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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-09-05 Transcription Page 1 Council Present: Alter,Bergus,Dunn,Harmsen, Taylor, Teague, Thomas Staff Present: From,Jones, Goers, Grace, Platz, Russett, Lehmann,Dulek, Sitzman, Rummel,Knoche,Havel Others Present: LeFevre,USG Liasion, Monsivais,Alternate 1. FY25 Budget Discussion Teague: All right. Well,welcome to the City of Iowa City work session for September 5, 2023. It's 4:01. And we'll go to our fust item, our fiscal,uh,year'25 budget discussion. From: Okay, Thank you,Mr. Mayor and Council. Um,hard to believe,we're right back into budget season again. If you ask the staff out there,probably they just say it never really ends. Um,but we are starting the fiscal year'25 budget. Currently, departments are working on capital projects,now we'll soon be shifting to operating budgets. Uh,you will receive the budget in January and go through your deliberations in the following few months before it is,uh, fmalized in the spring of next year. So what we'd like to do at this work session is just kind take your temperature, see if there's anything new,um,that you'd like us to consider during the budget process. Um,that could be shifting of capital projects,new capital projects, or other operating initiatives that-that you'd like us to evaluate,um, during,uh,the budget season. We always tell you it's easier to evaluate that during this planning phase,uh,than it is,uh, after we present that budget to you in January or February. So anything that's known is appreciated. Always understand that new things can emerge at any point in time, including during that review session. Um,A few things I wanted to,uh,just touch on as a reminder,Um, I'll start with just the,uh, kind of the overview of the fiscal climate that we talked about with the fiscal year'24 budget. Um, for those of you that have been,um,uh, either on council or following for several years,you know that we have been,um,working through the fiscal year of the 2013 property tax reform that the state of Iowa passed. Uh,that had a roughly 10-year phase and- and so- for- from 2013,really, it's just about last year,we worked through a lot of those reforms. There's one lingering effect of that,which is the,um, commercial backfill piece that will, um,be phased out over the next couple of years. So we finally thought we were getting through that. And,uh, to and behold,there was more property tax reform last session. So what we know now is that, um,both of our-both our library levy and our emergency levy,uh,will be phased out over the next several years. That's 47 cents of the total levy and roughly about two million dollars that we will need to absorb into our general fund levy. That's our 8.10 levy. That is a maxed levy,meaning we can't go any higher with that rate. Um, and assuming that,um,we don't want to change service levels either at our library or with our climate action programming,uh,we have the task of- of trying to absorb that in the general fund,which of course,uh, is also the funding for our public safety, our parks and rec, our general government and many other operations as well. The rate of phase-out,um, is not known at this time. It does,um, accelerate or decelerate based on,uh,the valuation growth that we experience from year to year. Uh, so I couldn't tell you exactly how that phase-out will be,but we know at the This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 2 end of four years neither of those levies will be available for us. Uh,what is unknown is any further,uh,um,property tax reform that may take place from this point forward. Um, when leg- legislature adjourned last year,there were several comments about revisiting property taxes, again,uh,with this coming session. So,um,we should expect that at least there will be conversations on further reform. We don't know what that further reform may look like,but we'll need to be prepared to adjust accordingly. So at the same time, the state is kind of restricting either taxable valuation growth or limiting our use of levies. Um,we are still not,um, growing from a taxable valuation standpoint like we had,uh, in the early part,um, in the- in the years,um, immediately after the 2013 reform. So I'd like to say during that 2013 reform,um, our community growth, our taxable valuation growth were strong enough to where we didn't,uh,necessarily have to cut based on those reforms. We were able to tread water, if you will,um,maintain our current services,um, through that period. The last couple of years have been a- a bit of a different story for us. Um,through fiscal year'23 and '24 we actually witnessed or experienced, excuse me, a 0.8% decline in our taxable value. So even though we are growing as a community, again,the effects of these reforms are that certain property classes are,um,paying less, uh, in taxes. So,um, we actually saw that 0.8% decline, and I think we can all understand how that may not be sustainable. So we really need to focus on continuing to grow that- that taxable base, especially in light of the loss of the emergency levy and the library levy. We have seen building permit values rebound,uh, from 2020 in which they were down to their lowest level,um,primarily due to the- COVID's impact on economic activity. Both in '21 and '22 we saw incremental growth. Um, I think that incremental growth continues in '23,but the same pattern is emerging. It's- it's- it's one or two major projects that are driving that valuation growth, as opposed to,uh,many smaller projects, uh,kind throughout the-throughout the various property classes that we track. So we have to be cognizant of the role that those significant,um,projects are playing. And they're really,um,what is driving,uh, our taxable growth at this- at this point. So at the same time,we have some of those revenue challenges. We all can appreciate the inflationary pressures that are,uh, coming on the expense side as well. Uh, we talked about that quite a bit with the fiscal year'24 budget. We have numerous supply line items that have increased much faster than we're used to,things like gasoline,heat, chemicals. Uh,those types of things have impacted budgets well beyond the-the traditionally expected 3 to 4%,uh, growth in those line items. Uh,nonetheless,um,we are focused on continuing to provide the same level or higher level of service to this community despite those challenges. We're also committed to your strategic plan objectives and those actions listed in the strategic plan report. And that's how staff goes about prioritizing our recommendations. We look at protecting those core services,making sure the community can count on those services that we delivered day in and day out, and then doing as much as we can with those strategic planning,uh,priorities. I did list in the memo that's in your packet,um,the three bullet points that were our budget goals for fiscal year'24. That's on the second page of that memo. Every year, staff looks at those, and we may make minor adjustments,but for- for several years,those have,um,been relatively consistent. Um, even though the language itself may has-may have changed slightly. Um,we'll appreciate any feedback. You don't have to verbatim give us those,um, goals,but if you have any feedback on those three existing goals,that would certainly be helpful to us. So This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 3 at this time, I'll- I'll turn it back over to you for discussion. Again, looking for anything, um,um, significant in scale that you want us to consider,um, as we prepare the fiscal year'25 budget. Teague: Just jump right in. Harmsen: Kind of a quick question. How are you,um, as you talk to the different department heads,uh, in explaining kind of these same fiscal realities. Uh,what kind of direction are you giving?Like, are you asking them to just to cut things?We're not at that phase. Kind of how are you handling sort of that from a beginning of the process approach? Fruin: Yeah. They-they probably feel like I've been a broken record over the last decade which is,um,you know, I- I need to know,um,what-what,um, what investments we need to make to continue to,um,maintain those service levels. But it's probably unlikely that we will be able to fund any significant service expansions,um,through these challenges. I always like for the department heads to,um, indicate,you know,what they would like to see, even if they don't believe it's realistic. It just helps me understand,um,the direction that they're-they're leading their departments. Um,but the reality is we really haven't been able to,um, fully meet staffing needs of a growing community. Like I said,we've kind of been trying to tread water at status quo or just above status quo for over the last decade. And in the same period of time,we've added thousands of residents that have put additional stress onto,um,the service-the services that we deliver. We're still to-to be more direct into the second part of that question,we have not given any direction to cut, um, from department budgets. Alter: Certainly, it seems like in the past, as you synopsized for us and then also doing sort of like here's a look in the rearview mirror as well as looking ahead, I mean, I think it's tremendous that we haven't had to grow, or sorry,that we haven't had to make any cuts, um, in the face of both declining tax base and,um, a rising population, I guess,really starkly, er, if this kind of volatility, and or,well volatility, that's leading to more kind of, uh,things coming from the state that-that hamper our ability to do revenue. Have you been in conversations to say,well, and here's at a point where we do need to make cuts, or what's the projection forward,how long can we tread water?Um, and- and when do we need to look at the potential of cuts and? Fruin: Yeah, I don- I don't think we're there yet,um,um,but certainly when you look at two years of negative growth,we're almost at a percent over those two years of negative taxable growth,that's a-that's a trend that-that we can't continue. Um, so we hope to see those building,uh,permit numbers and valuation numbers continue,uh,to increase. Um, what's-what-what's adding more uncertainty-uncertainty into this budget,um,uh, for Fiscal Year'25 is we know there's going to be a sharp reduction in the residential rollback rate,right?We-we- you all probably fielded some calls this spring when valuation numbers came out, and it wasn't uncommon for people to-to open up that mail from the assessor and see that their valuations on their property had increased 20-25% On the surface,that seems like that would help the City's budget quite a bit,um,but in reality This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 4 those rollback rates that the State sets come November,um, are expected to drop and offset much of that valuation. We just don't know that variable until late in November, uh, so it's hard to say exactly,um,what that will look like. Uh, absorbing 47 cents into our general fund levy is going to be no small task. Again,that's $2,000,000 over,uh,the next several years. I'll remind you that this current fiscal year that we're in, we're actually taking in less property tax dollars than we were the previous year, so again,not a sustainable,um,not a sustainable situation but one that we hope is just a short term blip. Harmsen: And again,that's despite the fact our community is actually growing, like we actually have more people,more of whatever and,yeah. Fruin: So overall properties,when you think of assessments,you have the 100% assessed, basically what all the properties are assessed by the assessor. And then there's the taxable valuation. And the State determines how much of an individual property is taxable. So right now,residential properties and multifamily properties are taxed at about 56% of their value, commercials at 90%,but that residential,uh,piece,which now includes multifamily,um, shifts every year, it'll go up typically a percent or two. Uh, this year we're expecting it to drop maybe 6-10%,um, is- is kind of the best guess that's out there. Harmen: I know in a little bit we'll be talking about,um, or we've got at least in the packet,this last packet,uh, some of the updates on strategic,um, initiative, strategic,uh, uh,plan initiatives. Um, and I know that from our value statement from last budget cycle mentioning trying to keep those,uh,to keep engaging those. Um,who does,uh, is- is that your office that sort of then looks at those additional strategic planning stuff or does that filter up through the various departments? Fruin: Yeah. All of the department heads are keenly aware of the-the strategic plan and as they prepare their budget,they will,um,put rec-recommendations in there that support those. At the end of the day,um, it's the City Manager's Office and the Finance Department that have to review all those, get the numbers to balance,uh, and prioritize those department requests. But they definitely start at the department level and then,uh,we're kind of that final checkpoint where we'll take the plan as we're making our final recommendations and ensuring that all those actions that are called for in the strategic plan have the funding to support them, or if we don't,um,that we're recommending new revenues or other alternatives to achieving that. So a good example, of course,would be your fare free. Um, come next summer,you're going to have to make a decision on whether to continue that fare free service or not. That's not going to be able to be absorbed by property tax,we're going to have to develop a- a- a different creative funding strategy to keep fare free if that's then,uh, direction that council wants to go. Um, so,um,yeah, it's kind of-the strategic plan should be, and I believe is,uh,recognized at all steps of the process from creation to evaluation on your part. Harmsen: Thank you. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 5 Bergus: Just to tie into that, Geoff,um, the-you mentioned maybe wanting some feedback on these budget goals as well, and I think in our discussion of the strategic plan,we've talked about having things be like,you know, articulated and measurable in terms of how we're tracking things. So I think the-the goals that are outlined in terms of the-the kind of broad budget goals, it's hard for us to know what that means,you know, like relative from year to year. And so maybe just kind of tying those things together to say, as we're tracking in the strategic plan,here's how we're meeting these goals or this is the target improvement that we want to see. Um, I know in the past in the budget. So like last year, the timing was kind of weird because we adopted the strategic plan in December and then,you know,the budget document was already very well underway in its creation. Are we going to have a different format this year that-that,because I know we had the like which strategic priorities does this hit was included,will that be? Fruin:Nicole, do you want to speak to the revision of those goals? Davies: I think you're talking about all the performance measures. So all of those,yeah,we went through to see if they're still relevant,what strategic area do they still cover, and then to all the departments had the opportunity to remove or add new measures that would better align with the strategic plan, so that will all be in the new budget book. Bergus: And will we have some kind of tool for like putting that together? So like if a department head has identified a certain metric that they want to keep reporting on, like, can we sort of see why that is included or it's just sort of their discretion? I don't know if that question makes sense but. Fruin: Yeah, I, um, I can jump in on that. So certainly, if- if there are metrics that you'd like us to track,uh,we can absolutely incorporate those in. Um, obviously,we might have to develop a data collection,uh,mechanism. But if certainly if there's- if there's information that you think would be helpful,we'd be more than happy to provide a path forward to collect and- and share that. And then,you know,when it comes to,um,the update of those performance measures, if you'd like to see more frequent updates than-than we present in the budget,we-we can do that. Um,we've talked about developing dashboard metrics for,um, different initiatives. We can do that, it's going to take some time on your part,uh, at- at a work session,probably to-to-to sit down with us and- and tell us exactly what you'd like to see tracked,but we can-we can develop that. And there's,um,ways that we can do that internally. There's also a- a number of different vendors out there that can put a pretty picture,uh, on- on your website and interactive graphs and things like that. We-we can do all that,um,but it's going to take some,um, discussion with you to see what you want,um,to be tracked and,um, delivered to you. Bergus: I think it might be helpful even just to hear from each department head in like a- a little short written paragraph or something as to why these metrics and sort of what they think matches up with the strategic plan,because I've- I've heard a lot of- Fruin: Within th-within that budget document? This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 6 Bergus: Or- or somewhere, I don't know- in the presentation, I don't know. I mean, I- I put a lot of weight behind what,you know, our department heads think is important and why we should be tracking certain things so that might be a fust step rather than us trying to define them. Fruin: Okay. Alter: This is a discussion point, I think, for all of council. One of the things that I was thinking about and I want very literal on like what kind of feedback can we provide about the relationship between our strategic plan, our- our- our goals, and the budget?And,um, we've had so many really important conversations,but I'm really struck by some of the ones that,um, our service providers were giving us as well,where there was the-before you get to, and- and I think even the City Manager brought it up as well, in terms of a continuum about a healthy community and that if we address fundamental problems or/and inequities and the pain points in front of how, do we help people get through those difficulties?Um,that's where I would very much like to see, especially since-now more than ever, and next year and next year, and next year. We have to be more thoughtful and deliberate about what we are going to attend to. That for me, I love being able to open up the strat plan and say, okay, during this year or these years,here's some of the things that we think can happen. And just in going back to it,under each area, each impact area, it seemed to me that there were some core things that it would make people's lives easier if the city attended or- or continued on their way with it. So for me, it is something that is obviously not surprising. Um, childcare, fare-free transportation. Um, I think while we are not going to necessarily consider ourselves to be part of,um, a landlord continuum, there is the strategic plan to look for a significant scale affordable housing effort with partners. Yes,those are all big problems and big things to solve,but I think that rather than chipping away at it if we look at it and say,what are the pieces that can go into place to achieve these end goals and to start thinking about it now?Um,that's the type of thing that I would be really interested in hearing the experts in each of the departments kinda say, okay,how do-how do we get there?But I'm one councilor of seven, and so I don't want to just say,well,here's what I think, go for it, right? I just- I want to toss that out there to say,why don't we go at the same time, I know that one of the conversations centered very much on like mental health and responsiveness and we-we need to increase that, and I completely agree. But I also think, let's- let's also peel back and say, can we look at what possible solutions or- or things that we can do in advance of it getting to a point where someone is having mental health difficulties because of all of these stressors. Let's try and go fundamental. So that's one option or one way for us to start talking about this,um,knowing there's so many plates to keep spinning. But it seems to me that that could be useful and it was also, I think in large part why,um,you know, staff came to us, for us to say, let's do a really robust and thoughtful strategic plan. So I just toss that out for- for conversation and we don't have to like hammer it out today, but it seemed to me that that was kinda the impulse in bringing it up right now. So, um, that's the way I would suggest. One- one option is to really look at like,what are the core things that people are really struggling with?And even if they're big,how do we-how do This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 7 we prior- should we prioritize those so that maybe some of the other things that we also have on our strategic plan are- are mitigated by virtue of the-the- some of the larger potential solutions. So I just tossed that out for conversation. Teague: Yeah. So I wouldn't agree with you. I wanted to be maybe add,um, specifically chronically homeless. Alter: Uh-huh. Teague: Um, and-- Alter: Yes. Teague: --you know, in our community,we talk about homeless and housing as being a human right. And I think if we were to really work collaboratively with Johnson County, other providers, or municipalities in Johnson County, I really think we can make,um, a continued effort in what we're doing with homelessness,um, as many of you know through the,uh,Harvard Bloomberg. Um, I think Geoff had it on one of his,um,memos where we did submit,um,this as one of the tracks that we might be,um, granted some assistance with,but we don't know and won't know,but I- I feel if we can-homelessness is huge,but if we kinda narrowed our,um, lens for a moment and focused in on the chronic homeless,um,right now,we're hearing from people in our community. Um, we're seeing an increase in people downtown Iowa City,um,where they really need housing. And I think if we can come together as a community,not just as,um,this will be a collaborative effort with also involving other municipalities in Johnson County and service providers to come together and see how we can really tackle that. I- I- I think that would be worth,um,moving forward with. Taylor: Thank you,Mayor. I appreciate those comments because I was thinking on those lines too because I think when you're looking at,you know,where should we put our funds? We should look at some of those projects that have been successful,totally successful like 501 Cross Park, and GuideLink,those kinds of things that the city has put money in and collaborated with the county on. Ah,the chronic homelessness is a major problem in the mental- folks with mental illness. But those kinds of projects have been successful and are helpful,but, ah, far from, ah,what we really need. So I think that that's very important. Harmsen: Yeah, I think just to kind of piggyback off of that,um,you know, some of the programs that we do use for that,that we can build on are something like our outreach program. Um, and I think, and hopefully staff will correct me if I get this wrong,but I think they can point to about 90 different cases this year,where they've taken somebody who's chronically homeless and,uh, gotten them into permanent housing. So I mean, again, like you say,we haven't,you know,the problem is still bigger than that,but we can point to and then maybe expand on those things that-that have shown some success. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 8 Dunn: I think, ah, something that really resonated with me in this conversation was, ah,what Councilor Alter said,um, specifically talking about the- addressing the-the problems that people have in the moment. So I- I very much agree with the, ah, comments about,uh, chronic homelessness,poverty in general, ensuring that we're able to,um,you know, really deliver on those- on those issues and- and increase people's quality of life is certainly,um, a priority for- for me. Um, and I would say,you know,there's-there's many different ways that we can address those types of issues,whether that's,um,you know, affordability of the community, in general, affordability of transportation. One thing that particularly stands out to me in- in regards to transportation, in addition to,um, you know,trying to move towards as in a financial capacity,um,being able to continue fare free service,but is also to,um, invest more in our bike infrastructure in the community,um,making our- our bike infrastructure safer,um,more desirable for people in the community,um, and- and just generally more accessible,um, is- is something that touches on many of our strategic priorities. It's- it's in the strategic plan and it is just something I wanted to hopefully bring up in this conversation as well. Thomas: Well, I'll piggyback on that one. Um, and I'm sort of at a point here, er, serving on Council where we're talking about a budget for the coming year and I won't be around next year. Um,but I- so I have, at this point in time, I'm in part, looking at issues that- that I've been trying to address, ah, as best as possible over the time I've been on the Council,uh, and to-to,um, discuss them at this point now,um, and one of them had to be with-had to do with traffic safety. And I- I tend kind of to view these as future work session items by-before the end of the year so I could participate. Um, and traffic safety, you know, I- I had wanted to talk about this in part because of the three recent deaths that we've experienced,um,that really resonated with me. You know,these were violent deaths,um,that-that took place on our streets. But on a more kind of happenstance note, ah, I happened to be at,uh, deluxe the other day. They have this wonderful outdoor patio, um,having one of their soft ice creams and,um,you know,that's a great front patio porch. And Andrew walked by and so we said hello and we kind of opened up a conversation with some folks,uh, sitting at the table next to us, and they learned we were both on City Council. And one of the folks at this other table had just moved to Iowa City from Washington DC and she said,uh, "Since you're here,um, can I express some of my concerns?"And we said, "Sure,what-what's up?"And- and she lives in the Longfellow neighborhood and she said, traffic safety is a major issue in this town. And, you know, I had to laugh in her saying that. But it- it does seem to me that we-we have-that's an issue that affects everyone in Iowa City,particularly on the-the major thoroughfares,the arterials,um. So I would certainly like us to- to focus on that,perhaps have a process by which we,um, can hear from- from the public in- in a engagement,um. Perhaps one- one thought I had,but this, of course,needs the work session. If you support this would be to have a kind of,uh,you know,uh, community forum on traffic-safety- safe streets where people could- could come and hear from one another and express their concerns about where they feel less than safe. Um, and that could then translate into,you know, an imple- implementation plan. Um,but it- it does seem to me in my time here, I don't think things have- I can't say they've gotten better. Uh, it seems to me that the traffic speeds are higher,um, and that safety is still an important issue. Um, and there are some items,by This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 9 the way, in the-the update,which I think can be built on,uh, could be perhaps part of that event. Um, again, in reflection, I think some of them were,um,the events that I have attended,uh, say when Jeff Speck was in town or Strong Towns was in town,were very memorable events. People showing up and participating as a community. Um, I think left an impression on everyone who was there. So- so there's that one and I'll just,um, mention another which I had in mind. It had more to do with,uh,you know,Geoffs comments on how we are living in a time of fiscal constraints. And,you know, in an- in our- our strategic plan of, I think 2021,there was an item in there that we never got to and that had to do with,uh, looking at our finances,uh, from the standpoint of,um,how- how do these-these land use decisions we make,uh,have an impact on our capital,um, capital budgets, and long term financial solvency?Uh, and I think in part, even it was in the plan,uh,but as we all know,we-we ran into COVID,we ran into Black Lives Matter. Everything kinda just,um,took a different course, and we never actually got to that item on our strategic plan. I- I would like to-to raise it as, um, something that we look at. Again,uh, it may be something we could partner with Johnson County and consider that. I know that I just had a conversation today with a member of the Board of Supervisors that raised this issue in my mind in terms of some of the land use policies that-that they're seeing in some cities in Johnson County,um,that could also benefit from understanding how land use impacts,uh, our budgets. Uh,you know, some types of land uses actually are- are quite,um,potent in terms of their taxable valuations, others less so. Uh, and these things can be beautifully modeled, communicate extremely well to the-the general public. I don't- I truly don't believe our general public understands these issues, let alone,you know,the City Council understanding how it,um,how these things play out. So- so those are two items,um, I wanted to ask for your consideration that could translate into workshops to be further fleshed out and,um, and acted upon. Dunn: Could you talk more about,uh,what a product would look like on the-the latter section that you discussed there? Thomas: Yeah. Um,there is a- a firm- the firm that's work-has worked nationally that's best known is called Urbana. And,uh,you know, if you look at their website,uh,there are a number of ways they can employ their skills,but they're basically,uh, look at modeling, uh,the community in three dimensions in terms of,uh, depicting how valuations on a per acre basis,um,play out in a- in a municipality or county. Whatever the-the frame of reference is. Uh,but there are a number of other ways their-their skills can be employed. Um, I think that might be something we could look at as well as,you know, strategic planning in terms of what-what types of investments,um,would make the most sense for Iowa City. Uh,how can we leverage our public assets in terms of land? This is an issue that's coming up and- and something they've been involved in recently. Um, so there are a number of different ways that could go,but I think- oh, I think they can,uh,help the city or possibly Johnson County as well. And conveying the-the gravity of this issue, and also a way forward. Because many cities,without quite understanding it, are- are actually putting themselves at long-term fiscal risk because of their land use decisions. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 10 Dunn: So are you talking about,uh,you know,the-the cost versus benefit of building a subdivision on the periphery versus more development in the center? Thomas: Right. Or, you know,um, for example, one- one way that-that their services could be considered is if we were to model different scenarios for,what-what would we,uh,want to consider, and this in part has implications with affordable housing as well. Well,what might we want,uh,the minimum densities to be in peripheral development?Things of that sort. You know just ways of- of playing out in- in scenario form,um,what the options are, and what their financial implications would be if we were to follow them. Uh, so it, you know, I would encourage,you know,those on council to,you know, look at Urban3's website. The-there's lots of information there,there lots of, um, examples of their,um,work. Uh, one- one that I just looked at recently was for the City of Indianapolis,which I found interesting. Um, so I- I do think we are moving into difficult times in terms of financial,uh, capacity. And I- I- I think it's important that we understand how our decisions with regard to how we use our land. I think if we were to think of ourselves as farmers basically, and,um,that certain crops have different yields, um,we-we do live in farm country,um, on a per acre basis. And what-what have been the most profitable and one-which ones have perhaps yielded less?Um, and,you know, if we take that analogy further,you-you know that the-the cost of keeping the farm solvent in terms of equipment and so on and so forth is not being covered by the yields that are being generated on certain- certain crops. Um, so anyway, I think- I think at this point in time, it would be useful to-to have that kind of information. Bergus: I appreciate that,John, and I think what I'm hearing is a lot of people thinking holistically, like bringing things together and having,you know,well this topic also relates to this,which relates to our goals,which relates to our strategic plan. So I think that's really encouraging just to piggyback. There's lots of piggybacking happening here on what you were just saying. I- I remember the,um, Iowa City Downtown District had that-they have like a three dimensional heat map that showed the taxable valuation based on area of the city and it showed the whole city, I think it was in their 2021 annual report. But yeah, it's really striking when you sort of realize that certain physical parts of the community are subsidizing other physical parts of the community. And giving us,you know, even just kind of understanding that on a really basic level so that we can use that in our decision making about like,you know, should we approve this infill or what's the value of that compared to this? I think. Yeah, I appreciate that a lot. I just want to kind of bring forward two broad topics that I hope will entertain.Nothing new. I know from Geoffs memo this is supposed to be new topics,but I just want to follow up on consensus that I've heard over the last few months and then offer one,maybe new idea and we'll see how it fits in. So the fust one is just overall our investment in community safety. We had our conversation at the budget public hearing on April 4th about how we might invest, you know,proposed addition in one department's budget into really focusing on preventing harm. And diverting police calls for service to providers that may be better suited for a specific type of call. I think you know Mayor Pro Tem Alter and I have been working on and we've had some discussion in needing to follow up with Geoff on specific city manager goals and one that we've been working on fleshing out, is trying to This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 11 reduce the per capita calls for service overall. And have the you know reduce the overwork on our officers. That's reflected in the amount of overtime that we had. So to me, it would make sense to say we can make this a budget priority as well, with some investments,you know, on that part of the response spectrum that are preventing and diverting calls for service. And I think there's some specific ideas that I have talked with various members of council and with Geoff about as well in terms of you know programs that may be out there and making sure that anything we invest in would be very specific to serving our residents and that if we,you know, if we wanted to put an additional, however much money towards,um, an expanded mobile crisis response or something like that,Just working with providers to ensure that they're accountable to us and we're tracking the data to know that it's having the impact that we want. Along the same lines, I think you are sort of like in that progression of this conversation,we had our work session with Chief Liston, I think that was in June,where he mentioned the need to work smarter,not harder. And I think that obviously when we're in a budget situation like this, that goes for every single department. But I think being able to capture some of the unused personnel funds in the police department for that data analyst position that we had for a little while and went away. And I think the Chief talked about to us that day in June might be a way to help with that overall objective relating to community safety which hits on the mental health,hits on the chronically homeless,hits on,um, traffic safety, and I think maybe kind of ties into a lot of the priorities that have already been expressed here tonight. The other one then relates to economic development. So in this moment,you know,we have a lot of the things that we're talking about and that are prioritized in our strategic plan are getting some amount of additional investment through our ARPA dollars. And that includes the money that we've allocated for the underestimated businesses and entrepreneurs and that sort of pool of money. And I think one thing that I've heard about that process is that it's just so challenging to,you know,have this kind of limited scope that we have,the limited funds that we have. So in this moment, I think we have an opportunity with looking about- looking at how do we invest in that type of economic development with the opportunities that we also have in terms of, you know, Windy Ford's office I think is changing with her retirement, so there could be some opportunity there. And then we also have the city's investment in the organization that was ICAD/the chamber, and whatever that might look like, I think should include some evaluation of how we identify the value we're receiving from that. So all of that is to say, I think identifying as a budget priority economic development that is sort of focused on the inclusive economic development plan and quantifying that in some way. Teague: I will mention,um, it seemed like a big task um, and that was one of the-we-we were able to submit three things to Bloomberg,Harvard. And hoping that we'll get selected for something. And so that was one of the inclusive economic goals that we submitted. Because we know that it's a big undertaking. I would agree that it's a no brainer for me to make-you know,to advocate for Inclusive economic especially since it's a part of our strategic plan. Um, I know that we have to fill Wendy Ford's,you know,position and we are paying for some services,um,through other organizations like ICAD and that you mentioned, and maybe trying to figure out how do we capitalize on those investments. Um, I'm a supporter of it, I- I just don't know what a number value will be because we This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 12 don't have,you know,the replacement for Wendy Ford to kind of lead the effort. Um, we also have this wonderful new position of having,um,what is it called? The- Bergus: The grant? Teague: Yeah,the grant writer. I was going to try to figure out another name for him or for that person. But,um. So there are some opportunities that I think are going to be coming to the city. So yes, I think we should be earmarking with our staff as far as like a number. I- you know, I don't know how staff can come up with a number,but,um, I think it's pretty vital that we do some investments in the inclusive economic goals of our city. Fruin: So I think the timing will work out pretty good on that particular topic. I know the hope is that within the next month we'll have some preliminary recommendations for the Council on the capital side of the Inclusive Economic Development ARPA pot of funds. And then there's still a million roughly depending on that-that recommendation on the capital side, there's still one million for that technical assistance, support services. And,uh, I think it's a good exercise to-to prioritize both those capital,those support services and then really figure out what the gaps are,what were we not able to do. And then staff is able to prioritize those-those next steps,uh,to the best we can and in the budget. And I- I feel like we can make some considerable progress in the next 12 - 24 months with the implementation of those major ABPA initiatives and the continuation of,um, filling those gaps that-that weren't able to be prioritized in this fust round. So I don't know- I guess what I'm saying is,Mayor, I don't know that you need a number at this point. I think we need the recommendations fust. We need the council concurrence on what we are going to do with that four million and then that final number will become a little bit more clear in a few months. Teague: Okay. Any other items for our budget-um, for this budget discussion. Alter: Just so it doesn't slip through the cracks, I may have mentioned childcare. I would just- I would very much like to see,this is such a huge problem and we've made some really important strides. And I just want to continue to see us peeling that onion with ideas that are coming from people who are doing the work and the partnerships that-that you've been able to-to strengthen. So. Harmsen: And I won't belabor the point,but obviously, affordable housing is still,you know, a major priority of mine, and I know it is of everybody else's. But just to say that out loud. Taylor: And both of those things have a big effect on- on workforce development and the workforce in our community. Dunn: I thought it might be just useful to go over just all the bullet points of what we've discussed because it has been quite diverse. So just comparing notes here, I guess for everyone. In no particular order,this was just what came to my mind when I decided to put this list together. We discussed priorities for chronic homelessness, inclusive This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 13 economic development,pedestrian bike,uh, -pedestrian and bike infrastructure,um, addressing mental illness,public safety and diversion, affordable housing initiatives,uh, increasing tools for long term sustainable community development, childcare, and as always increasing partnerships with other communities and stakeholders on these issues. Bergus: Maybe just to put a bow on that I think it leads right into our ABPA update discussion. But you know,the intent of the ARPA pools of money or pots of money that we're talking about in this phase are those that are intended to be more like longer term and transformational. And so I think just even having understanding that we identified those things based on kind of the very complex situation of the last few years,how is the fiscal year 25 budget going to allow us to build on and capitalize on those significant infusions in those particular areas. And I think affordable housing is a great one to kind of pick on with that. Because,you know,we have- I think, some real potential to move the needle if we're pooling different resources. And so how can that look?Just to kind of show that forward progress and projection. Teague: Okay. Anything else? Alter: Did we say I know that actually Geoff had mentioned it as well, about that we aren't going to need to look at other funding sources for the fare free. So was that I may have just mis- missed it. But again,maybe that's just sort of something to keep on the back burner because we've got the money now. But again,we're talking about FY 25 right now and the calendar date is September 5th 2023 [OVERLAPPING]. So we need to think about it for sure. Fruin: Yeah. So this budget won't necessarily have to have the solution built in because we did have a two year pilot,which puts us into fiscal year 26. Um,but we'll want to present some of those early ideas to you because if there's anything that you're not comfortable with,then we need to be able to adjust. So we'll- we'll kind of foreshadow what we're thinking. With that fare free investment. Because you also- I think you also know that we have very few avenues to build revenue capacity left,right. So if you use one of those avenues for fare free,that's one that's off the table for some other initiative. So you need to just kind of keep that in mind too,which is why we'll present you some- some thoughts in the 25 budget, even though it may not take effect until 26. Alter: And that-thank you that was perfectly said. It was sort of mushed around in my mind,but that was it. It was like we have so many things that are important to us and important to the community and we've got less and less to-to work with monetarily. And so just to keep that in mind so that we can also be laser focused on what options we have down the road so that they don't smack us in the face when we need to have thought about it already. Thanks. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 14 2. Quarterly American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA-SLRF) Update Teague: Okay. If nothing else,we'll move on to the next agenda item which is quaterly- is item Number 2 which is the Quarterly American Rescue Plan Act update. And this is in our um,August 31 information packet. IP 4 was a-um, was a memo updated. Hightshoe: Hi. Teague: Welcome. Fruin: Tracy, can I jump in real quick and start? I want to just apologize, I,um, did not get what was a late handout today in the packet and I intended to do that. So if you have not seen your late pack,um, late handout today, I just want to walk you through what the cover memo said and then,um, Tracy will walk you through the update. Everything that's in the- in the cover memo was also in the update that was in your packet. It might have just been lost because of the length of that-that report. So,um, real-real quick, um,we have committed about 14 million of the 18 million by committed that doesn't necessarily mean we've entered into agreements. But for example, like your nonprofit grants that you've made,we've made those commitments to those organizations. Even though you haven't seen the final agreement on how to spend those, so that 14 is what I'm talking about. That includes the-the four for inclusive economic development. We don't consider those funds still able to be directed anywhere. We've committed the four,we're gonna-we're going to spend the four. Um, so that leaves us with roughly four million of uncommitted funds and within the different areas, I- I wanted just to share some thoughts as we start to look towards the-the final years of- of committing and implementing these efforts. So of that four million,um, left we still-, um,we still have about 2.5 million earmarked for affordable housing. Um,two of the things we wanted to look at in terms of next step for staff is a rental housing initiative partnership with the Housing Trust Fund of Johnson County. That's something we had preliminary discussions with them about maybe 9-12 months ago. But we've kind of tabled as we've worked through some of the ARPA efforts. And then,um,we'd like to also look at exploring,um,what a path forward would be for additionally publicly owned housing. The Council has talked a lot about permanent affordable housing. We can really achieve that two ways through working with mission oriented nonprofits like the Fellowship or Habitat. But we can also do that by looking at public housing as well. Tracy and- and Rachel Carter in the Housing Authority have some thoughts on- on how we might pursue that. So we might look at some ARPA funds to-to seed some of those efforts. Just a few months ago, council talked about climate action initiatives. You did have recommendations from the Climate Action Commission on how to spend those dollars that included energy efficiency grants targeting manufactured housing, and funding for resilient Hub initiatives. So that will be- I'm sorry. We also had,um, support proce-processing capacities and local agencies to access local foods. Those are things that your Climate Action Commission identified as potential uses for ARPA funds. As we get into the business and arts and culture side of things,you might recall,we did a- a grant with-, a grant program with Think Iowa City, where they were able to seed a lot of different special events in here that help drive tourism. Um, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 15 there are still funds in that, but we are looking at,um, $500,000 in two equal grants to our two SSMID districts. One of your strategic plan goals is to provide flexible incentives to our SSMID districts so they can work to achieve the goals that they have identified,um, in their respective communities. That's the South of six and the downtown district. Um, so I'd suggest that we consider moving forward with two- $250,000 grants to begin that process that you identified in your strategic plan of giving them some flexible incentive dollars to work with. Um, related to the government services category. Um,you'll recall a few months ago,Jonathan Durst from your Water division came and talked about our plans for the lead service line, ah,replacement. These are private water lines. Um, and because of changing federal regulations,we're going to find ourselves in a situation in which if there,uh, identify defects in those private lines that they will be required to replace those. Those can be very expensive 5,000, 15,000, 20,000 depending on the location of those lines. We really think ARTA can play a- a role in seeding a grant program or a loan program to help,um, defray those cost. We-we truly believe we will need a grant program or a loan program. Given the nature of this challenge that's ahead of us and ARPA could seed that money as opposed to raising that through a- a water rate increase or putting that on the backs of all the rate payers. So we're recommending $500,000 to seed a city administered grant program that would come along with all that lead service line. Um. Teague: I- I have one question with that. Fruin: Yeah. Teague: I understand,we're talking about seeding this money. Do you believe that the 500,000 will be spent,um,within the time frame of ARPA funds that need to be-need to be spent actually. Fruin: Uh, so we can meet the ARPA standards by allocating those to the-the City program. We don't need to spend all those dollars down. We basically committed it for that purpose. Teague: So we don't need to spend the money by the end of 2026? Fruin:No. If we- if we- if we dedicate it to a grant program like that, we would be-we would be able to keep that going. And lead service line replacement was one of their stated priorities with the-with the larger ARTA. Teague: And it can be either a grant or a revolving loan. Fruin: Yeah. Teague: Okay. Fruin: We would-we would look at and we'd have to design what we want that to be, some kind of income qualification or whatnot. And then,um, lastly, in the-um, in the tourism This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 16 investment area as well, also with government services. The final recommendation is for roughly the last $500,000 um, supplement the Iowa City Skate Park Renovation Project. You may recall that we had applied for grant dollars to expand the budget for this project through the Destination Iowa Grant program. That was a state ARPA program aimed at investing in tourism projects. Um,we didn't get those funds and thus,um,we don't have the budget that we anticipated for that project. We think,um, adding that $500,000 in through ARPA can get us to the point where we can renovate that facility and really have an incredible regional uh, skate park,uh, destination. And so,we would recommend looking at that final 500,000 to supplement that project that's in your CIP right now. Has local funds committed,um,but at this point we're-we're just starting design and need to figure out if we wanna go back to that original project budget,uh, or scale it back,uh, because we didn't get that destination Iowa Grant. So I'm not looking for up and-up or down on any of these. I realize some of these are new initiatives,um,but I wanted to- I wanted to-to give you a sense of where my thoughts were with-with really working through the last four million in,uh,uncommitted ARPA dollars at this time. Okay. I was longer than I thought, so I'm glad you sat down, Tracy. Um, if you- if you could come back up and just walk us through- Hightshoe: Sure. Fruin: -all the different initiatives and then we'll take council questions. Hightshoe: Okay, great. I'm Tracy Hightshoe,with Neighborhood Development Services. As Geoff discussed,we have been allocated over 18 million. We have committed 14 million, which includes that four million for the underestimated businesses-business support and capital projects, as well as three million for social service and capital- capital grants. Um, those we had-we had a statement of interest. We interviewed,um, social service providers and we,um,working with neighborhood centers of Johnson County and Free Medical Clinic. They're working on their proposals. Free medical might be closer to agreement. They will-they're improving their facility to expand their services. So we hope to have an agreement before you for that in this fall. Neighborhood Centers for Johnson County, it'll depend on acquisition,how fast they can find a- a site to acquire, um, direct payments to eligible adults that has been completed. The eviction prevention is in progress. That is the Housing Stability Pi- Pilot Project that we entered with Shelter House. And the good news is part of that in your Affordable Housing Fund.But with that Housing Stability Project, they also included the funds to hire case managers. So the landlord risk mitigation fund that we had-that we allocate 30,000 each year to that started this July. Um, I think they placed four tenants so far. Forest View relocation has been completed. The emergency nonprofit assistants,we've assisted 13,um, organizations in Iowa City and they are proceeding. And that includes the wage theft,um,proposal with Center for Worker Justice as well. Um, the underestimated businesses. Um, as many of you know,the Mayor serves on the committee with Redmond, and now me and Wendy was on the committee and I'm her replacement. So statements went out back in I think May. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 17 Bergus: March. Fruin: Due in May. Hightshoe: Due in May. Yeah. Um,we received 31 applications. Six were considered capital facilities. We've been meeting with those. They've been-we've been working through those. Um,the last meeting that we had,we're looking at how do these-how does the physical space help them meet their needs,um, for the targeted clientele. So are there partnerships?Are there things that we can do?How do we make the sustainable? They're tweaking their applications and they're submitting revised applications by September 11th. We would-the committee will look back through those,um,possibly meet with the applicants, and then we'll come back in October for,recommendation. All right. Um, Affordable Housing Initiatives. Um, Geoff just talked about that. Um, two possibilities are- are working with the Housing Trust Fund to work on that permanent affordability and looking at those applications. We're also expanding our capacity in-house through the Housing Authority to develop affordable housing. Whether that's through a development corporation or whether that's through a- a conversion of public housing units into more units we will discuss. So my department will be looking at that. We'll be bringing forth recommendations about how-how do we develop our own capacity to improve permanent affordability for non-federally funded housing. The mental health services,we funded the mobile crisis outreach. To date, communities hired three full-time councilors. They purchased eight vehicles and they completed the remodel of their physical space. Um,under Workforce Development,we-um,well,we entered a contract with UI Labor Center for a pre-apprentice program. They have extended offers to eight of their graduates for the Fall 22 class. And now they're starting to work on their Fall 23 class, which starts September 14. Under Childcare Workforce Development,we are working with 4C's. We awarded 100,000 in ARPA funds for the Navigator position. They began offering classes in their business center. They've completed trainings and they're-they're working on recruiting more providers. And as you know,the childcare wage enhancement,the $2,um,per-per hour increase,that is county combined funds,we- we've entered all the agreements. Those cheques are now going out. And then Geoff talked to you about the climate resilience,um, about if- if you commit money,the possibilities that the Climate Action Commission recommended. And he talked to you about the small business, arts, and culture tourism investments, and I think that's about that'd be my update with Geoffs update. Teague: The social services needs assessment, capital planning, and seed funding. Did you cover that one? Hightshoe: Yeah. That's with Neighborhood Centers in Johnson County and Freeman. Teague: Got it. Okay. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 18 Alter: And then I had a question about the,um,under-strategic investments with the mental health services,um, and you gave fantastic update. I'm curious,has-has the 300K that hasn't been spent yet? Is there- is that planned? Hightshoe: Sorry,what was that? Alter: Is the $300,000 in under mental health services that has not yet been spent? Is there a sense of what it will go towards? It's like 300- sorry. Am I looking- I'm-but I am looking at the wrong thing, I apologize. Fruin:No- Alter: I am. Fruin: I think-you're-you're correct. There- Alter: Yeah. Fruin: There's some unexpended funds, so those are paid,uh, for as expenses are incurred. And- and my-my assumption is that because there's staff expenses incurred there just haven't been billed for those. I don't know if we're doing those monthly or quarterly,but we wouldn't have provided all those funds upfront. We would have committed the funds and then they would invoice us as the renovation project was done, as the vehicles were purchased, and as staff expenses are incurred. Alter: And so to-to your awareness or understanding, it's- it's primarily a staffing. Like the money essentially is allocated for staffing or that's their plan to [OVERLAPPING] Fruin: Yeah,they're model complete. I know they purchased the vehicles. So my assumption is [OVERLAPPING] Alter: It looks like this is the last piece. Fruin: And-and the remainder is- is staff. Alter: Sure. And then can I also ask about the workforce development?Because that,too has a significant,um, commitment and it hasn't been spent down that much. So I just wondered what that- Hightshoe: The-the bill as they incur expenses. I don't think any of that was upfront. Alter:No,no. And I guess I'm just looking for sort of that-that gap of like what-what can you expect in terms of invoices towards what personnel, supplies. Hightshoe: I'll have to look. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 19 Fruin: Yeah,the 4Cs was all personnel. All right. That was the navigator position. The apprenticeship program would largely be personnel. There were some supplies in there, but that's largely,um,personnel as they have more-more cohorts of students. Alter: Okay. Fruin: They'll- they'll continue to incur those expenses. The only one that would be different there is the,um,workforce development piece,that's the-that's the wage enhancement program. So you can see we did 1/3 of that, $250,000 has been sent to the Community Foundation, and I believe the intent is to-to do that every year for three years until the 750 is- is spent. Alter: Okay. That was- thank you. I needed that band-aid there. Bergus: Similar question,but on the eviction prevention,there's a very,very small number that's been spent on that. Do we know why that is 56,000 out of 1.1 million? Hightshoe: It's basically as shelter house bills us and they've been billing us for staff, so it's just as a bill we continue to pay. Bergus: Is that something that we can ask for some kind of update on? It just seems like a lot of money sitting out there on that particular one. Fruin: Yeah. We can-we can report back on that. Bergus: Maybe we'll see a huge bump with,uh,you know,just being passed,the August turnover. I don't know what all the-yeah but if that includes the $30,000 fund,there's almost nothing being spent on that. Fruin: In- in my assumption is one of the things we'll-we'll hear is that they're using all the other dollars at their disposal fust because ARPA generally has fewer restrictions than maybe some of the other federal money that they get. So it could be a case in which they're prioritizing,um, other pots of money before,uh,utilizing this. But we can- we can provide an update. Hightshoe: Shelter House will be bound by that duplication of benefits, so they cannot spend, um, if rapidly rehousing CDBG-CV, if any other dollars going towards that service. They can't bill us for it yet. So as those funds expire,they'll be billing us more because CDBG- CV will expire soon. Bergus: That all-that all totally makes sense. And I felt like this was one that we moved on pretty quick. Like in January, I think we actually had the agreement. So it just- it just seemed like a long time for- and maybe-maybe that was presented at the time to us of this money's not going to get spent for a while,but it just feels a little,um,wonky. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 20 Fruin: Yeah. I think at the time too, there was still uncertainty with this wave of evictions that everybody sensed was coming. We didn't really know the magnitude of the need at that point. So it is one of the items we prioritized to try to get in front of that, uh, and maybe that hasn't materialized to the level that we feared. Thank you. Bergus: Which would be great. Fruin: Yeah. Bergus: Yeah. Dunn: I've got a question about the climate resilience section and uh,kind of what we're thinking about for expanded energy efficiency, grant funding for manufactured housing. Uh, do we have ideas for, for what that uh, funded would look like? Hightshoe: I would have to ask Sarah. I didn't read the Climate Action recommendations, so unless Rachel or Geoff know. Fruin: Yeah. I don't think there's been further discussion. What was at the Climate Action Commission?Um,we asked them to prioritize the,the top three um,uses of ARPA funds. They identified that,but we haven't worked to,to put the bones to an actual program yet. We have housing rehab programs,we have energy efficiency grant programs,we,we have frameworks that we can rely on,but if you as a council want us to focus on a particular thing, says it's um,really want to focus on renewable energy and solar. That was my comment. And we can do that. So any direction would be appreciated. Otherwise the,the staff team will work and ultimately draft up a program for you to consider. Dunn: Yeah. I mean,the,the thing that I was thinking about was um, a conversation that Councilor Harmson and I had um, a few months ago, I think back in May,uh,with a mobile home park resident who expressed uh, considerable frustration with the ability to, in a manufactured home uh, get access to solar. It's virtually impossible. Um, so I would love to see anything we can do to increasing access um,to solar for uh,manufactured housing park residences. Uh, it just seems like it hits on so many of our different goals uh,you know, ensuring that people have,you know, access to climate consciousness, electricity, ensuring that people are reducing the cost of living in their community. It just seems like going to be a great thing to pursue. So I just put that idea out there. Hightshoe: I know for our housing rehab programs that we have right now,we concentrate on making sure that it's air tight. We've had clients spend $300 a month and that's on the mid Americans,that's how much they spend every month, all throughout the year for energy. So just to make sure they're air tight, they're weatherized. Um, and also we spend a lot of money on water heaters and heating HVAC units in the mobile homes that we serve. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 21 Bergus: I had a question about the um,under the Affordable Housing,the discussions with the Housing Trust Fund about um,the affordable rental housing to prioritize projects for permanent affordability. So my understanding of a lot of what we have seen with the money that we've provided to the Housing Trust Fund doesn't necessarily hit that permanency. So is there something different that we're looking at with that or is this specific too we think Housing Fellowship will be acquiring- like do we have ideas of what that would be that will make it permanent? Hightshoe: Yeah. When we say permanent,usually if you're- if you're allocating money to a private for profit,then that affordability period is all you get, it's 10 years, 15 years, 20 years. If you allocate money to a non-profit whose mission is affordable housing, even if they sell it or they're going to invest that money in new affordable housing.Because right now, even if you do a 20, 30 year affordability period, at some point you need to subsidize that again. Your roof goes out. After 15, 20 years,you need to put a lot more money into that housing unit. So long-term affordability is very difficult unless you're going to continually subsidize it. So that's why we try to, if we're talking about permanent affordability,to fund non-profits with that central mission because in the long run they're still going to keep investing and even if their affordability period is only 10 years,they're still there to provide affordable housing. They'll continue on. So we try to get it through if you're talking about permit, affordable to work with non-profit providers who have that mission. Fruin: So you see some differences. We'll just take an example in LIHTC projects. Um,the LIHTC project out on Rochester,Herbert Hoover. The next building that has a 30-year affordability period to it,uh,but it's held by a private company. So after 30 years,they, they no longer are bound by those,those rent controls. You take that in contrast with the LIHTC Project and Riverfront Crossings,with the Del Rey Project,which the Housing Fellowship will be the ultimate owner of that property after the affordability period. We have the confidence,we consider that permanent affordable housing. Because even if the Housing Fellowship decides after 30 years or 40, 50 years to sell that Del Rey building, we know that they're going to take those proceeds and continue to invest,because that's their mission. So that's the key difference when we're talking with the Trust Fund is really making sure that those dollars are, are supporting projects and that'll have permanent affordability even if that's not like a specific deed restriction or anything like that. It's who they're granting to. Bergus: Thank you. I just want to make sure we weren't counting any, like- infusion of money to the Housing Trust Fund as permanent under the way that you described it. Okay. Thank you. Teague: Any other questions? Bergus: I guess I'll provide just a little bit of feedback. I know Geoff,you said you weren't looking for a dislike up down,but I'm a little uncomfortable with the 250,000 to each of the SSMIDS for a couple of reasons. One is, I think if we look at whether it's their,you This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 22 know, geographic area,number of businesses that they serve or um,just sort of like their capacity for doing things. I don't know if those should be equal between the two SSMIDS. I mean,we've got one that's much newer,much smaller,um, and I think there's value in like juicing it up and I want to be realistic about the organization's capacity to handle that. So just hope that that will be taken into consideration. And similarly,because this is in the category,maybe not similarly,but because this is in the category of these like,you know, longer term transformational things, I see the idea of like-providing them with flexible funding as not necessarily that. Or if they can give us some idea of how they anticipate that-that infusion could- could be a longer term transformational thing,that might be helpful. Fruin: Sure. Bergus: That's just my initial feedback on that. Teague: Any of those other recommendations Council want to make some comments about? Harmsen: I just want to make sure I'm doing my math right. Teague: It's not. Harmsen: It's probably not. Yeah,my words guy. 4.5 million is kind of in this bottom section, right? I think at some point the number of having four million leftover was thrown out there. And I'm sure I probably just missed. Fruin: Yeah. I was around. We awarded 18.3 million. I just used some round numbers there. We also have interest that's been earned through our holding of these funds, so I think 4.5 is pretty realistic. Harmsen: Cool,thank you. Fruin: Your math is correct. Harmsen: Okay. Yeah.No, I saw that. Bergus: Okay. Do you have one more thing? Could we get some information on the use of the Skate Park? I remember when the Skate Park was built and there was,you know, all of this support and excitement and all of that. And I feel like the times that I go by the Skate Park, it doesn't seem to be that busy. So maybe there's demand that I'm not aware of or it's the thing that we need to improve it in order for there to be the use that we're looking for. But I think something before we invest half a million on that would be helpful. Fruin: Yeah,we can certainly do that. Julie has been um,thinking about that project for a couple of years now as the current,um,park is, is deteriorating a little bit. So we can-we can circle back to you on that. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 23 Bergus: Because I know in the petal paddle proposal, I think it like included like,the pump track part. Fruin: Correct. Yes. So that would be a piece of this that we might have to drop off if we don't supplement that budget. Um, so it's like a parrot with a bicycle type of facility as well. Bergus: Cool. Thank you. 3. Clarification of Agenda Items Teague: All right. Thank you, Tracy and Geoff. We're gonna move on to the next item on our agenda item 3, clarification of agenda items. Alter: I apologize for not having brought this up earlier,but I do want to pull um, from the consent agenda uh, item 6.e,which is the North First Avenue hnprovements. Teague: We can do that. Alter: Thank you. Fruin: Do you want a staff presentation on that one then? Alter: Just if it's not terribly long. It'd be nice as a refresher. Fruin: Okay. Alter: No, I didn't mean it that way. Fruin: We'll come up and give it a quick overview. Alter: Yeah,that would be. I appreciate it. Thank you. Bergus: There was something that I was expecting to see on this agenda that wasn't there. If I could ask a question about that. Mayor, if that's okay? Teague: Did I forget something? Bergus: I don't think you did. Um, I'll direct this to Geoff. But the, the bus rapid transit contract. It's been like months since we thought it was moving forward. Fruin: Correct. I know that uh,Kent was- so it was determined that Iowa City needed to hold that contract in order to get it moving faster. I believe Kent is working with your office,Eric, to um,to put that agreement together. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 24 Goers: Yes, I think that's right. Um, I was out of the office last week, so I'm not sure if- I'm not sure what the status is of that. I apologize. Frain: One second. I may have something here. Bergus: I think I asked like in the end of July or beginning of August,that's not gonna have to come before us,will it?And I was told no, and here we are. Frain: I told you that, and I apologize for that. I- I assumed that the um,the MPO Board would hold that contract um, as they typically would for consulting studies,but in this case, it was decided that,that Iowa City would, and when I told you no,that we wouldn't have to approve that, I was speaking specifically of the $25,000 contribution that-that I thought we were making towards the contract to the MPO.Now that we're holding the contract and it's that value, it's 250,that would exceed my spending authority. So yes,the plan was this agenda. You're correct um,but we didn't make that deadline. Bergus: Okay. Thank you. 4. Information Packet Discussion [August 17,August 24,August 311 Teague: Moving on to item number 4, information packet discussion August 17. Moving on to item number-well, information packet August 24th. Alter: So you have your transit IP2. Did you want to talk about that? Teague: Um,not really. Moving on to information packet August 31st. Harmsen: Kind of mentioned this earlier,but just want to also highlight the report on the strategic plan update that is in that,um, and for anybody that's looking for a little light reading,uh, it's- it's not a horrible document to go through and- and kidding aside, it's a great way to kind of for us to hold ourselves accountable as well as the public to hold us accountable for the things that we say are priorities. And just to get an update on where these things are and some things move faster than others, and some are still still on the- still on the docket, so to speak. So just thank you for- for that report. Bergus: Yeah,that was an excellent,really digestible way to present,um,what we're focusing on or what we've done since last December and the adoption of the plan. And I'd just reiterate the trying to have some benchmarking, some metrics. You know,there was a comment about,um, an overall carbon sort of assessment and that,you know, our greenhouse gas emissions have gone down. And I know that Sarah has all the details of how much and what that looks like, and she provided all,you know, she has that-those projections that we got in her climate report. But just as something that,you know, even very briefly, if we can get a what does this actually look like as we're making progress on things. Um,we also had talked about the possibility of when you were talking about the dashboards and that sort of thing, Geoff, of maybe doing a community component of that, This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 25 of sort of like some survey of the community or,you know,being able to assess the impact of strategic plan action items as they're accomplished. Fruin: Yeah. Okay. Alter: I might be going in reverse order,but this is,uh, I wanted to bring up IP5 which was pending work topics. And I know John,um, offered up a couple of suggestions. One that I would like to pose as a possible pending,um,work topic is to re-invite or invite the school district representatives again for an update on universal Pre K,uh,with potential additional options of 4C's and or other stakeholders in the community to talk about where-where we're at with childcare. Um,you know,we-we had some- given the enormity of this problem and yet how localized it is and that it has to be individualized solutions. Um, I just think it would be great to get an update on saying, okay,well these are the things that have been accomplished,here are the hurdles and here are the focuses that we're looking at now. Plus I would very much like to know what's going on with the school district and their plans as well. So that's my suggestion. Teague: Could- could that be a joint entities update? Alter: Yes, it could. That would be fantastic. So that's my suggestion for joint entities coming up. Teague: Great. Alter: Thank you. Problem solved. Bergus: I'll assign that to the district. I like it. Alter: Yeah. Yeah. Harmsen: I know that we talked about the strategic plan. One of the things on there that's in that wonderful shade of green is the free bus. Uh, free bus. And I see that our director is in the house. But I understand there are some 50%year over-. Alter: Already? Harmsen: -increase. Is that okay that way? Teague: Yes. Yes. Welcome. Nagle Gamm: Um,very exciting to announce that we are 50%- 53%up in ridership over last August, so- This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 26 Bergus: That's amazing. Nagle Gamm: -if you remember, I quoted 20%-60% and we are on the very high end of that. So very exciting to see such an immediate impact and the community really embracing the program. So we're thrilled. Harmsen: Yeah. Thank you. From: Can I pinball this back to pending work session topic? I just want to make- I want to make sure Councilor Thomas's suggestions were decided up or down if- if folks want,um, additional work session topics on the land use discussions that-that he mentioned. And Councilor Thomas was there one other one? Thomas: Traffic safety. Fruin: The community forum on traffic safety. Okay. Alter: And then I know it's already on the pending topic list,but I would- I believe my understanding is that the Community Violence Intervention Group has been working, and I would love to get an update on that at some point when they're ready to agree to speak to that. Teague: Any other items?All right. 5. University of Iowa Student Government(USG) Updates Teague: We're going to move on to item Number 5. University of Iowa, student government updates USG. Welcome. LeFevre: Hi, Council. Teague: Hello. LeFevre: So first and foremost, obviously we should probably get it out of the way. Iowa football went against Utah State in our fust game 14 to 24. So we're doing really well. So, next week is the Cy-Hawk game, and so that'll be in Lames- I mean Ames. Sorry. Give me that. It's also important to note that our Iowa field hockey and volleyball team remain undefeated. They're doing really well, so not everything is about football. Um,we love to have meetings. Uh,we have a meeting planned with,uh, Thomas and Alter, and now Dunn as well. So we had one with Teague already. And so these are really getting our GR team and,uh, ourselves really excited for the next upcoming years. So,Matthew,take it away. Monsivais: Okay, sorry. Um, also just going on with USG updates,we're welcoming a new deputy health and safety director just as more initiatives and concerns regarding,um,just This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023 Page 27 under that umbrella. Under health and safety,we kind of are putting someone who's like adjacent to my position in the health and safety department of our executive cabinet. So that's,um,new and yeah,they just got welcomed tonight, I believe at Senate. And then fall nom- fall nominations are wrapping up and USG is reviewing our platform,um,to organize initiatives. And also we want to see accomplished at UI and also welcoming new senators. And it's our President's Mitch Winter Lyn's birthday today, so a happy birthday to the USG President. But that's all I have, and we have. LeFevre: Yeah, of course. Thanks so much, guys. Have good night. Yeah. Teague: Have a good one. Thank you. 6. Council Updates on Boards, Commissions and Committees Teague: Item number 6 as council updates on boards, commissions and committees. Bergus: I realized I could have said it during the IP packet about the listening post,but the listening post on the 19th was really,really great,um,thanks to Darian and our transportation staff for having the electric bus on site at the diversity market that coincided with the listening posts. So there were tons of people who toured the bus. We talked a lot about fare free. We talked a lot about the electric buses. They're so efficient, they turn off their air conditioning when they're just sitting there idling. So even though it's like 100 degrees outside and we're like,hey,the bus is air conditioned,that didn't go quite like planned. But it was good to be able to speak to the energy efficiency of that. Um, I will write up some notes from that listening post. But protected bike infrastructure was something that came up from two people who,um,who came up to the table that day, and a lot of conversations about transit. Um, of course, Sunday service and overnight service were both,uh, issues that came up as well. Teague: All right. We are adjourned until 06:00 P.M. This represents only a reasonably accurate transcription of the Iowa City City Council work session of September 5, 2023