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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-10-16 TranscriptionPage 1 Council Present: Cole, Dickens, Mims, Taylor, Thomas, Throgmorton Council Absent: Botchway Staff Present: Fruin, Fruehling Others Present: Lundell (C), Hemingway (ICCSD), Rettig (BOS), Donahue (NL), Carberry (BOS), Friese (BOS), Claussen (ICCSD), Miller (Makers Space), Roesler (ICCSD), From (LTH), Goodrich (C), Green -Douglass (BOS), Sullivan (BOS), Eyestone (ICCSD), Barron (JCAHC), Habel (C), Achenbach (HTF), Boldt (T), Lyness (JC), Gross (C), Pollock (NL) Call to order: Welcome and introductions: Throgmorton/ So welcome to City Hall, Iowa City City Hall, for .... meeting of the joint entities on October the 10h, 2017. It's a pleasure to have all of you here, and it's especially a pleasure to have a few new people — JP, Shawn. Anybody else? Anyhow, it's a real pleasure to have both of you here. And we have a pretty short agenda it looks like, but we do have a couple topics, uh, that we want to get to. Before we do that though, uh, we need to introduce ourselves to one another, just check our memories and things like that. I'd like to welcome Steve Miller, as well. LJh, we invited Steve to come and help us, uh, chat a little bit about the Makers Space topic. John, why don't you start and we'll go around that way. Lundell/ Sure! John Lundell, the Mayor of Coralville. Hemingway/ Phil Hemingway, Iowa City School District. Rettig/ Janelle Rettig, Board of Supervisors. Donahue/ Terry Donahue, Mayor of North Liberty. Carberry/ Mike Carberry, Board of Supervisors. Friese/ Kurt Friese, Board of Supervisors. Claussen/ J.P. Claussen, uh, School District. Cole/ Rockne Cole, City Council of Iowa City. Miller/ Steve Miller, I'm a promoter of Makers Space. Thomas/ John Thomas, Iowa City City Council. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 2 Dickens/ Terry Dickens, Iowa City Council. Roesler/ Paul Roesler, Iowa City School Board. Mims/ Susan Mims, Iowa City Council. From/ Louise From, University Heights. Goodrich/ Laurie Goodrich, City of Coralville. Green -Douglass/ Lisa Green -Douglass, Board of Supervisors. Taylor/ Pauline Taylor, Iowa City City Council. Sullivan/ Rod Sullivan, Board of Supervisors. Eyestone/ Shawn Eyestone, Iowa City School District. Barron/ Sara Barron, Johnson County Affordable Housing Coalition. Habel/ Ellen Habel, City of Coralville. Achenbach/ Tracey Achenbach, Housing Trust Fund. Boldt/ Doug Boldt, City Administrator at Tiffin, and I have my daughter Ava with me tonight. (several talking) Fruin/ Geoff Fruin, City Manager Iowa City. Makers Space (Iowa City): Throgmorton/ Good deal, and I'm Jim Throgmorton, Mayor of Iowa City. So the first topic on our agenda is the Makers Space topic, which Iowa City wanted to bring up. Let me, uh, provide a.. just a brief bit of background and then maybe Rockne wants to say, uh, a few words about this. First I'd like to note that, uh, you know we have a strategic plan that identifies seven priorities and there are details with regard to each of those priorities, and one of the details for one of the priorities is: "To work closely with the Community School District, Kirkwood Community College, labor organizations, Iowa Works and others, to explore the feasibility of an industrial arts/crafts facility in Iowa City." We fully understand this is not an item for Iowa City to act alone on, nor to take the lead on, but we do believe it's a topic that potentially has merit. So our Council discussed it during our last work session, and decided that .... it would be fruitful to bring it up for discussion in this forum because all sorts of relevant, uh, and interested folks are here, present. So, Rockne, I think you might say a few words (both talking) turn things over to Steve. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 3 Cole/ Yeah, I'm sure you're all familiar with the concept of Maker Spaces. It's a really exciting concept, where we essentially bring the opportunity to learn industrial skills in a ... sort of a non-traditional setting. Um, it's an interesting concept, but yet it can be very difficult to actually implement in practice. Um, this is a topic, as Jim said, that we brought up at our last City Council meeting. We weren't quite ready at that point to move forward with a, sort of a formal committee, to sort of evaluate the feasibility of a Makers Space, um, but nevertheless, I felt it was really good. I had some con .... uh, contact with Phil Hemingway and Steve Miller about this concept, and I think they had approached Jim about four or five months ago on this. I thought nevertheless it'd be a good opportunity to get an update from Steve Miller. Um, Steve and I go back about a week ago (laughter) Um .... but we had a great conversation. I learned about his experience as a metals teacher for the City of Iowa City, uh, but not only that, um, one of the things he's done in retirement is he's gone around and looked at other communities to see what they've done. Um, so I thought it'd be a good opportunity for him to come in and simply, uh, describe sort of some of the potential benefits of Makers Spaces and maybe identify, um, maybe one or two other communities that have moved forward on projects like this, and then after the meeting, um, you know, as we all get various proposals from time to time from similar organizations, I think we'll at least get a sense of, you know, where to turn to, maybe this is a topic if it will pop up in six, nine months, when we're a little bit more clear in terms of what the recommendation's gonna look like, uh, but nevertheless I thought it'd be good to invite Steve in and share a few of his views, um, on this particular topic. Throgmorton/ Steve, before you start, uh, please make sure you talk into the microphone and it's my understanding you'll speak for maybe five minutes or so and then we'll have discussion about it. Miller/ Thanks, Rockne, and thank you all for this opportunity. I appreciate it. Uh, I'm not very well known outside of the School District. Uh, most of my career lifetime was spent as an industrial technology instructor in the Iowa City Community Schools, uh, for 32 years. Uh, 36 years altogether. And, uh, before that, uh, I .... I was involved with industry. I, uh, started with Collins Radio back before the merger with, uh, Rockwell, even before Ross Perot was making, uh, takeover attempts back in the 1960s. So I .... I go clear back to the hand wiring of chassis era and, uh, I .... I actually used to write instructions for the ladies lined up to .... to wire those chassis. Uh, worked in the research lab there and most of the time we were under contract with the federal government for the Apollo project, and for, uh.... uh, building, uh, flight simulators for, uh..... uh, the Bureau of Weapons. And it was very, very interesting for a person just out of high school, uh, to get involved with. And it was there that I decided that I wanted to go to college and started junior college, and I also worked at Marshalltown, uh, at the Lenox Industry in their gas heat design section, uh, in their research lab. And, uh.... I also had, uh, an opportunity to work for a very interesting start-up in the plastics industry, uh, Triangle Plastics. And, uh.....it was a very, uh, small operation to begin with. They had one, uh, product, and that was plastic dog caskets. And back in the mid-1960s, there wasn't a lot of demand and he was very interested in diversification. But those were very lean times when he was working at This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 4 diversification, and uh, he taught me some important business skills during that time, like always pay your bills on Thursdays. That gives ya until the next Tuesday to make sure the checks don't bounce at the bank. (laughter) But diversify he did, and uh, he became the largest, uh, plastic thermoformer, uh, in the world, and um, he was, uh, very big in the transportation industry and, uh, also the ag in .... industry. Uh, right now this afternoon they .... they will be pulling parts in northeast Iowa from, uh, an off -shoot of his, one of his businesses that produces all the, uh.... uh, top panels, rear panels, side panels, and roofs and headliners, instrument panels for combines. So it's one of the largest thermoforming presses in the world, and uh, it all started from a man who, uh.... uh, started making dog caskets out of plastic. And, uh, so that was a very, very interesting thing, but one of the things we had to do as he was diversifying was to, uh.... uh, build molds for John Deere, when they were calling for proposals to build the, uh, tops and roofs for the headliners and, uh.....uh, headliners and roofs for the, uh, sound guard John Deere tractor cab back in the 1960s. And, uh..... we had to build this mold in an unheated feed warehouse that he was renting, and uh, had to make it out of wood, and then of course he didn't have a press big enough to pull the part, to, you know, test it to take parts to John Deere for a proposal. So he called John Hanson up at Winnebago and, uh, borrowed my pickup truck and, uh, drove the mold up there and pulled the parts, took `em to John Deere, and got the contract for those parts, and uh, he just, uh, after that it was like, uh...... uh, Bubba Gump Shrimp with the, uh, Forrest Gump, you know, after that he just, uh, really took off. But, what he really could of used was a Makers Space. You know, if he would have had a .... a comprehensive workshop, uh, space available where he could prototype his design, uh, it would have been such a great help and that's one of the big aspects of Makers Spaces that are so important to use it as a tool for economic development and small business startup like that. And, uh, it, uh, there are a lot of success stories that have come from, uh, Makers Spaces already. And, uh, one of the best examples that I have found is in Chandler, Arizona. I visited there last spring. They have a ... a Makers Space that is, uh, collaboration between the tech shops, which is the biggest player, uh, in the Makers Space business. They have about a dozen Makers Spaces in the United States, most on the east and west coast, uh, the nearest one is San... is, uh, St. Louis, but in the one in .... in Chandler, they have partnered with the City of Chandler, the University of Arizona. I should say ASU Sta... Arizona State University, and tech shops to come up with a fabulous facility that includes a complete machine shop, fabrication shop, welding shop, a fabric shop, cad shop, all the 3-D, uh, equipment like laser cutters, plasma cutters, um, CNC routers, and .... a water jet cutter that'll cut through six inches of any material on the planet. Very, very impressive facility. It has loading docks. It has outside work canopy area. It is magnificent! And, uh, it is probably the biggest, uh, success story of a Makers Space and a model to consider. Now there have been, uh, disappointments with Maker Spaces. Portland, Oregon attempted, uh, one with tech shops. The mistake they made, they put it too far from the central core. They have a lot of artisans in Portland and the, you know, type of people who are really into this kind of thing, but it was too far out to be convenient. They got in at a time when, uh, the lease prices for real estate were extremely high, and they couldn't, uh, pull in enough money in memberships to make it work. So they had to close that one. They have closed one on the east coast too, I think at Raleigh, uh, North Carolina. Um ... and they're.... they're struggling a bit. It seems the key to success is to have some municipal This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 5 involvement, some, uh, support, some public support with at least the real estate piece of a Makers Space to make it fly, to make it sustainable. And, uh, that's what I'm hopin' we can, uh, generate a conversation about and maybe even go farther than that with. Uh, it would be wonderful to, uh, you know, have such a collaboration between, uh, the University of Iowa, uh, the municipal governments, county government, school district. It's been a disappointment to see the decline of the, you know, the old school shops and industrial arts shops. Um, those actually were the original Makers Spaces in every community. And, uh, when they were run by the communities, they had a great adult education program, for example, in the evenings. They taught everything from First Aid to Flight School, and uh.... lot of members of my family participated in that, and those places are pretty much gone. And we're not seein' the kind of cooperation anymore to .... to make, uh, community use of spaces like that. So, it's one of the things I'm promoting is to try, you know, kind of like we've done with the big gyms in the area, to make, uh.... um, Makers Spaces that, uh, you know, uh, are available to the kids during the school day, available to the public in the evening, Saturdays, urn..... and it's ... it's just, uh, unbelievable what can happen. I mean we are in need of skill training for our young people in this community, like never before. We've seen some tragic examples recently of what can happen when young people are left unprepared and unskilled, and there's a solution for that. And, uh, I'd like to see us get serious about doin' more about it. And, uh.... I'm willing to volunteer some time, contribute some equipment. I know a lot of other people who are willing to do the same thing. And I guess I'm really interested in knowing what .... other people might think about it and what they might be willing to do. Sol....that's about all the time (both talking) Throgmorton/ Pretty good, about eight minutes. That's pretty good! Thank you, Steve. So we see this as an exploratory conversation. There's no decision involved, you know, that kind of thing, but before we proceed and give y'all a chance to ask Steve questions, uh, I want to note that Janet Lyness is here, Mitch Gross is here. I don't know your name. Thank you, Amy Pollock. Did anybody else walk in? Oh (several talking) sorry, Annie (several talking) All right, so thank you. So, questions for Steve or reactions? Green -Douglass/ So, um, I ... I think that that kind of, um, training and .... getting of skills is really important and helpful, um.....Kirkwood Regional Center, out at Oakdale, has a small portion that has.... vocational ed. They bus kids in from, as far away as Tipton, um. .... so it seems like maybe..... it might be kind of talking about reinventing the wheel. Um.... Miller/ Not exactly! Green -Douglass/ And ... and then also just, you know, and then by not having it just in Iowa City, it would allow for other school districts in the area to be able to participate as well, especially since you're asking for, you know, a .... uh, support from all of the municipalities. Miller/ Right. Most Makers Spaces are to some extent, uh, membership based, so it does require membership. Um, and that would be open to anyone. Um .... we've been, you know, very interested in the Regional Center complex since its inception and have watched it This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 6 very closely. The problem that we have seen is that we have given away the sequential preparation to get kids to that level by eliminating everything prior to that experience. We're not getting the enrollment out there that we should be. If you ... if you check the enrollment figures, they are extremely low. I'll give you an example, in .... in the Iowa City School District we use .... we had an auto program. Uh, the instructor served 100 students per year. They closed down that facility, tore down the building, even though it was a very good building, and uh, depended entirely on the Regional Center. That first year at the Regional Center, there were six students from the entire Iowa City (both talking) Green -Douglass/ Oh I'm aware of the numbers, but I was just wondering like if all of these schools no longer have their vocational programs, then how are you going to make, you know, have that foundation piece for this Makers Space. ITi"IWAViViMiw Green -Douglass/ I mean where are they gonna get that, if they're not gettin' it in the schools. (unable to hear, speaking away from mic) Hemingway/ Well we are working to bring that curriculum back to the schools, uh, that meets a five-minute bell schedule. Um, and as Steve ... is absolutely right. That sequential, uh, building block curriculum has been destroyed and, uh, it's no different than saying, well if we want our high school graduates to know, uh, calculus, then we'll just teach `em calculus, without going through algebra, geometry, and pre-calc and preparing them for that curriculum. And the Regional Center has some very nice facilities, transportation is an issue, and transportation is an issue for students that can't get to school to get on the free bus to go to the Regional Center. Um, bell schedules are also .... have been concerns in the .... in the past, but, um .... we have, and I spoke with Administration today. There's ...everyone was in meetings, they couldn't make it, but uh, spoke with Matt Degner. He's very supportive of this. Uh, we have Makers Spaces in our scho.... in our high schools that is more, uh, audio-visual and that .... on that level. Uh, but uh..... recog ....Matt recognizes, and Administration is recognizing, that we need to have these opportunities for our students that are close by, not away, that transportation doesn't cause a problem, and uh, get that sequential, uh, education back in so students can build. When you have a student that goes to the Regional Center and can't read a tape measure, and then the first thing you do is you put `em on a CNC machine, they're not gonna have a very good outcome. And so we need to make sure that we prepare students to go there and have a successful outcome. Miller/ Another problem we have in our schools is that we're on a seven -period day where teachers teach five out of seven, and as we increase more and more of the academic requirements, it makes it more and more difficult to schedule electives and also among the students who are more inclined to take electives, they're also more inclined to have to repeat a course due to their unsuccess or attendance problems or something like that, and that's... therefore I'm an advocate of taking, uh, more and more of, uh, these opportunities outside of the regular school day. For example, a construction class. I see no reason why This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 7 we shouldn't be teaching a construction class in the summer when we have construction season, uh, into a more intensive kind of situation than attempting, uh, it ... some other way. Uh... I think there are a lot of opportunities for evening, Saturday opportunities. Uh... even if we started with a temporary space, uh.....I think just getting some of these kids together and informing them of the opportunities in some of the, uh, trade unions and, uh, building, uh, associations. Cedar Rapids Builders, uh, are putting together a brand new facility right now that will accommodate .... their goal is 1,500 students and when you think about it, that's more students than the entire graduating class of all of the Iowa City schools. It's impressive! Builders are recognizing that there's a seri ... very serious shortage of skilled labor for their trades, and they want to do somethin' about it, with or without the help of local school districts. And we're seeing more and more of that, um, with industries starting their own, uh, technical education programs. If you go, uh, Highway Equipment, New Leader, Kinsey, uh.... they're all starting their own welding schools to, you know, make sure they have, uh, the skill level necessary to continue operating. And .... we've seen it locally here with our wind turbine campus. We've had companies that have said we're not coming because we assessed the, uh, availability of skilled labor in the area and have decided it's not here. This is happening all over Iowa, central Iowa has experienced it with, uh, Pella Windows. They sited their last plant in Illinois because insufficient labor. Down in Washington, I think we had Modine, 400 employees. They moved to Mexico. Before they moved they had two large lighted billboards south of the Riverside exchange, on 218 there, looking for, uh.... welders and electricians. Caterpillar came in and told `em they had to sharpen their pencil on the contracts by 16%, and between that and the lack of labor in the area, they decided to move to Mexico. That's what they did. Now there's a bright side. Stutsman's from Hills bought that plant, moved in Bazooka and, uh, Farm Star and are, uh.... putting it back together. Pollock/ (unable to hear, away from mic) ....talked about this concept to local employers? Miller/ Whenever I can. I talk to anyone that's interested. Pollock/ And what are the feedback you're getting? Miller/ They're very interested. They're very interested. They .... a lot of `em recount the good experiences they had in high school in their old, uh, shop classes and they're sad to see that gone, and uh.....you know they really, uh, they really see a need for a ... you know, developing a labor force from that beginning, and it's no longer there. Goodrich/ (unable to hear, away from mic) ....talk about memberships. Tell us about hobbyists. Miller/ Right. It's a great opportunity for hobbyists. A lot of these, uh, Maker Spaces, uh, charge a membership fee, uh, lot of `em are $50 a month and for a lot of `em it....it entails, uh, 24/7 access with a .... with their own key to the door and uh.....there's one starting in Dubuque, uh, actually it's a social studies teacher in alterna... alternative school that is doing it. He bought a building and, urn .... kind of a marginal area of Dubuque. Got it really cheap. He put in about 20 private studio spaces. His concept is .... is very This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 8 different. It's a combination of non-profit and profit. The studio spaces will be a profit operation that he'll operate and the, uh, larger studio space will be non-profit. He wants to be partially non-profit so he can take advantage of, uh, of volunteers and donations mainly. He's soliciting donations from area industry that might have cast-off equipment that still might be, uh, useful in a Maker Space and uh.... he's doing .... he's off to a great start. He has 23 members so far and he has about half of his studio spaces rented and uh.....he's had a little opposition. I talked to him and he said he's had opposition, and I said, uh, opposition from who? And he said well the Catholic church, and I said the Catholic church? How'd that come about? And he said well, I was looking for another building closer to the church and they didn't think I'd be a good neighbor. And then as he was giving me a tour, we walked by this open studio space and he said, uh, now this is Sister Margaret's space. I said you mean a nun? Yeah! And I ... you know, was very interested. I said I sure would like to meet her! And, uh, he said well you can, she's in the next room welding. So I went in there and I met Sister Margaret, welding on a sculpture, uh, on a Sunday afternoon. And had a great little conversation with her and, uh, hope to, uh, see her again some time. But it's a great place for hobbyists. One of the greatest things is the collaboration that comes from people getting together to share ideas and make suggestions and.....you know like.....like I have my own Maker Space but it's just me. I mean it looks like 20 people could work there but it's just me and there's nobody to talk to, but you know, I just love to kick ideas around with other people. Lot of times Phil and I get together, and sometimes it gets kind of outrageous (laughter) but then we .... but sooner or later we say, you know, that might just work! (laughter) And, uh, it's brainstorming at its finest, it really is, and, uh, it happens a lot in Maker Spaces. Hemingway/ One other thing I wanted to put in, uh, along the lines of ...of skills and, uh.... uh, getting back to curriculum that we used to .... that we used to offer, the Iowa City School District has never offered vocational agriculture. Uh, in a state that agriculture is our main industry. Um, we are working presently with a steering committee, uh, looking at getting vocational agriculture and FFA, and FFA is used in a lot of, uh, communities and its numbers are growing, uh, there's been several recent articles about the numbers in FFA at all-time highs, and uh, just for everyone to be aware of, that's something we're working on. I've talked with, uh, County representatives about, uh, the fact that, uh, you know, things that are being done out at the Poor Farm, uh, thinking, uh, in the future as a possible FFA component there, uh, with its close proximity to West High. Um, we've had, uh, several steering committee meetings and, uh, the principal at Liberty is very interested in getting some of that, uh, those FFA facilities at his school. So, uh, just for the community to be aware of that this is another, uh, opportunity we're looking at to, uh, provide, uh, some skills, uh, for our students. Throgmorton/ Well, I guess I'd like to say on behalf of Iowa City, remember where I started — one of our strategic plan objectives is to .... somehow partner in a facility, kind of like this, and I think there would be interest on the part of City government, depending on the details, uh, to be a partner in helping to create such a facility. Details matter, of course, but I don't believe we're in a position.....we haven't discussed this as a Council, you know, fully, so I don't wanna commit the Council, uh, fully on anything here. Uh, but... I think we're not in the position of taking the lead on this. It's not for us to do. So we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 9 would need to see some kind of concrete proposal come before us and any other, uh, potential partners, uh, that we could really vet and ask ourselves does this work for Iowa City, how can we contribute, etc. So .... that's what we need. Miller/ It would be very interesting... go ahead! Sullivan/ Steve, have you spoken to anybody at, um, ICAD? Miller/ No I haven't. Sullivan/ Um, cause as I hear you talk I'm thinking a little bit, you know, they've got a model already set up where, uh, people can come in and .... and rent bench space, you know, that's usually IT kind of based stuff, but I wonder if they would be interested in a model where people could come in and rent a, you know, studio as you call it. Miller/ I'll definitely, uh, be interested in looking into that (both talking) Sullivan/ ...we're all investors in that organization already, uh.... (unable to hear) Miller/ Oh, okay. Um ..... I mean it would be interesting, I mean we're.... considering the timing right now, we have the engineering school who is working on a lot of cross -curricular projects. Uh.... there's a possibility with the Art Department and the use of the former Art Museum and art studios, uh, there. I think they're currently still tryin' to figure out what to do with those. Uh.... a lot of developers, uh, I've recently heard that some developers are making offers on buildings on, uh, Riverside Drive right now. Uh, we could talk about, uh, partnering with some developers who might be interested in incorporating a Maker Space with, you know, some encouragement. Um, I mentioned to someone not long ago that if there's resistance to first floor commercial on a lot of these projects, uh, could we consider, uh, first floor art space? And I .... I've talked to the Downtown Association, uh, art person and they're .... ask `em if their ... their level of, uh, commitment be to promoting and supporting such an idea and uh, they're very supportive and actually the ArtiFactory group is, uh, looking for some temporary start-up space for their ArtiFactory project. It'd be interesting to talk about how these might mesh together with their studio space proposals. I know they have a model on Bainbridge Island that they're very, very, uh.... proud of and it's a fantastic, uh, one if. ... if you're interested in looking it up, it's the .... the acronym is BARN, the Bainbridge Artists Resource Network, and it's a $23 million art space that's architect designed with, uh, 11 studio spaces on Bainbridge Island off the coast of Washington and San Juan Islands. And, uh.....it's very impressive. But there may be a lot of partners to be, you know, starting conversations with soon about what might happen. I've been wondering if the Moen Group might have been interested in .... in, uh, incorporating something like this in one of their projects. Uh.....lot of. ... lot of interesting possibilities right now I think. Green -Douglas/ ...old Menards, former University of Iowa Art (several talking) Miller/ Oral-B has a.....has a.....(several talking) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 10 Green -Douglas/ ...cause that was great when they had the studios set up there for the art department. It was a great work space. Miller/ It's an electric toothbrush factory now! (several talking) Throgmorton/ This is the way in which such a project needs to be vetted pretty thoroughly, uh... Geoff knows this stuff better than I do, but my sense is that, you know, space is .... new space is pretty expensive, and that's not the way to start for a facility like that. Probably ought to start in a .... in existing buildings. Happens to be vacant. Or existing space within a bui... building. Uh, this .... uh, that's available, but again I want to emphasize, we need somebody else to take the lead and give us somethin' that we could actually vet. And we're not in a position to do it on our own. (several talking) (male)/ ...School District or the .... a 501 or..... Okay. (laughs) Miller/ University of Iowa! (laughter) Mr. Harreld being a businessman might be pretty interested in this, uh, concept. Throgmorton/ He's a pretty busy guy! (laughter) Miller/ The art .... the art buildings over there are very, uh, appealing. And if they're not ... useful for, uh, displaying expensive art, uh, maybe they'd be great for producing art and maybe giving more opportunity to new and emerging artists to display their work. Somethin' we don't have to worry about, uh, $150 million art piece over there that might get wet! (several talking) Throgmorton/ Thanks, Steve (both talking) Miller/ Thanks for giving me the opportunity. I really appreciate it. Throgmorton/ Like I said, we ... it was just an exploratory conversation. So no decisions involved. Thank you, Steve. Miller/ Yeah, and I'd welcome conversation with any .... anyone who wants to talk about it. Thanks. (several talking) Thank you. Throgmorton/ Okay, Item 4 is a CIT update, Johnson County put it on the agenda so.....anybody wanna.... (several talking) CIT Update (Johnson County): Green -Douglass/ So, um, I will first say that, um, oh sorry (noise on mic) Janelle Rettig and Susan Mims and I are three people here, and .... Terry, oh there are a lot of people here actually, um, from the Governance Committee, and then we also have a Steering Committee. So the Steering Committee is looking at the programming. CIT, if. ... if you This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 11 haven't heard that, is Crisis Intervention Team and, um, here in Johnson County we have begun doing training that was, um, first brought to our attention by Jessica Peckover, our Jail Alternatives Coordinator, and uh, many of us traveled to San Antonio to see their model. Um, there are other models. There's one in Kansas City. So right now, as we speak, crisis intervention training is going on. Uh, we have almost completed training of all of local law enforcement. Uh, we also have opened up that training to I think probably around six spots to neighboring agencies to also participate in that training. And what ... what the officers learned is how to de-escalate a situation when they come across someone who is in crisis, uh, mental health crisis, and then .... after that happens, it begs the question what now, because the former options were take them to the emergency room or take them to jail. And .... those are neither.... neither one of those are good options. So ... we are hoping to build our own crisis intervention .... center. Some people have referred to it as an access center, but I know Janelle and I are hoping for a better name, right? Anyway, um, the .... this would be a center where a person could go and, um, there would be several services offered there. One of them being crisis stabilization. Um, counseling, detox, um.....so.... a sobering unit. It would also be co -located with a low barrier shelter, and um, you know, as you all know, every winter the Shelter House is looking for space for their .... their winter shelter. So, once we have this center, we would no longer have to search each year for that low barrier shelter for the winter months. It would be at this space. So, for over a year now, we have been meeting and .... and looking at the details of this, and our most recent big news is that we all realized that the operational part was .... um, not completely hammered out in terms of who would be in charge of running it. And we have now gotten, um, word from the University that they would in fact be able to provide those services. They know how to do coding already and billing, um, there would be then one point person for that operational part. There are other providers from some of our .... our local non-profit agencies that would provide some of the other services there, and, um, the idea here is to have some efficiencies in providing those services so that perhaps a person who's working in detox, if they have no one (mumbled) can also get somebody checked in for the sobering unit, for example. Uh, we do not have a space for this yet, although our property group has, um, looked at both a bare property where we could possibly build a new facility, and have .... they have also looked at an existing building, and looking at the cost for.... retrofitting it to our needs. At this point we haven't, um, made a decision or if we're going to even do something completely different from those two options, but uh, we have partners with, uh, Iowa City and we have had Coralville and North Liberty also very interested, and we have also had our County Attorney looking at a 28E agreement for the building portion of it. The operational portion, of course, would be under the management of the University of Iowa, with contracts to those other agencies who would provide the other services. So that's where we're at, and it's very exciting because we have made a great deal of headway. For the longest time it didn't feel that way and it felt like which one do we do first? Do we completely get our operational part in place? Do we get a building, and so we're kinda now at that point where merging traffic is happening. So (mumbled) um .... Susan to jump in if she wants and Rod, you might .... do you have anything from, um .... the other, those other Supervisors that.... Sullivan/ Not yet. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 12 Green -Douglass/ Okay. Then I shouldn't of said anything. Um, Janelle or Susan, or any of the other entities that have been at our meetings, if you'd like to jump in please do. Mims/ Yeah, I would just like to clarify specifically because this is, this is a public meeting, we do not have any commitment from the University at this point in time. Everything is in the discussion phase, um, they have expressed an interest. We will be having another meeting in early November where they will, um, be coming back with more details on what services they feel they could provide and what services they feel, um, they can contract for with some of our non -profits in the area. We're very, um, interested in making sure that a lot of the non -profits that have been doing a lot of this work for a long time, um, and have been doing it very well are still, you know, a part of this organization. So, I just .... I think it's .... I don't know that there's any press in the room, but I just think it's absolutely essential that nobody walks out of here with the idea that this is a done deal because the last thing .... we're making really good progress, and I'll tell ya what scares the heck out of me is somebody walks out of here and says, oh, this is gonna happen and somebody at the University or at the Board of Regents hears about something that's already done and .... we get this thing cut off at the knees. Green -Douglass/ Yes! Thank you for clarifying that, Susan. Abs .... she's absolutely right. Um, and I probably should have said that prior to this we, um.....we just didn't even know if they wanted to play. Now they're expressing that interest in wanting to play, and so that's where we're at. The discussion seemed to be, um, moving along nicely and coming to maybe perhaps an agreement, but that has not happened yet. So I appreciate you (laughs) (both talking) Mims/ I think in early .... I think at our meeting in early November we will .... we will know a lot more because in .... between our last one and that next one is gonna be about six weeks, and what they were trying to do in that timeframe was to flesh out some of the details of what they felt they could provide and also what some of the contracts might look like between them and our local non -profits who would be, uh, providing some of the services and providing some of the personnel. Um, if ...if this works, one of the things that the University and particularly the ... the emergency room would probably be the entity of the University that might actually be involved in this, they have a lot of relationships and leverage with outside companies who do things that could bring some significant savings, um, to the table and so that's.... that's really important, um, we've also gotten some .... some news that I don't think we have in writing yet. A .... about potential grant money. Um, so ... until we have it in writing, we don't know that we actually have it or exactly how much it is, but there's a chance that we could have some .... some grant money that could help, um, maybe I shouldn't say grant money. Some outside funding money that could help with some of our operational costs as well. Um.....there certainly is a large national foundation that is watching this very carefully. Um, periodically asking us how far along we are. We're kind of anticipating that they have some interest also in providing some funding. We don't know exactly, again, how much or for what, whether it would be capital or operations, um, the people who know them well have been asking questions and kind of poking around (laughs) get information, but they're not This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 13 ready to say anything. So .... so there's some possibilities of some outside funding. Um, but they're all kind of waiting for us to get things a little bit more fleshed out and, um, contracts either signed or at least ready to be signed, um, so I think it's a great project. We certainly saw the need when we were down in San Antonio, the benefit, um, for people, and for all of our police officers and then first responders who go through this training, or even family members, to have some safe place to take a person that doesn't necessarily need to be in the emergency room, doesn't necessarily need to be at the jail, um, where they can get some professional help, safe, dry, clean place to sleep and then get referred to people in the community who do work with, whether it's mental health issues, substance abuse issues, combinations, whatever, so.....uh, we're makin' a lot of progress, as Lisa said. We still have some .... pretty big hoops to get through, or small hoops maybe (laughs) Green -Douglass/ Big details to work out, but .... the pieces of those details are starting to come together (both talking) Claussen/ (mumbled) a question? (several responding) Do, uh, is this just for adults? Mims/ Yes. Green -Douglass/ Yes. Claussen/ And what's the scope or the hope for scope? How many beds? Mims/ Boy, do you remember? Green -Douglass/ Fifteen I think. Mims/ Yeah, well (both talking) Green -Douglass/ ...becomes a different classification. Mims/ Yeah, it...it depends, because you've got potentially a detox unit, sobering unit, uh... mental health, emotional crisis, you know, behavioral stabilization, crisis .... so I think we're looking at .... some of those units having 10 beds. Green -Douglass/ But there's a number at which it becomes classified as something else, so we have to probably stay below that number. Throgmorton /Is there a microphone over there, JP? Claussen/ And then what .... what kind of length of stay are .... are, would be involved? Is it like days, months? Mims/ It would be days. Yeah, I mean for some people, sobering, it might be simply overnight. If ..police officers pick somebody up, didn't feel it was safe to take `em home, didn't This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 14 want to take `em to the jail or ER, they didn't need that kind of service, they could drop them off, sleep it off. That's what they do in San Antonio. Leave the next morning. Now we would have people, the idea is people would be there still to talk to them, you know, kinda just a one-night thing, no big deal, or do they .... are they really trying to get them connected with services. As you get into some of the other issues that people may have, um, if it's detox, it may be, you know, and I'm not in the health profession, so get them through that detox and then again referring them to other organizations in town that can hopefully help take it from there. It's ... the idea is not, um, is not significant long- term ... but the more we talk and the more potential partners are in the room, we're also seeing, um, a variety of uses that.....could potentially have some longer stay for certain people. Claussen/ Yeah, this is not... thanks for this work, I mean, this is a huge gap, and uh..... Throgmorton/ Any other comments or questions? Thanks for the update, Lisa. Susan. Okay, Item 5 is other updates. Does anybody in any of the other entities have somethin' to say? Other Updates: Rettig/ I think the County asked this be on, cause it's our favorite part of an agenda to hear what you're all up to. Um, we just wanted to say a couple things, uh, we have some new department heads and we try to keep you aware of that cause a lot of your, uh, offices deal with our department heads. As you know, Mike Hensch replaced Andy Johnson. That created an opening in the medical examiner. I think we told you about that. Clayton Schuneman is the new medical examiner, executive director. Uh.... this week we have a party for Steve Spenler, our Ambulance Director, uh, it's.... Wednesday? Wednesday (laughs) uh, we hope you'll all come. Speaking at about 5:00 in our new ambulance, medical examiner building. Our new director of the ambulance will be Fiona Johnson. Uh, Fiona has been with the ambulance service about 15 years I think it is. Um, you also may know that she's the founder of the Old Capitol Roller Derby, um, and so, uh, and Fiona, um, has been very involved in crisis intervention training. Went to San Antonio and has been part of all our training. Green -Douglass/ She's actually providing some of the training now. Rettig/ Yeah, she's provid... she's a trainer now. And, uh.... uh, public health, uh, as you all know, Doug Beardsley dealt with a health crisis and has chosen to retire, and his replacement, the new public health director, is David Koch. Uh, and so there's the, uh, revolving door we have. Uh, we are in the middle of our first ever comprehensive plan. In the past counties did land use plans, not comprehensive plans. Uh, we are also in the middle of. ... phase two and a half, basically, of three of the historic Poor Farm, and we have a variety of roads and conservation projects pending, including a drained lake and we're happy to answer any questions you have about any of that. (male)/ And we love the new park y'all are building for us! This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 15 Throgmorton/ Oh, thanks! (several talking) Just south. (several talking) The bridge'll be convenient for some of you. (laughter) Anybody from any of the other entities... yeah, Paul! Roesler/ Uh, this'll probably come as a surprise to you, but the School District (mumbled) pass a bond (mumbled) uh, that passed and pretty exciting news is that we'll be starting four projects here, uh, hopefully this spring. Uh, new elementary in North Liberty, uh, updates to Lincoln and Mann, and phase two of Liberty High School, which is all their outdoor athletic facilities, um, those will start going.... we've, uh, approved at least three of those plans already at some point. Uh, we're also going to start a discussion at our work session next week of a possibility of accelerating our timeline, uh, to that, where we originally were going to be done in 2024. There's a possibility we could talk about being done in 2021, uh, and saving quite a few, uh, millions of dollars if we decide to go that route. If we can make it happen. Uh, so that's pretty exciting news I guess for us. Green -Douglass/ There was another bond, school bond that was passed too, Clear Creek Amana School District. So they will be able to move forward with a lot of improvements to their facilities. Roesler/ Yeah, and I forgot to mention that, uh, Clear Creek, uh, Clear Creek Amana is, uh, partnering with us on the FFA. So, they're.... they're working with us as well. Throgmorton/ For Iowa City I guess I'd mention a couple things, one of which is Riverfront Crossings Park which is moving right along. It's fun to see the landscaping take place down there. The Gateway project, of course, is moving along. You all drive on it occasionally, I'm sure, so uh..... it's fun to see, and we gotta go till probably August or thereabouts next year before it'll be finished. We're in the process of hiring a couple new directors, yeah, I don't know where that stands. Geoff, I don't know if you want to say anything at all about stuff at the level that Janelle was talking. Frain/ Well we have two open director positions right now — Director of Neighborhood and Development Services, previously held by Doug Boothroy and, uh, the Director of Transportation Services, previously held by, uh, Chris O'Brien (unable to hear, away from mic) Rettig/ Geoff, when will Chris O'Brien's position be filled or.... Frain/ Uh, applications are due shortly before Thanksgiving. Rettig/ Okay. It's time to talk about contracts and ... I'm sure you have someone else. Frain/ Yeah. Throgmorton/ Okay, any other updates from anybody? Lundell/ Stay tuned for lots of construction in Coralville! (laughter) This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 16 Throgmorton/ I'm glad you brought that up! (laughter) I notice all sorts of land that's being transformed.... along the river. What's goin' on there? Lundell/ Well, as it's been .... often referred to as "Mount Heyworth" (laughter) uh, Mount Heyworth is going away and it's being redistributed in the Iowa River Landing District for several major construction projects, including the arena and associated buildings like that. Bringing the streets up to the right elevation that they need to be to be extended and we figure in about the next year or so there'll be upwards of 500 construction workers on site at that location. So..... Mims/ Local? Lundell/ Well, hope so! (laughter) I don't think there's enough local, unfortunately, but I wish every one was local, so..... Throgmorton/ Looks like a lot of activity. Lundell/ There will be. First Avenue will be a terrible for the next year but after that it'll be great! (laughs) Throgmorton/ So you're saying don't drive on First Avenue (several talking) Lundell/ Or Dubuque Street or (several talking and laughing) Public comment: Throgmorton/ All right, anything else from .... in the form of updates? Okay, next item is public comment. Anybody want to .... any member of the public can speak about anything, so .... hearing no one .... we need to schedule our next meeting. Uh, Kellie, I don't know. We ... we meet three ... three months from now, basically, right? Schedule next meeting: Rettig/ December 18' would be the pattern, right? Throgmorton/ Is that right? You would know? (several talking) Rettig/ January 15th! (several talking) We're not meeting that day then. (male)/ (mumbled) ....22nd, we have a budget thing all day on the 22nd (mumbled) County does. Throgmorton/ Yeah, I don't have my calendar right in front of me. Rettig/ It seems like then it'd have to go to the 22 d. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017. Page 17 (male)/ We'd have to move a budget thing but.... Rettig/ No, it'll be over. Whose turn is it to host? Coralville? (several talking) (male)/ Yeah, I think it's Coralville cause I don't think I've been to one in Coralville yet. (female)/ You were last month (several talking) I mean last time. (several talking) Rettig/ So it's Coralville's turn. (several talking and laughing) (male)/ Okay, duly noted! (several talking) (male)/ 22"d9 Rettig/ That'd be the, yeah, a week later than normal. Green -Douglas/ At 4:30? Throgmorton/ Yeah and where are we supposed to meet, Coralville or North Liberty? (several responding) ...or wherever, Tiffin or .... did you say North Liberty? (male)/ No I meant to say Coralville. (both talking) Adiourn• Throgmorton/ Okay. January 22nd at.....(several talking) I suddenly blanked out .... Coralville City Hall. Uh, reception at 4:00, meeting at 4:30. Okay. Good deal. Anything else? think we're adjourned. Thanks to all of you for coming. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council joint entities meeting of October 16, 2017.