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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-02-15 TranscriptionPage 1 Council Present: Staff Present: Others Present: Alter, Bergus, Harmsen, Taylor, Teague, Thomas, Weiner Davies, Fleagle, Fruehling, Fruin, Goers, Havel, Hightshoe, Kilburg, Seydell-Johnson, Sovers Miglin, Van Heukelom (USG) Continuation of meeting protocol discussion Teague: All right. It is 4:00 PM on Tuesday, February 15th, 2022. And this is the Iowa City City Council work session, and I welcome everyone here today. Hello to the Councilors, to those that are in the audience. Welcome. Our first item is going to be continuation of our meeting protocol discussions. And I know that, um, we had a late handout that was submitted, um, yesterday. So I'm gonna ask our City Council, um, our City Attorney, to kind of walk us through, um, the last update by the, kind of the Council subcommittee that met after our last meeting to discuss these meeting protocols. Goers: Thank you. Uh, Mr. Mayor. So, uh, starting with the, uh, version that -- Teague: Yeah. I don't know that the mics are on. Goers: : Oh. Well, I'll continue on. It sounds like they can hear me online. At least I'll keep my voice up. Uh, starting with the version that went out in the packet, uh, last Thursday, uh, there were a number of changes that were made, uh, on page 1, uh, of Rule 2, uh, I removed the "Except as specifically required by these rules, formal points of parliamentary procedure". That's the one that I had mentioned at our last meeting that I would be removing. Uh, then there was some, uh, clarification about, um, uh, kind of acknowledging the existence of work session, uh, meetings, so that didn't, uh, kind of come out of the blue, uh, later in the meeting, um, along with some description about what work session meetings are, uh, then some kind of cleanup, uh, reference to, uh, Council members and, uh, capitalizing, um, that, uh, phrase throughout the document, um, changing the agenda deadline to agenda items because it contained no deadline, um, uh, clarifying, uh, the circumstance in Rule 19 in which we would have a speaker identify their full address, that being a situation in which they have a special right to object, the kind of right that would, uh, trigger a supermajority requirement by Council, um, so we want those folks to identify themselves, um, including their full address in that circumstance, and then getting into, uh, further into the public participation rules, uh, particularly Rule 21. Oh, now we're on, I'll backup a little bit. Um, here, there was, uh, some clarification to make the rules, uh, more in line and in sync with, uh, First Amendment, uh, case law, um, you know, kind of, uh, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 2 eliminating the aspirational, uh, portions of it in, instead focusing on what is actually enforceable. Uh, and so those changes were made, um, then, uh, moving on to Rule 22, uh, similar kind of, uh, changes, uh, added, uh, some clarification about loud or abusive language. Uh, I added the, uh, uh, parentheses such as fighting words, uh, fighting words are not constitutionally protected. Um. Changed in Rule 26, uh, the word "debate" to "discussion" to more, uh, closely align to, uh, what actually takes place. Uh, I believe that was it. I think the remainder of the changes were again, uh, kind of grammatical, uh. So, uh, and, uh, that version was, uh, reviewed by, uh, uh, the, subcommittee, and, uh, then went out in the packet and then, uh, Councilmember Weiner, uh, had some additional, uh, changes that she proposes. Those were, uh, the late handout that went out yesterday, um, they are, uh, mostly in the public participation section, uh, that's Part 5, Rules 18 through 20, uh, 23. Um, I don't wanna speak for Councilmember Weiner, I'll maybe, if it'd be right with you, maybe I'll just turn it over, uh, to you to have you discuss that, because to be clear, you know, there were three Council members, the Mayor, the Mayor Pro Tem and Councilmember Weiner who were part of those discussions and working on this draft, uh, outside of, uh, City Council meetings, however, the remaining four of you, this is your first opportunity to, uh, jump in, well, other than the work session last time, uh, first opportunity to comment on the revised version, make any additional changes, uh, you propose, this is your set of rules. You know, what you wanna see is what we're hoping to achieve, um, so don't be bashful, um, in making proposed changes. Uh, but with that, uh, if I could, I'll maybe turn it over to Councilmember Weiner to talk about, uh, the changes that she's proposing. Weiner: Sure. Thank you, Eric. So my, uh, my proposed changes are largely in line with what you are discussing to, to really focus on, um, what the First Amendment rights are that exist, and, and in essence, to streamline some and take out some verbiage that seemed repetitive, uh, and that might, um, um, actually in my view, cause some people to have the opposite reaction as to what we might, might desire. So that, that, that was, that was really the, the main goal of what, of what I did is, um, and, um, I'm sorry, it got in late, but that was sort of the best that, I, I did wanna contribute that to, to the discussion. I also, um, did remove the, the one, at least in my version, I removed the, the, that one, the, the most serious sanction at the end. So that - -all, all up for discussion, obviously, but that was the overall intent. Thomas: Well, I have, I have yet a later, uh, comment on the, um, on the rules and it would be, uh, under Rule 22, the rules of conduct, the, uh, third bullet, and, I'll, you know, I'll just read what's, what's there now, and then read how I, I would suggest we, we change the language. "Public comment is intended solely so that members of the public may be heard by Council. No question shall be asked of, or discussion had with, individual Council members, the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 3 presiding officer, Council as a whole, or City employees present during public comment portions of the meeting. In order to comply with open meetings laws and proper meeting procedure, Council cannot answer questions posed to them by the public or engage in discussion or debate until the appropriate time by Council for Council discussion. However, Council may ask staff to follow up with the speaker." And my suggestion would be that that would read this way: "Public comment is intended so that members of the public may be heard by Council. In order to comply with open meetings, meetings laws and proper meeting procedure, Council cannot engage in discussion or debate until the appropriate time for Council discussion. However, Council may ask staff to respond to a concern or question posed by the public or to follow up with the speaker." So the, in essence, I, what I'm trying to suggest here is that there are occasions, it seems, and I would say it's, um, more in where the public may come and they have a question which can be fairly readily answered that, um, we provide an opportunity, uh, for the Council to, to ask staff to respond to that question. Um, I'm not, you know, in other words, matters that might end, end up being more open-ended conversations are, are not what I envision this promoting. It's promoting, you know, when, when the public comes, and, I would say, unless you're a veteran of these meetings, you don't understand this notion that you can, you know, the count recording in public can speak, but it's not able to, Council doesn't respond to their comments or questions, that we try to apply with some level of judgment as to when it's appropriate in fact, to, uh, for the, for the Council to, to ask the staff to either respond in the moment, to give a kind of a prompt response, or as the original draft had called for, following up with the speaker later. But I think there are times when a prompt response would be acceptable and appropriate. So that's, that, that's my suggestion. Teague: I guess I have a question for our City Attorney, um, when it comes down to items that are not on the agenda, can Council direct staff to answer questions? Goers: Yes. Um, as -- I believe the Mayor is referring to, or alluding to, one of the dangers insofar as open meetings laws is concerned is having, uh, a public commenter raise an issue that has not been properly noticed, and for the Council to thus give what would be construed perhaps then, or in the future as a substantive response, uh, or have a substantive, uh, discussion. Oftentimes the questions of course, are, are as much argument or demand for concession, they are, um, question, um, relating to curiosity. Certainly there are occasions when, uh, folks are asking questions because they simply do not know the answer, and there's a quick and easy, uh, available answer that doesn't involve a substantive action taken, uh, on part of the Council. That's fine. We, we could do that. Um, it's those latter questions where it's This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 4 something that has not been properly noticed that we can get into trouble, uh, with open meetings violations. Teague: So I guess the question is for Council, are there, well, we'll get to, uh, Councilor Weiner and Councilor Thomas. Are there any more items that people want to put forth, um, as far as revisions or -- Harmsen: Um, just, I wanted to say, first of all, thank you for cleaning up some of the First -Amendment -related language, I think that that definitely is a big step in, in the correct direction. Um, under Rule 21, I think we're still a little bit aspirational there with some of the additional language. I don't think it's like, it's not distressing, I just don't know if we really need it, um, like I don't think it violates any of the, uh, the, uh, the sentence begins, "while Council absolutely respects," um, and it goes on to give some, some suggestions about the most persuasive forms. While I a hundred percent agree that that is, that is the most persuasive way to deal with this, I'm not sure if that belongs in the rules or not. I don't think it's killing anything that it's there, um, I just, I don't know. Um, but yes, but thank you, and in some of the cleaning up of like, you know, uh, the fighting words, abusive language, um, I think that all is, is well -taken. I know this is something I'm still sort of like, when it comes to actually putting it into action, I, I, I tend to find myself agreeing, I'd much rather see this as a, you know, kind of capping out at the municipal infraction stage, unless there's something where there's, you know, where, where there's some threat of actual violence, which then takes it completely into a different direction that, you know, that's a whole different criminal matter, um, it's already taken care of and already addressed. Um, so those are just a couple of my thoughts on it, but, um, uh, but I see that this is, this has made some strides in the right direction, so. Taylor: I agree with what's been said, and, and I kind of go along with what Councilor Thomas said, 'cause I, I read and reread like 21 and 22 over and over again, and, and almost seemed, the language is, is a bit kind of harsh, uh, as far as, um, public comment intended solely so that members of the public may be heard by Council. Um, his seemed a little bit softer on that, but still giving the intent, uh, kind of to remove some of the words, make it, uh, uh, less wordy. So I, I, I would think that that would be fine. I also appreciate the, uh, less intense, uh, we, we solely, we do not intend to, uh, have anyone arrested, uh, unless it's totally necessary. So I appreciate that you removed that, that last, uh, item on there. Uh, those are my comments. Bergus: I'm looking at, um, Councilor Weiner's version and, uh, taking what Councilor Thomas said and, and Councilor Harmsen. And I actually agree with, uh, Councilor, like everyone's proposed changes, I think are, are all modifications that I would be in favor of. So going off of Councilor Weiner's This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 5 changes and then also the amendment that Councilor Thomas had, striking that portion of that third bullet. And also I think, uh, Shawn, if you were saying, suggesting, striking that sentence that says while the Council, I, I would agree with that as well. Teague: And this sentence is in 21, is that correct? Alter: Yeah. Bergus: Mm-hmm. Teague: So remove the entire sentence. Harmsen: Yeah. And I, I, again, I, I agree with absolutely, the, a hundred percent, the sentiment, I just don't know that it it's does much, there. Alter: It's a little directional, I mean, it's, it's suggestions, right, here's how we would hope. And, and that makes a lot of sense, but within this document, actually, rhetorically, this is, here's the rules, as opposed to providing some input. So I had the same, um, reaction actually. And I just wanna second what Laura said that I, I think all of the changes make for a tight, clear document, um, and I also appreciate the overtime, but I've come to, it, that it's, it should not be Council's, having a criminal component to this, I think, should only happen if there's been a crime committed, and then some, it's already taken care, of it's it should not be under our, our bailiwick. Weiner: I guess one thing that I would add is that, that as with everything else, if, if we pass, whatever form we pass this resolution in, if we decide at some point that it's not sufficient, or something needs to be fixed, we can go back and fix it. Harmsen: You know, and I wonder too, with, um, some of the more aspirational, like that part in Rule 21. One of our discussions, and I can't remember if it was one or two work sessions ago, was to come up with some sort of a, almost like a pre, uh, prepared script for the presiding officer of the meeting to read before the public comments, explaining these things that, you know, all the stuff about open meetings laws and why we can't respond, um, that might be a good place for something like that, and it's like, you know, we also want to keep everything respectful, and we note that, you know, the, these kinds of persuasive arguments are, are most likely to be successful. I mean, that would be, I think, a decent place for that kind of sentiment. Weiner: Right. Or, or it could be just like recorded and played at, at the beginning of every meeting, sort of like a seatbelt announcement on airplane. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 6 Teague: Sure. So I, what I will say is that I, I agree with all the, uh, comments so far, the one question I have, um, in relationship to, um, just the criminal part, um, being charged with one of more criminal offenses is applicable. So in my mind, this was never intended by, maybe some of the items, up, up above, because once it stops at the municipal infraction for most, that, you know, covered what we needed, um, criminal offenses, as has been mentioned, those are things that are not, you know, protected by the First Amendment, um, hate crimes, threats, you know, those type things. So, um, it, is there any, um, need for that to be, I guess, forewarned? I mean, we have, you know, people that, um, you know, that now individuals can come into any public space where they're open, you know, um, Goers: Open carry. Teague: Open, yeah. Open carry, um. You know, we have had, uh, some, some hateful speech, um, you know, against, uh, a, a class of people or something like that. So I, I don't know if it would be worthy, at least in my mind, that that criminal offense was always related to those things that are absolutely not protected. Goers: Right. In answer to your question, Mr. Mayor, no, it's not required that you have it in the rule in order to charge. I mean, if someone, to use your example, comes and starts firing, they can't say, good heavens, there's nothing in the rules that said you can't commit these crimes, you can't charge me. It's not the Wild West, it's not a, you know, free for all, um, and so yeah, this part is more about just laying out expectations, uh, for folks so that they understand the, you know, potential consequences. But no, if, you can absolutely strike that and it, if we have something, you know, serious, of course, it's hard to imagine every circumstance that will happen in the future, but if there's such a circumstance, uh, comes up where criminal charges are appropriate, certainly they can be filed. Teague: Thank you. So I, you know, I, I, if, if the, you know, a majority of Council don't wanna see that language there, I'm fine with that. I think the public need to know that there are situations where criminal offenses will certainly apply. Weiner: Sure. So in, in general, ignorance of the law is no excuse for like people to undertake serious offenses. Teague: Sure. Alter: And one thing that that's in my mind as, uh, I think Shawn mentioned at our last work session is these, these rules, well, yes, we can amend them in the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 7 future, but we also wanna be thinking, not just us, right, but future individuals who may be sitting here and, and that last bullet, you know, sort of then says the presiding officer is empowered to make determinations when violations have occurred. And I don't like, I, I don't know that it makes sense for the presiding officer to be the one to, to sort of make the call if there's been a crime and, you know, not that it would necessarily play out that way, but that upon further reflection made me even less comfortable with that. Teague: Yeah. The reality is if, if there is a crime, depending on who wants to take it up, anyone individually could, could do that if the, you know, City didn't, decided that they didn't want to. So yeah, removing that, um, it seems to be the desire of the majority of Council. So I think, um, that that will be removed. Any other items within this document. So I, it sounds like we have a majority of, um, of adoptions for, uh, what was mentioned by, uh, Councilor, um, Harmsen as well as Councilors Thomas and Weiner, so we will make those changes. If there is nothing else on that item -- Goers: If I, just to wrap that up, Mayor, I'm sorry to interrupt, uh, Councilor Thomas, if you wouldn't mind, I didn't get everything you said, if you don't mind emailing that to me. Thomas: Sure. Goers: Uh, I'll include it, make the changes we've discussed today, working off of, uh, Councilmember Weiner's version, and then submit it for your approval at the next meeting, if that seems appropriate. The, uh, additional steps would be, uh, one as, uh, uh, Councilmember Harmsen was referencing is drawing up those kind of scripts for the presiding officer and to, you know, read and to, you know, put here and post and other places, so we have a, a full set of educational steps so that, uh, members of the public understand what the expectations are and what their opportunities are to communicate with you as a Council, uh, and also to, uh, draft that new municipal infraction ordinance that does not presently exist, uh, for this. Uh, but we will do that and present that as well. And I think that's, unless I'm forgetting anything, I think that, um, would wrap this item. Teague: Okay. All right. So, uh, more than likely have that at our next meeting, the first meeting in March, already there. All right. Next item is clarification of agenda items. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 8 Clarification of Agenda Items Teague: I did wanna, oh, go right ahead. Bergus: I'm sorry, Mayor. Just, I will again be abstaining on item 10a. Teague: Okay. Bergus: Thank you. Teague: I did wanna make mention that, um, it is item number 14 in the, uh, agenda. That's the assessment schedule in our late handout you'll see that, um, there's a resident that wants to come and talk about that, and so what will happen is we will kind of not, um, we'll pull that one from the discussion and we'll invite the individual next meeting to come and discuss that item. Seems like there was one more thing from that. The, so there are some new vacancies. Is that in our new, is that in this by chance? Fruehling: Are you talking about the CPRB, or the public art. Teague: Yes. Fruehling: Public art, I added too, yes. Teague: Thank you, just wanted to make sure. All right. So you'll see that there's some late additions that I will be announcing that wasn't in the formal packet, but is in the late additions. Anything else from there? Goers: Mayor, I've got one additional one. Uh, one of the alcohol, uh, renewals, uh, staff will be asking, uh, to pull and to defer to next month. That's, uh, the Dollar General renewal. Teague: Okay. Anything else? All right. We're gonna move on to information packets. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 9 Information Packet Discussion [February 3rd. February 10th1 Teague: We're gonna go to February 3rd. (no input) We're gonna move on to February 10th. Alter: I don't wanna jump the gun on anyone here, but, um, I know that there is a letter from the Center for Worker Justice that I think we should discuss. So, that packet. Although I apologize actually, because Fm sure that there's also the pending City work session, City Council work sessions. Sorry. I'm just all over the place today. Teague: No, you're fine. Thomas: Yeah. I, I, IP6, that's Center for Worker Justice. I'm interested what staff can tell us about that. Fruin: Sure. Um, so the Iowa City Housing Authority Administrative Plan is a Council -adopted, uh, plan, uh, so amending it, uh, would require Council involvement. Uh, the typical process would be for, uh, if staff were seeking amendments, for us to go to HCDC, lay those, uh, amendments out, allow them to, uh, take a deep dive into those and, and return to you with recommendations. Uh, this request is a little bit out of the ordinary because it's coming, it's not generated from your, your Housing Authority staff, it's being generated from the Center for Worker Justice, uh, so we placed that in your information packet for you to consider. Uh, staff would recommend that if you want to consider this, that you direct it to HCDC for, um, full review with our Housing Authority staff and allow them to forward a recommendation to you. Um, if I try to, at a very high level, simplify kind of the, the situation here, um, this is a, um, request to allow for longer absences beyond 30 days, uh, for the purpose of, uh, visiting family, uh, internationally. Um, clearly that's a, a, um, a common thing, uh, for immigrants to want to get back and to see their family, and of course, doing so requires, uh, significant amount of, uh, resource and efforts. And, um, the feedback that we're getting in the, with the letter details from Center for Worker Justice, it's often, um, uh, desired to do that for more than 30 days, which is what we permit right now. So that's the, the basic, uh, request. Um, we have to balance that with the, the fact that we have federal housing vouchers that are very much valued in this community. We have a waiting list of, uh, thousands of people, uh, that, that, uh, um, wait for years to get those vouchers, and when we do have extended absences, uh, we still have to pay that rent. So it's, it's a, it's a, a balancing act, a policy decision, if you will, is how much rent are you willing to pay for vacant units, um, when we have that kind of need, um, recognizing that, that clearly this is a, a, a use that I think we all can understand and appreciate, um, the importance of it. So that's really a, a, a pure policy This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 10 decision for you all to take up. It's, it's, it is a bit more complex than that as most issues are. And that's why we would recommend that it go to HCDC for, for deliberation before coming back to you. Taylor: Um, Geoff, are you requesting us to make that request of you at, at this time? Fruin: Well, I, yeah, this letter was drafted to the Council. I, I think that there's emergency indicated in this letter. I, um, uh, I know I've, uh, spoke with, uh, Mazahir, um, uh, and, um, I think there is families that want to make plans now. So, um, waiting for HCDC comp, I mean, you, you have to decide whether you want to take the co- , couple of months it would, it would take to schedule this on an HCDC agenda, have them deliberate and come back to you, or do you want to move more, more urgently and just direct us to do that? Um, we do think it's prudent to have more deliberate discussions on this, but clearly you have the ability just to direct us to amend the plan and bring that back to you at your next meeting. Alter: HCDC meets on Thursday, is their next meeting. Taylor: What's that? Alter: Just in terms of scheduling, HCDC meets on the third Thursday of every month, so that's two days from now, so it would not appear before them until March. Fruin: Correct. Harmsen: Uh, I think, uh, I, for one would, would love to see a policy, um, kind of acknowledging this. I think it makes sense that we wouldn't be open-ended, um, but I think when we look at our community, um, and then we have a strong immigrant community here, and I think that's one of the things of, of value to Iowa City, um, we also need to, uh, I think as, as, as people and as human beings kind of recognize the difference in that situation. So I think about even getting over, like I have, you know, can I go see my dad just over in Clinton County? He's not in very good health. And so, um, you know, and he's in his seventies. And so, you know, I think like on one hand, I absolutely agree that being, we wanna be as thoughtful as possible, uh, but I would hate to be in the position of telling somebody they can't go back and see family, um, you know, and, and opportunities to travel internationally are already fraught with lots of, of difficulties, expenses, and a lot of uncertainty. Somebody could go plan to be gone 30 days and then have another, a new variant hit, or new civil unrest, or any number of things. Um, and to have them have to worry about losing their home on top of it, um, it's, nobody might not be there in physically in that space, but that's not the same as it's This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 11 vacant. Um, they need a home to come back to, to be here. So, so on those grounds, I would be interested in seeing something to, to extend that, that window a little bit to, to allow for those sorts of realities in people's lived lives, so. Taylor: So I agree with Councilor Harmsen, 'cause the term vacant was used, and I don't see their units as truly vacant. I mean, there's, that's still their housing unit and, and I would hate to have them not have a place to come back to, uh, after they've traveled to see their family and we're not talking, traveling to Clinton County, we're clear across the country. And sometimes they have, uh, members of their family in d-- different parts of that country that they're visiting, so it takes a while. But again, I think going back to that term vacant, it's truly not vacant. That's still their, their living situation where they're going to come back to, to continue living. Weiner: Could, could I ask one clarifying question? Um, and, and that is so when, when there's a, when there's a voucher, then the City pays a certain portion of the rent and the person who's living there also pays what, an agreed portion of the rent. So presumably for whatever period they're gone, they would still be paying that portion of the rent. Fruin: Yeah. Tracy, do you wanna assist with this? Did you hear the question? Hightshoe: Yes. So we would continue to pay our share of the rent. The tenant would continue to pay in their share of the rent. And what happened previously is that when we had these requests, we would, we would grant the 30 day absence. And then anything above that, the tenant would pay their full rent while they're gone. We resumed the same half -agreement when they got back. Um, due to a situation where we had to discuss a situation with HUD, they told us we can no longer do that, so that's kind of what prompted this situation now, is that we have a policy and there, there, there's things that we do. Like if it's beyond their control, we would extend that 30 day. So if they got caught in another country due to COVID or due to civil unrest, those things would be taken into consideration. So our policy is it's deemed beyond their control. So what we're looking at is, if someone is traveling for more than 30 days and that's by their choice by, by what they wanna do, that's within their control. So we look at all those reasons to extend that 30 days, if it's beyond their control, it has to be, it would be deemed necessary like medical care. Um, it'd be something that they couldn't control, death in the family, something like that. We would look at that. So that would be one of those exceptions that we would look at. Teague: I, I heard, uh, Councilor Harmsen talk about, um, you know, a loved one that is ill. Is there a provision to extend time situation for This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 12 Hightshoe: For death in the family? Or, or medical care, yeah? Teague: Yeah. Hightshoe: Um, regarding HCDC, we, we, we could put things on the agenda if it's 24 in advance. So we could do a late addition if it's tomorrow morning for HCDC to review. Alter: Thanks for that. Teague: The other question I have for you while you're there is what will trigger a, um, maybe a, a look at someone's income because for 60 days, I mean, if they're at the current request or they're gone for 60 days, my assumption is their income has changed. Whether, you know, when the original of 30 days, it didn't maybe trigger, but if it's now, you know, 60 days, will that trigger a review of their income because they technically wouldn't -- Hightshoe: They, they continue the same half agreement that they had before they left during that absence. So we do not just ,while they're gone, and they return, um, now if they return and they lose a job or, or something like that, going period, we, we'd readjust. And we would look at that for their, their income to figure out how much of that rent they pay and how much we pay. Weiner: I mean, I, I guess my, my sense would be that if we can get something on the HCDC agenda for this Thursday and ask that they, they, they consider and get it back to us by the next Council meeting, that would be a, a really, a fairly expeditious way to go about it right now, so that we're not, um, side stepping the normal process among other things. Thomas: Yeah, that, that sounds great. And, uh, thank you, Councilor Harmsen for articulating the, the big, the picture there. I mean, there really are a number of aspects to it and I'm happy that we can fit it on HCDC's schedule so that it can be done quickly. Bergus: Yeah. I think it's important if we're, um, talking about a revision to the Housing Authority Administrative Plan, I feel out of my depth in us just directing that, and I think having HCDC review it is important, so we can do that. Teague: All right. Any other comments on that? Thank you. Harmsen: Is that what we're doing then, is direct... This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 13 Teague: I, I hear a majority of, myself included, direct into HCDC. Alter: I would agree. Teague: Yep. Harmsen: Are we going to ask them to sort of send us something back in time for our next Council meeting? Because there is, does sound like there's a little bit of a time issue. Weiner: Yeah. I mean, that's what I would hope that they would be able to...take a look at it and make a recommendation so that we have it for March 1st. Teague: I mean, certainly if they have, we would encourage them to make a, you know, under their request, um, to, and, and they may feel that, right. They'll feel that urgency. Um, but if they, for whatever reason need more time, because there's unanswered questions, then I think as a Council, we just have to make sure that, um, you know, we acknowledge that and, and respect that. Weiner: But, but I think it's pretty, one way or the other it's highly likely that we would have it sometime in March, if we don't manage to have it for March 1st, then I think we would have it for the second meeting in March, so we can. Teague: And I know staff will, you know, sometimes there could be one, you know, you can make a decision based on the, the, the two answers, you know, um, if there's two answers that they're debating about and they just don't have that information, I think, um, I, I, I have great confidence that HCDC will see the urgent request and, and respond. Any other item from February 10th. All right. We're gonna move on to the University of Iowa Student Government. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 14 University of Iowa Student Government (USG) Updates Teague: USG, welcome. Van Heukelom: Hi, Council. Teague: Hello. Van Heukelom: Um, happy late Valentine's Day. Um, we have a few, um, announcements, so I'll just do about half of 'em. Um, we finished up the magnet, um, that we're working on with Geoff and Tracy, um, about housing resources, so student government is, um, pending ordering that right now, um, so we're excited about that. Um, there's various Black History Months ha- - events happening throughout the month of February sponsored by the University of Iowa Afro-American Cultural Center and also the African American Museum of Iowa. And those are just on the university's website. Um, our Health and Safety Director is still looking for responses to their survey about menstrual products on campus, and, um, our Governmental Relations and Sustainability committees will be organizing actions, um, against the 2000 -mile pipeline, um, that is pending being approved by the Iowa Utilities Board. So we're looking to do, um, some writing to representatives and things like that. Miglin: Yeah. Um, on April 28th, uh, the, uh, Sustainability Director of USG and team will plant a pollinator garden on campus, um, more details on that are coming. Um, the, uh, UI Dance Marathon, um, raised nearly $1.3 million in funding for the pediatric cancer patients and families at the Stead Family Children's Hospital this past weekend. And finally the University of Iowa just received a $70 million gift as a part of a 10 -year plan to help expand public healthcare options for Iowans. Um, so that's gonna be, those are all very exciting little things. Thank you. Teague: That was quite a significant gift. Miglin: Yeah. Alter: Through UIHC or is that through the College of Medicine? Or -- Miglin: Say that again? Alter: Who's the, where's this gift? Where was it gifted to -- what, um, UIHC, or -- Miglin: Um, I would assume the hospital, but, um, I can double check that for you and include a link on that information. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 15 Alter: Thank you. Miglin: Yeah. Teague: I quickly read the article today. Um and it seemed like a lot of it was for the efforts of the, um, of the hospital, um, but I'm sure there's education, you know, all that encompassed in there. Miglin: Sure. Weiner: That's apparently the largest gift in the university's history. Teague: Yes. All right. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 16 Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees Teague: We're onto Council updates on assigned boards, commissions and committees. Weiner: Okay. I will start then. I just did, um, today, that on, they had some onboarding for new ICAD board members, which was helpful, useful, um, and, uh, very happy to, to see them continue to work together with other organizations in the city and the county. Um, so the, to, to coordinate, um, a couple of us, or several of us were at the Iowa City Business Council dinner last week, um, the, the, the speech that university President Wilson gave was, um, very, very positive and, and aspirational. And I have to think that she sort of knew this gift was coming when, when she gave it, for this, for this new facility. Um, I also wanna mention that USG put together a phone call or a, a zoom meeting, um, soon after our last meeting with, uh, a number of stakeholders looking at the, the issue of, um, in addition to what the, the survey they had sent out and on the issue of homeless week or homeless weeks, because it's not just one week, it's sort of this period at the end of July, beginning of August. Um, it would be, it would be great also to meet with landlords. It turned, I would say there was, and I don't know what your views are, but seemed to me that there was a number of takeaways from that meeting, one, it's not just like a one size fits all solution. There are a variety of different elements in here, and the pandemic has made them worse. Um, so in the past, for example, the university has been able to offer, say the floor of a dorm, um, at, at really, at quite low cost to help with some of the people who don't have housing this year, because they they'll know by sometime in April, but because they too have worker shortages, especially in custodians, um, they are not sure that they will be able to offer that at all because they need to focus on the incoming class, making sure all the, they can turn over and have ready all the dorm rooms. Um, there are also other aspects include storage, vehicle storage and transport, um, and so I would think that as we, as we look at this going forward, those, there may be some separate solutions to, um, help on, help figure out storage, to help figure out maybe in some parking lots, vehicles, temporary vehicle storage, um, as well as getting people's stuff to and from places. So it's, it's a, I think it's a really great initiative that, that they have undertaken. I don't think that there are any immediate magic bullets for it, but it's really good that everybody's talking about it and we can try and figure out if there are some pieces of it that can be, that can be solved, or at least get the information out for people. Alter: The City of Literature actually met, um, for their board meeting earlier this month. And so just a reminder to all that the One Book, Two Book children's literature festival is coming up on February 26th and 27th. And there's gonna be some activities outside, um, in Black Hawk, uh, Ped Mall and, um, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022. Page 17 including an ice rink, I think I mentioned last time with a lot of glee, um, and that's still gonna be the case, um, so it should be really cool. And, um, man, these kids, they just have such creativity and such earnestness and some really great, um, writing comes out of this and it's a fantastic way. There's going to be also some satellite events, um, that have to do with, um, uh, out - loud reading and engagement, um, through, I wanna say the, um, the coffee and bookstore that's up in University Heights is one of them. So anyway, there's a lot of really, uh, interesting activities that are happening on those coming days. That's in two weeks. Teague: All right. Hearing nothing else. I think we are adjourned until 6:00 PM. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of February 15, 2022.