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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-03-01 TranscriptionPage 1 Council Present: Staff Present: Alter, Bergus, Harmsen, Taylor, Teague, Thomas, Weiner Fruehling, Fruin, Goers, Havel, Jones, Kilburg, Knoche, Nagle- Gamm, Rackis, Sitzman, Sovers Preliminary Discussion on 2022-2027 Strategic Planning Process Teague: All right. It is about 4:06 PM, and I'm going to to bring to order the City of Iowa City's work session for March 1st, 2022. And the first item on our agenda is the preliminary discussion on 2022 through 2027 strategic planning process. And I am going to invite our City Manager, Geoff Fruin, to start us in this conversation. Fruin: Okay. Thank you, Mayor, Council, excited to talk to you about the Strategic Plan process. Uh, the goal, uh, tonight is really just to, um, make sure that, uh, I understand your expectations, uh, and that, uh, we're proceeding accordingly and planning the steps for you to, uh, put together your next Strategic Plan. I think as, uh, you all know I've been having conversations with the East Central Iowa Council of Governments, they're the six -county regional planning agency in our area. They have a great deal of experience in working with local governments, uh, putting together plans. Uh, they have a great understanding of municipal issues, and I think they'll be a, a great, uh, asset for you all as you put together your plan for the City. A reminder that, uh, you previously, um, agreed with staff in, in, uh, pushing the horizon of the Strategic Plan from two years, uh, what, uh, and, and it's been at two years for probably the last decade, uh, to five years. And I think as we move to a five-year planning horizon, we just want to make sure that we're going through a very deliberative process, um, as we, as we put that together. So I, I, uh, along with, um, the staff at ECICOG have, uh, sketched out, um, a rough timeline for how this could work. And so I want to walk you through those steps tonight, and if all sounds good, I will move towards, um, finalizing the contract for facilitation services. That doesn't need to come to you for approval, uh, it'll be less than $10,000, I can authorize that expense, uh, however, if you'd like to formally approve it, I can certainly put that on a future agenda. Um, but again, if, uh, expectations are aligned at the end of this work session, then I, I'll go ahead ahead and get that finalized and we'll, we'll get on, uh, on our way. So, uh, in addition to the contract itself, uh, what I'd like to do is start, uh, in March and have, uh, the facilitator reach out to each of you individually, I think it's important that, that, uh, you get to know the facilitator and establish a, a comfort level, um, and that they can hear from each of you on what your expectations are, uh, for the process, so I'm, I'm thinking just a half hour, um, hour phone call that again, uh, each of you would have, staff wouldn't be present, but just to share your thoughts, I think that helps prepare the facilitator coming into the sessions, and again, will This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2022. Page 2 also give you some familiarity with, with their background as well. Uh, that would be the first step. We could, uh, certainly, uh, start to arrange those calls in, uh, in March, in the meantime, uh, your staff would be doing some homework as well. Uh, the City Manager's office, with the help of ECICOG, would be working with our management team to collect information to funnel up to you. So we want to give you kind of an environmental scan of what, uh, the department directors see as being the most critical issues, some of the challenges and the opportunities over the next five years. We want to make sure you have a comprehensive understanding of, of those viewpoints. Um, well also, uh, try to note any areas where we think there's some policy guidance needed, uh, where there might be some, um, uh, I want to say misalignment or some opportunities to, to better align staff and Council on, on issues. We try to figure those out so we can get those on the table and tackle those, uh, at the, uh, strategic planning sessions. So we would do that in March as you're having those one-on-one calls and preparing for the kickoff session. So that then feeds into, uh, a meeting in April. We would suggest that we try to search for a half day or maybe three-quarters of a day for a strategic planning session. It's really hard to get momentum in an hour and a half work session, some of these things, you just, it takes a couple hours to really get, uh, really get deep into issues. So, uh, it probably will take, uh, a, a bigger time commitment. Uh, we'd work with you to see if you want to do that during a, a work day, an evening, a weekend. Uh, we can find a facility, uh, here in Iowa City to, uh, conduct that strategic planning session. Um, and then again, in, in that, in that kickoff session, what we're trying to do there is, uh, making sure that you're understanding what staffs perspectives are. If there's things that we funnel up to you that you need more information on, we'd like to be able to clarify that with you, but also, you know, the most important thing is to get into each of our goal areas, so those seven areas that we have right now, whatever that number is going forward, uh, and really understand what your vision for success looks like. At the end of five years for this goal priority, leadership in climate action, uh, healthy neighborhoods, whatever it may be, what does success look like? I think that's going to be the big question that, that we want to challenge you with, what are those performance metrics? How are you going to evaluate, um, the City's progress on achieving those goals? That's really going to be the focus and then we'll start that process of, of generating some ideas for, for projects that you would like to see as well. But if at that half-day meeting we can accomplish and, and really get a good sense of what your vision for success looks like in each of those areas, then what we would suggest is that as a staff team, we come, we go back and we do a little bit more homework, um, and then come to you with, um, ideas on how to achieve that success. Um, we'll be able to put forward our thoughts and ideas on, uh, realistic paths forward, uh, for, for you to achieve your goals that you set for the City, um, and also identify those key policy decisions to get us there. So what are those critical decision points This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2022. Page 3 that Council's going to have to make, could be policy, could be budgetary, uh, could be any number of things, but we try to lay that out for you the best that we can. You would then come together, probably don't need a, a half day after that, but maybe a two to three hour, uh, work session to review some updates, uh, that, that staff provides, again, opportunity for you, if you've got very specific projects, uh, that we didn't come up with that you'd like us to tackle, um, and, and that would be a, a, another time for you to be able to suggest those. And at that point, um, you know, it's kind of hard to say how long that process takes. It might take one or two work sessions to get that final refinement done, um, but we should be in a position in, in May or June to be able to adopt the five-year plan. And the final piece, uh, that, that many of you noted in our initial conversations about the Strategic Plan, is we'll want to make sure what we know your expectations for review of that plan. As we move to a longer time horizon, uh, we'll want to know if you want annual check -ins, quarterly reports, monthly reports, what's, what's your expectation for tracking progress and how can staff, uh, best do that for you? So that's kind of the, the final step as we, um, move towards adoption. So I went through that, uh, went through that pretty quickly, um, happy to retrace those steps, but, uh, those, that kind of process is the result of our initial conversations with the staff at ECICOG, based on how they think we can be effective and how we think as staff we can contribute towards, um, your compilation of this plan. Teague: Any questions about this process? Weiner: I mean, it, you're talking about that the current seven priorities is that, is there also the possibility that we could shift priorities or add priorities or, sort of -- Fruin: Yeah, yeah. Above all, and I should have probably led with this, this is your plan. You're not tied to the past plan at all. It's been our experience that over the years, it's, it's been more refinements to the plan as opposed to clean - slate approaches to this process, but absolutely, those seven priority areas, um, you could absolutely retool in whatever way you see fit. You could bring new areas in, um, that, that's a very common part of that process. And I think that's, um, part of those one-on-one discussions that are early on that will really help the facilitator, um, I think that's one of those questions that she will ask you. Uh, and she is, uh, Karen Kurt, the Executive Director of ECICOG, um, she will want to know, you know, uh, so that she can structure, uh, that, that, that meeting with, uh, with you in April appropriately, is there already alignment? Is, are these the seven areas that we're going to be working on or is there interest in Council in, in kind of swapping some of those areas out or changing the language? Uh, whatever it may be. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2022. Page 4 Thomas: One, one thing I might say is, is I'm sort of stepping back a little bit here and feel that, uh, the next 10 years, so say the, the next two strategic plans, uh, are really critical in my view to the future of Iowa City. You know, given all the issues related, you know, that have been exacerbated perhaps by some of the most recent events, Black Lives Matter, questions of equity, climate change, um, you know, I really do feel we are in an ex-- a unique moment, and it's, it's, if, if we aren't successful in the next 10 years in addressing these issues and, and making progress, um, the future will be diff, even more difficult than the next 10 years. So, um, I mean, that's, that's the way I'm coming into this, um, and, you know, I hope we're successful in, you know, achieving the framework in which we can maximize our progress over the next five years. Teague: I would agree with you that there's a lot of aspirations that we have to consider as we go forth and I'll add housing, uh, to what you just mentioned. Um, and when I look at the, the sketch of the timeline, it's pretty aggressive, um, but I think at least Council and staff could probably go in knowing that we may extend that depending on, um, you know, the circumstances before -- and I don't know if we wanted to spend a little time to at least try to schedule the first meeting, or that's something that maybe the City Clerk can do, but I found it to be a little helpful if we all had our calendars to kind of jot something down, although we don't know about our, the facilitator, when she'll be able to make the official first meeting, so. Weiner: Right, um, I, so Laura and I just came from, uh, the roll-out of ECICOG's um, the East, East Central Iowa Council of Governments Envision Iowa for so, 2030 plan type thing. And that was, it was a fairly lengthy facilitated plan. This one won't be as complex, but I can definitely say that, least, least for me, that having, having a facilitator work with it as, as we had essentially, I think, agreed to is, was extremely helpful. Um, and also bringing in, because the facilitator for that brought in a lot of different aspects, and trends, and looking into the future, whether it's population, climate, a variety of other things that probably would not have occurred to us otherwise to deal with. Teague: Would, would it be ad, advantageous for us to kind of figure out a date or two? Fruin: I think it, um, I haven't, I haven't spoke with Karen about a, a, a possible date yet. Um, It might be, it might be helpful to know if we're looking at a half day, do you prefer that to be a weekday, weeknight, weekend? So maybe we can start with a little bit of focus there. Teague: Sure. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2022. Page 5 Thomas: I'm flexible, but I would prefer a weekday if we can do that. Teague : Okay. Anybody preferring a week, evening? Are there any days to avoid? I know Thursdays are typically a day to avoid for me, but I can float if need be. Harmsen: Yeah. Uh, this semester I'm teaching Tuesdays and Thursdays. So those are, but Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays, I have more flexibility in my schedule, so, in both day and evening. Teague: Okay. Alter: As long, as long as I know in advance, I can make it work. Teague: And what about time of the day? Is it better at, uh, 8 o'clock, 10 o'clock, 9 o'clock, 2 pm, 1:00 pm? Taylor: If it's morning, I would prefer like 10, 10, later in the morning. Thomas: I, I could do it earlier than that. Um, myself 9, 8:30 or 9, something like that. Weiner: As long as it's after 7:30. I'11... Taylor: There you go. Teague: Can we meet in the middle, 9:30 am? Does that sound good? So we'll think about 9:30s on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. Fruin: Sure. Okay. We'll, we'll uh, like I said, we've, we've still gotta get the, the contract executed with ECICOG. We need some, some refinements, uh, made to that, but we'll start working on that in the next couple of weeks, and you'll probably get a Doodle poll or request for your specific availability -- Teague: Sure. Fruin: -- uh, from the clerk's office sometime in the next couple weeks. Teague: Great. Bergus: I did have another question, I'm sorry, Mayor. Um, Geoff, when you're talking with Karen about facilitating this, I think when we talked about, um, having the, one of the benefits of the Executive Director of ECICOG in this process is, for one, they're going through this Eastern Iowa Visioning right now, and also maybe can bring a little more regional view. Is that something This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2022. Page 6 that you've talked with Karen about, and will be able to fit that in with our timeline? Fruin: Yeah, it, um, I didn't mention, but we, we think that there's probably going to be homework for Council and staff, uh, um, and trying to get you copies of those plans, or at least the executive summaries of those plans, would be part of your, kind of pre -reading heading into that, um, staff is also going to be taking a look at those as well. So, um, uh, we could, if you prefer, we could schedule presentations from each of those two groups, but we thought, you know, if you scheduled presentations on two regional plans, that could be two hours, three hours of your, of your meeting. Um, so we thought maybe that's best done offline. Open to your suggestions, though. Weiner: I mean, I think, I think, based, based on what we heard today, in terms of a presentation for, for the, for the Envision East Central Iowa plan, there's probably, um, a, a PowerPoint available, uh, that can essentially walk, walk, walk people through it pretty quickly what the, what the information was that was presented initially. And then the, the various, the seven pillars that were decided on and, and the action items under each, each pillar. Um, so that I don't, I don't know what the other one looks like, but this one I think could be, um, probably done in terms of sending out a PowerPoint with a little bit of explanation. Bergus: And the other one we're talking about is the project Better Together 2030? Okay. Fruin: Correct. And they don't, uh, they have not started the rollout process yet. So we might be in a situation in which that's coming out in April or May, but we can at least get a good sense from them on where they stand and where they're heading. Teague: Okay. All right. Anything else related to that? Fruin: So if I could just clarify, if, if there is a comfort, do you want to see the final contract and the specifics of the facilitation services? Are you comfortable with me executing that? And if so, the next step is I'm going to be introducing you all to Karen via email so that you can set up individual times for phone calls. [crosstalk affirming direction to Fruin to proceed] Teague : All right. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2022. Page 7 Weiner: If I ask one more question about, about this, Mayor, is that, would it be like, when we talk to Karen, that we would do things like, say these are, these are stakeholders in the community that we would like to have talk to us or present at our, what, or, or give us some, some ideas or input when we're considering this, so that we have a, is that when something like that would be appropriate? Fruin: Yeah. So, so that's always a difficult, uh, balance to make, because if, if you want to go through and receive stakeholder presentations on various topics within your plan, you know, you could go down the list, housing, you're going to want to hear from several people. If it's childcare, you're going to want to hear from several people. Uh, each of those lists, climate action. So I would caution you against trying to absorb all that information in the Strategic Plan. Oftentimes what you just need to do is analyze or, or acknowledge that we, we want to make childcare a priority, and then as we build kind of the action steps, how do we achieve our goal? The first step may just be, we need to host a series of stakeholder meetings and determine what those next levels are. So when you set your Strategic Plan, you don't necessarily have to know what the end game is. You don't have to have every action defined, but you need to have the next step in the process defined. So it's a balance. If, if you want that, we could certainly arrange it. And yes, it would be good for you to relay that to, to Karen, uh, when you, when you talk with her. Um, but that's one of those things that will take a, a two or three month process and make it a six -to -eight month process, potentially. Weiner: Right. I mean, it, it could also sort of be done in terms of asking a few people to just submit like a paragraph or two on, on what their priorities would be and then make us read it. Fruin: Yeah. However, however you all want to do that, you just need to make sure you have the, the right information, that the, the information you need to make, um, those goal -setting decisions. There's no right or wrong way to do it. Weiner: Great. Sorry, Mayor. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2022. Page 8 COVID-19 Updates -- Latest CDC Masking Guidance Teague: All right. The next item is COVID-19 updates, the latest CDC masking guidance. And I'll start this one off, because I know that, um, yesterday the City of Iowa City received, uh, news that the mask mandate was ending, uh, on today, the 1st of March and this, uh, mask mate, mask mandate was, um, extended from the one that was issued in August, um, it went into September, and that mask mandate was, um, without an expiration date. On this past Friday, as we all know, the CDC came out with guidance for the majority of, um, the nation, um, depending on the level where, where you were in your community, um, that mask can be unworn in, um, certain, certain situations, certain indoor situations. Of course, looking at that guidance and, and, and looking at our current, uh, Johnson County, uh, numbers, there's a lot of good things that we've learned about our community. We are 74% fully vaccinated, which is great. We are going to continue to move forth the message of asking people to continue to mask. I, I, I mean, to continue to, um, get vaccinated is very important as we've learned from the science on, um, a lot of things, when it comes down to, uh, the level of illness, your chances are decreased when you're vaccinated. We do know that, um, there are some things that we could not, uh, release the mask mandate for, and that is the busing system that is under the federal, uh, the transportation is under the federal guideline, and so we have to have that, um, in place. Other than that, I know that this Council has been, um, except, exceptional, um, at adhering to the science, and I want to thank you all for your support during these, uh, since early 2020, when we've been doing all that we can to keep our community safe. Um, I do believe that our actions, or the action of the mask mandate was that of public health and safety. And now that we're in a new stage, I do encourage everyone to continue to be, um, cognizant of, uh, environments when it's, um, when, when there could pose a high risk, um, personally, and also respect, uh, the, each other, whether there is a mask being worn or not. Um, but at that point, I just wanted to open it up to Council and, um, and want to say thanks to Iowa City for, um, adhering to the mask mandate while it was in place and taking care of our neighbors. Bergus: Thank you for that, Mayor. And I'm grateful that we have the opportunity just to, to touch on this a little bit further here at our meeting. Um, I've had conversations with a few Councilors individually and also with our City Manager and with you, Mayor about just, wow, this is a big policy change. And, you know, I wanted the opportunity for us to, to be able to discuss it. Um, one of the things that I thought was really, um, important to highlight about the new CDC guidance is something that, a phrase that I've been using kind of throughout the pandemic, which is that mitigation measures are a dial, not a switch, right? And that right now we've kind of dialed back to the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2022. Page 9 point where masking isn't necessary. But if our county gets back into that high transmission rate, we're at medium right now, if we go back there, then maybe people could expect to, you know, grab your masks again and maybe even be required to grab them again. Um, and so just emphasizing that, you know, there's, we're, as you said, Mayor, we're seeing such tremendous improvement, but we know that there are many members of our community who still cannot be vaccinated, being children under the age of five, um, and that there are people who, you know, based on their own personal situation, or may be much more vulnerable. There are immunocompromised people for whom vaccination may not be effective. And so just keeping that in mind, as we navigate, um, throughout the community and making sure that we're not, you know, sort of applying pressure to people, uh, unduly, now that mandate is lifted. It doesn't mean you have to get rid of your mask. So that was what I just hoped we could comment on. Harmsen: Yeah. I'd like to just, uh, I'd like to agree with everything that, um, uh, uh, that, uh, the Mayor and, and Councilmember Bergus have said, um, you know, we remember what it was like last summer we were down to low numbers and we, we could remove the mask mandate. So it's, it's good to remember that dial, may have to switch back, um, and in circumstances like this, where you might want to choose to wear a mask still, even though it's not mandated, um, but I wouldn't throw 'em away yet, and I think we're, it's probably too soon for that. We all, I said, we all remember how nice that was last July, and then, you know, out of, out of, and then came Delta and then came, uh, Omicron. And so, uh, you know, fingers crossed and, and whatever else, uh, you want do to hope we don't have that happen again, but it's important to know that, you know, we got a Health Department that's watching this, even if the state numbers aren't coming through. Um, and so, yeah, so I think that's, you know, keep our fingers crossed and hope as the weather gets warmer and we can get outside and, you know, open up windows and everything else, maybe that will have a, a nice synergy effect, um. Fingers crossed. Weiner: Fingers crossed, yeah. As Councilor Bergus mentioned, uh, the, the more vulnerable populations, um, some, you know, some of whom may not be happy with the, with the fact that, that the, the mandate has been lifted. Um, I would, I don't think that we actually have, um, I think it's the Library board that has control over the Library, I mean, that, there, the Children's Room in the Library has been really a safe haven for little kids who can go for story time and everybody's, you know, everybody's masked and they're protected to the extent possible since they're not vaccinated. I had hoped, I had hoped, but I think it's probably not possible that we could continue the mandate solely in that place. And I, and I know that the Library's putting up signage to really encourage people, people to, to be cognizant of that in the children, in, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2022. Page 10 in the Children's Room, that's tough for people sometimes, but I really hope that people will be considerate, um, of those who cannot be vaccinated at this point. Taylor: And I would like to echo that, and I believe the Mayor mentioned that also, that, uh, out of respect for people, uh, who do want to continue to wear a mask, 'cause this isn't saying that you just absolutely cannot wear a mask. If you feel that you need to be protected and wear a mask, then you should be able to do that, and persons should not, uh, be contradictory of that and, and bully these kinds of people. Alter: Following on the heels of what everyone has said, actually, I'm really mindful of early in the pandemic when we really had this incredible outpouring of community, right. And over the past couple of years, we've really had that sense of like, what does it mean to be a community and to really emphasize, in the middle of a very, very fraught series of incidents, um, and events, that we need to be kind to one another and, um, hokey though it might sound, I think that we've all lived through enough together to recognize that as a community, we can be better together, and to respect one another, both through, um, vulnerabilities of those who haven't been vaccinated or cannot be vaccinated, um, and those who are avid and ready for, um, you know, more outdoor events and for, um, you know, saying we've gotten ourselves vaccinated. Um, so I just, I just wanted to repeat in different words what so many have already said that I think that, um, we've been through the fire in a lot of ways, and I know that we're not entirely out of it. I really like the dial metaphor, um, but I just think that it's a moment for us to remember, um, that we can be one as a community and, um, no matter what our circumstances are, and to just remember that and to be kind to one other. Weiner: Good. Thank you. And I guess in that sense, I would like to thank the community as a, as a whole here for being so science conscious, for getting, for having the highest vaccination rate in the state and continuing to go up, for being considerate of others for wearing, for, for masking. That hasn't been the case everywhere in this country or even in this state, and so we have a lot to be, we have a lot to be thankful for in that sense. Thomas: Yeah. The, this, this, this idea of the dial is kind of interesting because just over the last two days, uh, last night I attended an event at the Englert which required, uh, proof of vaccination and photo ID. And the day before that on Sunday, I was at the women's basketball game where there were 15,000 people screaming, their heads off, um, you know, without any, any kind of, um, vaccination requirements or anything of that sort. So it's a, it's kind of an interesting time that we're in, um, in terms of trying to understand, you know, how to deal with the, deal with the, the virus, um, but you know, we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2022. Page 11 each have to take responsibility and, uh, make the right decision for ourselves, cognizant of how it will affect others as well. Teague: I do think you bring up an important, um, kind of a example of requirements, you know, that an entity place on the, you know, for attendance, and I think that's what has been, you know, kind of stated here is to, uh, we're asking for adherence to any of those businesses and their protocols. Um, I think we're all on our own journeys and figuring out what is best for, um, our own entities. We know that a lot of individuals are elderly or, you know, that attend to, to some events when it's, um, like Hancher or, or the Englert, but whatever the protocols are, we're asking people to adhere to those, um, and just be as safe as you can for not only, uh, yourself, but for those around you. All right. If no more comments on this item, we're going to go to clarification of agenda items. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2022. Page 12 Clarification of Agenda Items Teague: And this is for the formal meeting agenda. Alter: I just wanted to point out actually in the minutes for HCDC, which were January, so not the latest one, but the, there were a number of really important things that happened during it that are not going to be part of, um, anything that we need to talk about right this second, or even in the next month or so, but just to put it on the radar, they went through a new process, um, of admitting, uh, new legacy agencies, and so that will probably, well, not probably, I'm sure that that will have implications in terms of, um, looking at budget, looking at, um, what kind of services are provided by the different legacy agencies. It was a really robust conversation, and I certainly want to thank the Commission for being so thoughtful about it. But just having gone through it, um, the notes, I, I realized there's a lot that was new that will be coming before us, and so I just wanted to put that on people's radars, um, cause they, um, are looking at a number of, um, recommendations that, that will have an impact on the kinds of decisions that we make down the road as well. Teague: Any other items from the formal agenda, formal meeting agenda. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2022. Page 13 Information Packet Discussion [February 17, February 241 Teague: Moving on to info packet number, uh, from February 17th. Thomas: I always appreciate the, um, the ma--, you know, IP3, the Master Gardener 2021, their reports, which are annual, um, so it's always, always good to read that and to appreciate the work that's being done downtown. Weiner: I actually really liked reading how they had managed to distribute seeds in, in a very safe way. And I hadn't, I hadn't realized that. It was...everybody adapted. Teague: Moving on to info packet February 24th. Bergus: I guess just an observation, Mayor, um, as I'm looking at the pending, um, work session topics, which I think is IP4, that this feels like today will be the second time we've had, like, a short work session. So maybe we can stack some more things. I don't know what we've got coming up, but should we find ourselves there again, we, looks like we might be able to hit some of these topics. Teague: Yes. Fruin: So, um, on that note, my intention, or my hope is that we'll be able to discuss the, um, uh, Forest View relocation matter at your next work session. Uh, that'll take, uh, probably the full time, uh, for me to, to kind of walk you through what my recommendation would be and for you to have a pretty robust discussion on that, again, where that's a American Rescue Plan priority for the City, so that's our intention for March 22nd. Um, we do have the Senior Center Master Plan that is now ready for you to, um, uh, to receive as well, so we can do that in a work session setting, or if you prefer, you can do that in a formal setting. I don't think we necessarily need you to adopt that formally, but you can always receive presentations at the formal meeting, uh, as well, um, and then, yeah, there's a host of other, other topics on there, uh, that, that you can choose to advance. The Recreation Facilities Master plan is not quite ready, that, that's, that's probably more of a summer item for you, that will be another big one, uh, for you to look at. Teague: Any other items? Bergus: Just a quick follow up on that. Um, do we know at this point when the Transit changes, um, I know, I mean, I know Sunday service has been delayed too. I think you had said maybe yet this summer. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2022. Page 14 Fruin: Yeah, uh, Redmond and I were just talking with Darian, I'm not sure if Darian's, uh, here as well. So, um, we are going through the cost analysis now. I think we should probably be ready to present to you what the plan would be. Um, again, I think you knew, need to understand the costs, how we're paying for this, uh, how we'll have to pay for it after the pilot period is done if we want to continue it. Um, Darian and her team have identified a number of smaller changes to schedules that, that we should probably make based on user feedback after the, after the rollout last August, so well bring that into the mix. Um, I think, I think summer is going to be a challenge, um, if for nothing else, the hiring of staff, we have had a hard time filling our driver positions this year. I think you, you know, that we've had to, um, had supervisors driving a lot. We actually had to scale back service, uh, for a couple week period, uh, because of lack of drivers, we're looking at, uh, and Darian, correct me if I'm wrong, probably 14 new driver positions. Bergus: Oh, wow. Fruin: -- um, to be able to staff, uh, Sunday service, uh, so, um, and attracting those drivers and than getting them the required licensures that they need is, is maybe going to push us past the summer. But, um, I'll look for any, any other feedback you have, Darian, and I, I, I would think that we're probably ready to have the conversation with you, uh, April, May. Does that sound reasonable? Nagle-Gamm: That sounds reasonable. Yes, it's, um, I think the, the biggest impact in terms of timing is going to be the hiring process, um, in addition to the challenges that we are having internally and other businesses are having, um, there are some new federal regulations that just went into effect in February for, for anyone who, um, is, uh, applying for a position and they don't have a CDL, and it's a CDL -requirement position. And that adds time to the hiring process, um, so that was an unexpected twist this year, and that, that could potentially prolong, um, becoming fully staffed so we can provide that service for the community. Bergus: Thank you. Teague: Any other items? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2022. Page 15 University of Iowa Student Government (USG) Updates Teague: University of Iowa Student Government updates. And as you can see that Anna and Elizabeth are not here, but they did send us some updates that Mayor Pro Tem Alter is going to give. Alter: That I will. Um, so per their notes, um, they participated in the Daily Iowan interviews regarding lease gap week and weeks, and potential programs and efforts to support students. Um, they will send the article to us when it gets published, but I thought that this, um, I actually am changing the order just a little bit, uh, it just seems that this rings out quite a bit in terms of a real need in the community. And I'm very glad that the, uh, Student Government is, is on this. I promise no more editorializing. Um, so additional updates are that research is still developing, um, ideas for sustainable mask options that reduce waste, uh, both City- and universitywide. The move -in checklist passed out of committee and is now going to go to the House floor. They're hopeful that it will pass. Um, the Director of Health and Safety and the Director of Sustainability are working with, um, the GPSG to get sustainable, uh, menstrual products at the food pantry and the WRAC, uh, R -- WRAC. Um, Sustainability is looking into carbon capture pipeline being built through Iowa, and would love feedback and thoughts on the project and its implications for Iowa City. Again, um, incredibly important topic. The university is celebrating its 175th year since its establishment in 1855, the Board of Regents approved two new degrees, a doctorate program in Criminology in the UI graduate school and a master of science in Data Science program in the Graduate College, both will be added in the fall of 2022. Um, and then finally magnets are ordered. I apologize. I cannot tell you which magnets these are -- Geoff? Weiner: They're basically telling, telling students what their rights are in terms of housing as they, as they, as they get leases and so forth. Alter: Fantastic. Um, they are ordering, they ordered 11,000 copies and a sample copy is being shipped to the IMU. And those are the updates. Teague: Great. Thank you. All right. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of March 1, 2022. Page 16 Council updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees Teague: Any Council updates on assigned boards, commissions and committees? Bergus: I had a, uh, attended a Paratransit advisory meeting last week and, um, they were speaking to the same, uh, kind of restrictions that Darian just mentioned as far as the challenges of getting drivers and getting them, um, licensed up appropriately and timely. And they've also seen, uh, I think, decline in ridership related to the pandemic. So some challenging times, certainly for our, our Paratransit, um, programs. Also attended an ECICOG board meeting, and as Janice mentioned, just right before this meeting, we came from a large public meeting relating to their 2030 Eastern Iowa Visioning, uh, process that has been going on. Um, so I'm very excited to hear and learn, I think a little bit for our group, how, how their findings and the amount of outreach that they've done is just tremendous. They've had 15 different focus groups through all different kinds of industries and governmental entities and members of the public. So, um, just excited to see kind of how that, that pans out and also got my ECICOG orientation, so know a little more what it's about. Weiner: And I, just add to that, that it's a, it's a six -county area, so, and, and it, the areas vary wildly in terms of how rural they are, how urban they are, what their growth has been. The one thing we saw today at the presentation was that at least that even the, the rural, the, I think it was Benton County that had the lowest growth, even, every county in the area had at least some growth, even if it was, even if it was small, there's no county in this area that experienced negative growth. Teague: Really good. Any other updates? Hearing none, 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 March 1, 2022.