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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-05-03 TranscriptionPage 1 Council Present: Staff Present: Alter, Bergus, Harmsen, Taylor, Teague, Thomas, Weiner Fruin, Jones, Kilburg, Goers, Fruehling, Fleagle, Sovers, Hightshoe, Seydell-Johnson, Bowers, Davies, Nagle-Gamm, Ford, Knoche, Havel Others Present: Miglin, Van Heukelom (USG) Discuss HRC Recommendation for Additional Social Justice Racial Equity Grant Awards Teague: I want to welcome everyone to the City of Iowa City Work Session for March 3rd, 2022. And happy that people who are online are able to join us, and happy that everybody came out even through the rain to come here to your City Hall. So welcome. The first item is to discuss the Human Rights Commission recommendation for additional social justice racial equity grant awards. Um, so this was a- recommendations that was given by our HRC. I do see some members here, so welcome to you all. I think I see three members. Um, Mark Pries, uh, Commissioner Roger Lusala, and Jason Glass. So welcome to you all. And then, um, we also see the staff that works with you all, which is our Equity Director Stefanie Bowers. So happy to see you here as well. Probably going to have our City Manager, Geoff, just start us off on this item. Fruin: Thank you, Mayor. So at your last meeting, you concurred with the Human Rights Commission recommendations for your social- this fiscal year's social justice and racial equity grant awards. And there were seven awards that totaled the $75,000, which is this year's budget allocation for the social justice and racial equity grants. I'm going to rewind a little bit, last fall, the Human Rights Commission made a recommendation to you to expand the budget for the grant program from $75,000 to $150,000. That was their formal recommendation to you. As you may recall, when you passed next year's budget, you did increase the- the grant program funding from 75 to 100. So we didn't go all the way to the 150 that the Human Rights Commission recommendation- that they recommended to you. But we did increase it substantially from 75 to 100,000. Um, at your last meeting, the council expressed an interest in discussing whether to supplement this year's program with some extra dollars. So again, we're focused on this fiscal year's award. You had 20 applications for the grant. Uh, the Human Rights Commission recommended, and you approved seven of those. So I think the conversation tonight was whether you wanted to supplement this year's funding, the $75,000 with additional funds to perhaps fund a few more applications. If you do that, there's- there's a number of ways you can go about that. Probably the cleanest in my mind would be for you to determine the dollar amount that you'd like to supplement, and then allow the Human Rights Commission to come back to you with kind of a second tier of applications to fund. You've got, as you said, commissioners here, they may have some other thoughts on- on how best to do that, but to- to me that seems like the appropriate process would be for allow- allow them to give you a second set of recommendations. Keep in mind, these applications were created, um, towards the end of last calendar year and submitted in that December timeframe. So we probably also have to go back and check with these agencies and make sure they still have the capacity to move forward because this is a fairly lengthy This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 2 review process and that's something that, uh, the city staff would be doing during a second round of- of applications. If that's indeed where we land. So with that, I'm happy to try to answer questions, guide you in any way that- that you need. Um, you also have commissioners here that they can converse with you as well with their thoughts. Teague: Well, I do think that, um, there's a few things for us to consider. One, we did approve last for this upcoming fiscal year, 100,000, so it wasn't quite double, ah, what the commissioners have asked of council. So I think that's something that we should, urn, pay special attention to. Um, certainly, if there is something that we want to do for next year, um, we can not have that discussion tonight, maybe have that at a future time, but try to focus in on the recommendation that's before us right now. The, um- the agencies have already been told that they didn't get awards. So I think that's something that we have to also consider as our City Manager mentioned. Some of these projects, they may have either abandoned or- or probably still have the need. And so that's something that the city staff would have to navigate. Ah, I personally would caution us to -to not engage with HRC members, um, because we don't have a- a quorum of them, and they have not been invited to be a part of our discussion. Goers: Mr. Mayor, I'll offer just one additional comment, and speaking with Ms. Bowers, I'm aware that there's one other consideration and that's said there are normal rules call for all the funds to be allocated and out the door by June lst, which would be a- a tight timeline should the council decided to, ah, doll out additional money. Teague: So that's another consideration. Will the, uh, HRC have enough time to- do we know- when- how many meetings between now and June 1st is scheduled? And we'll- we'll just ask our staff. Sony. Yep. Thank you. Bowers: So the commission has two work sessions, one's on May 12th, one's on May 17th, and then they have their regularly scheduled meeting on the 4th, Tuesday. Teague: So, in your opinion, do you think it's possible that they can have discussion and get back to council by our second meeting? Bower: They could put it on the work session for the March 12th. I mean, it'd be a quick turnaround. So, um, or they could call a special meeting too. I mean, they have that ability to. Teague: Okay. Thank you. Alter: I have a question that I don't know whether it would go to you or to- to Eric. Is this the type of thing where the process would have to be opened up again, or you can simply go back to the same pool of applicants for this year? Bower: I think the plan would be to just go back to the applicants from this year. The commission has already ranked all of the applications. So it would be more just This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 3 connecting with those organizations to see where they're at now in terms of what they submitted back on- on January 7th. Alter: I just wanted to make sure there weren't barriers to being able to do that. Thank you. Harmsen: And you had said these are already ranked? Bower: Yes, they are already ranked. Harmsen: So wouldn't require a whole new review process of the remaining? Bowes: That's correct. Harmsen: Thank you. Bergus: Stefanie was there a- a- I'm looking at the Exhibit A to the recommendations, which I think in our prior packet had some highlighted numbers that showed the seven that were selected, but there were also- there was a second column with some additional dollar amounts, were those the ones that were scored or ranked? Do you know? Bowers: I believe those were- some of the rankings included, um, governed- well, I should say, universities and public schools. And so per their rules, those organizations or entities, I should say, could only be secondary applicants and not primary. And so I think that could be what you're referring to. The- the other thing is when I looked at the packet, there's also, I think the Excel document just, uh, didn't - it didn't translate well. So I think that's the other reason why it looked like that. Bergus: Just to be totally clear, what we're discussing this evening, was there a recommendation beyond the 75,000 for this round? Teague: Not that I'm aware of. It was just - it was- well, there from the commissioners? Bergus: Yes. Teague: Yes. So there was a- a recommendation for us to consider more funding, an- an additional 75,000. Bergus: On this round? Bowers: The- the original recommendation that the Commission made back in November was for FY '23. So this- the round we're on now is FY '22. Bergus: So the applications that came in. I'm so sorry. I feel like I'm just missing a piece here. The applications that came in. I know we got the recommendation of fund 75,000 of This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 4 those. Was there a recommendation for if the council allocates additional funds, here's what we would want to award? Bower: Not- not not for FY '22. Bergus: Ok, So we don't have a sense of which or how much of this round. Teague: That they're requesting. Yeah. Thomas: Well, one thought, um, I have is if- if the plan was to increase the amount to $100,000 next year, uh, that we could perhaps use that as a f- an amount to increase or, you know, another $25,000 in this round to match what was proposed for the increase next year plus or minus. I mean, to try to capture, you know, based on the- the amounts of the ones that would be under consideration. See what we can capture for around a $100,000, um, would be my suggestion. Weiner: So Geoff, if we were- if we were to allocate additional funds, where would they come from? Fruin: Well, you'd have some- you'd have some choices there. I think, um, this would be a good opportunity to look at your, um, Black Lives Matter set aside that was created a couple of years ago. Um, I think that fits, uh, the spirit of that set aside. While council has not, um, utilized that yet other than the, um, budget approval for the TRC, um, if that, um, uh, cont- if- if there's a facilitator contract that comes forward, our intention was to use that one million for that purpose. But other than that, those funds have been untouched and this seems like a- a natural fit for that category. But if you wanted to explore other funding sources, I could help you navigate that. Teague: Yeah and I do agree that this could be a great opportunity for us to tap into that and, uh, for this to be the f- um, I guess one of the first, um, it would be- that's really the second allocation of those funds. It could be a great thing for the social justice equity, um, grant recipients to really further some of the work that they're doing. I think for me one of the things why this was important is because only seven agencies were awarded and there was lots and lots of good opportunities, um, for our community. Um, I'm not opposed to going up to the 25,000. Um, I guess, you know, it- it will be better if Council was a little, uh, direct and very specific as to what the alloc- allocated amount would be. So If we're gonna consider 25,000 then I think we need to be, um, very clear about that. Um, if we're going to give some latitude, which we've seen, um, a- once we had a- uh, we did increase funding for another commission that, um, they really labored, um, at trying to determine who was needing- needing the funds. And it came back to Council and inc- and then at that point, Council did approve all of the funds to be, um, approved for that fiscal year. So again, I would just say, if 25,000 is where council wants to land, then I think we need to make that very clear. If there is another thought, um, as to increasing it, then I think we need to come to up to amounts so that the commission is very, um, they're- they're directed as to what their ask is. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 5 Harmsen: Do we have sort of a sense of how many more awards 25,000 would be? We- we - we've said we've funded seven different initiatives with this round, um, and they said they've ranked, sort of. So the Commission seems like it has some idea of who it's next in line and who's in line after that and so on. Um, is there, uh, some idea of how many more grants this 25,000 would represent? Bowers: So I believe the commission received 19. We had 20 and, um, there was one that was withdrawn. Uh, but the commission, um, usually what they do is just go right in, um, line with their ranking and then when they get to that last, um, candidate, if that's over the amount, then they go back and make adjustments for the overage for all the organizations that would get funding. And so if you're- I mean, I would say if they've gotten six, they could probably get 4-5 more with a $25,000 dollar increase. Alter: I was going to say that it- this almost felt a little bit like chicken and egg but, yeah, I think you actually answered, uh, the riddle in my head was that I would hate for HRC to go back and, kind of, look at dollar amounts in order to fund if they've already been ranked in order of strength. Um, so, but it sounds like, you know, with that kind of leeway of being able to adjust, um, then there can be some kind of compromising if some projects or I don't know, perhaps there's one project that everyone said, "Oh, this was the eighth one, that's horrible and it was $25,000, so it'd be great." But maybe there are a couple and it divides out to- to something like that. I firmly believe in giving the leeway. I would just hate that it would be more than people would look at what projects to award based on the amount that we were giving, if that makes sense. Bowers: Yeah, it does, indeed the application form ask organizations that they could do the project with less funding. And then so they have very specific answers for- for each organization as to whether or not, um, lowering the amount would affect their ability to do the proposal. Alter: So they wouldn't necessarily have to go with the asks of say that the organization asked for 10,000. They could go with the 5,000 and feel comfortable with doing that. Bowers: Correct. Taylor: I- I- I'm comfortable with the method that they've used all along for many years as far as determining, uh, how to distribute the- the funds. So I would be comfortable with adding another 25,000 and- and be comfortable with them making a decision on- on which of the remaining, uh, could utilize those funds the best. Harmsen: I agree. Alter: Yeah. Teague: All right. Thank you so much. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 6 Bowers: Thank you. Goers: And Council, just so we're clear, so we can bring this back to you next time you are looking for it out of the Black Lives Matter fund that Geoff mentioned a moment ago, is - is that okay for a funding source? Thomas: Yeah. Alter: Yes. Goers: Okay. Excellent. Thank you. Teague: Great. All right. Anymore items on this? All right, thanks to everyone for being a part of that conversation. Discuss Process for Handling ARPA Funding Requests Teague: The next on our agenda is discuss process for andle- handling ARPA funding request. And I'm gonna turn this one over to Geoff, our City Manager as well. Fruin: Yeah, I'll be brief here. I just wanna call your attention to a late handout that we, uh, thought might help the discussion tonight. Um, no new information here, just kinda presented in a- in a simplified way. Uh, you have before you a summary of our ARPA funding priorities that we talked about last September, and then the commitments that we've made, um, as of, uh, earlier this week. Um, as a reminder with the city, and you can see this summary at the very bottom of this handout. The cities received approximately 18.3 million from our ARPA allocation. We have 3.6 million encumbered and that's the direct assistance program with Johnson County, the Forest View Relocation Project, and the mobile crisis expansion. So those three commitments combined are the 3.6 million. So you have a remaining balance, uh, uh, the city has remaining balance in ARPA funds of, uh, approximately 14.6 million. The top of the page that you see there again, are those priorities, um, uh, categories, if you will, of- of funding that we talked about last, um, uh, last, uh, uh, fall, uh, last September it was. And I just wanted to clarify, i- in each of those categories, we gave a range of funding at that time 'cause of course, we didn't have specifics of- of those, uh, efforts, ah, nailed down. Um, those, uh, that range is anywhere from 15 million to 32 million, so you have to be careful when you look at that. You can't just look at that right-hand figure and assume that we can fund all those at the highest level. There's going to be some of those categories that have to be funded on that lower end. Um, and as you look at things, uh, right now with our first three awards we're at the - we're at the higher end of two of those categories in the lower end of one. So, uh, as we progress, we're just gonna keep an eye on that a- and balance things out. I think council's focus tonight, uh, as I understand, it is largely around, um, non-profit assistance in the process to go through there. There are two categories that we identified for non-profit assistance. The first one was in the emergent needs category. That was the 500,000 to one This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 7 million as envisioned. Um, that was, um, essentially another round of funding similarly, ah, to what we did, uh, uh, during the kind of the height of the pandemic to supplement operating dollars for, um, our non-profit agencies. Uh, we have not started that initiative yet and in our last update memo, we suggested that council may wanna consider shifting that down to the capital needs section. The- the strategic investment needs. Its course, that's- that's your call. But, um, when it comes to those, uh, um, capital needs, that's the three million to six million dollar category under strategic investments. And at the time, what we had considered was a social service needs assessment that would perhaps be done at a county level, perhaps in- in, uh, partnership with the county to get a better idea of capacity -building projects, uh, that are most in need in our non-profit sector. And then to provide seed funding to tackle some of those top priorities. That would- that would entail a larger, um, lengthier process where we actually hire someone that has expertise to do the study. Perhaps spend a year doing the study, and then actually making these awards, uh, probably in 2023, um, or early 2024. Um, of course, council has discretion to go that route or- or to take proposals, uh, in- in some structured way. And I think that was, uh, kind of the- the- the, um, nexus of today's conversation. So happy to answer questions. But that's a quick overview on the late handout and where we stand with ARPA today. Alter: Geoff, I have a question. Is there, um, are there any barriers to using these funds within this fiscal year? Fruin: No. No. Alter: I- I had spoken with someone at county who had said that they had a certain amount and it may be because they've already allocated where all of their money is gonna go. But I just wanted to- to make sure. Fruin: Yeah. You know we've received half of the money today and the other half will be received before this fiscal year. So really, uh, the deadlines that we're looking at are the expenditure deadlines. We have- we have to make our expenditure commitments by the end of 24 and then have those funds spended- ex, um, uh, expended by the end of 25- is that 26. So really those- those commitments need to be made by the end of 2024 with the actual dollars being expended by the end of 26. But we can move as- as fast as- as the council wants to, uh, this fiscal year. Teague: I- I do wonder if, um, they just meant like reporting, uh, for their financial book, but I don't see that as an issue on our end. No. Fruin: I don't think so. Alter: If I can throw out a suggestion and I don't want to derail anybody else's thought process. Um, but as Geoff was talking and said that there's the possibility of sort of folding in the emerging- emerging, uh, non-profit assistance into this larger bucket. I'm a little loath to do that simply because this would be something that delays agencies getting their money, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 8 um, and I think that there's room for both. I think that- I- I liked the idea of actually being able to look this at the larger level. But I think that to combine the two sources or the two buckets, um at this point. I think that there's sort of, ah, an economic hardship, long hauled COVID fact in the same way that- that people who get COVID, um, you know, are experiencing it and so I think that, um, it makes sense to keep them separate so that people can get their money. Um, agencies or projects can get their money sooner. Teague: On the capital planning process has there been- my assumption is this is bigger than just Iowa City. Though it would be county, so I mean, all the county services involved. Has there been conversations on any level, um, to learn of the county's interests or of municipality? Fruin: And that really since the joint work session we had with the County Board of Supervisors when it was just really mentioned that this is something that we can explore. Um, the counties identified quite a bit of their expenditures already, um, so we- we'd have to go back and chat with their- their staff about, you know, whether that's something they'd want to entertain or not. I would hesitate that- I would hesitate to do it just on an Iowa City level. I just don't think it's- it's gonna provide the meaningful results that we need to unless it's done on a county level. Um, but staff has not had that detailed conversation with- with the county. Bergus: It seems to me that that's something that we could undertake with other municipalities too, even if it's not the county in government because most non -profits are kind of more or less tied within their geographic area that may be within cities. And I assume also Geoff, that those- none of those conversations have happened, right? Fruin: Correct. Bergus: Okay. Teague: So one of the things that we do need to try to, um, focus in on today is how do we handle, um, some of the funding requests and what are allowable. Um, you know, what - what does emergency, you know, non-profit assistance mean? Um, now, we- you know, as far as process, I think there are some things that we can kind of lean on. We have our, um, CDBG home funds process that happens. We just heard from the social justice equity grant how the HCD, I'm- I'm sorry. They do their, uh, process within the HRC, so there are a few things that we can lean on for, you know, a- at least the structural way of how the process will go. But we also have to determine, well, who's gonna, you know, receive those applications? Who's gonna review them and- and what that criterium will be? Bergus: Geoff, can you remind us of the, um, we do have some process in place for emergency requests, can you just kind of outline what that is? Fruin: Yeah. So a couple of years ago, um, local non-profit houses into homes came before the council with some operational assistance, um, requests, and, ah, the council struggled This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 9 with that request a little bit because there was- obviously, we have an aid agencies process that is designed for- to- to receive applications, to be vetted and- and then ultimately for awards to be recommended to the city council. And that was one that, um, came out of sequence a- a little bit. Um, and after that process, the council asked staff to create an emergency, um, support program and so we created that at that time. Um, and it's a- a- a simple application process, ah, that goes directly to our NDS staff who vet that, um, and then we can make awards, um, as- as staff. So really it doesn't even come before council. But it's pretty tight criteria, um, to qualify as an emergency. We've only used it a few times since it was established. Um, we used it, for example, for the, um, winterization of some of the Forest View, um, mobile homes. Obviously, that was a situation. Winter was coming, we couldn't wait for the next aid agency cycle. That process allowed us to provide them some funding out of sync with all the other non-profit requests. Uh, we also used it recently to, um, fund the CWJ's, um, efforts to, um, increase applications for rental assistance to help those in need, um, access state funding and general assistance funding that was created for rental assistance. Again, staff, we made the determination that forcing them to wait six months to go through that process would do more harm because there were people in need of that rental assistance immediately. So those are some examples of some emergent, um, needs that we have- that we've funded through that process. When we get other requests at the staff level, we will refer them to the aid agency's process and whether there are legacy agency or whether there are- would qualify as an emerging agency. That's where we direct them. Um, I will say during COVID, when we got the additional CDBG dollars, um, we created a non-profit assistance program. I'm gonna look at Tracy to correct me if I'm wrong here, but that's one that we did not, um, take through HCDC. Is that- that correct we did that all at the staff level? Yeah, I believe so. In order to get those dollars out quickly, we put together a COVID non-profit assistance program. We accepted those, um, applications at the staff level and then, um, made those awards again, just to expedite the process. And those were largely used for very, uh, reactionary types of needs because of the pandemic. So we established some of those neighborhood nests with those -we provided some mental health funding, uh, as- as a few examples through that process, so, you know, you could look to- to that too, and you could say, well, let's -this is a onetime grant fund, we can create a onetime process for- for use. Bergus: Is that COVID non-profit assistance program done? Fruin: Yeah. But that's- when we- when we established those priorities in September and we had that 500,000 to a million emergency non-profit assistance, that's what we had in mind. Of course, we didn't really know what the needs of the pandemic would be, but we- we thought another round of that type of funding, um, may- may be needed and that's why we put it in there. We haven't really felt that need, we haven't been getting those same type of requests that we got early on in the pandemic, you know, he -help us establish that nest, help us, you know, bridge this critical gap. We're not hearing those requests as much, it's not to say that there aren't certainly needs caused by the pandemic out there, but that's why staff is saying you may want to consider sliding that down to capital needs. If we're not seeing that the operational needs being as heavy as some of the- the capital This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 10 needs, you have that flexibility. I- I completely understand what the Mayor Pro Tem saying to that. Maybe there are those operation needs and we need to keep those separate, that's really for you all to decide. Teague: One of the things that we have here as a, ah, program or project is the eviction program, so I am not exactly sure if, you know, when- when we kind of started talking about this, we were still in limbo about what was going to be happening at the state level. Um, and - and so where does this seem to be, um, still a priority, I guess. I mean, we- we fmd it in different ways. Fruin: Yeah. We- um, this one has been on hold a little bit because the state announced a new rapid rehousing program, and we wanted to see what those rules would be, so we could best leverage our funds. We didn't want to create a program that was largely duplicating what the state was doing. Um, we do feel like there's still going to be a need for a greater eviction prevention effort over the next few years. Um, so we're currently trying to work to create a eviction prevention proposal, that would, um, probably last two to three years and- and would be designed to kind of wrap around and fill those gaps that the state rapidly housing program will not feel. Ah, we also think that we might be able to, um, provide some continued funding for the, um, coordinated entry process, which I think is really needed, um, right now. And then also, um, part of our affordable housing, um, plan- part of our affordable housing plan recommendations has been to launch a, ah, risk mitigation program for the community, and we think that might be a little bit wrapped into the same eviction prevention program. So we're probably looking at the lower end of that range closer to the one million as opposed to the two million, but, uh, from a staff standpoint and- and talking with, uh, some of the non-profit housing providers, we do think eviction prevention- additional eviction prevention efforts will be necessary, uh- despite the state's commitments. Harmsen: Sure. One thing I think I hear, um, kind of some of the discussion is, uh, some consideration about the emergency part of the emergency non-profit assistance and- and perhaps no longer in that same sense of urgency. Um, and then the other end of that spectrum, of course, which I- which I defmitely, uh applaud the ideas and the- the goals of this longer-term assessment in the capital planning. Do we maybe just need to have something that's in-between those two stages to sort of take the place of the emergency non-profit rather than rolling it into the other funds? Something like I don't know if you'd call it, uh, ongoing or you know, something- something that would be somewhat similar, maybe not quite with the same emergency, but also lets, you know, help- help agencies kind of bridge the gap from- from going from the emergency to back to, I don't want to use the word normal, but something more normal, and then that would maybe allow us to use some of the things that cities already created, so we don't have to recreate wheels and- yeah, recreate wheel, anything like that? Fruin: Yeah. I- I think that's- that's an appropriate step if- if that's the will of the council. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 11 Alter: So long as it's defined is kind of where I've been all along. Um, I think that it- I have been able to think about this quite a bit, and I do think that, um, over -even without COVID, the need in- in the community has gone up and up and up for directed agencies. Um, and they've come before us to say we need more and- and previous councils have up their budget. But I think with COVID, you know, the- the needs were so vast and then equally, um, you know, funding sources dried up, so I think that there is something to think of this. Again, I- I go into the metaphor of like long-term COVID impact. And so- well actually it's not a metaphor, but that- that this might be something that we could consider, um, a way to help agencies. Um, I just want to make sure that we define it and that this is- and I think that staff has shown time and again, um, that they're able to take existing structures and either re -purpose them or already have those structures in place to be able to gather the- the input that they need, uh, so that we can do this fairly quickly. Um, but I think that we just- we need to decide on what those parameters are so that everyone can get to them. Teague: I do wonder if, um, we focused in on allocating or talking about some funding, um, amounts. For example, for the emergency non-profit assistance funding is 500,000 to one million. Um, so we know that this program goes into 2024. I want all the funds for the entire, um, upper funds has to be, uh, spent or is that awarded? It's awarded? Weiner: Awarded. Teague: Awarded. Weiner: By 2026 Geoff said. Teague: Awarded. Thomas: Committed, yeah. Teague: Yes, committed. So, you know, the 500s or one million is where we will remain. We don't know that just yet, but, um, potentially, if I'm thinking about like city, um, like the, um, sum of the- the current, uh, commissioners, uh, how they do the allocation of the funds, um, is year- is once a year. But if we were to do something kind of, you know, immediate, and then had somehow increased budgets for the annuals, um, then that could get us to the emergent need right away. And then on an ongoing basis, either we have, y - you know, kind of what, uh, Councilor Bergus was talking about. Well, I think she was somewhat alluding to, you know, that non-profit assistance program that COVID. Maybe there is a separate, you know, one that we do for that or we can just add, you know, a little more money, um, to a normal process for the non -profits. But, uh, I- I wonder if there's any thoughts on or any interests in trying to determine how we could, you know, figure out an emergent thing now. Um, and then how we can consistently, um, have individuals, um, get some support between now and 2024, or do we just put it all in right now in one pot, or do we kind of spread it out? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 12 Bergus: I- I liked what I was hearing Shawn and Megan saying about kind of, uh, not necessarily as emergent as we saw in the height of the pandemic, but still, you know, COVID related obviously and- and, you know, tying to impacts that we've seen and needing to get that out the door much more quickly than I think the needs assessment would allow. I agree with all of that. And I think it also is, um, you know, the thing that I said in office last meeting and the meeting before, that I'm just concerned that if we don't have some kind of like announcement or understanding that, you know, just everybody needs to know what we're doing because we have agencies that are very skilled at asking for money and that's absolutely what they should be doing. Um, and those who maybe are kind of like waiting for us to say these funds are available, and I think it can be tricky or unfair if we just start doing like a first -come -first-served without ever saying this is what we're doing, right? And that's my- kind of my concern with when we entertain one-off requests. Do we have any pending requests other than the CWJ wage theft one? Fruin: Not that I'm aware of, no. Bergus: No. Okay. And Geoff had mentioned like sending organizational requests through the agency's process. Is there kind of like criteria for that that are shared with folks or do you know what I mean, like how- how would an organization who comes to the city know if that might fit into the emergency versus the annual. Fruin: Yeah. I think our staff Tracy maybe you can come up and help me here. Um, if we get an inquiry from a non-profit that says, we have this need, can you help us? Usually it's Tracy and her staff that it'll say, okay, ah, here are the possible avenues that we may be able to assist you. If it's operational assistance, it's probably going to be through the aid agencies program if it's you know something more urgent or a one-time expense like a capital type expense, we'll explore other options like social justice, racial equity grant, and our climate grant. So I don't know if you have any examples. Hightshoe: We look at the request and fmd out one, is- is it truly does it meet our definition emergency, Can you wait for a regular application processes? If not, especially if it's pandemic related, do we have, is at the opportunity fund emergent- emergent situation, the affordable housing fund or what we could fit it in. And if- if it meets those criteria, then we're talking to Geoff about where we could fund it and what pot of funds it could come from. Bergus: Do you have a sense, Tracy, that there's some need for this kind of less emerged therefore that we're talking about? Hightshoe: We're getting calls. I've gotten a couple from non -profits wondering know when an add another application round. They're aware that something's coming at some point. They wanted to when it is so setting that are letting advanced notice or they can- they can plan on what they're gonna apply for. I think they'd appreciate that. So but the only written request we've got is the one that Geoff mentioned. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 13 Bergus: Okay. Thank you. Teague: I do have a question for you, Tracy. So the aid to agency process. That's something that has been happening forever. We have seen, um, requests for COVID-related funding be a little less, um, I'll use the word involved. Do you- and I don't know how the COVID non- profit assistance program was. That was a little less involved. Is there a potential that whatever we set up here that um, you know if we're going to be under your umbrella, asking for assistance, that it could be less involved applications appropriate, but a little less involved. Hightshoe: Other than the- the United Way joint funding process? Teague: Yes. Hightshoe: If it's local funding and there's not federal funds involved. Yes, we could have a simplified application process. Teague: Okay. Fruin: Even with this program, this- is- this federal funds, but I think it's very much simplified compared to CDBG funds. Teague: Okay. Hightshoe: Okay, yeah, if it is not CDBG we can- we can get simplify it. Teague: Okay. Great. Thomas: Well, what was the process by which the Board of Supervisors Johnson County, on- on the CWJ proposal. They- they went through some process, I'm assuming. Hightshoe: I'm not aware of that process. Thomas: What- what was the process? Hightshoe: That I don't know. Fruin: I think that was just their general ARPA discussion really. They had several meetings on our priorities and they developed lists of dozens and dozens of projects and went through and voted on this. Alter: I agree. I- I spoke with Supervisor Sullivan urn, earlier today and in fact, he gave me their process. So, I mean, it's- it's was fairly simple in description, more difficult to execute, but they solicited requests, whether it was projects or agencies. They gave them to staff to sort of go through a three-part process. The first is, does this fit the department revenue This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 14 guidelines? Does it fit the county's strategic plan? And then is this an organization that we've worked with before and or some kind of criteria of, I'm assuming it was sort of trustworthiness or you know if- if um, you know a degree of um, confidence. Then those applications, once they kind of got vet it a little bit through that criteria, then they gave them to the supervisors who sat and he said it took a very long time, but he talked- they talked it through and they awarded somewhere above 30, but around about there. So that was- it was a very simple process to vet the things, but then the work was there so. Taylor: I'd spoken with Mayor Foster from Coralville to see what their excuse me, process was to kind of similar to that. And basically, they just received technically some applications. They didn't put a request out for applications, but non-profit organizations had just applied to them or ask them, uh, for some funding. And they- they talked about their process, which I believe that's how I would define a process. I would define that this is a process that we're going through right now, ah, discussing it that's a process, is- is to talk about it and then make a decision, and that's what they did. Then during their council meeting was discussed, weigh the pros and the cons and which- which ones to give funds to and how much fun scores they had. Much, much less than than what we have. I think only 6 million versus our 18 million. But that's the process that they went through and that's what I would say. I mean, we're doing right now is- is going through that process of talking about it and- and deciding you know, what to do with the funds. Alter: Go ahead. Weiner: I mean, it seems to me that in addition to creating a process that one key, if we're go- if we're going to differentiate it either among the ARPA funds or between the ARPA funds and normal aid agencies is we want- if we want this to be more of a county -wide process, has the organization also gone to other entities within- within the county and solicited funds sort of created their own universe or the- or is this a one-off and I would be more in favor of looking at- at- at agent- at organizations that are- that are looking for that- that have really tapped into different municipalities as well as the county so that it really ends up being county -wide. Alter: And- and that may be a really good marker for how we consider this. Um, I just want to circle back a little bit in terms of I- I hear what you're saying, Pauline, about this- this becoming a process, which- which it is. However, I think that the stringency with which we're not allowed to talk about certain things if they're not on the agenda. And when we're talking about money going out. I do not think that it is necessarily fair for the agency. Hopefully, they tuned into here our process and know that there is money available. I think that we absolutely have to make it visible and transparent and communicate it publicly, uh, and officially that there is money that we're entertaining projects or um, additional operating funds or whatever it might be that they need. But I just- I think that and it might be that- that with North Liberty and Coralville because it was much less money and that they could do that and it was less of a concern. I just think that the amount that Iowa City actually has built into their annual budget for supporting direct aid agencies, we have to have a slightly different process than what the others do. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 15 And it needs to be open and communicative so that all of the agencies know this. I- I back what- what Laura said, which as much as I admire and also respect the work that is done by um, you know people who have- directors who've taken the initiative to say, this is a project that we need. I'm- I'm not okay with simply the means being a one-off. And - and I do take your point also as well, that this has created a kind of universe so that there is a full county kind of a municipality universe. But I think that we need to- there are many other agencies that equally operate in- in a similar fashion and we need to afford them the opportunity to- to weigh in to apply for these things too. Weiner: Right, I don't- I don't disagree. But ah, at the same time, I would add that- that's something else that I'm thinking of as a criteria. Is- is a criterion is- is- this essentially a one-off or a request so that it's not- because these funds are onetime funds, is this a specific- specific requests with a specific end- Yeah. In mind for- for a specific project that we're not, that you know the particular one that we're taught at words, they study around talking about CWJ asked for certain- certain- a certain amount for each of five years, but then it ends. So to me, that's- that's another important criteria when- when we're looking at- when we're- if we're soliciting- if we're soliciting applications or looking at applications that it'd- that it'd be both county -wide and - Alter: Finite. Weiner: And finite. Teague: I'm not exactly sure- oh - Taylor: I- I was just gonna say I- I do respect what Mayor Pro Tem is saying, but to say that these agencies might not have been aware. I mean, we have this list right here and it was over a year ago when the whole practically world knew we were getting $18 million and several times over at the, uh, senior center. The room was packed full of people who were wanting money and talking about it and specifically for the aid to- to workers. But it was well-known fact and obviously we made this list, we set our priorities and said, these - these are the things that we're going to look at giving mon- funds to. Uh, they should have been well aware, we shouldn't have to hold their hand and- and go out and- and one - by -one say, you know- you know we got this list, you should apply. Uh, but anyway Alter: [OVERLAPPING] one -by -one I think. Taylor: That's just my opinion. Alter: As a public announcement that we're open to accepting applications now. We've had a couple of other things that we've had to take care of. Bergus: And I also think just some semblance of what kind of program are we talking about. I've had a number of conversations and meetings about the BIPOC business support and what that could look like. And people who are interested and you know, similar to- to what This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 16 Tracy said or just kind of like, well, we'll have a structure but we're kind of waiting. It's not figured out yet. And so I do think people know about it, but it's the- at what point they make an ask and what does the ask look like? But I think we owe them a little more information. I'm interested to know if staff was like freaking out with council talking amounts specific criteria or you know, this is not normally our purview. I know RPA is, uh, I don't mean- I don't mean that we're time of things not on the agenda. I just mean, from a policy making standpoint like, are we- normally we defer to staff or the commissions who are making these decisions to, kind of deal with all the specifics. I know RPA is different. Are we looking to council to do that cuz we need to set some time to hash that out I think if that's where we're headed. Fruin: Yeah. I, you know, we've- I think just me personally and probably your other staff and I think some of you have had conversations with other either non -profits or for -profits saying, at what point can I approach the city? My response has always been, we're kind of working through these systematically, right? And we're going through- we went through the direct assistance program, we were going through the forestry program. We're working on eviction prevention. When we get to the non-profit piece will have some type of process. I really don't think it's in your best interests to just say, bring us your- bring us your proposal and we'll discuss them one by one. I think you will be overwhelmed, um, and you'll be struggling to figure out exactly how to sift through those. It's better to define the process upfront. That said, if you have certain priorities in the community that you want to elevate, you can determine that now and- and you've already done that, we've already done that, uh, for example, with the mobile crisis, we identified from the outset that we wanted to, um, expand mobile crisis services in the community. Um, there's only really one agency that provides that service. We went and we worked with them to do that. If there are other segments of the non-profit, um, uh, sector that you really think that these ARPA funds are well-designed to lift up and to expand and to create capacity like we'd have done with mobile crisis, you can identify those upfront and then take, ah- ah, one-off proposal. Um, the wage theft is a- is a good example. There's really only one agency that I'm aware of that- that really works on- on wage theft throughout Johnson County. It's the Center for Worker Justice. We didn't def- we didn't identify that as a top priority back in September with these initial ARPA funds. If you want to go back and say that that's a top priority then I think that's easier for staff to- to go back and talk to the other agencies and say listen, the council made a decision that wage theft was a top priority. And we're going to work with the Center for Worker Justice and the other municipalities and the county to carry out actions to, um, advance our efforts in that area. But I don't think you can just do that through the- for the whole non-profit sector. I think if- if you want to take all of those kind of on equal footing, you need to have a process to accept those. And that process can look a number of different ways. We can- we can do that as staff or you can funnel that through HCDC. You can manage it yourself. You know, you could be the ones to sift through those applications. It's a lot on top of wha- what you're doing. Um, but that could be done as well. So, um, I would- I would strongly suggest unless wage theft is that single priority or- or you're gonna put that above everything else, then you create a process and you invite applications. I think that's going to be the easiest thing for you to manage and I do think This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 17 that there are agencies that are patiently waiting for that opportunity and- and at least that have approached staff, I know we've said hold off, we're not really considering those things quite yet. Weiner: Yeah. To- to be clear, I'm not trying to say- I- I'm definitely not trying to say that we the council should make these decisions. I'm- I'm saying that I think that- that elements of- of a process should include those things because we're looking- we- we started out saying that things should be essentially countywide. So having someone a- organizations apply for things that are countywide as well as fmite funds. Um, but I don't- I- I don't think that those are- these are decisions that council itself should be making other than to define priorities. Teague: Yeah. I- I will just me- mention that, um, there are lots of not-for-profit agencies out there that certainly do need assistance and I know that this council has, um, you know, traditionally, I mean, we just talked about, um, given additional funds to, um, you know, the social justice ratial equity grants that weren't funded. And so- are there our agencies out there that do great work that we are not aware- that we may not be aware of that, um, do need some assistance. And so I would, um, you know, caution us to make sure that we, um, are not, yo- you know, just take into consideration all of the opportunities that we could give an agency to really, uh, continue uplifting, uh, some of the work that is benefiting a lot of people, um, you know within our communities. So I'm not, you know, totally sold on the, you know, whatever projects have to be countywide. Um, you know, because then, you know, Iowa City's money is, you know, could be supporting, um, you know, someone that lives in another city. Not to say that, you know, we don't want to do that. But a- again, I think, you know, the- the city funds, um, I- I really do believe should be more expansive than any project that is just looking at county. I'm not saying that a project couldn't, you know, be looking at the county, but I think if we limit it, that it has to be a countywide project, then, um, there'll be a lot of non -prof- for -profits that need this assistance that won't be able to get it. Thomas: Well, I feel with, you know, with the- the one proposal that I think, you know, is sort of, in a sense indirectly trying to address, like you might say with the CWJ proposal that, you know, sort of, responding to so- some of Geoffs comments, um, you know, was actually something that three other public entities in Johnson County ha- have already identified as what arguably, I would- I would say it was an- an emerging need, um, with regard to the ARPA f- framework and have already decided that it was, uh, something that they were interested in funding. And where the one remaining, uh, public entity, uh, significant- of significant size and significant in funding that would be part of what logically should be framed as a countywide effort. And, um, as Geoff also noted, in terms of - of how we would address that need. There is- there is some- to some degree of sole source aspect to it. I mean, they're- they're just are not that many non -profits who, if we - if we agree that wage theft is a concern and a priority, um, there just aren't that many non- profits who would be interested in serving in that capacity? Um, I mean, I would be very interested in, you know, if in any way we can use Johnson County as a model or adapt their process as a model for justifying such a decision. Ah, you know, that's something This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 18 I'm interested in. Um, but it does seem we- we've been kind of caught in a situation where, uh, you know, the- the- the 75 percent of the major entities, public entities in Johnson County have- have made a decision on this. And in a sense were the gap in filling out the process, and- or the- the f- framework for- for the program. And, um, you know, it- it- it seems like it's- it's mostly in place and that- that there's a role for us to play in that as well. Ah, so I- I think there's time in which we can consider what that process will be. Um, and so far as three other entities have- have come forward, there is significant funding already in place for that project to initiate. It's- and it's a five-year program. So I think there's still is time if we wanna try to identify how we provide that framework, if we feel it's necessary to feel more comfortable making that decision. Um, but I do think there are some certain unique aspects about it that separate it from perhaps what we will more generally be addressing, ah, in this program. Taylor: As Councilor Thomas mentioned um, we do - there are other parts of our joint entities and we just met with them recently out there that - I have confidence in our fellow joint entities that have already decided to support this, that we're talking about, that this county and the cities of Coralville and North Liberty, and I salute them for having done that. And if - if the wish of the rest of the council and staff is that we look at it a little closer, put it on the next agenda and then actually make the decision so that it's more public than I'll go along with that. But other entities have already done it. So I think they've - they've made - made the path for us already. Teague: I do -I at least want to make mention that in April 21st info packet, there was a submission by CWJ to the - to the -to the council. And so a lot of people are referring to that in- in- because I think we have to be a little sensitive to how we're talking about this item, because we're including you -x at a great extent, one specific entity. And so I at least wanted to bring in that there was a submission to council that is related to the April 21st info packet. Weiner; can I ask -because it's been a long time since we really talked about it, what was intended under the category of workforce development, in this under strategic investments. Fruin: We had considered some supplemental apprenticeship programs as well as childcare programs. Were the two main things. Harmsen: I have - go ahead. Weiner: I'll just thank you. Harmson: I got question and a couple of thoughts, but before then, I just wanted to - council member Weiner you had mentioned you wanted to pause at five o'clock, if possible. Did you still want to do that? Weiner: Yeah I just -which is entirely non relevant to what we're doing. But there are gatherings at courthouses - county courthouses around the country at five o'clock local time today in This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 19 order to support reproductive rights, abortion - abortion rights and make a statement and I just wanted to acknowledge that we cannot be there, but that's happening here. Harmsen: Um so, one idea, conceptually - conceptually I had as we talked about this and we talked a little bit earlier about we're kind of in a situation neither fish nor fowl in terms of it's not really an emergency situation anymore, but we're really looking at wanting to get moving on stuff a little faster than the long-term planning. So I was trying to think of what conceptually could give us a framework to start moving in that direction. I'm going to throw an idea out there and does not have to, I'm not married to this or anything. But just to sort of shift that a little bit, i- in that line, maybe like a buil - build back better COVID recovery non-profit assistance. With the idea being is we have an opportunity here to do some stuff and- and in this case, talking about the proposal from CWJ. I wasn't on the council back in September. I certainly would have been happy to -to voice my support for this issue. But in September I was running on issues of economic justice and wage theft is absolutely one of the things I talked -was talking about in September, but again, not on this council at that time. So, I could certainly go on and I could talk about the responsibility of our city to protect people from wage theft. If I'm an employee and I walk into my place of business and I take 500 bucks out of the till and put in my pocket and walk out, they're going to call the cops and I'm going to be in handcuffs, and rightly so. If you flip that script and an employer doesn't pay their worker, the worker doesn't have the same sort of ability to have that instant sort of reaction of the justice because we had this weird structural problem. And so you know, in that case the workers like, well, you can take it to court, which if you're working - if you're already making just barely making ends meet, you don't have time to do that. You know and didn't even know how to navigate that. So we have a great opportunity to join some partners to - to really protect our citizens, which is what the- which that one proposal comes down to. So that's that's kind of an issue that I do feel very strongly about. And I do think the city and I think probably - everybody probably agrees with this. Um so I'm not, like you know, by any means you take any special credit, but I just want to say because I wasn't here that that would be something that is really important. If the mechanism to get there is by doing something where we shift this emergency non-profit assistance to a COVID recovery non-profit assistance or a build back better COVID recovery. And we can do so with some reasonable amount of speed. I think that maybe getting us in the right direction, which then brings me to my question. If the council were to give some clear direction to staff, what would the turnaround time be from like, because -I mean you've got some stuff in place, but you have to create some new stuff. Any ballpark idea of what that would look like in practice or in application? Fruin: Um it'd be hard to get it on your next agenda. Honestly, we've got our Forestview relocation clinics coming up this week and next week. And that's where a large part of the staff effort is going to be. But we could - we could try to get it on in May, probably what's most important to the C - CWJ is that they have a commitment. So even if - even if they knew that, hey, it may take a month - a month and a half to get the actual contract under place. If they felt like that commitment was there, they could probably move This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 20 forward with some other plans. It would be my guess, but - yeah, June sorry, sir. We're already in May. Time flies. Thank you. Bergus: I'm super encouraged to hear that, you know, staff could come back so quickly with a framework for a process. And I also agree with Councilor Thomas that this is kind of easily distinguishable request for the one proposal. So I don't -I would prefer that we try not to create a process with - you know, I think this example is super helpful as we've been talking about it, but I hope that we don't put requirements in place or elevate, you know, for example, already funded by other entities as like a you know, a necessary sort of step for - for this, although I do think that maybe putting some weight on the who else's in, you know, supporting you as always. Or where else can you get funded? Like we heard with, um, the grants of the Human Rights Commission, just considered. I think that is important, but I think this particular request is - is distinguishable and, you know could be considered somewhat out of turn based on it's - the aspects that we've been talking about. Harmsen: And I agree, I think based on the idea that we don't know how many other - we've heard some stuff tonight to make me think that some other entities, governmental bodies have already allocated their funds. So if we were to create that as a new criteria, that door may have already closed in other places. I - although I agree with looking at it as like, hey, this is a good thing that helps with the application. As opposed to, if we wanted to get that far into the weeds. Fruin: Yeah. I- I think the easiest thing for you to do is no- not worry so much about the mechanics. But if- if wage theft is- is a priority area for you, just make that commitment and make that statement and- and allow staff to put together an agreement to- to bring back to you. That said, I also want- I also want to let you know that I don't want you to feel like the city has been kinda sitting on our hands when it comes to wage theft. The CWJ did- the CWJ did get funding this year through your emerging agency process, and wage theft was the primary component of that application. So I could make the argument that we were well ahead of the other agencies, or the other municipalities, in already funding the effort against wage theft before this additional request came on. That said, if you wanna join them in this new partnership that the CWJ outlined, just ma- you know, make it known that, that's a priority for this council and that you want to join your- your other governmental bodid- bodies in doing this. Um, I think this council has expressed a lot of support for working with area governments before. This seems like a good- a good opportunity, if- if your priorities align, we'll get the agreement together and get it back to you, um, as quickly as we can. Taylor: Well, I'll state right now, which shouldn't be any surprise that- that will be a priority of mine. The wage theft I mean I was- I was shocked to know the extent of it, statewide. Um, and I- I think that we need to take the issue very seriously and make clear that the city has a lack of tolerance for this behavior by employers, that we won't tolerate this in - in our city and our community and- and surrounding areas. And I just think it's really important that- that we do make that statement. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 21 Thomas: You know I think that this is a great opportunity for uh, you know, a unified voice by the major entities of Johnson County, uh, the- to state that wage theft is a priority. And um, m looking at the proposal, you know, so as a- as a value statement. And then looking at the proposal, you know, with respect to the- the costs as proportioned for the various entities that it all seemed to be proportional. So, you know, in that sense, there wasn't anything that jumped out at me in terms of our piece of that overall proposal. It all seemed very reasonable to move forward with it. Taylor: We also are- are looking at our strategic pri- priorities up here on the screen and in front of us. And just three of those in particular fall right into this. And that's I- I think the advanced social justice, racial equity, and human rights. I mean, it's basic human right to be paid what you've earned, strengthen communion engagement and inner government relations. Again, we're talking about working with the other entities of the county and - and the other cities, falls right into that. But more of an inclusive and resolent economy through the city, making sure that these workers are paid what they deserve and what they need so that they can live in this community because it's over and over again. We hear how- how expensive it is to live in this community. Um, and I just think that, uh, by looking at these things and keeping in mind our strategic priorities, we're putting action to these words that right there on the screen. Teague: So it does appear that, um, you know, for- that this council wants to treat that as a separate kind of item, which is what I'm hearing. Um, and, um, I've seen a lot of nodding of heads to kinda of direct staff to move forward with the agreement on that. All right, so that's great. Um, and then if we can come back to kinda the emergency not-for-profit assistance, what we want to do, it sounds like from what I've been hearing. Thank you for your titles. I love them. Harmsen: Oh, thank you. Teague: Um, um, build back better COVID non -profits and COVID recovery non-profit assistance. Um, But- but it does seem to me that we want to direct staff to, um, you know, I think there was a lot of discussion here with some- some- some consensus of we do want to, um, make sure that we have an application process, um, that is open to the public. We want to be very transparent and communicative, um, about this process. I- I think it might be helpful to identify. We, you know, we talked about that range 500 K to 1 million, um, if we can really- and maybe we don't need to get that done today. Um, I was hoping that we could at least look at one or two other initiatives that we have here and kind of at least start the conversation even if we didn't finish it. I think affordable housing initiatives, That's pretty important. As well as the BIPOC business support infrastructure. Just from what I've been hearing and talking with not only council, but with people in the community. If we could, you know, at least touch base on those topics so that we are not kind of behind the behind it, you know, in the near future. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 22 Alter: I very much like the yes and of um, and that there has been a way that makes sense for us to join in partnership, as well as not sort of creating this as simply a one-off that doesn't have the logic behind it. Um, so I'm also really glad that there will be sort of a shift so that there can be an open process for other agencies because I guarantee DVIP, Inside Out, Table to Table, you know, Free Medical Clinic. They all have needs as well. And I think, you know, and we know that. So I'm- I'm preaching to the choir. I know that. Weiner: And we have funds. Alter: Yeah, exactly. So it's just a matter of- of starting that process once um, we- we get going. So I'm- I'm glad that we were able to come to a place that works as a yes and- so I just wanted to throw that out there. Teague: Will it be- oh, thank you sorry about that. Will it be helpful to, um, I guess, for the council to really identify the funds or just um, just kind of say to staff, come back. And then we can- you know, because there's this, um, as we talked about, kinda of this urgent, not emergent need, but you know, is it going to be a one time you know, like we're going to put all of the money in now and it's once the application closes, it's done. Fruin: Yeah. Here's what I would suggest is- is you allow us to come back with- a looking at this emergent needs category, allow staff to give you a recommendation on a process. I'd recommend the lower end, the $500,000 because we're already over on two of those other categories. So let's do what we would recommend to you as a process for distribution of up to $500,000 and a COVID recovery grants for non -profits. And you can look at whatever we recommend and tweak it how you see fit, and then we can- we can move forward with that. On the strategic investment, the more the capital side of things we should probably touch base with the county and the other cities first and see if there's any interest in the larger needs assessment. If that answer is yes, then we can kinda describe what that would look like to you. Um, if it's no, then we probably need to come back and just develop our own process for granting out, um, the larger capital dollars. I think those two things we can move forward on right away and- and hopefully get close to, you know, rolling out the- that we could do the grant program here this summer for sure. Hopefully sooner rather than later. We've got the COVID recovery program as a model already. So that would be my recommendation and then I'll leave it there. If you want to get into those other categories, I can update you on - where we are now. Teague: I think. I- I will see a lot of nodding of heads for those other two categories. It will be helpful because when I looked at the BIPOC business support infrastructure that we're infrastructuring itself, that lets me know that it's going to be huge undertaking and so I just wanted to maybe at least start the conversation because if the- if there is some initial legwork that, um, we have to either, um, you know refer to a consultant or someone that we can at least start that process. Fruin: Yeah. So that's really been in holding because we know that Astig Planning is doing a lot of research right now in the BIPOC business community. And they presented at a couple This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 23 of your public comment meetings in the last couple of months just to update you on how they're progressing. We expect them to finalize their report in June or July of this year. And our understanding is there will probably be a good foundation not only to support this level of expenditure, but also some helpful recommendations on where it might need, you know, where we might need to focus. So I would recommend just maybe exercising patience for a couple more months, receive that report from Astig Planning. And then we can craft a strategy based on that report. Um, it doesn't mean you have to follow each of those recommendations, but I think it'll provide some really helpful background to- to base your decisions on. Teague: Does staff wanna- does council wanna wait for that? Weiner: That's really helpful and useful, I think. Teague: Okay. All right. Bergus: I think Mayor just to- to follow up because I know you've been talking with people in the community to maki- making sure that they are directed to this inclusive economic development planning process to provide input if they have specific ideas, I think is important since that's still underway. Teague: Yeah, that's a good- good point. So affordable housing initiatives, um. Fruin: Yeah. The, the, the one conversation that we've started, urn, is with the housing Trust Fund of Johnson County. We've, uh, had some initial conversations with their director about a, um, rental, um, um, program funded through ARPA. So that would be looking at permanent affordable housing in- on the rental side of things. Um, we have not crafted a proposal yet, we've kind of exchanged some ideas, but candidly, it's been kind of put on the back -burner as we've worked through the, the direct assistance in the Forestview stuff. There is an interest to partner, um, from the, um, Trust Fund of Johnson County. I think there are a natural partner, uh, because of there, you know- um, because of their board makeup and just the- the reach that they have, the experience that we have with them and- in stewarding public dollars. So I think we could craft a, a strong program for, um, a- a- affordable housing. It doesn't mean it has to take up the, the entire amount of funding in this category. But, um, I think initially, what staff had in mind was about a million dollar um, pool of funds, maybe million,1.5 million, somewhere in that range. We have to kind of, uh, cost out some- some projects, if you will, to know what would provide a meaningful amount for them. Uh, but then empowering them, the- the staff there on the board to, to really leverage those funds with all the other, um, funding sources that- that they kind of are at the intersection of, um, and create some permanent affordable housing in the rental sector. Teague: I do wanna just get, um, Council thoughts on that partnership. Um, does that- are there any other partnerships that- or initiatives that Council is thinking about for affordable housing initiatives? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 24 Bergus: I mean just to make sure I understand, Geoff, that, um, this would be in addition to our, like we have our million dollars every year and I think is it 75 percent of that, 50 percent goes to the housing trust. Fruin: Seventy-five percent. Bergus: Thank you. So 750,000 annually goes to this- these pooled funds that are then leveraged with private dollars and other- other funding sources to create larger projects. So this would be a big infusion into that same pool, is that right? Fruin: Correct. We may have some- we- we may look to put some additional strings on that to - to direct it in a certain way. So for example, if we really wanted to target it towards rental housing, we- we would put those additional strings, kind of like you do now. The 750,000 that you- you'd provided now, 250,000 of that has LIHTC strings attached. We've said we'd like these 250 be reserved for LIHTC projects. We- we could do the same with the ARPA funds. That's the type of discussions we're having with Ellen right now. Teague: And then, um, the- the housing- affordable housing committee that was meeting, we're still waiting for that presentation. Weiner: Yeah, there was a big- there's a big document in our - Teague: Right. Fruin: So you could look to that report to create additional initiatives as well. Teague: Right. Teague: Right. And, and so that's why I wanted to just talk about are there other initiatives that, um, that we wanted? And maybe we probably should have that discussion a little later just to go through that, uh, report. Fruin: I think you're gonna want a full work session to - Teague: Absolutely. Fruin: -to consider that plan. Weiner: I would think that would be really useful, because they're- right now there is talk- they're talking about using. We have- the range here is from, at least that we see here is from 2.5 This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 25 million to 6 million. That's a big piece, but 1 million is- whether it's the low-end of the high end, one million is still a relatively small part of that. Teague: Yeah. Weiner: There's plenty of. Teague: So we'll get an affordable housing work session- um going. Anything else that we, um, maybe we wanna just, uh, touch base on- Bergus: Within the ARPA? Teague: -within the ARPA? I mean, it's all fair game to talk about. Weiner: Do we- where do we stand, if- if anywhere on the climate resiliency par- piece of it, is that something that, uh, climate commission is looking at or others are giving input on? Fruin: Now, yeah, back last year when we were developing this framework, uh, we had some conversations with the Iowa Flood Center about what a partnership may- may look like. They actually assist cities across the country, um, with, uh, resiliency planning. And so they certainly have, um, the expertise to- to take some of our resiliency planning to the next level. They can do some, uh, phenomenal modeling that may help us, uh, make infrastructure decisions m the future, uh, for example. Um, but we really haven't picked up those conversations from last summer. Uh, so that would be- um, that would be staffs next step on that. It's just not one that we've- we've gotten to. Bergus: And if we haven't yet, I think it would be wonderful for, you know, our climate staff to be and just ask that question of if there's another answer, if there was a million dollars here, you know, just for kind of like what's on our list or what are ideas, things that we know we could prioritize if we had more funds, I'd be interested in that input- Fruin: Yeah. Okay. Bergus: -or it's from the commission. Teague: I- I know that individuals that may own their own property could come to the city to get loans and that type of stuff. There could be a climate action initiative that is attached there. Um, whether they are coming here for loans or not, but, uh, maybe just some people are changing some stuff with their house. Maybe there was an opportunity, um, for there to be some funding to get more climate, um, actionable items. Taylor: I think that's an excellent idea, Mayor, especially since, you know, we're corning up on, you know, by 2030 we have to reduce our, uh, amounts by so much. And I think anything we can do to help, uh, the private residences, uh, especially to, uh, do what they can as far This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 26 as insulation or new windows or whatever it might be, solar panels. I think- I think that's an excellent idea. Teague: And I know for businesses, Wendy Ford has been, you know, with some of these zones. Um, there has been opportunities there. It may be just working with some staff about what- what might be some possibilities. Fruin: Yeah, our staff is- we have a couple of programs to -date. So what we've done is we've looked at our existing programs for residential rehab for example, South District Program would be another example, and we've layered climate, um, funds on top of those funds to- to kind of take our efforts to the next level. Um, but our staff- our climate staff is working on, um, conceptually what a residential kind of energy-efficient rebate program would- would look like. So a lot of those things are, are pretty far along and, uh, stay tuned and - Teague: Great. Fruin: -they'll be there. Yeah. Weiner: That- that- that could be really- that could be really forward-looking and exciting. I mean, one of the things that- that people don't often think about is replacing your furnace or getting- or- or changing a gas furnace to an electric furnace, uh, because that- that greatly lower- reduces the carbon foot- footprint, but it's not cheap. Teague: Are there any other items, uh, that we wanna talk about right now from the ARPA funds? Alter: I'd actually like to bring up the workforce development pot, uh, simply because Geoff had mentioned, um, that childcare would be one of the initiatives, um, that could potentially be, uh, or some initiatives could be taken sort of in part with that. And, um, there- to my way of thinking, there's a lot of, um, interesting things that are already in the works. So we would not have to tax staff to come up with something. Um, it's a merely a matter of being able to tap in and support programs that are going on. So, um, I know that, um, there's- actually Janice is on, um, the Iowa City task force, you were on it as well. Um, since that time it's taken more, um, shape through a lot of work that's been done in connection with the county. But then also, um, Jennifer Banta was part of the Governor's Task Force Coalition. And so really has a nice sense of sort of different ways in which, um, we could potentially, um, be able to support some initiatives that are going on, um, that actually also tap into some of the other priorities that we have, especially, um, BIPOC and immigrant populations. Um, and so that's just something I wanna continue to put on people's radars because these are things that we could actually end up supporting as they are getting off the ground. And- and it would be fairly easy for us to do. Weiner: Right. And one could even be sort of working with- with them and with the school district. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 27 Alter: Absolutely right. Because as we [OVERLAPPING] heard from joint entities - Weiner: helping to provide wrap-around care for PRE -K and so forth. Alter: Yes- yeah. Teague: I wonder if we could, you know, since this is already an existing, um, group that's meeting, if we can kind of direct staff to have some conversations and find, um, maybe what some of the needs are. Um, as I heard, you, you know, just talking, one of the things that came to me is the work of 4C's, and what they do with, uh- in home providers. Um, I- I- I know that there is needs out there. There's need for work providers, there's, uh, needs with the current providers. And I think that, um, you know, that could be an opportunity as well that we could kind of navigate. But just wondering if we- we're not trying to put too much on staff as they are in, you know, various places, maybe there could be some conversations just starting, um, with these existing, um, programs. Bergus: Maybe coordinating that with our anticipated childcare discussion at work session that we're having or we're talking about having, I don't know when- when that may occur, but it seems to me that - Teague: Sure. Yeah, I think it can kind of all fit together actually. Okay. Great. I'm seeing majority.Great. All right. Anything else? Right here. Weiner: We've bitten off- bitten off a lot. Clarification of Agenda Items Teague: All right, we're gonna go to the next item which is just gonna be, uh, clarification of agenda items. Alter: Forgive me on process, is this where we note if we want to pull out something from consent? Teague: Yes. Alter: Um, I just want to pull out the, uh, the, um, USG appointment and just to be able to welcome the appointments of the new, uh, graduate student or the new student representatives. Teague: Yeah. And- and- and what we'll do is during our, um- well, one, super excited for this opportunity. So yes. Um, and I think what we'll do is, during our comment, we'll- we'll just have- Council can talk about it during comment. Alter: So just kick me. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 28 Teague: Yeah. So we - yeah. So yeah. So we, we won't actually pull it out separate, but there will be a great opportunity to discuss it. Weiner: Right. The other item on there that I wanted, that I thought we could also comment on is the- is the energy of efficiency grant, um, because that's real- that's, um, a, a real plus for the community and the- the Lasansky's commitment too. Information Packet Discussion Teague: All right, info packet discussion, April 21st, we will talk about the council listening post that's going to take place at the workforce- Public Works open house on May 21st. Maybe we'll start there. Any interests in being a part. Weiner: Sure, I've not done one so. Teague: Okay. I can go at any point. So if- if someone hasn't done one, be my guest. Alter: Yes. I can do it. Teague: Okay, and yes. I'm going to be there already, but I don't know what my role is while I'm there by the way. Yeah. I can be the third if- I'll be the third. All right, so there we have it. Any other items from info packet April 21st? And we did talk about the CWJ and that's great for that opportunity. Yes. Weiner: So it's okay with- with the respect to the electric bus bash- with like is it looking like it's going to end up over here in the... Fruin: Yeah. Darien is nodding her head, it's probably across the street. We'll formally announce it later in the week. Teague: Yes, it still be exciting. Weiner: Absolutely it just. Teague: Will it fit? That's the question. Fruin: I saw the bus across the way from my office today, so I think they were testing that very. Teague: Okay, all right info packet April 28th. Hermsan: If -go ahead. If I could Mr. Mayor. Just a -just a quick thank you to the people that put together uh the affordable housing action plan, uh. You know our city staff and the different organizations that teamed up on that. I've made it about two-thirds of the way through it now and it is an amazing document. And clearly, a lot of thought and effort, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 29 and hard work went into that. And I can defmitely see that this is going to be a huge help, uh to us as we start to make decisions about how we deal with affordable housing in our community. So so for those of you that are here or listening, thank you for the hard work on that. So it- it defmitely shows. Weiner: I agree. Teague: My assumption is that after our strategic plan we'll probably have that somewhere on one of the work sessions. Hermsan: Sure. Bergus: I just wanted to draw attention to IP6 and the packet from the 28th, which is the direct assistance program from the co-, from the Johnson County being launched. Uh, so that is live on their website. And I know they're having a number of clinics, uh, to promote that and help people sign up. There is no fee to apply, uh, but there of course it's not guaranteed, uh, that you will receive funds if you do -do apply. So just to encourage people to submit their applications. Teague: It's a great opportunity. All right. Any other items from April 28th? And we're going to bring up our University of Iowa student government with their updates. And welcome, welcome, welcome. University of Iowa Student Government (USG) Updates Miglin: Hi, Council. Um, so first off, there will be rooms during our lease gap weeks and the IMU House Hotel that will cost students only $25 a night rather than an initially expected $30. Uh, with, uh, an option to also pay an extra $10 for parking in the IMU ramp. All of this information is posted on the off -campus living website. Um, last Tuesday, the Women's Resource and Action Center hosted, uh, the Take Back the Night March in solidarity with survi-survivors of sexual violence, 200 protesters were in attendance advocating for the rights of the 1000, nearly 2000 victims between 2015 and 2019, who only saw a 4 percent chance of seeing their cases fully processed. Um, additionally, the Sapling of a tree outside of Anne Frank's window was planted on the Pentecrest this past Friday. Um, and our sustainability Committee has been on bringing back the farmers market vouchers this summer in order to encourage students to continue to buy local. Van Heukelom: And then with the recent announcement, um, as you all heard this morning, uh, with Roe versus Wade, um, Supreme Court, it threatens the safety, um, the health and safety of Iowa City students, um, and community members. So multiple protests are happening on the Pentacrest. Saturday and Sunday around 01:00 PM. So all council members are invited to attend that. Um, the renter's guide survey has just been released, um, for University Iowa students to fill out. So we'll include a link for that for you guys to share around. And then all of the magnets that we partnered with have been distributed. Um, so that's really exciting. They're just kind of sprinkled all around Iowa This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 30 City. So if you go take a walk around or any of the university buildings, you're likely to see one, so it's pretty cool. And then lastly, since this is my last city council meeting, I just wanted to just like say thank you to every one of you. And it's been such an honor serving as city liaison, even the city staff, you guys have been a real help with us, um, working with projects. Ellie and I are passionate about it, so that's been really cool. Um, just meeting you guys at the city council meet and great part like, some of you at the city council meet and greet. Just in the fall, time has flown by super fast. And it's been really challenging, but also rewarding to work on like a such a large range of issues. Ellie and I have done stuff such as supporting students with off -campus running through magnets and the lease gap week program to encouraging sustainable best practices by supporting the Iowa Environmental Council with their zero -carbon goal for lowa city and also hosting bike events on campus. So it's been really fun working on a large range of issues that Ellie and I are passionate about. And I'm really excited to see what Ellie and Keaton are going to do. Excited for you guys to meet the next city liaison, uh, and continue the work that they've done so far. So thank you for everything and feel free to reach out to me for anything in the future so. Teague: Well, to both of you on behalf of the Council, we really want to congratulate you, Ellie, and now being the city council liaison, and we look forward to working with Keaton as well. And Anna, the city would like to present the certificate of appreciation to you for the thoughtful contributions during the 2021 through 2022 year of service as the city council liaison from the University of Iowa, undergraduate student government, and for demonstrating commitment to student participation on this 3rd day of May 2022. Thank you so much. Van Heukelom: Thank you councilor. Hermsan: I know I for one, look forward to reading the news story about you getting elected to a City Council someday. So we'll be watching for that. So thank you- thank you for your leadership. Council Updates on assigned boards, commissions, and committees Teague: All right, all right council updates. Weiner: It was an enormous honor to Representatives to be sort of dual -headed as both the city and the synagogue to represent at the Anna Frank sapling planting last- last Friday. It was an incredibly -the whole program was an incredibly moving and really sort of pushed everybody's thinking into the future and an out to the entire community. Teague: All right. And thank you for doing that. I've heard nothing but great things about that event and I was unfortunately not able to attend. But, um, thank you for representing this council and the City of Iowa City. All right. Any other updates? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022. Page 31 Alter: So I was able to uh represent the city at the um Cedar Rapids in, um, at the CID is they keep using that as the abbreviation. But at the Eastern Iowa airport, um it was their 75th anniversary and it was amazing to hear about the history of it, um, as well as then to hear the plans for the future. They have been able, in spite of COVID, to have a phased approach towards, um, updating and looking forward and really understanding the needs of how airport travel and usage needs to change along with the way that patterns since COVID, have -have sort of seemingly permanently marked the way that people use travel. So it was just fascinating. And then they had two sort of logistical consultants come in who knew that was a thing. But they were amazing and fascinating. And it just really was remarkable. They actually have great faith in the strength of the airport. And they said this is incredibly rare, so this is a really great collaboration betwee- in the corridor between north and south, and it was just fascinating and they were very pleased that Iowa City was there. Teague: Awesome. Any other updates for boards, commissions, and committees? Awesome. We are adjourned until 6 and not 7 PM. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of May 3, 2022.