HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-06-06 TranscriptionPage 1
Council Present: Alter, Bergus, Harmsen, Taylor, Teague, Thomas, Weiner
Staff Present: Fruin, Jones, Kilburg, Goers, Fruehling, Liston, Knoche, Sovers,
Lehmann, Fleagle, Ford, Nagle-Gamm
Others Present: Miglin, Zeimet (USG)
Mayor: All right. It is 6:00 PM and I'm going to call this meeting to order. This is June 6th, 2022
and it is just after 06:00 PM and I'm going to start with a roll call please. [Roll Call]
2. Proclamations
2.a. Juneteenth National Freedom Day
Mayor: All right. Welcome again, Councilors and welcome to everyone that is here in person
and those that are looking through social media. I wanted to start with 2.a, which are
proclamations and 2.a is going to be Juneteenth National Freedom Day. (reads
proclamation) And to accept this award is going to be Siri (Fleker), Supervisor Royceann
Porter, and Tracy John Sargeant. So please come up. [APPLAUSE]. And you all can
have some remarks there [OVERLAPPING]
Fleker: Would you guys like to go first?
Porter: No.
Fleker: Hello. I want to begin by thanking Mayor Bruce Teague and our City Council for
affirming and directly recognizing through a proclamation. The profound weight and
power of this historical day, Juneteenth, June 19th, 1865. I would be remiss if I did not
directly address the reality that with my identity as a white American comes both the
invaluable privilege of safety when I raise my voice for injustice. And therefore also the
enormous responsibility to actively work towards eradicating the systemic racism, that in
many ways still exists m our society 157 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was
signed. With this understanding of my identity and of the critical responsibility that
follows, I am honored to accept the proclamation on behalf of the Human Rights
Commission. I take a moment of personal privilege, however, to share with my own- a
few of my own private thoughts. Um, for those of you who don't know me, I am a public
school teacher who recognizes that as humans, our earliest conversations on topics as
deeply troubling and complex as our nation's history of slavery are what we bear deep
within us as we grow up to form relationships and craft the opinions on which we
ultimately act. And the reality is that I am speaking to you m a time when the freedom of
educators to teach historical truth is actively eroding as legislative restrictions pile on.
And the result, many teachers who feel forced to abstain from teaching basic historical
truths that can and should induce feelings of horror and embarrassment. Truths that
should raise questions about early Americans' motivations and questions about just how
much progress we have made as a nation when we consider the structures of oppression
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 2
that are so fiercely protected today. James Baldwin said, I don't know what most white
people feel, I can only conclude what they feel from the state of their institutions. I don't
know if the board of education hates black people, but I know the textbooks they give my
children to read and the schools we have to go to, end quote. As a teacher, I fear intensely
this dwindling freedom to teach truth in our education institutions. To answer questions
with truth, and to help students navigate their resulting emotions that are both painful -
both a painful consequence of understanding truth, but also the foundation for motivated
work towards seeking and treating each other as equals. I do find this deeply unsettling,
but this is why I also feel immense gratitude towards our mayor and towards our city
council, the leaders of our community who have chosen to celebrate, remember, learn
from this historical truth. Juneteenth not only commemorates the past, but also calls us
into action today. This is why we must understand the importance of our city's choice to
enthusiastically celebrate this day of independence, fiercely fight to achieve the equality
that should have been delivered on June 19th, 157 years ago, and why we must refuse to
teach anything but historical truth so that all of our children can do the same. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you. [APPLAUSE]
Porter: Hello.
Teague: Hello.
Porter: My name is Royceann Porter, supervisor for Johnson County. Um, I just wanna say thank
you for the proclamation. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, you all know we as
Black people, um, know that we are very excited about June- Juneteenth being, um, Iowa
City making it, uh, a holiday here in the city as well as Johnson County. So for that- for
that- for us, that's huge. Um, we have made some strides in our county, in our cities. Um,
we have a Black mayor, we have uh, had a Black Mayor Pro Tem, a Black county
supervisor, as well as North Liberty having um, a Black lady, RaQuishia Harrington on
the city council. And we've come so far. I've been in this county for 33 years now and
where- I know where we come from and I know where we're going. I just wanna thank
everybody for the support that we do receive. I do want to tell you that uh, this year
celebration for Juneteenth will be right outside these doors on this street blocked off 410
East Washington Street. We are going to celebrate Juneteenth. It will be our biggest
Juneteenth. Um, there will be, um, food, bouncy houses, vendors, and we also will have a
fashion show. We will have, um, some talent and entertainment DJ, comedian, and that is
at 5 pm on June 17th. We ask that the city come out. We ask that you come and support.
We ask that you not only support us from the hours of 5:00-9:00, but on the Ped Mall,
we're going to bring a band from Chicago called the New Shining Star who do a tribute to
Earth, Wind & Fire. It's gonna be really nice, so we ask that you come out. Please tell
others. And on Saturday, I'll let- he'll come up here and tell you about his event on
Saturday, but there's also two programs on Saturday for Juneteenth. We are taking
Juneteenth to the neighborhoods. It will be in Iowa City and it will be in Coralville.
People say, why are you doing that? Because sometimes people don't have transportation
to get out and go, so we're going into the community. So uh, the community event for
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 3
Coralville will be from 11:00-4:00 and it's at the Morrison T. Park. Please come out.
Same thing, we will have food, uh, bouncy houses, uh, there's going to be a Juneteenth
play, so we ask that you come out and support as well. So if you can't get to Iowa City
and you live in, uh, Coralville, come to either one of them, there's gonna be lots of events
going on, so- thank you.
Teague: Uh, Tracy, you wanna come up?
Sargeant: Hi, my name is Tracy Sargeant. I am the Founder and Executive Director of the
Multicultural Development Center of Iowa. Uh, I really appreciate this. Uh, this is my
first year of officially being on the planning committee, and I wanna recognize about 60
individuals that came together to make this happen. Obviously, I'm not gonna list all of
their names, but I wanna make sure that people recognize that there's a lot of people
behind the scenes that are making this happen. Uh, the event will take place on Saturday,
June 18th at Mercer Park from 11:00-3:00 PM. So as Royceann mentioned, there's gonna
be food and bouncy houses. Um my organization will be there to encourage kids to look
at STEM as possible career and degree pathways. Uh, well have a financial literacy there
as well. Iowa City Public Library will have their mobile bookmobile there as well. So
plenty to do to celebrate and become educated on what Juneteenth is. And, of course, we
have some t -shirts that we're gonna be giving away that I'm especially proud of. I
designed those this year and I think it's a beautiful design that we can wear throughout
the year to remind us of this important holiday. Thank you.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 4
2.b. LGBTQ+ Pride Month
Teague: Thanks to all of you. I really appreciate it. All right. We are on to, uh, our next
proclamation 2.b., which is LGBTQ+ Pride Month. (reads proclamation) And accepting
this proclamation is our Iowa City Pride Interim President, Jewell Amos. [APPLAUSE]
Amos: I'm a little short, I need to bring this down. [LAUGHTER] Um, thank you all for this.
Uh, hopefully, someday, we won't be standing here having to proclaim anything, it'll just
be part of everyday culture and we don't have an event, we just, you know, forget about
it. That's what, you know, reality is. Hopefully, sooner than later. Um, so it sounds like
June 18th is the place to be in Iowa City. Just down here for these guys and then go up
the street for us. Uh, we're gonna party till 10 o'clock, that late and our parade is at noon.
So you're just gonna have to go back and forth as much as you can all day long and enjoy
as much as you can that whole weekend. Um, we've got, uh, lots of events the week of,
um, to celebrate, uh, our accomplishments, um, so if you go to Iowa City Pride on
Facebook, we have our events listed there. Uh, and I just like to invite everybody to come
and enjoy with us. And we're there to build bridges and make Iowa City as friendly as
possible. So I appreciate this. Thanks.
Teague: Thank you. [APPLAUSE]
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 5
3-7 Consent Calendar
Teauge: Item Number 3 through 7 is our consent calendar. Can I get a motion to approve the
consent calendar?
Bergus: So moved, Bergus.
Taylor: Second, Taylor.
Teague: All right. Would anyone from the public like to address topics that are in the consent
calendar? If so, please, uh, come to the podium. I will let people know that at the back of
the room there is- there are little stickers that you can pre -write your name and fill it out.
Um, but when you do come to the podium, um, either place your sticker there or write
your information there. Anyone on, um, on the, um, that is online would like to address
this topic, please raise your hand and I'll acknowledge you. [BACKGROUND] All right.
And I'm assuming there is no one from the public that wanna address this topic? All right.
We're gonna move to council discussion. [BACKGROUND] Roll call, please.
Weiner: Can I say one thing?
Teague: Oh, absolutely.
Weiner: So- so the one thing that I would note is that inflation is hitting the city, and we see that
in one of the items that we're approving here which is the- the Rochester Street
reconstruction. Um, and so- as- as we look to- to our budget and the future, we need to
rem- we're gonna need to be mindful that not that inflation is at the grocery store, it's
everywhere else. It's also hitting our projects.
Teague: Okay. Roll call, please. [Roll Call] Motion passes 7-0.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 6
8. Community Comment
Teague: We are on to item number 8. And this is an opportunity for- as community comment.
And this is an opportunity from those, uh, in the community. They wanna come and make
a comment on any item that is not on our agenda. So now, it'd be the time to do that.
[NOISE] Welcome. And if you're online, please raise your hand as well.
Reilly: [NOISE] Good evening. My name is Joe Reilly with the Iowa City Downtown District,
uh, Iowa City. Uh, thank you Mayor Teague and Council for having public comment. I've
come here on behalf of the Iowa City Downtown District restaurants, like, asking and
reminding the City Council to take up reviewing the City's current patio, sidewalk cafe
permit fees and the public right-of-way as a part of our strate- as a part of your strategic
planning. [NOISE] We do acknowledge that there has been fmancial impacts caused by
inflation in both the public and private sector. We're also grateful for the waiver of these
fees to our businesses as most recently as 2021, 2020, [NOISE] as well as Washington
Street during it's renovation, Ped Mall during its renovation, and soon to come to our
understanding that Dubuque Street renovation businesses will also receive a waiver. But,
we at the Iowa City Downtown District, are asking for something that is more long-term.
Earlier this year, the Iowa City Downtown District filed a public records [NOISE] request
on the revenue collected from these permit fees over the last decade. We learned, the total
annual revenue collected on these permitting fees has been as low as $49,000 and as high
as $75,000. We do acknowledge that the anticipated city budgetary constraints coming in
the next couple of fiscal years and we also want to pose a few questions. [NOISE] If this
is a vital revenue line item to the City's general fund, can it withstand fluctuations year-
to-year like this? Wouldn't now, during the strategic planning process be the time to shore
up revenue line items and have sources that are consistent year -over -year. If large
waivers for our businesses have been workable five out of the last 10 -years, wouldn't that
point to some flexibility in the program that could be an easy win for businesses, council,
and Downtown? At the very least, Iowa City Downtown District is asking the council
take up this discussion on their agenda and make the determination. Can the City
withstand a permanent reduced revenue from the sidewalk cafe patio fees in the public
right-of-way as a way to help these businesses? Thank you.
Teague: Thank you. And I'll invite, uh, anyone up that wanna talk about any item that is not on
the agenda. [NOISE] And also, there's a timer upfront for anyone. Welcome.
Avila: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much. Um, my name is Miriam Alarcon Avila. And I'm
here in behalf of the Escucha Mi Voz. And we wanna talk about, um, what happened,
um, with the Johnson County, uh, Direct Assistance Program. And I just wanna give you
some information. So from May 24 to- sorry, April 24 -May 27 when the application was
open. Um, Escucha Mi Voz help, um, more than 630, uh, applicants to fill up their
applications. Um, about- I'm sorry, I have to take these because I cannot breathe. Uh,
about, um, [NOISE] from- from that number, uh, we also ha- have, um, contact another
400 people, and unfortunately, they was not able to apply. And the reason of that, that-
th- there was several reasons, but the first thing that we find out that, um, we- that many
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 7
of them, they could not have, um, a valid, uh, identification. If you are aware, many of
the consulates still close, it's still in pandemic. So many people have not been able to, uh,
have their identification, so therefore- of their countries, um, in the past two -years. Also,
the other- the big issue was, um, to be able to prove their income despite the- the Johnson
County was very, uh, helpful by providing a self certification today, was able to give it,
um, to their employers, uh, a letter for them to sign. Many of these employers did not
want to signed these letters. So we know for sure, we have more than 400 people that was
not able to apply because, uh, combination of all these things. Um, the other, uh, big issue
that we find out was the net residency. Um, as you already- already know, many people
who [NOISE] live- several peoples in one house, um, all the bills only coming in the
name of one person, um, but that is some of the issues that we encounter. Uh, from all
that applications that we did, uh we was able to help, um, uh, a lot of immigrants,
refugees, and 70 percent of them belongs to the Iowa City- City. So we are asking the
city to please ask the Johnson County, not just for the Direct Assistant Program, but for
the general assistant to reconsider, to take down some of the barriers. So many people
who doesn't even have a house, they are homeless, can apply for all the- the direct
assistance that they can provide. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you.
Avila: I'm going to translate for Ninoska.
Great. Thanks. Welcome.
Campos (via translator): Hello. My name is Ninoska Campos and I'm a member of Escucha Mi
Voz. I'm going to let you know, uh, a little bit of what Escucha Mi Voz did by helping
people with the Director Assistant Program. Um, since you guys provide 1.5 millions to
give up for this program. Um, Escucha Mi Voz's contact, um, mil 1000- about 1,100
people- immigrants. We help around 635 people because 400 people was not able to
apply for the program. The county might be able to reject many of these applications
because they don't have all the requirements. Because the paperwork is not complete. We
still don't like the lottery, mean, the- the lottery program. We all, uh, we're here to ask the
city to do your best work. To help us, um, to- to be able to provide the 2,560 people who
applied to the program. And to please ask the Johnson County to help us with this. So one
of the big challenge that we have was a, um, self certification for all the people who
receive income in cash and they are contract workers. Their bosses didn't wanna sign up,
so they have to sign by themselves as- as self -employees. So we want they take that in
account. Thank you so much.
Teague: Thank you. I see Brian Williams online. Welcome. [BACKGROUND]
Williams: Thank you for addressing me. My name is Bryan Williams. I currently stay in Iowa
City. I have concerns about any resolutions concerning the sale and consumption of
alcohol on city property. Let me be clear. I'm not against alcohol consumption. Whoa.
Not sure what's going on here.Okay. Has my comment started?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 8
Teague: Yes.
Williams: Okay. Thank you. My name is Bryan Williams. I currently stay in Iowa City. I have
concerns about any resolutions concerning the sale and consumption of alcohol on city
property. Let me be clear. I'm not against alcohol consumption. I'm sure some of you
enjoy consuming alcohol from time to time. Today, I had a long day at work, so I'm
currently consuming some alcohol myself. However, alcohol sometimes does funny
things to people. Sometimes when people consume alcohol, they become agitated or
disruptive. These usually minor, mild disruptions to civil society sometimes invite police
intervention. So just this morning, I watched the video filmed in our city on June 3rd, just
three days ago. This video shows a young woman, by my estimation, approximately 110
pounds drunken, handcuffed, and therefore defenseless, being punched repeatedly by a
very large Iowa City police officer. Again, I'm not against alcohol consumption in
general. I do, however, have concerns that if you increase the availability of alcohol in
public, that we're going to see more of these extra judicial beatings of women by the
brave man on your police force. I would hate for your city to become known as the, "That
place where big, tough policeman repeatedly punched tiny, drunken, defenseless
women." That would be a very unfortunate reputation to acquire. And so I believe you
should take some proactive measures before increasing the sale of beer and wine in
public areas in our city. To start, I would offer this suggestion that you teach your heroic
policemen that is generally seen as bad, to repeatedly punch tiny, drunken, defenseless
women. Especially in public areas where citizens are increasingly filming police
encounters. You could, for example, create a PowerPoint with slides titled something
along the lines of when you repeatedly punched tiny, drunken, defenseless woman,
people tend to get angry and bother us with phone calls, social media comments, and
public comments at city council meetings. Furthermore, I have concerns that if we
continue to see your gallant LEOs repeatedly punching tiny, drunken, defenseless woman
eventually, other drunken citizens might get fed up and intervene in these policing
actions. It might even get to the point where drunken onlookers decided enough is
enough and collectively, bum rush the arresting slash punching officers to prevent harm
to the tiny defense- defenseless, drunken, woman. That would be bad. For these reasons, I
firmly believe that you should delay the increased implementation of beer and wine sales
on public land in Iowa City. I urge you to train your anabolic steroid police force to not
repeatedly punch drunken, defenseless, tiny woman. To instead realize that they're in a
vulnerable state and deserve help from the people that are sworn to protect them. Even if
they're allegedly head -butting windows when the heroic meat head cops make initial
contact. If you find that you cannot persuade your warrior cops to stop repeatedly
punching drunken, defenseless, tiny woman, you could instead perhaps
[OVERLAPPING] convince them to start uh-
Teague: Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else and- like to address a topic that is not on our
agenda? Welcome.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 9
Kauble: Hi, uh, good evening council. Um, I'm here to talk about the beating in which occurred
last weekend, um, on June 3rd, which I mean, it- it's weird how things work out that two
years to the night, uh, that peaceful demonstrators were assaulted by ICPD officers.
Another assault of someone who wasn't even doing anything to officers occurred. And I
say that because before I- I drove this- to this meeting and before I came in, I watched
the- the body cam footage which was just released. And, um, that- that messed me up a
lot because it- it triggered a lot within me. Um, because it's clear from the footage that all
that woman did before she was handcuffed because the video is 14 minutes. Within a
minute, she is handcuffed by an officer. Simpl- you know what led up to her being
handcuffed? She's sitting away- with her body away from the officer like this, just
standing there for several moments before the officer, someone who is one of Geoffrey-
Fru- City Manager, Geoff Fruin's thugs, slaps handcuffs on her. And I mean, it's clear that
the only reason they did that, that all of the force that's used within this inci- video, 'cause
I actually, I only watched four minutes of it because it bothered me so much. But it's clear
that they- they used- they handcuffed her. They used force on her. Everything that they
did that violated her rights as a human being was because they were irritated at her. They
just saw some defenseless drunk girl and they needed to I- prove something to
themselves. I don't know. But it's clear that they- what they did to her was because they
were annoyed by her. I'm somebody that annoys police. I was gonna come here tonight
and be like, yeah, last meeting when I held up a sign between- behind the police chief
with him as a clown, I was gonna apologize for that. Pm not apologizing for that anymore
'cause he's a fucking clown. And it's honestly the fact that that's the kinda department that
he leads. I'm sorry. Why- why is this acceptable for a po- an officer to pound [NOISE] a
girl like that in her head? Why is that acceptable? That's Geoff Fruin policing. Is that
okay with you all? That little girl, like that young woman are beaten by someone who's a
two- three times their size? Is that the kind of city that you want? I mean, we've been at
this for two years. It's been over two years since the uprising in 2020 happen. We're no
different. We're no different at all. Geoff Fruin is a joke, just came in and was like, oh,
Pm gonna- I'm gonna help the police department. We are no better. ICPD are thugs and
the fact that this is the pro- pro- the- the mindset that goes throughout the department, it
sicken me. Y'all need to do something 'cause they could be your kids.
Teague: Thank you. [NOISE] Welcome.
Petersen: Yeah. I flipped you off because the last meeting, you read the proclamation declaring
how great ICPD was [OVERLAPPING] and how -
Teague: Will you state your name?
Petersen: Uh, you know my name. My name is Noah, and yes. Anyways. So I started at that
because last meeting you start off saying ICPD is such a great community, such commu-
commu- fuck. I also watched the video before this meeting. Um, the body cam, I already
watched that video. Um, and, um, [NOISE] next time a defenseless woman gets- uh, gets
attacked by cops, I hope the cops gets- I ho- uh, I hope your cops get fucking beat like
that. Next time they start beating defenseless handcuffed woman. Handcuffed,
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 10
defenseless anybody, I hope these citizens rise up and show the cops who actually runs
the city and shut the fucking cops. And you need to actually control your damn cops. You
need to defund your damn cops. You need to actually make a community safe, because
the cops clearly aren't making community safe. The cops, they don't- there's no- there is
no attempted deescalation. They start off, just straight up, walks m and just- just- start,
handcuffmg this woman. Wha- wha- what the hell is she able to do? She's being attacked
violently, violently arrested. They don't say a damn word to her, they just grab her. And
you're like, oh, whoa, oh, we got kicked. Oh, no, we got kicked because we were
violently attacking this person, just dragged her to the ground and she had the audacity to
try to defend herself from a bunch of overpowered, oversize thugs that were attacking
her. And she just didn't wanna be attacked by them and then he decides to keep doing
that. You should be damn ashamed of yourselves, that last meeting that you came out
here for the proclamation saying that the ICPD makes our community safe and they help
protect us and they defend the defenseless one. We've all seen that video of them beating
defenseless people in the cop cars. And then having the audacity to charge them the
felony with up to 11 years of prison. Do you see how the audacity to not want to be
beaten by cops? Be ashamed of yourselves and actually, like, do something to change it.
Like Dan said it's been two years now, and I'm did this song lasts me that is- that was
literally two years to the day that the gassed us. The exact same time that they were
gassing us. When the ambulance- that night that they gassed us when the ambulance was
coming. You can see them still watching tier canisters when the ambulance is right there.
That's how much they care about the safety of the community. When they call someone
to have an attack that they need an ambulance, I'm gonna say they sti- still kept watching
canisters of gas and laughing and saying, has let them eat gas. It's appalling. And really
obviously makes everyone- it's just makes- it makes everyone upset because that's just
plainly wrong.
Teague: Thank you. Welcome, Taylor. Online.
Kahn: Hi there. Can you hear me?
Teague: Yes. Welcome.
Kahn: So first of all, I want to speak for, um, I want to, speak on behalf of someone else. And
then I'm going to speak for myself. Um, I'm going to speak for someone who wanted to
be heard tonight. Um, but can't speak to you because they are worried that the police will
retaliate. So they cannot speak freely. Um, they wanted to convey, um, as a resident who
was a black person in Iowa City, they want to make sure that everyone is seeing this
event in light of their own personal experiences. As they do every time they see videos or
pictures of violence towards black lives. They want to point out that- that girl could be
your daughter, Megan Alter, in a few years Janice, your granddaughter, Shawn, your
kids. People that you know, this could be that- that their situation. Um, and it is a lot of
people's situation, um, who are not as privileged as many of you. And, um, I want to
speak for myself. Um, this is not about this incident only. I- I hope that you feel horrible
for the person that this happened to. But I hope that you can't sleep at night because you
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 11
know that this is the culture you've created and nurtured and ensured is preserved for the
last two years and beyond, especially the last two years. You all have worked your asses
off to make sure that this survived this, kind of, violence. It was just November, that
someone was caught on camera, a cop beating someone up while other cops surround and
watching. What do we see? The same thing happening on the anniversary, the two-year
anniversary of your cops tear gassing protesters, protesting for Black Lives in Iowa City.
What the fuck have you been doing the last two years. What have you been doing except
nurturing this? I don't want to hear one single word from you excusing. What the cops did
because of what this person did it doesn't matter. Because of the circumstances, of the
justification that makes it okay for someone who's paid by the city to do this to someone,
it's not acceptable. This woman needed support and this did not have to happen. And it
does happen all the time and it doesn't wind up on camera. Fuck you.
Teague: Thank you. Would anyone else like to address this topic or a topic that is not on our
agenda? Welcome.
Porter: Okay. Royceann Porter again, Johnson County Supervisor. Just wanted to give you a
little update on the Direct Assistance Program. Um, the- the direct assistance program
closed at 2:00 PM on Friday, May 27th. Um, Just want to let you know that there was
2,596 applications were received by the programs close, nearly 250 additional
applications were received following the program extension. Uh, Johnson County staff
provided a third application assistance opportunity onsite at the county building May 26th
from 12:00-4:00. The rough breakdown applications by community shows approximately
1.8 thousand applications were submitted by Iowa City residents. Approximately 425
applications were submitted by Coralville residence, 240 applications submitted by North
Liberty residents, 50 applications were from Tiffin, 20 were from Oxford, 15 from Solon,
and there were other communities represented with a minimum number. So just wanna let
you know as a reminder, these numbers reflect self-reported mailing address. And I want
to give us a pat on the back, not just Johnson County but the City of Iowa City because
we are the only people in the state of Iowa doing anything like this. The direct assistance
program to help our people who, um, went through an economic hardships. So I would
like to say thank you for what we have done. I also too, would, like, to tell you that they
have come before you, um, the Catholic workers and let you know that there are over 400
people who could not get signatures from their employers. I ask you to ask them why.
Why wouldn't employer give you a sheet of paper stating what you made, if you made
too much and then you didn't qualify for the program. So we have to look at all that
instead of just saying give everybody that apply some money, you have to be eligible.
And if you were eligible, then you should get money. So that's why I'm here. And I'm just
proud to say again that we did a wonderful job. Thank you.
Teague: Thank you. Anyone else like to address a topic that is not on the council agenda? Please
come forth now. I'm going to close the public comment
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 12
9. Planning & Zoning Matters
9.a. Rezoning South of Lehman Ave and West of Sycamore Greenway
1. Public Hearing
Teague: We are on to item number 9, which is planning and zoning matters, 9.a. rezoning south
of Lehman Avenue and West of Sycamore Greenway, ordinance conditionally rezone
approximately 4.7 acres of property located South of Lehman Avenue and West of
Sycamore Greenway from interim development, multifamily residential to neighborhood
public and I'm gonna open the public hearing. And we're gonna invite staff. Welcome.
Sitzman: Thank you. Mayor, Council, I'm Danielle Sitzman, neighborhood and development
services. As the mayor said, this is an application for rezoning. Um, It is the area shown
here in outline of the bottom of this little flag lot. So the square area is what would be
rezoned. The, uh, long slender, uh, component reaching down to it is not part of the
rezoning, but would be part of the conditions of this case. As a mayor stated, this is a
rezoning to P1. Um, it is one of two sites and MidAmerican Energy Company is
considering for an expansion of an electric substation in the South district. Later on in the
agenda, you'll see a conditional use permit, ah, application, ah, that we're making a
recommendation on as well. Again, the min- Mid American is only considering one of
these sites but has two applications since they're still working through the details of
which will be the more favorable site for them. Um, like I said, they've been searching for
one site. Um, and this site is the, um, one that requires a rezoning. So this shows the
current zoning, which is IDRM. IDRM does not allow for electric substations currently,
um, basic- it would be considered a basic utility use, and so it does need to have a zoning
change to it. On a previous agenda, you started considering some zoning code text
changes to change what can be allowed in the P1 zone. So this would be a follow up to
that text change. They kind of, work together. Not only would media- MidAm be able to
use that, but, um, that is a zoning code text change this staff has considered for other
reasons. Um, when we review a rezoning, there are two criteria that we typically look at
and we did that in this case, the first being consistency with a comprehensive plan. Um,
the comprehensive plan does provide goals for, ah, a efficient, er, use of resources,
including a well-planned infrastructure and locating, um, within city limits the, kind of,
infrastructure that supports urban style development, which of course, electricity would
be a component of a successful urban density of development. The South district plan and
construct a comprehensive plan, indi- indicate this area is appropriate for future
residential development in the South district and I'm sure you're aware we've adopted a
form -based code to encourage highly connected street and trail networks and, eh, future
development in that area. Um, therefore, um, a substation is consistent with the
comprehensive plan policies for efficient infrastructure and land development, as well as
future land use designation in this area. Um, we also consider compatibility with existing
neighborhood can, er, character. Um, this, um, particular site isn't a location that has not
yet been developed. Um, there are no nearby residential development, um, in the vicinity.
Um, and as I said- as I said, a substation would be important for encouraging future
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 13
growth and development in the South district. Um, It's location is near existing
transmission lines for this particular utility. And adjacent to a thousand foot buffer around
the Iowa City wastewater treatment plant. Access to the site would be provided by a
Lehman Avenue which is currently unimproved and are- are subject to the conditions to
ensure that, er, connection could be made. And installing a substation prior to the
surrounding neighborhood, um, staff feels a good planning move so that as residents do
move into the area, they're aware of its presence as they locate, rather than having it move
into their neighborhood after they are there. I'm as far as next steps, um, as I mentioned,
there's a zoning code text change under consideration already by you. This would be the
rezoning the land. Um, under the code change, there would be a hearing needs to be -
needed to be held by the board of adjustment for a special exception, um, for the
placement of this use and then site plan review would occur. Based on her view of the
relevant criteria, staff did recommend approval of the proposed rezoning with three
conditions. Those conditions include, um, the extension of Lehman Avenue enough so
that the access could be made to the site, that the owner shall have prepared an auditor's
plat of survey to align with those rezoning boundaries, to record those, and that the owner
shall demonstrate to the city that there's vehicular access to the subject property from
Lehman and a location approved by the city engineer. And this access should be in the
form of a temporary easement agreement to be released upon dedication of right-of-way
when the land is fmal platted and, er, eventually develop- developed with a more
thorough street network, and it's May 4th meeting by a vote of 6-0. The Planning &
Zoning commission concurred with staffs opinion and also recommended approval with
these conditions. And that concludes my staff report. I do not have a signed CZA, so I
don't know if other staff had received that or.
Goers: That is my understanding as well we do not have a CCA in hand now and this item
cannot move forward until we have that.
Sitzman: So the applicant's representatives are here, so perhaps they'll produce and they have a
chance to speak.
Teague: Okay. We'll, call up the applicants if they desire to come up. Welcome.
Pose: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, Members of the Commision- Council, my name is
Chris Pose, my office address is 317 6th Avenue, Suite 300, in Des Moines. I'm an
attorney on behalf of MidAmerican Energy Company. We are in full agreement with the
staff recommendation on this item. Um, I can tell you personally that for the last four
years, MidAmerican has worked with your staff and your staff has been very helpful to
us, in finding a site. MidAmerican does not have condemnation power to have a site here
with absent private agreement of landowners and we've received an agreement with this
landowner to build this site here, but there is a specific condition that we will need your
assistance with and that is the- they conditioned our agreement on the city acquiring the
buffer ground for the sanitary sewer treatment plant to the south. That's their condition
and so we have two items on the agenda tonight, this site and also our site to the north,
which is another site that we previously acquired. Um, it is now our backup plan if we
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 14
can get this site done, this is the one that we prefer. We're happy to answer any questions
that you might have as far as the zoning change agreement. I think MidAmerican has
signed it and has sent it to the staff. I think we're waiting on the signature from the
landowners, um, to the zoning change agreement and Mike Pugh here and he's gonna to
speak, uh, I believe that's the condition of the purchase agreement of the purchase of the
buffer ground, but I'm happy to answer any questions you'd have of MidAmerican on this
application.
Teague: I don't hear any now. Thank you.
Pose: Thank you.
Teague: Welcome. Please state your name and your affiliation.
Pugh: My name is Mike Pugh. Good evening, everyone. Um, I'm an attorney and I represent the
landowner, which is two entities, but they're - they're wholly related, Lake Calvin
Properties and Sycamore Apartments. Um, I'm here to, to voice support for this particular
application, it's been several months since we have been talking to MidAmerican and Mr.
Pose about, about the site. Uh, just to give you a little bit of background on sort of the
sense of timing and, and the contingency that Mr. Pose um, mentioned. Right now the
site is designed so that um, the storm water run off from the site, um, is by easement to
the, uh, the wet lands area to the east of this particular site and all that is fine, if the city
ends up acquiring the buffer area. Uh, it's- it's about I think 1.77 acres of easement area.
The landowner has some concerns that, um, you have that, the rest of that buffer area is
not acquired by the city that we've granted an easement now, um, over the area that's
really going to restrict future development of that site, if, if the landowner is gonna retain
it and develop that area. So I would um, encouraged the city of that transaction is going
to happen that um, we begin those discussions really without delay, we're under a little bit
of a constraint on our purchase agreement where you have an August 1st contingency
date and with the easement running across the property, uh, we do need to have some
assurances that the property will be acquired by the city, otherwise, it poses some issues
for us. Um, we've- we've discussed retaining the storm water on site and having
MidAmerican buy some more of the property, there are some obstacles to doing that with
subdivision and rezoning and some other items that uh, that have come our way or the
applicants way. Um, so uh, I just wanna alert you to that, that particular issue. With
regard to this side as, as it relates to the other side that's on the agenda at 9.e, um,
obviously, we feel that this side is a much better site. You know, it's always good to put a
substation like this in an area before those houses there. And this is where this site goes.
The other North site, which the staff does not recommend, P & Z unanimously did not
recommend has multifamily living there with several tenants that have lived there for
literally decades and the, the transmission lines would essentially encircle that site. So we
feel that this is clearly the, the better site. Um, and we would encourage you to, to support
that -the conditional zoning agreement I will have that. Mr. Gordon, who is my client
represented me. Thought the meeting started at 7:00, but he's on his way down, he just
sent me a text so I will stay here until he comes, get his signature and get you the
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 15
conditional zoning agreement. Uh, with that said, if there's any questions for me, I'd be
happy to answer.
Teague: Thank you.
Pugh: Thank you.
Teague: All right. All right. So Council, I will not close the public hearing, but I do wanna go
ahead and - um, if there's any questions for either staff or for um, any- anyone that's
presented so far, I won't close the public hearing but I do wanna give the public an
opportunity to uh, come forth if anyone wan- wants to address this topic.
Alter: I do have a question for our staff because apparently, you've all been through- working
this out. Urn, is- are there plans then for the city to purchase this easement?
Fruin: Yeah. We're, we're um, looking at that. We think it's, it's a prudent thing for us to look at
as we anticipate residential growth in that area. Um, trying to buffer the waste water plant
a little bit. Um, so um, we're going through the appraisal process and until that process is
done, we can't really engage in, in, in the back and forth with the property owner, but we
do have uh, aligned interests there. Of course, that would come back to you um, uh, for
approval if, if we're um, able to get into an agreement with the property owner.
Weiner: So it sounds like there are, there are some, there are some time- deadlines to do- I mean
your- the appraisal process, purchase this - you don't have any sense as to whether this is
likely to happen, within this time- the- within this deadline that was just voiced to..
[OVERLAPPING] .
Fruin: I believe I heard Mr. Pugh say there's a August 1st um, deadline and, and yes, presumably
it could be resolved before then.
Teague: Any other questions, before we get public comment. All right. Welcome.
Miglin: Hi. I just had a point of inquiry uh, for [OVERLAPPING].
Teague: Please state your name and village.
Miglin: Oh, sorry. Ellie Miglin, City Liaison. I was just curious if the energy uh, stored at the
substation will be sourced from coal resources or solar and like more renewable
resources. Um, yeah.
Teague: I appreciate that we can't answer questions, um, but we appreciate you corning forth.
Anyone else like to address this topic? Oh, welcome, Noah.
Petersen: Hello. Can you hear me?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 16
Teague: Yes. Welcome.
Petersen: Hello. Please stop lying about not being able to answer questions. You can answer
questions. So that person that Bruce just lied to you, I just want you to know that under
state code, the City Council can answer -
Teague: Noah, please talk about the topic at hand, if you don't -
Petersen: [OVERLAPPING] for future reference don't listen to his lies. Thank you.
Teague: All right. Any other- anyone else from the public like to address this topic? Seeing no
one. So I'm not going to close the public hearing because of the CZA, but we are going to
go on to the next item, which is going to be item number 9.b.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 17
9.b. Zoning Code Amendment — Various Minor Code Changes
1. Public Hearing
Teague: Zoning Code Amendment. Various minor code changes, ordinance amending Title 14.
So on the code Title 15 subdivision code and Title 18, site plan review of the Iowa City
code to clarify requirements and ensure compliance with changes to state law. I'm going
to open the public hearing and we'll welcome Danielle.
Sitzman: Thank you, Mayor. So this is a process we try to do annually. It may occur less
frequently, but it's something that we, as a staff try to accomplish annually and we call it
our co- our code clean-up. The items that we bundled together for our code clean-up tend
to be what we would consider very minor, not changes in policy, generally, things that
are meant to clarify how we're already operating. Sometimes we find definitions or word
choices are less than clear. So this is our chance to rework those. We keep a list as we go
through our daily work and when we find these, we add them to the list. The other thing
that we try to accomplish with the annual code clean-up is things that are mandated for us
to do by the state and changes that have occurred at the state that alter how we operate. In
this particular package there are 11 items, so another code cleanup item on a future
agenda that is related to historic preservation items that are separately working its way
through Historic Preservation Commission. So this particular package, as I said, contains
those minor code clean-ups, and I'll walk through just briefly what's in here. The first is a
pedestrian circulation. So included in your packet was kind of a summary and a reason
for why this is. We typically try and ensure connected neighborhoods and sidewalks are
an important part of a connected neighborhood for circulation, not just for cars, but for
people. We typically do that through our processes that have to do with rezoning and/or
planning. But occasionally we get infill projects that aren't going through those projects,
are already zoned appropriately and they don't need to be further platted. And in that
case, we don't really have a mechanism for encouraging the connections that should
happen. For the most part, we're fairly successful in voluntarily getting those. This would
just be the clean-up that allows staff to include sidewalks being added as properties
redevelop or undergo infill. The next one has to do with clarifying applicability of form -
based code design review. When we started with this language in our code, we only had
the riverfront crossings form -based code. So when we said form -based code, we didn't
specify that it was riverfront crossings. Now we have additional form -based code
districts. So this is just simplify- just simply changing the language to be more precise
about which one we're talking about and when. Again, this is another item that's
mandated by the state, has to do with the requirements for granting of variance. State case
laws dictated that we change our approval criteria. So this would just bring us in
alignment with requirements by the state. The next one is about utility -scale ground -
mounted solar energy systems. This is how to measure some of the distances that are
required to be measured in our ordinance. Just being more clear about what two things
we're measuring between. This is a- next one is about bicycle parking spaces. Staff
already, as we review site plans, provide feedback to applicants about the correct design
of bicycle parking. We use industry standards that are developed by national
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 18
organizations for bike -ped planning. This addition to our code would just be to enter a
code upfront what we're going to tell an applicant anyway when they go to design their
bike parking for their site plan review. So trying to get ahead of and give more
information to our applicants so they know what staffs expectations are early in the
process. The next one is removing special provisions for privately owned signs in public
places. So our sign code gets into details about signs on city -owned property that doesn't
need to. So this is just eliminating redundancy in the control over signs. The next one is a
defmition, clarifying defmitions for family. This is again mandated by state law changes.
We did go through a code cleanup previously when state law changed in 2018. This is
just catching a few more of those definitions for clarity. The next one has to do with the
defmitions for trees, fixes an oversight and defmitions where there were overlapping
heights and what was considered a small tree and a large tree, the changes are meant to
separate large and small into separate categories from each other, but also relies on best
practices per our forestry division to lower the height for some recommendations. Again,
this is a small impact, we'll have a small impact on the number of trees planted there.
Next one has to do with, again, a state law change and aligning our code with
requirements for the way we do and do not regulate short-term rental standards. So
because of some changes that came through in 2020 are related to short-term rentals, we
had to adjust some of our code language to get away from just fmding them based on
lengths of stay and things like that. It does create a single bed and breakfast defmition. So
our code had sort of antiquated or not maybe antiquated, but original wording about bed
and breakfast, and now as we know, a lot of those things have morphed into online and
operate differently, and so this is bringing us into compliance with state code regarding
the regulation of such. Then also a clarifying boundary line adjustment standards. This
formalizes and clarifies an existing process the staff has used for boundary line
adjustments. We have an application process that we already use and a very defined
review process. This is just getting it into our code again so that it's clear in the code for
those who like to read that kind of thing, what we're doing. Next steps, these are zoning
code amendments coming to you from Planning and Zoning Commission. Staff
recommended these proposed changes, as I said, the pool of things that we keep track of,
and at their April 20th meeting by a vote of 6 — 0, the Planning and Zoning Commission
concurred with staffs opinion and also recommended approval. I'm happy to try to
answer questions, but I'll tell you my technical expert on this is Kirk. [LAUGHTER] So
if you have a question I can't answer, I might have to bring back some answers from
Kirk.
2. Consider an Ordinance (First Consideration)
Teague: I think you're gonna get away. All right. Anyone from the public like to address this
topic? If so, please raise your hand. Seeing no one, I'm going to close the public hearing,
and can I get a motion to give first consideration?
Weiner: So moved, Weiner.
Taylor: Second, Taylor.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 19
Teague: All right. Council discussion.
Weiner: I just appreciate that the staff keeps track of these things so that things can get cleaned
up on a regular basis.
Thomas: I got a kick out of the defmition of a tree. [LAUGHTER]
Teague: Roll call, please. [Roll call] Motion passes 7-0.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 20
9.e. Conditional Use Permit — Noth of Kountry Lane
Teague: Item 9.e Conditional Use Permit, North of Kountry, uh, Kountry Lane. A letter of
recom- a letter of recommendation to the Johnson County Board of adjustments regarding
a conditional use permit, application for an electrical substation North of Kountry Lane,
and West of Sycamore Greenway in unincorporated Johnson County. And, um, can I get
a motion to approve, please?
Alter: So moved, Alter.
Bergus: Second, Bergus.
Teague: All right. And we're gonna welcome Danielle.
Sitzman: Thank you, Mayor. [NOISE] As I mentioned, this is the second of two potential sites
met at Americanist considering this is the Northern one, and as you mentioned allowing
Kountry Lane. And I'm shown here m they were dark- the dark black line, in this case, is
the site. Um, so it's immediately North of Kountry Lane, West of the Sycamore
Greenway and just off of Soccer Park Road, approximately five -point acres. Um, it is
inside the city's growth area, um, er, but it's still located in unincorporated Johnson
County. So, um, this is a case that comes before you because the County's rules require
that conditional use permits, uh, get a recommendation from the city. It's not a
requirement of a fringe area agreement, but it's a requirement of county code. Um, this
shows this current zoning in the county. Um, this exhibit shows the footprint of the
substation and that green line would be that property boundary that was previously the
black line in the other exhibit. And then, er, also shows in count of the color lines, er, the
location of the, um, transmission lines as it would come into and out of the substation.
Um, it's a close up a little bit of that, er, site again. On the far left side of the screen is the
extension of public road that would be required, er, m gray to connect throughout the
driveway in white that extends across, er, your screen to the site. As I mentioned before,
we review, um, these things are based again, so our current and future land uses. And the
subject parcel will likely be included in the future expansion of the city's limits is in the
South District. Um, it's indicated, um, there's no structures currently on this particular
site, but it is surrounded by development. Um, let me go back a slide here and show you
in the city. So what's not bright yellow here is, er, city's own blend. So the RM12 to the
south, the RSE to the east and some of the interim just sticks to the west or- or in the city.
Um, and as I said, it's in the South District in the future land use some plan map that
identifies this as appropriate for res-, um, residential development, and has a form -based
code designation for it, er, should it, um, come into the city through annexation and we
redeveloped. Um, city's analysis includes, er, several elements that make this a less
desirable site than the previous site to the south, as far as the city's position is. Uh, one is
that it's immediately adjacent to the Sycamore Greenway as- as you can see some of
those transmission lines corning in and- and through- do impact the Greenway. And the
greenway is, uh, got a trail through it that's used by city residents and others in the
community. And there is an existing multi -family residential potential development
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 21
directly to the south. And I believe it was one of the speakers said in the previous
application, um, that's rental, but it does have tenants that have lived there for many
years, regardless of your tendency in length that it is a place where people do live, and so
it would have an impact there coming in to a neighborhood that's already started to
develop. Those transmission lines will completely encircled that residential development
along all of their sides to kinda come in and go out of that site. As I showed in the
previous site plan, er, snapshot there's the proposed driveway access to the substation. It
would be very long and is not typical of wha- of what we would prefer to see as the
neighborhood develops where there'd be a long driveway kind of running parallel to the
street network that would eventually hopefully develop in a grid in this neighborhood, so
it's less than ideal in that such inset- in that circumstance. Um, and then, also this
particular layout makes it difficult to integrate the substation into the future vision of the
South, uh, District form -based code, as I mentioned. So, er, this is a Conditional Use
Permit, the fmal deciders are the county, but it does come through a recommendation
process at the city, um, site plan review because it's a large site would be, uh, required by
our fringe area agreement. So if the county were to pursue this, allow this in site would
develop staff at the city would still have a chance to make comment, er, on- on that site
plan, but the construction and all that would be, uh, in the county. So based on the
analysis as presented, staff did recommend denial of this proposed application and that's -
it has meet vote meeting by a vote of 6-0. The planning and zoning commission
concurred with staffs opinion and also recommended denial of the application. Um, as I
mentioned, because this is going to the county and they are the ultimate deciders, they are
included in the, er, their response back to the county some conditions that if they were to
proceed with the site staff are still recommend, and that, uh, would like to see included
including the dedication of the extension of Soccer Park Road right-of-way to the city,
um, so that there's a public access, uh, to that site. And city review of the site plan per the
fringe agreement. Um, and then, also the way their transmission lines would need to lay
out. They'll actually need to get city approval for them to cross, um, the trail network.
Um, they would need to run the lines, not just in the right-of-way, but across the city
property as well. So that concludes my staff report. Happy to answer questions.
Teague: I hear nothing. Thank you. Anyone from the public likes to address this topic?
Pose: Mr. Mayor, Members of the Council, Chris Pose again, uh, 317 6th Avenue, Suite 300
Des Moines for MidAmerican energy. You can see from this plan, this is our backup plan
now for substation. It was our first plan, but it gave rise to the second plan, uh, because I
don't know if we can put back up here. I don't know how to use your computer and I'm
afraid, I might start a fire.
Sitzman: Don't do that.
Pose: The map.
Sitzman: That's one or?
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 22
Pose: Yeah this area map. There we go.
Sitzman: Good enough?
Pose: The area that's encircled in purple there, is multi -family ground that happens to be owned
by Mr. Gordon and his interests, and Mr. Pugh who is here, who happened to have the
land to the South. So this plan became sort of the mother of invention of getting us to the
south side of- of Lehman Avenue. But as we explained in item 9.a, we do need the city's
assistance to finish up buying the, um, sanitary sewer buffer, uh, park. So our plan with -
with this is to take the recommendation that the city is giving, um, of denial, and we're
going to sit on it. Um, we're not gonna go to the county with it. We're hoping that, uh, 9.a
will work out, and that we can use that site and we would not proceed with this to the
county. Meanwhile, we just want to have all our steps done with the city of this load. If
we have to go to the county and it doesn't work out, then we can take that option. Um, it's
not our intention to take this option instead, we'd rather work on the one that's to the
South. I think, um, if you have questions to me, I'd be glad to answer them, but I think the
Zoning Change Agreement for 9.a has now been delivered. So if you want to take care of
9.a2 and you might be able to do that.
Goers: For the benefit of council, I do have before me a fully executed Conditional Zoning
Agreement for 9.a. And so when we're done with this item, Mr. Mayor, I will suggest that
you returned to the public hearing on 9.a
Teague: Great.
Pose: I'm happy to answer any questions you have here on 9.e or 9.a if gonna a few more.
Bergus: Mr. Pose, do you happen to know, sorry over here. Uh, do you happen to know if the,
uh, energy that would be managed through the substation or if it be located would be
generated from coal sources or renewable sources or what the mix would be? if you
know.
Pose: I don't know the answer, um, to that. What I can tell you is the existing transmission line,
uh, which is in kind of bluish -purple going to the south, that feet would be going right
past, um, the 9.a site. That transmission line has been there since 1962, um, m time. So
whatever the- whatever electricity is going through the grid be at coal, solar, whatever is
going through that- those lines, and the goal of the substation is to transform the power
down to residential and commercial voltage that can be used. The 161 lines that are- have
been out there since 1962, um, those can't be plugged into, um, the electricity grid as far
as residential and- and commercial. So it's a- a mix of our power, but it's all running
through those existing transmission lines that have been there for years.
Bergus: Thank you.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 23
Teague: All right. Anyone else from the one address that's a part of that team? You are a member
of public?
Lehman: Yes.
Teague: Okay. All right. We're gonna open it up for public discussion, so come on up.
Lehman: Okay. Sorry about that. Uh, my name's Tim Lehman. I've got my little, uh, I'm gonna
put in the- in the box there. I'm Tim Lehman. I'm one of the three owners of the property
that at one time was the- was, uh, site Number 1 over there, which would be north of the
Kountry Lane Apartments. And we had been working with Mid-America for two years
now on that site. And I- I feel bad for Mid-America. They spent a lot of money. And
we've, uh, renegotiated a couple of times because we needed some more land for some
more streets, which the city told them they needed. And, uh, as you can see there, it's
open on three sides. We've got the buffer to the east side over there, the greenway, the
kind of where the walking trails are. And there's a good size buffer there. And then the
rest of our property is farm ground right now, so there's nothing to the- to the north or the
west side of it. So a little disappointed that we've lost our site, and we're now number two
versus number one, but, um- and I didn't find out about this until just a couple of weeks
ago because I was unaware that the second side or what was going on there. Just wanted
to state my opinion. Thanks.
Teague: Thank you. [NOISE] Anyone else like to address this topic? [NOISE] Seeing no one,
Council discussion.
Harmsen: I have a question, Mr. Mayor. Would it make sense to go back and finish 9.a before
then come back to this one just to do them sort of in the order they were presented
because it sounds like this- this- this later one was not recommended, but the first one
was, and so to kinda clear that off and then- I don't know, maybe that doesn't make sense,
um, but [OVERLAPPING] just for the sake of clarity.
Goers: Yeah. Oh, I- I totally understand for the sake of clarity and so forth. I'm just trying to
think if Council can do that given that there is a- a motion made and seconded
[OVERLAPPING]
Harmsen: There may be more.
Goers: -too, but if it's okay, it'd be great to close this out and then move forward, but- [NOISE]
Harmsen: So probably not [OVERLAPPING]
Goers: My preference would be we fmished with this item. I understand the timing issue that
you're identifying.
Harmsen: Sure. Okay.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 24
Goers: But if- if Council feels strongly about it, we- we could do that.
Harmsen: Not- not strongly, no.
Goers: Okay. Yeah.
Teague: Are we ready for a vote? If no other comments?
Harmsen: Just to be clear on which thing we're voting for.
Teague: Yeah, so- yeah. So, um, the motion is to approve a letter of recommendation, but we're
gonna do a denial.
Goers: Right. Yeah. To approve the letter recommending denial. Yeah, it's confusing.
Teague: Yes. To approve the- to approve a letter of, uh- the recommendation, it's- it's weird to
approve the denial [OVERLAPPING]
Bergus: We're saying yes to the letter?
Weiner: Saying yes to the letter. Yes.
Teague: Saying yes to the-
Bergus: Be clear?
Teague: Yes, saying yes to the denial letter, if that's what you choose.
Bergus: Okay.
Teague: All right. Everybody clear? Roll call, please. [Roll Call] Motion passes 7-0.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 25
9.a (cont.) Rezoning South of Lehman Avenue and West of Sycamore Greenway
Teague: We're gonna go back to 9.a, [NOISE] which is rezoning south of Lehman Avenue and
west of Sycamore Greenway. Ordinance conditionally rezoning approximately 4.7 acres
of property located south of Lehman Avenue and west of the Sycamore Greenway, from
interim development, multi -family residential, to neighborhood public. And I am going
to- well, the public hearing is already open. Um, and so any other staff comments? Any
other comments from, um, the applicants? Any other comments from the public on this
item?
Weiner; So- so now that this- that we have the signed CZA, that- that means everything is
complete that you were talking about, Danielle?
Goers: Yes, we have what we need to proceed now.
Weiner: Okay, thank you.
Goers: Un- understanding that the contingency that Mr. Pew identified remains and that's part of
it.
Weiner; Right.
Goers: Or- or I'm sorry. That- that's part of their purchase agreement, not part of this, but that's
good information for us to have.
2. Consider an Ordinance (First Consideration)
Teague: All right. So if no one else from the public wants to make a comment at this time, I'm
gonna close the public hearing. [NOISE] Could I get a motion to give first consideration?
Weiner: So moved, Weiner.
Alter: Second, Alter.
Teague: All right. Council discussion. [NOISE]
Alter: Seems like there's been a huge amount of effort to make this work. [LAUGHTER] And
I'm- I think that this sets up, um, you know, future development and, uh, in keeping with
the south district vision and the zoning. So I'm happy that this has been able to be worked
out and thank you for all of your hard work to do that.
Weiner: And hope we can make the final little piece work.
Alter: Yes.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 26
Teague: Roll call, please. [Roll Call] Motion passes 7-0.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 27
9.f. Conditional Use Permit — 5010 American Legion Road
Teague: Item 9.f, conditional use permit, 5010 American Legion Road. A letter of
recommendation to the Johnson County Board of Adjustment for an application
submitted for a con- conditional use permit for an accessory dwelling unit located at 5010
American Legion Road in unincorporated Johnson County. Could I get a motion to
approve? [NOISE]
Thomas: So moved, Thomas.
Bergus: Second, Bergus.
Teague: All right. And we'll welcome, Danielle.
Sitzman: Thank you, Mayor. [NOISE] Again, this is a conditional use permit in the county in
unincorporated Johnson County. Again, their, uh- their code requires us to, uh, make a
recommendation on this data fringe area. This particular site is shown here in kind of the
green highlight, the left-hand side of your screen, one of those lots along American
Legion Road. The request is for the property owner to be able to add an accessory
dwelling unit to their property. Um, this is a county zoning shown as residential and this
is outside our growth area. Um, again, as we look at it and do our analysis, we anticipate
what their current and future land use would be. Um, it's developed as residential. It's not
in our growth boundary, it's not likely to be annexed into the city in the near future.
However, just as a thought experiment, our code as it currently is written would allow an
accessory dwelling unit here as long as it met the requirements of, uh, the ownership
structure. Um, who's to say what that is at the time it does eventually, uh, annex into the
city. But, um, in this case, this is in the county, so it's subject to their rules. It aligns with
both the count- the county's future land use map and our fringe area agreement. Just to
show the property, uh, this is the aerial image of the existing structure and- and the plans
that were submitted by the owner for the addition of the ADU attached to the, um,
existing building. Again, this is a conditional use permit, goes to- to county for a final
decision and- and any construction would be overseen by the building permitting process
at Johnson County. Um, so based on this analysis, uh, staff did recommend approval and
its May 18th meeting by a vote of 4 — 0. The planning and zoning commission concurred
with staffs opinion and also recommended approval of the application. And that's it for
staff report. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them. [NOISE]
Teague: Thank you. All right. Anyone from the public like to address this topic? Seeing no one,
Council discussion. [NOISE]
Thomas: Well, here's an accessory dwelling unit.
Taylor: Yeah.
Thomas: Sort of- sort of way out there, but you know.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 28
Teague: Roll call, please. [Roll Call] Motion passes 7-0.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 29
10. Gilbert Street Pavement Repair — CRANDIC Railroad Crossing
1. Public Hearing
Teague: Item 10 is Gilbert Street pavement repair, CRANDIC Railroad Crossing. Resolution
approving project manual and estimate of cost for the construction of the Gilbert Street
pavement repair, CRANDIC railroad cross and approach project, establishing amount of
bid security to accompany each bid. Directing the city clerk to post notice to bidders and
fixing time and place where we see the bids. I'm gonna open the public hearing. [NOISE]
And welcome, Scott.
Sovers: Good evening, Mayor and Council. Scott Sovers, assistant city engineer. So this is a joint
project between the city and the CRANDIC railroad. It's located on Gilbert Street,
immediately south of its intersection with Maiden Lane. Uh, the impetus of this project is
CRANDIC's need to replace and upgrade a railroad crossing that is in poor condition. Uh,
while CRANDIC is replacing the- the actual crossing itself via, um, contractor, there's
water with- uh, for this project will perform additional payment repair and/or replacement
on both sides of the crossing. Upgrade non -ADA compliant curb ramps and approaches,
and install storm sewer to improve drainage. [NOISE] Given the nature of how railroad
crossings are replaced, Gilbert Street will need to be completely closed to traffic,
vehicular traffic. With this being the case, a detour route utilizing, uh, Kirkwood Avenue,
Clinton Street, and Dubuque Street, Benton Street, Riverside Drive, and Burlington Street
will be in place during the construction of this project. Uh, because of this impact we'll
have on traffic in the downtown area of the city, this closure will be limited to
approximately three weeks. [NOISE] The estimated construction cost of this project is
$150,000. And in terms of the schedule, we are hosting a public hearing tonight, June 6th.
Bid betting will be on July 5th. Uh, we'll bring this back to- uh, to you for award at the
July 12th Council meeting. And then construction is planned to start early August, um,
and then finish up before, uh, the commencement of the University of Iowa fall semester
in mid to late August. That concludes my presentation. I'd be happy to answer any
questions anybody has. [NOISE]
Teague: I think there are no questions. Thank you.
Sovers: Your welcome.
2. Consider a Resolution
Teague: Anyone from the public like to address this topic? Seeing no one, I'm gonna close the
public hearing. [NOISE] Could I get a motion to approve?
Taylor: So moved, Taylor.
Bergus: Second, Bergus.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 30
Teague: Council discussion. [NOISE]
Taylor: And as- as much as I fear the closing of that road it- it truly is a major north -south
intersection. Uh, so I'm glad to hear that you're gonna do the best you can to- to shorten
that period of time, but, uh, it'll be great to have it in- in good repair.
Weiner: Really needs to be done.
Teague: Roll call, please. [Roll Call] Motion passes 7-0.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 31
11. Additional Social Justice and Racial Equity Grand Allocations for Fiscal Year 2022
Teague: Item number 11 is additional social justice and racial equity grant allocations for fiscal
year 2022. This is a resolution adopting the additional social justice and racial equity
grant allocations for fiscal year 2022. Can I get a motion to approve, please?
Alter: So moved, Alter.
Weiner: Second, Weiner.
Teague: All right. And any staff comments about this?
Fruin: I'll just briefly make comment, Mayor. Um, this is an item that was before you a few
meetings back, uh, when you approved the initial round of funding. Uh, at that meeting,
you had asked the Human Rights Commission to go back and recommend additional
awards based on $25,000 and extra funding that would come from the Black Lives Matter
set aside from 2020. Um, our human rights staff reached out to those organizations that
did not receive funding initially to see who still had a viable project. And two
organizations responded to that. Uh, and those are the two organizations that the Human
Rights Commission have recommended for additional grants. So that's the Iowa Chapter
of American Student and Dental Association and the Iowa City Catholic Worker House.
There's some details in your packet about what those, uh, grants would fund and I'll do
my best to answer questions that you have.
Teague: Thank you. All right. Any questions for staff? Anyone from the public would like to
address this topic. If so please come to the podium. If you're online, please raise your
hand and I'll recognize you. Seeing no one, council discussion?
Teague: All right, so I think it's, you know, so important that the social justice, um, and racial
equity grant, um, is available within our community. Um, there are organizations that,
um, really do a lot of hard work, um, that really do support and promote, um, some of the
initiatives that this was created to do. Um, I am happy to see that we, um, you know,
allocated another $25,000. And unfortunately, only two individuals did respond. And I'm
not sure some of the rationale there. Uh, sometimes if things come through application,
uh, sometimes people don't see it in time. I don't know, you know, maybe some of the
challenges there. Um, but thanks to the commissioners for reaching out and, um, having
some discussions surrounding this. So as I do look at the two applicants that did respond,
I think the Iowa Chapter of American Student Dental Association. Um, what they're
wanting to do, um, is really reach out and have an impact on students, um, and to reflect
on their own biases and learn, um, about racial injustices that exist, um, even today. And
I- I liked the opportunity for this project to move forward. Um, so I'm going to be
supporting that. Um, the Iowa City Catholic Worker House. Um, I am- you know, when I
read this, I understand there's a new program. Um, and as an immigrant lead initiative
that were published, a Spanish language newsletter and train immigrant workers and
community leadership. So as I read through this, um, and what they're wanting to do, we
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 32
have access to the application. All of us. There is some concern that I do have with this
one. Um, one it states, including lobbying, letter writing, and direct action. So when I
kind of look at what happens at the state, uh, some of the state laws don't allow for
funding to go directly to a lobbying type of organization. Um, and in our role here, I think
we have, um, experienced, um, quite frankly, the lobbying that the Catholic Worker
House has shared. Um, I am reminded that, um, you know, people in our public need to
have real factual information. Um, and also when I think about how partnerships work
within this community, I think conversations must be had, um, when people are having
some concern, especially if we're talking about an entity. Uh, that will be presented to the
council, whether it's to staff or to individual councils. And for this one here, um, I am not
recommending any funding. And what I would suggest is that since only two applicants
actually applied, I would suggest to this council that we not open a backup because I
think people did have opportunity to apply, but we just award, um, the Iowa Chapter of
American Student Dental Association and- but that's my- that's my thought on this.
Taylor: Thank you, Mayor. And thank you to the members of the Human Rights Commission for
your time, energy, and commitment that each of you always puts into your work on the
commission. It's apparent that you put a lot of thought into how you award the funds that
are allocated for distribution by your commission. But with that said, I do not agree with
the amount of 19,560 to the Iowa City Catholic Worker House. Over the years, I have
realized that you can learn a lot about people by what they say or do. It is using an
accurate indicator of whether they are deserving of your trust and confidence.
Trustworthy people are respectful, they don't resort to intimidation, humiliation tactics. It
is true that the Catholic Worker House has helped to feed and house people in need and
have done that very well. However, in the past few years, they have come before our
council, other councils, the Board of Supervisors, the meetings and showing intimidation
tactics, attempting to belittle, discredit us in public and in the news media, as well as
towards the center for worker justice. For that reason, I can't in good conscience approve
of this award to the Catholic Worker House.
Alter: One of the things that, um, I viewed these applications through the lens was I was on the
HCDC for one -and -a -half terms and saw a number of applications come across. And
while HRC has their own way of, um, adjudicating and assessing the, um,
recommendations that come to us. Um, nevertheless, I think that there's some kind of
commonalities, um, for, you know, community-based projects. And some of the lens -
some of the things that are- um, that I take into consideration is sort of looking at its
history of the agency, um, of the project itself. It's possibility for sustainability over time.
It's collaborations with others in the community. Um, are there multiple funding sources?
Again, that's kind of irrelevant in this situation. To my mind, this is such a new project
and I completely applaud the fact that it actually as a grassroots organization, you are
able to mobilize and do so much. Um, I have concerns though about the project and the
way it would move forward because it's a very different measure or a different- I'm not
sure how to phrase this. This has now become much more structured. And I have not seen
proof in the past of there being structured, organized activities. Um, so from that lens, I
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 33
have less confidence in the sustainability of this project. So that's where I'm at. It's- I'm
not seeing this is necessarily the right fit for this amount of money.
Harmsen: I think I'm gonna bring something a little bit different to the conversation because my
background is a little different. First of all, I'd like to say the idea of a Spanish language
newspaper is really cool. Urn, you know, journalism background journalism professor. So
our country has a really cool history of, uh, immigrant language newspapers, uh, many of
which have gone. I mean, if you go back 100- 150 years, there's tons and tons of them.
Now there's just a handful. So I think in that regard, I think that's really cool. Um, I
support- support local journalism. Um, you know, I personally subscribe to all of the
existing journalistic outlets who are reporters here in the room, um, that not brown
nosing, I promise. And should there be a Spanish language newspaper I would open for
subscriptions. I would subscribe to that as well. I probably have to get my kids to help me
because my Spanish is really poor. Theirs is better than mine. Uh, that said, I don't think
it's the place of a city government or a local body of government to fund a newspaper.
Um, I think that creates all kinds of- of other issues. Um, you know, so what I personally
support, I don't think that that's- that's the business of the city to say a local government.
Um, you know, newspapers, journalism needs to be independent of- of the people they
talk about and covering. And I just I couldn't, you know. So- so that's- that- that trip is up
for me. [NOISE]
Thomas: Well, I'd like to say first thanks to- to the commission for reviewing these two
proposals and to the- the applicants as well. Um, I- I too have some concerns with the
Catholic Worker House proposal. And I- I've really admired the work of the, ah, Catholic
Worker House over the years. I've found them inspiring in their work. Uh, this- this
particular proposal though, I think seems overly ambitious. It has, um, there's a lot of
pieces to it. Ah, you have the- the newsletter as well as, you know, the- the trainings in
community leadership, identifying issues, and then taking action to address them and -
and identifying what some of those actions are. Ah, it- it seems to me, you know, that if -
if someone were to want to- if I were to accept that, I would really like to see that
demonstrated capacity within the organization to be able to pull that off. It just seems like
a lot. Ah, a lot of effort there. And I- I would want to see a- a better understanding of
what the project schedule and, you know, the cost breakdown, work plans, demonstrated
capacity, uh, so that- so that we can all be sure that it could be properly delivered. Um, so
for- for now I would- I would not support the project as it's proposed.
Weiner: So I have to say that, um, you know, and while I may not agree with everything that -
that was brought before us and the way it was brought before us, I was- I really admired,
um, the- the skills and the organizational ability that was brought- that was brought to the
table and brought a lot of people into our council chambers to- to the board of supervisors
who probably never would have had, um, who- who may well not have had a voice or
representation, but for those efforts. So for me, the portion of this that I would be
interested in improving is the community organizing portion. So- so to give people the
skills and the, um, and- and the capacity to continue that sort of self -representation and
understanding of how to function with local government and making sure that- that you
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 34
vote and so forth, I- I share the concerns about the- the newsletter and supporting -
supporting but- but I- but, um, I pers- I would be willing to award a lesser amount to
continue the organization- organizing skills because I think those are vital to anyone in
this country, anyone in this city, anyone in this county who wants to- who wants to be -
participate as a resident.
Harmsen: I think I- I agree that those are, I mean, that's near and dear to my heart. I have a
similar concern about the city picking and choosing which organizations get to train
their- get- get our support in training their activists. I actually think that's great. I mean,
like, it's a weird- it's a weird place to fmd myself in because I agree with everything you
said. And I think that the- the- the, you know, stuff on the- the application about, you
know, helping people find homes and- and- and supporting that is all great. But again,
I've kind of the same thing. It's like as a governmental body, do we have a job or- or- or -
or is it wise for us to say, okay, we're going to support these training efforts as oppo- as
opposed to this other organization. And I'm- I'm- I'm finding myself not terribly
comfortable with- doing that. Kind of a similar, not exactly the same as for the
newsletter, but kind of not completely dissimilar either. But- but I appreciate the point
you made.
Teague: You know, I think, you know, my comments earlier that I made, um, the- the example
that I would give is, um, if an organization, you know, wanted to follow suit and come
before the council and- and request some money, um, you know, for the same type of
request, I mean, we- we- we would have given some money to one organization and now
we would, you know, give another- we would have to really consider giving money to
another organization. Even if that organization did not fundamentally, ah, represent, um,
our needs if we're, um, I mean, I think the- the easiest case scenario would be if KKK
members came before this council and requested, um, you know some funding to, you
know, for their law begin acts. You know, would council be, you know, we would be in a
position to really consider that. And so, um, that is why I don't- that's another rationale
for why I don't support this.
Bergus: Thank you for articulating that Mayor. And- and Shawn, I- I've been just listening to the
conversation and feeling uneasy about it, and I think that's- that's why I don't want to set
that precedent, um, for picking and choosing the kind of advocacy that we think is, you
know, worthy or unworthy.
Harmsen: On a personal level, I would love to do that, but as a representative-
Bergus: Same.
Harmsen: -of the community and- and that I didn't feel that's in my- what I should be doing, so.
Bergus: And I think it's similar to, um, kind of where my mind was on the Center for Worker
Justice expanded proposal. And I think just, you know, knowing that there are other
funding sources out there that maybe don't have that concern or constraint, um, that -
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 35
given that this project was able to, you know, continue to be viable through even the
delay in the application process.
Teague: I did hear, um, support for the Iowa chapter of American Student Dental Association.
Um, I do not hear majority support of Iowa City Catholic Worker House. I did want to
just clarify, um, if anyone else was considering the partial. I heard one, um, ah, request
for partial. Is there anyone else that would consider partial funding for the Iowa City
Catholic Worker House?
Bergus: I don't think we have enough information to go down that road, Mayor.
Teague: Okay. All right. So then the- the other- so I'm gonna take that as no. And then the other
question that I have is, um, so we'll have to amend this.
Goers: Right. We will need a motion to amend a second and a- and a vote on the motion to
amend to exclude the Catholic Worker House Award, and then of course, the- a return to
the original motion to approve what remains, which would be for the Iowa Chapter of the
American Student Dental Association Award.
Teague: Okay. And then before we end this opportunity, um, council, are we- there are only two
applicants at this point, did we want to do anything further with those funds or- or do we
just, um, leave it as it is? I- I personally think we just leave it as it is for now.
Weiner: I mean, they went back- the- what we heard is they went back to all the other applicants
and- and these were the only two who still had projects that could potentially go forward.
Teague: Okay.
Harmsen: Out of curiosity, will the money just rolled over into next year's grant pool?
Weiner: It was coming from [OVERLAPPING]
Fruin: Yeah. It was coming from a separate source and that money is protected. So in a sense,
yes. But it just wouldn't be tied to this grant.
Harmsen: They're in the process, so yeah.
Teague: Okay. Any other council discussion? Could I get a motion to amend -
Goers: to amend this motion to exclude the grant to the Iowa City Catholic Worker House.
Alter: I move to amend the motion to exclude the Iowa City Catholic Worker House, and -
Teague: Moved by Alter.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 36
Taylor: Second Taylor.
Teague: Seconded by Taylor. Council discussion. Roll -call, please. [Roll Call] Motion pass is 6-
1. Ah, could I get a motion to -
Goers: You already have the motion.
Teague: Say that again?
Goers: You already have the motion. To- the underlying motion has already been moved by
Council member Alter and seconded by Weiner. And so if there- unless there's further
discussion, you're ready for a roll call vote on the original motion.
Teague: Okay.
Goers: As amended.
Teague: Okay. So, ah, we're ready for a vote on the original motion as amended. Roll call,
please. [Roll Call] Yes. Motion pass is 7-0.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 37
12. American Rescue Plan Ace — ThinklC Tourism Recovery subaward
Teague: Item number 12 is American rescue plan act, ThinklC Tourism Recovery sub -award.
This is a resolution authorizing the Mayor to sign a state and local fiscal recovery fund
grant agreement with the Iowa City Corps Ville Convention and Visitors Bureau, to
replace hotel -motel tax revenue loss during the COVID-19 pandemic and develop and
administer a tourism and visitor recovery grant program. Can I get a motion to approve?
Please.
Thomas: Move Thomas.
Taylor: Second Taylor.
Teague: Alright, and staff comment.
Fruin: I'll be uh brief, Mayor, this is- this goes all the way back to last September when we
initially rolled out some preliminary ARPA recommendations. One of those
recommendations was to bolster the tourism industry that was impacted by the COVID-
19 pandemic. Um so before you is a $250,000 agreement we ThinklC and our local
Convention and Visitors Bureau, and uh the use of these funds is -is divided um into two
pieces. Uh the first 125,000 is for revenue replacement. So we're able to measure the lost
revenue that the city would have normally transferred over to ThinklC, um and that was -
that was roughly 125,000. Um, they rely on hotel -motel tax revenue, so we were able to
look at hotel -motel tax revenue pre -pandemic, and then during the pandemic and again,
that's about 125,000. That money would be um, uh placed or given to uh ThinkIC to
support their general operations. And that's uh-uh building the tourism industry uh within
the uh-uh Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty area. So that's the first 125. The second
$125,000 would be for a tourism recovery program, um and this is envisioned to be a
grant program uh to support tourism within the city limits. So we're -we're taking it to a
more micro level there. Urn but the staff with ThinklC would be able to support uh local
events, urn help uh bring in outside events into Iowa City, urn basically, uh work with
community partners to bolster uh tourism over the next couple of years. The President of
ThinklC, Josh Schamberger here and can talk to you a little bit more about how he might
er go about administering that -that grant program, and er I'm happy to answer any
questions about the use of ARPA funds if you have them.
Teague: No questions. Great. Yes, we welcome you, Josh.
Schamberger: Thank you Mayor, as chairperson Porter here, I would as a tourism guy, would
echo everybody coming out for Juneteenth and pride events next weekend. Um I
appreciate certainly all the assistance from Geoff and Cassie and Rachel are in this state
and fiscal recovery app -application. Uh obviously, the effects of the pandemic, were
pretty dramatic across all industries, and the economy and certainly the local host -
hospitality and tourism industry uh was not spared area hotel occupancies, uh which are
normally north of 75 percent quickly dropped to below 10 percent uh across the entire
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 38
community. And 2.5 years later, we're just starting to see some of the return of some of
those um tourism sectors, like conferences and meetings and -and other activities. Uh the
ARPA legislation clearly recognize the tourism industry as a proper use example of these
recovery and stimulus funds. And that will certainly be the focus of this Iowa City -
specific grant program. It will be targeted towards events and activities and programs that
provide a direct return to Iowa City tourism, hospitality community, but also indirectly
provide, um and -and -and an impact here on the larger area. It'll amplify and ignite some
of our most signature festivals and events, er but we'll also be using the program to
incubate and incentivize uh additional opportunities. Our current plan to be the role of
this program out beginning in August, we've already had several meetings and
discussions. We are very familiar with running grant programs, having been around for
the past 40 plus years and doing this sort of thing, and that's exactly what we'll uh be
treating this program here in Iowa City, uh through the Recovery Act program that's been
done many places around the country, and then just in a couple of places and Iowa City
uh through the ARPA fund. So happy to answer any questions uh that you may have, and
thank you again to the whole staff for helping us work through that um application.
Taylor: Thank you Josh. Um could you just clarify for me, I'm- I'm just a little confused on the
wording on this um, Geoff mentioned a couple -couple times within the Iowa City area,
within city limits and you mentioned Iowa City specific. The resolution starts out by
talking about spurring economic activity in the Iowa City area, uh and then further down
on the resolution talks about within the Iowa city limits, and activity within the city. So it
was a geographic area. These funds are going yeah -when it talks about outside of the
area, are you talking about the hotel and motel, the funds that are going to go to them to
help bring their funds, their reserves back up. But the tourism activity is the Iowa
specific- Iowa City?
Schamberger: Yeah, so the first half is certainly to replenish the lost revenue that we have. But
we're an organization that represents the entirety of the community. Iowa city core of
North Liberty and soon to be university heights, now that they have a hotel, uh but that's
uh a few months away, I think. But the program we're going to run is going to be specific
to the City of Iowa City and the city limits within Iowa City. So we're only going to allow
applications and incentivize additional tourism activities and programming within the city
limits. Uh it will not be applicants in Coralville and North Liberty will not be eligible.
Taylor: Okay, thank you.
Bergus: Josh, we heard from Kate Moreland earlier um that the better together 2030 you know,
report is coming out soon, and I know think Iowa City is a partner in that. So is this
program at all informed by that process, or can you speak to that a little bit?
Schamberger: I know they'll they'll be two separate things, but we do have also in our gyms
general fund, uh you know we're certainly a partner an equal partner to the Better
Together 2030 initiative and uh yes that -that program is within a week or two of actually
being unveiled. Um I know many folks have been a part of it. Uh there are some key
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 39
areas that really align well with what we do, and then some areas that are completely
better suited for other agencies and organizations in this community. And so in some
areas I think we'll do a good job as an organization and planning a convener and bringing
and connecting people and getting things moved along. But in other areas, like one of
them is, you know, obviously um are -are -are, um um you know, the river, parks and trails
and recreational opportunities are really well-suited for us -us to lead. And so we will
certainly be uh not through this program, but through our general operation, be um
providing resources and time and energy to advance the better together 2030 initiatives.
And we've um - you know that's -that's something that really started um between the er
business partnership ICAD organization and downtown district, and that continues to um
continue to see some efficiencies there through our collaboration, and -and um I think
that's just going to get even better here when we make some announcements here in a few
weeks.
Bergus: Thank you.
Schamberger: Hopefully, I answered your question, Laura.
Teague: Thank you much, no other questions.
Schamberger: Thank you.
Teague: Anyone from the public like to address this topic? Seeing no one. Council discussion?
Alter: I'm just actually staggered by the fact of what you mentioned with sort of hotel rates being
or not rates but occupancy being a little north of 70 percent and dropping down to below
10. And that we still have all of those hotels in the area is a testament to how lost one, but
it could have been so much more given, especially with those numbers indicates, so it's
just a testament to -to how well the community in your group in particular you know have
helped kind of shape and hold -hold people fast, hold entities have faster to get through it.
Thank you.
Teague: I do see this as um a vital opportunity for the city. I think the claim has been kind of
made for this support. The one thing that I've been very impressed by um, when we think
about tourism, people coming into this community um I have to tell you, there are so
many people that come here they wish they didn't have to leave. [LAUGHTER] And so
the exposure that some of the programming that comes through ThinkIC um you know
give to those that come here. It really does continue to put us on the map um, on so many
levels. Uh, we have the University of Iowa here um and um other you know jobs and
things that we need workers, so I really do believe that this was a great investment
beyond what we see right here. And the other thing that I'll mention is ThinkIC has been
very intentional and um just thinking DEI, um and being inclusive, and so I've been really
appreciative for those efforts as well. Are we ready for roll -call? Roll -call, please? [Roll
Call] Motion pass is 7-0.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 40
13. Council Appointments
13.a. Civil Service Commission
Teague: Item Number 13, That's council appointments, applicants must reside in Iowa City and
be 18 years of age unless specific qualifications are stated. 13a Civil Service
Commission. Civil Service Commission, one vacancy to fill uninspired term, effective
upon appointment through April 7th, 2025. And council discussion. So we have one
opening with no gender requirement, and we have two applicants [NOISE]
Alter: Both applicants look interesting and, um, perhaps even more significantly are interested.
Um, but I was taken by, I think it's Chi Ogboko. Um, it seems her qualifications, uh, she
has, uh, a background that I think could be, uh, well-suited for the commission. And
while I know the other candidate, I believe her name is Ashley. Did I get her? Um, she
too has sort of an interesting background, but she also had a number of commissions that,
um, actually she's sort of placed a little bit higher. And she was more in the, I can learn
and I would like to learn, which is great. But I think that, um, given those two kinda
differentiators that, um, I was more taken by Chi. And I hope that I did not mispronounce
the name too horribly.
Bergus: I agree with that, Megan.
Teague: I- I would agree as well. Yes.
Taylor: It was difficult to- to choose between the two because like you said, they both seemed
like they would- uh, were interested in and- and would do a good job. Um, like you said,
Ashley had, uh, listed several that she was interested in, so I would hope that she keeps
that interest and- and- and we can find her suited to one of those commissions, but it
sounds like folks are- are supportive of, I won't even try our last name, I'll just call her
Chi and I hope Chi is correct.
Thomas: You know, I'm supportive as well.
Teague: So it seems like the majority of council, um, it's a part of a Chi. So I'd- can I get a
motion to a point Chi Ogboko to the Civil Service Commission?
Weiner: So moved, Weiner.
Taylor: Second.
Bergus: Second.
Taylor: Second, Laura.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 41
Teague: Moved by Weiner seconded by Bergus. All in favor say, I. [Voice Vote] I
[OVERLAPPING]. Any oppose? Motion passed so 7-0.
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 42
15. City Council Information
Teague: We are at item number 15, city council information.
Taylor: I would remind people that the south district has their diversity market going on every
Saturday now for the next several Saturdays, 1:00 to 7:00 PM on Saturdays, and you too
could get a beautiful bracelet like this. [LAUGHTER] I want to say, oh, it's a lot of
jewelry booths, great food, wonderful food, music and family of all ages. And despite the
threat of rain last weekend, I think it did sprinkle a little bit there. Large crowds, so but
lots of space so you can still distance. And I would just encourage everybody to- to come
out and support all those wonderful vendors.
Harmsen: Okay. I would just like to recognize mom's demand to action and all those who
organized a wear orange rally, uh, this past weekend at whether it be parked and then did
a march down to the diversity market, um, for their efforts and for those that showed up
to support smarter gun laws in the wake of so many tragic shootings.
Weiner: So I will- I'll tag onto that. And so in addition- in addition to the wear orange event, um,
the 1 lth- on the 1 lth, there will be all across the country. March for our lives. They are
currently, if you can look up on their website, we literally are watching for our lives and
our kids' lives, and- and- and our BIPOC brothers and sisters lives, and everyone who's
been- who's been victim of so much gun violence. There are currently marches organized
for Cedar Rapids, Davenport, and Des Moines. I understand there will be one here as
well, it's just not up on the website yet. Um, but I would encourage everyone to show up.
And, uh, I had the honor of attending the- the One Iowa Gala in- in Des Moines as part of
the city delegation on Saturday evening. It was a wonderful event. Our mayor was
honored. Um, Sikowis and the Great Plains Adovocacy group was honored. But to- to me
and [LAUGHTER] no, no- no slight to the mayor meant, the star of the show was Gavy
Smith, who really is a 14 year-old face of courage, um, standing up to the transgender
ban and hatred in the state like none other. Um, she is- she is- she- she is poised, she is
articulate. She is simply amazing. Um, and there was tremendous support showed there
for her. Um, and finally, sort of the- the- moving to the theme of the arts. Um, in addition
to having a great arts fest here, I just wanted to note that the James Theater is about to
open. It was featured on the front page of the Gazette today. The- the - the Noltes are
providing a great addition to Iowa City in terms of Theatre Space and Community Space.
And it's where Riverside Theatre was for many years.
Bergus: Thank you for lifting up all those good events and agree with the diversity market.
Please come out and, uh, patronize those vendors. They've been fantastic. I did just want
to take a minute to reflect, um, on where we were two years ago in June of 2020. Not all
of us were here, but, uh, it was a very different moment in Iowa City. And, uh, we all- I
know you've got comments and questions about a particular incident relating to a police
officer striking a young woman in a police car. I don't wanna talk about that incident, but
I do want to invoke two years ago the commitment that the city council made by a
unanimous resolution, 17 different points. And in the very first one, we made a
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.
Page 43
commitment to reduce the public's reliance on police through the use of unarmed
professionals. And if we don't take steps to [NOISE] accelerate reducing armed responses
than these kinds of incidents are going to continue to happen. When an armed response is
what we choose for every emergency and our community, then force will always be on
the table. And this incident was heartbreaking. And I go back two years when our
children were tear gassed. And that incident, after much inquiry and review and
investigation and $50,000 in taxpayer money didn't violate our policies. It wasn't illegal.
These events are the price of policing. And I think we can do better in being creative and
finding ways to respond to people who are in crisis, to conflicts among individuals, to
violence even and know that it doesn't- community safety has to mean something other
than just police.
Weiner: I- I apologize for corning in, but if I could add something to that, I would really like to
see the capacity of the guide link center expanded so that it can- that it has the capacity,
um, to deal with a broader variety of people m need.
Teague: Any other comments?
Alter: This is a different, um, it's just a small thing, but it's a huge thing. Tomorrow is primary
day and I want to encourage everyone to go out and exercise your rights and vote. If you
need to find your polling precinct, you can do that through the Secretary of State's, uh,
website. And it's just, um, sos.iowa.gov and scroll through elections to get to where
you're voting place is. You can find it pretty easily by clicking through. Um, I don't want
to apologize for doing it as if it's an afterthought, after such poignant and smart words
from my fellow councilors. Um, but it also seems fitting to- to say, let's do what we can
on a day in which we can make a difference and let's continue to keep working.
Teague: I'm gonna elevate one more time the LGBTQ plus Gay Pride, um, events that's gonna be
happening. So go to their website. Also Juneteenth events. There's a few things
happening and this is the city's second year of officially having Juneteenth and so, um,
as- as a city holiday and so please, please, please go out and enjoy and commemorate,
um, these events. All right. +-
This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council regular
formal meeting of June 6, 2022.