know, a day late and a dollar short,
so (mumbled). So we constantly...here's the poem that my 90-year-old mother
still remembers, um, you ever heard of Downy Flake donuts? Do they have those
around here? They were in Peoria, Illinois, Downy Flake donuts, and on the
placemat was, um, this poem (mumbled) as you wonder through life, brother, let
this be your goal -keep your eye upon the donut, not upon the bowl. (laughter)
The notion being, where will we put our attention, is it about what we're creating
or is it about what we lack, and several (mumbled) different ways. So I see
strategic planning as the blueprint, um, that...that comes out of this space, and
um, my experience has been, um, that this has a great deal of power, energizing
power, and it can really spread throughout the community. It doesn't have to only
be in your organization, in the city (mumbled), but it has to involve more than the
City Council making it, creating it (mumbled).
Boothroy/ I've got a question, how it relates to the Comprehensive Plan process, because
that is a community initiative, and it does establish community goals. IJh, and it's
supposed to engage more than just those that come to public meetings, to
complain about an ordinance being passed or a fee being increased. So, in
some...I've seen plans that have a strategic plan to them. In other words, the
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(noise on mic) becomes a blueprint for the strategic plan. Uh, how do you see
that relationship?
Montei/ Good question, and I welcome other people's response to that, as well. I work
with cities who have done comprehensive plans and who plan to do
comprehensive plans, but also do strategic plans.
Boothroy/ Right.
Montei/ The comprehensive plan is not done all that frequently because there'
(mumbled). Um, I believe yours is (mumbled)
Boothroy/ It's being renewed on a regular basis, unlike some communities.
Montei/ Though the larger visions typically are, uh, the larger, you know (noise on mic)
but there are smaller aspects that aren't. Um, in my experience, a strategic plan
has...has the ability to have a little more, um, responsiveness or uh, current date,
information. In other words, you can respond to your current context. You would
end up doing a strategic plan more frequently than (mumbled). They could be
done together. They could be done in tandem, or they could be done
consecutively. When you were going to do it consecutively, I would advise that a
strategic plan is better to do first, and then a comprehensive plan, because, um,
the, um, the foundation of this grander comprehensive plan can easily fit into that
structure. Um, and then I have heard the opposite advice. So, I think there are,
it's very good question. I don't think there is a good or simple answer to the
question. Jeff, would you have an opinion on this, or...
Davidson/ You know, I think...I think when Dale was speaking is a perfect example
(mumbled) strategic plan in 30 years. Well, in fact, in 1994 we did a strategic
plan and that's how much profile it has. It's the document that the Mayor
circulated in the Info Packet this week. Uh, it was called Iowa City 20/20, I
believe, and it involved about 100 people coming together to strategize and as
Lynn just illustrated, they provided kind of a basis for then proceeding, with what
became an update to the Comprehensive Plan, a new Comprehensive Plan for all
intents and purposes, in 1997. Um, and then it (mumbled) the district planning
process is an on-going update of the (mumbled) Comprehensive Plan. The
Central District will have a brand new update here in the next couple of months.
(mumbled) So, I think we've been very forward-thinking in building an ongoing
update process (mumbled) as Lynn pointed out, the strategic plan from 1994,
circulated in the Info Packet, you know, that's 16 or however many years
later...14 years later, um, you know, it's probably not all that representative, or at
least as representative as it was 14 years ago.
Dilkes/ I think there's a reason why that happens though. The Comprehensive Plan is
something that's required by Iowa law. Our zoning has to be consistent with that
Comprehensive Plan, so there's...every time we have a zoning decision, we have
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to look at that Comprehensive Plan. We have to change that Comprehensive
Plan, if...if we want to make a zoning decision that's inconsistent with that
Comprehensive Plan. And so that's always right there, it's a...you always
(several talking) yeah, and...and the public is going to know if it's being changed,
etc., etc. And so it's not surprising to me that a comprehensive plan would remain
more current, than a strategic plan. Because, you know (several talking)
Bailey/ There was a (mumbled) there's something mentioned about annual action plans
would be developed, and I assume that those would have been the responsibility
to a certain degree of the Council in a larger discussion, like that, and I don't
know when that first came out if those action plans occurred, if Council reflected
upon the broader first 55 pages that talks about arts and culture and social
services, if there were responses, um, by Council or by any, I mean, did that
happen?
Champion/ Not as long as I've been on the Council.
Dilkes/ Well, but I think that's a good example of the politics of the particular council
(several talking) You can't do that with a comprehensive plan, because it's a
legally required thing that has to be changed if you want to go in a different
direction. A strategic plan does not.
Lombardo/ The community desire, or even demands, that same attitude be taken with
(mumbled). It's pretty compelling, because then even if there are changes in
Council, if the community's created this vision and this destiny, it becomes very
difficult for anyone individual to say, well, I'm going to take us in a bold new
direction, uh, unless it's part of that broad vision. So, as I think Lynn was saying
before, there's flexibility in terms of you don't define a hard point on the horizon
that you try and get to. It's a general direction or destiny that's created in the
strategic plan, but then Councilors individually, or as...as a body, um, have to
weigh that and say if the community has set this as, you know, that `s the point
we're sailing to, um, we're hard pressed to say no we're going to come in and
take it into a very different direction, unless the community is part of that re-
visioning, and while the comprehensive plan has laws that govern its update and
its evolution, the strategic plan, I think, because of the fact that it doesn't have
laws to compel it forward, has to be revisited purposefully. You have to say, we
are going to revisit this every, you know, so often to make sure that the growth of
the community and things that we've accomplished on that destiny now are taken
into account, and we need to redefine that broad place on the...you know, the
horizon is always in the distance, and so from my estimation, the comprehensive
plan becomes part of the blueprint, the road map, for your journey along the way,
and help compel you towards that destiny, and not be guiding (both talking)
Bailey/ That's what I was speaking to, in the Comprehensive Plan it's mentioned that
there is a will, and, uh, that we will have to have action plans to support this
document annually. The concern that I have is regardless of whether we create a
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strategic plan, a visioning plan, uh, update the Comprehensive Plan, there has to
be a will to do those annual action plans to keep it current, and we haven't had
that indicated (mumbled) what is the will to keep whatever we create, whatever
we call it. I mean we can call it anything we wanted. What is the commitment to
keep that updated? It's not just the will of the community says we're going to go
in this direction, because we've all sat on councils with people who say, oh yeah,
that's not where...that's old or that's not relevant, you know, the conditions have
changed (mumbled) there has to be that will to do that ongoing planning, and first
and foremost, I would ask this room, do we have that or can we set that forward,
and how do we put that into place as well, as developing whatever we develop?
Lombardo/ Doesn't that go to...I think Jeff captured (mumbled) but you know, the
mechanisms that we use to engage the community to get that feedback, and...and
if we've not done the action plans on an annual basis, and we've not set that as the
way we do business, could it be possible because we're not engaging that constant
dialogue with the community through either surveys or some other feedback
mechanisms, fully that compels us to do that. So we...we've done the strategic
plan some 14 years ago, and we have a comprehensive plan that is updated and
keeps us moving forward, but...but there's no commitment to constantly on an
annual basis revisit that because we don't necessarily purposefully reach out and
ask for the feedback that would say, we have to do...we have to lead, you know,
we have to look at the next year and create that action plan, uh, because people
are expecting it. You know, it's something we've done and then we go away
from, and so unless we engage them, uh, on a regular basis to, you know, to say,
to hold that up, this is how we now do business. Based on this broad vision that
we set together in expectation that every year we're going to set new, uh, action
plans and goals to further (mumbled) broad journey that we're creating. (several
talking)
Davidson/ I think you do have an action plan, and it's called your annual budget. None
of us in this room has the time to sit down and as a separate initiative develop an
action plan every year. Your budget's your action plan. When the City Council
has implemented atraffic-calming program, that was implementing part of the
strategic vision -that was your action plan. When you did a sidewalk infill
program, when you establish Sand Lake Park in...south of Iowa City, your
decision making with Fire Station #4 -those are the action elements of your
strategic vision. (several talking)
Dilkes/ Many of them are political, that's, I mean, it might be interesting to see a
strategic...because when we identified the conversations that we do the hamster
thing on, those are political things. You know, whether we have a sales tax.
Whether we have a 21-ordinance. I don't care what you're action plan, or your
strategic plan says. That's going to depend on who gets elected to the City
Council.
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Montei/ If I may, those are mostly (mumbled), and political, you know, it's not an either
or. You can have the political conversation in context, and have grounding over
here. I think that that, you know, the plan happens to be old right now, so maybe
it needs some sharpened up, it needs to be freshened, it...you know, maybe it's
insufficient to ref...be the reference for the budget decisions, but the strategic
plans that...that, um, I'm familiar with are the guidance for the budget
preparation. Everything that happens in the budget is...is already articulated in
the plan. It may not be to every single level of detail, um, but it isn't so much
reactionary as it is, this is what we're creating, so you've talked a lot about this,
uh, the (mumbled) um, if you had a strategy about, and the vision about the health
of your community, and as part of that initiative was some way that you were
going to increase health, you would...you would evaluate your ordinances you're
considering and the, yes, there's going to be all the political considerations, but
you would be evaluating it on context that's got a very healthy underpinning
about what we want to create, not what we have to stop, not what we need to get
away from, not what we're afraid is going to undermine us. It's...do you see the
difference? It's a very...a subtle difference, but it's a more powerful way of
acting and moving.
Dilkes/ Maybe it would be helpful to see some strategic plans that have been developed
by other communities with similar governmental structures that we have, to look
at those and see if that's someplace you all want to...to go or would be helpful,
because it's hard for me to envision...I mean, what that looks like, other than, you
know, we don't like overuse of alcohol. I just, you know (several talking)
Lombardo/ It's not just creation of the plan and putting it to ink and paper. It's how do
you utilize that, how do you engage it in decision making and budgeting. It's on
ongoing process, as opposed to we created this...this document and it's not the
creation necessary...or justify the creation of the document. It's how do we use
it, and...and can we agree on what this, you know, what this document will give
us, and how it's going to compel us to action, uh, as much as it is the actual effort
(mumbled).
Bailey/ Well, and that's what I was saying. We have that (mumbled) of the Comp Plan,
and where...I mean,- I tried to check in about the agreement (mumbled) and that
didn't seem to be the case. So, what would change? What are the conditions that
will change to address some of the questions that Eleanor is raising about the
political (mumbled) community, and um, make decisions based on what would
bring a more healthy downtown, if that's the direction you (mumbled) or
whatever, but we also know that politically (mumbled) than perhaps Mike will.
(mumbled) Um, so, it's still...it's still, I'm still confused.
Correia/ Can I just say...I mean, I also think that when you're...when you have that
strategic goal, or that strategic vision of health in the community, there maybe X,
Y, and Z, things that you can do to create that, and so that...then that's then the
decision for the political body, that if it's something that a political body needs to
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do, um, then so X ordinance gets passed or not, but that that's not...the strategic
goal wouldn't be pass a 21-ordinance. I mean, that's really an action step, um,
so...so when I'm thinking about a community, or strategic plan that involves the
Council and that the community is involved in, I'm thinking about something
similar, an outcome like something similar to what Cedar Rapids, or Linn County,
whoever did that 15 and 5, so that there's things that, and certainly that would
translate into, okay, the City's part of that and then those frameworks that we're
going to be working on to move forward, and there maybe then parts that the
other parts of our community take on, but then that there is this investment of,
okay, we are as a community we've gone through this process and we're invested,
and these, you know, that nobody can brand it, and so...and then I think that it
strengthens...can strengthen, I think you said this Lynn, the elected officials to
have that framework. Community, we've had this process. There is a mandate in
certain areas to move in a certain direction, um, with continuing feedback, loops
along the way, as (several talking)
Davidson/ Here's an interesting perception thing though - 15 and 5 effort -you
perceived it as being (both talking)
Correia/ I know, and I think what happened there, what I remember reading about that,
was that they felt like their Council wasn't taking, their government, wasn't
taking leadership, so they took the reigns of that, and L ..I think that here we can
have that partnership happen.
Bailey/ When we first started talking about visioning process, I think we've talked about
it (mumbled) that's exactly what I was thinking of, I mean, and I just read an
article that Marion was doing something similar to 15 and 5 and sending out a
couple of action items, project sort of thing, it's very different than a (mumbled)
planning process. It's, you know, there's the wall, let's hit the wall, and who do
we need to be involved to get those (mumbled), and that's exactly what I had
envisioned is, you know, (mumbled) innovative ideas that we could engage the
community as partners (mumbled)
Wilburn/ There's a piece, going back to Eleanor's original, um, concern related to the
political nature and how you get by it, and I go back to (mumbled) School
District's strategic...I think it's competency plan, but the point was, you know,
there was community involvement, stakeholder involvement (mumbled) so there
was buy into the plan, but there's something more fundamental that helped bind
staff's...subsequent staff's and subsequent, um, school boards, is the focus is the
kids. I mean, it all comes back to them, and everybody, I mean, that's the final
issue. The challenge and difference with a government, a city or county is, you
know, how much does everybody buy into our town, our community, so that they
can (mumbled) but what about me, what about my (mumbled) and the challenge
is how do you go about developing and nurturing that focus on community
(mumbled) and whether it's a comprehensive plan, strategic plan, action plan.
Maybe part of it is just commitment to the regularity of engaging annual action
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plan, or maybe that's part of it, but before you even get there, I mean, it seems to
me, that's what we need to be addressing is how do we get at the buy-in to
community from all the stakeholders so that, you know, regardless of what you
end up with, uh, okay, now I'm the Homebuilder's, I'm the environmental crowd,
I'm...I'm downtown business, some other business and so it seems to me that
that's the piece that we should try and answer, struggle with, and maybe you're
right, maybe part of it from our point of view is commitment to regular
involvement, regular update, maybe it's that. Maybe it's reaching out to some of,
uh, some of, whether it's the Chamber or something like that to get them to help
take the lead. Maybe it's just making sure that we've got some credible people
involved that will work with us to do that regular...regular, uh, regular check and
evaluation (mumbled). I don't know. That seems to me to be the
fundamental...it's hard to, I mean, if you're a new school board member coming
in, uh, regardless of your views, your views are still related to the kids. (several
talking) So maybe looking at other cities' strategic plans might be helpful, but as
part of that, you would also be able to...if you had some insight into, um, buy-in,
anything that they did leading up into preparation or buy-in to community. And
in the case of Cedar Rapids, the buy-in was, well, they're not doing anything so
we will.
Hayek/ I suspect there will always be a tension between, um, two specific (mumbled)
staff input, etc., too broad. (mumbled) City STEPS document which, I mean,
when I was four or five years on the Housing Commission, showed you that
pretty much anything you want to do can be classified, and in fact was, as high
priority. So it was hard to decide between various applications when all of them
met that high priority threshold. Um, and so it didn't provide all that much
guidance to us, and if you apply it (mumbled) on one hand we want this
potentially long list of things that we want, for our community or direction we
want to go in, um, but if we drill down into these categories too much so that
we're coming up with hardened policy decisions, that could not reflect the
(mumbled) and if we don't drill down and create those concrete policy goals, and
we leave it (mumbled) what have we accomplished? (mumbled)
Montei/ You know, most of the strategic plans that, uh, that I think are the most effective
are five year or so, where you have a one or two year action plan with it, but a
five-year vision. Um, because people can really relate to that and this is much
different than a comprehensive plan, which usually has a much...it's more of the
universe of options and the guidelines, whereas the strategic plan is very much
more specific, yet gives that room, and um, there are technologies for this, um, I
think that perhaps we need to break for lunch. If there are any more comments
that wrap up this piece, and then after lunch we can go into more of what the
examples might look like, and uh, see if there can be some kind of closure today,
if not a decision today, just some kind of closure about what next steps you're
going to want to go through to evaluate any...assess your next steps. So, any...
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Helling/ I need that, because I thought I understood strategic planning a little better than I
guess I do. You know, the example they're all talking about (mumbled) I guess I
don't really understand it very well, maybe not as well as I thought I did. Jeff
perceived the (mumbled) as a strategic plan. I always perceived it as the
(mumbled). Doesn't matter, whatever it was it is what (mumbled, laughter) So
(several talking)
Montei/ Okay, so I think that lunch is, um, is in buffet style across the hall, um, we'd like
it very much if you would gather your lunch and come back here, you know, have
a little time and then we have to get back to work, so there's (mumbled).
(BREAK) ...try to, in the time we have left, um, (several talking) have completed
by the end of today. You could help express what outcomes you want, in the next
hour, hour and a half, whatever amount of time you have left here, um, what
outcomes are you looking for? What questions do you need answers to, with
respect to, um, your next steps, and I think the next steps related to what you said,
you're at this crossroads, you have an understanding of your current reality, and I
mean, it's incomplete, and then we haven't talked about trends, we haven't talked
about many of the aspects that...this is not a strategic planning session itself.
This is, you know, an understanding of...of, uh, what you think you may need
and...I heard, um, Russ say...uh, that there was a desire to have more clarity
about the difference between, or Dale, I'm sorry. (several talking)
Ross...(several talking)...uh, that he wanted some better (mumbled) difference
between comprehensive and strategic (mumbled).
Helling/ If not today, as (mumbled)
Montei/ Well, hopefully we (mumbled). So what else...and how would you like to get
this, um, here?
Helling/ It seems to me that...I know there are a lot of similarities, a lot of (mumbled) if
it were just a couple of key differences, and also maybe identifying a couple ways
that they are very similar or that they involve maybe the same thing.
Montei/ Um, if you like you can take up that (mumbled) Um, I'd like Jeff's help, um, as
I explained to him on the break, um, I'm not a municipal planner. I'm not an
expert in comprehensive plans. So, um, there is a uniqueness about it and there's
something important that it does and accomplishes, and maybe he could speak a
little bit to that for us, and we can draw these distinctions (mumbled).
(Flip Chart #6)
Davidson/ Well, as Eleanor mentioned, the Comprehensive Plan is something that under
State law a municipality has to have...there's a legislative process associated with
how that's prepared, um, when you get finished with it, it should be the broadest
vision that there is for your community, and it should provide the basis for,
certainly your zoning ordinance should come out of your comprehensive plan, I
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mean, be consistent with your comprehensive plan, and I think one would expect,
you know, if the zoning ordinance pertains to land (mumbled) your parks master
plan and airport master plan and your library master plan should be things that
flow logically from the...the comprehensive plan, but the comprehensive plan
has...has a lot of associated statutory requirements with it, uh, you know, we...it
is something that requires an enormous amount of time to prepare, so that it's not
uncommon to have a ten to 20 year, uh, timeframe between, well, when Bob
Miklo and Karin Franklin and I finished the 97 Comp Plan, we all said, "Phew,
we'll never have to do another one of those in our careers." That's the timeframe
associated with it. Uh, we do amend it regularly as things change over time. And
in terms of the strategic plan, you know, Andy and I have worked, for example,
on the Fire Department's strategic plan and I think that the...the way that we've
approached that has been identifying a point in the future, typically you know,
five years, ten years, 15 years, looking at that point and saying where do we want
to be when we get to that point, as an example. Where do we want to be when we
get to that point, as an example fire department, where do we want to be when we
get to that point, and then once we identify that in terms of a mission statement or
something like that, then how do we get there, and that's the notion of a strategic
plan. So, a little bit broader maybe, well, more specific in terms of identification
with an airport or library or a fire department, but more of kind of steps, you
know, like afive-year time period we want to be here, three year time period we
want to be here, and in ten years we want to be here, something like that, and then
that's something that you go back on a much shorter timeframe and re, you know,
you can sit down in an afternoon, you know, if you have enough focus, sit in an
afternoon, certainly over a couple days, and do a strategic plan. You could not do
that with a comprehensive plan, just...it's so much more complicated in terms of
engaging the community.
Rocca/ And the challenge, I think, we've found is creating that linkage back and you can
just about take any department, division's plan, creating that linkage back through
the department, to the Comp Plan, to the financial plan, to the general broad goals
that were established 14 years ago, and making it move forward. There's that
lack of linkage or continuity that I...I think I've experienced, and I don't know if
others have or not.
Montei/ So you're looking for coherence across, alignment (several responding)
internally, budget (mumbled), as Jeff was saying (mumbled) be done, that isn't
coherent with the, would you maybe speak to this better than me.
Davidson/ No, go ahead.
Montei/ Okay, if it isn't coherent with the Comprehensive Plan, then the Comprehensive
Plan needs to be updated so that it is. (several talking) Is that more clear?
Helling/ Yeah (mumbled) ultimately, what do you get? What do you achieve?
(mumbled) ...that we don't have already with the Comprehensive Plan (both
talking)
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Montei/ Yes, and if it's okay I think I'd like to take a few minutes to speak to that. I
agree with Jeff that you name a date and you create a vision, what will your
community be like in...let's say 2015, um, in the approach that, um, I find is the
most compelling personally for municipalities, it isn't a singular vision, but a
whole array of visions, similar to your strategic plan. You might be talking about
arts and culture. You might be talking about (mumbled). You might be talking
about sense of place. But there is a, um, a quality to that that isn't, um, that
is...that the vision is created out of this, um, keen sense of what is not only our
past and our history, but what we as a system decide and identify as what is
emerging, meaning we have, we're starting to get a sense of what's trying to come
through. Um, this is done through a process, and because that's my work, um,
you know, it's a process based upon research, on theory, on practices, tools, um,
techniques, models of doing that, engaging people is one of them. Where, for
example, can I put this up... (Flip Chart #7) we have principles of engagement as
one of the key ways -you widen the circle of involvement, you connect the
participants to each other and around the purpose. For example, what is the
mission or the purpose of the City of Iowa City? I'm not sure that you have that
articulation. I don't recall (mumbled). Embrace democratic principles and create
communities of action. So these, there are principles that are informing the
process constantly. Um, we already talked about the way we engage (mumbled)
to bring about the most diverse mix possible, and the greatest amount of
engagement that you possibly can. We can do this through surveys and
interviews and interactive experience, in that experience where you make visible
to the participants what's invisible, and you do that by generating data, generating
murals and/or charts that help to help people what our current reality is, and
prepare them for the development of (mumbled) Then, you create a tension
between your current reality and the vision. Pretend I'm stretching a rubber band
between my hand, when you do that, what does that create? What does tension
want? Release, resolution somehow. So in doing the process, and I wouldn't
recommend it be done in a day, in this case even an update (mumbled) you could
do in a day. You would have a, um, you would have tension. Currently reality is
here -vision is here. When you have that and seek to release...what you want the
action steps that provide that release, so that your current reality becomes your
vision -not the other way around. Okay? You know, this (mumbled) so you
have to have real clarity about vision, real clarity about (mumbled), and enough
wisdom in the participants that are creating this that the action steps that you take,
the goals, the strategic directions that you design, bring...release that tension
(mumbled). So that is essentially what the process is like. And it's done in...in,.
uh, over divergent and convergent processes, where people in small groups, where
it's safe to have their conversation, and when they get whole, so that they start to
be informed, okay? So the whole system starts to meld itself, and those are the
people that create the plan. Um, and hopefully (mumbled) so that it involves
hundreds of people, not just (mumbled). Okay? So, a strategic plan then will
allow you to then take the grander visions, the goals and objectives, and bring
those down to (mumbled). Bring those to (mumbled), so that you know for the
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one-year or two years, whatever you decide your action plan to be, you know
what you're going to do, what you're going to find, what you're going to deliver.
And it's adopted by the Council, so it's not as if it bypasses the Council. This is
the...the Council is a participant. So the Council then had its finger on the pulse,
in a way, that it normally doesn't get to have. It's not only during the
time...people who are interested in creative experience, and then as they hear that,
the Council itself starts to inform and help shape, and they are then prepared, in
my experience, to adopt an action plan, one or two year action plan, that informs
the budget and informs every process, ordinances, amendments to Comprehensive
Plan, if needed, uh, the plan I just completed in a small village near where I live,
um, had a number of action steps related to the (mumbled) and what has to
happen now, that we (mumbled) go back to the comprehensive plan and
(mumbled) and (mumbled) amendments that reflect that. So, then you have to
(mumbled)
Boothroy/ So in order to make this institutional...the strategic planning, if we were to
start small, would it be...it seems to me in my mind that it should be an element
of the comprehensive planning process, because you're drilling down into the
population at...at the, in the neighborhood level, and then as...then on an annual
basis, you might update your strategic plan, but you wouldn't have quite the same
local involvement that you create when you do the comprehensive plan, and that
way by making it, uh, associated and maybe a part of, then it becomes more
accepted, because we already...well, we've taken, it's taken years to train people
to recognize that the Comprehensive Plan is...is an important document. I mean,
you know, this didn't happen over night, so I think that that becomes the
foundation, or becomes the bedrock for accepting the strategic plan. It seems to
me that if you start...if you have all of this double planning going on, it becomes
more complicated to maintain a strategic plan because it's another level of effort,
outside of the comprehensive planning, and then it becomes just like maybe that
plan that we did before, pre-1997, um, comprehensive plan. You loose track of it,
because what's most important legally is the comprehensive plan, so all I'm
suggesting is that they're wedded. Then it takes on a legal legitimacy, as well.
Or at least it becomes part of what you think about.
Montei/ It's certainly a policy document of...
Boothroy/ In order to make that a good policy document...
Davidson/ You know, not to complicate it more, but everybody maybe wondering, well,
what exactly is this district planning process, and as Doug alluded to, the 97
Comp Plan (mumbled)
Boothroy/ No, it's 84. Well, we did....we did the 84 and then there was an update
(mumbled)
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Davidson/ At any rate, tried to be introspective enough to say, all right, what can we do to
keep this from going on the shelf and forgetting about it.
Boothroy/ Right.
Davidson/ And what we developed was a district planning process, where the City was
split into ten planning districts, and we say over the course of, I think we
originally started out to do one a year, and that took us about a year and a half
because (mumbled) so over 15 years, we would examine one district in detail and
it's been a great process because people can really focus on a planning district,
much more easily than they can the whole broad city, and so over the course of
ten or 15 years you basically updated your...when you look at the end result of all
those planning districts, you've essentially updated your comprehensive plan,
although the first one you did is 14 years old, um, and it has been, but as Doug
said, it adds another layer of people trying to understand exactly, all right, district
planning, comprehensive planning, strategic planning, action plans, there's the
annual budget, there's you know, it's getting pretty complicated here. (several
talking)
Boothroy/ Theoretically, or in your head conceptually (mumbled) some fashion.
Craig/ But doesn't the comprehensive plan, I mean, I'm not that familiar with it, but isn't
it more, I think of it as, and I may be wrong, as a document that deals more
with...with geography and with places, and...and zoning and you achieve what
you want through...through those, the laws that govern those kinds of things.
And a strategic plan isn't tied to that. I mean, a comprehensive plan is sort of the
law. I mean, this is...this is how this is going to be, until we change it, and a
strategic plan, to me, is much more, this is how...where we want to go and...and
it doesn't matter what the current law is, or what the current whatever is. You're
going...and it's very broad, I mean (several talking)
Bailey/ (unable to hear) Comp Plan are visionary......
Craig/ Right, right I was on that committee that did that, but I never felt much got done
with that piece. (several talking)
Bailey/ ...whatever you call that prelude to the land use...you can call that the strategic
planning portion of the comp plan, and I don't know (unable to hear).
Dilkes/ What's in the Comprehensive Plan that doesn't relate to land use, and I think, I
mean, it all...the focus is land use. Our districts are based on geographic areas of
the city, so, but...those are...those are the things that get re-examined, because
they have to be, as through our district planning process, and every time we do a
zoning ordinance. Um (several talking)
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Davidson/ ...those district plans, I mean, if you look at the South District Plan, it
identifies that we're going to need a fire station.
Boothroy/ I was going to make that point, because in plans past we haven't made those
kind of comments within (several talking)
Davidson/ ...fire station, police precinct, uh, library (mumbled) I mean, that's all part of
those district plans.
Dilkes/ No, I know that, but the ultimate goal is to structure, to do a...to structure our use
of the land. I mean, that is...you could take that first part, I agree, first part of the
Comprehensive Plan and use it for action plans of a different nature than zoning.
(several responding)
Boothroy/ And I wasn't trying to get into the details. I was just suggesting that...that we
already have a mindset as how that all fits, and it is a community planning
instrument, and you can define that community planning instrument looks like
any way you want. (mumbled) strategic plan...it's all in the name. It's not
magic.
Dilkes/ But, I think...a good example is alcohol. Okay? The whole alcohol issue is not
dealt with in the Comprehensive Plan. (several talking) Or crime. Or, right,
those aren't Comprehensive Plan issues. You know? I think even those, the
Library things in there, the hazardous waste stuff, and all those things we were
looking at, they can have some connection to land use, but things that are
not...are behavioral, you know, those are not (mumbled).
Lombardo/ (mumbled) or at least clouding it in some sense is the fact there are elements
that would classically be the strategic plan, in our Comprehensive Plan document,
and so what this enables us to do, perhaps, is separate it and say, we now have a
strategic planning process that sets the conceptual framework for which the
Comprehensive Plan then...then is...is a part of or related to, the focus...you
know, the Comprehensive Plan becomes more focused on the traditional land use
and issues that it does, and we have a process for updating the framework or the
broad look and feel of the softer pieces of community building, uh, through the
strategic planning initiative.
Montei/ And wouldn't it be true that how this is done in detail can be hammered out
later? That, I mean, I think the question you wanted answered is, um, not exactly
how this is, um, done technically, but whether you want it to be done. If you want
to do something of this nature, and if these are the kinds of things that we've
talked about earlier today that seem to be compelling enough to engage in some
fashion, and that certain people need to be in a room and figure out how
mechanically that all relates and marries, so that there is coherence across your
system. So I would think it isn't a matter of whether or not, um, you know, it
should marry. I think everybody thinks it should. And then...then the question of
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the technical part, you can figure out. So I...I would like to help you move to,
you know, if you're doing an exploration here of, um, what you want, um, to
(mumbled) by the end of the day. I think we have not a little better understanding
of these, the distinctions. Um, what would you like...what else do you want
answered? There's a...there was a question of timeline there that you had raised,
um, earlier in the conversation, and I wonder if that's a question that...(several
talking)
Bailey/ Where does this fit in the budget process? Where does this fit (mumbled)
Montei/ Is that a good question to take up at this point?
Boothroy/ Well, I guess one of the questions I had is, is how do you get the input, what's
the process for, um, getting this type of input? Is it a survey? Is it, I mean,
doesn't that impact how timing works?
Montei/ Yes, it does.
Boothroy/ Okay.
Montei/ I'm glad you raised it, because it's something that I forgot to mention, that, um,
one of the things on the bottom of your agenda which we wont' get to today after
all is a stakeholder inventory. Another thing is what desired outcomes would you
want from the strategic plan. Those are two pieces that guide how you begin to
design. The outcomes first...is the first question. What do you want, uh, when
you have completed the strategic plan, what do you want it to achieve? And
that's the question we're not going to have time to answer today. Um, the next
thing you do is inventory all the different things that are going on. We've been
talking about that quite a lot. All the different other planning processes and so on.
And then, you inventory stakeholders to find out who...what are the groups that
make up our system? Um, a principle, I'll just reference it standing back there,
but we don't need to look at it, a system, we use system's thinking in a process
like this, which...which is a discipline for seeing the whole, the whole system,
and how the parts are related to each other and to the whole. So that no one part,
like the police department, isn't...isn't so successful and everything else is a
shambles. You have to concentrate on the whole, just like you talked about
concentrating on the children. It's no different. The community is a viable focal
point for people. They want...they want to commit to that. They want that to be
healthy, um, maybe not quite as compelling as children. I get your point, but I do
see, and I have experienced it personally so I know, people can rally around that.
What are the stakeholder groups that make up that system? You inventory that,
and then you create a steering committee, comprised of representatives from those
stakeholders. It's they, that group, that is charged with designing the process. So
that you have students, you have business owners, you have other governmental
units, you have Council person or two, you have staff, a couple of staff, you may
have a committee of 12 or 15 people who are the steering committee that create
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the design for how to engage, how to invite. What do we need to do? What are
the kinds of elements? Do we want a speaker in? Do we want mostly interactive?
Do we want a survey? Do we want, um, so on, so all of those components are
wide open because your process ought to be Iowa City's design, not some
consultant coming in and saying, `This is what you need.' (mumbled) the pieces
and this is how much it's going to cost. So, once that is designed, then the, um,
the process becomes, or begins to be implemented. So I would say the launch or
the gearing up is about two months, three months, before any, I mean, two months
before it's really broadcast that there's going to be such a thing, or maybe there is
a, you know, the Council of course has to endorse this idea and (mumbled) but
there's no real generation of community interest, until you are ready to extend
invitations, until you know what you're inviting them to. You know, so you can
do that, you can do this broad engagement piece, then there's a lot of synthesis of
the data that you collect, because you should gather a lot. And then you find a
synthesis evolving into a plan and then the action plans mean a lot of, uh, detailed
work, measurables to timelines, who is accountable and responsible for
implementation (mumbled). That would be my (mumbled).
Hayek/ Say you have this steering committee, you've got 20 people from the 20
identifiable constituents in town. Do they meet in a room like this with blank
sheets of paper and start from scratch? Do they react to a series of policy ideas
that Council and staff have already come up with, but we want reaction to?
Montei/ They, those meetings are facilitated, um, they begin with conversations about
purpose, um, or mission, like why do we exist, why do we show up, what
difference are we trying to make, what value are we trying to create for
stakeholders, what will be different because the City of Iowa City (mumbled), and
we answer some really deep questions. We also talk about guiding principles,
how are we going to behave with each other? What is the conduct when the going
gets tough? You know, so they do those kinds of things, as well as, um, getting
more clear about the stakeholder groups and who, um, who needs to be engaged,
and what would be the processes, how do you communicate with these people,
how do you engage them and invite them? And so, so...
Hayek/ That's process.
Montei/ It is. That's what the steering committee does.
Hayek/ Okay. But at what point, and what sources, are we putting the meat on the
bone.. .
Montei/ From...from the elements that they chose and suggest are right, such as surveys,
interviews, stakeholder events where you might have 50 people in a room, or
more, uh, where you do processes with flow charts and with wall, you know, all
the kinds of things that we started to do today, you do with great, um, process and
organization so (mumbled), but very dynamic. What you find is your whole
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system is able to speak, and when they put up everything on the walls, they so, oh
my gosh! We are such a diverse group and look at what we have said. The
experience you had today. We're all saying much the same thing. There are great
ideas here and there that are unusual, but vastly the same. So we begin that, and
then they actually do brainstorming around visioning, the stakeholders, in these
interactive experiences. And or interviews, and or in surveys -surveys are my
least favorite because, um, it's like taking a poll...taking someone's pulse. A
person only knows their individual experience and you can get a whole lot of
people to, um, say their individual experiences and then you have to patch
together something to try and sell it. This process doesn't work that way. It says,
you...the participants create it, so that it doesn't need to be sold. They
already...it's so transparent, everyone gets, as you will get (mumbled). Everyone
gets everything that's being created through the process, so they see it and say,
yeah, that's what we said. It was 18 pages, but that's what we said. And then as
they watch, they say, oh my gosh! I see my handprints on this. I see my words in
this. I see my sentiments in this. And so you have really created an environment
of ownership. And then it has to go through a process where people with content
knowledge, um, you know, pour over it and say, okay, this is what (mumbled).
This was brainstormed and this...these really seem off the wall. Does everybody
agree that's off the wall, or is there something here we're not seeing. So, you
know, so the process creates a space, a safe space for something new to emerge.
It's not your same old story; it's a new story. It's the story you want to write. I'm
familiar with a group that...that meets on a monthly basis and they were so sick
and tired of the world as it is. They said, you know, we've just been telling
ourselves the same story over and over again, the economy, you know and all the,
the wars and the issues and so on. Let's write the story we want. Just see what
that would feel like, and they spent several months on their monthly meeting,
writing a different story that they could read to themselves, and see what they
could create, instead of being hypnotized, if you will, by the routine (mumbled)
all of us have felt trapped (mumbled). Okay.
Hayek/ Can you, I'm sorry...
Montei/ No, it's okay.
Hayek/ If you go through that process, can you show me what it looks like at the end
point, at which we somehow have to wed it to our concrete plan. Is there an
aspirational wish list that, or something like that, that's broad...we want to
address crime, or we...we (mumbled), things like that. That's...how~does that
link up with what we have to do, or what staff has to do (mumbled).
Montei/ Yes, those are great questions. Okay. Let's say, um, here is a vision statement,
paraphrased, um...our community, um, is a steward of the natural environment,
within a robust...framework. I can't remember the word, the rest of the words.
(Flip Chart #8) Okay, so this community had seven or so mission statements and
one of them was we are really committed to being a steward of natural
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environment, and we will (mumbled). Okay. That's your vision statement.
Through the process of the strategic plan, they had, uh, I would guess, um, three
key goals that, um, addressed this, um, that were derived from many smaller
initiatives, or action steps, that will fulfill or make the goal come true. All of the
goals collected will make the vision come true. Okay? So these we could say we
need goals, these need the objectives. And the staff level, or the measurable level,
you have the various, you know, just think of a cascading, an outline form. You
have all of the things that must be done to fulfill that objective, all of the
objectives fulfill the goal, all of the goals that fulfill the vision. It's not really
very...it's not rocket science. It's very simple. But to get this, you work with
some of the smallest details that have been brainstormed and you back in to the
objectives and the goals, so that these are...you don't just sit there and say, okay,
let's do...we need three goals here for this vision and (mumbled). No, you get the
pulse of people about what it is that has to happen Monday morning or in six
months, and you begin to start to see the pattern forming, so that's why you need
a committee to synthesize, and you need a committee to ferret this out and
understand it, because it backs in to these pieces and makes this come true. So
that's what...tension is called creative or structural tension. What I talked about -
aclear sense of current reality, a very crystallized sense of the vision you want in
five years, let's say. What are we going to do now, now that we are so clear?
What are we going to do? People come up with all kinds of things that they know
have to happen now, and they're wise things. They are not just flip things - oh,
I'd like a skate park in my neighborhood. Well, you know, if they have been a
participant in this visioning process and in this whole experience, they have
gained wisdom. That's the whole deal about systems thinking. You start thinking
like the system, instead of thinking like...so you see from a perspective, not from
within your own prison wall, of you know, narrowness, but you see from outside
(mumbled). And that's kind of (mumbled), and I know that this is cryptic. It's
rare that I would make a presentation like this to a group, because this is
something that usually people experience and then they say, wow! I can't believe
how that worked. I never thought we would get from here to there. And usually
it's two or three people sitting in the room that are saying, yeah, I believe this can
happen; this can work. And then they embark and launch it, and then everybody
comes, and they have the party, and they're like oh my gosh! We did this. And
that's (mumbled) Other questions?
Craig/ So, we never answered the timeline, and thinking about it, it seems like, I mean,
the ultimate implementation is the budget process, and so if you start with the
notion that it's driven by the budget process, you know, and go backward, I mean
(mumbled) in September, so it seems pretty ambitious to think this could be in
place by next September. Doesn't it? I mean, you think this is a 12-month
process? (several talking) Well, see, that's what...it seems it might be more like
12 to 15 or 18 months, but...but maybe we could get it done.
Montei/ It's commonly done in towns.
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Craig/ Well, then, that would be perfect.
Montei/ I don't know about for Iowa City. I don't know that one could say what has
worked somewhere else will work here. It sounds as if you have a fairly high
(several talking and laughter) about community engagement, and I think I would
applaud that. I mean, and also you have the University, and that system that you
would want to engage in a way that is, you know, might present some uniqueness
and you would want to address that, so I wouldn't want to say that could be
promised, but um, it's possible.
Dilkes/ I agree that it has to back up to the budget. I think you're absolutely right. I have
some concern about maybe if we aim for the next budget or something, if Council
people want to do it, but I think not only does the City have a lot going on right
now, but people who want to tap into have a lot going on right now (mumbled).
National election coming up. We've got economic difficulties that I think
everybody, a lot of (mumbled). We have a flood that is not near resolved yet, and
I really hesitate to cram something like this into the next (mumbled).
Champion/ Is there ever a good time to do anything? We can always (several talking and
laughing)
Lombardo/ (mumbled) and thinking about children, and, you know, when is there ever
really a good time to have a kid. I mean (mumbled). If you framed it in that
context, who would ever start? I mean, if you think about, when is the best time
forme to have a child, would you actually ever do that, because there's always
things that get in the way (several talking) I'm not suggesting we have to start
right now, but certainly we could say, you know, first of the year we can start the
initial process (mumbled). To say that somehow we have to wait another year or
two, then, you know, to me that...then that's too much of a gap to ever get this
launched. L ..I think (mumbled) when is a good time based with all that we've
got going on that we can at least begin the process and start putting this together,
and (mumbled). Otherwise we just won't ever get through it.
Correia/ I also wanted to...we do have these big challenges facing the community. It
seems like this is a time at which we want to make sure we're making decisions
and policies that are responsive to the current realities, um, and so that's getting
this, because what we, the decisions we're going to be making in the next year are
going to have some type of effect on that current reality, and so wanting to
include those, that you know, just to include that and get the input from folks that
are dealing with what's going on related to the impacts of the flood, related to the
economy, so that then what we're doing is integrated into that, so that it's
responding to that, rather than creating more trouble on top of it, or not addressing
it at all, or not, you know, not being irrelevant, I guess.
Dilkes/ I really understand that theoretically, but L ..you know, I do think there are better
times to have children. I think there are better times to do things, sometimes,
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and...and so I really, I worry about, you know, launching on with something like
this right now.
Helling/ (mumbled) my question in terms of timeframe, uh, because I'm not sure I agree
that if...I'm not sure I agree we should put it off if we think this is the thing to do.
More important forme would be if we start because of the other demands
(mumbled) 18-month process (mumbled). That was more my question earlier, not
so much when we start, but can we work it in so that the time may vary,
depending on the other demands?
Montei/ And you did raise that earlier, and I think that there is, um, it's possible to do
that, as long as you can continue to keep the participants engaged. If too much
time goes by, they're...the energetic experience...you harnessed energy. You
harness the energy and attention of people, and when they, um, you know, then
aren't communicated with for a while, it...it can dissipate, and so you...you have
to be sensitive to that, and I don't think that we can answer the questions, um,
right now about just how many weeks should go by, but I know that when we
have an experience of engaging 50 stakeholders in a meeting, we try to get the
data back in their hands within two weeks, so that they can see that they were
heard. And so that they can, um, experience their own, um, sense of
empowerment about that, and so you know, I don't think you want another, uh,
you want them to know what the other processes are, even if they're not involved
in them, other smaller things or other things maybe going on, interviews and so
on. Everyone who participates should have something of a road map of, in fact I
brought one of those, um...and you can't really see this, give one to each table.
This is, this was a smaller city's experience, and it's simply starting in the upper
left corner, um, and then snaking around...these are pieces, are elements of, um,
of a process and I don't have the (mumbled). This process was probably eight or
nine, ten months long. So pieces can happen, um, and everybody knows what's
happening, and they know what month it's happening, and there's a web site and
people are keeping track and they can give input, you know, if they (mumbled).
One concept, I mean, there are other forms, you know, I'm not kidding you, um,
and you know just as well as I, there are a lot of other people (mumbled) different
processes as there are people (mumbled).
Wilburn/ If you try to look at a practical way to do this, um, then just structurally within
the process that you have, it might make sense to fit certain things within
constraints within our every day things that we have to do. For example, um, if
the design team has couple City Council representatives, um, during the budget
month, the heavy budget month that Council meets, might be a good time for the
design team to meet, because of all the extra meetings, and then you're looking at
a couple Council Members who are doing triple duty that month, but (mumbled)
Montei/ There maybe optimal times of year to start something (both talking)
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Wilburn/ And so...so rather than waiting three or four months for something to happen,
you're bumping something off (mumbled)
Fosse/ I think that overall this is a good thing for our community, to have one of these in
place. If nothing else we'll have a framework to evaluate opportunities. Um, you
know the timing thing is tough. How do you get there? Um, you know, ideally
the timing would have been two years ago, and the reason I say that is because of
the flood, and when Michael and Jeff and I went over and met with the University
in Coralville after the, after the flood, and talked about some strategic planning
for the river corridor, uh, Coralville's response was basically we have our plan in
place; this is just an opportunity to accelerate it. You know, so that...that just
shows some of the value of having a strategic plan out there. I think it's a good
thing for us. It's just a question of how do we get there.
Montei/ Other questions? Other things you want answered, or...(mumbled) Okay. Um,
well, I think in your policy processes and in your process, Michael, of
communication with the Council, it will figure out what your next steps are from t
his experience. Um, in looking at our agenda just to see in what way we want to
wrap up today, and uh, because we have...oh yes, we did copy the, some
evaluation forms, um, for this experience. (mumbled) I'd appreciate your filling
these out. (several talking) When you're finished with those you can just put
them in the bins in the center of the tables. And, um, we did create (mumbled)
and uh, as a result of that and before we disperse and everyone goes out and does
whatever I hope you have fun doing today, um, it might be an opportunity to, any
expressions that want to be voiced right now, um, appreciation, um, concern, um,
whatever it maybe, I'd like to start and say that, um, one of my (noise on mic) is
to facilitate individual and group (mumbled). That's just, it's just an important
part of my life, I love doing it because I mean, who better. iJh, I just think that
(mumbled) and some of you, all of you are here voluntarily, because those of you
who are staff are also using your free time today and uh, to make a world a better
place (mumbled) so I'm really (mumbled) what you do (mumbled). Now the
floor's open for anyone who'd like to say anything (mumbled).
Helling/ (mumbled and noises on mic)
Montei/ Anybody?
Dilkes/ Well, I always like the opportunity to get together with this group of people
because we do laugh a lot and enjoy ourselves and that's probably a lot of the
reason why (mumbled). Appreciate the opportunity.
O'Donnell/ Well, and I think when you get together with this group of people you really
understand how good this group of people is. And maybe it should happen more
often.
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Bailey/ I was going to say that department heads and Council rarely get together as a
group, so this was (mumbled) perspectives (mumbled). And really (mumbled)
Lombardo/ And I think folks were fully engaged. I don't think there was any hesitancy
(mumbled) um, speaking from their own perspective, and I think that's what we
wanted to accomplish today. (mumbled) build upon what we (mumbled)
framework for discussion.
Trueblood/ I guess I'm living proof that you're never too old to learn something new. A
number of these ideas expressed today all make sense, and they're frankly things,
some of them, that I hadn't thought much about before. May not again either, but
at least (laughter) I know (several talking)
Wright/ I think it's really interesting to look at the stuff on the wall over there, how much
in common our thinking is. Um, a lot of details but the basic thoughts and the
basic concerns (mumbled)
Hayek/ I agree. I'm glad to meet with department (mumbled and noise on mic)
opportunity to do that because usually we're at a Council meeting, one or two
(mumbled) Whatever happens this point going forward, that stuff on that wall
over there (mumbled) with me. I was impressed by the consistency of the
thoughts portrayed up there and um, I've got a lot (mumbled)
Montei/ Okay. Thank you all. (several responding)
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